~Raze's Journey;Director's Cut Chapter 11~

~A Future Determined, A Monster Awakens~

Roarin: Sorry for the wait, but the show must go on. All of our actions breed consequences. Let's see what those are now on Raze's Journey!

The intense conversation with Brass earlier had left Raze feeling something he hadn't felt in a while. A bit more on the dangerous side than usual. The saiyan inside welcomed the challenge, but if he had to think about it. It would probably be better to avoid the conflict in the first place if he could because like Brass had said. He'd only gotten lucky last time.

Sitting back, trying to relax for the last leg of the trip, Raze pondered beyond the training exercises. He wanted to prepare for whatever may come next. On the map, he saw his real destination, Guerdon. That planet was the one he'd be able to get the whole bounty for Athena. It was one of his favorite destinations. Yet, he wanted to try and enjoy himself and perhaps a small vacation on Thaumaturge would cleanse the pallet.

Thaumaturge had been a destination that humans took kindly to on their first voyages out. It reminded them of earth in a way and the architecture showed. While the more modern half of the capital, Diviner was filled with more capsule homes. Some of the humans resorted to buildings built in the old way. With bricks and mortar. Interestingly, their culture was a mix of wizardry and humanity coexisting. It was a refreshing difference to some planets that were inhabited by merely one race. Namek being a reference.

Raze would definitely have to take in the sights once he got there. Raze shifted in his seat as a notification came up showing exactly what he already knew. Kiryu and Ken were fully healed and still sleeping in the healing tank. He wondered if he should wake them up, but decided perhaps that wasn't the best option.

~Brass~

Walking through the kitchen, he silently tiptoed past several of the children that were sleeping on the floor. He cursed Raze for his impromptu setup of the area. He even saw that Cloud was sleeping directly next to the fridge. He tried his best to make it to the location. Quickly, he grabbed the handle of the object in question.

'Nice! Just gotta push Cloud to the side. Lightly...' He used the side of his foot, pushing it up against Cloud's side as gently as possible. Then he started to slide him on the floor. The blanket he was wrapped in had made this easy, but the shifting had stirred Cloud into a waking position.

As his eyes adjusted to the dark and some of the light rays coming off stars from the small window next to the table. He saw Brass's bright skin in the dark. He was about to say something, but then realized that he was still in the kitchen with all the others. He didn't wanna wake up anyone, so he stayed quiet.

Brass was still holding the door handle, and he twisted it. Opening the door in question and finding out quickly that the light was actually just as bright as a star, "Shit!" He exclaimed quietly before looking around. He found that nobody else was awake until he looked down to see Cloud staring back at him.

'Oh...' He had awoken him. Well, so much for having a cover.

He shrugged his right shoulder at Cloud indicating that he should go back to sleep, but Cloud didn't know what he meant and began flashing what Brass assumed to be random gestures causing his blanket to open up. Brass didn't have time for this interaction. So, he turned away and grabbed a bottle of water, the ultimate kind of food. The best tasting thing in the universe. His swan song to reality that could make him truly happy if only for a moment. Yep, good old water.

Brass closed the fridge door with a soft tap and turned the knob to the closed position before trying to sneak away. Cloud watched as he carefully planned his path through the throng of kids. Finally, he got to the ladder and floated up out of sight. Cloud turned back, wondering if perhaps he should also get some water. It had been a long day, learning to fly took a lot out of him. His mind was made up, he uncovered and flipped over quietly before pushing himself up onto his feet.

Reaching for the fridge, he quickly opened it and looked at the delicious sparkling water with hope in his eyes. As he moved to get it, he found that Brass was floating eerily above him. They locked eyes with one another and Cloud felt a chill run down his back. Which made him let go of the fridge door like it was charged with electricity. Brass closed the door and pointed back to Cloud's blanket before floating off completely horizontally in the air without losing eye contact. That is, until he floated back up the ladder. Cloud gulped as he went to go back to sleep. Hopefully to avoid any nightmares for the rest of the night.

Cloud thoughts kept running on for a bit, 'Don't touch Brass's water! Don't touch Brass's water! Don't touch Brass's water!' He couldn't stop thinking about it as he shivered in fear.

Brass could only smile as he got back to where Raze was, "Hey, Raze?"

"Yeah, Brass?" He asked back as Brass stayed at the side of the ladder.

"I'm going to meditate for a bit. Just keep doing what you're doing." Brass said, leaving the area rather quickly.

Raze sighed, "So, yeah... What was the point of that?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. It feels like we're being played for fools." Brass said as Raze slapped his knee and jumped up.

"You're right! Something must be happening! But we're just here… Traveling." Raze said as Brass tapped his head with a finger before putting his palm out and wagging said finger back and forth.

"It's like we're just doing some filler content… Traveling takes a bit. We're bound to get up to something on the way to a new place." Brass said as he shook his head, "Some people really like it when they can see more of the people they've gotten to know interacting more." Brass finished as Raze spoke up.

"So, like right now? We're just inflating the amount of time it takes to get to the new place?" Raze asked as Brass nodded.

"Exactly." Brass said to the spiky haired alien.

Raze then pondered for a moment, holding his fist to his chin, "So, what if you have some drastic consequence of your actions coming up sooner than later?" He asked as Brass smirked.

"Then it becomes a real mess." Brass said as he looked down at the cut.

~Deep Underneath the Third Building on Kanaasa~

Everything was blurry, it had been at least a few days for Xeno. These last many hours had taken a destructive toll on his body. He felt haggard since his pain receptors had been forcibly turned on as his body would regain energy and be drained for the final piece. The project that Athena said was her and Sebastian's final work before he had left many years ago. She had said about how fortunate that it was when Raze and his gang had shown up.

It had given Athena the ability to complete the work. However, anytime he'd caught a glimpse of what was in the pod in the middle of the room. It looked humanoid, yet it lacked skin. It horrified the man turned machine so long ago. Ruchel and his home… Destroyed for the sake of such evil things. What would it bring upon the galaxy if it escaped this planet?

It wouldn't be much longer, an agonizing scream would echo from Xeno's body as the penultimate amount of energy siphoned would light up the green tank. The walls and cords leading to the tank would begin to glow as he watched hell begin to burn up from within the tank.

Xeno's eyes widened as he, strapped to the wall, began to see cracks forming in the tank. The drones were all moving excitedly as the beings inside would soon make its presence known to all who dared stand in its way. Power began to radiate from inside, making the earth shake and holes to open up in the metal paneling all around. Xeno couldn't believe it, its power felt similar to Raze's. Gasping, in awe and trepidation the machine witnessed everything.

The glass busted outward, splashing the floor in bright green fluid. The charged blades of glass ripped through each drone floating about, destroying them in the process. The building creaked above from the sheer excess energy pouring of the being who looked like a walking corpse compared to any normal living being.

"Ha… HEH… HAGH!" It let out from the gaping wound that would be its mouth, sounding distinctly guttural with a harsher voice that fit exactly what Xeno thought a demon might sound like.

The drones ceased their movements on the floor and died having served their purpose. The being stopped to admire the wreckage looked mildly intrigued by the machines. Then it raised a hand up to the wall just left of Xeno and fired a massive energy wave straight at the ground. The wave of black energy tore through the bedrock like butter and blasted a hole straight to the bottom of the second building's sub lab. It then took a look at that same hand as if in disappointment. Like a child that expected much more.

Xeno was about to pass out as the thing turned to him. Then shook its head and left through the hole it created. Leaving the confused Xeno to wonder what the hell had just happened. That is at least until his eyes began to droop low, passing back out from exhaustion.

~Above the Ground, Kanaasa 12:03 PM~

Allium and his merry men had finally landed on the desert world of Kanaasa. Allium took a breath of fresh burning hot air, having finally been able to open up the ship to the outside. Garoose walked off the bridge, taking a look at the buildings and multiple towers in the area.

"Lieutenant Allium, this place is really run down. How long do you think this operation has been here for?" Garoose asked him as he too got a good look at the sandy place.

Allium looked around, noticing the rust on several parts of the building closest to them. It wasn't built with a sturdy compound as much as the building to the west at the very end of the large compound. He was able to conclude on this observation something that was at least a little significant. This place was definitely built a while back.

"It's probably been going for at least the past nine years. It looks pretty archaic when compared to more modern designs. Even the bridges between the buildings look tacky." He replied to Garoose who nodded in contemplative thought.

Garoose scratched his head, removing a bit of grit that was making itself more known in his hair, "Damn, will we even find anything remotely useful out here? I'm starting to think that anonymous message was a load of crap." Allium raised his hand and Garoose quieted down.

Allium then looked up, he'd heard something, but he couldn't see anything, "Something's watching us. Not sure what though." He said as clenched his hand into a fist and shot it forward to the other soldiers walking off the bridge, "All of you, go into each of these buildings, but not the third. Report on what you find." He hoped they wouldn't find anything too severe.

Garoose was about to head with the others, but Allium stopped him, "You can stick with me. I have a feeling that I'll need good backup because we're heading to the third building." Allium said as Garoose nodded.

"You can count on me, Lieutenant Allium! I am at your disposal, Sir!" He exclaimed as Allium sighed which made Garoose step back slightly thinking he had disappointed his leader until he heard him chuckle lightly.

"I appreciate the sentiment. We'll see how well this goes once we're inside." Allium stated as he and Garoose made their way to the third building.

~Allium's Men;Second Building~

With infrared sensors and scouters turned on the soldiers broke through the door with multiple ki blasts. The resulting explosion ripped a massive chunk of wall that was sent flying into the inner compound of the building with their combined efforts. It ripped up the floor tiling inside and damaged the ceiling tiles until it crashed against the large staircase located in the center of the building.

"Let's go! OOH RAH!" The one at the front yelled as his soldiers replied with the same intensity and ran into the building only to stop once they reached the center of the room. They took a look around the devastated area, but found nothing out of place. In fact the only damage was the damage they had already inflicted on the place.

"Erm, Captain Collateral! There's nothing really strange about this place. It looks like an average office building." One of them said into the group linked communication.

Captain Collateral had finally caught up with them, "That's a foolish thought to have private! Treat any place like you've never been there because anything could happen at any time!" He finished as a loud concussive explosion tore chunks through the middle of the floor.

"What the hell was that?!" Captain Collateral shouted as one of his soldiers joined him.

"Supposedly, a time bomb was set by one of our own. Their intent was to blow a hole directly to the basement, but…" He trailed off as the smoke and debris passed by the entire group.

"It didn't work! There's more reinforced steel below! Let's get through it!" Another soldier yelled while throwing ki blasts at the metallic shield of a wall. A combined blast of ki managed to tear a hole through the barrier.

Collateral raised his hand, signaling a ceasefire as smoke rose from the char broiled hole in the earth, "Men, we'll assemble once we reach the bottom! Remember! This is just a reconnaissance mission with a slight game of tag depending on if we find Athena! We'll take any and all prisoners if possible!" He turned to his men, "I'll be the first!" He leapt inside without a second to lose and was followed by his group of soldiers once he couldn't be seen anymore.

As he flew into the chamber from the air, he saw that the lights were flickering off and on inside the unquestionably large room. Collateral's aura fired up and he flew around the area using his aura like a light of sorts. Shining his ki on several tanks, he noticed bubbles rising up inside. Landing on the top of another tank, he noticed something quite auspicious. The tanks were bubbling up quite a bit more as a being smacked against the inner glass. He couldn't help but let out a gasp of shock. Seeing a horribly disfigured creature staring him back in the face.

"The hell is going on? What is that thing?!" The creature inside the tank cowered from Collateral as he made his observation. He was still disgusted, but the fact that whatever it was inside had seemed more scared of him rather than the inverse of himself being scared was intriguing? A question he'd have to think about a bit later as another voice rose above his inner monologue.

"Sir! This place looks pretty damaged over here. There's a hole leading outside and it looks like an altercation took place! Also, another more recent hole was opened on the eastern side!" Indeed, the sun shone through the cavernous hole leading to the outside while a pile of sand had built up in the very middle of the laboratory where they were. The sand at the hole looked like a sheet of glass in comparison to the grain found at the bottom, almost like someone had used a super heated attack at the very top.

Then, focusing on the details of the more newly minted opening from the side was very ridiculous to see. It looked like the metal was still dripping super heated condensed piles of hot silver sludge that melted into the ground. Black burn spots were all over the place.

This was strange, they had been told that the lab was entirely intact and that nobody had ever been here. Collateral grimaced as a sinking feeling took hold. Perhaps they weren't actually alone. He turned his head back to his men.

"Fan out, I have a feeling that something isn't right!" He yelled as his men proceeded to move along the corridors in between the pillars. Collateral himself decided to move down the eastern path compared to the others who had gone north or west. As he stepped through the vapid space, he began to take in more sights. Something that stopped him in his tracks entirely, making his blood run cold was shown once he looked up after having gone a decent distance. The tank was filled with green fluid, but he saw it plain as day.

The bodies of multiple children that weren't moving in any way. His eyes widened, this was much worse than child trafficking. Athena, the woman they'd come for was in fact throwing their carcasses down here, he resisted the urge to vomit in reaction to this discovery.

~On the Western Side~

Several soldiers moved through the empty area, having cleared the sand beforehand. Wandering these places, all senses ready for whatever may come. Together, the men reached the newly formed hole. Floating up to it, the group rushed inside to try and find the cause.

Turning on their infrared sensors, they landed altogether on the scorched earth. Each one moved forward, shaking pebbles as they ran, but it wouldn't last long. One by one, the soldiers stopped upon seeing the first signs of life. One heated biosignature standing directly opposite of the group.

"Hey, what the fuck is that!?" One of them exclaimed as a light shone upon the thing from one of the soldier's suits.

It looked like a bipedal mass of muscles and tendons, also bled upon the ground with each contraction of saId muscles. Its eyes were black holes without much to work off of almost like voids of nothingness. It began to approach the soldiers who started to panic at the first sign of movement.

"Oh hell no! I'm getting outta here!" One soldier abandoned formation, but it was already too late.

Tapping into the headset, one soldier called into the mic, "Captain Collateral! There's somethin- GAGHHHG!"

~Captain Collateral~

An explosion was heard from the other side of the transmission by the Captain who panicked immediately. Clicking into the transmission, Collateral quickly called out to his men.

"Squad 1?! Do you copy!?" He wasn't sure how to process this emotion, sadness that nobody had ever come here not even once and anger at a person who could do such horrible things. A pit was forming at the bottom of his stomach as he clicked it again, "SQUAD 1?! DO YOU COPY?!" He repeated, but there wasn't an answer.

He switched signals to link up to Squad 2, "SQUAD 2?!" But nobody answered from that end. There was something happening, but it was so quick! He switched the signal once again, this time to Lieutenant Allium.

"LIEUTENANT ALLIUM?! DO YOU COPY?!" Captain Collateral was practically hoarse at this point.

~Allium and Garoose~

"Yes, Captain Collateral?! What's going on?" Allium said, trying to keep his cool as Collateral continued.

"Something's wrong! I can't get a hold of my men. They were all here with me not even a few minutes ago!" Collateral said over the intercom as Captain Garoose clicked in.

"Should we come for you?!" Captain Garoose exclaimed back as the intercom system they used began to have a heavy static come over the optimized network.

Allium clicked in, "Stay there! We'll come regardless." he said, but as the final words of Collateral came over the intercom, Allium froze up alongside Garoose.

"WHO THE HELL'R- NO-! AUGH!" The last thing that the two heard before the signal disappeared entirely.

"Collateral?! NO! Are you still there?!" Garoose shouted, but no answer came through.

Allium gritted his teeth in frustration as he looked back at the second building. The doors to the third building looked entirely threatening to Garoose and Allium at this point. They then remembered the other squad they'd sent into the first building. Allium clicked his communicator, trying to reach them but it was as if they'd never been there in the first place. He couldn't find a single signal. Well, that was almost true.

A voice cut in on the mic, "Come find me…" It said and Allium recognized the channel, it was Collateral's scouter.

"Dammit, what do we do?! I can feel their energy signatures disappearing, they're being slaughtered!" Garoose shouted in anger as Allium grabbed him on his shoulders.

"Get a hold of yourself! Obviously something bad happened. We'll stay together. Close by at all times. If they've all been killed, we may not make it out of here either." Allium said as he pulled out his holophone, trying to get an emergency call out to Karmel, but the signal was too weak.

'Oh shit…' He trailed off in thought, 'They're jamming our signals… Now what?' He put the phone back into his pocket. Anger made him seethe at the bit.

Garoose was panicking internally after trying to do the exact same thing. He shook in terror just staring at the jammed device, "We're fucked. What else could be left?!" He yelled as Allium chose to smack him this time which brought back his senses.

"Focus! Captain Garoose, we need to focus… We may not make it back to the ship. We should try going further inside, perhaps we can find a device to get a signal through. We'll have better odds doing that if we're fighting together." Allium stated as Garoose nodded his head in understanding.

"I'll try to keep myself under control. It's just going to be a little tough with the reality of all the dead men in the other buildings…" He trailed off in some form of despair filled pain.

Allium sighed, shaking his head and letting go of Garoose, "Let's move forward." With that, our two heroes moved onward. Trying to shake off the weary thoughts that invaded their minds and still wary as they could be seeing all the destroyed areas courtesy of Brass. They found a hole in the floor that looked more unexplored than the hallway leading to the stairs.

If Allium was a betting man, there was probably more going on underneath this building just like the others if the potential dead bodies of his men were anything to go off of. Leaping down with Garoose close behind him, the hole seemed to widen out inside. Then the world got dark for a moment. Pitch black even. Allium was starting to sweat despite the wind billowing around them, pushing their hair to flow behind their heads.

Allium let out a bellowing roar as his white aura burst out, giving a semblance of light in this darkened cavernous opening. Garoose followed in his coattails allowing his own aura to rip from his core. Together, their light extinguished the darkness as the floor came into view. Landing on their feet with a tap of their boots, Allium and Garoose stood side to side.

"Well? Shall we continue?" Allium asked as Garoose nodded.

"Y- Yeah!" Garoose stated to his Lieutenant.

~Xeno~

"Wake up... Wake up... Wake up..." The voice repeated to the indisposed machine sitting strapped to a wall, cables keeping him strung up while draining his energy as he recovered. There was a peculiar little drone sitting on his shoulder, whispering these words into his ear. Trying to get any reaction it could out of the warrior. All of the drones that had participated in this project beforehand were sitting in heaps around them. The drone sitting on Xeno's shoulder seemed to give them fearful looks, but surely not. A machine cannot feel fear.

Xeno shook his head lightly before finally opening his eyes. Then he immediately closed them, expecting for his energy to be ripped away again. However, nothing happened. He opened his eyes, seeing the piles of drones around him was a shock to be sure. Xeno then heard the voice, "Wake up... Wake up... Wake up..." That was too real to be fake.

He turned his head, and some of the cords came loose. That was when he noticed the drone sitting on his shoulder. Its one sclera showed a bright green that was familiar and almost nostalgic to the machine. He then turned from the drone that had started chirping lightly in what could be found to be happiness almost. Xeno saw something more alarming than the drones on the floor, the tank in the center of the room was busted, fluid from inside had gotten everywhere and a huge hole had been opened up by whatever had come out.

"You're finally up! It took a bit for you to recharge, but I'm so happy to see you, Xeno!" Surprised again by this outburst, Xeno couldn't help but notice how that voice was so similar to someone he knew long ago. Just like it had been whispering to him all this time.

"Ru- Ruchel?! B- But there's- no way!" Xeno still wasn't strong enough to fully move, so he settled for turning to the little drone.

"Yes! There is! Just before I died, I tapped into the network and found this peculiar looking Drone. We need to get off this planet before anyone discovers you still being alive." Ruchel said urgently as he started picking at the wires with his little mechanical arms.

Xeno sighed, unable to move regardless of the pinching little mech's attempts to free him, "I already accepted that I would die here. Perhaps that is what I should stick with." Unfortunately for Xeno, Ruchel would have nothing to do with that. He quickly jumped up and smacked Xeno upside his head for good measure.

"What kind of talk is that?! When I died, you should have lived on, but you didn't leave! Why?!" Ruchel exclaimed as Xeno smirked.

"I was already breaking down thanks to Raze. I thought for sure that I would be joining the village in my death throws not long after, but it seems fate wants to drag me around or technically us around." Xeno said to the even more angry little Drone.

"So, you were just going to give up despite having another shot at life?! How is that any better for either of us? Some people would give a lot for a second chance." The Drone said, sticking its glowing green sclera into his face.

Ruchel chuckled, despite the pain in his pain receptors starting to go off once again, "Oh, damn... It hurts to laugh." He felt the faintest semblance of strength beginning to return to his remaining limbs.

"Don't laugh! We're going to get off this planet and live! I'll show you how we should go. Not to mention that thanks to the computer system, I was able to track Raze." This got Xeno's attention.

"You what?! You managed to track him? So, Athena must've put out a signal. That's the only way you could've done that! She's crafty, damnit." Xeno said while Ruchel started tearing off more of the cables.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too! So, we need to go find him and warn him about that!" Ruchel said as the last of the cables came free and Xeno would fall to the ground, of course Ruchel wouldn't. He floated as soon as gravity took its course and watched his good friend hit the floor. Just like a best friend should.

Xeno grunted as he pushed himself up with his barely functioning one arm. The drones that were scattered around him, flared to life for only a moment. Their red eyes pointing to him before slowly skittering it out. Xeno breathed a sigh of relief at that. Ruchel floated down to his side.

"Are you able to go anywhere quite yet, Xeno?" It asked him as Xeno shook his head slightly.

"My energy hasn't quite recharged yet. It's still taking time, Ruchel" Xeno said wearily, trying to muster the power to float up, but Ruchel zipped over.

"Okay, just sit tight, maybe I can reverse the flow of energy. Give you newfound power from whatever's left in the facility." Ruchel said as he went for the computer just to the side. Unfolding his mechanical hands, Ruchel proceeded to cut the thing on. Blue screens flashed on and off until finally it managed to boot up.

Ruchel went through the security quite easily with his knowledge of everything Athena knew since he was technically in her network or at least what little was left of it after that thing's rampage earlier. He managed to find a way to reverse the flow of energy, finding a bit more in a ship on the top floor of the building they were currently in or underneath in this case. With gusto, he flew over to grab the cables and get them over to Xeno.

"Hold this." He told Xeno who looked at them like they were snakes.

"A- Are you sure?" Xeno asked the little Drone that sounded like Ruchel.

The Drone made an up and down notion not unlike a usual nod, "Of course. This is going to charge you back up quickly. This should even give you a great boost to your current capability, Xeno. I know it won't help if you only have one leg and one arm, but I'm trying to give you assistance. Please let me." Ruchel said as Xeno merely nodded and let himself hit the floor so that he could free up his one hand to grip the wires tightly or as tightly as could be managed.

"Okay, here we go." Ruchel said while floating back to the computer, "Now you might feel some oil discharge, that's perfectly normal. Also, a shock. Maybe I can turn off your pain receptors too!" Ruchel said excitedly as he clicked on the screen and ran the program.

Immediately, Xeno gasped before letting out a horrible yell of anguish as his body began to fill with incredible energy all at once. This sound would echo throughout the giant chasm, even reaching Allium and Garoose who were shocked to hear such a horrid sound. Even the wind began to pick up the crumbled rocks at their feet, making quite the dust storm.

"Garoose, we need to check this out! Can you feel anything?!" He asked the Captain who shrugged.

"I can't feel any power radiating whatsoever, Allium! W- What do you think it c- could be?!" Garoose stuttered out to the Lieutenant who shook his head.

"Not sure! We just need to get there!" He yelled as he pulled Garoose with him toward the location where the winds grew even more turbulent, threatening to push them backward without a second thought.

~End of Chapter~

Roarin: Please tell me what you thought of the chapter and hopefully you'll come back for another round!