Author: Nadz
Email: vegitto02 at yahoo dot com

Disclaimer:
The title "DragonTek" is owned by the author.
Any characters owned by the producers of Tekkaman, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT, or Rurouni Kenshin are, of course, the property of those respective individuals or companies. Any original characters are strictly owned by the author of this fan fiction.
The story line of the entire DragonTek series is also owned strictly by me.
This story may not be distributed to anybody without the author's permission. However, the author does encourage you to welcome your friends to read DragonTek on FanFiction dot net. Much thanks...

DragonTek (Part V: The Destiny Saga)

Chapter 62 - Hope's Last Flicker

"Mama!" a young girl shrieked as she saw the monster reach out and grab her mother's throat. The mother gasped, and she could see the terror in her daughter's eyes. She tried her hardest to keep her fear from showing, for she wished to instill hope in her daughter even during her last moments. The child continued to hold on to her mother's hand, and her mother squeezed tightly. The Tekkaman pulled harshly, and the mother let go of her daughter's hand. The child screamed incessantly as the gray, Radam warrior punched through her mother. It retracted its fist, covered in fresh blood, and the lady fell dead to the dirt.

"Mama!" the girl screamed, tears streaming down. The Tekkaman turned towards Yumi Francois and flashed its evil eyes. The girl, a Primary Body in her human form, backed away several steps before turning to run. The Tekkaman chuckled, and it jumped in the air, ready to swoop down and smash through her little skull. Yumi continued to run and scream in fear, occasionally turning her head over her shoulder.

"Mama! Mama! Mama!" she cried, soon noticing that the wall of a building blocked her path. She had nowhere to go, and she turned around and pushed her back up against the wall. The Tekkaman hovered in the air a hundred meters before her, and she slid down the wall, crying as she crouched on the ground. The Tekkaman chortled, and it decided to make its deadly move – it swooped down towards her.

Suddenly, a comet of golden energy came in from the left and smashed right through the attacking Tekkaman, exploding it instantly. Yumi screamed as she saw pieces of the monster's arms, legs, body, and head crash to the ground, its purple blood soaking the dirt. She raised her eyes, and the comet looped and stopped in the air. Its brilliant aura faded away, revealing a young man with spiky hair and angry eyes.

"Vegita, you didn't even give it a chance to talk," a female voice snorted. Saki flew down next to him, and he didn't respond. Instead, he lowered next to the terrified little girl and held out his hand nicely.

"It's gone now," Saki said gently, seeing that Yumi refused to budge. "It won't hurt you again."

"It… it killed… my mama," she cried, crashing into Saki's arms and burying her head into the woman's shoulder. Saki tried to comfort her, softly rubbing her back. Vegita frowned and turned away.

"Where are you going?" Saki asked, turning her head and noticing him about to leave.

"There must be many more children like these… whose parents are dying trying to protect them," he replied softly, more anger welling in his eyes. "The Radam have destroyed everybody's families… I don't care about finding Aki anymore! I have to kill as many of these damn monsters as quickly as I can!"

With those words, the Super Saiya-jin covered himself with golden aura and blazed directly for other Tekkamen, who were unsuspecting of the imminent death about to plow through their bodies.

"You know how…" she trailed off as she lay on the ground, too weak to move.

"Yes," he said, his voice getting more excited. "Yes, there is a way to save you. It has to work!"

"Kenshin," Takaya whispered, leaning over his sister's body and placing both of his hands on the boy's shoulder. "Please… my sister's last… minutes… Please don't waste them…"

"Takaya," Kenshin replied. "I know what you're feeling… but these aren't going to be her last minutes. She has her whole life ahead of her, and a stupid Radam weakness isn't going to take that away."

"Cut the speech," Alena said, her voice serious. "But I think I know what you're thinking."

"Then tell us, Kenshin… Tell us quickly," Takaya said, his hands trembling.

"Alright," Kenshin nodded, moving his eyes down to meet Miyuki's. The girl stared at him.

'His eyes… there is so much hope in them,' she told herself. 'So much hope for me.'

"I really don't know why we didn't think of this before," he said, taking a breath. "But her illness and chronic weakness is due to the fact that she escaped from the pods early. So, the solution would be to put her back into one of them so she could complete the transformation process. Then she'll be complete."

"No, that won't work," Takaya sighed, disappointed. "Then she'd become a slave to them."

"No, she wouldn't," Alena shook her head. "Shenron rid the pods on Earth of all traces of mind parasites. If we use an Earth pod to do it, she'll emerge from it as a human being, not as a Radam drone."

"Yes… you're right…" Takaya trailed off, his mouth open. "Do you think it will really work?"

"I don't think we have any alternative," Kenshin responded, his eyes hopeful. "She doesn't have much time, so we have to get her to a pod immediately and begin it… except… I don't know how to…"

"I'll take care of that," Alena said. "I know how to manipulate pods. I've done it before on the Orbital Ring, and it shouldn't be much different for these Earth ones. In the meanwhile, Miyuki, take this."

Alena reached into her pocket and pulled out an ever-so-tiny, brown bean.

"Eat this now," the Saiya-jin girl said gently, placing it in Miyuki's mouth. She began to chew it.

"That looks like a senzu bean," he whispered, squinting at his cousin. "Where did you get…"

"Kami-sama didn't have enough strength to revive us himself," she explained. "So he gave each of us a senzu bean. I only ate three quarters of mine, and I still felt at full power. I saved the rest for later."

"Then…" Kenshin said, suddenly getting angry. "Why did you wait so long to give it to her?"

"Calm down," she said, her tone steady. "With all that was going on, I didn't exactly remember that I had a quarter of a brown bean in my pocket. Even still, it's not good enough to cure her from the effects of the Radam fail-safe system; it's only going to buy her time… How are you feeling, Miyuki?"

"Better," she smiled, feeling some of her energy return to her. "Thanks, Alena… for everything."

"Well, instead of wasting our time bickering," Takaya said impatiently. "Let's go…"

"Wait, Blade," Alena cut him off, her voice getting slightly edgy. "We can't just toss her into any old pod without thinking first. All over the world, the people in the pods have been ejected prematurely. They are called 'Primary Bodies.' The Tekkamen from Omega's flagship are going around the world and murdering them. Hopefully Goku and my brother have destroyed a good share of them so far, but there are still a lot flying around. The pods prematurely ejected their captives because they knew that the Radam Tekkamen were after the Primary Bodies only and not the plants. Thus, the spore pods threw their captives out to avoid suffering damage. So… this is going to make finding a good pod a little more difficult."

"Then where do you think we should look?" Kenshin pressed. 'I hadn't thought of this before.'

"A place where the Radam have just finished an attack," Alena suggested. "At those sites, the pods are empty because they have already ejected their inhabitants, and the Tekkamen won't attack there again since they already killed the Primary Bodies there the first time. So all we have to do is continually guard the pod so that it won't spit Miyuki out in the event more Radam Tekkamen arrive."

"Then let's find a pod near the Command Center," Takaya said. "Where she'll get protection."

"I think it's a good choice," Alena replied, nodding. "Besides, Noal, Goku, Vegita, and Saki were headed here before I ditched them for you all. They feared that the mountain facility was under attack."

"Then let's go there," Takaya replied, feeling worried for Aki. "It's best if we all stay together."

"The power of the senzu should keep her in stable condition until we reach," Alena said. "But I don't know how long it will last. Let's go and find a pod now. I'll carry her there, and you two guard me."

They nodded, and all took to the sky – with Alena holding Miyuki and Kenshin holding Nio.

Takaya smiled in happiness for the first time, for his sister's destiny did not lie in death.

Mieko carefully observed and memorized the labyrinth of corridors of the ship. She took note of the Watchers hanging from above, and she made sure she chiseled the locations of doorways and exits into her sharp mind. She was extremely intelligent; after all, she had been selected to be a crewmember of the Argos. Mieko continued to follow the odd white mime around the ship as he continued to explain to her the nooks and crannies of a fair portion of the vessel. One particular corridor caught her interest, for it led to one of the ship's several entry and exit ports. They continued to walk down this very corridor until they reached an enormous door. Chao-zu passed the security clearance, and the room opened up before them.

Mieko's eyes grew wide as she observed this chamber, which was as large as two football fields. Several robotic androids wheeled themselves around; others walked around as they continued to perform maintenance work. Several fighter craft were parked, although they were not necessary tools of warfare. At the far end of the room existed a colossal, ten-foot thick sheet of transparent material. It was the only thing that separated the interior of the ship from the vacuum of space. This glass-like wall consisted of dozens of small portals at its base, allowing for Tekkamen to enter and exit this gigantic vessel.

'I must have come through a different port,' Mieko thought. 'But this one is closer to Aki's cell.'

"And as you can see here…" Chao-zu started, only to be distracted by footsteps coming from behind. Turning around, they noticed a chilling-looking man with nasty scars on his face. Chao-zu smiled.

"Yamucha?" he squeaked, seeing the man brush past him and head for a portal. "What's wrong?"

"It's Tenshinhan," Yamucha replied, not bothering to turn around. "He's come back too early."

"Too early?" Chao-zu gasped, starting to feel a bit worried. "That can only mean he was…"

"… Defeated," Yamucha completed the sentence while stopping in his tracks. "But by whom?"

Within minutes, a bedraggled, damaged Tekkaman body floated towards the craft and passed through a portal in the clear wall. Tekkaman Three took one step into the room and crashed onto the floor, his strength depleted. Yamucha and Chao-zu rushed over and hoisted him up, and Three moaned in pain. "Three," Yamucha said with traces of scorn. "Even with the powers Omega granted us, how…?"
"It was very… strong," Tenshinhan interrupted, struggling to speak. "And I… was too careless."

"It was a Saiya-jin, wasn't it?" Yamucha scowled. "You let those stupid monkeys beat you!"

"Yes, it was a Saiya-jin," Tenshinhan replied weakly, raising his eyes and noticing Mieko standing in front of him. "In fact… the man transformed to his Oozaru form and hit me directly with a mouth blast."

'I remember him,' Mieko thought, noticing his damaged armor. 'We were both at the Space Knight Command Center during this recent attack. That can only mean that Shinjo was the one to defeat him. Too bad Aki and I left just before he turned into this Oozaru form. I would have liked to see that.'

"And what is the fate of this Oozaru now?" Yamucha asked, thoroughly vexed. "Is it roaming free, destroying more of our brethren as we speak?"

"No," Three replied. His armor faded away and he reverted back to his human form prior to continuing. "I cut off its tail. I could have done more, but then I would have used the last of my power."

"Then perhaps it was a wise choice to come back, even in defeat," Yamucha said. "Otherwise our magnificent trio would be down to two. Since you defeated that Saiya-jin as well, I suppose I don't have to go down there and get revenge for you."

"All I want now," Tenshinhan said, walking with their aid. "Is a few hours in a healing pod."

"You shall get it," Yamucha replied, nodding at Chao-zu. "I'll take him from here."

"Get better soon, Tenshinhan," the white mime squeaked as Yamucha carried the full weight of the injured man. The two men left the large chamber and headed for the healing area. Mieko turned to face the little puppet, who had a sad expression plastered on his face.

"Poor Tenshinhan," Mieko said, trying to keep her voice from oozing laughter.

"Don't patronize me," Chao-zu snapped, turning his back to her as his muscles twitched. "Let's finish this tour as quickly as possible. There's still much to show you, and we shouldn't waste more time."

"I can't believe this," Blade whispered to himself, swallowing hard. The five of them hovered above the area near the mountain base, seeing the smoke that rose from the ground and parts of the facility. To top it off, Blade noticed the large gaping hole that penetrated its way into the exposed wall of the base.

'I hope Aki is alright,' he thought, full of dread. 'Dear God, I hope nothing happened to her.'

The five of them looked at the mutilated corpses below in disgust. For Alena, this was déjà vu; it was not too long ago that she was responsible for a similar, and more severe, result several days ago when she was still under Radam control. The five lowered down through the gaping hole and landed on the floor, only to be greeted by a despondent blond man seated next to a console. Noal stood up straight upon seeing them arrive, and he glanced at Miyuki as she lay in Alena's arms. He then gave them a rather worried look.

"Noal," Blade said softly, not bothering to de-transform. "What happened here?"

"I really couldn't tell you for sure, because I wasn't here when they attacked," Noal said, shaking his head. "Goku, Vegita, Saki, and I got here after the fact… and we discovered that Aki was missing."

"What!" Blade almost yelled, stepping towards him. "What do you mean 'missing'?"

"Exactly what the word means, Blade," the blond man replied, feeling a bit worried about his own security. He didn't want to see a frenzied Blade standing next to him. "The surveillance cameras showed us that Tekkaman Shuriken kidnapped her right during the attack. Man, I wish I knew where she took her."

"No…" Takaya whispered, feeling his heart sink. 'Why did this have to happen to her?'

"We're doing everything we can to find her," a new female voice cut in. Saki lowered herself through the hole and landed softly on the floor. In her arms was a small girl, sleeping. Takaya studied the little blonde girl carefully and noticed several bloodstains on her arms.

"We had split up into two groups of two to go find her and destroy as many Radam as we could. Vegita and I found this young girl in a city relatively close by," Saki explained, her voice heavy. "Her mother was killed, and she never knew her father. This was the only place I could think of bringing her."

'Like me…' Kenshin thought, looking at his sister standing silently. 'We're orphans now as well.'

"I don't think it's that much safer here," Noal replied, looking at Yumi.

"No place is safe anymore," Saki continued, shaking her head. "Especially not out there."

"Guys!" Kenshin blurted suddenly, remembering why they had come. "Let's stop chatting! We need to find a pod for Miyuki, remember? We got to make her a complete Tekkaman. So let's go now!"

"Wait! I don't think you want those kids to come with you, do you?" Noal pointed to Nio and Yumi. "Milly, Honda, Levin, and others are staying in a bunker below. We'll keep the girls safe there."

"Oh, right, duh," Kenshin smiled, patting Nio on the head. "Go to him; he'll take care of you."

Nio reluctantly obliged, not wanting to be separated from her brother. After leaving Yumi in Noal's care, Saki, Kenshin, Takaya and Alena (holding Miyuki) departed through the large hole in the wall.

Author Notes: I realize this chapter is short and doesn't contain much action. Thus, I promise to update soon :)