With art by RJbonart!

The Menace of the Giant Shadows

 

The year was 1966, 5 years before Skull Savior would begin hunting down the hidden bio-demon assassins of Shadowlight, 6 years before the robot Beyondion launched to fight Shadowlight’s bio-demon giants, and 8 years before Beyondion was destroyed by the mechanical soldiers of Mu leaving Beyondion Seraph to carry on the fight. 

 

Little was known about Shadowlight at the time. They were known by rumors, dark money accounts, missing persons reports, and what few records on Mu experiments the Imperial government failed to eradicate from history. Little was known about Shadowlight, but what was known showed that they had the potential to become a threat to the entire world. 

 

Shadowlight circulated strange technology derived from experiments the government was too ashamed to admit to having funded throughout the global underworld. But they were more than dealers of Worlds War artifacts. They continued research that should have ended with the war and that research made them far more powerful than a gang of black marketeers. They wouldn’t deploy their infamous bio-demons until the 1970’s, but they still had access to bleeding-edge technology that made them a force to be reckoned with. Their main weapons were the giant shadows–enormous but stealthy robots derived from crawler drones created for the Imperial military by Moriyama Robots. Giant shadows got close to a target in the form of a fleet of cars, of separate devices smuggled in crates, or even as a crowd of seemingly-normal humans, their real identities hidden by trench coats and hats. Then they would combine into monstrous, gigantic warmachines and strike. They only ever struck at night. The longer authorities didn’t know what they were dealing with, the longer they had to debate whether or not it was a kaiju or giant shadow, the greater Shadowlight’s advantage.

 

Attacking at night was how the giant shadows got their name. Photographs of giant shadows were rare and blurry. Even the best flash bulb only revealed a dark blob, a mysterious shadow lumbering between the rubble of fallen buildings.

 

Before 1966, Shadowlight’s operations were largely countered by international agents. This was a source of embarrassment for the Japanese people–a Japanese criminal organization had to be handled by foreigners. But there was little Japan could do about it. Imperial Japan was anti-superhuman. Natural superhumans that didn’t leave the country before the military attacked America’s west coast left after enduring years of monitoring and abuse within a modified Vril powered volkfeld purchased from the Germans.

 

To make up for their lack of superhuman power, Imperial Japan relied on their endless armies of kami and kaiju coerced into service by Amaterasu, who was officially kept at the heart of Tokyo to recover from wounds received from rival goddess Pele during the failed attack on the US west coast but unofficially kept as a prisoner. But with the war over and Amaterasu freed, the kami and kaiju were under no obligation to serve humans that they despised. Some even took vengeance on Japan for their indignity. It wasn’t uncommon for the news to report that mountain-sized foxes with several flaming tails attacked Japan.

 

Japan was a weak country, especially when compared to the near-endless number of superhumans, superheroes, and superteams. The country was given thousands of Bozo iron men through the McArthur plan to defend their country from vengeful kami, but they proved insufficient. Japan had to be protected by the very superhumans that defeated them in war.

 

Japan, like many Axis nations, turned to artificials in the 1950’s to make up for their lack of superhumans. In Germany, Dusemann, in English Jetman, patrolled the skies, and in Japan, the Rocket Family, a nuclear family of transforming artificials, kept peace between humans and divinity through negotiations and sometimes force. They were led by the patriarch Rocket Father, but history would record his son Rocket Brother as having the greatest impact. He would grow up, as much as an artificial can grow up, to be Japan’s greatest private investigator. As a boy, he was the one that uncovered a build-up of Shadowlight forces in 1965 which indicated that they would soon eclipse vengeful kami and kaiju as the greatest threat to Japan. As an adult, he would again warn the nation of an impending threat in 2000 when he uncovered the existence of  Neo-Shadowlight, a persistent off-shoot of the original Shadowlight.

 

The Rocket Family were the beloved protectors of Japan, but there were kami and kaiju they simply couldn’t deal with. Some were too powerful, and in those situations they had to play sidekick to foreign superhumans that could defeat them. Case in point, when the infamous giant monster God King attacked Japan in 1954, they were near-useless in holding off the monster. Gold Star, an American hero, had to contain it long enough for Dr. Harrada to deploy his experimental time shredder against it.

 

Japan had superhuman protectors, but no powerhouses.

 

That changed in 1966.

 

In 1966, Lifeman, a member of the Lifemen race who travel across the universe as peacekeepers, would choose beleaguered Japan as his home country. Lifeman had the power Japan was looking for and then some and proved it when he single-handedly defeated God King in 1966.

 

Taking the human form of Jou Matsuda, Lifeman met with the Diet and proposed the creation of Japan’s first superteam with himself and the Rocket Family. Though the Diet was at first hesitant to take up Lifeman’s proposal (Superteams aren’t cheap. Money spent on funding the team could be spent on infrastructure, especially when foreign superteams were more than willing to protect Japan for the Japanese), Rocket Brother’s report on Shadowlight convinced them. The build-up in Japanese evil would be met by a build-up in Japanese heroics.

 

This superteam would be known as 3S–the Super Science Scouts.

 

Originally consisting of Lifeman and the Rocket Family,3S would quickly be joined by two more members. The first would be the mysterious superthief and self-described “super-gentleman” Gentleman Shadow, great-grandfather of the modern Gentleman Shadow, who joined the team for a pardon and to strike back at Shadowlight for “moving in on his territory.” The second would be the star of 3S—a young boy named Yokoyama Kantaro. 

 

His teammates told Japan that Japan could protect itself, but he told Japan that Japan would be able to protect itself for generations to come.

 

Kantaro

 

Discovered in 1965, young Yokoyama Kantaro was what post-war Japan had long waited for– natural superhuman with enough power to make a difference. He was the answer to his country’s prayers, and Japan spared no expense in ensuring that Kantaro was able to reach the maximum potential of his telekinetic and telepathic powers. After a year of testing and training, Japan decided that the young boy could be trusted as a member of 3S despite his young age.

 

3S built a now-legendary robot to focus, enhance, and guide Kantaro’s powers–the Red King.

 

Originally, Red King was supposed to be a floating weapons platform, something that looked like a Star Castle. It wasn’t supposed to have a humanoid form. Though it may seem strange to think so now with Japan full of humanoid guardian giants, post-war Japan thought of humanoid machines as low quality due to the failure of Bozo units gained from the McArthur plan in defeating kami and kaiju. The Rocket Family were originally conceived of as living rockets–fast, accurate war machines that could fly circles around kaiju while blowing them away with force projectors. They were made into rockets that could transform into people in order to humanize them to the public. Red King was given a human shape after it was found that Kantaro was better at telekinetically moving things with a human shape–dolls over toy planes, for instance. It was a subconscious quirk of his powers. His brain was used to operating his human-shaped body, thus his telekinesis worked better operating human-shaped objects.

 

Red King was named after the chess piece. In chess, red (or black in some sets) moved after white. 3S was to function as the “red” team, never attacking, but reacting to and countering the actions of kami, kaiju, and Shadowlight. During development, the names Red Knight and Red Rook were proposed, but Kantaro was the one that decided on Red King. 

 

“I know in chess that the king is kind of a slow, pokey piece,” Kantaro explained, “but when you have the chance to make your buddy a king, you make him a king, you know?”

 

Red King was given an appearance to match his name. His look was based on the last suit of armor ever built for a monarch, the harquebusier armor of James the II and VII. Red King even incorporated the armor’s visor, the unicorn and lion representing power used in the cause of justice.

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Kantaro was connected to Red King by a “telecap,” a device that connected his thoughts to Red King through a secure Astral pathway that couldn’t be hacked. They didn’t want enemy telepaths to hijack Red King. This telecap was shaped like a baseball helmet under Kantaro’s request. He was a huge baseball fan. Because the telecap had a limited range, it was necessary to train and equip Kantaro for field work. He was equipped with armor styled to look like Red King, and his teammates soon took to calling him “Red Prince.” Gentleman Shadow, who liked Kantaro despite his jaded exterior, gave Kantaro a robotic gauntlet equipped with a variety of features to keep him safe such as forcefield projectors and grappling hooks built into the fingers. This gauntlet would be the precursor to devices used by successive Gentlemen Shadows including the intelligent bodyguard of the current Gentleman Shadow, Watcher.

 

The Red King was built to be a gigantic, incredibly strong puppet moved by Kantaro’s telekinesis, the Red King. But the Red King proved to be much more than a puppet just as Kantaro proved to be much more than a boy. The more Kantaro powered him, the more he acted autonomously until the point he could move and fight without Kantaro being present. This frightened the engineers that built the Red King, for such a thing was completely unaccounted for in their calculations. The Red King was never meant to think, never meant to be alive, but Kantaro urged them not to worry. He knew the Red King better than anyone, and he knew that, alive or half-alive, the Red King was a hero. The robot would prove Kantaro’s statement true when it sacrificed itself to save the Super Science Scouts’ headquarters from an army of giant shadows in 1970.

 

Kantaro would go on to become the head of Astral studies at Ishinomori High, Japan’s first school for young superheroes, and his grandson Hayato is the Tengu, one of the world’s most powerful psychics. The Red King would be rebuilt, but by the time Kantaro was able to reassemble and reanimate the mighty robot, it was the age of the guardian giants, of Beyondion and Grailizer, and the Red King was outdated.

 

 It was enthroned at Ishikore-dome Shrine, though some questioned its inclusion on the basis that guardian giants were typically thought of as massive piloted machines with Beyondion being the first of their number, but ultimately it was decided that the bond between machine and man was what truly determined a guardian giant and the Red King was placed alongside all the various Beyondions and Grailizers. 

 

The Red King rested, and dreamed, and was content, and sometimes its eyes would flash to life and it would see the many grateful generations gathered at his feet and know, vaguely within its quasi-sapience, that it had done well. Kantaro visited it often, and it was always glad to see him, even if he never again looked like the young boy it protected.

 

Kazumasa

 

In 2020, a freshman at Ishinomori High named Abe Kazumasa learned that he had incredible psychic powers. He could influence the odic layer, bring objects and people into and out of the Astral. He could blur the boundary between dream and reality, he could make what was unreal real and what was real unreal. Kazumasa had an incredible power, but it frightened him. He was unwilling to use his power in the slightest. 

 

Kazumasa was a nervous telepath with a great deal of potential. He scored highly on every test of his ability, sometimes even rivaling the scores of the Tengu, but when it came to actually putting that ability into practice, he lagged behind other students he should have been miles ahead of. He couldn’t shake the fear of what his powers could do. He watched a lot of telepath horror films–Reign of the Gorgon, The Man in My Thoughts, The Reality That Lied–and they 

 

Kantaro struggled to bring Kazumasa out of his shell, but to no avail. He just didn’t have the faith in himself a superhero needed. Then he got an idea. He remembered how he felt when he first went into battle alongside Red King. He remembered how small and afraid he was watching Red King grapple with giant shadows. He felt useless. He froze. He stopped sending Red King power and instructions and Red King took a beating from a giant shadow he should have been able to easily defeat. Lifeman had to 

 

Afterwards Kantaro felt useless. He wanted to quit the team. But Lifeman talked him into staying. Lifeman told him that though Kantaro’s relationship with Red King was a strange one, ultimately, they were partners. Sometimes Red King was a like a father taking care of things Kantaro couldn’t do. Sometimes Red King was like a child taking orders from Kantaro. But though the form of their bond was complicated, it was a firm one, a strong one, one that could endure anything if he just believed in it.

And believe in it Kantaro did. And from that moment on, he and Red King were an invincible team.

 

Red King taught Kantaro courage. He was sure he could to the same if entrusted to Kazumasa.

 

It was a controversial plan, and Kantaro had to defend it in front of the staff, but ultimately Principal Lifeman signed off on it.

 

Kazumasa wasn’t sure of the plan. But he went along with it. He trusted his teachers. If they thought it was for the best to put him at the helm of a refurbished robot warrior, who was he to complain? He hasn’t had any courageous epiphany yet, but Kantaro has noticed improvement. Red King acts as a distancing factor between Kazumasa and his power, and that makes Kazumasa more comfortable. Kazumasa is afraid of using his powers, but he doesn’t use them directly with Red King, only indirectly.

 

Maybe one day, he won’t need Red King at all, and the old giant will return to Ishikore-dome Shrine to wait for a time when another young boy needs him.

 

Red King, Rise!

 

The Red King was developed out of what Japan had learned about robotics during the Worlds War. It’s frame was partially based on the mass-produced “Bozo” Iron Men deployed by the United States. Japanese engineers were very familiar with Bozos as the McArthur plan loaned Japan thousands for industry and self-defense. 

 

Red King’s ability to channel and focus telepathic energy was copied from Nazi Vril adept armor. Though the Nazis were very protective of their Vril armor, their fellow Axis countries nonetheless got their hands on samples through secret deals and subterfuge. The gaeitie used in Red King’s construction even came from Lake Snyder, the Antarctic lake the Nazis used as their primary source of gaeite. The telecap which connects Red King to its operator is based on telepathic technology used to connect Skyman to the various robot wings of his air force.

 

Red King’s wrists hold four gaeite orbs that extend out on columns to form telekinetic dishes around the hands. These dishes concentrate and amplify Kazumasa’s telekinetic energy for use in several attacks, the most basic of which is performed with the orbs positioned in an X and is called Red Shot. Red Shot is based on the Lifebeam technique of Red King’s old ally Lifeman. While it appears to the naked eye that Red King simply thrusts its palm forward and objects explode, what actually happens is that the four orbs create four pressured zones within the target. These zones then converge, resulting in massive structural damage and a huge explosion.

 

When the orbs are arranged in a cross, Red King uses Red Blade, a focused beam of telekinetic energy wielded like a sword. While invisible, it is marked by photite projectors so that Red King and it’s operator don’t accidentally cut something. The Red Blade’s power diminishes with its length and is at its most powerful when it’s projected out only a few inches from the hand. At that length, the technique is called Red Grab. During Red Grab, an opponent in Red King’s clutches is subjected to extreme telekinetic forces and dissolves at the molecular level.

 

When the columns spin around the wrist, Red King uses Red Shield, a barrier of telekinetic force useful not only for protecting Red King itself but its teammates. That it’s invisible save for optional photite guide beams means it can be used to surprise opponents, especially giant monsters driven by instinct instead of sense. Imagine a giant monster charging Red King just to run right smack into an invisible barrier.

 

When the columns and orbs spin, Red King uses its ultimate attack, Red Storm, a telekinetic pressure wave that obliterates anything in its path. Red King typically uses its photite beams to mark our the area about to be thoroughly compressed by forces not typically found outside the cores of celestial bodies, but it can be fired suddenly and invisibly.

Red King’s belt is filled with force projectors and missile launchers, as are the bands around its shoulders. These are secondary weapons, far less powerful than its telekinetic attacks, but very useful in conserving energy and attacking foes immune to telekinetic energy. These secondary weapons were never intended to have a name for their “attack,” but Kantaro, playful boy that he was, named it Red Parade. 

 

Red King’s legs are equipped with powerful multi-directional force projectors that can be augmented by gaeitie cores for Red Dash, a move which often ends with Red King grabbing the opponent with Red Grab, or in dire situations, firing a point-blank Red Storm.

 

When Red King was refurbished for Kazumasa, it was brought up to bleeding-edge standards with an aether drive (almost all modern guardian giants have them) and a miniature (relatively speaking) gaeite spire. Gaeite spires were created by the Dyeus Civilization aeons before man evolved and allowed the Dyeus to blur the odic layer to manifest and communicate with their own souls. Red King uses its own spire to match, enhance, and guide Kazumasa’s telekinetic powers.

 

Now bonded with Kazumasa, Red King can cycle through several modes, each of which draws out progressively more of Kazumasa’s power. Due to Kazumasa’s cautious nature, Red King is often the one to initiate a higher mode. The closest Kazumasa has ever come to initiating a higher mode is asking Red King if they should do so whenever Red King seems outmatched by his opposition (the answer is always an enthusiastic yes).

 

Mode 1 is the default mode for Red King where it operates identically to how it did with Kentaro back in the 1960’s. In mode 1, it simply gathers Kazumasa’s telepathic energy and unleashes it as physical attacks. 

 

Mode 2 has Kazumasa’s powers act upon Red King, but only Red King. Kazumasa draws upon the Astral to heal Red King’s injuries, enhance its attacks, and teleport it. Red King’s aether drive activates in this mode and further syncs Red King’s emotions with Kazumasa to create a sudden spike in energy and performance. Kazumasa says that switching to mode 2 feels like waking up in a cold sweat from a nightmare followed by downing an entire pot of coffee. 

 

Mode 3 has Kazumasa peel back the odic layer–but only enough to let dreamforms from the Astral into physical reality, not enough to let physical objects move into the Astral. Kazumasa uses mode 3 to summon weapons and back-up for Red King. He’s summoned “Red Castles” to fight alongside Red King based on Red King’s early weapons platform design, legions of human sized Red Kings called “Red Knights,” and a gigantic version of Red King called “Red Titan” that Red King pilots from the inside like the operator of a guardian giant.  Kazumasa said that he wanted Red King to have someone to protect it like Red King protects him.

 

Mode 4 is the final mode, and Kazumasa is loath to enter it even under the safest of experimental conditions.

 

With this mode, Red King’s name takes on a different meaning. It no longer refers to the chess piece but to the Red King of Through the Looking Glass, a sleeping king whose dreams are reality.

 

Reality gets very fluid in Mode 4. Atoms shift. Physics change. What’s true becomes false and what’s false becomes true. Red King can pull chunks of reality into the Astral, potentially stranding opponents inside nightmares.

 

Red King has and will always be a champion to the young. It is their spirit, their determination, their desire to effect a world that seems only to answer to adults. It draws out their potential. In this way, it is a teacher. “Though I wasn’t of it when I majored in education, looking back on my life, I think I became a teacher because of Red King.” Kantaro once said, “It taught me how to be brave. It taught me how to be a man. I have no doubt he will do the same for Kazumasa.”