x.x.x

She didn't mean to soup-up Mako's scooter as much as they had to. The canal they found on the outskirts of a ruined Osaka wasn't just rundown and abandoned. Ryuko set her sneaker against the brake, kicking the scooter's stand out, feeling Son's arms leaving her waist and belly but wanting him to hold on longer. She huffed for keeping that truth to herself.

"Ooooo. In the middle of nowhere. Creepy looking. This is the spot!" Mako chirped like she knew, arms still around Son's neck as they forget he carried her during the ride.

He barely felt her weight to scrutinize the only tunnel in the way, and they didn't yet dare it.

"Underground," he said. "What do you think, Ryuko?"

"I think this bs better be worth the trip," she said not in the mood.

"...If you wanna back out I'd understand," he said and he considered when she chose to look.

An eternity passed in her making him her focal point and his not shying from it.

"I got it! You two just have to do your weird sensory stuff," Mako waved her fingers.

"Sensory stuff?" Ryuko's brow furrowed.

"You know. Feeling the cold in the air. How it changes. How it makes the spot over Son's buttcrack tickle."

"How did you know about...?" Son didn't finish.

He shook his head to chuckle.

{There is something ominous about the request.}

"Ugh! Not you too," Ryuko griped shooting her eye at her scarf.

{I didn't say it was troublesome.}

She walked, ready to move, ready to do anything. The tunnel's catwalk less inviting they couldn't see through the canal water's being so dirty. Ever so often Son had to reach for Mako's almost falling over the railing.

"Stay close to me," Ryuko said not going so far as to take Son by the hand yet.

The impasse they came to offered one way left and one way right. Catching them off-guard the wall across where they stood separated itself. Like the tunnel it wasn't lit. And like the tunnel it appeared in the form of nothing they wanted to explore.


She had fewer students than when the day started. Opposing schools were resourceful and their tech, a problem. It would have been worse if she wasn't so proficient at moving her Bakuzan. When they fired ionized beams each shot bounced from exposed curves and the hard to see swings of her wrists. She cleaved through a cannon burst and didn't watch it split into two, vaporizing a swath of less useful grunts at her back. Moving for the source and shoving her blade through its front she kicked a tank across fire and brimstone.

"Imbeciles!" she yelled stabbing down and cutting up so hard the ground opened.

The sea of bodies and metal scraps slipped into it never to be seen again.

"Lady Satsuki!" one of the last standing called.

She turned for Gamagori's new regalia; bulkier, of whites and golds she didn't expect it to be looming over her.

"Join the others, Gamagori. Your uniform's abilities would be of more use to them," she said.

"We have routed the remaining schools forces, per your orders," he said, taking a knee.

She didn't miss Nonon's zipping back and forth in her upgrade, Sanageyama's sliding to a halt, and Inumuta's gleaming brighter than anything his computer could conjure.

"Excellent. Return to the Academy at once," Satsuki said keeping her back turned.

"We would never leave your side," Sanageyama spoke up.

"Mister monkey hit the nail on the head...for once," Nonon seconded, her woofer-thrusters keeping her suspended while making too much noise.

"Honnō City is vulnerable every second we linger here," Satsuki kept her eyes closed.

Nearby flame left the area warm but not as warm as Junketsu letting off steam. She didn't sweat for it and she didn't sweat for "him."

"Do this for me because I am asking as your peer. Not your superior," was all she said.

Her walking off in no rush said nothing more, and she didn't, flicking the stains from her blade and keeping it held away from her hip. Wanting to disobey her Elite Four froze as they didn't know whether they should or not.


"I wish we brought a picnic basket!" Mako marveled.

For all of their teacher's bluster the headquarters really was an underground resort, complete with a sparkling grotto and white sands dipping for clear waters. Ryuko didn't snicker for any of it. Not even the men and women going this way and that...scantily clad in shoulder and waist holsters for their firearms and nothing else.

"A den of freaks," she turned her nose up. "You sure my dad had anything to do with you people?"

"That mouth won't win you friends, Matoi," Tsumugu walked up with Mikisugi's nonchalance.

"It won me these two. They're all I need for whatever's next," she retorted.

And she watched Mikisugi's shaking hands with Son, Tsumugu doing nothing of the sort and Mako wondering if their holsters were fabric or some odd latex she wanted to touch.

"A cooler head, Matoi. You'll need it," Mikisugi stopped before her.

She rolled her eyes for his nipples shining like neon orbs she didn't care to see, pointing her blade tip for his nose just in case he thought to move closer.

"Guess what. This is the part where you tell me what the hell we're doing here," she said.

Mikisugi waited for his comrade's glance.

"Your father organized a task force to counter the ACTUAL threat. Something to aid you and Son in a unique way. Subterfuge, sabotage, traps, guerrilla style tactics. Where are we standing? It's all that's left after the Raid Trip."

"What does that even mean?" Ryuko asked.

As a group they took in the rabble, moving to the water's edge.

"Satsuki and the Elite Four," Tsumugu finally spoke again. "It's likely she knows where this location is. The only part of the Kansai region not blown to bits."

Ryuko gripped her Scissor Blade harder, not yet fuming. It took Son's placing a hand on her shoulder and Senketsu's eye raising.

"Fortune favors you, Matoi," they all heard her say.

Satsuki took her time not put off by the cocking of too many weapons and the rolling of multi-tiered machines to box her in. Her pointed shoulder pads set on their target, she held her weapon just as tight and lifted her chin.

"I'm all alone. Now is your chance," she smiled.

"You got some nerve, bitch!" Ryuko barked.

Outside of her frustration it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop with her friends awaiting her next decision. She surprised anyone to see it when she relaxed her shoulders.

"I'm not gonna kick your ass for me," she said as her eyes opened. "...But you better believe I will for them."

"You tell her Ryuko!" Mako pouted ready to see her do just that.

{We can defeat her. Together.}

"I know. Somehow it isn't me just sayin' that for once," she grinned, and she glanced for Son as she knew what he could do. "Clear everyone outta here."

"On it. Just try not to kill each other," Son nodded.

It wasn't just Mikisugi and Tsumugu following his lead. Satsuki never took her stare from his because she knew what his wrist cuffs and gi meant to not just her enemy. She put on her usual coldness to play it off. Scrambling to gather needed tech, bipedal machines programmed to carry some of them off in heavy steps, Mako stood the odd-girl-out when all the others were in a hurry. Her fascination never left their emblem plastered on almost every surface; an outline of underpants made of the letters NDB inside red circles with "X's" over each. Most eyes shot to Ryuko's change, limber metal straps hitting her skin to squeeze and blowing sand from the spot under her boots. When she dropped to them she was amped for it.

"Hear that Kiryuin? You get to live a while longer. I want you to see what happens next," she smiled like the cards were in her favor.

"...Let us see how you fare then," Satsuki said.

When she blinked Ryuko was there, her blade testing hers, and the result chipping away at less durable warehouses cracking from the foundation up. Working to leave was harder with the rock detaching from the cavern and it shook if ever the girls met. Ryuko's next swing tossed Satsuki high but another was stopped to sever a line by her neck as she leaned from it.

"Senketsu Shippu!" she cried and her fall stopped.

Satsuki never had the chance to drop as Ryuko rammed her with the force of a sidewinder missile to drive her through it.

"AHNNH!" Satsuki winced as her head opened the ground above.

Turning over once, then twice, she smacked her boots to dust, one arm out to parry the barrage of Ryuko moving just as fast.

"C'mon! Make it interesting Student Council President!" she provoked through the sparks hitting her face. "Haahhhhh!"

An end to her attempt caved in the earth beneath toes that were no longer touching it. Osaka burning in the distance nowhere near as pertinent neither took a moment to let their guard down.

{It seems we have gotten stronger.}

"You're damn right we...have!" she struggled.

Satsuki chose to double-grip her blade, clenching her teeth for Ryuko's not bending.

"You are nothing but an impudent child feigning tough! Not...READY in the least!" she spat.

"Said...the spoiled...overconfident BRAT!" Ryuko returned.

Shoving her off Satsuki didn't miss a beat when she blitzed, her attacks less wild, which suited her love of precision. Carried along her heels Ryuko turned away what she could or shifted from the air being cut as it snapped at her living armor and not her flesh. Slamming her chest with her blade's pommel Satsuki watched her rupture the first floor of a building on its last leg, then another to bring it down around her ears.


x.x.x

Kneeling as they should in a chamber suited for it his henchman were the afterthought. A window, more curved than flat, wasn't just plated and see-through for the hull of his ship and looking through it took too long. Like the time it would take to get there. The turned off lens over his left eye didn't block his focus on the darkness.

"Which one of you was wrong about the location?" he asked and he didn't turn to face the weaker.

His help not limited to one species controlled any trembling. They swapped nervousness, with a few watching his tail wag with the dread of what he was. One of them mustered the courage.

"...I-It was I, Lord Turles. I-Isn't the longer trip what y-you desired?" he asked, masking well that he pleaded for his life.

Turles didn't need but a tiny fraction; the will to do it seized his victim and kept him over the floor. He wasn't touching him. He didn't so much as look to his efforts.

"It wasn't. Ragyo guaranteed it was ready for me now. All you did was delay the inevitable!" he hissed.

If they didn't watch it his men could hear it...as their comrade's back snapped with a crunch that made the lot of them flinch. Turles ignored his corporal's body hitting yellowish tile.

"Let that serve as a reminder to the rest of you."

"Yes, Lord Turles!"

"Yes, Lord Turles!"

"Yes, Lord Turles!"

Crossing burly arms over his armored chest he thought to reflect because reflecting helped.

"Now. Get out," he said.

Like so many things automated doors lifting, and falling, weren't worth his time nor his attention.


Son tired of seeing nature reduced to ash. Scorched skies mingling with blacks from the smoke and orange as dusk drew near. Despite the chill he thanked Mako's being with him, Tsumugu and Mikisugi armed to the teeth behind her, and if they couldn't spot where Satsuki and Ryuko were he could. But all of them could hear the sky popping.

"Mankanshoku!"

When they turned to see the deep voice it wasn't alone. Gamagori brought Sanageyama, Inumuta and Nonon along. The lines drawn no one closed the gap that was left.

"You dare support your friend's reckless behavior!" he hollered behind his imposing helmet.

Mako took her place ahead of Son to leer.

"Me?! Lady Satsuki attacked us!" she said.

"If you push this it won't end well for you," Son cut in, the most serious they had ever seen him.

"Idiot! This is all your fault! Brainwashing her into thinking you're worth the hassle," Sanageyama said and like Gamagori's his regalia shined as much as it overshadowed the rest.

"What's the play, Son?" Mikisugi asked.

Their first line of defense Son stood his ground letting the wind carry his hair but not his scowl. They couldn't see why charred dirt rose to circle him at its own pace. It didn't touch his cleaned top, nor his skin, tensed as it was, and it burst into smaller bits just as suddenly.

"Let the two of them sort it out," he warned. "I'll take on all four of you if I have to."

"My, my. Transfer student's boyfriend has a pair on him," Nonon smirked. "Still envious of the facts, Sanageyama?"

"Son's got the skills to pay the bills! Of COURSE he is!" Mako poked her tongue out.

"Shut up! This isn't about being better than anyone anymore."

"We don't have to fight you, Son Goku. I've gathered enough data to know it would be futile," Inumuta was frank and it got their full attention.

Son couldn't see through the transfiguring suit coating him in layers he thought were too synthetic, not that it mattered. Inumuta's words sufficed to change everyone's tune.


Notes - I decided to put some notes at the end of this first part of chapter three concerning this story's future. The idea (at this point) is to focus on the lead characters. Reading what has been written so far there seems to not be enough of that. My original plan is still in the works but the overall direction of this story will change to, as I said, focus more on what is crucial to the plot and less on what isn't. Relationships, what the leads have to do and why, etc. The obvious picks are Son Goku, Ryuko Matoi, and Satsuki Kiryuin. That hasn't changed and it won't. But some of the supporting characters (not including Mako because it's Mako) will not feature as much after these initial scenes for chapter three. If you have been following the story for a while I appreciate your patience for an update. Enjoy the chapter.