Unfortunately, out of witty things to say. Chapter 19!
Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread, I am all about Larry over here!
#19: The Next Level
It was a week since they had encountered the pirate's from Casire, and everything was as normal as it could be on the 'Nirvana'. Bart had fully recovered, and Duero was nearing a break-through on replicating the Blood growth supplement. Hibiki and Dita were always together, now by Hibiki's choice. Vinn had been becoming more interment, but neither of them new how to make a baby, so nobody was to worried about anything yet. Everybody was happy aboard the ship. The group that could use the Paexis had been working harder than ever, knowing the confrontation that would lead to earth might come any day. They had even been scheduling private lesson with Jack. Well, not everybody, Dita had Hibiki with her, because he didn't really trust Jack. He was always by her side, but Dita was just happy she was finally getting some of the attention she had given him.
"Now when you get as experienced as someone like me, you can destroy thing's much larger than a simple little crate. And you can do it just by thinking it, you don't have to focus so much." Dita was still having trouble shattering the crate, but was improving. This wasn't the time for him to help her individually, he was doing one of his regular lessons with Barnette included. He was proud at how much they had all improved, and even the newer one's like John and Barnette were managing to keep up with the others. He used the private sessions to go over the stuff they weren't involved with before, so that he didn't have to slow down the others. "Controlling the flow of the energy is critical to allowing you to harness the energy and make it do what you want." Today they were going to be sparring with one another, except Jack, because he was the odd man out. Jura was facing off with Meia, John with Hibiki, and Dita with Barnette. He chose these groups so that they wouldn't hold back, and their full battle potential would be released. They where battling ferociously with one another, and even Dita was doing well. "Hibiki, clam down, and focus on connecting the blows, not just throwing as many out as possible." He turned and addressed the whole of the room. "Winning a battle isn't always about just putting out the most attacks, technique is often more important than anything."
After several hours of working with the group, and than with individuals, it was finally time to go to dinner. He sat at a table with Barnette, who was waiting for him, with John and Meia, and Jura and Vinn. Vinn was feeling a bit left out, but Jura had always found a way to make it up.
"are you still sulking because your not able to join in our group?" Jack said, lifting a fork full of food to his mouth, but then lowering it again. "Well cheer up, looks like your about get your chance." Everyone turned and looked out the windows as the alarm started blaring, a massive capital ship advancing at them, flanked by a dozen flagships, and thousands of smaller attack craft.
"Well, looks like their sick of losing, all pilots launch and engage!" The captain called over the intercom, and everyone dashed to their jobs.
"The four of us will hit the Capitol ship, the rest of you focus on the smaller ships, so that Bart can concentrate on the flag ships." Meia gave her briefing from the Super Vandread. A quartet of thick colored energy beams flashed over head, and impacted the flagships, gutting them as explosions chained through them, and the detonated, taking out the smaller surrounding ships. They all flew off and began trading and dodging fire with the enemy. The main force was destroyed within a matter of minutes, and that left the capitol ship. Jack, John, and the Members of the Super Vandread boarded the massive ship. They all jumped out of their respective craft, and static blasted over their handheld COM units, and the captain's voice broke through.
"We have additional enemy contacts inbound. At least 30 flag ships, and a hell of allot more smaller craft, get rid of that thing ASAP." Another voice entered in the background.
"More contacts inbound, picking up another capitol ship, and anther dozen flagships." The pressed on inside, until they found a man seated in the driver's seat.
"You are the ones we are here to defeat! And you come to me!" His eyes flashed, and they were all thrown back against the wall. He was the yellow controller, and spoke through their minds like the red controller had. The Controller rose from his chair and floated toward the five people on the floor, and didn't notice that Jack wasn't there. "You have caused us on Earth a great deal of trouble! You giving all the pathetic humans a false hope, telling them that they exist as something other than a means for the Earth to continue it's survival!" His hair fluttered up as he fired another mental wave at the group, but nothing happened. He tried again and again, but to no effect. Dita was the first to act, not wondering why nothing was happening. She swung a fist and connected with the side of his head, a blue explosion threw him against the wall. She jumped on top of him, and kept up a steady barrage of blows to the head and chest.
"Stop hurting my friends!" She yelled, blue explosions detonating with every blow, her voice filled with an anger they had never heard from her. Jack pulled her of the motionless form, still kicking futilely.
"I'm glad to see that you can use the explosive punch, but I think he's dead! I guess he isn't going to tell us where earth is." The man lying against the wall didn't look remotely human anymore, most of his skin burned off, and his face horribly mangled.
"Here, John, take this back to the 'Nirvana', and help Parfait install it into the system, it should help them with the flagships, the rest of us will handle the other capitol ship!" He through the Basketball sized yellow orb to John and the all ran back and got into their ships. They flew in, and handled the orange ship much the same way as the yellow one. Everyone was surprised by Dita's outburst, and she killed the orange controller.
"Why was it that the first attack hurt us, but the one's after didn't?" Meia asked.
"Because, I went over, explained to the Paexis what was going on, and they gave me their powers, which I used to surround you in a barrier to negate the energy he used. So go get out, I'll rig these ships to blow, and meet you back in the ship. Tell the captain to fly behind the biggest thing they can, cause the double explosion is going to be a big one, it should handle most of the other ships in the sector." He handed Meia the orange Paexis, and hooked himself up to the main system with his chains. He set the self-destruct sequence for fifteen minutes, and by the time he left the second ship, 7 minutes were left until the big explosion. He spotted the markers left by the 'Nirvana, and followed them to behind a moon sized chunk of asteroid. He docked just as the ships detonated at the same time, with such force, the moon shattered into dust, and the reinforced shields dropped down to a single layer. Considering it had been at 7 layers, they were extremely lucky. There wasn't anything left of the enemy fleet, not even scattered wreckage. Jack walked onto the bridge, to report to the captain.
"Well, we now have all of the Paexis in our arsenal." He held his hands out, palm up, and three orbs of energy floated above each hand, one side purple, blue and green, the other red, orange, and yellow.
"Man, if I hadn't been jettisoned off of Pluto, I would have missed all of this excitement!" Misty chimed in from her bridge station.
"You came from Pluto! Do you know where it is!" Jack said excitedly, the energy orbs vanishing from his hands.
"No, but it should be in the information from that capsule that came with me."
"Why?" B.C. asked while pulling it up on the main screen.
"Because, Pluto is in the Sol system." Jack said.
"What's the Sol system?"
"It's the system that contains Earth." B.C. looked through the data and after bringing up the stars visible in the picture of Pluto, and a bit of comparisons, determined its location.
"We can be there in 2 months"
"Well, then I believe we should go and say hello to our good friend." The captain said, and then yelled to Bart. "Set a course for these coordinates."
"Well, I've got to go work on improving my skills, and the skills of the others. See you later." Jack said, and walked off the bridge. The door hissed shut, and he started talking to himself. "Now I have the powers of all the Paexises, and I am going to put them to work. When I am done, Earth won't be the only one to fall to my might."
"Oh really?" Barnette said, with raised eyebrows. "What does that mean?"
"It just mean's that we are going to decimate the earth, and free the galaxy from their rule of terror." He put emphasis on the word their, but Barnette didn't notice as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "What do you say we go and get assume dinner now?" They grabbed a table alone, so that they wouldn't interrupt anyone else's celebrating. They ate and drank, and just plain relaxed.
"There's just one thing I don't get." Barnette said, slightly pink from drinking. "How is it we beat them so easily?" She giggled at herself.
"Well, you see, they are just machine's, and once they reach their programming limit they just can't get any better, but we, being organic, can keep improving until we die!" They both bust out laughing at this, and didn't stop for some time. Barnette took another swig of here drink, hiccuped once, and passed out, her head falling to the table with a thunk. Jack chuckled, stood, and hefted her over his shoulder. He walked back to her room, and put her into bed. He walked out, only to come face to face with John and Vinn.
"Well, what do we have here?" Vinn slurred, he was partially drunk.
"What do you think?" Jack asked, suggestion laced in his voice.
"She passed out too? Meia made it to two, and was out. Jura took quite a few before she dropped. What about Barnette?" John said, eyeing Vinn as he sneezed and swayed.
"I'm guessing that Vinn tried too keep up?" Jack asked, also looking at him curiously. John nodded. "Barnette downed a few, and then just went out like clicking of a light. Man, I love her." Jack shook his head with a smile, as the three of walked back in and sat at a table together. Vinn grabbed the closest bottle and downed it, and nodded off sitting up. "I guess women just can't hold their liquor like men can."
"I don't know, I saw a few of them drink quite a few."
"Yeah, your right, hehe, I bet Gasco could drink even you under."
The end of chapter 19! What will come next? Only one or two chapters left, and then what? Am I talking to myself again? You bet!