Last time our heroes stopped at a trading outpost on the way to Azati Prime. While The Night Rider was refueling, Bloom and co. was reunited with Kodatchi. After telling of her escape from The Shadow Riders, Kodatchi stated that she wanted to join up with Bloom and the others. The reunion was cut short when The Phantom Renegade showed up to kill Kodatchi. The ensuing fight resulted with Layla nearly killed. Akane saved the day when she bashed The Phantom Renegade in the head, knocking his mask off. The Phantom Renegade left without further argument. On with the show!

Chapter 34: No Need For Bad Memories

"So let me get this straight," said Kodatchi as The Night Rider continued towards its destination, "Akane found out that Ranma was keeping a very juicy secret from her. She found out that Ryoga and that little piglet she keeps as a pet are one and the same. This got her so mad, she and Ranma broke up." "Correct," said Bloom, "But they got back together when Ranma gave up his share of the antidote so Ryoga, Shampoo and Mousse could be cured."

"At first I thought I'd be glad that Akane dumped Ranma," said Kodatchi, "I thought I loved him. For a few seconds I hated his guts. I hated Ranma enough to want to kill him. Now, I don't know what to think about him." "Then at least think of him as a friend," said Bloom, "Give him that much credit."

"I might just do that," said Kodatchi, "And I do know one thing for certain, I'm in this to the end, for better or worse." "Well let's hope it's for the better," said Stella.

Elsewhere in the ship, Akane was watching Elise and Morgan write the same strange symbol on several sheets of sticky-notes. Morgan was using an expensive looking pen and dark purple ink. "What are you doing?" asked Akane. "We're just preparing 'Explosive Runes,'" said Elise, her gaze not lifting from her writing, "You'll never know when you need to blow something up."

"Since when have you been allowed to blow stuff up?" asked Riven. "Since I got my 'Explosive Runes' license faxed to me this morning," said Morgan. "I've had my license since my 18th birthday a month ago," said Elise, "And Morgan turned 18 soon after." "I didn't know your birthdays were recent," said Musa sarcastically, "I should have sent you a card each."

"You know what," said Morgan as she put her pen down, "This is bull sh$t, this has gone on long enough. Musa, the time had come for you to learn to trust witches, or at least me, Elise and Carmen. We're gonna play a little game."

"What kind of game?" Musa asked somewhat nervously, "Because if your games are like your jokes, I don't want to play."

"No jokes this time," said Morgan as she and Musa walked to the middle of the room, "It's just a trust exorcise. You are going to close your eyes while I stand behind you. You are gonna fall backwards and I'm gonna catch you, doesn't that sound like fun?" "Not really," answered Musa.

"Oh just do it, Musa," said Riven who was watching from the sidelines, "If you don't try to get over your distrust of witches, you never will." "If you think it's a good idea, Riven," said Musa, "I'll try it. But Morgan, if this is a joke, I'll give you a pimple curse that'll never come off."

"Fair enough," said Morgan, "Now close your eyes, relax and let gravity do the rest." "Musa hesitated for a second before shutting her eyes. Three seconds later she fell backwards into Morgan's awaiting arms. "There now," said Morgan, "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Musa and Morgan repeated the trust exorcise twice more. She was reluctant to admit it, but Musa truly began to trust Morgan that day.

"I got to ask you," said Musa, "How did you, Elise and Carmen wind up together?" "Well it's a funny story of sorts," said Morgan, "I didn't become friends with Carmen until about five weeks into our first year at C.T. She had a roommate who got kicked out for extorting money from the student body. I moved in and we hit it off instantly. Carmen told me that I was the only witch how could make her laugh. I told her that she was the only witch who could knock some sense into me.

"Moving on, we knew Elise by sight but not personally until the start of our sophomore year. Icy and her whore-sisters had beaten us to the punch for the annual start-of-the-year prank. Carmen was fuming about how much she hated those three, especially Icy. Elise overheard us and offered her services. We spent most of the year plotting on how to eliminate Icy, Darcy and Stormy.

"In truth we owe Bloom a lot; she and you fairies helped disrupt Icy's reputation and confidence as student body president. Carmen challenged Icy for the position and won. The next step was to figure out how to get those three expelled. You fairies beat us to that with that whole Nightmare Gargoyle thing. The rest is history."

90 minutes later The Night Rider exited hyperspace at a twin star system; the first star was a red gas giant, the other a blue dwarf. "I'll bet the light on Azati Prime is purple," said Stella.

Azati Prime was the only planet in the system; a world with red continents and one small blue ocean. "I'm not reading any intelligent life forms," said Tecna as she scanned the planet, "Mostly large land mammals and reptiles."

The ship landed near a long valley where Washu detected the next stone. As our heroes exited The Night Rider, Elise and the other brains scanned for the stone's exact location. "That's strange," said Elise as PDA beeped, "From orbit, the stone was located somewhere in this valley. Yet now it seemed to have changed location."

"Looking for this?" asked a female voice. Bloom and the others looked to see a woman dressed in black that accented her rather attractive figure. She had long black hair with green streaks in it. She had one green eye and one yellow; both also gleamed with dark energy. In her hand was a mahogany colored stone that glowed bright brown.

"You foolish fairies have lost again," said the woman as the stone vanished in a teleportation flash, "This Stone of Power now belongs to The Shadow Riders."

"Let me guess," said Carmen, her rage at having the enemy take the stone threatening to erupt, "You must be Salamei." "I am indeed," said Salamei, "And you must be Carmen Dawson. I've heard so much about you from Icy, she's just dieing to get her talons around your pretty, little neck."

"Speaking of Icy," said Bloom, "Why isn't she, her sisters and Toro here?" "The famous Bloom of Sparkx," said Salamei, "We meet at last. I'll deal with you in a minute. As to why Icy and her ilk are absent today is simple: I wish to talk personally to Carmen and her friends; Morgan and Elise."

"We're listening," said Elise, "But don't expect us to pay attention." "You should for what I'm about to say," said Salamei, "I have a business proposition for you three young witches: Join us, The Shadow Riders, and all you desire shall be yours."

"You got to be f#ck$ng kidding me!" exclaimed Morgan, "How dumb do you think we are? We know that if we join your little cult, we'd lose our souls to you and your pimp, Malaketh."

"He's my mate," said Salamei, her face still calm but starting to twitch in annoyance, "not my pimp. But that's not important. What is important is that you three talented and beautiful witches shouldn't be hanging with these goody-two-shoes fairies and their disgustingly noble boyfriends."

"Who we choose to hang out with is our business alone," said Elise. "Yeah," said Morgan, "Besides, we're bad, not evil." "We're ambitious," said Carmen, "But not greedy." "In short," said Elise, "No, f#ck no."

"If that is your final decision," said Salamei, "Then I cannot stop you. However, I can destroy you, or rather, my friend Suspiria can do it for me." There was a dark-purple teleportation flash, and a short woman with dark purple hair and small red eyes appeared beside Salamei. The newcomer was dressed in black robes. To Bloom she looked not much older than her, yet the newcomer seemed to gleam with malice and hate.

"Good gods!" exclaimed Carmen, a genuine look of shock on her face, "I don't believe it!" "Oh it's true, my former roommate," said Suspiria in a voice that hissed like a snake, "When we parted ways I was but a learner. Now I am the master."

"Only the master of stupidity!" exclaimed Morgan, "I can't believe you'd do something this stupid! I knew you were crazy, but joining The Shadow Riders after what happened, now that's just plain dense!" "What's this all about?" asked Tecna.

"Suspiria was my first roommate during freshmen year at C.T.," said Carmen, "She as the ability to read people's memories; specifically the worst memories, their most horrific secrets. Five weeks into the school year she was expelled for looking where she shouldn't have. Apparently she was reading the minds of her fellow students to learn the worst, most embarrassing events in her peer's lives. Suspiria then used that information to extort money from the student body."

"And I would have made a fortune blackmailing the student body," hissed Suspiria, "Until you turned me in." "Only because Morgan wouldn't pay you your outrageous extortion fee," said Carmen, "If there's one thing my parents taught me, is to never give into blackmail or terrorism, nor to standby and let those close to you be affected by it."

"I hate to interrupt," said Stella, "But what was it that she found out about Morgan that made Carmen snitch on Suspiria?" "And interesting question," said Suspiria, "And I'd be happy to divulge such information, free of charge."

"Don't you f#ck$ng dare!" exclaimed Morgan, "Don't say one f#ck$ng word about that!" "Oh I will say it," hissed Suspiria, "And there's nothing you can do to stop me!" "I'll kill you if you say another word!" raged Morgan, "If you speak, you die!"

"Morgan Rogers was born with the face of an Alterian Swamp Hog," said Suspiria in a calm, cheerful tone, "In other words, for you Earthlings, Morgan was extremely ugly until she had her face operated on."

"You bitch!" raged Morgan, red energy bolts of hate emanating from her body, "You just signed your own death warrant!" "Catch me if you can," hissed Suspiria before she disappeared completely.

"You goat-sucking whore!" shouted Carmen, "First you invade Morgan's mind; and then you blackmail her. Today you exposed her darkest secret and now your copying her ability to make things invisible. I'm ashamed that we were ever roommates."

"I'm ashamed we were ever in the same class," hissed Suspiria, "And now I'll eliminate her and the rest of you interlopers, for the glory of The Shadow Riders!"

"This is going to be so much fun," said Salamei, "I'm just gonna sit back and watch you young fools wither on the ground as you're forced to relive your worst experiences." She conjured a reclining lawn chair, a bowl of popcorn and sat down.

"Clear your minds!" shouted Carmen to Bloom, Ranma, Tenchi and the rest of our heroes, "Don't think about your past; no thoughts on memories. Focus on something solid like a brick wall, or anything big like an ocean from your home planet. Don't let her inside your head!"

Bloom's first thought was of the Pacific Ocean, but thoughts of the sea brought thoughts of Gardenia, along with thoughts of her parents. She quickly shifted her focus to that of a very high brick wall. Yet that wall was nearly shattered as a high-pitched laugh echoed in her mind. Bloom was then forced to remember some of the worst events in her life, for example; the witches stealing The Dragonfire; Darkar brainwashing her twice, and so on.

It took nearly all her strength of will to force the invading Suspiria from her mind, allowing Bloom to rebuild her mental wall. With her memories safe from invasion, Bloom looked around to see how her friends were dealing with their minds being assaulted.

Everyone was still standing, if not sweating from the effort of keeping their minds safe. That is, with the exception of the following: Riven was down on one knee from near exhaustion; Helia, Flora and Stella were sitting down, a look of deep sadness on their faces; Akane and Ranma were thrashing on the ground, their faces twisted with terror. Akane face had a hint of blue in it as if she wasn't getting enough air, while Ranma was shouting something about hordes of cats. As for Ryoga, he just stood there with his neck low and his face heavy with depression.

"I must say," said Salamei as she reached for a handful of popcorn, "I'm impressed that so few have been so affected so deeply. These kids are stronger than I first thought."

"Worry not, mistress," hissed Suspiria as she reappeared beside Salamei, "Their minds won't last long against the power granted to me by The Shadow Riders. Before I could only examine memories; now I can force my victims to relive their most embarrassing moments, their worst fears and their darkest nightmares. See the one wearing the bandanna," she pointed at Ryoga, "Soon he shall be so deep in his depression he will have no choice but to slay himself, if only to end the pain of his existence."

"The world," said Ryoga in a gloomy tone, "The galaxy, the whole f#ck$ng universe, it is all one dark, cold and cruel place." "No!" exclaimed Bloom, "Listen to me, Ryoga; the universe is full of beauty and love, not just cruelty and wickedness. I'm sure that in this vast cosmos there's some place where you can find true happiness."

"Save your breath," hissed Suspiria, "I've been inside this earthman's mind; his life has been one downward spiral after another. He's known nothing but misery and loneness all his life. Every time he's gotten close to experience joy and love, it was taken away from him, one way or another. So just let the poor wretched soul end his pathetic existence."

"It's all futile," said Ryoga, "It's all beyond care." Suddenly a dark blue aura appeared around Ryoga; the energy from Ryoga's depression had manifested itself in the real world. "Aw crap!" exclaimed Ukyo, "He's gonna do it!"

"Do what?" asked Sky." You're going to find out any second now," said Ranma, for he and Akane had recovered from having their minds invaded. Apparently Suspiria was so intent on Ryoga, she neglected to keep up her assault on the others.

"If Ryoga is about to do what I think he's gonna do," said Tenchi, "Then we all need to take cover, now!" As Bloom and the others took shelter behind several large rocks, Bloom glanced over her rock; the dark blue energy from Ryoga's depression had begun to swirl around his body, converging at his arms, which were crossed over his chest. "Fire in the hold!" shouted Ranma, "It's gonna be a big one!"

"What's happening here!" hissed Suspiria, "What magic is this?" "It was a mistake to f#ck with my emotions!" exclaimed Ryoga as the energy finished converging into a large, dark-blue spear. He took the sphere in his hands, "Take this! SHISHI HOKODON!" he threw the sphere at Suspiria and Salamei.

The energy sphere screamed through the air towards the two Shadow Riders. Salamei teleported out of the way, but Suspiria wasn't so lucky. The sphere landed less than four feet from her and detonated with the explosive force of a small atomic bomb.

Bloom waited for the blast wave to pass before looking up. A small crater stood where Suspiria was, yet there was no sign of the Shadow Rider, dead or alive. Bloom then saw Ryoga, his face totally devoid of emotion. "That'll teach you," said Ryoga in a dull tone before collapsing.

"What happened to him?" asked Bloom as she and the others rushed over to Ryoga. "He's emotionally exhausted," said Ranma, "That attack, the Shishi Hokodon, or Lion Roar Shot, it uses negative energy or ki. Basically the user focuses his mind on depressing thoughts, forms his negatively charged ki into a ball and shoots that ball at his enemy. I should know; he used that technique on me more times than I'd like to count. But he'll be alright in half an hour."

"What a pity you won't be here to see that fool wake up," hissed Suspiria. "Oh damn!" exclaimed Akane, "She survived!" "It'll take more than depressed energy to destroy me," hissed Suspiria, "Now, where was I? Oh yes, I was invading your minds."

"Before we go any further," said Morgan as she walked over to Suspiria, "I have something for you, Suspiria, a secret that only I know." In Morgan's hand was a small piece of paper that looked to be a sticky-note. She handed to note to Suspiria, who had a puzzled look on her face as she tried to read the note.

"What is this?" hissed Suspiria, "What secrets does this symbol hold?" "You would know what that symbol means if you hadn't tried to blackmail your fellow witches," said Morgan as she backed away from the Shadow Rider, "But I feel like doing you a favor. That symbol means I've prepared 'explosive runes' today."

The symbol on the paper flashed and exploded like a grenade. Suspiria did manage to throw the paper out of her hand, yet when one throws a sheet of paper into open air, it doesn't go very far. The blast of the rune sent Suspiria several feet away, skidding to a halt.

"You tricked me, Morgan Rogers," hissed Suspiria, "But it'll do you no good!" "I beg to differ," said Morgan, "Look around you." Suspiria looked at the ground around her to see dozens of sticky-notes, all of them with the symbol for 'explosive runes' on them.

"Elise and I prepared a lot of 'explosive runes' today," said Morgan, a nasty smile on her face. "NO!" exclaimed Suspiria just as all the runes flashed, "Morgan, you SH$T!" The papers then all exploded like claymore mines. What was left of Suspiria was full of more holes than Bloom wanted to count.

All this time Salamei was watching. "You may think yourselves lucky that you destroyed another of The Shadow Riders," spat Salamei, "But your luck ends now." Just then her watch began to beep. "Mistress," said the voice of Parker on the other end of the communications link, "There's a Galaxy Police patrol ship approaching your area. I must suggest that you leave at once."

"Will do," said Salamei reluctantly. She then glared at Bloom, Ranma, Carman and Tenchi in turn, "You may have won this battle, but the war is far from over. Oh wait, you did lose this battle, for I got the stone before you did!" She vanished, her laughter echoing in the wind.

"Bitch," said Tenchi, "We'll get her next time." "The worst thing is we still don't know what Salamei is capable of," said Bloom, "Next time could be worse."

"Nothing could be worse than just now," said Akane, "That whore, Suspiria, she made me relive this one time I almost drowned." "That's terrible," said Stella.

"What happened to you, Ranma?" asked Brandon, "Why were you screaming about cats?" "If you must know," said Ranma, "When I was a kid, my dad thought he discovered this really powerful training method. It was a joke, but he took it seriously. Every day for a week he threw me into a pit full of hungry cats, each time he'd tie all sorts of things cats like to eat to me and just tossed me in. To this day I can't stand the sight of cats." "That just sucks," said Musa..

"I never liked her," said Carmen as she glared at the remains of Suspiria, "She used her talents for money. It's one thing to blackmail someone in exchange for personal favors or to gain more power, but for something as trivial as money, that's just low, even for witches."

"She got what was coming to her," said Morgan, "She exposed my secret, she invaded everyone's mind, and she paid the price. Like I said before, never give a witch cause for revenge."

Morgan then realized that Tatewaki was starring at her face. "What?" asked Morgan, "You see something you like, Earth boy?" "Whoever reformatted thy face," said Tatewaki, "Did a fantastic job. I cannot tell thou was ever ugly." "Why thank you," said Morgan, "But flattery will get you nowhere."

"Yes," said Tatewaki, "One cannot tell that thou was ever operated on. However, I believe Miss Carmen and Miss Elise have had alterations. It's too obvious." "My face is all natural!" exclaimed Carmen, but then corrected herself, "Okay, I had my nose done this one time, but that's it."

Elise however was more offended than Carmen. "Why you dirty, self-centered male!" raged Elise, "Zaker!" she then shot a yellow lightning bolt at Tatewaki. He fell to the ground covered in soot and smoking.

"The only thing worse than giving a witch cause for revenge," said Elise, "Is to suggest that she's had cosmetic surgery, you might regret it later." "Good point," said Helia, "I'll remember it."

"Are you alright?" asked Layla as she helped Tatewaki sit up. "The vengeance of heaven is slow," said Tatewaki in a dazed tone, "And crispy-fried with butter and oil." "He's fine," said Kodatchi.

With nothing else to do on Azati Prime, our heroes returned to The Night Rider and headed back into space. While Washu, Tecna, Timmy and Elise scanned the cosmos for the next stone, Stella found a surprise in her e-mail. "I've got a message from Sasami," said Stella, "Her wedding shower is in ten days! Girls, we've got shopping to do!"

"With the upgraded fuel tanks," said Amanda, "We can be back at Jurai in just under four days." "Ninety-three hours, seventeen minutes and 8 seconds to be exact," said Tecna, "And we'll need to refuel when we get there though."

"Sound's great," said Bloom, "So unless we need to do anything else out here, it's back to Jurai." With that The Night Rider jumped into hyperspace.

It was seventy-five hours later, just as Stella and the girls finished their online shopping for Sasami's pre-wedding party, when it happened. The Night Rider was rocked and jolted about in hyperspace as if something inside her exploded.

"What was that!" exclaimed Lucinda. "I don't know," said Beauregard, "But we're losing fuel fast! I'm taking her out of hyperspace!" The ship shuddered as it returned to normal space. Bloom looked out one of the portholes to see that they were in the vast nothing between star systems, the middle of nowhere to be exact.

"F#ck me running!" exclaimed Amanda as she checked for damage, "The primary fuel line ruptured. I don't know how it happened, but it did." "Can you fix it?" asked Bloom. "Not exactly," said Amanda, "I'll have to go outside the ship to check for further damage first. Assuming there's nothing else wrong with my baby, I can put a patch on the fuel line. We'll have to replace all the pipes and pumps when we get to Jurai, just to be safe."

"There maybe a problem with that," said Beauregard, "We lost a lot of fuel when the rupture occurred. We're still losing fuel as we speak." "Why did you say so!" raged Amanda as she rushed to repair the damaged fuel line.

"It doesn't matter how soon she patches up the pipe," said Lucinda, "We've lost too much fuel already. There's not enough go-juice left in the tanks to make the jump into hyperspace. I'm afraid we're not going anywhere…"

The end of chapter 34. Next chapter, our heroes have to choose who goes for fuel and who stays behind. Reviews will be rewarded with cake and pie. See you next time!