Ranma/Metroid
'Ill Gain'
Kasumi took a weary step back, as the army of mutant metroids approached the surface, no doubt hearing the cries of combat from above. There was no way she could take on the legion of the energy vampires that suddenly stopped at the base of the chasm, almost carefully considering their present meal.
The Space Hunter already knew that the entrance to the room was now sealed, and that the bottom of the chasm held the exit. More than likely, it was also sealed until every one of the creatures in the room were dead, but....
"[Kasumi?]"
The Space Hunter decided not to answer her sister, and manually switched verbal responce off. She would hear her sister, just in case she had dire warnings to give her, but Nabiki would know that she would not be responding. Slowly, ever so slowly, Kasumi stook steps back from the edge of the pit, attempting not to alert the deadly creatures into attacking. Once she had enough due space from the edge, Kasumi took a deep breath to steady her nerves. The calmness that fueled professionalism settled over her, washing through her body like a purifying wave made to sync her mind, body, and soul into one complete unity. Once her brief meditation was up, Kasumi ran, and leapt into the air. And with arms spread wide, then shooting down,dove into the chasm.
______________________________
"KASUMI!" Nabiki's voice shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She knew her sister wouldn't respond, so she wouldn't get an answer as to why her sister did something as tactically unsound as diving into a full pit of METROIDS.
For all seven years, Nabiki never felt the need to put faith into her sister and her abilities; Kasumi would succeed, or not. Now, the Space Hunter was facing impossible odds, that even her immense training, abilities, skill, tactics, and combined knowlege of all three Anything Goes Schools could overcome. Perhaps if Kasumi could lure them one by one, and manage to finish them off a few at a time, even if that would take ages to do; what with the fact that they seemed to even have Ranma's ability to adapt to stratagies quickly after encountering them; it still would have been a MUCH smarter thing to do than swan dive into their nest.
"Kasumi..." Nabiki started, but trailed off; her voice blending out into the pounding rain upon the hull of their spaceship.
______________________________
The Metroids reacted quickly to the hunter's dive, and quickly went to intercept. The first Metroid was right in front of Kasumi's descent, and rising quickly towards her. Flairing her fist with as much frozen ki as possible, she knocked it out of the way. Like a swarm of angry yellow jackets upon an intruder to the hive, the metroids swarmed Kasumi relentlessly, forcing the Space Hunter to dodge and weave pummel away any of the metroids that got in her way. Her full concentration was in the task, her mind looking at any and every possible avenue of evasion, and then the three or four after that to figure the best pattern in attempts to avoid being snagged in mid-air by the hungry monsters.
A wall of metroids were descending upon her from above, almost as fast as she was falling. Few that were still below her were quickly rising; some only seeming to note her in surprise, while others possibly tring to anticipate her. She flipped in the air by one, barely managing to graze it, and then angled her body to avoid another one; just a few more seconds till she hit the ground.... just a few more.... almost... THERE!"
Kasumi used her ki to reinforcer her legs and the armor surrounding them. Her impact caused an indenture in the metal floor that compacted heavily dense metal that made it up by almost a meter in. The Space Hunter looked up, and towards the door, just to have the fear of her gambit confirmed...
______________________________
Nabiki watched silently, as a mountain of metroids slammed down onto her sister, like paraina onto a hapless trout. Her sister's energy and reserves were dropping so fast that it would only be a matter of seconds until she was finished. Nabiki closed her eyes, and turned away from the view moniter. Her sight came into view of the spare Space Hunter suit they had available. If Kasumi was... then it would be up to her to finish the mission. She didn't have any of the physical training her sister had exept for the nominal amount that was insisted upon by Kasumi to keep her in shape, and the extra suit lacked most of the enhancements the other one did, but there was a mission to complete.
Nabiki got up out of her seat, and turned a glance back to the moniter. What she saw caused the third show of emotion that she had had in seven years.
______________________________
Like a flash, the pile of metroids were ice blue, pulsing just a bit from the plasma that had permeated them with the absolute zero that caused atoms to cease to move completely. Suddenly, the whole mountain shattered like dynamite placed within a glass statue, revealing a Space Hunter standing valiantly and tall. After the expulsion of might to rid herself of the frozen mass, Kasumi closed the missile hatch on her cannong that she had opened to allow her to expell a massive amount of enegy in a single wide blast at once, and stumbled, no longer having barely any energy in her suit to keep it aloft and running at least minimally beyond life support, or her own personal life energy, which she used almost all of in order to help power the wide blast to flash-freeze the metroids.
There was plenty of energy floating around the air from the deceased biological weapons she had just destroyed, but she didn't have the energy to even stand up to gather it. Kasumi grimaced, knowing what she would have to do. There was an energy revitalizing technique of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, the only one that existed in the school.
It took a certain mindset to tap into the technique, and because of it, Kasumi had wished to any Kami that still existed for her that there had to be another one from the other schools. After seven years of constantly going over the contents of Happosai's treasure chest of knowlege of the arts, no avail.
Kasumi groaned, and then allowed a letcherous smile to form over her face. She allowed her arm cannon to detach itself, and reached to her other arm to open a secret compartment that held some of Nabiki's undergarments. She really... REALLY hoped Nabiki wasn't seeing this....
______________________________
Nabiki slumped back into the chair with a dumbfounded expression. That would be the last time she would ever put doubt in Kasumi's abilities, ever again.
______________________________
"[GEMINI DID WHAT?!?]" Screamed the furious creature in the view moniter. The current commander of the Space Pirates growled at its benefactors beratement.
The insectoid creature wearing a cape was clearly surprised, but not frantic at the turn of events. The Space Hunter managed to defeat their entire stock of metroids, impressive. It would set them back a great deal, but it is not a unrecoverable loss. Now, the Space Hunter would be sufficiently weakened for Mother Brain to be able to finish the damnable Space Hunt...
Kasumi stepped through the door, just as the view moniter was abruptly cut off from the other end, and leveled her cannon at the mantis creature. It gave a series of clicking noises which the Space Hunter presumed was laughter. Kasumi was puzzled as to why it was laughing, and was about to ask, when another... rather LARGE presence was felt to the side of her.
Slowly, Kasumi turned. Her eyes met the single eye that was imbedded in a massive brain that was the center of a cluster of nine brains that were attacked to thousands of wires that were interwoven throught the room. Kasumi stepped back, and forgot her rule of silence among the enemy, "M-Mother Brain?"
"Surprised?" the current commander of the Space Pirates chuckled, "You thought twice that you had succeeded in destroying Mother Brain. I shall take great pleasure in telling you that you had done nothing more than destroy mere terminals..."
"[Terminals?]" Nabiki's voice came over the comm. unit to question for Kasumi.
The mantis creature in the cape paused, as it noted the voice that spoke was different, and then resumed, "Yes, you thought Mother Brain to be a single life form that was easily destroyed. In truth, Mother Brain is a whole network that spans the whole galaxy! No matter how many of the terminals you destroy, Mother Brain will exist!"
The Space Hunter made a show of looking around, before Nabiki's voice spoke again, "Maybe, but I have a feeling that a great deal was put into this one terminal. I don't think this is a terminal at all, in fact, more like a hub..." The Space Hunter turned to the cluster of brains, finding one had a mouth that was silently hissing at her, " It would criple you a great deal if this area were to perish..."
The commander paused, and started to make its clicking sounds of laughter again, "It would quite a bit, but you will find that this one isn't as weak as the previous ones..." The space pirate quickly attempted to take its leave, but found the door sealed, "What is..."
Mother Brain let out a wail of rage, before unleashing a heavy barrage of weaponry upon the occupants of the room. The space pirate perished, for its incompetence in the eyes of its true master immidiately, while the Space Hunter was forced to dodge with all her ability.
The air was thick with beams of lasers and white energy rings that resolved to cut Kasumi down so that she would never pester the organization of Space Pirates ever again. Kasumi moved like smoke against agressing winds, dancing and flickering around the barrage because her life depended upon it. She turned, and fired her beam at the center eye of the cluster, and found her rocket shattering upon a thin shield that covered it. The Space Hunter's eyes went wide behind her visor, and quickly instead turned her fire upon the weaponry in the room. Fortunately, it was vunerable to her own firepower, and she found herself gaining breathing room to fire more shots at Mother Brain. Every missile detonated upon the shield Mother Brain had protecting it. The Mother Brain roared furiously, as its protective shield was starting to thin; noticable to Kasumi also.
"Come on... come on..." Kasumi mumbled, not even noticing the mantra being softly repeated by her sister. Suddenly, all firing stopped, leaving Kasumi to puzzle over what just happened, until she noticed the shield over Mother Brain's eye started to rebuild itself, as the eye itself was closed, as if gathering energy.
"[KASUMI, MOVE!]" Nabik shouted, recognizing it from videos of Samus's previous battle with Mother Brain. It was culminating energy from weapons and such for a wide and high powered beam that was too wide to dodge, and would almost completely drain, if not outright kill, its target.
Kasumi herself recognised it, and was prepared to do what Samus could not do, and evade the blast that would probably leave Mother Brain intensely vunerable. Unfortunately, it wasn't as either her or Nabiki expected...
Mother Brain had learned from its mistakes before; its eye opened viciously, and instead of a beam that could possibly be evaded, the whole room became flooded with an intense wave of energy that immidiately brought Kasumi to her knees.
"Wha... what?" Kasumi breathed, finding just about all the energy in her suite was zapped from her. Mother Brain quickly took advantage of the situation, and started to bombard its nemesis Space Hunter with lasers and other artillary. Kasumi attempted to stagger to her feet, but would be instantly felled by one of the beams or rings of energy from Mother Brain. The suit was almost nothing more than a dead weight to Kasumi now, and it only had about a full reserve tank of energy left before it was completely destroyed; her along with it.
Kasumi resolved, that if she was going to down, it wouldn't be in failure...
Mother Brain felt victory on the horizon. This time, there wouldn't be a traitorous metroid to save the Space Hunter this time. At the thought, Mother Brain closed its eyes, concentrated, and prepared itself for the overkill. Kasumi and Nabiki knew that this next blast would be the final one to finish the fight, and Kasumi decided to utilize the final weapon that would leave the suit dead all to but for life support, and drain a great deal of her own ki as well...
Mother Brain's eye shot open, just in time for Kasumi to raise her arm cannon, and fire the hyperbeam dead into it.
The beam easily cut through Mother Brains shielding, and ripped through the eye. With a wail of agony, the cluster of brains shuddered, and then exploded into a mass of techology and organic matter that shook the whole room, and destroyed just about everything left in the room, but the Space Hunter herself.
Kasumi slowly pulled herself out of the rubble, and then fell to her knees. The flashing alarms around her signaled what was about to happen now.
"[Kasumi, you only have approximately eight minutes to evacuate, there is an escape shaft that will..."
"No," Kasumi said with a tired, but firm voice.
"[No?] Nabiki asked, with curiousity in her voice and something else.
Kasumi removed her helmet, and smirked to find a breathable atmosphere, "I'm staying, to ensure that Mother Brain is done for here."
"[Kasumi, we can't be sure that its dead here, even if you stay,]" Nabiki said with a logical, yet strained tone.
"Nabiki..." Kasumi started, "there is no way I could make it to the surface. The suit is dead, and I'm too tired."
"[Then use my panties to charge yourself up again.]"
Kasumi winced, "Ah... I guess you saw that, huh?"
"[Kasumi...]"
"Nabiki, the Federation will issue you another partner if you ask them. Just go back and tell them that we've finished the mission."
"[Kasumi, I am not leaving until you are aboard this ship]" Nabiki replied in a firm and neutral voice.
"What do you care?" was Kasumi's reply, as she watched one of the still slightly whole masses of the Mother Brain cluster droop down from the wires it was attached to.
"[DAMMIT, KASUMI, YOU ARE ALL I HAVE LEFT, AND I WILL *NOT* LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!]" Kasumi's eyes went wide at the outburst, and then her heart lurched at the sobbing over the comm.
"Nabiki?" Suddenly, Kasumi wasn't so committed to dying anymore. The Space Hunter quickly put on he helmet, and concentrated her life force to enhance her strength. Then, she quickly removed her suit, leaving only the comm. unit on her head and her arm cannon that held whatever remaining power the suit had in it.
"[K-Kasumi...?]"
"There's not enough time to get out of here. I'm in the center of the planet's core," Kasumi replied, "I'm going to have to stop the self-destruct..."The Space Hunter, clad only in a sports bra and leg tights rushed towards the exit
"[There isn't a possible way, the command room was destroyed...]" Kasumi didn't reply, as she exited the room. She ignored the frantic space pirates that paused only in half hearted attempts to slow her down.
Kasumi ignored them, following the maze to what she would surmise would be where the generator core of the space pirates' base was. "Nabiki, which way to the power core of this base?"
Nabiki blinked at the question, "[Uh, there is a red marked vent shaft to regulate its temperature that in the bottom left of the room you're currently in, but why...]"
"Just tell me how much time I have left!" Kasumi commanded, pushing herself to hyper speed without her suit. Nabiki counted down to less than two minutes, as Kasumi dropped down a red colored shaft, and kicked open the vent that was below her. She rebounded off the wall, and landed on a platform facing a massive glowing and pulsing sphere the size of a small apartment building. Kasumi knew that when they were going to destroy the base, it would be by overloading the generator. The only reason there was a count down was because the generator needed sufficient time to build up a critical overload. Kasumi's plan was simple, contain the overload.
As Nabiki counted down twenty seconds in a very strained and chocked voice, Kasumi removed her arm cannon, and took a horse stance. She closed her eyes, and concentrated on her battle aura. An immense and menacing light version of her radiated out to the size of the energy core. With only four seconds left, Kasumi's aura formed two hands, and encircled the rapidly pulsing sphere.
Kasumi almost faltered right at the initial pulse, but she held her ground, as she syphoned the access energy that was being expulged by the core, and synced it with her aura in a variation of Happosai aura technique that he used to freeze an opponent in place by sucking away their aura and will to fight back. She was beginning to feel lightheaded and drunk from the massive overload, but she wouldn't fail her sister, who she had finally gotten back. The energy was starting to overpower her will, and Kasumi gave a cry of fustration, determination, and anguish....
______________________________
Nabiki waited a couple of seconds after the cry, "Kasumi...?" When she recieved no responce, her voice became more urgent, "Kasumi? KASUMI!" After several shouts, and no reply, Nabiki collapsed onto the console, crying. Now, she was alone.
"[Nabiki... Ah, I think I'm going to take a nice nap, now.]" Nabiki's head quickly shot up at her sister's responce, and hearing a dull thud of her body hitting the ground.
"KASUMI!!!"
"[I'm alright, just quit shouting or you'll lose your voice... or something.]" Nabiki's tears changed from desolation to joy.
'Ill Gain'
Kasumi took a weary step back, as the army of mutant metroids approached the surface, no doubt hearing the cries of combat from above. There was no way she could take on the legion of the energy vampires that suddenly stopped at the base of the chasm, almost carefully considering their present meal.
The Space Hunter already knew that the entrance to the room was now sealed, and that the bottom of the chasm held the exit. More than likely, it was also sealed until every one of the creatures in the room were dead, but....
"[Kasumi?]"
The Space Hunter decided not to answer her sister, and manually switched verbal responce off. She would hear her sister, just in case she had dire warnings to give her, but Nabiki would know that she would not be responding. Slowly, ever so slowly, Kasumi stook steps back from the edge of the pit, attempting not to alert the deadly creatures into attacking. Once she had enough due space from the edge, Kasumi took a deep breath to steady her nerves. The calmness that fueled professionalism settled over her, washing through her body like a purifying wave made to sync her mind, body, and soul into one complete unity. Once her brief meditation was up, Kasumi ran, and leapt into the air. And with arms spread wide, then shooting down,dove into the chasm.
______________________________
"KASUMI!" Nabiki's voice shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She knew her sister wouldn't respond, so she wouldn't get an answer as to why her sister did something as tactically unsound as diving into a full pit of METROIDS.
For all seven years, Nabiki never felt the need to put faith into her sister and her abilities; Kasumi would succeed, or not. Now, the Space Hunter was facing impossible odds, that even her immense training, abilities, skill, tactics, and combined knowlege of all three Anything Goes Schools could overcome. Perhaps if Kasumi could lure them one by one, and manage to finish them off a few at a time, even if that would take ages to do; what with the fact that they seemed to even have Ranma's ability to adapt to stratagies quickly after encountering them; it still would have been a MUCH smarter thing to do than swan dive into their nest.
"Kasumi..." Nabiki started, but trailed off; her voice blending out into the pounding rain upon the hull of their spaceship.
______________________________
The Metroids reacted quickly to the hunter's dive, and quickly went to intercept. The first Metroid was right in front of Kasumi's descent, and rising quickly towards her. Flairing her fist with as much frozen ki as possible, she knocked it out of the way. Like a swarm of angry yellow jackets upon an intruder to the hive, the metroids swarmed Kasumi relentlessly, forcing the Space Hunter to dodge and weave pummel away any of the metroids that got in her way. Her full concentration was in the task, her mind looking at any and every possible avenue of evasion, and then the three or four after that to figure the best pattern in attempts to avoid being snagged in mid-air by the hungry monsters.
A wall of metroids were descending upon her from above, almost as fast as she was falling. Few that were still below her were quickly rising; some only seeming to note her in surprise, while others possibly tring to anticipate her. She flipped in the air by one, barely managing to graze it, and then angled her body to avoid another one; just a few more seconds till she hit the ground.... just a few more.... almost... THERE!"
Kasumi used her ki to reinforcer her legs and the armor surrounding them. Her impact caused an indenture in the metal floor that compacted heavily dense metal that made it up by almost a meter in. The Space Hunter looked up, and towards the door, just to have the fear of her gambit confirmed...
______________________________
Nabiki watched silently, as a mountain of metroids slammed down onto her sister, like paraina onto a hapless trout. Her sister's energy and reserves were dropping so fast that it would only be a matter of seconds until she was finished. Nabiki closed her eyes, and turned away from the view moniter. Her sight came into view of the spare Space Hunter suit they had available. If Kasumi was... then it would be up to her to finish the mission. She didn't have any of the physical training her sister had exept for the nominal amount that was insisted upon by Kasumi to keep her in shape, and the extra suit lacked most of the enhancements the other one did, but there was a mission to complete.
Nabiki got up out of her seat, and turned a glance back to the moniter. What she saw caused the third show of emotion that she had had in seven years.
______________________________
Like a flash, the pile of metroids were ice blue, pulsing just a bit from the plasma that had permeated them with the absolute zero that caused atoms to cease to move completely. Suddenly, the whole mountain shattered like dynamite placed within a glass statue, revealing a Space Hunter standing valiantly and tall. After the expulsion of might to rid herself of the frozen mass, Kasumi closed the missile hatch on her cannong that she had opened to allow her to expell a massive amount of enegy in a single wide blast at once, and stumbled, no longer having barely any energy in her suit to keep it aloft and running at least minimally beyond life support, or her own personal life energy, which she used almost all of in order to help power the wide blast to flash-freeze the metroids.
There was plenty of energy floating around the air from the deceased biological weapons she had just destroyed, but she didn't have the energy to even stand up to gather it. Kasumi grimaced, knowing what she would have to do. There was an energy revitalizing technique of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, the only one that existed in the school.
It took a certain mindset to tap into the technique, and because of it, Kasumi had wished to any Kami that still existed for her that there had to be another one from the other schools. After seven years of constantly going over the contents of Happosai's treasure chest of knowlege of the arts, no avail.
Kasumi groaned, and then allowed a letcherous smile to form over her face. She allowed her arm cannon to detach itself, and reached to her other arm to open a secret compartment that held some of Nabiki's undergarments. She really... REALLY hoped Nabiki wasn't seeing this....
______________________________
Nabiki slumped back into the chair with a dumbfounded expression. That would be the last time she would ever put doubt in Kasumi's abilities, ever again.
______________________________
"[GEMINI DID WHAT?!?]" Screamed the furious creature in the view moniter. The current commander of the Space Pirates growled at its benefactors beratement.
The insectoid creature wearing a cape was clearly surprised, but not frantic at the turn of events. The Space Hunter managed to defeat their entire stock of metroids, impressive. It would set them back a great deal, but it is not a unrecoverable loss. Now, the Space Hunter would be sufficiently weakened for Mother Brain to be able to finish the damnable Space Hunt...
Kasumi stepped through the door, just as the view moniter was abruptly cut off from the other end, and leveled her cannon at the mantis creature. It gave a series of clicking noises which the Space Hunter presumed was laughter. Kasumi was puzzled as to why it was laughing, and was about to ask, when another... rather LARGE presence was felt to the side of her.
Slowly, Kasumi turned. Her eyes met the single eye that was imbedded in a massive brain that was the center of a cluster of nine brains that were attacked to thousands of wires that were interwoven throught the room. Kasumi stepped back, and forgot her rule of silence among the enemy, "M-Mother Brain?"
"Surprised?" the current commander of the Space Pirates chuckled, "You thought twice that you had succeeded in destroying Mother Brain. I shall take great pleasure in telling you that you had done nothing more than destroy mere terminals..."
"[Terminals?]" Nabiki's voice came over the comm. unit to question for Kasumi.
The mantis creature in the cape paused, as it noted the voice that spoke was different, and then resumed, "Yes, you thought Mother Brain to be a single life form that was easily destroyed. In truth, Mother Brain is a whole network that spans the whole galaxy! No matter how many of the terminals you destroy, Mother Brain will exist!"
The Space Hunter made a show of looking around, before Nabiki's voice spoke again, "Maybe, but I have a feeling that a great deal was put into this one terminal. I don't think this is a terminal at all, in fact, more like a hub..." The Space Hunter turned to the cluster of brains, finding one had a mouth that was silently hissing at her, " It would criple you a great deal if this area were to perish..."
The commander paused, and started to make its clicking sounds of laughter again, "It would quite a bit, but you will find that this one isn't as weak as the previous ones..." The space pirate quickly attempted to take its leave, but found the door sealed, "What is..."
Mother Brain let out a wail of rage, before unleashing a heavy barrage of weaponry upon the occupants of the room. The space pirate perished, for its incompetence in the eyes of its true master immidiately, while the Space Hunter was forced to dodge with all her ability.
The air was thick with beams of lasers and white energy rings that resolved to cut Kasumi down so that she would never pester the organization of Space Pirates ever again. Kasumi moved like smoke against agressing winds, dancing and flickering around the barrage because her life depended upon it. She turned, and fired her beam at the center eye of the cluster, and found her rocket shattering upon a thin shield that covered it. The Space Hunter's eyes went wide behind her visor, and quickly instead turned her fire upon the weaponry in the room. Fortunately, it was vunerable to her own firepower, and she found herself gaining breathing room to fire more shots at Mother Brain. Every missile detonated upon the shield Mother Brain had protecting it. The Mother Brain roared furiously, as its protective shield was starting to thin; noticable to Kasumi also.
"Come on... come on..." Kasumi mumbled, not even noticing the mantra being softly repeated by her sister. Suddenly, all firing stopped, leaving Kasumi to puzzle over what just happened, until she noticed the shield over Mother Brain's eye started to rebuild itself, as the eye itself was closed, as if gathering energy.
"[KASUMI, MOVE!]" Nabik shouted, recognizing it from videos of Samus's previous battle with Mother Brain. It was culminating energy from weapons and such for a wide and high powered beam that was too wide to dodge, and would almost completely drain, if not outright kill, its target.
Kasumi herself recognised it, and was prepared to do what Samus could not do, and evade the blast that would probably leave Mother Brain intensely vunerable. Unfortunately, it wasn't as either her or Nabiki expected...
Mother Brain had learned from its mistakes before; its eye opened viciously, and instead of a beam that could possibly be evaded, the whole room became flooded with an intense wave of energy that immidiately brought Kasumi to her knees.
"Wha... what?" Kasumi breathed, finding just about all the energy in her suite was zapped from her. Mother Brain quickly took advantage of the situation, and started to bombard its nemesis Space Hunter with lasers and other artillary. Kasumi attempted to stagger to her feet, but would be instantly felled by one of the beams or rings of energy from Mother Brain. The suit was almost nothing more than a dead weight to Kasumi now, and it only had about a full reserve tank of energy left before it was completely destroyed; her along with it.
Kasumi resolved, that if she was going to down, it wouldn't be in failure...
Mother Brain felt victory on the horizon. This time, there wouldn't be a traitorous metroid to save the Space Hunter this time. At the thought, Mother Brain closed its eyes, concentrated, and prepared itself for the overkill. Kasumi and Nabiki knew that this next blast would be the final one to finish the fight, and Kasumi decided to utilize the final weapon that would leave the suit dead all to but for life support, and drain a great deal of her own ki as well...
Mother Brain's eye shot open, just in time for Kasumi to raise her arm cannon, and fire the hyperbeam dead into it.
The beam easily cut through Mother Brains shielding, and ripped through the eye. With a wail of agony, the cluster of brains shuddered, and then exploded into a mass of techology and organic matter that shook the whole room, and destroyed just about everything left in the room, but the Space Hunter herself.
Kasumi slowly pulled herself out of the rubble, and then fell to her knees. The flashing alarms around her signaled what was about to happen now.
"[Kasumi, you only have approximately eight minutes to evacuate, there is an escape shaft that will..."
"No," Kasumi said with a tired, but firm voice.
"[No?] Nabiki asked, with curiousity in her voice and something else.
Kasumi removed her helmet, and smirked to find a breathable atmosphere, "I'm staying, to ensure that Mother Brain is done for here."
"[Kasumi, we can't be sure that its dead here, even if you stay,]" Nabiki said with a logical, yet strained tone.
"Nabiki..." Kasumi started, "there is no way I could make it to the surface. The suit is dead, and I'm too tired."
"[Then use my panties to charge yourself up again.]"
Kasumi winced, "Ah... I guess you saw that, huh?"
"[Kasumi...]"
"Nabiki, the Federation will issue you another partner if you ask them. Just go back and tell them that we've finished the mission."
"[Kasumi, I am not leaving until you are aboard this ship]" Nabiki replied in a firm and neutral voice.
"What do you care?" was Kasumi's reply, as she watched one of the still slightly whole masses of the Mother Brain cluster droop down from the wires it was attached to.
"[DAMMIT, KASUMI, YOU ARE ALL I HAVE LEFT, AND I WILL *NOT* LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!]" Kasumi's eyes went wide at the outburst, and then her heart lurched at the sobbing over the comm.
"Nabiki?" Suddenly, Kasumi wasn't so committed to dying anymore. The Space Hunter quickly put on he helmet, and concentrated her life force to enhance her strength. Then, she quickly removed her suit, leaving only the comm. unit on her head and her arm cannon that held whatever remaining power the suit had in it.
"[K-Kasumi...?]"
"There's not enough time to get out of here. I'm in the center of the planet's core," Kasumi replied, "I'm going to have to stop the self-destruct..."The Space Hunter, clad only in a sports bra and leg tights rushed towards the exit
"[There isn't a possible way, the command room was destroyed...]" Kasumi didn't reply, as she exited the room. She ignored the frantic space pirates that paused only in half hearted attempts to slow her down.
Kasumi ignored them, following the maze to what she would surmise would be where the generator core of the space pirates' base was. "Nabiki, which way to the power core of this base?"
Nabiki blinked at the question, "[Uh, there is a red marked vent shaft to regulate its temperature that in the bottom left of the room you're currently in, but why...]"
"Just tell me how much time I have left!" Kasumi commanded, pushing herself to hyper speed without her suit. Nabiki counted down to less than two minutes, as Kasumi dropped down a red colored shaft, and kicked open the vent that was below her. She rebounded off the wall, and landed on a platform facing a massive glowing and pulsing sphere the size of a small apartment building. Kasumi knew that when they were going to destroy the base, it would be by overloading the generator. The only reason there was a count down was because the generator needed sufficient time to build up a critical overload. Kasumi's plan was simple, contain the overload.
As Nabiki counted down twenty seconds in a very strained and chocked voice, Kasumi removed her arm cannon, and took a horse stance. She closed her eyes, and concentrated on her battle aura. An immense and menacing light version of her radiated out to the size of the energy core. With only four seconds left, Kasumi's aura formed two hands, and encircled the rapidly pulsing sphere.
Kasumi almost faltered right at the initial pulse, but she held her ground, as she syphoned the access energy that was being expulged by the core, and synced it with her aura in a variation of Happosai aura technique that he used to freeze an opponent in place by sucking away their aura and will to fight back. She was beginning to feel lightheaded and drunk from the massive overload, but she wouldn't fail her sister, who she had finally gotten back. The energy was starting to overpower her will, and Kasumi gave a cry of fustration, determination, and anguish....
______________________________
Nabiki waited a couple of seconds after the cry, "Kasumi...?" When she recieved no responce, her voice became more urgent, "Kasumi? KASUMI!" After several shouts, and no reply, Nabiki collapsed onto the console, crying. Now, she was alone.
"[Nabiki... Ah, I think I'm going to take a nice nap, now.]" Nabiki's head quickly shot up at her sister's responce, and hearing a dull thud of her body hitting the ground.
"KASUMI!!!"
"[I'm alright, just quit shouting or you'll lose your voice... or something.]" Nabiki's tears changed from desolation to joy.
