The Return

THE SETUP:
What happenned between Magnus 64 and this story.
After the disappearance of President Magnus, the nations held a meeting to discuss the election of a new president. Former North-Am President Clane was nominated, be he declined. He stated that he was too old and that he was still in mourning over the loss of his daughter and son-in-law. The next logical choice was Magnus's son Torque, but it was decided that the people would have too much trouble accepting a Psi-Lord as their leader and so he was turned down. After many long debates, a new president was finally chosen. Senator Bedard of Calizona was elected to be the new President of the world.

One of the first acts of the new president was to welcome the Psi-Lords back to the Earth as permanent residents. This was mainly due to the fact that the son of the people's beloved former president was now one of them. And so all remaining Psi-Lords regrouped on Earth where they built a settlement in which they could live. Instead of protecting all living things in the universe, they became the Earth's police force.

The Destroyer, on the other hand, isolated himself from humanity. He now resides alone on Triton, the former mining colony planet/moon. No one has seen nor heard from him since his final conversation with Torque in the closing pages of Magnus 64.

PART 1: THE MEETING
The shuttle was touching down in Japan. The former Senator/President of North Am was the shuttle's sole passenger. Clane found himself daydreaming quite a bit on that trip. Daydreaming of the good old days before the robots returned. The world was at peace. Magnus was president and he was his advisor. His daughter, Leeja, was Magnus's wife. They had a son named Torque, his grandson. Life was good. He still couldn't believe how fast it had all gone away. Leeja was dead, killed by the Malevs. Torque was now a Psi-Lord. He was forced to undergo the transformation in order to save his life. And then their was Magnus. He was... well, nobody really knew. All they knew was that he was gone. Clane's whole family had been stripped away from him faster than he could ever have believed possible. Well, almost his whole family.

"We have arived in Japan, sir." Clane looked at his pilot. Over the last year he had grown really close to that young man. For that young man was his other grandson, Obadiah Konishi. He was known by many throughout the world as Rai, but Clane called him Obie. It was better that way considering their current whereabouts. Japan was run being run by Obie's foster-brother, Takashi Nakadai. Takashi had declared himself Japan's true forty-third Rai, a title that actually belonged to Obie's late father, Takao. As long as they were in Japan, nobody dared to call Obie "Rai". Nobody, that is, except for the man who was waiting for them on the landing pad.

"Well, it's about time!" exclaimed Rentaro Nakadai. "I'm one hundred and forty-one years old, I don't have time to waste. What took you so long, Rai my boy?" Clane smiled at the old man. Rentaro was Takashi's grandfather. He had been Japan's forty-first Rai. He was a man of honor, and he had absolutely no respect for his grandson.

Obie stayed behind to complete the docking procedures, while Clane and Rentaro started towards their destination. Clane couldn't help but notice how beautiful Japan looked. He had to admit that Takashi did a unbelievable job in returning Japan to its former glory. His thoughts were cut short by another friendly greeting. He looked up and saw an old, short, bald man.

"Mr. Clane, I would like you to meet Gramps," Rentaro said.
"Actually, my name is 1A, but everybody calls me Grandfather," returned the bald man.
"So, you're Magnus's father?" Clane questioned.
"Guilty as charged," returned Gramps. "Now lets go inside and have a drink. We can talk some more in there."
"Sounds good to me."

The three old men had been talking for about an hour. Though they were all totally different people, they had one thing in common. They all knew what it was like to lose a child. Clane lost Leeja last year and Gramps lost Magnus. Rentaro's son Tohru, the forty-second Rai, died in 4001 during a conflict refered to by Magnus as the Unity War. They found themselves relating stories about their respective children. Clane hadn't felt this good in the entire year since the disaster. He had no way of knowing what was about to happen.

"Shouldn't Rai have been back by now?" asked Rentaro.
"Come on now, Renny. You know that Takashi has passed a law making it a serious offense to call anybody other than himself Rai while in Japan," corrected Gramps.
"Bah! That boy needs to be flogged. He murdered his own mother two years ago. He doesn't deserve to be called Rai even in jest!" returned Rentaro.
"I think I hear him coming now," Clane was happy to announce, hoping it would change the subject.

The door blew open and ten armed troops ran into the room.
"Freeze!" yelled the man who was apparently the captain. "If you all just cooperate nobody will get hurt."
"Oh, we'll cooperate all right," returned Rentaro reaching under his robes. "My grandson sent you, didn't he?" Before anybody knew what was happenning, Rentaro leaped forward into the men with his sword in his hand. He was thrusting his sword through the third trooper before the captain's head even hit the ground.
"They're resisting!" screamed a trooper.
"Oh, no!" whimpered Clane as he scrambled towards the back of the room in a panic. Rentaro did a back flip and landed behind a fourth trooper. A swift swing with is sword sent the trooper's head falling to the ground. Rentaro spun around to face a fifth trooper, but was knocked over by a kick in his side. He found his self looking up at a laser pistol.

Obadiah was walking up the path towards Grandfather's home. After completing the docking procedures he had stopped for a bite to eat. He thought it would give the old men time to talk. Besides, Japan was now a peaceful place. Nothing could go wrong. That's when he heard a laser shot come from Grandfather's home. "Oh, no," he whispered as he started to run towards the house.

"Rentaro!" Gramps exclaimed just as the troper fired his pistol. The blast hit Rentaro dead in the center of his chest, and then he was still. The troopers turned towards the remaining two men. The gunman spoke, "I trust there will be no further resistance." Just then, his head split wide open as the throwing star flew through it.

"Obie!" exclaimed Clane as Obadiah leaped into the room and dropped two more troopers where they stood. He then turned to face two more simultaneously. These two proved to be warriors and it took Rai a full minute and a half to finish the fight. But that was all it took. When Obie turned, Grandfather and Clane were gone. The remaining trooper had taken the two old men and made his getaway. Obie ran outside, but it was too late. They were gone. He turned and ran over to Rentaro.

"...Got four of 'em. Not bad for a one hundred and... forty-one year old man, eh?" grunted Rentaro with one of his slowly fading breaths.
"No," said Rai quietly, "Not bad at all."
"You did pretty good there... yourself, Rai my boy."
Obie smiled sadly. "Rentaro, what...?"
"... Takashi... that no good..."
"But why would Takashi do something like this? He idolized you!"
"Yeah... and he loved his mother, too."
To this, Obie had no reply.
"Goodbye... my boy... see that... Takashi... gets what's coming to him," Rentaro finished.
"I will, sir. I will."
"I know you will... I know you wi...*" And then he was gone.

Obadiah Konishi stood up and looked out the door and into Japan.
"I don't know what you're trying to pull here, dear brother, but I promise you this. I will put an end to it. No matter what it is. This I vow."

END PART 1

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