Gaignun Kukai Jr.


 * "Jr. #2" and "Jr. #4" redirect here for technical reasons. For the music pages, see Jr. 2 and Jr. 4.

Gaignun Kukai Jr., originally known as Rubedo , is a playable character in the Xenosaga series and the main character of Xenosaga Episode II.

History
Junior is one of the few remaining U.R.T.V.s. He was a designer child specifically designed along with the other U.R.T.V.s to be an anti-thesis to U-DO. While being the age of an adult, he has the physical size of a child, in contrast to the other still living U.R.T.V.s. Each of the U.R.T.V. variants have a special ability and Junior's is to control the growth of his body. Official records have him as the adopted son of Gaignun Kukai and have him as born in the year T.C. 4755 instead of his actual birth year of 4740. Dmitri Yuriev, the creator of the U.R.T.V.s was his male genetic downer.

Junior was born as a conjoined twin with Albedo and as such the two have a close connection to each other. Along with Nigredo they were involved in an experiment to access the subconscious domain of Sakura Mizrahi and were successfully able to interact with each other. Junior formed a friendship with Sakura and was able to communicate her feelings to her mother, Juli in the real world. He agreed to Sakura's request to protect her mother and soon to be born "sister" MOMO. As such Junior feels a close connection to MOMO.

As the leader of the U.R.T.V.s, Junior was in charge of the operation when they tried to subdue U-DO on Old Miltia during the Miltian Conflict. However Junior panicked when witnessing the potential destruction of the planet and cut the link. This resulted in other U.R.T.V.s getting infected by U-DO and going out of control. This also happened to Albedo, who was never the same. Junior was eventually recovered by chaos and Canaan.

Episode I
Junior first appears investigating the disappearance of Ariadne and the destroyed Woglinde via his ship the Durandal. The Durandal is come upon by a U-TIC Battleship and the two do battle, with the Durandal coming out on top. Junior heads inside the battleship along with colleague Mary and an unnamed soldier to investigate further but are unable to come away with the enemy mainframe information they seek after it is destroyed by U-TIC soldiers.

Investigating the Zohar Emulator, Junior ends up bringing the Durandal to the region of space where the Cathedral Ship is and is able to recover the Elsa and the party members occupying it. Shion and the others head to the bridge to meet him. Junior takes everyone back to the Kukai Foundation. Along the way, Junior brings Shion and the others to a large chamber in the Durandal where they are storing the Zohar Emulators, as well as humans who have started turning into gnosis. Junior explains the origin of the Kukai Foundation to the party. Later, Junior is seen talking to Gaignun about KOS-MOS and Shion. Junior also sounds concerned for MOMO. Gaignun gives him a gift, a Makarov gun. Junior hopes to cheer up Shion as well and invites her and the others to the beach within the Kukai Foundation. Shion wonders about Junior and Gaignun's relationship and if they are brothers, father and son or clones of each other. Thinking they may split up from each other in the near future, Junior provides MOMO with a bracelet keepsake.

When the Kukai Foundation is framed by the U-TIC Organization for destroying the Woglinde, Junior is arrested along with the other party members and speculates that this is occurring due to the rights and legal privileges that Second Miltia has been invested with. When the party heads into the Encephalon within KOS-MOS to try and prove their innocence, Junior is brought along with Ziggy and MOMO to the streets of Old Miltia where he sees other infected U.R.T.V.s walking by who start firing. He sees a young Gaignun searching for him. Junion also has a vision of himself saving a young Gaignun from a young Albedo. Junior later has a vision of Albedo in a crazed state.

When a massive amount of gnosis starts appearing Junior orders all the civilians of the Kukai Foundation to head aboard the Durandal. When MOMO disappears and the Song of Nephilim appears, Junior starts having a bad feeling as if he's being dragged into an abyss. Junior feels Albedo's presence and orders the Elsa to head to the Song of Nephilim. He and Ziggy argue over who is going to rescue MOMO but head there together, with him warning the others about Albedo. Junior still feels that this is his responsibility on his own after entering but the other party members accompany him. They come across Albedo, who is holding MOMO and a Kirschwasser who was taking on MOMO's appearance tries to strangle him. Junior unleashes his power to get her off of him and grows more frustrated with Albeodo, shooting at him and unleashing his power again. This merely knocks Albedo away from MOMO but doesn't harm him. Albedo and Junior's power grows stronger, but MOMO is able to break them up. With the appearance of the Blue Testament, Albedo is able to escape but Junior and the others recover MOMO.

Albedo taunts Junior as he resurrects the Proto Merkabah. Junior and the others head into Proto Merkabah in order to stop him. At the core of Proto Merkabah Junior questions Albedo on why he is doing what he's doing. Albedo claims to be doing it for Junior's sake and asks if he has forgotten what he did to him and the other U.R.T.V.s when he severed the mental link to them 14 years prior causing them to succumb to the Song of Nephilim. Junior admits to not being able to control his fear. Albedo departs, forcing Junior and the others to defeat the gnosis formed with the reactor. Junior escapes along with the others to the Elsa which makes its way to Second Miltia.

Episode II
At the start of the game Junior arrives at Second Miltia along with the others. They are pursued by Richard and Hermann, and eventually Pellegri, who hope to seize MOMO. Junior takes part in fighting them off, and Canaan eventually arrives to help out on the Asher. Afterwards, Junior accompanies chaos to the Moby Dick's Cafe where they encounter Shion and then Jin. Junior accompanies them to the Uzuki Residence where he is excited to see all the books that Jin has gathered. Later, Junior takes part in the operation to dive into MOMO's subconscious to access the Y-Data. Before hand he talks with Juli, concerned about the way she is treating MOMO. When it is revealed that Albedo has left a trap within MOMO's subconscious, Junior and the others dive into the subconscious themselves. While there, Albedo manipulates Junior to increase his anger, causing MOMO to awaken such that Albedo can seize the Y-Data and open the seal to Old Miltia. As Albedo fades away, Junior feels a pain in his heart where he and Albedo used to be connected.

Junior takes part in an operation to head down to Old Miltia to try and acquire the Zohar before the Immigrant Fleet is able to. At this point he takes the lead on piloting Asher, which was previously piloted by Canaan and chaos. After Old Miltia is destroyed and becomes the Omega System, Junior is contacted by the recently revived Dmitri Yuriev. Junior is shocked and angry to see that his "father" has returned. Yuriev tells him to eliminate Albedo. Albedo appears at the Omega System when Junior and the others confront Sergius, and Albedo is disintegrated by Proto Omega's cannon. Junior is upset by this, saying only he can take Albedo out. After Sergius is killed by the Testaments, Albedo is revived and links with U-DO, forming the Space Time Anomaly. Junior decides to head into the Space Time Anomaly to have one final confrontation with Albedo. He speaks with Ziggy and MOMO, and then heads inside on his own in Asher.

While in the Space Time Anomaly, Junior is confronted by various visions of Albedo as a child, as well as Albedo attacking Sakura, which are intended to make him more angry. Junior eventually comes upon Albedo for real and they battle one another, with Junior defeating and killing him. While victorious, Junior is still sad about Albedo losing his life and leaving him, feeling as if he's lost half his body. Junior is picked up by chaos and returned back to the Durandal where he reunites with the others. In the epilogue of the game it is revealed that Junior has found an albino dog which he calls Alby.