Tabidate! Rowdyruff Boys Z!
Disclaimer: Same as always
Flashback…
"Oni-san, wait up!" shouted a young Hoji.
"Hey, why do we have to be so far from home, Oni-san?" asked Hoji to his brother, Takaaki.
While Hoji and Takaaki were twins, Hoji always had the tendency to act like a younger brother, considering that he was born only two minutes after Takaaki, and that's saying something.
"Relax Hoji, I just want to show you this trick I learned" said Takaaki, then he took out a bubble wand, then he blew into it, as it did, smaller bubbles entered into a larger one.
"Wow, that's amazing!" said Hoji, astonished.
"Yeah, and wait until you see this…" said Takaaki, suddenly, all the bubbles inside popped, and then, the larger one popped a second later.
"Uh, was that supposed to happen?" asked Hoji.
"Darn, I thought I finally got it" said Takaaki.
"Got what?" asked Hoji.
"It's a trick I've been working on for quite a while; I call it the Shabon Freedom" said Takaaki.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll get it one day" said Hoji; he then picked up the bubble wand, and blew into it, producing smaller bubbles in a bigger one, suddenly, the big one popped, and the smaller ones floated in air for a split second until they popped too.
"Hoji, you did it!" said Takaaki, astonished.
"Huh? Did what?" asked Hoji, a bit confused.
"You did the Shabon Freedom!" exclaimed Takaaki.
We were the best of friends, we practiced, and practiced, until we finally got it right, I was almost as happy for Takaaki as I was for myself… but then…
Hoji and Takaaki were on a train, since their family was getting ready to move to Tokyo soon because of a job offer their father got, and the pay was really good too.
All I heard after that… was a loud boom
An explosion sounded and everything went up in flames.
I thought I was gonna die…
End Flashback…
Hoji woke up immediately; sweat streaming down his face…
"Takaaki, I'm sorry, if only I… I'm sorry I couldn't… save you…" he said sullenly before getting up.
(A/N: Because Hoji thought Takaaki died, he never looked for him)
Hoji went to the dining room where his godmother- Marika Reimon, was preparing breakfast for him.
"Hoji, you look pale, did you have, it… again?" asked Marika concernedly.
"Yeah, mom, I did" answered Hoji.
Even though Marika wasn't his real mother, she was as loving as they came, and brought Hoji into a tight hug to ease his pain.
Later…
Hoji went to the boy's usual hangout of the Dino House Café.
He was surprised to see the other guys and Mr. Sugishita deep in conversation, which is quite unnatural considering that Sion would usually be snacking and Yousuke would usually be playing the Rangers Strike card game with Ryuunosuke.
"Hey guys, what's up?" asked Hoji.
"Hey Hoji, didn't you hear? The Powerpuff Girls Z were kidnapped!" said Sion.
"What?!" exclaimed Hoji in shock and surprise.
"You mean you didn't know? It was on the news, heck, it even made it to the websites!" said Yousuke.
"Websites?" asked Hoji.
"Uh… never mind that. But anyway, we found this video of the kidnapping at the lab" said Yousuke.
"How did you get the video?" asked Hoji.
"Sugishita-sama got it" said Yousuke.
"And how did Sugishita-sama get his hands on it?" asked Hoji again.
"Well he… hey, Sugishita-sama, how exactly did you get this video?" asked Yousuke as he turned to Ryuunosuke.
"Well… I just have… sources" replied Ryuunosuke.
"Anyway, you gotta check this…" said Yousuke.
Video…
The PPGZ were doing the same usual before the kidnapping, just then, the lights went out and Ken went to check it out as usual.
Just then, the girls started some kind of a conversation…
"Hey guys, I've been thinking…" asked Kaoru.
"Yeah Kaoru?" asked Momoko.
"Well, I'm not really sure, but, I actually think I might actually, like a… guy" said Kaoru shyly.
"WHAT! I can't believe, you actually like someone, who is he?!" shouted Momoko.
"Momoko! You're acting up again! This is why I DON'T like confiding with you!" said Kaoru firmly.
Momoko collected herself from that outburst.
"Eh-heh, sorry about that Kaoru, it's just, you don't strike me as a girl that can actually like a boy, and in THAT kind of way" said Momoko, hinting at a certain topic.
"Well, no, I'd actually think of him, more of a friend, a rival even, but… I got this weird feeling from him just today, I wanted someone who has more "expertise" at this thing to see if it was exactly what I thought it was, but it looks like that was a mistake" said Kaoru glumly.
"Ah, don't fret Kaoru, all you gotta do is show that you have feelings for him, and if he doesn't like you, problem solved! I think…"
Stop Video…
"Come to think of it, you've been meeting with Kaoru for quite some time, Haven't you, Sion?" asked Yousuke…
"Just continue the video!" said Sion with a blush.
Video again…
Kaoru just grumbled and went silent, unable to think properly for having confided in Momoko.
With no one else, Momoko turned to Miyako.
"So Miyako, what's on your mind? You seem kinda distant today" asked Momoko.
"Oh, it's nothing…" said Miyako.
"Oh come on, tell me tell me tellmetellmetellmetellmetellme"
"Alright, I'll tell you! Well, you see, I met someone today… someone… I never expected" said Miyako in a soft-spoken voice.
"OOHH…! Was it your Shabon Knight?!" asked Momoko hastily.
"Well… not exactly, it was his brother… I never knew he had one though"
Stop Video…
"Hey! What was that about?!" asked Yousuke.
She knows Takaaki? Thought Hoji, for he had always taken his twin brother for dead these past couple of years.
"Hello? Earth to Hoji?" said Yousuke, snapping him back to existence.
"Oh… sorry" apologized Hoji.
Video…
"Wow, that would come to a surprise, so how was he…"
CRASH!
"What the-!"
Suddenly, an army of strange orange-skinned guys with moustaches and pirate shorts with cutlasses or something like that came storming in, constantly yelling "Yatotto! Yatotto!" and grabbing the girls.
"Hey, let go of ME!!" shouted Momoko.
"What are you doing, let me go!!" shouted Miyako.
"Hey, hands of you RUNTS!" shouted Kaoru.
Elsewhere in the room, the three visitors who came to the Rowdyruff Boys Z came out from the doors.
"These subjects will do nicely for the Daitanix…" said the samurai.
"Yup, with these wretches will do just fine, Zahab will be pleased…" said the guy in the leather jacket.
"What are you trying to do with us?!" shouted Momoko.
"Oh, don't worry, we don't intend to do anything, that's all up to our good friend- the Captain, take them back to the Arakure Mutekijou!" commanded the guy in the pirate suit.
The Girls shouted and begged to be freed, but that was all they could do as they left from the video's sight…
Stop Video…
The boys didn't know what to make of it; they just sat in momentary surprise and shock.
"Who were those guys?" asked Sion.
"And what was that talk about a… Daitanix?" asked Yousuke.
"It was probably the Evil Space Pirates of the Barban" said Ryuunosuke from out of nowhere.
Everyone immediately looked at him.
"How do you know this, Sugishita-sama?" asked Yousuke.
"Well… I… I just do… so let's leave it at that. Anyway, I believe the ones who kidnapped the Powerpuff Girls Z must have been from the Barban Space Pirates.
"Who are these Barban Space Pirates, anyway?" asked Hoji.
"Very well, but first, I'll start with a little fairy tale. Do you boys know about the secret legend of the Gingaforest?" asked Ryuunosuke.
"Of course! I grew up with it!" exclaimed Yousuke.
"Well, let me tell you about it then. Long ago, deep within the dark vastness of space, borne from the corruption and death of a star, was a great and terrible creature of immense power, this creature was known as the Daitanix. Having been born from this foulness, the Daitanix sought only to devour all other stars in the galaxy, stealing their life energies and reducing them into jewels, all of which grant whosoever bears them, immortality. An army of evil space pirates, known as the Barban, came and built their castle, the back of the foul creature itself to serve as the foundation, in order to tame the monstrosity. One by one, stars throughout the Milky Way were devoured and destroyed, reduced to serve the Barban's whims. Evetually, they turned to Earth, seeking to destroy the planet and turning it into a star to absorb. But they were stopped…"
"How so?" asked Sion, not really familiar with this legend.
"How? By an alliance… a benevolent race of sentient, giant creatures known as the Seijuu came to Earth and formed a pact with a group of five humans to help put an end to the Daitanix and stop its path of destruction. These chosen heroes would go down in legend as the Gingamen…"
"Aha! You see!? I knew it!! The Gingamen are real!" exclaimed Yousuke triumphantly.
"Yousuke! Quiet, we're trying to get to get the full picture here!" shouted Hoji.
"Oh, sorry…" he quickly apologized.
"To continue, the Gingamen and the Seijuu clashed for several long days against the Barban and the Daitanix, but, long story short, they finally killed the Daitanix and sealed its corpse as well as the rest of the Barban pirates beneath the Earth, never to be freed…" concluded Sugishita-sama.
"So… let me get this straight, the Barban space Pirates invaded our planet in ancient times, and now their freed and kidnapped the girls, so… how exactly were they set free?" asked Hoji.
"Well… do you remember when that mysterious iceberg appeared in Tokyo Bay? When it was suddenly destroyed, it must have caused a cataclysmic shift in the Earth's plates, creating an earthquake of such immense magnitude it broke the seal and freed the Barbans."
(A/N: In this way, it is partly Ken's fault that the Barbans were released)
"So what? Are we supposed to, like, save them or something?" asked Sion.
Everyone looked at him like he was dense or something.
"Oh, come on!... Seriously?" he asked again.
"Hey, even if we wanted them to be in this little predicament, they've kinda grown on us, you know?" said Yousuke.
"And besides, one of them knows my brother is alive, I gotta know" said Hoji.
Sion was cornered, there was no way out of this logical argument, not that he was anywhere near logical.
"Fine, you got me, so where do we start looking?" asked Sion.
"First, we'll take a little trip to the Silver Star Ranch, then, we'll hoof it from there" said Ryuunosuke.
"Why would we wanna go there?" asked Sion.
"Because… an old friend of mine who works there knows about the Barbans much more extensively than me, and also, we might be able to get someone to help us in this as well."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" exclaimed Yousuke.
Later…
The two-hour drive to Silver Star Ranch was uneventful, except for the music which was currently being played and Sion's snacking sounds for bringing some potato chips for the ride.
Finally, they arrived at the Ranch, it was a bit stereotypical if looked in the usual way: lots of cabins here and there, dotted with some stables and horses and the such.
There, a man came and greeted the boys and Ryuunosuke.
"Sugishita! It's nice to meet you here!" said the man.
"It's good to see you too, Haruhiko! How have you been?"
"Never better, but now that you're here, why not come inside? Ah, I see you've brought some friends along" said Haruhiko, looking at the boys.
Later…
"So… the Barbans have been acting up again, have they? I'm not surprised, lately; something's been riling up the local wildlife in Gingaforest, I'd thought something was going down there, but I had my suspicions about the Barbans, Ryouma told me that they had been appearing once or twice. But never have I imagined them sneaking past and into the city to kidnap Tokyo's greatest defenders, the Powerpuff girls Z!" remarked Haruhiko.
"What do you think they wanted with them?" asked Ryuunosuke.
"No doubt to re-empower the Daitanix" said Haruhiko.
"But isn't the Daitanix already dead?" asked Hoji.
"It is, but a being of that power level does pose the strongest possibility to be revived, and all it would require is some form of energy source, no doubt that's where the girls factor into the equation."
"So now what? We now know the motive, but not the location of where they might be" said Hoji.
Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard.
"What was that!?" exclaimed Yousuke.
"It can't be… sorry Ryuunosuke, but I must see what is going on!" exclaimed Haruhiko.
"Wait! Haruhiko!" but he was out of sight before Ryuunosuke could reach the door.
"Boys, we must go and see what's going on!" said Ryuunosuke to the boys.
"Alright! I was so bored I'd thought we'd never get into any action!" exclaimed Sion.
Outside…
A monster which somewhat resembled a man-sized red oni wearing equally red samurai armor and accompanied by the orange-skinned pirate seamen who looked like the ones who kidnapped girls approached a pedestal with a canopy on it, placed on the pedestal.
"Ahahahahaha!! Finally, after months of searching, we've finally found the Lights of Ginga!" he shouted in glee.
Suddenly, a warrior wearing a red suit and a lion-themed helmet jumped from out of nowhere, bearing arms… er… sword against them.
"Hold it right there, Dotoumusha! You will not steal the Lights of Ginga!" said the warrior.
"GingaRed! How unsurprising, when will you Gingamen learn that you cannot stop the Barbans or the Daitanix!?" shouted Dotoumusha.
"Because, we Gingamen defeated you once! And that was 3000 years ago, and we can do so again, today!" shouted GingaRed.
"Ha! I have no time for this! Yartots! Kill this fool while I make my way back to the Arakure Mutekijou!" and Dotoumusha ran as fast as he could away with the urn that held the Lights of Ginga.
"Stop!" but GingaRed was impeded by the Yartots, moronically shouting "Yatotto! Yatotto!" as he saw them rush for him.
"Ryouma! What happened!?" it was Haruhiko.
"Haruhiko!? Get back, it's dangerous!" shouted Ryouma aka GingaRed.
Just then, Ryuunosuke and the boys arrived on the scene.
"What's going on here?!" shouted Yousuke.
Haruhiko looked at the broken pedestal, and his worst fears were realized, the Lights of Ginga were stolen.
"Oh my goodness, the Lights have been stolen!" Haruhiko shouted.
"Haruhiko! Would you please give us some enlightenment here?" demanded Sugishita.
"Well, what was once on that pedestal over there is an ancient power called the Lights of Ginga, if whoever stole it is working for Barban, then it can only mean one thing…"
A chill suddenly went down their spines, "The Daitanix…" suddenly crossed their thoughts.
"Ryouma! Which way did the Lights go!?" exclaimed Haruhiko.
"That way, Hyah!" shouted Ryouma as he hit another Yartot.
"Boys, you're gonna have to go and get the Lights back yourselves!" said Sugishita.
"But why us?" they said in unison.
"Because there's no time! We'll catch up with you later! Now go!"
And off they went in the direction of Dotoumusha.
Finally, the sprinting alien samurai was in sight.
"Stop right there!" shouted Yousuke.
The samurai stopped, as if on cue. Then, turning around, he came face to face with the boys and Murphy, their robo-dog companion.
"So… you little boys think you can face one of the Barban!? Do you!?!" shouted Dotoumusha.
"Shut up, you freak!" shouted Yousuke.
"Yeah, 'cause we're so gonna totally own you!" said Sion.
"Ha! You won't be so smug once I unleash the power of the Lights against you!" shouted Dotoumusha, and he opened the urn containing the Lights. Suddenly, everything began to move violently, the trees, the grass, everything, as if a brisk wind was passing around them, and a golden glowing ball of bright light emerged near Dotoumusha.
"Behold! The Lights of Ginga! Not even your powers will be able to stop me once I've fused with its mighty energies!" he shouted as he brought the lights onto his hands, and pulled them into his body, as the lights disappeared by some mysterious shadows on Dotoumusha's chest.
Dotoumusha then mutated into something more, with some appendages growing from his back, and his left hand transforming into some sort of a pincer-like blade with black serrations.
"Now, feel my fury!" and he charged up his samurai sword by running the pincer blade and releasing the pent up energy on the boys in a shockwave slash.
The boys fell on their backs by the attack, but managed to get back on their feet.
"Ha! That's nothing! okay guys, Let's do this!" exclaimed Yousuke.
"Burning Brick!"
"Rapid Boomer!"
"Crushing Butch!"
"Now we'll see who has the last laughs!" said Brick.
"Bring it on!" said Dotoumusha.
Boomer went up first and rushed at Dotoumusha with his rod, then Butch came up after that, and then Brick with the Battlizer.
Boomer jumped up and tried to hit him high and Butch down low, but Dotoumusha countered Boomer which sent him flying back, and he kicked Butch out a ways.
Brick attacked him from behind, but Dotoumusha raised his sword to defend his back, and deflected Brick's attack easily, repelling backwards a few ways too.
Boomer jumped up, ready to perform his Silver Wolf Full Moon Cut, the attack caught Dotoumusha off guard briefly, and he managed to land a hit on him, sending Dotoumusha flying back a ways, the other boys dashing to his side.
"Did I get you?" asked Boomer to the unconscious Dotoumusha.
"Not even close…" and Dotoumusha immediately jumped back up and dashed at incredible speeds, hitting the boys with repeated assaults until they fell once again on their backs.
"Just give up! You're even weaker than the Gingamen!" shouted Dotoumusha.
"What!? Oh man, you are so gonna pay for that! You can pound me, trash me, and just plain toss me around like a baseball, but nobody and I mean nobody, ever calls me anything like that, now you're gonna get it!!" bellowed Butch as he rose to his feet.
"Well, well, well, the wimp actually has some bark, let's see if you've got any bite!" shouted Dotoumusha, and he did his charged slash.
But Butch dodged it easily and started lashing at Dotoumusha with all the anger in his systems enhancing his blows, and performing his Super V-Slash Swipe, effectively turning the tide in their favor.
"Alright, way to deal it to that punk, huh, Butch?" said Brick.
"Yeah, but it looks like he's still kicking" said Butch, looking at Dotoumusha who was rising up from Butch's blows.
"Don't worry, I got just the thing" said Brick.
Then he tossed a sort of object which resembled a black and white dumbbell into the air, Murphy grabbed it like a bone, and then he contorted into a sort of cannon.
"Whoa! When did you get this upgrade?" asked Boomer.
"It's nothing new really; all I needed to do was get him to grip the Key Bone and presto! He's all the heavy firepower we'll need, it's called the D-Bazooka" said Brick confidently.
"Well, whatever it is, let's finish this guy!" said Butch.
Then they held the D-Bazooka up at different angles and took aim at Dotoumusha.
"Ready!" cried Boomer.
"Aim!" bellowed Butch.
"FIRE!" shouted all of them in unison.
And they launched a massive ball of fire at Dotoumusha's direction, finally defeating the alien samurai.
They turned around towards the audience, Brick holding Murphy up with both of his hands at his side, while Butch and Boomer did a thumbs down as Dotoumusha fell to his knees, crackling with energy, then falling face-first into the ground followed by a huge explosion.
After that, Haruhiko, Ryuunosuke and Ryouma managed to catch up with them.
"Did you get the one who stole the Lights?" asked Ryuunosuke.
"Yeah, what's left of him is over there" said Brick, pointing over where Dotoumusha just was.
Suddenly, everything started moving violently again, and the glowing Lights of Ginga emerged behind the boys, everyone looked at it as it shined brightly, suddenly, it broke into three separate lights and dashed towards the boys, turning them back into their normal forms and knocking them unconscious.
Later…
The Boys were taken back to the ranch and placed on some beds.
"What happened out there?" asked Ryuunosuke.
"I'm not sure, the Lights of Ginga never made a reaction like this before" said Ryouma, who was also now wearing civilian clothes.
"Well, whatever the case, they should get some rest, we can continue our search for the Powerpuff Girls Z later, I just hope we won't be too late" said Haruhiko, and they all left the room.
After they left, the Black Aura of the Rowdyruff Boys began to pulsate violently, but then, it instantaneously disappeared, only to be replaced by a golden glowing aura…
Elsewhere…
Jinno is in a dark, indistinguishable room, when his stone bracelet suddenly glowed purple, "Well, how about that? It looks like things are going to get a little more interesting from here on."
The Arakure Mutekijou…
"Gregory, how is the energy transfer device going?" asked Captain Zahab.
"Preparations are proceeding admirably, it won't be long now, Captain" said Gregory.
"Yes, it definitely won't…" Zahab said looking at the tied-up, unconscious girls strapped to the walls of his dungeon.
End of Chapter…
A/N: We're almost at the end, hold on now.
