Returning to the hanger, the Vanguard Decade came to a rest and powered down. The panels vanished into the machine. The colors likewise faded when Decade emerged from the cockpit. Walking along the machine's shoulder, he leaped back down to the metal floor. Dusting himself off, he was surprised to see several guards with their laser-rings pointed at him.

"I've had colder welcomes," Decade muttered. He looked around and spotted Magno walking towards them. Bart was being dragged along. The blonde was whimpering in fear, unsurprisingly. "I take it I'm still considered hostile?"

"Good guess," Magno nodded. She pointed to the Decadriver. "Remove it and hand it over. If you can prove trustworthy, we'll give it back."

"Sure," Decade sighed as he removed the belt. Images of his armor flashed off of him before he returned to Ranma. Holding the Decadriver and the Ride Booker, Ranma handed both items over to the aged captain. "Don't break it."

"I promise," Magno nodded, gesturing for the guards to lower their weapons. "Take them back to their cell. No force is necessary."

Bart and Ranma were surrounded by the female guards and escorted from the hanger. As they were leaving, Dita, Jura, and Meia entered the Vanguard hanger. They only got a glimpse of Bart and Ranma being escorted out before a door shut.

"Wait! Mr. Alien!" Dita cried as she dashed to catch up with them, but Magno stopped her.

"Relax," Magno sighed. "As long as they behave, I might let them out again."

Dita pouted. She was looking forward to thanking Mr. Alien for saving them. Of course, Jura and Meia were entertaining their own thoughts about the male presence. Jura was wondering about his elegant machine while Meia wanted to give the male a piece of her mind for interrupting her battle.

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"Prepare for decontamination!" a shorter girl with ponytails in a nurse outfit called.

After getting back to their cell, Bart and Ranma didn't have to wait long before Duelo was returned. He had patched up several wounded officers from the explosions when the enemy shot at the ship. Bart had somehow convinced the ladies that he could pilot the combined ship. Really, the ship absorbed him and he piloted it with his own body. After Duelo's return, all three men were pulled from their cell and brought to a decontamination chamber.

"Why are we here again?" Ranma shivered. He, Bart, and Duelo had been stripped to their shorts and stuck inside the cold metal chamber.

"We have to eradicate male germs," the nurse, Paiway if he heard right, answered. "Now sit back and just deal with it."

"Whatever," Ranma sighed. Male germs? What were these people? Ten? While it made sense since men and women came from different planets, they were acting like men had some kind of disease on them. It was just as bad as little kids and cooties.

The doors slid close and Ranma let out a shout as cold water squirted out of the jets. "Oh…SHIT!!!"

Paiway blinked. Had she heard a female yell?

"AHHHHHHHH!!!" Bart screamed, dashing up to the viewing window. "YOU MONSTERS! YOU'RE TURNING US INTO YOU!!! LEMME OUT! LEMME OUT! LEMME OUT!"

BONK!

Bart fell back from a punch to the head. Behind him was a girl with bright red hair tied in a pigtail. She was also…gifted, in the chest department and was wearing a pair of boxer shorts.

"Calm down," Ranma-chan sighed. "I've been doing this for over a year." On the other side of the room, Duelo was staring at the new Ranma with wide eyes. Ranma-chan turned to see the staring doctor. "What are you looking at?"

"You…seem to have some growths on your chest," Duelo managed to get out.

"No shit," Ranma-chan growled. Ignoring the doctor since he probably didn't have a clue about women anyway, she turned back to the viewing window to see a camera staring back at her.

"Pai-chack!" the young nurse spoke as she snapped a photo. Getting away from the window, she found her communicator. "Captain…uhhh, you might want to some down here and see this. Bring witnesses!"

"What is it Paiway?" asked the voice of Magno.

"Um…one of our male guests just turned into a woman," Paiway answered.

"WHAT?!"

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After getting dressed, Ranma-chan was now the centre of attention. Dita was looking her up and down with an odd shine in her eyes as Jura just gawked and compared the size of her assets to Ranma-chan. Meia just stared suspiciously. Most of the crew was confused. Magno was, of course, curious.

Barnette voiced out, "It's a male trick!"

Jura, feeling bold, reached out and poked Ranma-chan's breasts. The pigtailed girl yelled, "Hey, quit it!"

"Feels real to me," said Jura.

"Wow, is this another one of your Alien Powers, Mr. Alien?" Dita asked curiously.

"Tell us how you got like this," said Magno.

Ranma-chan knew this was inevitable. Sooner or later cold water would find her. So, she thought up a cover story. They wouldn't believe in curses, but she knew something they might believe.

"OK, I told you that I travel around, right? Well, on one of my travels I ended up on a planet where women were dying out. So, the men, believe it or not, tried to make a formula that turned them into women in order to repopulate the female population. Of course…I stumbled into the lab and thought the formula was something to drink and well…the rest is history," Ranma-chan explained. He just hoped they bought the story. The silence wasn't helping her nerves.

"Interesting," Duelo pondered, back in his own clothes. "Do you have any more samples of it?"

"No," Ranma-chan frowned. She didn't need people asking those kinds of questions.

"Proves to me that men are dumb," Meia snickered.

"Why would men and women live together though?" asked Parfet as she adjusted her glasses. This would make for some interesting research.

"Just because men and women on your worlds can't get along doesn't mean they can't on other worlds," Ranma-chan replied. "They don't have that fake reproduction thing that your people do so they do it the natural way."

"Natural?" asked Jura. Most of the men and women in the room seemed confused by the choice of words. Although, Magno seemed to have a smirk on her face at the idea.

"So why did you change now?" the aging captain asked.

"The batch I got was experimental," Ranma-chan explained. "For some reason, when I get hit with water, my gender changes with the temperature. If I get hit with cold water, I turn into a girl. If I get hit with warm water, I turn into a guy. It's really as simple as that."

"Interesting," Paiway commented as she scribbled notes.

"So…can I get some hot water now?" Ranma-chan asked.

"Why not just stay that way?" asked Jura. "I mean, you're not too bad on the eyes anyway. Might get you some leeway around here too."

"Yeah!" Dita squealed. "We look like sisters now Mr…I mean, Ms. Alien! We can share clothes!"

"No thanks!" Ranma-chan snorted. "If you all turned into men, wouldn't you want to stay in your birth gender as much as possible?"

A collective shiver ran down the spines of most of the females in the room. Just the thought of turning into a despised man made most of them feel queasy. Of course, Magno took it in stride and Dita wondered what it might be like out of innocent curiosity. Some of the women such as Meia and Barnette seemed a little green at the thought.

"I see your point," Paiway shivered. "Okay, I'll get you some hot water. Besides, I want to see how the transformation happens myself!"

Paiway quickly ran to one of the nearby taps and filled a cup with hot water. Bringing it back, she handed it to Ranma-chan. The busty redhead sighed before she splashed herself with the water. The familiar shift in body weight and the centre of balance said it all as the change took place.

The collected group watched it happen with surprise. If they had blinked, they would have missed it. One second Ranma was a busty redhead, and now Ranma was a broad-shouldered man. It took a moment for everyone to come to terms with the change.

"Wow! Such amazing Alien Power!" Dita gasped in delight. Her new friend had so many amazing things about him!

"Hmmm. I don't know," Jura pondered as she eyed the male Ranma and recalled the image she had seen of Ranma-chan. Turning to the sink, she filled another cup and splashed Ranma again, turning him into a her again. "You seem so much better in this form."

"Hey!" Ranma-chan sputtered.

Magno chuckled as a few other girls giggled at the sight. Duelo eyed the transformation critically, trying to see how the change worked. Of course, Bart was still out cold from Ranma-chan's punch to the back of his head. "So, is this change a complete one?" the old captain asked.

"Yup. When I change into a girl, I change completely, in and out. Of course I still have the same mind. I don't think I can handle being a girly-girl…um…no offence," said Ranma-chan.

"Fascinating, maybe I could do some medical examinations and…" Duelo began.

"Hey, I'm nobody's lab rat!" Ranma-chan snapped angrily.

"Still, this just makes it difficult on how you would be treated," said Magno. "You're a male who turns female. I don't know if the entire crew will be comfortable with that."

"Imagine how I feel," Ranma-chan muttered.

"Still, this may help with your interaction with some of the women," said Magno, "Since you will be working with them in battle."

"What!?" Meia snapped. "I'm not working with a man!"

"Um, get some glasses, I'm a girl now," Ranma-chan pointed to herself.

"Well…that…um…" Meia sputtered, trying to find a response.

"She did pilot the Vanguard," said Buzam. "And knows how to fight…frankly we need all the help we can get anyway. Still, he…she, is still technically a man. Well, she was…Oh I don't know!"

"Let me be frank with you boys," Magno spoke, meaning Ranma and Duelo. "We are in completely foreign space with an enemy we know nothing about that attacked us and may come back for a second try. You three have skills that we need to survive." She turned to look at Ranma. "You have obvious extreme combat capabilities," she looked to Duelo. "You're a fully trained and qualified doctor," she then glanced at the K. Bart. "And he seems to be able to steer this ship."

"But…Paiway's good with medicine and we have plenty of Dread pilots," Meia argued.

"And how hard can it be to drive this thing?" added Barnette.

"No offence to our nurse, but she's still an apprentice," Magno replied. Paiway's shoulders slumped, but she knew it was true. "And Ranma is able to access a weapon none of us has seen before. Bart…well, the ship seems to react to him more than anyone else. Now's not the time to experiment. We have to get a complete list on what happened to the ship."

"Well…okay then," Ranma-chan shrugged. "Does this mean that we can get out of the brig? I'm kind of hungry."

"I think that can be arranged," Magno nodded.

"Yay!" Dita cheered as she hugged Ranma-chan around the neck. "Now we can hang out together Ms. Alien!"

"Joy…" Ranma-chan sighed.

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After getting Bart back to consciousness and calming him down, he, Duelo, and Ranma were allowed to travel on the ship. Of course, it didn't stop some of the crew from throwing them dirty looks. However, it seemed that news about Ranma had spread since some of the crew who were holding drinks were glancing at him and back to the liquid they were carrying.

"Don't even think about it," Ranma muttered to a girl who seemed to really be considering testing the rumor.

"You can't blame them for being curious," Duelo spoke. "I hardly think that they even considered the possibility of a man turning into a woman."

"You're sure it's not contagious?" asked Bart fearfully.

"For the last time, I am sure! One hundred percent!" Ranma snapped.

"Ok! Ok!" Bart gulped. This guy could be as scary as a woman!

The boys quickly entered the cafeteria where the food was served. Of course, Bart and Duelo were surprised to find actual food besides the nutrition pills that the men of Tarak had to eat. Ranma just thought it was odd that all the food had tags reading how many calories were in it. Of course, it might have helped with why all the girls on the ship were in such great shape. Of course, that just got Ranma thinking about how provocatively dressed some of them were. Tossing that thought away, Ranma grabbed a tray and began filling it.

"Doesn't he know how many calories all that adds up to?" one of the crew members whispered as she saw the food Ranma had piled up

"Can you eat that much?" asked Bart as he stared at his own tray of 'weird' food.

"It seems medically impossible to me," Duelo commented.

"Just the usual for me," Ranma replied. He found an empty spot and took a seat. Duelo and Bart likewise sat at the same table. Of course, the females in the room were stealing glances at them. Of course, they weren't looking in the way that Ranma had to deal with from regular girls back home so he could ignore it.

"Is this really edible?" Bart asked dubiously. "Is it poisoned?"

"It's just food," said Ranma. "What do men on Tarak eat?"

"Food pills," said Bart as he fished out a box and placed it on the table before opening it up. "Here. My family's company makes them."

"That's it?" Ranma blinked. "That doesn't look filling."

"Well, we didn't have much of a choice considering that Tarak has little resources. These food pills allow us not to starve to death," said Duelo.

Ranma took one of the pills and popped it in his mouth. He gagged but forced himself to swallow. He did take a drink of water and exclaimed, "That was gross!"

"The taste may not be desirable, but when you need to eat to live, you can't afford to be picky," said Duelo.

"I don't know about you guys, but I prefer good old-fashioned cooking," said Ranma. "No offense, Bart, but I'll only take those pills if my life REALLY depended on it."

"MR. ALIEN!"

Glomp.

"Dita!!!" Ranma shouted as the girl suddenly hugged him from behind. His age-old reaction when girls latched onto him mixed with the feeling of Dita pressing herself against him with her hug. "I'm trying to eat here!"

"Really? Can I sit with you?"

"You really don't understand the concept of personal space, do you?" She was still hugging onto him. Dita apparently didn't hear the comment since she kept hugging him. "Ugh, fine, you can sit down."

"Yay!" Dita cheered as she plopped next to Ranma, just seemingly content with watching him. Bart shuddered at her proximity while Duelo seemed indifferent. Of course, Ranma was a little tense. His record with women wasn't good. "So Mr. Alien, have you been to lots of other planets?"

"Sure. You can say that," Ranma nodded. Of course, he had gone to other versions of his world where his counterparts were various other Kamen Riders.

"Did you meet other aliens?" Dita asked excitedly.

"I've met my share of strange people," Ranma nodded, recalling the battles against the enemies he had seen. Grongi, Lords, Imagin, Fangires, and all sorts of monsters. "Some were nice and others were bad."

"Can you tell me about them?" Dita asked hopefully. Sparkles were in her eyes.

"Well…I guess I could tell you about a few," Ranma shrugged. It might help everyone relax if they saw a man being nice to a woman anyway. "I guess I can start with the Grongi. Now those guys were mean aliens."

"Ooooh!" Dita gasped.

"That's when I met another Rider named Kuuga…"

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While Ranma was telling Dita about his past adventures, Parfet was doing a more in-depth study of Ranma's equipment, namely the Decadriver, Ride Booker and Ride cards.

"Man, this guy's seen some action," Parfet muttered as she read down the data she was receiving from one of the Rider cards. She started with Kuuga since it was the one in the beginning.

Examining the data, she managed to get a little deeper. What she got was some data on Kuuga's abilities and the data on a strange sort of being called Grongi. She had even got some data pictures of some Grongi.

"Ew," she grimaced as she saw a picture of a Hornet Grongi. "He fought monsters like this before? Or was it this Kuuga guy?"

Still, this was proving to be an interesting data dive. She was learning about Kuuga's abilities and how they worked. It was nothing as in-depth as what powered them or where they came from, but enough to know about them. Of course, that just got her desire to learn more going.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So those Grongi guys were trying to turn all the Linto on the planet into them?" asked Bart with wide eyes. "And only you and Kuuga could stop them?"

"Amazing!" Dita squealed.

"And these Grongi had a chemical agent which allowed them to do that?" Duelo asked with surprise.

"It was all part of a ritual where they needed to kill five female Linto who could be considered warriors. But they couldn't spill a drop of blood to do it," Ranma explained. "Me and Kuuga tried, but they managed to wake the Grongi who made that gas. We were getting our butts kicked before me and Kuuga got our acts together and managed to destroy him."

"Wow," Bart gaped.

Ranma had to change a few facts about the trip to Kuuga's world. Instead of calling the humans their name, he called them Linto. It was what humanity was called in ancient times when the Grongi were first at large. It was helpful in getting the story ready for these people.

"Wow! You're a hero Mr. Alien!" Dita squealed.

"No more than Kuuga or the other Riders," Ranma shrugged.

"Tell me more!" Dita insisted.

"OK…let's see…"

"Dita, what are you doing?" questioned Meia. "You shouldn't sit too close to men!"

Now, Meia definitely had a problem with the men being around. Then again, once Ranma learnt about the history of Tarak and Mejele, he could pretty much understand why she was still treating him like the enemy. Being raised to hate men was definitely one of the reasons.

"Looks, if it makes you happy, why don't I do this?" Ranma picked up his glass and splashed himself, invoking the change once more. "Problem solved."

"Uh…still," Meia frowned. That change aspect was going to take some getting used to. She still thought it was weird. "I don't want Dita hanging out with men."

"Whatever," Ranma-chan sighed. "So did you need something?"

"Yes actually," Meia huffed. "The captain wants to talk to the helmsman."

"Oh, sure!" Bart grinned. "I guess it's because I'm so important!"

"Don't get cocky male," Meia frowned. "Despite where you are, you three are still prisoners. One wrong move and I'll see to it that you're all thrown back into the brig in a heartbeat!"

"Duly noted," Duelo nodded as he sipped some tea.

"So you taking Bart or do you want to sit down with us?" Ranma-chan asked.

"As if I'd sit with men," Meia sniffed as she grabbed Bart by the arm and began to drag him away. Of course, the blonde whined about how painful her grip was.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I brought him," Meia spoke as she brought Bart into the command floor where Magnp, Buzom, and the various techies were working.

"Good," Magno nodded. Moving to the well where Bart had been pulled in by the ship previously, she gestured to the new attachment to the ship. "Now, what I want from you is how you piloted this ship last time."

"Well, I guess I don't have a choice," Bart shrugged helplessly. "Okay, listen up! Since this is a man's ship, only a man can pilot it. I guess this makes me indispensable to you –ERK!"

While Bart was busy trying to make himself sound important to the women who were his captors, the well reacted. The gel inside reached out and yanked him inside, surrounding him with the hologram of the ship again.

As soon as he was in, the ship seemed to come to life as the accelerator and the engines came to life. The sudden increase in speed knocked a few people off of their feet. Barnette and Jura, who were in an elevator, were knocked clear off their feet. The bridge crew quickly got to work trying to get the ship to stop.

"What did you do in there?!" Magno demanded of Bart. The man in question appeared on a screen looking panicked, "I didn't do anything!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bart tried to get control in the navigation well, but there was nothing he could do. However he could see where the ship was heading. It was heading straight for a nebula. Passing into the nebula itself wasn't fun since ice chunks were pounding off the hull, which channeled into pain for him.

"Ow!" he cried. "Can someone raise the shields please?!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As she was trying to get the systems back online, Ezra was feeling weak. She was panting slightly and sweating. She was trying to keep her breathing under control. However, it wasn't too long before her fellow computer techs overheard her. Their concern was very valid when she suddenly passed out.

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The cafeteria began to shake and Dita fell off his seat. However, before she hit the ground, she felt Ranma-chan's hand on his wrist and pulling her up.

"Are you okay?" Ranma-chan asked and the girl nodded. "Damn it, what's going on out there?"

"Maybe you should go check?" Duelo suggested.

"Good idea," Ranma-chan sighed.

However, before Ranma-chan could move, someone from the bridge came bursting into the cafeteria, looking panicked. Finding Duelo, she raced over to him and grabbed his arm.

"Come one! We need you in sickbay!" the woman cried out. "Ezra passed out and we need you there. You're a doctor right?"

"I'm on the way," Duelo nodded, actually dashing out of the cafeteria, leaving the woman behind. He had already memorized where the sickbay was and also knew several ways to get there already. The woman who came to find him struggled to keep up as she tried to keep an eye on the male doctor.

"Crud," Ranma-chan groaned. "What else can go wrong?"

That was when the alarms began to blare. Enemies were approaching again. No doubt it was the ghost-like enemies which had assaulted the ship before. Ranma-chan groaned and palmed her face, "Me and my big mouth."

"Let's go Ms. Alien!" Dita cried, tugging Ranma-chan to the door. "We have to get to our Dreads! Well, your machine too."

"Right, but I might need my gear too!" Ranma-chan grimaced. "We'll need it!"

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In the hanger, Parfet was waiting with Ranma-chan's gear. Seeing the pigtailed redhead running towards her surprised her but the bespectacled girl managed to recover quickly enough to hand Ranma-chan back his gear.

"Here we go!" Ranma-chan strapped the Decadriver on as the Ride Booker attached itself automatically to the belt. She took out her default henshin card and called out, "Henshin!" before slotting the card in and resetting the buckle.

Kamen Ride: Decade

Even in female form the suit still fit Ranma-chan, appearing over her as the ghostly images overlapped and then the eyes flashed green once the panels were set in the helmet, filling it with color.

Parfet still wanted to know how the transformation process worked and how such a suit could be generated from a belt and cards.

Decade jumped up and landed in the Vanguard's cockpit. The door closed and the systems activated. "OK, aibou, let's go," Decade said to her machine. A screen in front of her lit up to reveal Dita's face.

"Yay, let's go beat the bad aliens!" Dita cheered. Then, Meia's face showed up.

"We don't need help from a man!" Meia insisted.

"Um…right now I'm not a man," Decade corrected.

Meia grumbled. Technically, Decade was right. Getting used to men was one thing, but one who could change into a woman was going to be confusing. Should she treat Ranma as a man when he was a woman or treat her like she treated her other fellow women?

"Well, whatever! I'm Dread leader so you gotta follow my lead!" said Meia.

"Hai, hai…" Decade nodded. "So, can we launch or are we going to waste time chit-chatting?" Meia shut her comm-link. "Was it something I said?"

The Dreads and one Vanguard launched into space. Not only did they have to deal with the ice and rocks from the nebula, but they also had to deal with more Cube Fighters being spewed out of the seed mother ship like the previous one had.

"So where did this one come from?" Decade asked.

"Probably followed us from the destroyed one," Jura frowned, seemingly accepting Decade's female side for the moment.

"Great," Decade sighed. Reaching to the Ride Booker, the otherworldly Rider drew a card. This one depicted a Kamen Rider, but not Decade. "Henshin!"

Kamen Ride: Kuuga

The Vanguard Decade suddenly stiffened as it began to change. Like a pulse over its body, the armor and coloring changed. The torso became red and the emerald eyes turned red. Gold horns rose from the head and a gold ring was around the neck. Gold bands were around the wrists and ankles. The armor on the shoulders was rounded as well. Vanguard Decade had transformed into Vanguard Kuuga.

"Wow!" Dita gasped. "It's Ms. Alien's friend Kuuga!"

"Show off," Barnette frowned.

"Interesting," Jura observed.

"Okay," Kuuga sighed, having transformed from Decade inside the machine. She looked like the first Kuuga, but the Decadriver was still present. She drew a new card to continue her plan. "Now I need a weapon."

Form Ride: Kuuga Pegasus

And the armor changed again, this time changing from red to green with a green band around her right arm and with the right shoulder armor becoming broader as the shoulder on her left became black. Grooves appeared in the chest, giving it a runic design. The bands around her forearms and the gems in the anklets turned green as well. Then, the eyes of her helmet shifted to green.

Outside, the Vanguard Kuuga likewise changed. The torso turned green and the armor reconfigured into the same runic design. The eyes turned green along with the stones on the ankles and wrists. The right shoulder turned black while the left shoulder turned into a straight piece of metal. However, in its hand was a large black and gold gun which had green stones in it. It was configured to look a little like a crossbow.

"Oooh! Even more elegant!" Jura admired.

"Can she show off any more?" Barnette growled.

The Cube Fighters flew at the deploying Dreads, firing at them. The Dreads and lone Vanguard flew out of the way from the shots. All of them began to return fire at the flying cubes. Vanguard Kuuga pulled back on the back of its gun and unleashed a pulse of power. The blast cut through the ice and Cube Fighters, making several big explosions. The Dreads were quick to find this spot in the enemy's attack as the Vanguard Kuuga prepared a second shot.

Meia frowned at what she had seen. As much as she didn't like it when people went against the formations, she had to admit that the man…or woman, at the moment, knew how to fight with her Vanguard. She was sniping off enemies left and right with that pulse weapon. Sure, the actual shot would pierce one Cube Fighter, but the shockwave from the blast would take out the Cube Fighters around it too.

However, as the battle was raging outside the ship, none of the pilots noticed that the ship itself had gone silent.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The engines have been cut off Captain!" one of the techs reported. "Also, more then ninety percent of the ship's systems have gone offline too!"

"This is all we need," Magno groaned.

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The power cut off across the ship, including the sick bay. Duelo was busy trying to see what was wrong with Ezra at the moment. She was still unconscious from whatever made her pass out. However, Buzom was there too, making sure that nothing funny was going on. When the power went out, Duelo growled and snagged Buzom's communicator and connected to Parefet.

"I'm dealing with a patient here!" he frowned. "Get power back to sickbay immediately!"

"Love to," Parfet replied. "But I can't do much with this equipment since its all in men's language!"

Duelo frowned and looked up to Buzom, "If I was there I can read it. I can't do much without my equipment and it needs power."

"Go right ahead," the second officer nodded.

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Right outside the battle still raged on. Vanguard Kuuga was blasting at the Cube Fighters but they seemed to multiply and looked like they were learning to avoid the shots. This agitated the Rider inside the Vanguard. There had to be a way out of this.

"I wish Kuuga was here," Decade-Kuuga muttered to herself. Her Ride Booker suddenly opened and one of the cards popped out. She caught it and it was the Final Form Ride card for Kuuga. It was meant to turn Kuuga into Gouram but then maybe the card was telling him to use it. "Guess only one way to find out." She twisted her buckle upwards and tossed the card in before resetting the buckle.

Final Form Ride: Ku-Ku-Ku-Kuuga

Vanguard Kuuga shuddered as its gun vanished and it changed back to Mighty Form. It's back opened as a bronze and black formation. The robot flipped over as its arms brought up steel blocks over its arms while gray steel covered its legs. Vanguard Kuuga's head was drawn into the body while the entire body flipped down. The Vanguard's body then appeared to have become a giant Gouram. It was a large stag beetle-like machine now with the arms now acting as the hind legs and the original mecha's humanoid legs forming pincers.

"Wow!" Dita admired at the machine. As she was staring at it, data started appearing on her viewing screens. "Huh?"

The data she was given called the new form called Kuuga Gouram. It did look like a giant bug, but it was able to move pretty fast. A data link was also forged between the two machines, indicating a partnership. It was pretty cool in her eyes.

"Dita! Pay attention!" Meia snapped.

"Right!" the energetic redhead gasped.

Vanguard Kuuga Gouram cut through the space, smashing Cube Fighters with increased speed. The fighters certainly weren't used to the enemy they were fighting against and were getting cut down. Things were turning in the favor of the Dreads and Vanguard.

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"It's a man!" an engineer gasped as Duelo entered the area where Parfet and her crew were hard at work.

"Oh good, you're here" Parfet spoke as she spotted him. "Take a look at this would you?"

Duelo nodded and scanned the readout of the machine, "It's a Hi-type #6. It says here that there are a lot of impurities. That might be because of the fusing of the ships."

"Do you think you can fix it?" asked Parfet hopefully.

"I'm a doctor, not an engineer," Duelo sighed.

"That's no excuse!" Parfet snapped. "Everything that moves is alive! It's a doctor's job to fix all living things! That's what I believe!"

"Interesting idea you have there," Duelo smiled. Looking back to where Ranma's robot, affectionately named Pyoro by Parfet, was giving a readout. "The ship seems to be reacting to the nebula."

"Of course!" Parfet gasped. "The ship must be using the nebula to purge the impurities!"

"Like a living thing," Duelo pondered.

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"Take this!" Decade-Kuuga roared as she drove her transformed Vanguard through several more Cube Fighters. Checking to see the mother ship, she withheld the urge to groan as it spat out more cube fighters. "Damn. Forgot about you." Snickering, she drew a new card. "Won't make that mistake!" She slipped the card into the Decadriver and activated.

Final Attack Ride: Ku-Ku-Ku-Kuuga

Dita's Dread suddenly stiffened as more data came to her machine. Big words went across the screen reading 'Final Attack Ride: Kuuga' along with information on what to do next. She was a little surprised, but her Dread seemed to know what to do. It was moving by itself and heading towards the Gouram.

"What are you doing Dita?!" cried Meia.

"It's moving by itself!" cried the redhead.

Suddenly, the Dread began to transform. A pair of arms shot out from the sides as it began to convert into a more humanoid form. Legs formed and a horned head popped up between the shoulders. It now had a red torso with red eyes and gold horns, but it looked more machine-like than when Decade-Kuuga had her own machine transform.

"Dita's Dread changed!" Jura shouted.

Decade-Kuuga was surprised but didn't have time to contemplate. Gouram was moving towards the mother ship and with its pincers wide open the beetle grabbed onto the mother ship and started pushing it towards Dita's transformed Dread. The Dread Kuuga remained below while Vanguard Kuuga Gouram continued its flight. The shell of the machine insect opened and booster rockets activated, launching itself down at the Dread Kuuga.

"Woooaaahhh!!" Dita cried as her changed Dread inverted and aimed an upward kick at the descending machine. Rockets in her machine's back came to life and rocketed her up at the machine.

Vanguard Gouram and Dread Kuuga met with amazing velocity. Although the Dread Kuuga was the smaller of the two, it was powerful enough. It smashed through the mother ship while the Vanguard Kuuga Gouram continued roaring on. The mother ship ripped in two as the two fighters continued flying through space. The two halves of the mother ship sparked wildly before exploding brightly.

"Yahoooooo!" Decade-Kuuga cheered as the Vanguard Gouram flew through space and transformed into Vanguard Kuuga again. Dread Kuuga shifted back into its regular Dread form.

"Wow!" Dita cried out in shock. "That was amazing! I used Alien Power! I used Ms. Alien's powers! Yay!"

"Incredible!" Jura gasped.

"How…wha…uh…," Meia gaped.

"You have to be kidding," Barnette gaped.

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Once the Dreads and Vanguard returned to the hanger, Decade powered her suit down and was suddenly glomped by Dita. The redheaded pigtailed girl nearly toppled over when she lost her balance.

"Hey, Dita!" Ranma-chan called out. She was in no mood to get glomped again.

"Amazing! From now on let's share Alien Power together!" said Dita happily.

"Fine! Fine! But leggo, ok?" Ranma-chan yelled at her. "Darn it, the only girl here who likes me and she acts like Shampoo."

The other Dread pilots were staring at the pair. How exactly had Dita's Dread change and how was Ranma-chan able to execute the combo attack with her. It all had to do with that belt and cards and Jura REALLY was interested to know their secrets.