TEKKADREAD
Disclaimer: Let's do this right for the last chapter, okay? Vandread, Tekkaman Blade and Ranma 1/2 all belong to their respective creators and this piece of fiction uses their characters solely for the purpose of entertainment. No money is being made.
: Thoughts
Chapter 13
Part 1
Shattered
The planet Mejele...
"Lady Grand Ma, we have received a message from the missing pirates."
An aide held out a tray with an information disk in its center. However, a thin, withered hand with long fingernails waved off the disk, thereby dismissing its contents as unimportant.
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The planet Tarak...
"Lord Grand Pa, we have just received a message from the female pirates."
The scenes contained within the data disk were scanned once through a private monitor. Then a withered finger pressed a button marked Delete.
It seemed that the supreme leaders of the two planets did not consider any information from a band of outlaws to be significant.
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On the other side of the galaxy...
"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!"
This was the first time Slade had ever fought so hard. Then again, this was the first time he had fought this hard against a single opponent. Ever since he had awakened from the Tekkapod, he had believed to be the only Tekkaman in existence. He had never gone up against a foe that could match his powers or abilities... until now.
Slade knew he was in trouble. The injuries he had sustained from his battle with an Earth flagship were slowing him down substantially. His reaction time and strength were lower than usual. He was taking hits that he would usually avoid or block. It didn't help matters that he was already tired from engaging the Cube Fighters and the other enemy units before Tekkaman Saber appeared. Now he was fighting for his life against a fresh and absolutely relentless adversary, who wanted nothing more than to end the former Saotome's existence!
The two darted about like maddened wasps, each trying to outmaneuver the other in a lethal dance in space.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Slade demanded as he tried an overhead slash to Saber's head.
The crimson Tekkaman easily blocked the attack and countered. "I am your executioner."
The two exchanged a series of parries and counters. "How could you be a Tekkaman? I thought I was the only one!"
"I am not just merely a Tekkaman." Saber replied as he kicked out with his right foot. "I am far above you as you are above those whom you side with."
Slade parried the kick with his lance, then used his own counter-kick, but Saber simply swatted it away. "You cannot beat me! I know ALL of your moves!" The enemy Tekkaman retaliated with a fast slash combo followed by another kick to the sternum. The son of Genma managed to block the lance, but couldn't evade the kick and was sent hurtling down toward the Nirvana with Saber following.
The white Tekkaman slammed hard into the Nirvana's defense barrier, but before he could recover, Saber crashed hard into him with a shoulder charge and his thrusters going at full throttle. The shield was already weakened from the constant barrages from the enemy forces, and certain areas had some gaps. The place where the two were pressing up against was extremely unstable and a moment later, the Tekkamen broke through and landed on the hull of the pirate vessel, near the bridge.
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"MR. ALIEN!"
Dita wanted desperately to combine with him, but with the copy of her Tekkadread constantly firing at her, she couldn't come anywhere near him. Meia gritted her teeth as her own adversary, a clone of her Tekkadread, continued to plague her. It was just too fast! As for Jura, she too found it difficult to deal with her enemy without fusing with the Tekkaman Slade. Her shots were absolutely worthless against the fake's barrier. With all three Paksis-enhanced fighters occupied, the Tekkabot currently inoperative, and the remaining pirate forces too busy engaging the Earth flagship and its escorts, the injured Tekkaman Slade was on his own.
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On the bridge, Magno and her crew were speechless as they could do nothing but watch the battle that was taking place on the ship's hull. Slade was taking several hits as Saber continued to press his attack. So far, the Nirvana's Tekkaman had managed to hold his own, but the pirate captain knew that with his injuries, he couldn't maintain such an intense pace for very long. She wished that the ship had some kind of weaponry to help, but so far, Parfat had found nothing along those lines ever since the Nirvana had been created.
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Slade winced, as he was slammed hard onto his back. He just barely managed to bring up his lance to parry his opponent's stab at his midsection. A kick to Saber's side made the scarlet Tekkaman momentarily lose his balance. Nodoka's son then began rolling away. At the same time, Saber started stabbing at his downed opponent, causing some wicked holes on the metal surface of the hull every time he missed his target. Unfortunately, this inadvertently caused another kind of reaction.
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"OW OW! OW! OW!" Bart screamed as he felt some kind of stabbing pain in his head.
Magno gasped as she realized what was happening. Apparently, the cybernetic link between Bart and the Nirvana was causing the navigator to receive some painful feedback from the two Tekkamen battling on the hull. They couldn't afford to lose Bart, now that he was finally back on the bridge. She immediately raised Slade.
"D-Boy! Get off the ship! You're going to kill Bart if you keep this up!"
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The martial artist caught the message and let loose with his thrusters at full throttle. Saber was caught off guard when his foe suddenly rammed into him. The force of the impact drove them both off the hull, past the defensive barrier and out into space again. The two backed off a bit from each other, then resumed their battle.
The combatants darted all over the area, as explosions, lasers, cannon shots and missiles criss-crossed the star-studded background. The battle that raged around them, between the Mejele pirates and the Harvesters, was totally ignored by the two antagonists, as they were only focused on each other. It seemed that the outcome of this duel would decide the fate of everyone present.
Saber swung his lance in a wide arc, launching the tip of his weapon at his opponent. The projectile hurtled toward Slade like a homing missile. The target in question launched his own versions from his lance. Twin V-shaped blades deflected Saber's attack before returning to their master. Slade thought he had an opening as he charged in, but Saber dodged his thrust, then delivered a kick to Slade's midsection. Unable to stop his momentum in time, Slade was hit hard and driven back. Then the red Tekkaman thrust out with a fist and caught Slade hard in the chest. He followed through with a series of slashes, in which his foe couldn't stop entirely. Five slashes hit home and ripped up the front of the white Tekkaman's armor. Another savage kick caused Slade to be knocked toward the enemy flagship.
At this point, the battle began to reach its climax as the Earth mothership opened fire on the severely injured space warrior. Several hits caught him in the back as Slade tried to muster up the last remaining vestiges of his strength. He knew that he was going down, but he swore that he'd take that Saber bastard with him!
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The Mejele pirates were valiant fighters and their long history of successes was a testament as to how effective they were as a group. However, there were times in which a person must admit that one was over one's head. This was most definitely one of those times.
Magno and BC knew that if the battle dragged on any longer, they would lose irreplaceable pilots and crewmembers. The appearance of Slade had boosted morale and had temporarily turned the tide, but now with the Tekkadread Clones and that new Tekkaman keeping the Nivana's tactical advantages occupied, the remaining Dread and Vanguard pilots were being overwhelmed. Due to the schism caused by the mutiny, formations were breaking down and chaos was running rampant. Finally, Magno decided on the last resort... retreat.
"Initiate automatic recall of all Dread and Vanguards! Bring them back now!" She then directed her attention to Bart. "Navigator! Set a new heading to these coordinates!"
Inside the well, Bart became confused when he received the new coordinates. "Huh? You want us to go in there?!"
"Just do it!"
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Slade winced as another one of Saber's attacks hit home. At this moment, his armor was dented and cracked in several areas, along with a few gashes. His opponent had suffered some damage, but it was mostly superficial. The white Tekkaman knew that if wanted to defeat Saber, he would have to do it now!
The crimson Tekkaman knew that he was on the verge of victory. More and more of his attacks were getting through his opponent's diminishing defense. Slade was now only putting up only a token amount of resistance. As of now, Slade was now just drifting in space. Saber had hoped for a more intense fight, to put his newfound powers and skills to test.
However, he must finish off the Tekkaman Slade and continue Operation Harvest. With that in mind, he leveled his lance at his now helpless foe and charged in for the final kill.
"THIS IS... YOUR FINISH!"
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"MR. ALIEN!"
"SLADE!"
"COMMANDER!"
"D-BOY!"
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Whether he had heard the voices of his comrades would never be determined that day, but as Saber was just about skewer Slade through the heart, the white Tekkaman shifted at the last possible instant. The point of Saber's lance punched through the weakened armor, but missed the heart by millimeters. The end was jammed through his ribs and mangled a lung. Blood began to spurt out into globules in space as part of the point protruded out through his back.
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"SLADE!" Meia cried out as she saw the Tekkaman become impaled on Saber's weapon. Unfortunately, this had caused her to grow careless and she momentarily forgotten about her adversary. The Tekkdread Clone made a tight turn and opened fire. The blast sheared off the right stabilizer wing of Meia's Dread, causing the craft to spin out of control.
Luckily for her, Gascogne's ship was on the scene. Using the grappling arms, she grabbed hold of Meia's stricken fighter and began carrying it to the Nirvana. Inside her cockpit, the Dread Leader nursed a bad wound on her shoulder, which she had received when she had been jostled about, after being hit. She looked back and saw that the other Dreads and the Vanguards were following them towards the gas giant.
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Slade let off a scream of absolute agony as his tormentor began to twist his blade. As he felt shock begin to wash over his body, one hand gripped the shaft of Saber's lance, while the other held onto one half of his own weapon. The other half of Slade's lance fell away, leaving him with a kind of short sword with a serrated, triangular blade. He brought it up and jammed it into Saber's face!
The red Tekkaman howled as Slade's weapon pierced his helmet and ripped into the left side of his face. This caused him to let go of his weapon and his opponent took this opportunity to kick him hard in the midsection, knocking him even further back. This also caused Slade to be propelled backward toward the gaseous giant, where coincidentally, the Nirvana and the other pilots were retreating to. However, the enemy fighters and the flagship were bearing down on them to intercept.
Slade knew that he wasn't going to survive. He could already feel his body growing cold and numb. However, as he fell toward the gas giant, caught in its immense gravitational fields, he decided to do as much damage to enemy as he could before meeting his maker. His shoulder units flipped up as he took aim at Saber, who had just pulled his blade out of his face. Energy began to collect as Slade prepared to fire.
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Saber was enraged as well as feeling pain as he savagely removed the blade from his face. Through his one good eye, he saw that Slade was about to launch his Voltekker at him. Well, that suited him just fine as the gemlike protrusions on his torso began to glow with a scarlet light. It was time to show him who was the strongest Tekkaman!
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Slade said his final prayers as he let loose with his strongest weapon.
"VOLTEKKER!"
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Saber smirked from behind his damaged helmet as he unleashed his attack.
"ANTI-VOLTEKKER!"
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Unlike Slade's beam, which was a solid, green white blast, Saber's attack consisted of several scarlet beams, which lanced out, expanded, then converged together on his target. The Voltekker beam was engulfed and neutralized as the Anti-Voltekker struck Slade with lethal results.
Slade let off one final scream as he felt his body being savaged by Saber's attack. His armor was ripped up and shredded like tinfoil as the energies played havoc with his insides. Soon, the white Tekkaman became like a flaming meteor as he plunged into the gas giant's outer ionosphere. Several of the enemy ships, including the three Tekkadread Clones, tried to follow them in, but they soon discovered that they couldn't withstand the intense gravitational fields. The Copy Tekkadread Meia exploded when it charged in, along with a Seed Ship, but the Copy Tekkadread Jura put up a force field to protect itself and Copy Tekkadread Dita. They quickly exited the planet's ionosphere.
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With shields on full, the Nirvana was safe for a while inside the planet's gravitational fields. On the bridge, Magno waited for news of the Dread and Vanguard return. Eventually, everyone was safe and accounted for, with the exception of three Dread pilots, the head supplier... and one Tekkaman.
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"Come on, D-Boy! I can't hold out much longer!"
Gascogne had spotted Slade the moment she and the remaining Dreads entered the gas giant's outer layers of gases and energy storms. She had been trying to grab hold of the falling Tekkaman with one of her ship's grappling arms, but in order to do so; she had to drop her ship's protective barrier. As of now, the hull was threatening buckle under the intense gravitational fields. Behind her, Dita and Jura followed her. They could not do anything in their non-fused fighters and hoped that the head supplier would make the catch before she ran out of time.
After one minute of trying her best, Gascogne knew that any longer and her ship would be crushed, along with Meia's. She was just about to reactivate the barrier when she caught some movement from Slade.
Slade was just barely conscious when he saw the supply ship so tantalizingly close, yet so far. His thrusters were inoperative and he could barely move. However, he had just enough strength for one last act. Raising his right arm, he aimed for the grappling claw. Though his vision began to blur, he focused on his target and fired off an energy cable. The line wrapped itself around the grappling arm.
Gascogne smiled in triumph as she reeled in the Tekkaman and activated her barrier. With both Meia and Slade safely aboard, she, Dita and Jura made their way to the awaiting Nirvana.
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"Clear the emergency room! NOW!"
Slade's battered and bloodied body was wheeled into the operating area as Duero immediately started hooking him up to several instruments, and instructed Paiway to begin administering sedatives. The Tekkaman had automatically reverted back to his human form when he came aboard the Nivana, and tightly clutched in his right hand was his Tekkacrystal. The crystal had lost much of its emerald sheen and was cracked in several places. Slade's eyes gazed up at the ceiling as he felt his body grew ever colder and his breathing became shallower.
"We have to prevent him from going further into shock! He's lost a lot of blood and has suffered severe trauma to his chest and back!"
Both doctor and apprentice nurse worked feverishly to save Slade. At that moment, Dita, Meia and Jura burst into the room.
"How is he?"
"Is he going to be all right?"
"How bad is Mr. Alien hurt?"
The doctor was about to order the three of them out of the emergency ward when Slade's pulse meter began giving off warning alarms. The Tekkaman's heart rate was increasing dramatically as his body began convulsing out of control. Duero tried to hold him down, but he contained to tremble until finally, his body stiffened and then fell back on the gurney. His eyes closed as his right hand went limp. The pulse meter began showing a flatline.
The three Dread pilots gazed upon the unmoving Slade in total shock. At that moment, his Tekkacrystal fell out of his now lifeless hand and shattered into several pieces on the floor.
"MR. ALIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNN!"
END OF PART ONE f