Rentaro Nakadai

The 41st Rai, Rentaro Nakadai serves Grandmother, the freewill caretaker of Japan, until the day that he suffers injuries in battle with Vi–Robs that make it impossible for him to protect her any longer, no matter how much he wishes that he could.
=The Elder Rai=
Over 10,000 sunrises after he became the spirit guardian of Japan, Rentaro handed the powers of Rai over to his son, Tohru Nakadai, who reluctantly accepted the mantle of spirit guardian.
After Grandmother left Japan in orbit over the Earth following the alien invasion, Rentaro told the Healers Restoration Underground, a group that believed that Tohru Nakadai, helped put the Humanists in power, of a failsafe module she created to allow humans to override her command systems in the hope that they could force her to return to rule.
When Erica Pierce, the God–like entity called Mothergod, tried to achieve Unity, a convergence of all the timelines, the Geomancers of two eras gathered the heroes of Earth to stop her in one final decisive battle for all eternity in the Lost Land, a place outside time and reality.
==The Noble Inheritor==
As the sun rose on the morning of March 24th 4001, Rentaro Nakadai wondered how many more days he could last while he watched over the island–state of Japan from atop a platform and Grandmother reminded him that he knew he would have to continue until the boy came home. Though Grandmother urged Rentaro to relax, focus, and think of eternal things, like his nation, his people, and her, his thoughts revolved around his aches and pains and how unfair it was that the boy refused to take his turn due to a lack of a sense of duty. Upset, as he had contemplated over 10,000 sunrises, Rentaro wished to sleep late for a change and wanted to drag the boy’s lazy butt back there, but Grandmother told him that that would not solve anything.
When Grandmother detected trouble in the Kyoto plexus, she urged Rentaro to merge into her Nerveweb, and, though he felt too old to do it, he abided. When Rentaro reached the plexus, he witnessed a type of Vi–Robs unlike any Grandmother had seen causing her harm, and as he wondered where they came from, Grandmother theorized that the Anti-Grannies had smuggled one of their replication pods. While Grandmother encapsulated the infected region at Rentaro’s behest and tried to construct a cyst, Rentaro shaped the energy into a staff, the closest thing he would ever get to a fishing pole, and fought the Vi–Robs.
That night, Grandmother brought Tohru to the Skull Dome, where Rentaro rested from injuries he sustained in battle. Though Rentaro urged him to do the job he was born, raised, and trained for, Tohru said that he and his wife, Kazuyo Nakadai, had decided that he would not be the next Rai or give up his son, Takashi Nakadai, to Grandmother for her to train as his replacement. Upset that he would dishonor a thousand-year old tradition, Rentaro stood up to punch Tohru, but, due to his age and injuries, he bested him.
When Grandmother warned Tohru of an impending threat that Rentaro could not defeat, he accepted his birthright while Rentaro retired.
==The Retired Angler==
While Rentaro struggled to catch a fish in a rental pond in the Sony Timeshare park, a Healer approached him and told him that Japan desperately needed him. Though the Healer urged him to use his insights to stop Tohru, who he claimed made a mockery of his title and was a threat to all that Grandmother stood for, Rentaro told him that he was retired and to take his problems up with Tohru.
After the Healer left, Rentaro looked down at his fishing pole, and, when he saw that the fish had escaped, he mused that it was probably for the best, as perhaps he had enough troubles already, like children of his own.
That night at his honor pod in the Hiroshima residential spire, Rentaro read in the news that Tohru had sided with the Humanists for uncertain motives and caused widespread damage that extended the work week, and he pondered that, despite Grandmother’s training and his teachings, he ruined things and needed a spanking.
Days later, Rentaro visited Tohru in the Rai Globe and told him that he was there to talk with him about how he had turned his back on all that Grandmother and the forty Rais before him stood for. After Rentaro chastised him for watching as Grandmother took a hike and left Japan bobbing in space like a float on a fishing line, Tohru told him that it was her choice to leave, but then Rentaro suggested that 1A might had influenced her and Tohru admitted that he had not thought of that.
When a scrambled info–casts report about the discovery of a primary Neopium production facility interrupted their conversation and Tohru left, Rentaro wanted to follow along so they could continue their discussion in the Nerveweb, but he was not strong enough to go after Tohru and stayed behind to wait for him there.
==Genocide==
Late one evening, Rentaro Nakadai visited his son, Tohru Nakadai, in the Rai Globe and gave him a personal field generator so that they could speak outside away from distractions.
As Tohru sat on the edge of a tower, he asked his father what he wanted to tell him and Rentaro told him that he had hoped to show him reason and ask him to become Rai once again. Enraged, Rentaro told Tohru that when he passed the title and power down to him, he figured that he would have a pleasant retirement, but that instead people hounded him and asked him why he sided with Grandmother’s enemies, the Humanists. Upset, Tohru reminded his father that he did not choose to be Rai, a position that was trusted on him by birth, and said that not everyone was born a hero. When Rentaro questioned his respect for tradition, Tohru told him that he respected it and honored, but that he did not know if he could live up to it.
While Tohru apologized to Rentaro for failing to become what he wanted him to and said that he was not sure of what he wanted, he saw the light flashes of an explosion in the horizon and suddenly realized that his father had fooled him into going outside so that he would not hear any alarms and stop the Healers. When Rentaro confessed that he had told the Healers about a device that could bring Grandmother back, Tohru scolded him for telling them and for working against him. Though Rentaro urged him to stay and asked him to forgive him for doing what he had to, Tohru pushed him out of his way and flew toward the hangar.
When the rocket that the Healers constructed to seek out Grandmother collided with the host body as a result of the battle between the Humanists and the Healers, Rentaro watched silently from the outer hull as the vacuum sucked thousands of Japanese citizens into space.
==The Fall of Japan==
When Tohru Nakadai, Magnus, and Gilad Anni-Padda entered the Lost Land, a place outside time and reality, to stop Unity, a convergence of all timelines, the God-like entity called Erica Pierce watched them from her Rainbow Tower and feared that Tohru’s power posed the greater hazard to her plans.
In a bid to turn Tohru away, Erica contacted him as a hologram projected through a Bionisaur and offered him a chance to save his world. After she conjured an image of Japan as it appeared in orbit over the Earth, Erica told Tohru that she was projecting an energy matrix wavelength into his timeline that increased gravitational fields, and then she pushed Japan from orbit to prove her intention.
As Japan dropped Earthward, the suspension support arms deployed automatically throughout the host body to keep the citizens safe.
After Erica gave Tohru a rod that would instantly transport him to Japan and negate the mag–grav field once he arrived, she melted the entrance he used to reach the Lost Land so that, once he left, he could never return. Stuck between Erica’s threat to fill the sky with the blood of millions, and Gilad and Magnus’ rationalization that she wanted him gone because she feared him and their plea that he weigh the millions of lives against the billions that would die if they lost, Tohru shattered the rod, and, in retaliation, Erica destroyed Japan.
As Japan experienced an increased gravity surge that completely decayed its orbit and made an impact with Earth imminent, the technicians in the headland’s unified operations control center initiated dragon mode in an effort to break their fall, even though its missing limb prevented them from safely making planet-fall.
In what felt like an eternity, Japan fell from the sky and crashed into the Indian Ocean, killing millions of people upon impact.
==The Walking Dead==
Following the fall of Japan, Rentaro Nakadai stood on the exterior surface of the wrecked host body along with countless other survivors and mused aloud that it was unseemly for a country to lie sprawled on its back with its broken limbs spread to the world. As Rentaro gazed into the distance, he saw gawkers standing on the mainland and others that approached Japan on sky–vehicles, and mused that he did not recall looters being a problem when Grandmother was the mistress of Japan, but supposed that they would adjust in time.
While Rentaro wondered if the fishing in the Indian Ocean was any good, Rokland Tate, the Geomancer, came up from behind him and he tossed him over his shoulder and onto the hull. As Rokland lay on his back before him, Rentaro told him that, while he might not be a Rai, he did not recall painting a target on his back. After Rokkie asked Rentaro to relax, he asked him if he was Tohru Nakadai’s father and told him that he was there to give him something.
After his daughter-in-law, Kazuyo Nakadai killed Isao Seko, the councilor who sabotaged his Tohru Nakadai’s shuttle, Makiko Minashi, Koji Yama, and the Ninjatrons arrived in a shuttle and Makiko told Kazuyo that she was impressed and a little surprised she killed him because he was the best chance for Humanist rule. As Makiko pulled out a weapon that she intended to shoot Kazuyo with, Rentaro Nakadai rushed towards them and said that their fight was stupid given their situation. When Kazuyo told Rentaro to stay away and that she had nothing to live for, Rentaro signaled Rokkie, who walked up to her with her son, Takashi Nakadai.
Elated to see Takashi, Kazuyo believed that Isao was wrong when he said that he killed him and Tohru, but, to her dismay, Rokkie told her that Tohru gave his life in a struggle to save existence, and because of him the battle was won and he would he honored forever.
Surrounded by the Ninjatrons and with Koji at her side, Makiko told Kazuyo to leave Japan with her family and memories and keep both alive. With Takashi in her arms, Kazuyo said that there had been enough fighting, and told Makiko that, just like Japan would endure, so would they. As Kazuyo walked into the sunset with Takashi and Rentaro, she said that it was time to let the healing begin.
Category: Rai
Category: Characters