TEKKADREAD
Disclaimer: Are you sure about this?
: Thoughts
Chapter 9
Jura's Magnificent Form?
The Nirvana's main monitor displayed a planet with a surface that was covered almost entirely by water. The captain and her first officer were reading the data on the planet.
"The planet's atmosphere is composed of a nitrogen/oxygen mix that is suitable for sustaining human life." Buzom stated. "There is a landmass in the northern hemisphere and were are detecting a small city on it. Under the water we're also detecting the remains of a colony ship."
Magno nodded as she considered the world below. "What do you think, BC? Shall we say hello to them?"
At that moment, the alarms went off as Ezra announced that the enemy was nearby.
"Sensors have detected several ships coming around from the other side of the planet!"
"Can you identify them?" The first mate asked.
"There seems to be around thirty Cube-Type Fighters, and one large machine... I can't make out exactly what it is."
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Coming out around the planet's curve was an alien craft that was about the size of the Nirvana. It resembled some kind of grotesque tulip with a stem. Buzzing about its surface were several of the mechanical octopi or Cube Fighters that the space pirates were familiar with. At that moment, the presence of the Nirvana was detected, which made the machines go into their preprogrammed routines and attacked.
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"All hands to battle stations!" Magno barked into the communications.
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Just as Slade came barreling out of his quarters, he was suddenly stopped in his tracks by a bright flash of light. He squinted to see what was blocking his path.
"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
The shrill laughter sent a slight shiver down his spine as he saw the curvaceous silhouette of a certain Dread Pilot. Behind Jura was Barnette, who happened to be holding up a camcorder. Apparently, they had set up the strobe lights in advance for this occasion, as they knew that he would be heading to the airlock that was nearest to his quarters.
"Do you get it now? Today you shall definitely be combining that magnificent armor with me!" Jura declared while striking the most elegant pose she could muster. She glanced to her partner and smiled. "Well, how was that?"
Barnette gave her an okay signal. "Perfect!"
Slade growled as he made a one hundred and eighty-degree turn and took an alternate route to another airlock.
"Hey! I'm not finished yet!" Jura cried out then turned to her partner. "All right then, we'll go to stage two!"
Barnette let off a tired sigh. "Right."
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Out in space...
After transforming into a Tekkaman, Slade began darting about in space, fighting alongside the Dread Fighters. Pegas was unavailable at the time, since it undergoing the process of modification and maintenance. The other members of the Vanguard squadron were currently working at their original posts in Gascogne's Register and the Dread maintenance crews. Slade didn't think much of it. They were only dealing with thirty Cube Fighters and one big machine. If worse came to worse, he could always combine with Dita or Meia's Dreads. It was then that he noticed that the Cube Fighters were more agile than before. Some were actually managing to dodge the first few slashes that he made at them with his lance. This made the Tekkaman work a bit harder to destroy them.
They've gotten better. Slade thought.
One Cube Fighter managed to tag him in the back with some strafing shots, but was destroyed a moment later from behind. Jura's Dread swooped alongside the Tekkaman.
"Well, are we ready to unite now?" She said smugly.
At that moment, another Cube Fighter came down toward them.
"Mr. Alien! Watch out!"
Dita's fighter flashed onto the scene and took out the foe before it could open up.
The younger pilot blew Slade a kiss from her cockpit. "If you're going to combine, do it with me, okay?"
Slade let off an irritated snarl as his thrusters fired. "Will you just knock it off?!" He shot out into a swarm of enemy mecha and began slashing away. Five units were cut to pieces and that was when he triggered his next attack.
TRANSFORMING TO TEKKAMAN BATTLE MODE!
Once again, his armor shifted into a more dynamic form and became enveloped in a nimbus of light, causing him to become a human comet. He flashed in and out of the enemy formations, blasting any that collided into him or was too close. Ten more Cube Fighters were obliterated as Slade streaked toward the main machine. When he came close enough, he shifted back into his regular configuration, opened up the Voltekker Units on his shoulders and prepared to fire. He figured that one full power blast down the front would be enough.
However, in that split-second, three Cube Fighters attacked him en masse and began dragging him down toward the planet's surface.
"Mr. Alien!" Dita cried out as she tried to go in and assist, but several more enemy units began engaging her and Meia, blocking them from aiding their comrade. Only one Dread Fighter got through the blockade and dove down toward the falling Tekkaman.
Since the Dreads were not intended for trans-atmospheric flight, Jura was putting herself at serious risk. However, she showed no concern as she plunged toward her intended target. "Barnette! Are you getting this on tape?" She asked as her Dread began heating up from the friction of reentry.
"You're asking me at a time like this?!" Barnette replied.
Further down in the planet's atmosphere, Slade's armor became even hotter. However, he wasn't worried since he had experienced reentry before during his travels, and his armor was heat-resistant enough to survive being inside a solar prominence. Furthermore, he was pretty certain that he would survive the impact, though at the speed he was going, it would make little difference whether he hit land or water. Two of the three Cube Fighters exploded from the heat as he continued to fall like a blazing meteor. Several more fighters followed, with their heat shields on.
Up above and catching up rapidly was Jura's Dread. Oblivious to the danger she was putting herself into by diving into the atmosphere at such a high angle, the blonde pilot's gaze fixated on her goal.
"Now show me! The Third Stage!"
Just as the two were about three miles above the planet's surface, they were enveloped in a bright flare of light. Then they hit the water with tremendous impact, sending a huge geyser shooting upward and shockwaves that could be felt for miles around. The Cube Fighters that had followed them down, stopped to hover above the ocean and waited for the two to surface in whatever new form their merging had caused.
High above in orbit, everyone else apprehensively waited as well.
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On the Nirvana's bridge...
"They've crashed in the ocean at about five miles from that island-city." Ezra said.
"Jura! Slade! Are you all right? Do you copy?" Buzom called out on communications. However, there was no response. Then, it happened...
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Suddenly, the ocean's surface broke as several objects shot upwards. They were eight, large gravity-repulsor discs which rotated above the point where Jura and Slade had splashed down. Then something huge surfaced.
The new Tekkadread was... odd. It had two extending limbs with pincers and winglike projections on each side. Out in front was a larger disc and the aft sections were raised. The circle of smaller discs came down to rotate vertically in front of the new machine. All in all, it looked like a giant...
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"Crab?" One of the bridge crew said as they all saw Tekkadread Jura on the Nirvana's main monitor.
Out in her Dread, Barnette could only stare at her own viewscreen. Jura was not going to be happy. Still, she brought out her camcorder and began filming.
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Down on the planet...
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! THIS CAN'T BE MINE!!!" The blonde Dread pilot screamed as she saw through a monitor at what her Dread had become. She started to become hysterical.
Slade looked about and found that he was again in his human form, and was now sitting in a circular cockpit. Both he and Jura were in separate seats and were opposite to each other. Between them, was a round console and a holographic projection globe.
Well... at least this one isn't as perverted as the last two. Slade winced as he remembered the sitting positions in Dita and Meia's Tekkadreads.
At that moment, the Cube Fighters started attacking.
Inside the craft, Slade began looking over the controls, trying to find the weapons on the merged Dread. Opposite to him, Jura continued to wail away.
"This is so uncool! WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP?! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! COUNTERATTACK!!" Slade shouted as the Teknodread took several direct hits. Fortunately, in its transformed state, the hull of Jura's fighter had become even stronger than Slade's Tekkaman armor.
"WAAAAAAHHHHH! IT'S SO HIDEOUS! CHANGE IT BACK!"
In a fit of frustration and anguish, she hit the console with both hands. In doing so, she had touched a control button, which caused the Tekkadread to fire its maneuvering thrusters at full throttle. The craft suddenly rocketed backward, leaving a jet wash, which swamped a couple of the Cube Fighters.
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"This is bad." BC said as she watched Slade and Jura's machine and the direction it was going. "They're heading straight for that island colony."
"What about Meia and Dita?" Magno asked.
Ezra shook her head. "They're still engaging the enemy."
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Slade had found out that the chairs that he and Jura were sitting in were capable of moving about in the cockpit. This gave both operators access to all the controls on the panels. He began swerving about, randomly pressing buttons in the hopes that he would find the weapon systems. Every now and then, he would shove Jura aside to get at some controls. Meanwhile, Jura screamed hysterically and showed no signs of stopping. Outside, the enemy continued to fire on them.
"WHERE THE HELL ARE THE WEAPONS ON THIS THING?!"
"I DON'T WANT THIS ANY MORE!"
"IF YOU'VE GOT TIME TO COMPLAIN, THEN YOU CAN HELP ME LOOK FOR THE WEAPONS!"
"WAAAHHH! WHY DID I GET STUCK WITH THIS?! IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ELEGANT!"
"WILL YOU JUST SHUT THE (censored) UP AND LOOK FOR THE WEAPONS?!"
"LET ME OFF!"
"STOP SHOOTING YOUR MOUTH OFF AND SHOOT AT THE ENEMY!"
The Tekkadread suddenly came to a stop some two hundred yards from the shoreline of the island as Slade noticed a control lever on the right side of his chair. He decided to try it. Grasping it firmly, he pushed it forward.
The arms of the Tekkadread suddenly came alive and started swinging about. Two of the Cube Fighters were swatted like flies and exploded after being hit.
At least I know what that does. Slade shrugged as he tried to get at the other enemy units with the pincers. However, the other Cube-Types stayed out of reach and continued to fire. Seeing that he wasn't getting anywhere, the male half of Tekkadread Jura looked about for other weapons.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! I WANTED SOMETHING ELEGANT! I DESERVE TO HAVE SOMETHING ELEGANT!"
"WILL YOU JUST SHUT THE HELL UP?!" In frustration, Slade slammed a fist on a button that he hadn't tried before.
Now that particular button DID control a weapon. The discs that had been rotating in front of the machine flew up to hover horizontally above the craft. The largest disc flew up to hover above its counterparts. It then released eight beams of light, each of which connected to a smaller disc. Then the circle of discs let loose with particle beams in eight different directions, obliterating the remaining Cube Fighters.
Slade shrugged again after seeing the enemies get vaporized.
"Okay... I can live with that."
Jura was silent as she simply stared out at nothing in particular.
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Later...
After Meia and her Dread teams had finished off the last of the Cube Fighters in orbit, (though they had been unable to damage the main vessel), and returned to the Nirvana, Magno was informed that communications to the planet was possible. In fact, the inhabitants were hailing them at the moment. When the main monitor came up, Magno found herself being addressed by the leader, Fanita. She appeared to be a young woman in her early twenties with long, blonde hair and an angelic face. She wore light lavender robes and had some kind of white mask hanging from a chain around her neck.
"Welcome to the most beautiful planet in the universe, Anpathos."
"Anpathos, eh?" Magno said.
"Yes. We have waited patiently for so long for your arrival."
"For us?" BC asked.
"You are Munya, are you not?" Fanita inquired.
The captain and first officer of the Nirvana looked at each other with puzzled expressions before Magno addressed Fanita again. "I'm sorry but we're not this Munya that you're talking about."
The leader of Anpathos became a bit disappointed at this news. "You're not?"
The pirate captain shook her head. "No, but there are a few things that we would like to discuss with you. Would you mind terribly if we came down there?"
Fanita gave a nonchalant nod. "I'm afraid that with the time of the Great Ritual at hand, we cannot give you a proper welcome."
"That's all right."
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"I got it all on tape! Your magnificent form in action has now been captured for posterity!" Barnette said excitedly as she communicated through to the Teknodread.
Jura however, wasn't even paying attention as she and Slade sat on the floating machine.
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After leaving Bart in command of the Nirvana, (while strictly forbidding him not to run in case the enemy shows up), Magno and her first officer took a shuttle to the surface of the planet.
When they got down to the island, they disembarked from the craft and looked about. Slade, who had decided to retake his armor and leave Jura to mope, soon joined them. The blonde Dread pilot had been unresponsive and the Tekkaman had thought to give her some time alone. He came down a staircase that was built into the walls that surrounded the island city.
"Hey! Grandma!" Recently, Slade had taken to calling Magno as Grandma, since the term was more acceptable than Old Ghoul was.
"Hello D-Boy. I see that you are none worse for wear." Magno and Gascogne were the only ones that Slade allowed to refer to him as D-Boy.
"What about Jura?" BC asked.
Slade shrugged. "Princess Crabby is still moping, but I don't think she's hurt or nothing."
"If she's fine, then I'd like for you to come with us." Magno said as she and her first officer walked toward what appeared to be a shrine.
Milling about the city, the people of Anpathos seemed to be preparing for some kind of festival. Slade wondered just what was going on and then shrugged as he followed the captain and her first officer. He'd learn soon enough.
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In the Nivana's hanger deck...
"Mr. Alien and Jura... they're down there alone!" Dita was pacing back and forth as she was thinking of what could be happening on the planet's surface.
"Calm down Dita." Meia said. "I'm sure that everything's all right. The captain and the commander are down there too."
"I know, but still..." Dita looked out toward a porthole and down at the planet below. "Mr. Alien..."
Though she would never admit it to anyone, Meia was also a bit uneasy that the voluptuous Jura was with Slade. During their voyage back toward Mejele and Tarak, Slade had often hinted that he knew about a few things, concerning ancient male-female relationships. And thought of him being alone with the very sexy Dread pilot made Meia very uncomfortable.
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"So who exactly are these Munya that you are all waiting for?" Magno asked as she spoke with the leader of Anpathos.
The pirates found themselves standing in front of a large column with stairs winding up the sides and toward the top of the shrine. In front of the column was a large stone plaque that had the image of a person on his knees, with a kind of tail sticking out of the small of his back.
"The Munya are the ones who brought our ancestors to this world." Fanita explained. "We are so very grateful to them and we have been patiently awaiting for the time of their return."
The vague explanation left Magno and her group with more questions. "Exactly, what are the Munya? Why are they coming here?"
"They are in need of the Spiral Code from us." The leader of Anpathos replied.
"Spiral Code? What the heck is that?" Slade wondered.
It was then that BC looked back up at the shrine's emblem and realized what they meant. "They're after the Spinal Cord!"
This made Slade more appalled. These people were actually willing to let the aliens harvest them for their body parts? Didn't they have any backbone? The Tekkaman winced at the unintended pun.
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Meanwhile, back on the Nirvana...
"When can we replenish our food supplies?"
"Excuse me, but I put in a request to be assigned a different locker."
"So do you think that these shoes go well with my dress?"
"Which skirt is better, the blue or the gold?"
"Have I gained weight?"
"Do you think this blouse makes me look fat?"
"I've been thinking about dying my hair blonde."
Bart was on the verge of a nervous breakdown as the entire crew had been pestering him with questions and requests, most of which were trivial. It soon became one big, jumbled mess and finally, the helmsman couldn't take it any more.
"WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP?!"
The monitors in the navigation well became silent as he cut off all communications with the other crewmembers. Just when he thought he was about to get some peace, Paiway hailed him.
"What now?" Bart asked tiredly.
"Don't flake out on the job." The apprentice nurse warned.
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Back on the planet's surface, Magno had heard enough. It was obvious that the people of Anpathos were nothing more than sheep and were just letting others dictate their lives. They were using the excuses of tradition and custom to explain their lack of resistance to the aliens. In fact, they emulated the enemy to the status of gods and served them without question.
To the ancient captain, that was unacceptable. However, there seemed to be no way to convince Fanita that resisting the Munya and making their own decisions was far more preferable than just waiting to die. They seemed to be completely under their masters' control and were nothing more than lapdogs.
"What can you know about life?" Magno charged.
"What do you know about this Munya? You call this the most beautiful planet in the universe? What have you compared it with? What would you know about this world at all, besides this tiny scrap of land?"
"The beliefs of my people were established long ago by the Munya." Fanita argued.
"Hmpf! Again with this Munya. It seems that you cannot make even the simplest of decisions without consulting with this great Munya. How pathetic!"
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Up in orbit, Bart was again barraged with questions and requests from all sides by the crew, but then an alarm went off. Something had just warped into Anpathos' solar system.
"Huh?"
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"It's the enemy!" Bart said on the communicator.
"How many?" BC asked.
"There's only one, but it's kind of big, and it's shaped like a container."
The first officer nodded as she addressed her superior. "Captain!"
Magno nodded as she turned to Fanita. "Well now, it seems that your precious Munya has arrived."
"Really?" This news made Fanita extremely pleased. "Finally! The prophecies have come true!"
Slade and the Nirvana's captain began to have a bad feeling about this. Their suspicions were confirmed when the top of the shrine extended a quartet of receiving antennas in response to the alien's arrival. The water level of surrounding ocean began to rise and soon had the ground flooded.
"They've planned this out well." BC commented as she saw hundreds of people converge on the shrine. Each one was now wearing a simple ritual mask, which reminded her of condemned prisoners walking toward the executioner.
"What is it?" Slade asked.
"In this way, the people will all be gathered up in one spot." The first officer answered.
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Up in orbit, Bart wondered what to do as the alien craft approached to link up with its sister ship. On the advice of Meia, he had the Dread teams scramble and set up a defensive line. The sleek fighters soon sped out to meet with the enemy, but they found out that several scores of Cube Fighters were also lining up to defend their mother ships.
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On Anpathos, Magno shook her head with disgust. She had no intention of letting herself or her crew be harvested alongside these weak-minded fools.
"You cannot change destiny." Fanita said as she put on her ritual mask.
"Destiny, eh? That's very convenient for you to say. Then again, people who let others decide for them always have an excuse."
"This is the right thing to do!" Fanita angrily retorted. "Tradition is tradition! It is YOU who are wrong! You're strangers to our world and now you insult our God? How can you be so rude?"
"I see there's no point in continuing this discussion." The aged woman turned to leave, but then gasped in pain as she slumped down to her knees in the inch-deep water.
"Grandma!" Slade went her side as Buzom also knelt down beside her commander.
"Of all the times for my back to go out!" Magno gritted as she leaned on her walking stick for support. "I can't move!"
"Grandma..."
"I have no intention of becoming a part of this!" The ancient crone said as she looked up at the Tekkaman.
"It's up to you, D-Boy." Slade nodded as he made his Tekkacrystal appear and headed out to where Jura's Dread was floating.
The pirate captain nodded as she addressed Fanita. "Well now. It seems that we have some time to kill."
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"Hey! We've got to launch!" D-Boy called out as he ran toward Jura's Dread.
Jura made no indication of having heard him as she continued to sit and gaze at nothing in particular.
"Hey! Didn't you hear me?" Slade leapt down from a wall and onto the Dread.
The blonde pilot angrily turned her head. "Unfortunately, I did! Go away!"
"What's with you? Don't you realize what's at stake?"
"Not my problem!"
"The HELL it isn't!" Slade gripped her right shoulder, causing Jura to tense up for a moment. Then she slumped back down and sadly sighed.
"It doesn't matter now." She said without facing him.
Slade shook his head. "Are you STILL hung up about that? Aren't your friends and comrades more important than what your Tekkadread looks like?"
When Jura didn't answer, the martial artist became even more irritated at her shallow attitude. "Listen up! You've been bugging me for months now to combine with you, and when it finally happens, you wimp out!"
Jura continued to say nothing.
"Is that it? Did you just want to combine with me, because you thought that it would be something that no one had ever seen before?" When Jura remained silent, Slade sighed and took his hand off her shoulder. "Okay. Now I get it. So you want to do something that no one has ever done before, eh?"
At this point, Jura responded. "I... don't care any more, and nothing you can say or do will get me to... mmmmfff!"
Before she knew it, Slade had grasped her by the shoulders, hauled her up... and kissed her.
Jura's eyes widened to the size of saucers as she found her lips being pressed up against Slade's. Her heart thundered in her chest at about a hundred beats per second as the osculation continued. Her body temperature rose dramatically and she felt her knees getting weak, as a kind of warmth spread through her very being. And the most shocking thing about it was... she liked it!
Slade then ended the kiss and stepped away from her as she was still in a state of utter astonishment. He stood with his arms crossed in front of him and waited for Jura to find her voice.
"W-W-What... why... did... y-y-you...?"
"Now that I've gotten your attention," Slade replied. "I want you to listen up. Right now, you've just done something that no one on your planet has ever done. You're the first one to have kissed a man in over a hundred years... and survived. Now you've got another opportunity to do something incredible. You get to save an entire planet. Now that's got to be something that nearly no one can claim to, right?"
Jura touched her still tingling lips with her fingers as she considered Slade's words. Then, she nodded. "That's... not half-bad. All right, let's combine!"
Her partner held his crystal aloft. "By the way. Let's keep this between the two of us, okay? TEKSETTER!"
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Up in space, the Dread teams were having a very tough time. Several fighters, including Barnette's were out of commission as the pirates desperately tried to hold their defensive lines. However, the large machines took no damage and the Cube-Types continued to press their attacks on the Nirvana.
Inside the navigation well, Bart recited his mantra over and over again.
"I won't run! I won't run! I won't run!"
However, as soon as the ship was hit by several of the enemy fighters, he screamed like a little girl. "I can't take this anymore!"
"Don't be such a coward!" Magno said as she spoke through Buzom's communicator.
This caught everyone's attention as the captain spoke.
"I've been alive for a long time and I've seen many people die because I was helpless to do anything about it. However, though it all, those people never gave up. They fought to the end and I feel proud to have known them. I feel even prouder to know that the people I am with now are just as determined to never surrender. They believe in their hearts that what they are doing is right, because they had decided for themselves. And that is why I cannot abide those who let others determine their destinies and do nothing to change it!"
The speech had its desired effect as Bart tensed up and readied to face the enemy. "I'm not moving an inch!"
At that moment another voice came over the communications. "You're in the way! Move it!"
At the sound of Slade's voice, Bart immediately moved the Nirvana out of orbit as Tekkadread Jura shot up from the planet's surface.
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"Leave this to us!" Slade said as he readied the craft.
"If you're not fast enough, then you'll end up as a casualty of war!" Jura added.
Tekkadread Jura came to a point in orbit and let loose with its repulsor discs. Each device shot out to a specific position above the planet's atmosphere and then began emitting a strong field of energy. Soon the entire planet became surrounded by a force field.
On the planet's surface, the water level receded as contact with the alien craft was cut off. Buzom and Magno both smiled.
In the Tekkadread's cockpit, Jura squealed with delight. "I'd like to see those other Tekkadreads do this!"
"It's too soon to celebrate!" Slade reminded as he watched the two alien machines join together and began emitting a kind of vacuum force. Several of the Cube Fighters were drawn into the open maw of the monstrous ship.
The Tekkaman smirked as he slammed a fist on another button. "Open wide! For today only, it's all you can eat!"
A large opening in the force field formed just below the Tekkadread, causing a huge column of water to be sucked up from the ocean's surface. Using the larger disc as a kind of deflector, he redirected the stream to fire into the alien vessel. The entire craft began to shudder as it was being filled to the brim with seawater.
Inside the fused Dread, Jura became concerned as the cockpit began to shake.
"You're going to break it!"
"Shut up and watch!" The former Saotome replied. "That thing was supposed to collect only the people on that island. It can't possibly hold the entire ocean!"
Out in space, Meia shook her head. "That's so reckless."
Dita had to admit that she was a little jealous.
A few moments later, the alien ship burst apart, sending water flying out into space and leaving only debris.
Inside her Tekkadread, Jura immediately hugged her partner in celebration. They had done it!
However, just as they had started to head back to the Nirvana, the threat sensors went off. Everyone else present also became shocked as they witnessed something else emerge from hyperspace. Apparently, the aliens had a backup plan to gather up the people of Anpathos.
"What the?! No way!" Jura gasped.
"Okay... now we have a problem." Slade said as he looked at the thing.
Unlike the last alien ship, this one was not all passive. It was shaped like some giant, grotesque octopus, with long, metallic tentacles that waved about. Each arm had numerous gun ports, which began firing blasts at the Dread formations and the Nirvana. As it caused the smaller ships to scatter, it began making its way toward Anpathos and Tekkadread Jura. The Tekkaman guessed that the machine intended to land on the planet and scoop up the inhabitants. Since the people revered the aliens like gods, they would put up no resistance.
"Quick! Fire some more water at that yucky thing!" Jura shouted as it neared them.
Slade shook his head. "I don't think that's going to work again. I have a feeling that they won't fall for the same trick twice."
"That what do we do?"
The person, who had been named Ranma when he had been born, looked about the controls and spied a red button that he hadn't noticed before. For all he knew, it was a self-destruct switch. Seeing that he had no other alternative, he shrugged and reached for it.
"Well, I haven't tried this one." He then pressed it while focusing his power into the console.
To everyone's surprise, the repulsor discs suddenly dropped their energy shields and returned to circling around Tekkadread Jura. Then the awesome machine shot up out of orbit and headed toward the enemy. It let off a bright flare of light as its form began to shift. The arms and pincers retracted and reformed into a new configuration, just below the front of the fighter. The fuselage became elongated and sleeker as two more limbs appeared in the aft sections. A square head extended from a hidden section and twin sharp points sprouted to form fangs. A pair of winglike thrusters appeared on the midsection as a wavy tail with a blaster cannon on the tip completed the appearance.
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"It's a..." Dita began as everybody stared at the second form of Jura's Tekkadread.
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Inside the Tekkadread...
"IT'S A TIGER! I LOVE IT!" Jura was ecstatic.
For Slade, it was a different story. "I HATE IT! CHANGE IT BACK!" Apparently, the Tekkaman Power Process had not wiped out all the effects of the Neko Ken. For reasons that he couldn't remember, he still hated cats with a passion, though he no longer feared them or went into the feral state.
However, as the enemy bore down on them, Slade realized that this was no time to argue as he took hold of the controls of Tekkadread Jura. Behind him, in the new seating arrangement, Jura also began working the controls as she still wore a happy grin. She had her elegant form at last!
Tekkadread Jura began dodging the laser barrage like a jungle cat that was evading its hunters. The blonde pilot marveled at how graceful her new machine moved. The discs floated about to deflect any incoming shot as the feline machine closed in on its prey. As it came up from behind the alien craft, Slade gritted his teeth. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could separate. He focused his power into the systems, causing the front claws to glow with energy.
"TIGER CLAW... VOLTEKKER!"
As it passed by the mechanical octopus, the Tiger Tekkadread made a mighty swipe. A flash of quantum energy blazed though the enemy, slicing the massive machine in twain. Then the two halves violently exploded like their predecessor, leaving Tekkadread Jura triumphant.
"YIPEE! LET'S DO IT AGAIN!"
Jura's partner slumped over the controls and said, "Let's not ever do that again."
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After bidding their farewells to the free, yet ungrateful people of Anpathos, the pirates resumed their voyage home.
In the hanger, Jura cried out in disbelief. "What? What did you mean that you didn't tape it?"
Barnette gave her fellow pilot a scowl. "There wasn't any time to get out my camcorder!"
Jura then shrugged as she started boasting again. "Oh well, no matter. Just be sure to tape the next time! Not only does MY Tekkadread have the ability to shield an entire planet, but it has TWO magnificent forms!"
Meia became thoughtful as she said, "Apparently, your Tekkadread specializes in both offense and defense. The crab is for protection while the tiger is for attack."
Slade let off an annoyed growl as he threw up his hands. "Whatever! At least you won't be bugging me any more about combining!"
However, just as he began to walk off, Jura shook her head, came up from behind, and wrapped her arms about him.
"Oh no! After today, I'm NEVER letting you go!" She also thought about that kiss that she and Slade had shared.
"HEY! What gives!?" Dita said with jealously as she tried to pull Slade away from Jura.
The blonde tried to pull him back toward her. "I'm saying that from now on, he'll be combining with me!"
"NO WAY! MR. ALIEN WILL COMBINE WITH ME!"
Slade gave a pleading look to the heavens above as he found himself in the middle of a tug-of-war. Finally he shouted out.
"LET GO OF ME!"
To be continued...
Author's Notes
Well, there we have it. As you can see, I decided to make Jura's Tekkadread to be a bit different than what was depicted in the original Vandread. I figured that a Tiger would appeal to her and that it would be something that Slade would hate. As for the kiss, well that will have its own consequences, as Slade becomes even more involved with the Nirvana's crew.