"BURNING ATTACK!"
The present heroes just saw how a big yellow blast came out of the sky after
those words were yelled.
The blast slammed against the colonizer creating a considerable explosion
once it made impact.
Descending from the sky was Super Saya-man.
[Looks like I got rid of it.] Trunks thought once he landed on the park, a
couple of yards away from the group he didn't notice.
"I assume *that's* Super Saya-man." Ukyou brought out, pointing to the
gold hair boy.
[That guy is letting out more battle aura than the old freak when he's
pissed!] Ranma noticed, [Who the heck is that guy and from where does he
get all that power?]
The smoke where the blast exploded began to clear out. Much to Trunks'
surprise, the robot was still there, completely unscratched.
"What the..." Super Saya-man started.
The colonizer didn't let him finish what he was about to say and started
to shoot frenetically at the new adversary. Super Saya-man began to dodge
efficiently all the projectiles and began, once again, to perform weird
arms moves. The robot stopped shooting once the golden hair boy extended
his arms towards it.
"BURNING ATTACK!" he repeated as he released another blast.
Another explosion went off, only this time everyone covered his/her ears.
Once the smoked cleared (again!) the monster was still revealed unharmed
(again!). Then it began shooting (again!).
[I'm getting nowhere like this!] Trunks thought, as he began to dodge
once more, [If I use stronger blasts, I'll blow the entire city sky high.]
He then noticed the Sailor Senshi a couple of yards away. Sailor Venus was
gesturing him to come towards them.
Trunks did so and in a fraction of seconds was already standing next to
them. Everyone present yelped in surprise, not expecting him to actually
make it there so fast.
"Hi, everyone." he said casually. "Could someone please tell me what the
hell is going on here."
"Super Saya-man!!" Venus beamed as she glomped on to him, "I'm so happy
you're here!"
[Here we go again...] Trunks sighed. He then gently moved her aside.
"I'll be brief." Mercury began. "That thing is here to destroy all humans
in this planet, so we have to destroy it first."
"By the way, what took you so long to get here?" Mars questioned suspiciously.
"I couldn't sense that thing's presence, since it's not alive." Saya-man
explained, "That is until I felt two *very* hostile kis in this park. I
thought it was the monster, but I guess I was wrong."
"Here's your two hostile kis." Ranma told him as he pointed towards his
two fiancees. Little did he knew that once this was over, he'd have to
deal with them for saying what he just did.
Super Saya-man blinked, as he just noticed the trio from Nerima. He really
didn't expect them to be here. He got close to them making Ukyou and Akane
a little nervous. Ranma just held his head up high.
"I can sense a strong ki from the three of you," he informed, "If you're
here, I'm assuming it's to help out." the three nodded in approval.
"You look like you can hold your own, too." Ranma told him.
"Okay, enough of introductions." Jupiter stated. "How about we concentrate
on getting rid of that piece of junk before it decides to destroy human
life as we know it."
"There's not much we can do while that shield is still up." Mercury pointed
out, as she kept on hitting the keys of her computer "It's not letting me
in either."
"If we blind it, it may not know where to shoot." Ranma suggested. "I say
we brake it's lenses. For what I've seen it always points those things
where it shoots."
"How can we brake those if there's a shield up all the time?" Tuxedo Kamen
asked him.
"Wrong." the pigtailed boy pointed out. "The shield is only up when someone
is lunching an attack towards it."
"If the shield was always up," Super Saya-man went on. "it wouldn't be able
to shoot back at us."
"Bingo." Ranma declared.
"You look like you can move fast enough." Saya-man told him, pretending he
wasn't aware of the martial artist's skills, "How about both of us divert
it's fire while giving someone else a clear shot at those lenses."
"You took the words right out of my mouth." the young martial artist said
back. "Is there someone here who's a sharp shooter."
"I'll take care of the lenses." Tuxedo Kamen stated.
"Count me in." Ukyou added.
"Okay, let's go!" Saya-man declared as Ranma and him rushed out into the
open field.
The colonizer began shooting once it saw the two enemies. Several other
guns began to pop out of it's body, now that the number of targets was
bigger. Besides, it just didn't seemed to be able to get a lock on the two
fighters. So it began firing with all it had.
"Those two are incredible!" Moon noticed in stupefaction. "They're dodging
all the missiles. Even if that thing has three times more fire power than
before."
"It's our turn." Tuxedo Kamen told Ukyou.
Both of them began to make their way though the battle field. The colonizer
occasionally shot at them, but since it was more busy with Ranma and Trunks,
the two of them didn't had such a hard time dodging.
The two main targets then began to move towards the same direction. The
colonizer began pointing it's guns towards the new angle, unaware that by
doing so it gave the two other adversaries a clear shot at it's eyes.
A rose and a small spatula zoomed through the air and pierced the two
lenses of the colonizer. A small electric shock went through them and soon
the lenses blew up in pieces.
"Now!" Moon declared as the rest of the fighters and her entered the battle
field.
//COL689-EF//
Optical instruments damaged. Current visibility: zero.
Switching to defense mode 2.
Releasing smoke screen and changing to alternative vision mode.
//COL689-EF//
As soon as the rest of the fighters set a foot inside the park, a cloud of
smoke forming out of the robot's several orifices began to expand all over
the park at an alarming speed. The present heroes couldn't see where their
enemy was anymore.
"Head back!" Ranma told them.
However, being Trunks and him near the monster's occupation area, the two
of them were quickly consumed into the darkness of the smoke.
Even if the smoke didn't seemed to be toxic, neither of them knew where
their opponent was. The colonizer, on the other hand, had them right where
it wanted them.
//COL689-EF//
Second defense procedure, complete.
Thermal-vision, activated.
Detecting targets.
Proceeding to re-engage fire.
//COL689-EF//
A flurry of blasts surprised Trunks from the back. He let out a dry scream
as he felt the burning impacts on his back. It was fortunate that he was
in Super Sayan form, so the blast weren't very damaging on him. But they
did took the breath out of him and send him to the floor, leaving him wide
open for another blast.
Ranma, who was several feet next to the recently injured masked fighter,
wasn't receiving much attention, now that the colonizer was concentrating
on finishing off Super Saya-man before he represented any further threat.
That gave the pigtail boy a chance to hear where his companion was and went
to his help.
Before the next load of blasts got to Super Saya-man, Ranma was already
carrying him out of the cloud from under the armpits, while doing his best
at dodging the incoming missiles as well.
"Are you all right?" Venus asked Super Saya-man, once Ranma laid him down
next to the rest of the group.
"I'll be fine." he responded while getting up. "It surprised me more than
hurting me. [I can't believe I let my guard down like that! I'm relying
too much on feeling the opponent's ki.]" he then stretched a little bit to
prove he wasn't injured.
"Ranma! You're arm's bleeding!" Akane told him, once she noticed the wound.
"Blood? Where?" Ukyou asked concerned, as she moved closer to Ranma.
"I'm okay." he reassured them. "It's just a scratch. My shirt wasn't so
lucky, though."
While Ranma was tending to his wounds, the Senshi began to form another
plan. Just as Mercury began to give some suggestions for the next assault,
a loud noise was heard from inside the battlefield.
Everyone took a fighting stance expecting their enemy to make a move.
Instead, they saw a round projectile flying way above them and disappearing
into the sky.
From inside the smoke cloud another sphere object was launched into the air.
Then another one.
And another one.
And finally, two more.
Each missile was sent into a different direction. But none of them seemed
to have the local heroes as targets.
"What on Earth was that?" Mars asked.
"We have a new problem, guys." Mercury stated once she raised her eyes from
her computer screen. "Phase three has just started."
"What the heck is phase 3?" Saya-man asked, being the only one from the
team that was uninformed.
"The destruction of human kind." Tuxedo-Kamen responded simply.
Trunks' eyes widened.
"But what were those things?" Moon asked Mercury, who seemed to have all
the answers lately.
"I'm not sure," the blue Senshi responded, "But if those things will help
to achieve phase 3, I'm expecting the worst. I'm monitoring the trajectory
of those five objects." as she began to press some buttons on her computer,
she then narrowed her eyes, "Those things are suppose to land in strategic
points all around Japan."
"But what are they?" Jupiter asked frustrated. "Bombs?"
"Bombs, poisonous gas... it could be anything. Probably something too
technologically advance to tell." Mercury went on. "Either way, it's nothing
good."
"Any idea on *when* will they blow up or be activated?" Tuxedo asked.
After consulting her computer once again, she raised her sight. She wasn't
looking as if she was about to tell good news.
"Ten minutes." she said with lost hope.
Everyone began to feel defeat upon them.
"We can't cover so much ground in so little time." she added as she
closed her computer in frustration. "Damn it..." she whispered.
"We can still make it." Saya-man spoke. Everyone turned towards him.
"Mercury, can you pinpoint those things exact location?"
"I already did."
"Then, you're coming with me." he told her in an authoritarian way. "I can
fly there fast enough, but I need a guide to tell me where I'm supposed to
go."
"You can go to all five points in less than ten minutes?" Tuxedo Kamen
asked with a certain amount of disbelief.
Rei raised an eyebrow. Even if she promised Minako she would go easy on
Super Saya-man by not bombarding him with rude questions, she wasn't sure
if the masked hero wasn't trying to pull something behind their back.
Trunks noticed the lack of response he was getting from the people around
him.
"Listen, we don't have enough time." the Sayan hybrid stated. "You'll have
to trust me on this one. If we don't move fast, all of Japan will be gone.
I don't know about you guys, but there are people in this planet *I* really
care about... and I don't want them to die."
"He's right!" Moon declared with determination. "Mercury, you have to go
with him."
"I agree." Jupiter said.
"Me too." Venus spoke. Even if she was hoping she would be the one to go
with Saya-man, she was well aware this wasn't the time to think about it
nor to feel jealous or possessive if Mercury was a more logical choice as
a navigator.
The rest of the fighters nodded in approval.
Mercury took a deep breath then went next to Saya-man.
It wasn't that she had something against the masked hero in question,
although the spiky hair and the yellow aura surrounding him didn't helped
in making him look very friendly, but if at least she knew a little more
about him. At least something. She'd feel more confortable while being next
to him.
"Where is the nearest sphere?" he asked her.
"The closest one should land twenty miles East from here." she responded.
"Okay." he spoke, he then took Mercury between his arms in a hug. Tightly
enough for her not to fall while flying at great speed, but gently enough
not to crush her bones. "You'll have to hold on tight while we're flying."
Ami felt her cheeks flush. Even if it was completely logical to hold on to
him, it was also very bold to do so. Her relationship with Saya-man was
strictly professional. By hugging him for a secure flight, she could also
feel Minako's jealous stare behind her back.
A yellow aura began to glow around Trunks. Seconds later, he went off like
a shot from a gun as the blue Senshi and him disappeared in the sky, leaving
only a trail of yellow light behind them.
"Let's hope they'll make it." Akane said.
"In the mean time, we have to find a way to get rid of that thing." Venus
pointed out.
"Easier said than done." Ukyou added. "That thing has more tricks under it's
sleves than Mousse."
"Mousse?" asked the senshi.
"Long story." she told them.
"Look, everyone," Mars declared, "The smoke is clearing out."
The effectiveness of the smoke screen began to wear down. The colonizer
became visible once again. It hadn't move ever since the battle started.
"If that robot was able to shoot Super Saya-man inside the smoke," Tuxedo
Kamen began, "It must have some sort of heat sensors."
"Well, let's test that theory," Mars suggested as she gathered her index
fingers together, "FIRE SOUL!"
The fireball flew to the other side of the park and slammed against a rock.
The colonizer immediately pointed his guns towards where the fireball was
last detected. Once the fire died out, the machine went back in stand by.
"Looks like you were right." Moon told Tuxedo Kamen. "Now we only have to
set something on fire to distract it and then we can finish it off."
"I'm not very sure about this." Akane interrupted. "Why didn't it shoot the
fireball?"
"That thing isn't stupid." Tuxedo Kamen explained. "I think it can easily
tell the difference between it's assigned targets and a decoy."
"Well, there goes plan B." Venus fumed.
The eight remaining heroes began to ponder on how to make an *effective*
attack on the colonizer by taking advantage of it's kind of vision.
At that time, Ranma saw something interesting in the park. His eyes began
to grow as a plan began to take form in his mind.
He then turned towards the people next to him.
"Guys, I have a plan." he said triumphal.
Meanwhile, about twenty miles East from there:
"Slow down, I think we're near!" Mercury shouted to her partner. Trunks
did as told.
Below them, in a residential area, a crater about ten feet radius could be
clearly seen. The thing obviously cause it when landing. A couple of houses
were completely destroyed and all of the local residents were already
evacuating.
The young Sayan hybrid and the young genius landed swiftly at the center
of the crater.
"This must be it." Saya-man pointed out as he dug out a basketball size
metallic sphere out of the crater. It didn't had a counter or something
similar that could indicate when it was about to blow up.
"Be careful with that thing." Mercury begged of him, "It may be unstable."
she then took out her computer. "I hope I have enough time to deactivate it."
"We can't waste time trying to shut it off." the blond hero stated. "We
still have four more of theses to find."
Before Ami got a chance to ask him what he was planning to do, Trunks took
the sphere object with one hand and moved his arm backwards, as if he was
about to do a throw.
Then, with all the strength his Super Sayan form provided him with, he
hurled it up into the sky making it fly out of the orbit.
As a final touch, he charged his hand with energy and released an enormous
blast towards the same direction he sent the sphere.
Mercury shield her eyes from the light the attack caused. Moment later, an
explosion was heard out from the sky and a small glow was seen beyond the
stratosphere.
"Well, that takes care of it." Saya-man declared.
"That was really amazing!" Mercury told him, stunned with amazement.
"Congratulate me only if we get all those things out of the planet." he
responded. "Now, where to?"
"The next one should be North of here, near Yamagata." she informed.
"Let's go then!" Saya-man said as he gestured her to come near her for
another... ahem!... hug...
Mercury nervously wrapped her arms around his waist and left her visor on
to tell the exact location of the next bomb.
Trunks held on to her and then flew north.
Minutes later, back in the park:
"Are you sure about this, Ranma?" Mars asked him.
"Listen, that thing won't shoot unless we go out there." he young martial
artist made clear. "If it doesn't shoot, it won't turn off the shield. And
if it doesn't turn of the shield, there's no possible way to hurt it."
"Easy for you to say." Akane told him. "Not everyone here can dodge so
easily, you know?"
"I'll try to distract it first," he responded, "In the meantime, all of you
spread around the park and take cover like we planned."
"Well, it's better than doing nothing." Moon pointed out.
"Okay, here I go!" Ranma declared as he ran out into the battlefield.
Once the colonizer identified the target, it began to fire.
While Ranma was distracting it, the rest of the fighters began to move
cautiously inside the park and positioning themselves behind something they
could take cover with.
Once everyone was in place, all began, one by one, popping out of their
hideout and attacking the colonizer, forcing it into noticing them.
The robot was then propelled to respond the attack from the other targets.
However, being conscious the shield was down, it didn't let anyone come near
and shot at them with all it's weaponry.
Right when the colonizer was about to shoot someone, that target quickly
hid under a rock or behind a tree. But since there were eight targets in
the battle field, the robot always had someone to shoot at. Managing a
positive impact, was another story.
[Okay, it's busy now.] Ranma noticed, [Time for the second part of my plan.]
Ranma then jumped out of the battle field and ran towards a small lake that
formed part of the park. Since the machine already had it's hands (guns?)
occupied, it let Ranma out of the battle area without giving him a warning
shot at least.
The pigtailed boy then dove into the lake.
At that time, several miles south from there:
"BURNING ATTACK!"
The sphere was blasted into nothingness once Trunks' attack reached it out
of the orbit.
The two heroes let out a sigh of relief.
That was the last one.
Trunks took a moment to sit down an relax. Even though the journey around
Japan wasn't really exhausting, he was under a lot of pressure along with
Mercury. He felt that sitting down for a couple of seconds would be very
well deserved.
Although turning his Super Sayan powers off would've been more relaxing,
Trunks new he couldn't afford Mercury to see him in his natural form.
Having spiky blond hair and green eyes did provide him with a great
disguise since he was a natural (?) purple hair blue eyes guy. It was in a
way, a perfect disguise.
Mercury sat next to him. She took the chance to take out her communicator
and tell her Senshi friends that their mission was accomplished.
"Girls? Are you there?" she asked as she switched her communicator on.
//We're all here, Am... Mercury.// Moon said from the other side of the
line. //How did everything go?//
"We got rid of all the spheres." she informed "Is everything all right
there?"
//More or less.// the Senshi leader responded. //Ranma came up with a plan.
We're trying it out right now.//
"We'll be leaving soon to help you out." Mercury told her. "Super Saya-man
just needs to rest a little while."
//Oh, I see!// Moon declared with a devilish smile, //Don't worry, I won't
tell Sailor Venus anything about you two.//
"It's nothing like that!" the blue Senshi made clear while blushing. The
masked hero next to her sweat dropped.
[Geez, this girl thinks just like Usagi.] he thought, unaware of how
accurate that statement was.
//Just teasing you.// she reassured her. //Anyway, don't worry about... What
the HECK??//
"What is it? Sailor Moon, what's happening?" Mercury asked concerned.
//It's Ranma.// Moon told her. //He... he turned into a girl...//
"What?" both heroes said simultaneously.
Back in the park:
[Brrrrrrr! That lake was freezing!] Ranma-chan thought as she began to run
towards the colonizer.
As she suspected, the robot didn't noticed her. The cold water in which
she dove into was an excellent way to avoid any sort of heat waves to be
detected by the machine.
She began to charge her ki between both of her hands while getting closer
to the robot.
The colonizer was still shooting at all the other fighters without great
success. Each time it let out a flurry of blasts, the target sought refuge
behind a solid object, sustaining therefore no damage at all.
It was then that it's sensors began detecting something. An enormous amount
of energy suddenly appeared from out of nowhere.
"MOKUO TAKABISHA!" Ranma-chan yelled.
//COL689-EF//
Red alert! Red alert! Energy attack approaching unit at great velocity!
Raising shield immediately.
//COL689-EF//
The blast was just a fraction of seconds faster than the colonizer.
The rest of the fighters saw in satisfaction how the blast clearly hit the
robot and knocked it over, leaving it up side down like a defenseless
turtle.
Everyone immediately launched an attack taking advantage of the opponent's
condition.
"CRESCENT BEAM!"
"SUPREME THUNDER!"
Venus and Jupiter's attack merged in one before making impact on their
target. The colonizer took the blast fully against it's armor, loosing
some of it's weapons in the process.
Sailor Moon took out her scepter.
"FIRE SOUL!" Mars shouted, as her attack melted some of the machine's
circuits.
Tuxedo Kamen threw a batch of roses which successfully hit the colonizer's
remaining circuits.
"MOON..." Sailor Moon began.
Ukyou, imitating the tux dressed hero, launched several spatulas which
proved to be effective in damaging the robot.
Ranma-chan quickly used her Amaguri-ken once she spotted a place to hit
that wasn't already taken by the others.
"PRINCESS..." Sailor Moon continued.
"Open up, everyone!" Akane shouted as she began to run towards the
colonizer, mallet in hand.
Everyone close to the robot, quickly moved aside.
Akane then jumped and charged her mallet way back. A couple of feet before
reaching the ground, she delivered an savage vertical blow.
WHAM!
The colonizer was no more. Or at least, nothing more than metal pancake.
All the other heroes' face expression clearly said "ouch!" after seeing
what was the colonizer's dire fate, given by Akane's mallet.
"HALA... Hey!" Moon declared. "You already killed it. No fair! I didn't get
a chance to do anything!" as she held her scepter in frustration.
"It's not our fault you're so slow." Mars pointed out.
"Besides, we couldn't waste a second." Jupiter added. "That thing could've
come up with some other trick if we didn't finished it quickly."
"It's still not fair." the Senshi leader whined.
//Hey! Is there anyone there?// Moon's communicator asked.
"We're all right, Mercury." Moon told her, "That thing is as good as dead."
//Okay, we'll be going back now.//
Several miles away from there, Saya-man and Mercury were flying back to
Tokyo.
Since they weren't in a hurry anymore, Trunks flew at a more reasonable
speed. He had an arm around Mercury's waist while she held on to him with
both arms wrapped around him. Mercury realized that the masked hero hadn't
said a word ever since they left the place where they found the fifth
sphere they'd destroyed.
"Er... Super Saya-man..." she began, "Can I ask you something?"
Trunks sighed, he could've bet Mercury was going to take advantage of being
both alone to ask him several questions.
"I'm not sure I'll be able to answer all of your questions." he said in
the most polite way he could think of.
"I understand." the blue Senshi validated, "I won't ask you to tell me who
you really are. I don't think that would be fair, unless I told you my
identity."
"I'm not interested in finding out who you, or the rest of your friends,
really are." he told her. "Personally, I think keeping things like they are
is much better."
"Agreed." Mercury accepted. "But could you tell me at least why do you
always help us when there's an enemy on the loose."
"I only interfere when it looks like you need help." he responded simply.
"But what do *you* get from all this?" she went on. "Personal satisfaction?"
"It's the right thing to do."
The blue hair Senshi sighed silently. Her flying companion was being very
defensive with each answer he gave her. He limited himself to give short
and simple explanations to all her questions.
Ami was trying to be very careful not to annoy him much by asking him
something too direct. However, she had to try one more time.
"And from where are you?" she asked.
"Here and there." he told her. "I tend to travel all around Japan."
That last part was a lie. Trunks never left Tokyo, except for today, but
he thought it would be good if he redirected her "passenger's" study on him
by making up that little lie.
"I wasn't referring to that." she said. "I was thinking about your
birthplace instead."
"I'm sorry." he stated. "I can't tell you that."
"Will there ever be a day when you can tell us?" she asked.
"I wouldn't know." he responded, as he began to fly a little faster.
Ami gave up, this guy was harder to read than a locked diary. There was no
point in making him angry with so many questions either. Especially since
her life was, literally speaking, in Saya-man's hands.
"Why do you want to know so much about me?" he asked her, taking his turn
to make questions. "Why can't you just accept my help?"
"I apologize if some of my friends are a little... rude towards you," she
tried to explain, "But you have to understand that we know very little about
you. As a matter of fact, all those monsters began to show up at same time
you did."
"I think we already went through that." Saya-man made clear, a little
annoyed for being accused as the reason for all that was happening.
"I'm not saying you're responsible for this." Mercury told him. "I'm just
saying that both factors happened at the same time. A relation between you
and the monsters is probable."
"I have nothing to do with those things." he said dryly.
"I'm sorry if I offended you." the blue Senshi said. "It's just that... I
want to know what's happening here... and how I can deal with those
monsters."
"A smart girl like you can always find a way to take care of those things."
he told her, "I think you're of great help to your friends. They'd be lost
without a good strategist like yourself."
Ami blushed to that comment.
[Did he mean that?] she questioned herself. [Or was he being sarcastic?]
She then saw a small smile forming in Saya-man's face. A rather gentle
smile. Nothing mischievous in the least. Although it did make Ami a little
nervous.
"Is there something funny?" she asked.
"You just remind me of someone." Saya-man answered, "A person I know, who's
always analyzing things and trying to find answers with all her
determination."
"Really? Who?" she asked intrigued.
"Er... no one important." he said back, realizing that he was starting to
let her know too much about himself.