They kept it hidden well. During launch Osaka began to part itself as a frigate lifted through the water to her floating position. An enormous mass, gunmetal-hulled and red-striped along its edges it let the rubble of a lost city slip along sides molded like a seam ripper's.


"Iori."

*They're ready, Lady Satsuki. Are you sure it's a reliable trump card?*

"As much as I can be."

The lift ride down felt like it went on forever. Satsuki played keeper of the foolish ready to draw her sword if he so much as breathed in a way that felt confrontational. She was kidding herself. Son behind her was too close when she wanted him on the other side of the world.

"Imbecile," she mumbled.

Son glanced from the gold on her shoulder epaulets to the uncomfortable metal shrouding his hands. Whatever it was supposed to do wasn't working.

"You're not the first one to call me that," he said, his eyes on the lift's perfect ceiling.

Satsuki wanted to turn around but that would mean facing him and she wasn't there yet.

"You have no idea what you're up against," she closed her eyes.

Her hand squeezed around her Bakuzan's sheath, just under its embroidered guard.

"That's what makes it exciting," he said for the feeling he couldn't shake.

"So it's true," she finally spun. "Saiyans only lust for battle. Even in the face of certain death."

He shrugged.

"I don't know if I believe the whole Saiyan thing yet. Alien clothes wanting to eat people is weird enough as it is. I just know what I feel."

Satsuki stepped forward once. Son let comments about her looks go unvoiced. She didn't just woo with them.

"Hitting your head as a child left you something like stupid," she said.

It got him to smirk.

"Maybe," he said.

She dared to step closer. He noticed her rigidness, like if she relaxed it would kill her. They almost saw eye-to-eye and it sparked thoughts of a shorter loved one she looked like. It didn't change the attention he gave her.

"Damn your humility. This is a plea for your life you aggravating simpleton!"

"Hey. It's all right. If something's bothering you, you can tell me."

Satsuki disregarded her social awkwardness quickly turning in place as the doors shot open. Waiting was a hallway nothing like what they rode in. Its breadth was much older. The ceiling reached for the floor in wide arches they could walk between if they wanted. All of it bathed in colors that could make the rainbow blush its subtlety kept him in awe and her unimpressed. Like the lift the walk was never-ending. When they got there, the one waiting at the midway point didn't leave her own luster.

"Son Goku," they heard her say.

As it was his first time seeing her it was hard to not make the comparisons. She had the thick eyebrows. The authoritarian demeanor. She was gorgeous in ways he could never fathom and didn't try to. Her dress feathered like her hair it didn't mesh with a stunning gaze that always lied.

"Satsuki. Let's not keep our guest waiting," Ragyo said.

He thought it curious to see the as comely girl next to her, and her wearing sunglasses indoors. Satsuki bowed. She drew her weapon setting it to Son's neck in an instant. As her stare was forward it didn't meet his.

"Come," she said with no care for his well-being in her pitch anymore.

Son complied and she kept her sword to his throat in case he didn't.


The slums held its chatter for the day most were anticipating. Too far from it didn't mean they couldn't see how the city's upper limits were in fine form. Every television, every oversized screen, they all broadcasted the same faces and the same announcements. Ryuko, with Mako trailing, passed smokey, rundown alleys of drab browns and people there when they shouldn't be. She knew the festival to them meant a chance to go noticed.

"Even they're on board with it. Can't find anyone in this stinkin' town that isn't," she sighed.

"It's a chance to be someone for a day! Free food and music!" Mako said. "My family owes you a lot. What you did...most people aren't so willing to go the extra mile."

"Don't mention it."

"I promised them I would protect you no matter what. Where else am I gonna find a bestie who can fly and talks to her clothes like it's normal?!"

Ryuko was there to see Mako's cutesy always being a constant. It could always make her smile.

"There's no fazing you, is there?" she said.

{...You're worried something has happened?}

She intertwined her fingers to lean her head to them. Everywhere she looked may have smelled awful but a clear sky let her lose herself.

"You BOTH drive me nuts!" she complained.

{I have no doubt he will do what we expect him to. Trust him. Trust me.}

"Pipe down, will ya'. You know I do."

Mako almost pressed her face to Ryuko's top.

"Either he speaks really quiet or I'm going deaf," she said.

Feeling it jiggle Ryuko forgot the leather pouch attached to her skirt. As she opened it two items were waiting: the shrunken size of her Scissor Blade and the cell phone she didn't feel like answering.

"...Yeah?" she brought it to her ear.

*Operation S.S. Naked Sun is a go.*

"Unbelievable. Did you freaks really have to call it that?" she said. "We sit on our hands any longer and they may stop working."

*Jeez you're impatient. Why don't you just do whatever it takes to relax. We'll be ready when they are.*


"...So the Naked Fools never showed up. A pity," Ragyo led the way.

"We raided the areas we believed to be their bases, but they already fled," Satsuki followed.

Ragyo turned to glance for Son saying nothing. She eyed him from his hand-made boots to the familiar pointy of his ends.

"The resemblance is uncanny," she said.

Satsuki glanced to him to guess what she meant. When they found the door they sought it stood taller than the support it was built into. Son wondered of its engravings and figured they weren't an angel's wings coming together. Nothing about it felt righteous.

"You did, however, succeed in taking control of all the schools in the country," Ragyo continued. "Satsuki...as a member of the Kiryuin clan and my successor, it is time for you to learn the source of our power."

The doors pulled apart, slow to, and making no noise. Everything they saw shifted from frigid blues to tepid reds. Rei remained at the entrance like she wasn't supposed to go any further. It was a first for Satsuki and Son; the "source" had an underground coliseum to itself. Crimson architecture surrounding what they thought was a small sun, or suns, the stringy bulk of its texture swirling into itself without pause. It reached for its other parts and each pulsed in unison. Nearby the less intimidating space pod wasn't so unfamiliar to Son.

"The Primordial Life Fiber. This is what brought him to us. What doomed humanity to serve clothing for centuries."

Not as put off by it Ragyo focused on Son not bothered by the largest thing there.

"...That pod should be familiar to you, Son Goku. He arrived in one just like it."

"He?"

"A member of your species. My answer to Isshin's. Did you really think yourself the only one?"

As Son felt his feet wrapped the glowing lines dragging him into the floor carried him to the closest wall and slid him along it. Flexing only sapped at strength he remembered to conserve. Satsuki kept her mouth shut. It wasn't the time nor the place. As Son raised his surprise Ragyo was ahead of him.

"Life Fibers never could resist Saiyan flesh. It's a shame your bodies reject them," she said, a hand on the gleaming cocoon cutting off his circulation.

Her finger traced a line from his chest to his middle and she licked her lips for nothing she said out loud. Less comfortable for Son was the nonstop prickling.

"Who's this..."he" person you keep...going on about?" he grunted. "I'm...a human being!"

"Hmph. Still clinging to that notion? Turles will extend the same courtesy. Join us, or perish. The COVERS will extend beyond Earth. Beyond this galaxy. We would hate to lose a powerful asset such as yourself."

She then turned her cunning to Satsuki.

"That is where the Kiryuins come in. We are the spokespersons for the COVERS will. But even they know what Turles and your friend here are...the only ones fit to ensure our legacy for generations to come. Do you understand?"

"I do," Satsuki bowed against her will.

As Ragyo walked off to join Rei, her daughter followed, stopping only to see Son's struggling to free himself and his tormentors slithering along his face to cover it also.


Mikisugi didn't ask why the brawnier Tsumugu worked with guns shaped like sowing machines. Tsumugu stuffed smoke-grenades in the slots lining his holsters. The amber lighting made it stuffier to be in yet they were glad for a mobile headquarters working as it should.

"We may need a bigger boat," Mikisugi smirked.

"Let me tell you two things. One: The youth are indeed the future. Two: Relying on them solely may mean the death of us all," Tsumugu tended to his prep.

They didn't have the worry of clothes. That burden was old news as much as it was recent. Mikisugi glanced for every operative's wet dream dressing shelves for four corners. He pulled at the slide of a simpler pistol. When he thought to look Tsumugu was holding up an alloy needle.

"They'll be more effective at desynchronizing Life Fibers from their wearers," he said.

"Sounds good," Mikisugi nodded.

"...C'mon, kid. Where are you?" he couldn't help but think. Harder to shake was the feeling that their numbers weren't nearly enough.


x.x.x

"Attention, students, and families of Honnōji Academy! We have conquered every school in the country!"

It wasn't the sunny morning. It wasn't that she had a multi-tiered stage and she stood on its second highest. She couldn't thank the four on the third tier yet. She couldn't tell so many souls packing the stadium to run for their lives. She and Junketsu could only shine as a beacon. If the attendees weren't draped in dresses suited for a ballroom or tuxedos then her military was.

"So today, we celebrate!" she stood firm. "Eat and drink your fill! Praise the Kiryuin name!"

The end of her sword grip held her upright but she tired of the speeches.

"Let Honnōji Academy's Grand Culture and Sports Festival begin!"

The flags with her family crest were waving for stronger winds than the day before. If it wasn't their clapping it was their cheers. She let her throat relax to watch her army march. One two, one two steps took them as a collective mass to the stage's base, in sync with percussion and the trumpets hitting notes everyone heard. "I should never have left him," she cursed herself.

"...Now for the moment you've been waiting for! Join me in welcoming our guest of honor! I present to you, the Founder of this academy...Ragyo Kiryuin!"

Satsuki never turned to look for her. The air always changed first. When she dared to peek she could see Ragyo's silver locks curled outward and luxurious gown another play on her patience. How she could have so much brilliance in her hair extended to her high collar, wrist ruffles and shoulder puffs. Nui had her place next to Rei and it was never before the one they served.

"Ladies and gentlemen. I ask you: What is the world?"

To bask in herself she held her arms out and smiled for the thousands listening to her.

"Why...the world is clothing," she claimed. "And its fate is ruled by beings known as the Life Fibers. Consider yourselves honored to be the first among many. I, their emissary and their voice..."

"...You sure do love hearing the sound of it!"

Walking the grounds she didn't make any strides she wasn't confident of. Revealing as Senketsu was, "he" felt lighter. Scissor Blade in hand, it was near weightless. She started to buy into what a friend told her. Any of Satsuki's army feeling froggy jumped at the ground beneath their toes ripping apart. Tossed like rag-dolls from a monsoon she didn't bat an eye at her new vigor.

"No one else is falling victim to your bullshit today!" she shouted.

As Ragyo was higher Ryuko no less managed to see the sneering. The heart-shaped panel she kept a hand over rose to a stop under it.

"Matoi's prodigy," she said. "Splendid. Your timing couldn't be anymore impecc..."

Feeling it sink in and twist through her back the blood was already in her throat. Sharp discomfort helped her shudder. She slowly turned to see the one pulling it out.

"What is the meaning of this, Satsuki?" she rasped.

"We will suffer no more of your grandstanding, Director!" Satsuki said flicking it from her blade, spinning once.

Lopping off her head felt better. As it happened too fast the gasps were for Ragyo's surprised expression rolling away from her body.

"Ohhhh. So that's her game...," Nui smiled, her parasol stopping the "rain" as it showered her and Rei's shock.

"Heh. That looked like it hurt!" Ryuko mocked.

Satsuki turned to face the red spray and how satisfying it was to see.

"As of this moment, Honnōji Academy and I will bring a complete end to your depraved scheming!"

"...Will you now?"

She kept her disbelief on a head belittling her as it always did...and failed to recognize the shining strand attached to it. It drew back for her standing torso, up along her silken dress and right into her hands, letting Ragyo adjust the stiffness away as her severed skin closed like it never opened.

"What?!" Ryuko glared.

She had to look higher to spot the sky darken for a blanket of red lines running parallel. Unnatural and thick it blotted out the sun to form oval shapes that could ignore gravity. She thought them webbed cocoons that shouldn't exist and she wasn't far off...except they opened themselves. She parted her lips further for row after row of white business suits. Their crimson bow-ties matched the sheen that birthed them and they were able to wiggle on their own. Every exit from the stadium blocked off the panicked had nowhere to go.


. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

*Son. Can you hear me? Son!*

He woke to black and a muffled voice. Not his. If he wasn't dead and he wasn't passed out he had to try. It sucked whatever was left of his body warmth from him, knowing, and he heard its "whispers" loud and clear. Seeping through any slits gusts stabbed through it and his yell was getting louder.

"...haaaaaaAAAAAA!"

Unlike the wall he was stuck to his binds weren't so quick to snap into heated pieces as they hurled off with no signs of slowing. Each strand jerked from his skin lost all of their firm to settle for a place down. Once so tight he lost the feeling in his limbs they were left softer than wet noodles around his boots.

"I'm here. This thing is giving off some crazy energy," he said and he finally had it all to himself.

He brushed at his arms as they felt off. Just ahead of his last few steps was nothing he had an answer for.

"It's not just Satsuki's mom. She says there's someone else on the way. Someone like me."

*Great. Anything else you can tell us?*

"It's massive!" he focused. "There's no telling what would happen if I tried. People in Satsuki's house would get caught in the crossfire."

"Young master?!"

Son turned to the well-dressed bystander that was Soroi.

"Get out of here! It's not safe!" he warned.

*Son. The Grand Culture and Sports Festival already started. If you're needed anywhere, it's there.*

"Don't worry, Mister Mikisugi. I'm on it."

The more urgent matter alive and well, he took off. Snatching Soroi from its tendrils they were coming from all angles to reclaim him.

"Hang on tight!" he minded his pace.

Ducking, leaning, then grabbing at a bunch with both hands he tugged his hardest to rip them loose. Throwing out his palm hurled a beam and he watched it arch to burn away where the growth started. Darting off Soroi was carried faster than he cared to move yet Son didn't slow for the spiraling lines giving chase.

"Keep your head down!" he said.

He banked straight up. Anything else touching them forced away from his knuckles they ruptured stone, soil, plaster, marble, fine wood and the roof of Kiryuin Manor trading it's expansive worth for the outdoors. "Hang in there guys. I'm coming," he thought. Tensing a bit flared potential. It also shot them along and crackled on the curve down.