by Gie (phowah@cs.com)
Yes, it's here...I know,
I know! But things are starting to take shape for the saiya-jiin...and
the Hachi?
Read on to find out!
Gie-chan
A Tail To Remember
Chapter 34: A Meeting
of Flesh, Part Two
*******************
Nodoka blinked at the
teary-eyed female. "What did you say,
Akane?"
"Obasan," Akane rubbed
a tired hand across her face, wiping the
trails of tears from her red
cheeks, "Obasan, Genma has been turned
into a drone by the Hachi."
"Dr...drone?" she
stammered out, her eyes widening drastically at
the fatal news. One
of her hands shakily fluttered up to her neck as she
stood up and backed away from
the pair of females on the ground.
"What do you mean, drone?"
"Are you sure, Akane?"
Kasumi said quietly, her hands still on her
sister's shoulders.
"Are you positive Ojisan was attacked?"
She nodded. "At
least that's what Ranma's emotions are feeding
me. That surge of power
was from him." She struggled to stand up,
several hands immediately
helping her to her feet. Her tail unwound
from her waist and wrapped
around her adopted mother in law's wrist as
she slid her own arms around
the stunned woman's shoulders. "Gomen
nasai, Okaasan."
Nodoka burst into tears,
the realization of the tragic and drastic
news finally setting in.
She clutched at the muscled shoulders enveloping
her in their comforting embrace
as huge, wracking sobs shook her thin
frame. She buried her
face into the crook of Akane's neck as tears
coursed down her face.
"Genma...oh, Genma..."
********
~~Field of Battle~~
dead
dead
dead
dead
Ranma stared blankly
at the dirt in front of him, the scarred,
blackened ground still smoking
from his enormous burst of raw energy.
He heard someone calling his
name, but he ignored it, deeming it
unimportant in the light of
the event that just occurred.
Saotome Genma was dead.
He never acted like he
cared for the old man, always
disrespecting him left and
right. Hell, beating him into a puddle of mush
when the opportunity arose
was one of his greatest stress relievers
when he and Akane still lived
in Nerima. But Genma was the one that
looked after him for that
long decade on the road; fed him, warmed him,
trained him--well, once he
landed on Chikyuu and his saiya-jiin memories
were locked away.
He didn't remember much
of his life before he was brought to
the palace on Vejiita-sei.
Being born with such a high power level was
fairly rare, especially for
his low-class ranking. When the King found out
about him, he was whisked
away to the palace to be raised and trained
for the newly-born royal twins'
guard. He was only six months old at the
time, so the few beginning
months were hazy, and not recorded in rote
memory. But he did get
to know his birth parents fairly well later on.
His father, Toma, was a member
of a third-class purging squad, so he
was away fairly often.
But he would get to see him before and after the
away missions he was assigned.
He was a tall, short-haired male; he
remembered that his hard,
black eyes always glittered with amusement
when he would recount his
adventures with the royal twins.
His mother, Paya, was
a second-class female who worked in the
palace kitchens. The
most clear memory of her was when she would visit
him in his quarters late at
night, bringing with her a plate full of extra
treats. After he polished
off the plate in mere seconds, she would draw
him into her lap, run her
fingers through his slanted hair, so very much
like her own, and quietly
sing him to sleep, her soft tail wrapped
comfortingly around his own.
He could still remember
her voice, and Ranma realized with a
start, that when he was growing
up on the road with Genma, her songs
still echoed through his mind
on his way to slumber.
*Toma-papa...Paya-mama...*
"Otousan! Are you okay?"
Ranma blinked a few times,
attempting to clear the musty
memories away, only to focus
on his own progeny looking at him with
worried eyes, the same expression
always seen on his mate's face when
he would storm off to another
fight. He blinked a few more times, and
struggled to stand, the memories
of the past being replaced with the
fresh memories of the past
hours. Tobuma immediately helped him up.
"I'm fine, Tobuma,"
he murmured to his future child. As he got his
bearing, he noticed the large
crowd gathered around him, each with a
look of worry and concern
in their expressions. "I'm okay." A general
sound of relief was heard.
"What happened, Ranma?"
the lone human asked, a look of
concern still on his face.
"The others said that you had a large increase
in your power..." Soun
looked around in confusion. "Wasn't Genma with
you as well?"
A look of raw pain flashed
across his face. But before he could
answer, Trunks spoke for him.
"Genma's dead, Tendo-san. He was
assimilated into a drone."
He pointed a few feet behind him, and
everyone turned to see a large
black body lying still in the distance.
"Saotome-kun..."
Soun murmured and bolted over to where the
body lie.
Everyone else turned
back to Ranma. "What happened?" Goku
asked. "We felt you
fighting and then your power level launched off the
scale."
"I...I don't know...
All I remember is that Oyaji started mutating,
and then..." he trailed
off, his eyes turning vacant.
"Serori killed the Hachi
drone called Daisy, and then burst into a
new form of Super Saiya-jiin."
Vejiita spoke from his vantage point on
top of a crack of earth.
He jumped down, landing next to the silent
Ranma. "His power expanded
above any level we have ever reached." He
grunted and stole a look of
his brother-in-law. "He ascended beyond the
level of Super Saiya-jiin."
Goku looked back and
forth between the quiet Ranma and the
grumbling Vejiita. "Is
that true, Serori? You went beyond? How?"
"Goku-san," Tobuma
said quietly, "how did you break the Super
Saiya-jiin barrier?"
"Well, when Furiiza killed
Kuririn, I was so mad..." he trailed off,
realizing the younger male's
train of thought. "I get it. So when
Serori's father died, the
pain of his loss triggered the new
transformation." He
turned back to Ranma. "Can I see it?"
"Uh, not right now, Goku,"
Ranma blinked, a little startled at the
request. "I'm sorta
worn out at the moment."
A wail from the lifeless
body of Genma made them look in
surprise. Soun was hunched
over the black form, mighty rivers of tears
soaked into the scorched earth.
Goku turned back to Ranma,
who had made a sound of despair of
his own. "Don't forget,
Serori, he won't be gone for too long."
He turned to the taller
male in confusion. "What are you talk...the
dragonballs..."
his expression brightened considerably at the
realization. "Thank
you, Goku."
"I thought you forgot
about them!" Goku laughed. "But you know,
you really should get rid
of the body," he suggested, "so that when he is
resurrected, he can be back
in human form, and not that mutated form."
Ranma nodded in agreement,
and moved over to the sobbing form
of Soun, kneeling next to
him. "Tendo-san, you don't have to worry
about Pops. He'll be
brought back when this is all over with."
Soun looked up.
"What are you talking about, Ranma? Genma's
dead."
"Well, yeah, he is right
now," Ranma winced at the blunt remark,
scratching his neck as he
tried to recover. "But he will be brought back
with the dragonballs.
They have that ability."
"They do?"
"Yeah, they do.
And they'll bring back the rest of the people
killed by the Hachi, too.
But right now, I need you to be strong for me,
Tendo-san; for me, and my
mother. Okaasan will be hurting a lot. Can ya
do that?"
Soun sniffled a bit and
stood up, nodding. "It's about time for me
to grow up, isn't it, Ranma-kun?"
Ranma blinked, but nodded at the
statement. Soun pointed
at the corpse of Genma. "What about him? Do
we bring him back with us?"
"Actually, no."
Ranma shook his head sadly. He raised a glowing
hand and with a burst of ki,
Saotome Genma dissolved from existence.
"When we bring him back, now
he'll be in his original body, not this
disgusting mutation."
He looked back up and watched Soun talking to
himself, his hands clasped
together in a soft prayer. All the tears were
gone. Ranma smiled gently
to himself and joined the older man in the
blessing.
The others quietly watched
the small service from a distance, and
when the pair made their way
back over to the group, Ranma broke the
silence. "Now what do
we do? The Hachi leader is dead."
"Now we go on a drone-hunt,"
Trunks replied quietly. "The
drones are without any distinct
leadership, so they should be fairly easy
to pick off."
"How are we going to
find them?" Gohan asked, leaning against
his father's leg.
"That's where the results
from today's conference come into
play," the purple-haired
male responded. "With the aid of the US and
Russian satellites, we should
be able to map out the entire world, and
find out where they've been
holed up."
"More than likely, somewhere
deep underground," Tobuma added.
Trunks nodded in agreement.
"How long is that going to take?"
"Not long, if everyone
works in cooperation with Capsule Corp."
Trunks turned to his father.
"Can you contact Okaasan and ask her to
start getting things in motion?"
"What do I look like,
your personal courier?" Vejiita snorted and
turned away, jumping back
up to his cliff. Trunks watched him go with a
smile.
Ranma smirked and shook
his head. "You've got some nerve,
Trunks, asking him to do that."
Trunks just rolled his eyes.
At that moment, the three
Chinese saiya-jiin and Ryouga flew into
range, landing moments later.
"What's going on?" Yuukari asked, taking
in the damage around them
with a quick look. He turned his gaze back to
Ranma. "Are you all
right?"
He sighed and nodded.
"I'm fine, for now. My father was turned
into a drone, but that's taken
care of for now." He turned to Ryouga, a
smirk on his face. "So,
P-chan, you actually decided to show your
pork-butt out with the big
boys. Where were you this morning? Out
ruttin' for mushrooms?"
Ryouga's face flushed
from the insults in front of his new
friends. "Ranma...that's
none of your damn business! Where's Akane?
Why aren't you protecting
her?" He clenched his hands into
tightly-balled fists.
"I swear if she's not okay..."
Vejiita growled, making
his presence known once again. "Seiika's
well-being is nothing of your
concern, human. I suggest shutting the hell
up or dying by my hand."
He growled again and a flash of yellow
flickered through his hair.
"Your choice."
Ryouga swallowed hard
and backed away, his face rapidly paling to
a bleached white. "Uh...um..."
"Otousan, did you talk
with Okaasan?" Trunks interrupted the
spat, directing his father's
attention somewhere else.
He glared once more at
Ryouga, and turned his attention to his
future heir. "Yes, and
she is doing what she is told." He turned back to
Ranma and glared at him. "Seiika
was affected by your newest
transformation. I suspect
you have a bawling out waiting for you."
"Hehe, you're probably
right," Ranma blushed and nodded his
head. "I suppose we
better get back. Goku, would you do the honors?"
The tall male smiled
and nodded. "Sure, Serori, but you better
warn Seiika to move to a large
empty spot. I'll be focusing in on her."
"Right. Give me
a second." Ranma closed his eyes and focused on
the bright bundle of energy
that was his mate. *Hima-chan, we're on our
way back.*
***
~~At the UN Building~~
Akane jumped, startled
by the mindspeak. The others around her
blinked at the abrupt action.
*Ranma? Are you okay? What happened?
Did the Hachi do something...*
A warm flash of emotion
filled her heart. *I'm fine, Hima-chan.
Although, Pops...Where
are you?*
*I'm in the council chambers with everyone else.*
*Move somewhere else--somewhere
with a lot of space. Goku is
gonna teleport all of us
back.*
*Gotcha. Give me a second.*
Akane opened her eyes
and discovered everyone staring at her.
"They're on their way back."
She turned to President Shamar, who was
sitting a bit away from her.
"Is there a large room where I can go?"
Bulma immediately realized
what she needed. "We can go into a
smaller meeting room.
Is there one around?"
Shamar nodded his head
slowly, not quite up to speed. He was
still dazed by the light show
from earlier. "There's an empty conference
room next door. Is that
what you mean?"
"Yes, thank you, Mr.
President." Akane flashed one of her special
smiles at the blond haired
man, and she and Bulma stood up to leave.
ChiChi stood up as well. "They're teleporting back, right?"
"Yes," Bulma tossed over her shoulder.
"Then I'm coming too."
The three females found
the room Shamar was talking about, and
quickly moved the table and
chairs out of the way.
*We're ready.*
Within mere moments,
Akane was engulfed by familiar muscular
arms, her mouth eagerly captured
by her mate's own, the intense kiss
readily returned.
*********
After the teary welcome
back, the saiya-jiin and the rest of their
party returned to the council
chambers. Immediately, a wave of
murmurs washed over them,
mostly from their state of being. There had
been no opportunity to clean
themselves from the bloodbath they
incurred. And most of
the warriors were soaked in the blue Hachi blood.
President Shamar had
returned to the front of the room, and
tried to hide his shock at
the condition of the people that had returned
so quickly. He rapped
the gavel on the desk, trying to bring some order
to the budding chaos.
"Please, everyone! Return to your postings! We
will sort everything out within
moments, please have patience. You will
hear everything that is needed
to know."
He motioned to Nabiki,
and she came forward. "Yes, Mr.
President?"
"Miss Tendo, can you
appoint someone from the earlier delegation
to tell us what happened?
I think it would be best if Mr. Briefs or Mr.
Saotome would fill us in."
"Of course, Mr. President.
Just give me a moment." He nodded
and Nabiki hurried back to
the Japanese delegation, where Trunks and
Tobuma were talking with their
families. "Okay, who wants to spill the
beans?"
The cousins shot looks
between each other, and Trunks sighed in
resignation. "I guess
it's mine." He turned back to the larger group.
"What do you want me to say?"
"Tell them the truth,"
Bulma shrugged her shoulders, turning
from the burdensome task of
trying to clean her mate up. "They
deserve to know what went
on. Although they got a taste of it already,
from the Times Square fight."
She pinched her mate's arm in emphasis.
Vejiita just rolled his eyes
and quietly took Bulma's ministrations.
Akane nodded as well,
agreeing with her sister in law. "You can
give an all-clear, if you
wish. But tell them to be aware of wandering
drones." She handed
her nephew a towel. "Although you might want to
try to wipe off the blood
from your face. You're clashing with your
hair."
Trunks sighed and accepted
the towel, trying to create some
semblance of the day as he
cleaned his face. "Thanks, Obasan." He
tossed the towel on the ground
and made his way up to the dais.
He nodded to President
Shamar, and turned to address the large,
murmuring crowd. "Please,
if I may have your attention. Can we get
camera crews in here, too?
I only want to say this once." Quickly,
several cameras crews set
up and rolled the important footage.
Trunks began. "Just
to let everyone know, this is going to be
fairly brief, and to the point.
As of an hour ago, the leader of the Hachi
invasion force has been killed."
He held up his hands as a loud mumble
whipped through the room.
"But that does not mean the Hachi are
defeated. There are
still thousands of drones alive and active.
Hopefully, now that we have
reached an agreement with the US and
Russian governments, we will
be able to track down their locations and
destroy them as soon and as
efficiently as possible. I am asking
everyone to be on alert.
If you see even one drone, please remove
yourself from its view as
quickly as possible. Just because their leader
has been defeated, doesn't
mean they've lost the ability to assimilate.
The warriors that have been
diligently fighting to keep your freedom will
still continue to eliminate
any Hachi threat that presents itself. After
we have taken care of the
imminent threat, Capsule Corp will release a
statement."
He looked around the
room, a serious, solemn look to his tired
features. "Please, as
you return to your normal daily activities,
remember the ones that were
lost in this battle and ones past--not as
victims, but as heroes.
They deserve nothing less. Thank you." He
nodded again to President
Shamar, and stepped off the podium.
He fell into the chair
next to Tobuma, the stress of the day
finally showing on his features.
"So how's that?"
The tri-colored male
smiled. "Not bad. A little preachy, but..."
he ducked the weak punched
aimed for his head. "Hey! You asked."
"It was fine, Trunks,"
Bulma smiled. "Although I'm quite glad
that you didn't get into detail
about the fighting. Now, all that's left is
to get rid of the remaining
drones, correct?" She sighed and leaned
onto Vejiita, who snaked an
arm around her distended middle. "Can we go
back to the hotel? The
little one here is getting very hungry. And when
he's hungry, he tends to let
me know with his feet." She winked at the
older version, who blushed
deeply.
Ranma glanced at Akane
who nodded as well. "I think a hot bath
and a large meal is a great
idea. We can plan what's next after dinner."
As Bulma called for the
limos to pick them up, Tobuma spoke to
both the Russian and US delegates,
giving them contact numbers at
Capsule Corp for their satellite
conferences. Ranma talked quietly with
his mother, Kasumi, Nabiki
and Soun, explaining the battle and Genma's
subsequent death, reassuring
his mother of her husband's imminent
resurrection.
Vejiita and Akane went
and spoke with the Chinese saiya-jiin
delegation. All four
bent at the waist as they approached, their fists
clutched tightly against their
chests. "Your highnesses, we pledge our
loyalty and servitude to you
and the throne," Yuukari spoke for the
quad.
Akane flushed and waved
her hands. "Please, get up. What did I
say before about that?"
"Yes, my lady," Yuukari
smiled as he righted himself, his kin
following in the same aspect.
"What are you going to do now, my lady?"
Akane blushed a little
more, but ignored the courtesy. "Well,
we're on our way back to the
hotel at the moment to get cleaned up and
eat. You are more than
welcome to join us for dinner. We're going to
discuss our clean-up strategy
after we eat."
Tamana nodded.
"It would be an honor, my lady. We will join you
as soon as we can. I
believe our government will want to discuss our
recent...disclosure, first."
Yuukari nodded in agreement. Tamana then
turned to Vejiita. "Sire,
we wish to help in any way possible."
Vejiita nodded.
"My mate will give you information on how to
contact us in the future,
and your future status with me." Akane glared
at him, but he ignored his
sister. "You knew your royal family was on
Chikyuu, yet you refused to
reveal yourselves and acknowledge them.
That is a serious crime against
the Crown." He studied them all in turn.
"How do you wish to be handled?"
The four Chinese saiya-jiin
glanced between each other uneasily.
They were not expecting such
discourse. "Well, Vejiita-sama, we did
know you were on Chikyuu at
one point, back when you first arrived to
fight Kakarotto, but then
we also knew you left. We did not know you
had come back."
"Vejiita, you don't expect
them to be punished for such a thing?"
Akane growled at the thought.
"Then you would have to punish
Kami-sama as well, since he
was the one that hid Ranma and I from you."
"Do not think I forgot
about that old and decrepit Namek-jin, "
he growled back. He
returned his attention to the newly discovered
saiya-jiin. "As for
you four, your crimes will not be held against you."
Akane snorted, but he ignored
her once again. "But I will remember."
"Ooh, scary, Vejiita."
"Shut up, Seiika."
"Make me."
"You don't think I will?"
"You can try!"
Yuukari stared in bewilderment
at the pair of bickering siblings.
He turned his gaze to Ranma,
who came up along side the quarreling pair.
"Do they do this all the time?"
"Yup. You get used
ta it, after awhile." He smirked as the
bickering started to grow
into a normal Akane-fight. "Ya know, I'm
actually really glad that
you four revealed yourselves as saiya-jiin,"
Ranma grinned at the taller
males, " 'cause now I have even more
sparring partners."
Nanka grinned back.
"Well, I don't think we're up to your level,
Serori-sama, but you never
know."
"Right!" He sighed
as Akane pulled out Ke'petik out from
subspace, whacking her brother
on the head. "Well, I think it's time to
stop this. Hima-chan,
calm down! It's probably not good for
Tobuma-chan, now, is it?"
******
~~Back at the hotel~~
After a long soak in
the tubs, and a very large feast, eleven
saiya-jiin and seven humans
settled in to discuss the day's events, from
the summit, to the attack
on NYC, and the surrounding area, and the
final battle that killed the
Hachi leader, Daisy, and triggered Ranma's
transformation to Super Saiya-jiin
Two, as he nicknamed it.
"So, does that mean that
once the remaining drones are killed, we
can summon Shenlong and wish
everything back to the way it was?"
Gohan asked as he flipped
through one of the books his mother placed in
front of him.
"I hope so, Gohan," Goku responded, his features fairly serious.
"Actually, it's not over,
yet." Everyone turned to Tobuma for an
explanation. The tri-colored
male and Bulma had just closed the
connection to a conference
call with the governments of US, Russia and
Dr. Briefs at Capsule Corp.
Both wore grave expressions. "We just got
done talking with the ones
responsible setting up the satellite systems,
and we believe we've discovered
the Hachi hideout."
"Well, that's good news,
isn't it?" Ninjin asked. "The drones
won't be very organized, and
they can be taken care of swiftly."
"You're right, Ninjin,
but there's more to it, I'm afraid." Bulma
said wearily.
"Spit it out, Onna!"
Vejiita growled. "Stop with the dramatic
tension."
"I'm getting to it, Otoko,"
she grumbled back. "The satellites
were able to find a large
concentration of movement deep underground in
the wilds of Russia.
But they also discovered something else. We have
visitors on the way."
"Visitors?"
"Hai, the satellites
discovered that there is a large ship headed in
our direction. At the
moment, it is on the near side of Jupiter."
Ranma looked down at the table. "How long?"
"A week at the maximum. More than likely, several days."
"It happened slightly
different at home, but there were two
waves of attacks." Trunks
spoke up. "In the first wave, we were
overwhelmed with the sheer
numbers of drones. We weren't expecting
them at all. They assimilated
almost a third of Chikyuu's population.
The second wave brought the
mother ship," he glanced up at his aunt,
then looked down at the table,
"and the capture of the Queen."
"Then we don't have much
time." Ranma stood up from the table.
"I wont allow anyone to take
Akane and make her some half drone, half
saiya-jiin...thing."
He threw a heated glare to the female sitting next to
him. "I won't!"
Akane stood next to her
mate, an equally fierce expression on her
face. "I won't let anyone
take me from you or anyone else, Ranma."
"And neither will we,"
Goku stood up, along with Gohan. The
others silently stood as well,
Trunks and Tobuma standing as one, the
four Chinese saiya-jiin all
bowing in respect.
Akane stared at each
of them, silently accepting their pledges of
protection. Her gaze
finally ended on her brother, who was still seated
at the table. He was
staring at her intensely, his black eyes boring into
her own dark stare.
"Well, Vejiita-baka? Aren't you going to protect
me, too?"
He stared at her for
several moments, then rose slowly, his gaze
never breaking her own.
"If I were to lose you again, now that I just got
you back, this crumbling mudball
of a planet, let alone some miserable
chunks of drone flesh will
not survive my wrath. That I swear."
Akane smirked and shook
her head. "Why can't you be normal and
just say 'yes'?"
Vejiita let an identical smirk form. "Well, now that
we've decided to thrash some
Hachi ass, let's go get some sleep. Our
flight leaves early tomorrow,
ne, Bulma-chan?"
Bulma nodded, a lump in her throat. "Hai."
*****
~~Bulma & Vejiita's room~~
Bulma tossed the keycard
onto the table, and let herself fall into
one of the plush chairs, immediately
kicking off her uncomfortable
shoes. "Geez, my feet
have swollen to at least three times their normal
size!" She watched her
mate walk by her, his own shoes flying off into a
corner. She reached
down to massage her aching arches, wincing as a
spasm of pain shot through
stomach. "Calm down, little one--now is not
the time to play the xylophone."
Standing once again, she moved over to
where their suitcases lie,
and pulling out a set of pajamas, she began to
get undressed.
As she was unbuttoning
the denim shirt over her distended belly,
a set of rough palms encircled
her own, gently guiding the buttons from
their holes. She sighed
and leaned back into the hard embrace, shifting
her shoulders to let the rough
material fall from her frame. She laid
one of her own hands over
the set gently rubbing the hardness of her
stomach, flinching hard when
they both felt the sharp jab to her side.
"Trunks-chan is very active
tonight, ne?"
"Hn. You know,
you still can remove the brat and let him mature
in a tank. Your weak
human body was not meant for the vigorousness of
a saiya-jiin cub." Vejiita
nipped the side of Bulma's neck. "You are only
halfway along now. Your
insides will be ripped to shreds by the time he's
ready to come out."
She sighed and shook
her head, "I can see what you mean, but I
want to carry him as long
as possible. Seiika will carry hers for full
term, right?" She felt
him nod into her neck. "If Trunks goes into a
tank, then he and Tobuma won't
be the same age, like they are now.
Trunks will be a little over
a month older." She turned around in his
embrace, locking her gaze
into his half-lidded own. "And I really don't
want to split my attention
between the Hachi and Trunks."
"Fine," he conceded reluctantly,
"when the pain is too intense,
then the brat will be removed.
I won't hear no more arguments."
"Agreed." Another
kick made Bulma smirk. "Seems like someone
else agrees, as well."
******
~~The Tokemonu, near Jupiter~~
When Violet came onto
the bridge, his attention was immediately
drawn to a light flashing
on one of the secondary consoles. After
checking to see what it meant,
he stared at it for a full minute, before
realizing what it indicated.
"Captain, you might want to take a look at
this."
Iris turned from his
position at one of the other consoles across
the deck. "What is it,
Violet? I am quite busy at the moment."
"Sir, I am getting a
signal from Chikyuu. Or rather, a loss of
signal."
Iris stood and quickly
moved to where Violet was working. "What
are you talking about?"
"Since Daisy left the
ship, we have had a continuous alert lock on
his position. It fed
us information about his position, as well as basic
data about his immediate surroundings."
He pointed to the brightly
blinking light. "This
means we've lost our connection."
"Do you know what's wrong? Can you restore it?"
Violet's claws flashed
over the console. "It's not an error on our
end. Something happened
on Chikyuu." He turned to look at his
commander. "Do you think...?"
Iris shook his head,
anticipating the train of thought. "No. Try
to contact him. Maybe
something is going on in the atmosphere that is
blocking the signal.
Try to hail him."
Violet shook his head,
the blinking light distracting the corner of
his eye. "Nothing, sir.
No response."
"Are you trying the right
frequency? Patch the signal through to
the ship itself. Try
and get one of the other drones."
Violet nodded.
"We've got someone. Patching it through to the
main viewer."
They turned to the main
screen, where a black and white drone
filled the area. "This
is Captain Daisy, where is your commanding
officer?"
The drone let out several
different-pitched chirps. Iris shook his
head. "No, that's not
I mean. Where is Commander Daisy? What was
his last known location?"
The drone again responded
with the same tones, only in a
different sequence.
Iris nodded in reply. "Show me his last location on
screen." The drone disappeared
and a relief map with a white blinking
dot replaced the image.
Violet shook his head. "That doesn't mean anything to me."
"I agree. Show
me Daisy's location as of right now." The white
light disappeared from the
screen. Iris grunted impatiently. "He's still
not showing up. Is there
something wrong with the systems?" The
drone returned to the screen
and replied in the negative. "Any storms
or electrical disturbance
that might interfere with the signals?" The
drone again replied in the
negative. The captain sighed. "Fine. Recall all
parties back to base and stop
all missions and gatherings until you hear
from me again." He signaled
to Violet to disconnect their link.
After a moment, Iris
turned to Violet, who was staring at his
leader with an expressionless
frown. "Can we assume the worst now,
Captain?"
"Yes, Violet, we can. It seems that Daisy has been killed."
"More than likely by
the saiya-jiin." Both drones turned to the
new speaker, Rose, who had
one set of legs crossed over his abdomen.
"And that leaves Chikyuu's
drones without any direction."
"I recalled the collecting
squads, Rose, and told them to sit tight."
He sat back down at the console
he was working at before. "This way,
they won't be picked off by
the saiya-jiin."
"But we still won't arrive
for several days. That gives them
plenty of time to destroy
the nest Daisy already started to build."
Iris turned to face the
fuming Rose. "They haven't found the
nest yet. Odds are they
won't by the time we arrive." He switched
subjects. "How's your
side project with Poppy coming?"
Rose nodded. "We've completed it."
"Can I ask what it is?"
"Let's just say it's
a bit of insurance if things go wrong with the
saiya-jiin."
Violet turned around to look at Rose. "Insurance?"
Rose nodded again.
"The saiya-jiin are a tough species. Poisons
don't affect them, pain is
nothing to them, and obviously, they're
impossible to assimilate.
So Poppy, Mum and I have created a super
nanoprobe. Hopefully,
it'll work as planned."
Iris slowly nodded, taking
in the new tactic. "I hope it does, too.
Are the Queen's nanoprobes
ready?"
"Poppy said yes.
That was what I was coming up here to tell you.
You need to go down and get
fitted for the injection."
"I'm almost done here. I'll go do that when I'm finished."
**********
~~~Chikyuu, the next day~~~
The minute they arrived
back at West Capital, preparations were
swiftly made, each body doing
their part to prepare for the raid on the
newly-discovered hive in Russia.
Bulma and Trunks were working closely
with their counterparts in
Russia and the US, trying to coordinate the
exact location of the Hachi
activity. Akane, Tobuma, and Vejiita were in
conference with the Chinese
saiya-jiin, bringing them up to date on what
they needed to know to prepare
for the Hachi in all respects. Ranma and
Goku were sparring heavily,
trying to bring back the drastic increase in
power Ranma displayed the
day before, when his father was killed by the
Hachi drone, Daisy.
Ranma fell to the floor,
numerous gashes spilling copious amounts
of blood, staining the gravity
chamber's white tiles a deep crimson. He
held up a aura-covered hand
to Goku, whose own glowing fist had come
within spitting distance from
his palm. "Stop, Goku! I need to take a
breather." He attempted
to stand up, wincing hard when his tail shifted,
sending pulsating shocks of
pain up and down his spine. "I think you
broke my tail."
The taller male nodded,
unclenching his fist to lend Ranma a hand
up. "Sorry about that.
I thought I felt something snap when I threw
you against the wall the last
time. You gotta remember to keep it
wrapped around your waist."
He indicated to his own appendage, safely
tucked under his sash.
"You know, maybe we're approaching this the
wrong way."
Ranma sighed in agreement,
tossing an extra towel to the elder
male. "I think I know
what ya mean. These power increases are always
linked to something, ya know?
Each of us triggered the main
transformation because of
somethin' drastic that occurred. I can feel
the threshold--touch it, even.
But," he growled under his breath, "I
just can't break it again."
"More than likely, you'll
be able to call on it when you need it the
most," Goku suggested.
"It seems like that's the way things like that
tend to work."
Just then, a console
beeped, indicating a call coming through.
Ranma limped over to the console,
and activated the view screen.
"Yeah?"
"Hey, Serori. Are
you and 'Tousan done in there?" Gohan's
expression was filled with
seriousness.
"Just about, Gohan.
Your dad beat me up plenty good. We'll be
out in a minute. Did
you need something?"
"There's a couple of
people out here that want to talk to you. You
and 'Tousan both. I'll
explain when you get out." Gohan terminated the
link.
Ranma turned to Goku.
"What do you think that was about? He
seemed really concerned about
somethin'." He turned the gravity off,
and the lights returned to
normal as the system shut itself down.
"We'll find out when we get out."
***
They were greeted by
several people waiting for them. Along
with Gohan, Kuririn and Ryouga
were standing along the wall. "Hey, Goku,
Serori," Kuririn greeted
the sweaty saiya-jiin. He stood up from his
leaning position against the
wall. "You mean that Vejiita actually let you
use his baby without him being
present?"
Goku chuckled, throwing
the towel in his hands at his longtime
friend's shiny head.
"Of course, Kuririn. He's not as bad as you think he
is."
Ranma punched in a set
amount of time in the regeneration
chamber, to fix his broken
tail. "Did you want to talk to us about
somethin'? Gohan sounded
pretty serious."
Kuririn glanced at Ryouga,
who just looked away in
embarrassment. "Thanks,
buddy. Yeah, actually we did." He scratched
at the nape of his neck as
he thought about his wording. "Well, you now
I...we were thinking about
the Hachi attack tomorrow, and we were
thinking, that maybe, well..."
he trailed off.
"Spit it out, man,"
Ranma groaned, impatient. His tail was killing
him. "What are you trying
to say?"
"Shut up, Ranma!"
Ryouga growled, his hand held up menacingly.
"Or I'll make you look worse
than you already do!"
Goku held up a hand,
stalling the impending fight. "What's going
on, Kuririn? What do
you need to say?"
"Fine, I'll just spit
it out." He inhaled deeply.
"DoyoureallyneedushumanstheretomorrowbecauseIthinkitwouldbebetteri
fwestayedbehind."
Everyone was silent for several moments.
"Do you really think
that, Kuririn? Are you sure you want to stay
here?" Goku said slowly,
looking with concern at the shorter man.
"Yeah, actually, I think
it would be best, you know?" He stared up
at his childhood friend in
earnest. "I mean, I would love to be out there
fighting at your side, Goku,
like old times, but I think we would be safer
at home. You saiya-jiin
have that extra safeguard that we humans don't,
you know? I think it
would be for the best."
Ranma turned to his friend,
both eyebrows raised in surprise, "Do
you think the same thing,
Ryouga? You're not the one that usually likes
to sit out on a good fight."
"Well," he scratched
the back of his neck, "I would be there, too,
but he made some good points."
His embarrassment faded away. "I
think I'll be a better help
if I stay here and help guard Akane, since
you'll be gone."
He nodded seriously.
"Thank you, Ryouga. That means a lot to me.
Although, don't let Akane
know you're 'guarding' her, or she'll wallop ya
with that hammer of hers."
Ryouga nodded in understanding.
Goku turned back to Kuririn. "What are you going to do?"
"Actually, I'm gonna
go see Korin and check up on the senzu crop.
Maybe stop and say hi to Kami-sama.
He might be able to give us a
better approximation of when
the mother ship is going to arrive."
"That's actually a good
idea, Kuririn, " Goku smiled. He looked
down at his son, who was clinging
to his gi pant leg. "Would you like to go
with him, Gohan? I think
we'll be able to handle the hive just fine
without you."
He looked up to his father. "Are you sure, Otousan?"
"Yeah, I think so.
Yuukari and his group are gonna come with, so I
think we're covered.
Besides, your mom is still mad at me for letting you
go with us in New York."
Gohan smiled and nodded in agreement.
"All right, Gohan!
It's me and you, just like on Namek-sei."
Kuririn grinned at the younger
child. "This time, no Bulma orderin' us
around, ne?"
"Hai!"
"Well, if we're all done
here, I gotta half-hour nap coming up."
Ranma growled as he activated
and climbed into the healing chamber.
"My tail is killin' me."
*******
~~That night, at a late dinner~~
"So are we really ready?"
Everyone was gathered around the
large table in the main dining
hall. They moved into the larger spot when
the Chinese saiya-jiin were
invited to dinner. Akane had a worried look
to her features. "Is
everything and everyone ready for tomorrow?"
"Stop worrying, Akane,"
Ranma mumbled around a mouthful of
food. He swallowed and
continued, "We're gonna be just fine."
"That's easy for you
to say, baka," she nailed him on the shoulder
with a hard fist, "you're
going to be there. You're not the one sitting at
home, waiting for you to come
back, like normal."
"You know, Seiika, we
don't have to just sit here," Bulma
suggested, pointing a manicured
nail in her direction, "you can give us
another aerobic class.
I feel like I've gained double my body weight."
ChiChi agreed.
"That's not a bad idea, Bulma. It would be a
welcome distraction."
"It would have to be
fairly low-impact, though, since I've
discovered that I can't see
my toes anymore."
Akane slowly nodded. "I guess I could use a workout."
"Yeah, you do."
Akane glared at Ranma, his comment not meaning
what it sounded like.
"Nani? I just meant that you've been bouncin'
around with so much pent-up
energy, you're drivin' me crazy."
She glared at him again,
but instead of insulting him, she just
sniffed disdainfully.
"You didn't seem to mind." The other females
giggled at her implied comment.
Ranma just blinked cluelessly. She hid
her own giggle and shook her
head. "Never mind, Ranma. I think it's a
good idea." She wiped
her mouth and stood up from the table. "I think
I'm done here. I'll
go call my sisters and see if they want to join us, too.
That way we'll all be together."
Ranma grabbed her arm,
pulling her back to her spot. "Oh no,
you're not. You barely
ate a plateful. You've gotta eat more." He filled
up another plate full of food,
and forced a set of chopsticks into her
hands. "Eat, or I'll
use the technique I learned fightin' that French
guy." Akane growled
but did what she was told.
Vejiita glared at Bulma,
a silent message of warning, *Do not even
think of leaving, Bulma.
You have not eaten enough, either.*
She glared right back. *I ate more than Seiika did.*
*Still, you aren't
eating enough for both you and the brat. More
than likely, the reason
he's been so active lately, is that he's restless.
Feed him more, and he'll
calm down.*
She snorted.
*As if that would work.* She turned her attention
from her mate to her plate
as she snatched up a chunk of chicken, taking
a hard bite from the meat.
*It doesn't work for you.*
He smirked back.
*There is no food in this world that would
'calm' me down.*
"Anyway, " she
spoke aloud, drawing her attention to Akane once
again, "everything is set
for tomorrow morning. Our contacts in Russia
say that the location of the
hive is in the middle of nowhere, so there
won't be any innocents around.
They should be able to swoop in there
and take them by complete
surprise."
"Is there a reason why
we're waiting until the morning? Why not
go now?" Goku looked
around the table. He received several nods.
"Their reinforcements get
that much closer if we wait."
Bulma sighed. "Well,
we weren't sure that we would be ready.
But fine, throw away all of
our intricate planning--you can go off
half-cocked, naked and blind
in the darkness. See if I care!" She
grabbed a carrot and bit into
it harshly, peeved about her plans being
tossed to the wind.
"Calm down, 'Kaasan,"
Trunks said with a smile as he and Tobuma
stood up as one. "The
sooner we get it done, the better, ne? Come on,
Tobu-kun, let's go get the
map." The pair of cousins left. The room
immediately filled with noise
as chairs were scraped back, silverware
clattered onto plates as everyone
started to get ready for the
impromptu raid.
"Guess you're not gonna
do that dancin' class, Akane," Ranma
smiled and as he stood up,
he pulled his mate up with him. "Come on,
Hima-chan, walk with me as
I go get changed."
"Do you want to go tonight,
Ranma?" She asked him as they made
their way to their suite.
When they entered, Akane went to the large
chest of drawers, pulling
out a set of his training clothes, black with the
jagged red line. She
sat on the bed rubbing her large stomach and
watched as switched outfits.
"I wish you didn't have to go."
He popped his head through
the neck hole and scowled at her.
"Why not? If I don't
go, then thousands more will die. You don't want
that to happen, right?"
She blushed and shook
her head. "I guess I'm just being selfish.
I want you here with me and
Tobuma-chan." She flashed him a bright
smile. "Go on, have
fun. Keep an eye on Vejiita-chan for me."
He sat down on the bed
and drew her into his lap. "Don't worry,
Hima-chan, we'll be just fine.
And when this Hachi mess is over with,
the only thing on my schedule
will be you, and only you." He nipped her on
the nose. "Well, you
and Tobu-chan, ne?" He laid a palm on her hard
stomach. "Did you know
Bulma is having a hard time carrying Trunks to
full term? Vejiita is
worried about her."
"He told you that?"
"Well, not exactly.
I overheard them arguing about her building a
tank today. He wanted
her to do it, and she was busy doing something
else." He chuckled.
"I sorta gleaned the worried part from that. I
haven't heard you complaining
about the pain. Are you having any
problems?"
A warm smile lit up her
features. "Well, he is going to be an
active little one when he
is finally born, but it's not that bad, yet. I've
gotten a few kicks to the
ribs, but nothing unmanageable." A thought
came to her. "If Bulma
puts Trunks into the gestation chamber early,
then he and Tobuma won't be
the same age anymore. I'm going to have
to talk with Bulma about this.
We'd really like them to remain the same
age. The future set
of cousins get along so well."
"A month or so ain't
that big of a difference, Akane. Come on, I
better go." They stood
up and walked back down the hall and outside the
main door, to the front lawn,
where they decided to meet.
They were greeted by
everyone else. "About time, 'Tousan,"
Tobuma smirked. "We
were wondering who would have to go get you."
"Stuff it, brat, I'm
here," Ranma rolled his eyes. "So are we
ready?"
"We were only waiting
for you, Ojisan," Trunks nodded. He looked
around to the group of saiya-jiin
and humans present. "I've got the
coordinates locked into my
watchgrid, so follow me." Trunks flared his
aura and launched himself
into the air, immediately followed by an
explosive light show that
filled the night sky as everyone else shot after
him. The three females,
Akane, Bulma and ChiChi, stared into the
darkness, watching until the
vapor trails of all ten males had
disappeared.
"Well, they're gone,"
Bulma sighed as the last dot winked out,
"now we get to do what we
do best."
"Worry, and wait." ChiChi finished.
**********
After chatting for awhile
with the two older females, Akane
feigned tiredness and bid
them goodnight. But she didn't go to sleep.
When she got back to her suite
of rooms, she got undressed and
redressed into a set of Ranma's
old Chinese shirt and pants he gave her,
since he had grown out of
them quickly. With her sharpened saiya-jiin
senses, she still could smell
Ranma's scent on them, so deeply ingrained
into the silky fabric, even
after numerous washings and repairs his faint
musk remained. It gave
her a sense of comfort; she imagined her mate's
arms wrapped around her, even
when he couldn't be there to do it
personally.
She must have actually
fallen asleep, for the next thing she
realized was that her wish
had been granted. Sleepily, she blinked her
eyes open, and was greeted
with the welcome sight of smoky blue.
"Ranma...? Are you back already?"
The corners of his eyes
crinkled up. "Already? We've been gone
all night. It's early
in the morning, now. I even had time to clean up."
She sat up, fully coming awake.
He was leaning against the edge of the
bed, clad only in a set of
loose black gi pants, and no shirt. He did indeed
smell freshly washed, and
the droopiness of his hair indicated that it
was still wet. He cocked
his head as she took him in. "I'm surprised you
fell asleep. I went
level two again. I think I can control the
transformation now, too."
"How did it go?"
She didn't notice any sign of puncture wounds
from assimilation attempts,
or any glaring burns from reflected ki. A
small bruise was forming his
arm, and she touched it gingerly. "What
happened?"
"Ah, that, well, you
see it was actually my fault for that one. I
was running down a corridor
and turned a corner too fast."
She snorted. "You hit a door."
"I hit a door."
He shrugged. "Actually, the only serious injury we
received was by Vejiita.
He got clobbered in the neck by a flying body
part. He's gonna have
a bruise there for awhile." He laughed. "The
funny thing is, it hurts for
him to talk, and you should have heard him
cuss out Goku, who was the
one that let the leg come flyin' at him."
"But you just said it hurts for him to talk."
"Yeah, it does, but do
you think that'll stop your brother? He
just had this weird look on
his face as he bawled poor Goku out. I bet
Goku's ears will be ringin'
all day."
She smiled at him, "So
how did it go? Obviously, things went
well."
"They did. You
should have seen the number of drones there. It
was a virtual hornet nest
we stumbled into. There must've been
thousands upon thousands of
drones in there." He fell onto the bed next
to her. "Trunks led
us right to where the satellites told us where it was.
We ripped into the side of
the ship and just started killin' them. They
were everywhere, but we were
right, they were surprised. It was
actually a good thing that
we went when we did, 'cause I think they
would have been more active
in the daytime. They seemed pretty
lethargic, and we tore through
them like paper."
Akane shifted her position
in bed, laying her head on his chest,
and his hand automatically
went to her hair. His strong triple-beat
thumped soothingly into her
ear. "So how did Yuukari and his group do?"
She sighed and enjoyed his
fingers lightly massaging her scalp.
"They did great!
Ya know, Ryouga told me that he was fighting
with them at the airport in
New York, and he wasn't exaggeratin' about
their skills. I think
Vejiita was pretty impressed with them, too. Trunks
will make the official announcement
later on this afternoon." He let out
a jaw-cracking yawn.
"Are you gonna get up, or stay here in bed with
me? I'm exhausted.
My body isn't used to using all that energy up."
"Why did you go that
high, then? Was it necessary?" A frown
marred her features.
"Why didn't I feel it?"
She felt him shrug.
"I don't know why you didn't feel it. I did
have my side of the Bond closed
off pretty tight. And it wasn't such a
drastic jump this time, either.
You don't react when I flare into Super
Saiya-jiin anymore, right?"
"No, not really.
I can feel it, but my ki doesn't react." They were
silent for a minute or so.
"Ranma, are you asleep yet?"
"Nah, not yet."
"If I get captured, what will you do?"
He paused for a heartbeat. "You won't."
"But what if..."
He cut her off.
"You won't be, Akane. I won't let them. It
might've happened in the future
timeline, but it won't happen in ours."
His arms swiftly gathered
her close to him, crushing her against his
chest. "I won't allow
it; neither will Vejiita or anyone else. You will
never leave my side, you got
that?" He bit back a sob as he buried his
face in her thick mane.
"I love you, Akane! I love you and you're not
getting rid of me that easily!"
She laughed through the
tears that poured down her face. "Baka,
I love you, too! If
I wanted to get rid of you, don't you think I would've
done it a while ago?
Especially with all the crap that's tried to keep us
apart. I have never
given up on you, ever!"
One thing led to another,
and with a fit of passion, they came
together to seal their love
for the other.
Afterwards, as she snuggled
down into his warm chest, wrapping
her arms around his waist
in a loose hug, she breached his euphoria with
a response to his earlier
question. "I'm just fine, right where I am."
He let a smile stretch
across his face. "You better think so,
'cause you give off more heat
than Pops did when he was a panda."
"Well, I hope you enjoyed
this more than the smell of fur." They
both sighed in contentment,
all fears banished from their immediate
thoughts.
"Don't worry, Hima-chan, I do."
**********
Yes, this *was* a long time coming, and I apologise. But things have happened, ne? I'm sure y'all wanted **more** things to happen, but, hey, it's pretty freakin' long right now. And this has been a long time comin'...
To tell you the truth, my big announcement was that I was gonna put a hold on this story, and start on the side-story 'The Story of Toma," aka my version of the Story of Bardock, but, eh...I think ATTR is starting to wind down, ne? Sorta seein' the conclusion comin' down the tracks...so I'm not gonna do that. Instead, I'm gonna keep pluggin away at ATTR until it's done...hopefully by its FFnet aniversary of 9-2-00. Oi! It's been a looong trip! Do I still have any of ya out there? *chirp chirp* hehehe
Until next time, my friends....ja matte ne!
Gie-chan