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 63 - Rejuvenation

The revolting sight of torn corpses sickened them yet again as they flew towards the city in which a particular, yet arbitrary, plant would save the life of a dying girl. They slowed down as they approached a city Saki and Vegita had cleared out, and Miyuki faded in and out of consciousness. Alena smiled – after all the darkness that clouded her, the idea of Miyuki's survival brought a speck of light to her thoughts.

'After causing so much death,' she thought. 'I can be part of something that preserves life.'

They observed the smoke continuing to rise from smoldering buildings. Roads were destroyed, hundreds of disfigured carcasses of Primary Bodies and regular human beings cluttered the streets, and a strong stench of burned blood effused through the battle-stricken air. They swallowed hard as they noticed all of the damage, for they were sure that communities around the globe shared the same devastating fate.

"This looks like a good one," Alena motioned, lowering to a particular cluster of spore plants. It was located just inside the city and was surrounded by several buildings, thus more concealed. The rest of them followed suit. Alena approached a particular plant. It seemed to be in good condition, possessing a healthy red-purple color, and its juices sloshed around inside its bulbs. The only negative aspect were the two pieces of a Primary Body that lay meters away – it was clear that Radam had attacked that very spot.

"Miyuki," Kenshin whispered as she fluttered open her eyes. "Are you ready to go through…"

"Of course…" she said weakly. "But I hope I have… the strength to survive the process…"

"You will," Takaya replied, his voice getting firmer. "By remembering us while you're in there."

"You've fought hard," Kenshin said, stroking her hair with his hand. "Now fight the hardest you've ever fought before. Muster all the strength you have. Fight for your life, Miyuki. Fight death…"

"Thank you…" she smiled at both the boy and her brother. "You've given me hope…"

Takaya nodded, and Alena levitated upwards towards a bulb that hung from the stalk. Opening its small mouth, she stepped inside and placed the human girl within. Miyuki shut her eyes and relaxed, again feeling the warmth of the viscous ooze that massaged her every curve. She let go of herself, slipping into a world of unconsciousness. Alena stepped out of the pod and squeezed its mouth shut. She placed her palm on its exterior and focused, trying to speak with the plant in a language only her subconscious understood.

"This being you have given me," the plants 'voice' echoed in Alena's mind. "She is more advanced than a mere Primary Body. She is only hours away from becoming a full Tekkaman."

'Can the process be completed?' Alena asked, praying for approval.

"Yes… yes, it can be done," it said after a pause. "She will become a complete Tekkaman."

'She is dying because of the fail-safe system implanted inside of her,' the Saiya-jin whispered.

"It shall be removed," it replied. "The entire process will take a few hours, and she will emerge with no known weaknesses. But I warn you, if I sense approaching danger at any time, I will eject her.'

'I assure you that won't be necessary.' Alena replied. 'One of us will remain here to guard you.'

"Very well, then," it answered. "I shall begin the procedure immediately."

'Thank you,' Alena whispered, removing her hand from the pod's surface. She lowered to the dirt and observed the anxious faces boring their eyes into hers, waiting for an explanation. Alena gave a nod.

"She'll be alright, as long as someone stands here to guard her at all times until she's done," Alena explained, a thin smile spreading across her lips. "The total process should take several hours at most."

"I will stand guard," Takaya said, his voice strong. "I will protect my sister."

"I want to keep her safe as well," Kenshin said. "I'll also stay here."

"For the sake of the Earth," Alena shook her head. "That is not wise. Like Saki told us, we have to destroy Tekkamen and search for Aki at the same time. And to be honest, I think Kenshin should stay."

"But… but why?" Blade protested, confused. "I can't just leave my sister like this!"

"Saber is still on the loose. If he uses his mental link to trace you here, her life will be in jeopardy. But if Kenshin keeps his chi level low, he'll difficult to detect. Besides, you'd get to look for Aki, right?"

"Yes… you're right," Takaya said, reluctantly agreeing. "Kenshin… please take care of her."

Kenshin nodded and levitated to sit on top of the bulb next to Miyuki's. He unsheathed Akoutari and kept an extremely watchful eye, pleased that he could see far into the distance to detect any danger.

"Now, I think that we should get as far away from here as possible," Alena suggested. "In fact, the more we draw the enemy's focus to ourselves far away, the more Kenshin and Miyuki will be ignored."

"I think I'll go find Vegita," Saki said, starting to get slightly worried about him. 'He hasn't contacted me through the com-link for a while now. I hope they didn't use that Wave Distorter on him again. Stupid us, Levin had already built something to counter it, but we forgot to take it with us.'

"Vegita," Saki said, talking into her com-link. "Saki here. Where in the world are you?"

"I don't really know," his voice replied, sounding excited that she had taken the initiative to contact him. "But use the tracker on the com-link to find out where I am."

"How many Tekkamen have you destroyed so far?" she asked curiously.

"About three dozen I think," he replied. "They're not in big clusters; they're pretty spread out. Most of the time is wasted going from city to city, trying to find them. In fact, destroying them is easier.'

"I've dropped off that little girl at the Command Center," she replied. "I'm coming over now."

"Here is a spare com-link," Saki said, pulling one out of her pocket and handing it to Alena, for Noal had given her a few extra. With a wave, Saki flew away, leaving Blade and Alena to think clearly.

"Let's discuss strategy far away from them," Alena said. Miyuki's pod began to pulse with a light pink color, and red lines appeared over the girl's naked body. Miyuki slipped further into her state of sleep, having no idea of the healing the pod was performing on her broken body. Although the initial stages of the Tek-conversion process were normally the most brutal and agonizing, the final stages were painless.

Remembering what Alena had said, Blade nodded, and the two blasted towards the sky.

'Recover fast, Miyuki,' Kenshin thought, looking down at her pod. 'I won't let anyone hurt you.'

"How are your wounds, Saber?" Plague asked. Both of them were recovering in the Radam Outpost on the Orbital Ring. Saber spent some time in a healing pod, attempting to assuage his minor burns. Their eyesight had restored, but Plague was nonetheless extremely angry at having lost so easily.

'That boy shamed me, and that witch Alena brutally killed Psychos,' he cursed in his mind. 'Plus, she almost killed me! None of this would have happened if I had made sure that Alena was dead that time!'

"I have recovered, Lord Plague," Saber grumbled, emerging slowly from the juicy magenta pod. The Tekkaman flashed his eyes and stood next to the impatient Plague. "I feel so ashamed at having run away from them. I must save face, and I must kill my twin. I can't rest knowing I haven't finished him!"

"Very well, then," Plague said, growing angrier towards Alena. "You will get an opportunity to him finish off, and I'll get a chance to teach that Saiya-jin bitch a lesson she'll remember even after death!"

Upon declaring their words of vengeance, the two Tekkamen headed down towards Earth.

'I am so aptly named, for I have dodged death once again,' the General thought as he ran on the sand outside, away from the smoldering, burning remains of the Area 51 base. The five Tekkamen that had attacked had razed it, butchering the men inside and using their Voltekker attacks to cause explosions. The entire facility had been rendered useless, with all its equipment destroyed. But Dodge managed to survive.

'I am exposed here, but I'm not too far from the canyons nearby,' he thought, sprinting across the desert floor. His thoughts of confidence and victory were soon debilitated, however, as he turned his head over his shoulder. The five Tekkamen within the complex had emerged into the air. They stopped to see the lone, desperate man running for protection, and they chuckled – for they had spotted their next victim.

'OH NO!' Dodge mentally screamed, running as hard as he could. 'Once I get to the canyons, I'll be safe, and they won't be able to detect me. The canyons are only thirty meters away… Almost there…'

Before he could think another word, before he could take another step, the General felt a sharp, explosive pain tear through the back of his skull. He collapsed hard to the ground, and his body convulsed violently and uncontrollably. Within seconds, Dodge breathed his last, and the blood from the fatal bullet wounds in his head dyed the sands below. Several hundred feet behind him, just outside the base, stood the bloodied, satisfied figure of Major Dumas, aiming his sniper rifle at the dead military leader.

'You coward,' Dumas thought as he let his weapon drop to the ground. 'You treat your men like trash, and you sacrifice them to save your pathetic life. Well, your life has ended today, General. Not by Radam, but rather by my hands. Because of your fuck-ups, you nuked San Francisco, murdering thousands of innocent people. You allowed my friends in the Sol Tekkaman units to die mercilessly at the hands of the Radam, and you did nothing to protect them. Even when the aliens attacked this facility, you considered everyone else to be expendable but yourself. You are a disgrace, and I hope you burn in hell…'

'But you should be thankful that I gave you a merciful death, for the Tekkamen hovering above me would not be so humane. I was hurt badly in the attack on the base, but I survived only to put bullets through that skull of yours. In fact… I am glad… so glad… that the final moments of my life… were meant to serve you… General… that they were meant… to serve you your death… on a silver platter…'

With those final thoughts, the fatally wounded body of Major Dumas collapsed into the dirt. The five Tekkamen looked hard at the man that deprived them of another victim, but they did not let it bother them much. Within seconds, they took for to sky… Every soul at the Area 51 base passed away; the only form of life remaining was the flock of vultures that circled the carcasses of the Major… and the General.

"So, I take it we're heading towards Goku and Shinjo?" Blade asked as they continued to fly, only to notice a Radam Tekkaman speedily approach them, ready to attack. Alena remained on her flight path with a look of boredom, and with a stroke of Kotukari, she sliced through the G3 warrior. She didn't even look back at the corpse she had created; the two simply continued to head in the direction that she chose.

'Good, Goku is keeping his chi level high enough for me to detect,' she thought. 'So I guess he and my brother are actually listening to what I say. I can feel Vegita's chi as well.'

"Yes," she said, finally answering Blade's question. "We're headed for them directly."

Yet, in the middle of her flight, she stopped short. Takaya continued to fly on, almost oblivious to the fact that she was not by his side anymore. Noticing it shortly, he stopped and backtracked, reaching her again. Alena's eyes were turned towards the afternoon sky, and the look on her face was calculating.

"I don't see why we've stopped," Blade said matter-of-factly.

"They're here," she whispered, tightening her grip on Kotukari. "Saber and Plague."

Within seconds, both of them witnessed two small sparks in the sky, from which two electricity-like bolts emerged. One was red, and the other was purple. Both Plague and Saber charged down furiously towards Alena and Takaya. Plague attacked the girl, who raised Kotukari to defend herself. Saber roared Takaya's name as he smashed right into his elder twin brother. A new, vicious battle had already begun…

"It looks like I've found you, my son," the deep voice said. Kenshin snapped to attention and spun his head, only to drop his jaw in shock. Standing on the ground was none other than his father, Son Ichiro. The man crossed his muscular arms, shaking his head with disapproval. Kenshin rubbed his eyes and wondered if he was in a dream, or if he was seeing a ghost, but no – the figure of Ichiro was right there.

"F… Father?" Kenshin whispered, his throat tightening. "Father!"

"I'm disappointed," Ichiro sighed. "You're supposed to be on watch, but you didn't notice me."

"Father…" the boy choked. "I can't believe it… I thought you…"

With tears forming in his eyes, the boy jumped off the pod on which he was sitting and landed on the dirt. He simply couldn't believe what he was seeing. His heart pounded hard, and his body shook with jubilation as he sprinted several steps towards the man. Yet, something in his mind told him to stop short.

"I've missed you, Kenshin," the man sadly smiled, extending his arms. "Give your father a hug."

"How…" the boy whispered, a drop rolling down his cheek as he took a step. "… are you here?"

"Yes, Blood had 'killed' me, but fortunately, I had a senzu bean and recovered myself alone …"

"What…" Kenshin said, freezing in his steps. "No… That's not possible…"

"What do you mean?" Ichiro said, pinching his own skin. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"You couldn't have taken a senzu," the boy scowled. "Because I vaporized your corpse entirely."

The man said nothing. The cheerful expression on his face subsided, and he lowered his arms.

"I suppose my attempt to fool you was rather pathetic," Ichiro said, a grin appearing on his lips.

"Who are you?" Kenshin demanded, quickly averting his eyes to make sure Miyuki was alright.

"Maybe this… will answer your question better," Ichiro chuckled, only to widen his eyes as his body began to melt. Kenshin dropped his jaw in horror at seeing the skin sag and droop like an amorphous mass, but then the flesh began to mold into another form, taking on a new structure, appearance, and face.

"What the!" Kenshin gasped… for across from him stood a person, none other than – himself.

"What do you think?" the figure chuckled, pulling out a katana. "I am like you in every way."

Kenshin soon scowled, angry that that his emotions had been toyed with. He gripped Akoutari.

"A shape-shifter," the boy said, snorting. "I thought your type only existed in sci-fi and fantasy."

"And I thought characters like you only existed in anime," the duplicate retorted, smirking. "But soon, the only place you'll exist in is hell, because I'll send you there on a one-way trip to scorch forever!"

"Heh, you think I'm scared of going to hell? …You're forgetting something very important."

"Oh? What's that?"

"You're forgetting… that I've already been there," Kenshin smirked, drawing his sword.