ditto for the Vandread saga, don't you think?
--a440
CHAPTER 20: THE QUEEN IS GONE
Gascogne, for her part, gave another week or so for everyone to recover from the party spirit of the wedding as well as time for Hibiki and Jura to complete their honeymoon, which would be at the time the repairs would be completed on the Nirvana. So maybe at last, the Van pilot and the Dread diva got what they wanted, and more. Well, maybe even more than that even before their marriage when after they had"practiced" their kiss on the June 15 before the wedding day, they went back inside the apartment and shared a bottle of cough syrup before falling into the its strong effects, and were soon staring at the screen, which was showing (what else?) Animals Close Up with A Wide Angled Lens, as well as singing out with I Like Bananas, Because They Have No Bones, to Gascogne's amusement, as she muttered, "Deja vu."
Looking back on their wedding night and honeymoon, Hibiki (reluctantly) had to admit that at first, he wasn't sure how to love, until Jura showed him the way, before all the bottled up love the hothead had for years exploded loose, as if he had fell in love before, he and the blonde loving every moment of it. Maybe the diva HAD been right that there were hidden feelings of love, something that the Harvest and the PSE were unable to supress.
Now on the morning that the Vandread team (who were back in their normal duds since the day after the wedding) were ready to depart from Dredge, Jura and Cara were taking one last look at the garden where the wedding took place, then the apartment where the Dread diva had spent her childhood, with the regret of havingto depart for the second time. Then, they met with Gascogne and co in the central street, a yard or so from the Sector 27 roadhouse.
"Finished with your trip down Memory Lane?" said Gascogne.
"Yup," said Jura, who now held onto Hibiki's hand, a look of melencholy on her face. "Sometimes you can't help but feel sentimental. "I do hope the war can be over and the earth terraformed back to what it was before. I dream of living in Toronto, and someday opening a restraunt so that I can create a unique selection of food--something for everyone. In the summer, I'd like to live in Tokyo and help Hibiki here design the latest in fashionable mecha."
Grinning at that, the hothead said, "Who was it that said you couldn't have the best of both worlds?"
"I'd like to live in Tucumcari," said Dita, "and start a UFO preservation research and preservation group."
"True to form," said Gascogne, "Vegas for the win with me, so I can work as a card dealer in a casino."
"San Francisco for me," said Misty, "so I can work on developing the resources of the ocean."
"Give me Chicago," said Barnette, "so I can work in a deep dish pizza joint."
"Make mine New York City," said Cara, "and I can work in a hot dog place."
"Do you think," said Tsitra, "they would allow me and Bart to live in Long Beach, so that we start a place that specializes in wine and cheese?"
"Sure," said Bart, "which would start a new lease for Garsus Foods."
"I prefer a curio shop in Philadelphia," said Gie Bele, "as it settles me down to a safer peace of mind, don't you think?"
"Me?" said Meia. "My choice would be Miami, so that I could start a small roadhouse bar on South Beach."
"I'd rather prefer London," said Duero, "so that we can help a much needed nation in heath and repairs, as in humans and machines."
"And that ain't all," said Parfet. "Duero, get on with it, tell the group the latest good news that you told me."
"Latest good news?" said Gascogne.
"Well spit it out," said Meia, "don't dilly dally."
Pausing, the medical mastermind said, "Believe me it's no joke; during the last few days we were here, after the wedding, I examined Jura and it's official--she's pregnant with the hope of a baby girl, so it seems her dream's finally came true."
"WHOO-HOO!!" chirped Jura, who jumped up, clapping. "One of my dreams came true at last!! And all in the name of real love!!"
"As long as it was in marriage to start with," said Hibiki. "Wait, I gave you a baby?!? Holy cow, now I feel even more strung out!!"
"How 'bout that?" said Gascogne. "Hibiki, looks like you two got another mouth to feed in bringing the balance back to the genders."
"YAY!! Like I said, congrats to the poop-a-doop and to the J-gal," said Barnette.
"Congratulations on your efforts," said Tsitra.
"I repeat, way to go, Hibiki," said Bart.
"Well done, to say the least," said Gie Bele.
"The first couple to concieve and it's Hibki and Jura Tokai--RAH!!" said Cara.
"At least someone was able to have the first baby in years since Ezra," said Dita.
"Maybe it'll be my turn, should I marry a lucky fellow."
"Yay for our Lord Prince and our Lady Princess," said Misty.
"Good for you two," said Meia. "Looks like something good did come out from that reunion, so I say you did the right thing in coming to the reunion."
"Like I said," said Hibiki, "don't remind me."
"Anyhoo," said Gascogne, "as soon as the Empress Vanna arrives, we're bound for the Nirvana for refueling, repairs and preperation before we take off for La Placa to take out the Apocalypse Engine. Jura, if you've got any last goodbys to say to your friends in the city, do it now, while you can, OK? We'll wait."
"Thanks," said Jura. "I'll be back in a few" Then turning to Hibiki, she shared a kiss and said,
"When all is said and done with the war with the PSE and saving the earth, the worst will finally be over.........and with it, a new hope, that others may live......."
It was hard to say if the Van pilot was embarassed for what hppened next, especially when it came to saying it before his fellow Vandread crew mates, but all the same, he hesitantly said to the Dread diva, "I love you..............."
"I know," said the blonde. "I'll try to hurry back."
After one last quick kiss with Hibiki, Jura ran into the Sector 27 building.......a few seconds before Vanna came up and said, "So, is everyone ready to take out that Apocalypse Engine to save the future?"
"Soon as Jura finishes her goodbys with her friends," said Meia. "Again, thanks for all your help."
"Anytime at all," said the CE Empress. "We Balderonians were born to help in any circumstances insofar--oh no.......!!" Placing her right hand thumb, index and center fingers to her head, she tensed up in fear and said, "Holy bad timing!! Jura's in danger!! The last traces of The Boogaloos known as the Juddins came in Sector 27 through the back way, raided the roadhouse and they've got poor Jura!! How's that for bad timing?"
"In one go?" said Meia. "You've got to be joking."
As if to put aside Meia's doubts, what happened next was Jura shouting from inside Sector 27, "Let go!! I SAID, let GO!!"
"Pipe down and stop giving the orders here!!" said a female Austrailian accented voice, more mature and cutting. "We forbid you to say stuff like that to us in such a manner!!" That was followed with the sound of a slap.
"I knew we should've gone after those remaining Boogaloos!!" grumbled Hibiki.
"Who's the dummy that said the worst would be over?" said Gascogne, as she and the rest darted inside Sector 27--
--and were confronted with a dreadful sight; many of the patrons were cowering under the tables, Severin hiding behind his bar, Jiggy Jiggy Juddin in the center of the room, brandishing his phaser rifle saying, "Don't any of you try to play hero nor heroine, lest it ruin our plans for revenge!!" and worst of all, nearby, Pee Cee Bee and Harlow, hoisting up high over them, wrapped up mummylike from ankles to shoulders, in a silvery ribbonlike material known as conwebbing, writhing and trying to break free, Jura.
"Jiggy.....!!" said Vanna. "You've gone too far."
"Don't give me any orders, you so called sovergin!!" sneered the Boogaloo leader. "You're a has been compared to our great power!! Call yourself an Empress? Don't make me laugh!! If you wanna be a real ruler, expect to be crowned, so be careful who you worship, or you might get brain damage.. PARTY ON!!"
"Since when is it your ambition to steal a woman like Jura?" said Gie Bele. "On the other hand, I understand your idiotic reasons for doing so."
"Too right," said Jiggy, "ever since you and your General friend botched up our operations on Balderon and murdered my pet Spanger."
"You mean that manticore thing down in the dungeon?" said Tsitra. "You know, that was an unkind cut, dropping me and Gie Bele down that chute."
"So what else is new?" said Pee Cee Bee. "Anyhow, if you want your cougar friend alive, try to get me, my husband and my sister in law if you can. Then we'll negotiate her for the PSE Major and General in exchange."
"Otherwise," added Harlow. "please do the world a favor and go chop you stinky head off if you wanna part ways from your Jura friend." And on that, she, Pee Cee Bee and Jiggy ran back where they came from, down a long hall in the back of the building and out the exit, carrying the bound writhing Jura with them, Gascogne and co. following, out into an alley and into another street, with no sign of the Juddins.
"They got away," said Barnette.
"Great," said Hibiki, "how're we likely to track down those #%*^& Boogaloos in a huge city now?!?"
"Like you had to ask," muttered Gascogne.
"But wait," said Vanna, "you can't underestimate the power of the CTI telepathy which senses their brain wave patterns;
even now, I just tracked them to where're they're hiding with Jura--in a storage goods wharehouse 7000 yards on the east side of the city, Building #413."
"If you ask me," said Dita, "all that CTI hocus pocus does is bring bad news."
"Not always," said Xaan, who, along with Jessica and Rael, just arrived, adding to Vanna, "We got your word on the comm and we got a battalion of the Bollix retinue standing by."
"Well done," said CE Empress, adding to the others, "If you're through singing the blues, let's hurry and save Jura from a death worse than fate."
"And soon," said Meia, before she and the group ran down the dusty street, Cara running after them, and calling out, "Y-yo,
wait up!!".
Moments later, Hibiki & Co. were standing before Building #413, a white stucco blockhouse like building that stood 21 feet high and 30 feet long in the slum section of Dredge, and all seemed quiet inside and out.
"OK, jokers, listen up," said Gascogne, "we've got to get Jura out from the jam she's in and and boo those Boogaloos to justice, but remember, they've also got the CTI whatever it is, just like Vanna's CE bunch, so stay on your toes."
"Easier said than done," muttered Hibiki, "when I feel so strung out from what those ^&*%#$s did just now."
"Don't be a stick in the mud, huh?" said Meia. "Well, let's get started."
Trying to be discreet as possible (no easy task), the Vandread crew sneaked up to the main entrance of the building; from their vantage point at the threshold on the doorway, the group could see the utilitarian interior of the warehouse: containers, crates, boxes and drums of the city's goods all stored here--along with the bodies of the staff shot dead by the Juddins, no doubt. And there, several yards from theentrance, all the way at the back of the warehouse, were Jiggy Jiggy, Pee Cee Bee and Harlow, with their rifles--and before them, still mummy wrapped in the silver conwebbing ribbon, and tied to a support post with more of the said ribbon, was Jura, who now shrilled out at 21 decibels, "LET...............ME..............GO!!!!" "Quiet!! You're in no position to give the orders here!!" roared Jiggy, who vigorously slapped the blonde's face. "Now, or ever at all!! Even if you're a saucy cougar, I make the rules!! And you WILL OBEY!! In fact, you're our first cougar for our slave trade, wheeeee!!!!"
"Not to mention our ideal hostage for our demands," said Pee Cee Bee.
"But what that Major Taltli and her buddy General doesn't know is," said Harlow,"even if they surrender to us, we'll STILL keep the blonde cougar for oursevles for our own special purposes!!"
Chortling, Jiggy said, "Along with Taltli and Steg as well!! PARTY ON!!"
"PARTY ON!!" said Pee Cee and Harlow.
"Did youse hear that?" hissed Cara. "They would claim Jura anyway, even if we did give them Tsitra and Gie Bele."
"Just what my CTI senses verified," said Jessica. "Those Juddin devils were born double crossers."
"We've got to break up the play, here and now," said Gie Bele.
"Right said," said Tsitra.
With that, the group entered the building, the Juddins turning to them, Jiggy saying, "So, you've reached a decision on surrendering Taltli and Steg Garsus to me, right? After all, we've got payback time for the Vouivre's destruction, the arrest of my fellow Boogaloos as well as your tresspassing in my parlor of our operations."
"Can it you," said Hibiki. "We overheard your double crossing plans so all bets're off!! I want my wife back!!"
"YAP!! ("NO!!") roared Jiggy. "You can't tell the Juddins anything!! We're a law unto ourselves and to give up our piggy bank cougar here would defeat our plans so why don't you man up and suck it up and enjoy it?
Smile!! You're dead!! As will the rest of you losers here. Just what makes you think you can play the game? And don't you have school tomorrow?"
"&^$#%* Balderonian hyenas," said Dita.
"It's the hot seat for you," said Misty.
"I dont care WHO it is, you will be gone," said Barnette.
"Just say the word. I have made grown men and women cry. It's child's play. Just try me," said Meia.
"What is wrong with you guys?" said Bart.
"Stuff like that just makes you look heartless," said Duero.
"Didn't your mom tell you crime wasn't a sutable trade?" said Parfet.
"Shame, shame on youse, U-PIG!!" said Cara.
"In case you forgot, pride comes before a downfall," said Tsitra.
"You were warned several times about badmouthing those that came you way--you didn't stop so we'll stop it for you. You're done here," said Gie Bele.
"You just as bad as those theater critics," said Gascogne.
"Give it up, Jiggy," said Vanna, "you're surrounded!!"
"And we've got out belt mounted anti CTI electrostatic jammers at the ready," said Xaan.
"You can't escape justice," said Jessica.
"Defeat awaits you," said Rael, "and so will it be with the conceited Brittany Pereira."
"And I said NO!!" yelled the evil, already livid Boogaloo leader. "I've got my job to protect, in the name of revenge, ever since I wiped out my parents years ago!! SO--you will have one choice to make: either stay here and play like a wimp and swallow your pride or pack up your toys and leave. I am dead %*#$^& serious-
OR ELSE!!"
"And you'd best say 'Thank you' to my husband," said Pee Cee,
"because he hates an ingrate."
"So you'd rather not give up those PSE wimps," said Harlow.
"Seems like we've got a handful of serious &$^*#% retards."
"Tao," said Jiggy, a rue smile on his face. "Well, you may had jammed our CTI chi, but even so, we all do have a life and we spent it here to make little yobbos like you miserable. Now have a soda and a smile and S.T.H.O."
"S.T.H.O.?" said a suspicious Meia.
"Stay The Heck Out," replied the Boogaloo leader. "Wait, what am I saying?!? I've got a score to settle--so here's how I plan to do so, by planning to sic my new mecha pet on you stoopids." Lifting up his right hand, he directed his voice into a communicator strapped to his wrist, "Come forth, AFL-1-8400!!"
From the comm, came a phase shifter vocoderized voice, saying, "YES-MASTER," then suddenly, something huge--twelve feet high and eight feet wide--crashed through the skylight from overhead and landed in a spot between the Juddins and the Vandread crew, a half ton of destruction in the form of a red chromed Tatchikoma (from Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex) on steroids, because it was a twelve legged behemoth equipped with twelve appendages for every conciveable weapon, both offensive and defensive that Barnette and the rest could imagine, jet engines, antennae for thermo and radar tracking and sheild projecting and twelve camera eyes on its front. Overall, the giant machine almost looked like a steely exoskeleton. that was reminiscent of the Harvest machine drones.
"ETIVOBOR-CLASS-AFL-1-8400-REPORTING-FOR-DUTY," said the half ton machine.
"Wipe out those %#*$^& dissidents you see before you," ordered Jiggy, "and make it snappy!!"
"YES-MASTER," said the AFL-1-8400, as the LED border frames encasing its twelve camera eyes lit up with the color green, the assassin machine saying, "GREEN-YELLOW-
RED. MY-FIREPOWER-CAN-BE-LETHAL-WHEN-RED."
That was all it took for the Vandread team and the Cornerstone Empire's group, as well as the CE's Bollix platoon that just arrived and from there the air was thick with the phaserbolts from the stolen PSE issue crossbows and the EQ-7 rifles, all blasting at the AFL-1-8400, who started blasting with its many weapons mounted on its mecha appendages--all of which would've wiped out the group, had not Vanna did a sweeping gesture with her hand, a hexagonal structured grid wall forming in front of the group-
a CTI generated shild wich would protect them from the enemy firepower, but how long would it last? And even with them blasting at the half ton death machine, that was yet another problem with its own armor and sheilding. Right now, the color in the eyes now changed from green to yellow; if they changed to red, not even the sheild could stand a chance.
"No good," said Meia, "that armor and sheild is too strong."
"We've got to weaken it, make it tap into its own power cells to weaken the sheild,"
said Hibiki.
"At the rate it's fighting back?" said Misty. "It's suicide!!"
"Never say die," said Gascogne. "The show ain't over till the last curtain."
"Did youse have to say 'die'?" said Cara.
"We'd best think of something and soon," said Vanna. "I don't know how long our sheild can last, especially since we're up against high grade Balderonian mecha."
"You're the strategy expert, poop-a-doop," said Barnette to Hibiki. "Got any bright ideas?"
"Maybe there is," said the Van pilot. "Vanna, your jammers, they're preventing those Boogaloos from using their CTI hocus pocus, right?"
"Yup," said the CE Empress. "As long as it's trained on those heathens, only we can use ours."
"Well let's take out that machine spider's eyes, then its sensors and antennae--that should render it wide open for trouble," said the hothead. "Dita, you got thoae smoke bombs and those Nirvana issue bombs?"
"I don't leave home without them," said the UFO otaku. "I love it when you come up with a plan!!"
"Whoopie doopie," said Gascogne. "Well, places for Act 2, we'll try Hibiki's idea; Dita, after we knock out the eyes, toss the smoke bomb, and as soon as we whump those anteenae,
look for an open door in that machine spider for that bomb for an inside job."
"Which is just what I was thinking of," said the Van pilot.
"Well, let's do it, then!!" said Meia. "Punch its ticket, one and all!!"
"First time I fought a machine enemy without a Vandread," said Dita.
Traning their weapons on the AFL-1-8400, they shot a heavy salvo, till it seemed its sheilds were weakening, then one, then the rest of the death machine's eyes, right after they had a chance to change to red, exploded, along with its antennae, the mecha saying, "HEY-!! CUT-
THAT-OUT!! THAT-IS-DIRTY-POOL!!" After that, Dita pulled the pin on a smoke bomb and yelled, "Fire in the hole!!" before tossing it a foot before the blinded death machine--and then it exploded, throwing the machine and the Juddins into confusion, just before the UFO otaku ran under the AFL-1-8400's underside and found a hatch which shot open, pushed a switch on the bomb, and tossed it in the hatch, running for cover; in 4 seconds, the explosion tore the machine from the inside, and it crashed on the cement floor, sparks flying from the inert steel hulk.
You can imagine the surprise and shock from Jiggy when the smoke cleared and he saw his mecha pet demolished from within and saying in a labored weakening voice, "THEY-GOT-ME-MASTER!
NOTIFY-MY-NEXT-OF-KIN-STARTING-WITH-MY-CIGARETTE-VENDING-MACHINE-GIRLFRIEND!
ME-WHY-ME?" Then the AFL-1-8400 blew up in pieces, scattering its parts all over the place.
"It's gone.......," moaned Jiggy in anguish. "my pet's gone...."
"They're going to pay for that," said Pee Cee Bee.
"Don't they know how much that mecha cost?" said Harlow.
"BRAAAAAAAP!! POO!! POO!!" chorused the Vandread team, before they linked arms and marched in a circle, chanting sing songy on the order of Ring Around A Rosy: "Ring around a rosy, you ain't safe, nor cozy, we're goin' to break your nosy, ring around a rosy, you ain't safe, nor cozy, we're goin' to break your nosy, ring around a rosy, you ain't safe, nor cozy, we're goin' to break your nosy, ring around a rosy, you ain't safe, nor cozy, we're goin' to break your nosy."
But what the Juddins didn't count on was that they were so absorbed in the battle twixt the AFL-1-8400 and Gascogne & Co, as well as the said group taunting the Balderonian criminals,
that they weren't paying attention to Jura, who remembered that a diamond could cut through anything, used her diamond wedding ring to cut through the conwebbing ribbon, then cut the ribbon that bound her wrists behind her on the sharp edge on the post she had been bound on; once her wrists were loose, she used her ring to cut the binding on her ankles, and was free, running for behind the crates nearby.
Right now, an extremely livid Jiggy growled at the group, "YOU stoopid yobbo $^&*#% halfwits!!!! You're dead, you sons and daughters of bastards, we're going to get you!! If we can't have our cougar, no one will!
She will die!!"
"Let's blast her dead!!" said Pee Cee Bee.
"Fill her full of holes, like a Swiss cheese!!" said Harlow.
But when the last of the Boogaloos turned to where their captive was, they were taken aback when they saw that Jura was gorne, and so were the Vandread crew and The Cornerstone Empire court and their Bollix troops,
the Boogaloo leader saying, "She's gone!! It's impossible!! That was taut steel conwebbing ribbon!! Pee Cee Bee,
you blew it again!! You used cruddy ribbon!! I told you not to buy that shoddy material in Foothill!!"
"Knock it off, you!!" shot back Pee Cee, "you can't win them all!!"
While the Juddins argued, Jura had sneaked out from behind a stack of boxes near where Meia was and said, "Sst!! Sorry I was late."
"Jura!!" hissed Meia. "We just saw you back there, bound to that post!! Anyhow, I knew even those Boogaloo devils couln't come up with something that could restrain you."
"Just proves you can't keep a good diva down," said Hibiki.
Handing the Dread diva a stolen PSE issue crossbow, Dita said, "Did you lose something? Here."
"'Bout time," said the blonde. "First some payback time to those Juddins for taking the wrong hostage."
"You ain't planning to shoot them dead?!?" said Misty.
"No, let's just say I'll use a mild blast right on the rump roast," said Jura, who set the firepower intensity of her crossbow to 21% mild, then aimed at Jiggy's butt and blasted a bolt that set the evil crime leader jumping up and shouting, "!!!!!!! UUUUU!
URRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Then the Dread diva shot Pee Cee Bee's butt, and blasted Harlow's as well, till all criminals were howling, jumping and scraping their smoking posteriors on the cement floor to put out the blaze, having been taken by surprise.
"Now that is what I call smokin' buns," said Gascogne. "Well, let's scram so Vanna's bunch can arrest those no good Boogaloos."
"Not so fast, all you sods!!" said a new voice--a voice belonging to the Empress Brittany, who, along with an Emerald Guard militia, were above everyone on the surrounding catwalks in the building, their crossbows all aimed at all--the Juddins, the Vandread crew and The Cornerstone Empire's court and their Bollix platoon-- below.
Having finished with stopping the burning, the Juddins got on their feet and Jiggy called up to the PSE ruler,
"Ah, there's the so called ruler that sent those women of yours to close down my parlor work!! You an Empress of that so called ^&$%#* pony wagon Pereira Star Empire? Don't make me laugh--because if you wanna be an Empress, expect to get crowned!! BWAH!! HAH!! HAH!! HAH!! HAH!!"
"But you forget it was The Cornerstone Empire that saved me the trouble by jamming your CTI chi flux," said Pereira. "You claim to be tough, then prove it, now that we leaders finally meet. Or is it that you're all what Americans call wussies?"
"You.....drunken punk.....fume........," muttered Jiggy.
"Grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble..........stupid fathead Pereira Star Empire," said Pee Cee.
"No one calls us wussies," said Harlow.
"You're goin' down," said a furious Jiggy, "you *%#$^& maudlin, kissy-pooh, feel-good, touchy-feely wimps!!"
So saying, the Juddins aimed their rifles up at the Empress and blast heavy gauge phaserbolts at her, only for the said blots to be deflected by Brittany's sheild which covered not only the evil PSE ruler but also her Emerald Guard battalion, the bolts ricocheting off in diferent directions.
"Rogg zaar.......?!?" ("What the.......?!?") said Jiggy in increasing fear.
"Can't do any better?" said Pereira. "I thought so. They say fools rush in and that you should look before you leap.
I am NO baby sitter, I gave you all the same kind of warning, so it's shameful that none of you have followed it. So lick, lick, suck, suck, grovel, grovel, lick, suck, grovel, oil, oil, oil to you all--if you can't take the heat, stay out from the kitchen!!"
With a sweeping gesture of her hand, Brittany summoned four fireballs in crystal spheres the size of basketballs and they rotated in the air in a square pattern, to the puzzlement of all here, especually the Juddins, who could only scratch their heads in confusion--until the flame globes vanished, and in their place was a black globe that shot out two jets of flame, spinning like a water sprinkler--and one of those jets charred down to dust in a snap of a finger, a careless Harlow.
"HARLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Jiggy. "YAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!"
"Extra crispy for that smoky fragrence," said Pereira.
"YOU &*###*%$^ STOOPID SEXWIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" insanely roared Jiggy. "I'll rip you lungs out for sure!!!!"
"Wouldn't that be shocking?" said the Empress, who gestured agaign, only there were five crystal globes, each with a lightning bolt in each one, arranged in a pentagon pattern, rotating as before; Jiggy and Pee Cee tried the blast the spheres but to no avail.......then the globes vanished--and a thick cololum of ligtning came dowm from above, hitting Pee Cee Bee of a billion volts, till all that remained of her was a smoking pile of ashes.
"Lightning just struck twice in the same place," said the PSE ruler.
Jiggy, for his part sank to the floor, bawling his head off; once the most strongest crime lord on Balderon, he was now a sniveling coward, realizing for the first time, he was powerless against a sorceress for an Empress--an Empress who now said, "That time's come to take a stab at your last end, so say sayonara to..............all that, and konichiwa to oblivion."
Realizing what he was up against, Jiggy turned and ran, just as Brittany gestured, summoning six globes, a dagger in each one, arranged in a hexagon pattern, and even as it spun, Jiggy ran as fast as he could, but just as he was two yards from that, gone were the globes, and a ring of daggers exploded outward, the blades impaling the crime leader in all twelve of his hearts, blood spraying everywhere--and he fell down in the center of the floor dead.
"Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da--DEAD MAN!!" said the PSE ruler. "Your people may had been advanced in magic and technology, but you still can't match my unique prowess."
"What an exit," said Hibiki, "and it serves those them right--may they burn in hell for all the rotten stuff they did!!"
"Like a dart board," said Misty.
"Guess it's the end of The Electric Boogaloos," said Meia.
"Never again will they be a threat to Balderon," said Rael.
"Nor to me and Tsitra, after haunting our memories," said Gie Bele.
"May they rest in peace," said Tsitra.
"All the same," said Vanna, "we'll pray for their souls......."
"........and hope they repented at the last moment......," said Xaan.
"....and if not for them, then for someone else more worthy," said Jessica.
"Anyhoo," said Cara, "the worst is over."
"Not quite," said Gascogne. "As you can see, we're standing in the PSE kangaroo court presided by the Empress, as if you didn't know."
"Quite right," said Pereira, "and as you can see, Jovian justice can be unexpected when it comes to a handful of traitors in your midst." To her Emerald Guard, she said, "Shoot em' down!! Shoot em' all down!!"
What happened next was a shoot out the end all shoot outs, till the next big one; for now, each side threw up it's own magic generated sheild and were blasting till the air was thick with heavy firepower from both ally and enemy, the Vandread and Cornerstone Empire crew hiding from behind crates for extra protection.
"It's getting to be intense!!" said Dita.
"They've got us pinned down," said Mallory.
"How long can we hold up that sheild?" said Jessica. "Something's got to give sooner or later."
"If anyone's got any better ideas," said Gascogne, "now's the time."
"Just maybe," said Vanna. "All of you switch off your electro static jammers just to be safe. Then we'll weaken them a bit with our CTI mind scramble flux. Jammers off? OK, let's do it!!"
With a gesture of each hand, Vanna and her court sent out a mind numbing effect that caused the PSE ruler and her Emerald Guard staggered, moaning as they tried to hang on to the catwalk railing without falling over, Brittany especially since the effect was also making it hard to maintain her magic sheild as she said, "Stop........!! Don't foul up my plans!
You Balderonians don't fight fair.....!!"
With the PSE Empress' sheild weakening, the group fanned out into the center of the wherehouse, the group taking out some of the enemy with some stun shots, the others fleeing in fear despite their groggy state, Pereira calling out, "Come back here, you cowards!! Blast those *%#$^& Balderonians using their CTI rubbish on me!!"
"Let's weaken the stragglers running off," said Hibiki, who shot at one of the small beams over the catwalk, causing in to fall, nd pinning down some of the Emerald Guard; soon, everyone followed that example, including Misty, who shot loose a light fixture which fell on top of the evil Empressw, who lost control of her magic, and her sheild faded, with 50 percent of her Emerald Guard fleeing and 50 percent of her said minions stunned on the catwalk, stopping the fight, before Vanna and her court stopped their shieild.
"What a bargin," said Meia, "we not only got much of The Emerald Guard, we also got their fearless leader."
"But even if we got her," said Jura, "we could never keep her, when it comes to her sorceress power."
"No worries," said Gascogne, "we'll grab her pendant and that should stop Ms. Pereira in her tracks."
"All we got to do," said Xaan, "is get to her and that pendant before she recovers, then trap her in the special maxinum security cell."
"We'd best hurry," said Tsitra.
"Good riddence to bad Empresses," said Hibiki, "especially those that call people L7 sods."
But even as Gascogne was on her way to the stairs to the catwalk, the PSE ruler had recovered and looking down from where she was, saw Misty, who had caused that light housing to fall on her, Misty, the traitor that triple crossed her and took off with the equally traitorus Tsitra and Gie Bele--such was the time to even the score now that the Empress had right where she wanted her, so getting up and out from the wreckage, she clenched her fists, generating green lightning bolts in her fists, saying, "Summon Electro Bolt Javelins..........time to settle the score with one of the traitors that gave my Empire a bad name....sweet dreams, traitor--NOT!! Good night, sweet princess."
Just as Gascogne was halfway up the stairs, Jura, who had finished cleaning up the mess, saw what Brittany was doing, as the PSE ruler held up the twin electric crystalline green javelins up abover her head, read to cast them down on Misty, realized her friend was in danger, and ran to her, calling out, "MISTY!! WATCH OUT!!"
At the same moment the Dread diva started to run, Pereira hurled down the bolts, in a hissing, flanged phase shifting way, the cresendo of horns, synth and bass guitar in the cresendo part of Deodato's version of Moonlight Serenade, before the electric piano finish playing, everyone gradually discovering what was happening, as the blonde ran to Misty and pushed her out from the path of the lethal bolts-
--only to be hit by them in the process, taking the electric javelins in Misty's place, the bolts hitting through the back, through Jura's heart and fragmenting it and making a fist sized hole at the front, starting with a BANGBANGBANG!!!! and, making a C~R~R~R~R~R~R~R~A~A~A~A~A~A~A~C~C~C~C~C~C~C~K~K~K~K~K~K~K!!!! as the bolts stabbed her in the heart, before the wound spurted blood as the javelins turned into a web of electric bolts that surged through the blonde's now convulsing body as she screamed in the most agonizing way till the web faded, and the Dread diva's smoking body slumped and fell to the floor, never to rise again, to the horror of the group--The Cornerstone Empire, the Vandread team and especially Cara, Tsitra, Dita, Misty and Hibiki, who muttered in disbelief, "Jura.......!! No, that can't be happening!!"
For Gascogne, she had reached the top of the stairs and was four yards from the PSE ruler, and upon seeing her enemy throw down the bolts that hit the mark, she knew she had come too late. In short, the evil Empress had gone too far--Jura was dead!! Murdered!!
"Oh my gosh, no!!" said Dita.
"Jura!! Why'd you have to be so brave?!?" said Misty.
"Jura.........you gave your life for Misty," said Gie Bele.
Brittany, you devil.....!!" said Gascogne.
"Lord, have mercy!!" said Vanna.
"Poor Jura....!!" said Xaan.
"No, not Jura, please not her!!" said Meia.
"My best friend................gone!!" said Tsitra.
"Alas, poor Jura, I knew her well!!" said Cara.
"Brittany, GET LOST!!!!" said Jessica.
"Sorry, Jura....I wish we had known what you had in mind sooner.....," said Bart.
"We'll miss you, Jura......so much," said Parfet.
"That was a brave thing you did," said Duero.
"You were a good friend, and I love you," said Barnette.
"I love you too, Jura," said Hibiki, his voice clogged with thick emotion before shouting with unbridaled rage at the puzzled Empress Brittany, "YOU #%*&^$!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU'VE GONE WAY TOO FAR TODAY!
YOU HEAR?!!!!? YOU'VE GONE ^&$*#% TOO FAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"It wasn't my fault," shot back the PSE ruler, "she got in the way when those bloody bolts were meant for that other traitor Misty!! No matter, it doesn't matter which traitor I finish off, since I was bound to get to that so called Ace Of Aces anyway--just resort to a process of elimination. In any case, it's time to head to La Placa, where soon a new power will dominate the universe."
"You just don't get it, do you?" said Meia, who was trying to stay calm despite her tears. "Jura is gone. She had a chance to be happy at last, and you and those Boogaloos took it away. She not only was married at last to a guy like Hibiki and was pregnant, in the hopes of having her dream baby, and now, her dreams got dashed for good. How disillusioning is that?"
Cold as ice, with no regrets (which was common for despots) that she murdered a woman that meant no harm, Pereira stated, "If she dies, she dies. People die sooner or later, don't you know?"
Hibiki, who had been cradling Jura despite the blood, had been shaking in tears, sorrow and rage now looked up and glowered at the evil Empress, shouting, "You got no idea what you did!! We were looking foward to something that would lift our spirits high!! But NO!! You had to butt in, just because YOU lusted for the desire to wipe out Misty!! Well, Misty or Jura, what you just did is downright rotten, got that?!!? THAT WAS ^&$*#% ROT-TEN!!!!"
"Just watch your back, if not your mouth, tongue and v chords," warned the Empress. "To pull back you defenses before I strike is like drinking pool water with all those chemicals." And with one hand gesture, she engulfed herself and what reamianed of her stunned Emerald Guard troops in green spheres of light, enanbling them to float up and out from the skylight, and up in the sky, flying out to who knows where--and that was when Jura, her breath getting increasingly weaker, said, "It's my fault.....forgive me, Misty.....I shouldn't had pushed you out and hit in your place....."
"No, it's not," said Misty, "you did a brave thing in laying down your life for me, proving you did care fore me......"
"Try to stay still," said Duero, "we'll get you to a hospital."
"Impossible," said the Dread diva, "my heart's already fragmented up so badly......Meia, look for someone to take over my Dread......to keep the spirt of Vandread forging ahead.....and tell Paiway I'll be unable to see her grow up. Barnette,
thanks for helping me through the best and the worst of times, Gascogne, tell you cast to strive in keeping the stage alive in my memory, Bart, you and Tsitra help each other--thanks for helping me be a friend when I saved you long ago."
"Thanks for coming in my life," said Tsitra.
Cara........you were my best friend, thanks for everything," added the Dread diva.
"I won't forget youse," said a weeping Cara.
"Dita," said Jura, "sorry for all the times I ticked you off."
"I forgive you," said the UFO otaku.
"Duero, Parfet, everyone, I hope you make it to earth someday.......," breathed the blonde, who now turned to Hibiki and added, "I would've liked to have seen Toronto......and Tokyo.........I truly did love you for real and not as a babymaker.....I love you as much as my soul allows it to be......" Taking the Van pilot's hand, she took off her wedding ring and gave it to the hothead, saying, "Here.....take my ring to remember me..........and our legit love we had.........if only I had a chance to have my baby.......we could've named it Dita--or was it Meia, Barnette, Cara or even Misty? No matter; you think of me sometimes and forgive me for all the crummy stuff I did to you since the incaption of the pirates."
After reaching up to Hibiki for one last kiss, Jura said, her voice fading, "Dita, look after your brother for me.......Hibiki Tokai, I love you........." Then:"Forgive me, Father, I have sinned. I pray in Jesus' name to repent for.....allll my .....sins.
and be forgiven........in your name.........have mercy on me, a sinner......amen........."
With those words, there was sound of a death rattle in the blonde's breath, before she slumped, her head falling back,
now deceased, in the cradled hold of an angst torn Hibiki, who was shaking in sorrow and rage, much of the women crying quietly, as Meia got up, and said somewhat bitterly to Hibiki, "THAT is how I define unwarranted,"
One those words, the head Dread pilot, burst into tears, crying as she ran out the building, the other women following suit.
After Duero placed Jura in a body bag, he submitted it to the Dredge morgue and after the processing, the body was,
at Barnette's request, creamated and poured in a silver cylendrical canister and buried in the same garden where the wedding had taken place; again, a weeping Father Juliano presided over the funeral, the Vandread and Nirvana crew as well as The Cornerstone Empire presiding and bawling their eyes out--all but Hibiki who was in way too much grief to cry--all he could do was stare at the black onyx grave which said in Japanese and english:
IN LOVING MEMORY
JURA BASIL ELDEN TOKAI
A WIFE, A DREAD PILOT, A WAR BUDDY, A COMRADE,
A TRUE FRIEND.
As was with the funerals for B.C. and Magno, the crowd just simply went back to their hostels and hotels, with no meeting place, no after funeral gathering; only Hibiki stayed at the grave, staring at it as The Beatles' The Long And Winding Road played in his mind as his said mind went throungh a mental retrospective of his memories with Jura.
after that, he said weakly, "I can't believe she's gone," before departing..........
The Vandread crew once again triumphed over the PSE..............but at what a cost........was it all worth it? Was a bittersweet victory worth fighting for? Could Jura had avoided those javelin bolts while trying to save Misty?
For that matter, could anything, even anyone, make everything all right again? Like the Empress Brittany had said,
people die sooner or later............I just wish the PSE ruler hadn't been so callus what she said, "If she dies, she dies,"
but who's willing to reason with an ageless insane-in-the-membrane Empress who's also a sorceress? At least Ms.
Pereira did The Cornerstone Empire a favor by getting rid of Jiggy Jiggy Juddin and his wife and sister, ending their evil ways forever. With them and their Electric Boogaloos out of the picture, Balderon can somewhat rest easy, or something like that.
--a440.
Next: Chapter 21: Do You Have A Comrade?