And Holy Hell! School has been a total mind job D: Been preventing me from working on this. Its been what? Two weeks since I last updated. Oh man. School is nearing its end and the madness continues! Actually it got worse! Man, I got like 5 projects total now, and theres only 8 school days left! Man Junior year SUCKS. D: OH WELL. Enough Ranting! On with the story?
Ok then. If you insist! TO THE STORY! (70s batman theme plays)
Ch. 11 - Battle Royale (Part III)
"OW!" Ryoko yelped in pain, as Washu tightened a bandage around Ryoko's shattered arm. "That stings you know..."
"Oh hush... You get what you deserve for not letting me help." Washu smiled weakly. She then clasped a 'cast' around the arm, though it was sleek and metallic. It had a bit of a rubber like material at the elbow and wrist to allow movement, but other then that, it was like a sleek steel tube was put on Ryoko's arm. "Its going to take a day or two for you to be all better. This should hold up till then..."
Tenchi and Ayeka had already gotten back from their little trip to buy some food for a bite to eat while they waited for their fights. Ayeka's was scheduled quite a while after Ryoko's, and Tenchi's happened to be the very first fight the next day. His competitor? Talaquine. But Tenchi was more then ready. Tenchi leaned against a wall watching Washu bandage up Ryoko. Ayeka was at the window gazing out into the crowd's fury; screaming and yelling whenever a competitor took a nasty hit and drew blood. Zack was standing next to Tenchi, a bit confused.
"Alright, so let me get this straight. Ryoko is Washu's 'daughter', because Washu had created her using one of her... (ahem)." Zack replayed back to Tenchi.
"Yup." Was his response.
"And that they share a 'psychic' link with each other, being able to read the others thoughts and minds." Zack said again.
"Yup." came again.
"And that all her powers are there only to further Ryoko's fighting capabilities." Zack said once more.
"Yup." Came Tenchi's Response.
"Ah, I see..." Zack said, his eyes looking down at the floor, trying to contemplate everything he's just learned. "...So wait, if Ryoko can regenerate wounds, how come she just cant regenerate that."
"That guy, Machina, was a cyborg. However, he was using billions of nano machines to create his armor and perform some of the stunts he did." Washu began to elaborate, now finishing with Ryoko's wounds, and over hearing Zack's question. " He was controlling the machines with that disk on his back for the most part. Which is why when Ryoko damaged it, he armor began to 'sag' and his movements were sluggish."
"I see, but whats that got to do with Ryoko's injury?" Zack asked.
"I was just getting to that," Washu said. "When Ryoko here got back handed by him, some of the nano machines got embedded into the wounds and began to interrupt her healing processes. And now, because of her foolishness, she gets to wear this spiffy armor that will neutralize the nano machines and expedite the healing process."
As she said that, she happened to grab and yank at Ryoko's protected arm to show Zack, but pulled her off the table. She hit the floor, and let out an erk in response.
"Err oops. Sorry." Washu said noticing what she did.
" ...ow..." Ryoko said very weakly. Tenchi walked over to help her off the floor. As he was helping her up, the door to the waiting room opened up, and in stepped the young lady from before.
"Excuse me, Mr. Tenchi, your fight is next." She said in her usual soft lovely voice.
"What? What do you mean his fights next? Mines was next." Ayeka said, turning around and protesting.
"Im sorry, but your fight has been delayed. A change in the schedules has made. Mr. Tenchi's fight with Talaquine now." The young woman replied, no real expression or feeling apparent on her face.
"Who changed it?" Ayeka demanded.
"The change was made at the request of Mr. Domino and Mr. Vasquez. The request was granted, and the fight schedule has been altered slightly. Your fight with Mr. Stetz will be first thing tomorrow morning." The young woman said, not revealing the slightest bit of emotion. Ayeka opened her mouth to protest but was cut off. "However, since were originally scheduled to fight at this time and date, and that the change was made within 6 hours of your fight, then you do hold the right to fight now, even though the competitor has changed. As well as the fact that it seems you are all working as a team, even though this is not a team competition, Ill also give you time to sort this out. Ill be waiting in the hall way when who ever is ready to fight is ready."
With that she walked out and closed the door behind her softly. Tenchi began to make his way to the door.
"Wait Tenchi. Im going to fight Talaquine." Ayeka said running over and cutting him off.
"No Ayeka. Its to dangerous. He isn't someone to take lightly." Tenchi said in response. "How do you think Sasami would feel if you got hurt saving her? How do you think I'd feel if I let you fight in my place and you got hurt?"
"How do you think Sasami would feel if YOU got hurt, Tenchi?" Ayeka said. "She's my sister and its my fault she's in trouble. If I had been more responsible, we wouldn't have stopped at that bar."
Tenchi was about to say something that would have probably ended the fight, but turned around when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Zack was there. "Listen Tenchi, Life doesnt always make sense. People take risks that they probably shouldn't take even though they don't have to. But they still do if its for a loved one."
"I just cant let Ayeka go out there against that monster." Tenchi replied. Zack got up face to face with Tenchi and kept a firm grip on him with his left.
"Alright. Let me put it this way. A Dracadian's punch can topple and knock out an Agnerth." Zack said calmly.
"Huh?" Was Tenchi's confused response. Before he could react and understand the full meaning of Zack's seemingly useless bit of information, a hard hit to his stomach made him double over and things went black seconds later. Everyone just stared, shocked at what Zack had just done.
"Well, it kinda was the first thing that came to mind." Zack said holding Tenchi up haphazardly.
"Well I'll say..." Ryoko quietly, an expression of annoyance etched across her face.
"Anyways, Ayeka. Get a move on before our kind friend here wakes up." Zack said to the Princess. She stood there for a second, shocked. And then she went quickly for the door. "Oh yeah. Do try to come back alive. If you don't, Tenchi might be a little angry with me for letting you go."
Ayeka stood there for a second, opened the door and stood there. "Thank you." She muttered and walked out into the hall, closing the door behind her.
"Oof, help me here will ya. Im not fully recovered if you haven't noticed..." Zack said, beginning to lose his grip on Tenchi. Washu helped him carry Tenchi over to a bench and lay him down. She then stood up quickly, as if surprised, and ran out of the room down the hall.
Ayeka was almost to the blast doors that would lead into the 'pit' that the platform hovered over in the arena when she heard foots steps behind her. She stopped and turned around to see Washu running down the hall towards her. "What is it, Washu?" She asked.
"(pant pant) Ah I almost forgot...to give you these." Washu said holding out her hand. It was an earing and a small clip, something like the size of a bobby pin. Ayeka just looked at Washu with confusion. "(Boy, Im out of shape...) Err its an amplified receiver and communicator. I can hear your thoughts and we can keep in touch if you have those on. It will also keep an eye on your vitals so that if your in danger, I can pull you out. Zack had one, but for some reason it wasnt functioning, so I decided to make this, so you don't get hurt."
"Thanks." Ayeka said putting on the earing and small clip. She smiled weakly and continued her trek to the blast doors. She walked into a small room which seemed to be an intermediate type room between the arena and the hallway she had come from. The blast doors closed to the hall way, and new ones opened up in front of her. Ayeka walked out into the light. Her armor shimmered slightly in the bright lights. She was not in her custom Juraian battle armor she normally had, or to be more specific, she had an over armor over her Juraian Armor. The over armor was to give more protection and boost Ayeka's reflexs and responses, as well as her strength and agility. But more importantly, it concealed her Juraian armor so that people would not recognize her as part of the Jurai royal family. She also wore a partial face mask that covered her nose and mouth, so that it would be harder to identify her as the royal princess that is thought to be dead.
Her armor was close fitting metal plates and coverings that formed into a stream less plate mail that protected her chest and arms. A type of shin guard were also part of her armor. It was a dark gray - violet color that was outlined in a luminescent blue at the seams. A small gem was placed at the center of the chest plate and glowed a dark purple. The suit was very light weight, feather weight. This had surprised Ayeka at first, because in her first fight, she was not used to its light weight as well as the boost in strength and speed it was giving her. It maximized what talents she had and gave her a few new ones, including extreme flexibility.
Ayeka Was escorted across the small silent clearing in the 'pit' to the elevator which brought her up to the platform many times before already. The crowd was already going wild. Ayeka didnt have to wonder why they were. She knew they were cheering for Talaquine, and sure enough, when she finally got to the platform, he was ready and waiting across the platform. The little cube flew down once again to the middle of the Arena, droned on about rules Ayeka had already learned to well, and before long, it screeched fight, causing the crowd in the arena to go wild.
Ayeka charged across the ring at incredible speeds. Talaquine just stood there, smiling. Split seconds before Ayeka came into reach of him, He seemed to vanish. But Ayeka had anticipated and took the gamble and made a hard change in directions, ramming Talaquine with amazing force. He stumbled backwards and groaned with dismay from the hit.
"Urg.." Talaquine moaned in dismay, " Very clever, girl. You're the first one in this whole competition to land such a strong hit on me. Unfortunately for you, it will be the last."
After he regained his posture, he stood there, eyeing Ayeka with a kind of under the surface hate. And then he was gone. A blur of movement to Ayeka's right caught and soon followed a fist. She parried the attack and the following fury of strikes, all bent on connecting with her. She was concentrating with all her might to not get hit, but also notice even the fraction of a second opening for her to land a hard hit from the energy that was slowing building up in her hands. And that chance came. She gave him a hard right hook, and as she was connecting, discharged the energy into him like lightning. The arena glowed with an aura of blinding flashes of blue and white. Talaquine flew back with tremendous force, smashing through a boulder and skidding across the floor of the arena on his back.
"Tell it to someone who cares!" Ayeka said proudly, confident that the match was over. The crowd was shocked silent. The champion was defeated by some foreign girl no more then 17 or so years old. They didnt know what to think. An unlikely heroine, was the general thought. Ayeka turned around and began to walk the nearest corner with an elevator to take her from the platform. The crowd gasped and then went wild with enthusiasm. Ayeka beamed with joy for a moment. (AH yes. A natural born winner) She thought to herself. But the shuffling of dirt and gravel behind her caused her to stop dead in her tracks and re-evaluate the situation. Sure enough, as she turned around, Talaquine was rising to his feet. Beat up, cut up, bruised and ragged, but still alive and well enough to fight. Ayeka stared at him. He was shaking or convulsing, she couldnt tell. (Is he crying...?) Was Ayeka's first thought.
"...heh heh...Heh heh HA HA HA HA HAAA" Bellowed Talaquine, laughing very maniacally. "Ohh verrry verrry clever, girl. That was fanTASTIC. Truly MARVELOUS. HA HA HA HA HA..."
Ayeka cringed. How could he be laughing, or better yet, how could he even be conscience. Then she noticed the guards on his arms. They were glowing and seemed to have some kind of white ethereal vapor rising from then. His body glowed sofly. She dindt know what hit her next. There was even a blur, or a time gap. He smashed her hard in the stomach with a force that she almost blacked out from it. She was helpless. Floating in the air. Couldnt grapple anything or even discern the sky from the ground. Stunned. Her body seemed, eyes jarred open, mouth agape, paralyzed. Everything seemed to be in slow motion, and unreal, and then, as if someone had pressed the play button on reality, she hit a pillar like boulder and arched in pain. She fell to the ground, but made her self get to her knees. Her stomach seemed to cave him and she coughed up a small bit of blood into the dirt. She wiped it away, and without even realizing what she was doing, she was up and flying at Talaquine, fist clenched, already charging another attack.
She wasnt flying upward this time, but was drilled straight into the dirt. She went from flying to the ground in split seconds. No time delay. But she wasnt fazed this time like the last. Ayeka was on autopilot now. Rage and her desire not to lose because of all that was riding on it made her body get up attack after attack, hit after hit, blow after blow. She was laying on the ground on heaving heavily. Eyes dazed, and tears streaming from her eyes from the raw pain she was feeling all over. Talaquine strolled up to her, with a sadistic grin plastered across his face. He was aware of her current health.
"Very brave and bold fight you put on. You were the hardest competitor I've had in a long time, you know?" Vasquez said circling her like a vulture waiting for the moment when an animal cant defend itself, " You were clever and very skilled, eh princess."
Ayeka's eyes widened with fear and shock.
"Oh yes, I knew for a while who you were. No one could ever mistake a pretty face like yours for anyone else. Are you here to kill me? Are you? For your dear sister? Oh yes, I know about her and Vasquez's plan. He really is a fool. But it seems that soon he will die. And when he does, so will your dear sister. But thats not before I put you out of your misery. Buh bye, princess." Talaquine said, full of glee.
His fist drew back and punched down ward, aiming to kill Ayeka with a fatal blow to the head. But Talaquine hit nothing but dirt. For a moment, he was perplexed, that is until a foot came crashing against the side of his face. He was thrown to the ground and rolled.
"I WILL NOT LOSE TO YOU!" Came a cry over the crowd. Talaquine looked up to see Ayeka, eyes full of rage, fist full of energy coming down from above him with immense speed and force. He rolled onto his back, and put up his hands to counter attack Ayeka. The ring erupted in a violent flash of red blue and white. The platform rumbled and heavy winds rushing around the platform kicked up dust. A glowing white ball of energy formed between Ayeka and Talaquine. His guards were glowing a heated red and rattling violently, while Ayeka's arm shook with the stress of the attack. They both were showing signs of strain. The ball kept shrinking, and then a bright flash consumed the whole arena, as an energy explosion rocked the platform, incinerating and destroying everything on the platform.
After a few moments, the violent noise and light died down, and the platform was cracked and falling part in various areas. There were no more boulders, and the ground was now a blackened charred color. The dust and smoked begin to fade, and Ayeka could be seen. Her over armor completely ruined, and her traditional Juraian armor in shambles. She was hunched forward, but showed signs of life as she gently rose and fell as she breathed. The crowd was silent.
Washu, Zack, and Ryoko were awstruck. Washu snapped herself out of it, and frantically typed on her holo computer. She looked worried for a minute, but a small sign of relief came to her face. Tenchi had long since come to and had watched the latter half of the battle. Worry was on his face.
"Is she alright, Washu?" He asked.
"She's beat up mighty bad, but she will live. That is if we can get her out of that infernal arena. She's showing a lot of bad vital signs." Washu said. "But atleast this is over..."
"No way..." Ryoko said in shock. Everyones attention returned to the ring. Through a bit of the remaining dust, a silhouette could be seen. A fiery glow was being emitted from the lower arms of the silhouette. Ayeka looked up, gripping her self as she did. Talaquine emerged from the smoke and dust. Rage filled his eyes. He was bleeding and was in worse shape then Ayeka, but still walked as if he wasnt even injured.
"Oh no..." Zack said with horror. "She cant win, not with what he has... Those cant be..."
"Weve got to get her out of there!" Tenchi said in a panic. "Do something Washu!"
"Im trying, I cant seem to get a lock on Ayeka. Somethings interrupting the homing signal on her." Washu said as she typed frantically. Windows of information appeared and disappeared in split seconds.
"Those are disrupting your signal. SHIT. Weve got to DO something." Zack said realizing something even worse then the current situation.
"What? WHAT! Whats disrupting my signal!" Washu said. Talaquine continued to walk towards Ayeka. He would soon be in reach of her. The frown soon turned into a sadistic smile.
"Time for you to DIE NOW, PRINCESS!" Talaquine screamed as he brought his hands over his head. A ball of red light formed in his hands. Wind began to swirl and kick around him.
"There's no time!" Ryoko said. She grabbed Tenchi's arm and faded away. Talaquine brought the ball of light down on fast and hard on Ayeka. A violent explosion rocked the platform. Huge chunks of it crumbled into dust . Smoke blacker then the darkest night rose from the place Ayeka been.
"Was fun, princess, but now its over..." Talaquine said with a grim satisfaction. His satisfaction didnt last long however. A soft light began to show through the smoke. It was a vertical bar of light, soon two others, began to show through, forming what was like an upside down Y. "What..what is that!"
Smoke slowly faded away, and Talaquine could see a boy behind the bars of energy. Tenchi stood there, in his full Juraian Armor, using the wings of the light hawk to shield Ayeka from the blast. Ryoke was carrying Ayeka. Talaquine's shock was soon replaced by a grin. He raised his hand, revealing the palm of it. A small jewel gleamed and began to shimmer, but soon stopped.
"What? Impossible!" Talaquine said with shock. He raised his hand again after inspecting it. The gem began to shimmer but stopped once more. "IMPOSSIBLE! What kind of energy is NOT ABSORBABLE!"
Tenchi looked at him with hate, but was also bothered by what he said. (Absorbed?) He thought.
There came a rumble from over head. The crowd died down to a murmer Another rumble. A faint explosion could be heard. Ryoko looked up to the high ceiling. Her face told the story that she was analyzing the situation, but changed very quickly, as if to say that she just noticed something incredible.
"Time to go, Tenchi!" Ryoko yelled. The rumbling was getting louder and closer. The arena began to shake, and the crowd began to become restless. A murmur filled the air. Even Talaquine looked around confused for a moment. The ceiling began to crack all of a sudden, and with an explosion, Heavy bits of concrete rained down from above. The crowd began to run for cover. The Ryo Oh Ki could be seen through the gap in the ceiling.
"MreOOWWW!" It 'meowed'. Reddish orange light encircled Tenchi, Ayeka, and Ryoko. And within seconds, they were gone. Ryo-Oh-Ki bolted off into the clouds over head. Ryoko assumed command of Ryo-Oh-Ki almost immediately.
"Ryoko, What about Zack and Washu?" Tenchi said, now looking after Ayeka.
"They're fine." Ryoko said. Tenchi became a bit confused and worried. They broke through the cloud cover and through the atmosphere. Two ships greeted them as they did; the Zenith and the Yagami, both fully repaired. The Zenith began to turn away from the planet, as Ryo-Oh-Ki approached the Yagami. "See, told you they were fine. Grab hold."
When they were passing by the side of the Yagami, Ryoko teleported herself along with Ayeka and Tenchi. They landed in the cargo hold of the Yagami, where their make shift dormitories were. The automatic door slid open and Sasami and Washu rushed in. Sasami ran over and hugged Ayeka. She was crying.
"Im so sorry, Ayeka. I didnt mean for any of this to happen." She sobbed. Ayeka smiled and returned the hug wiht what energy she had left. Washu came over to Ayeka and looked her over the best she could. A soft smile was on her face Ayeka's face. Washu pulled out a small mechanical syringe and 'gave' it to Ayeka. Her eyes slowly closed and her grip on Sasami gave away.
"Tenchi. Ryoko. Help me get her upstairs to the medical bay. She's going to need a lot of rest and care." Washu instructed them. "Sasami."
She stiffened up. She was still sad and trying to hold back her tears. Her head was bowed slightly, ready to receive a verbal punishment. But none came. Washu's hand brought her chin up so that Sasami was looking at her. "Dry up those tears. Your sister wouldnt be happy if you were sad, you know." Sasami just cried some more and hugged Washu.
Kiyone began to push the Yagami to her flight limits as soon as everyone was back on board safely. The Zenith had already made a quite a considerable gap distance, taking in account that they were going to fly through both a meteor belt and a field of space debris. The Zenith slowed a bit to allow the Yagami to catch up before they continued on.
"We'll be gone before they even know what happened." Kiyone grinned with confidence. "Almost caught up with the Zenith... what the?"
The Zenith had stopped dead and then made a very fast rotation, so that is was facing the way they were coming from. It charged the Yagami.
"Whats he doing?" Kiyone said aloud, questioning no one in particular at the strange act.
"Kiyone!" Mihoshi said from the seat next to Kiyone's.
"What?" Came a gruff reply.
"I think they noticed us." the blond GP officer said as she was pointing to the console in front of her. Multiple red dots showed up on the bottom part of it.
"Damn, how'd they notice us so soon?" The Zenith Passed over the Yagami as Kiyone said that. A holo screen appeared in front of the two GP officers.
"Im going to delay them a bit. Just keep going the route that Mr. E told us." Zack said. The holo screen collapsed downward and disappeared.
Kiyone pressed a few buttons, so that the ships loud speaker system was on. "Everyone hang on. This is about to get really rough." She shut off the loud speaker system, as they passed a destroyed ship that was nearly 10 times the size of the Yagami. Warning lights began to glow, as the computer displayed warnings of multiple collisions with the ship. They entered the meteor belt. Flashes of light were visible from a direction behind the Yagami. Space radar detected that the Zenith had now changed directions and was now heading to catch up with the Yagami at full speed. The ship began to dodge left and right, up and down. Meteors and dark matter passed by the Yagami, sometimes coming very close to the ship. "Ah, that Mr. E sure did pick a heck of an escape route." Kiyone said as she gritted her teeth as she almost collided with a piece of dark matter.
Dark matter is a substance that is virtually invisiable to the naked eye in space. Small fragments tend to float freely through space, but there are clusters and clusters of this material in Meteor belts. The Yagami was passing through one such cluster.
"Almost through..." Kiyone said, using her expert piloting skills to avoid all the debris, meteorites, and dark matter. A group of ships, mainly small nimble fighters were following close behind the Yagami and Zenith. They soon began to open fire, making the situation much more dire. Stray laser blasts hit dark matter and meteors, causing a type of reaction that threw up the whole place into a flurry of meteors, debris, and dark matter. The Yagami began to fire its main cannons to blow away small chunks and particles. The small nimble fighters did not give up. The Zenith occasionally returned fire but was using most of its power to keep flying through the meteor belt. A small ship, that was leading the persuing group of small ships got very bold and sped past the Zenith and Yagami. It rotated around and Began to open fire on the Yagami. The Yagami returned the favor and clipped the small ship. It lost control of its ability to turn and smashed into a large peice of dark matter, causing it to 'fall' directly onto the. Kiyone could not fly around or low enough or anywhere for that matter to escape it. She tensed up, knowing that this peice of dark matter would wipe out the Yagami.
"Waaaaaaaah!" Mihoshi cried out, seeing their doom falling towards them. She flailed her arms about, paniked. It hit her console, causing the ship to use the reverse thrusters for a short burst unevenly. The ship lurched backwards and turned off angle. The large piece of dark matter missed the Yagami as the ship seemed to now perfectly fit with a small ridge in the side of the black glass like material. When it passed, Kiyone was stuck in a state of shock. She wasnt sure what to make of it. She turned her head slowly and stared at Mihoshi.
"Gak!" Mihoshi uttered in a panic. "S-s-sorry, Kiyone! I didnt mean to! It was an Accident...please don't hurt me..."
"Mihoshi. I could KISS you right now. You just saved us." Kiyone said with enthusiasm and joy that she wasnt dead and that for once, a mistake Mihoshi made saved them all from their untimely demise.
"What are you all waiting for! If you havent noticed, were still being followed." Came a voice from the holo screen that just popped up. " Get a move on!"
The Zenith roared by, causing Kiyone to come back to her sense. She took control of the ship and sped through the meteor field. The enemy persuit continued, though. The meteor field was coming to and end, as Kiyone could see it was beginning to thin out. Their persuers were still following close behind. (All we have to do is make it open space, and we can make a stand against them and ambush them as they come out of the belt...) Kiyone thought to herself, as she became determined to be free of the meteor belt's danger. A large meteor covered their path and the Yagami and Zenith took a steep dive to get around it and come up on the other side.
Kiyone gasped in horror. They were free of the meteor belt at last. But now were faced an even greater threat. "Oh my god..." she muttered. For the sight that met their eyes was not open space, but the Juraian Fleet.