Chapter LXXXII: Political "Power" ~Naaro

 

The sound of the blow echoed through the small chamber as the interrogator's fist struck Naaro's face once more. He was bloodied and bruised, yet he had not cried out in pain once. "Why did you take the pendant?!" the interrogator barked, readying his fist for another punch. Naaro did not respond. The interrogator growled, and pulled back his fist for another swing. It was grabbed from behind. "Huh?!" he cried as he turned around. He saw one of the guards. "The Elders are ready for the trial," the guard stated. He let go of the interrogator's arm, and turned his back to Naaro, saying, "Alright, clean him up," then leaving the room. The guard nodded, and removed Naaro from the chair he was tied to, cuffing his hands. The two then left the room, moving toward the cleanup area. They soon arrived, and Naaro was cleaned up, the blood and other substances washed off of his body. As soon as he was clean, he was taken to the main chamber. Here he would stand on trial before the Elder Council of Yoshin.

He was blinded as he entered the trial chamber. It was a dome building of glass lit by the sun, as opposed to the dark dreariness of the prison chambers below. Though he stopped, the guard forced him on. There was silence as he entered, the 9 elders of Yoshin sitting on their elevated balcony platforms. Highest of all was Cynoyoshi, the Archelder of Yoshin. He looked down at Naaro disappointingly. The guard escorted Naaro to a podium in the center of the chamber, then stepped back. Naaro stood with his head down. The first elder then spoke. "Naaro Garsh Karukylis, the Elder Council now holds your life in its hands. Guilty or innocent, your honor is forever lost. The Elder Council rules all and protects all with justice. Are you aware of what you have been charged with?" Naaro remained silent. The Elder gestured to the guard who had escorted him in, and the guard spoke. "Naaro Garsh Karukylis has been charged with stealing the Pendant of Primus, most prized treasure of the Karmali people, from his home village." The same Elder spoke once more. "There you are, Karukylis. I must personally say that it is very disappointing that any Karmali would steal such a mythical and ancient artifact." Naaro was still silent. The Elder spoke once more. "Very well. I pass the right of speech to the Elder hailing from Vulcan Isle," he said. Upon hearing this, a red yoshi with a sizable amount of orange hair stood and said, "I thank you, Elder of Suahar." The azure-skinned yoshi who had been talking previously then took his seat, and the Vulcan Isle Elder began. "Karukylis, since this is a fair trial, I will ask you a few questions in which you may defend or not defend yourself. It all depends on how you answer." He paused, waiting for a response from Naaro. He got none, but went on anyway. "Alright...first of all, why did you leave the planet?" "Some people wanted me to go with them," he replied simply, head still down. The elder nodded, and asked his next question. "Alright...what were you doing before you left the planet?" "I was going through the ceremony to make me leader of the Karmali," he answered. The elder nodded once more. "Now for your final question," he said, continuing, "Can you come up with any reason why we should not decide you guilty and execute you?"

Naaro then looked up at the elder. Hate burned in his eyes. His answer left his mouth without consulting his mind first. "Why shouldn't you? Well, let me see. First of all, I've protected this piece of crap world from everything you were all too afraid to challenge. Secondly, I have a wife and child who mean more to me than a bunch of you snobby aristocrats ever will. Thirdly, me and my race have been persecuted all our lives for what we are. My parents had to paint themselves white to hide from your butchers! We may have been the savages in ancient times, but you are the savages now!" All 9 elders looked shocked. They had not expected such an answer, especially from someone whose life they held in their hands. He was not afraid of them. He didn't fear death. A wave of chatter was passing through the trial chamber like never before. Wanting to save face, Cyno stood. "Silence yourself, you are on trial and are in no position to speak to the Elder Council in such a way!" he demanded, pointing a finger at Naaro. "I'll speak to you however I want!" Naaro shot back. The sun was suddenly blocked out over the chamber. Everyone inside looked up, seeing something big hovering above. Most of the room panicked; Naaro cracked a smile.

The thing suddenly dropped through the roof. It was nearly 30 meters tall overall, a massive red-and-black robot with two decent-sized black wing-like fins on its back and a 3-pronged pincer with an energy cannon in the middle protruding from each shoulder. It had a humanoid face, lacking a mouth and nose, but having 2 green eyes. It also had a single green camera eye on its U-shaped crest. Behind that crest was a larger, feather-like crest. Both were red. "Well, Ruby God, looks like my rage succeeded in summoning you," Naaro muttered with a smile as a cockpit in the huge robot's chest opened. Naaro leaped into the air and landed, sitting down in the chair. He freed himself from the handcuffs with a tug, and the cockpit closed. Cyno looked at the robot. "It looks like a mobile suit..." he uttered. The Elder of the Karmali then responded, "It is a mobile suit! It's Red Midas!" The elder ducked as the Yo'Shar mobile suits, Yoshin's standard-issue army mobile suits, began to attack, firing their machine guns at Red Midas. Red Midas turned, and raised its arms. A panel on each of its elbows opened, revealing 3 mega particle cannons, 6 total. All 6 fired, and tore through 2 Yo'Shars. The massive mobile suit then stepped from the ruined trial chamber to find more Yo'Shars. Naaro smiled, and Red Midas deployed 6 red cylindrical objects from the fins on its back, called funnels. These weapons took aim on the closest target, and began firing large energy beams, decimating the Yo'Shar ranks. Red Midas did some destroying itself, removing both twin beam sabers from its back, igniting them, and tearing through the Yo'Shars under Naaro's expert control.

Soon, the last Yo'Shar was slashed in three by Red Midas's twin beam sabers, and the funnels returned to the mobile suit's fins. A bazooka shell suddenly hit from behind, fired by a more heavily-armed A-Yo'shar mobile suit. Naaro turned Red Midas, around, and put the two beam cannons on its shoulder pincers into action, aiming them and firing them both. They tore up not only the A-Yo'Shar's armor, but the several tanks and mobile suits behind it as well. As two fighters flew toward him, he extended the pincers and smashed both between the sharp blades. He smirked, looking around. 1 block had been completely destroyed, while 3 others had taken minor to serious damage. He then realized something...where was the Yautja? And what about the Creation's Weapon? These questions caused him to launch into the air and go where his instincts told him to: the Merijan Temples in the Yoshira Del Sol Islands. Though his instincts were telling him right, he would have ignored them had he known about the Yautja's diabolical plans, and, more importantly, what kind of Yautja he was...