(A/N - Look at the scroll bar. Kind of short for a special, no? The truth of the matter is that I've spent way too long on this chapter, nearly having hit the two-month mark and being just about HALF way through. I also managed to find my work ethic in my closet, which managed to kick up a minor dust storm in my room. However, it didn't come in time, as tomorrow I'll be leaving to head to some swamp out in the middle of nowhere to sell T-shirts to unsuspecting natives. An interesting bit of trivia: when I was 13, I was mugged by eight people. At once. I'm not making this up. There was also the fact that during the convention alone, there were 59 assaults, three rapes, and the interesting topic of a baby being flushed down a toilet. I am now a racist bastard. ^_^ Point blank, the "special" will now be divided into two seperate chapters. This is the first half, and the second I'll begin as soon as I return from my angst session in the marsh. Happy reading, wish me luck, and send me anything to defend myself with, for the love of God...) The tall city buildings stood, populated with their usual office workers, high above the city skyline. They basked in the light of the artificial sun situated a predetermined distance away, keeping the planet's temperatures at a above-lukewarm temperature. That sun was beginning to lose altitude, and it had began its descent towards the horizon a short hour ago. A small hover-taxi parked at a point along the supported highway about halfway up one of the skyscrapers, letting a uniformed man carrying a large briefcase out onto a platform that led into the structure. Meanwhile, up on the roof of the elegantly designed compound, a medium-built man sat hunched over the very edge of the roof, the positioning of the sun casting a shadow from a nearby attenna onto him. His hair was mildly spiked, and his lanky arms were connected to his torso by large shoulderpads, with crescenting blades on top. He down to the ground, carefully intercepting each and every ship that docked. He was waiting for it to come. And he would be ready. "Hee hee! Eeeya ooseeak alleed! Eekyaa rallee euro... Illiee allsoo ralee!" the figure cackled, in an illegible dialect. One that sounded distinctly Celestian. TRANCE TRAUMA Competition Space is a funny thing. Some people'll tell you that the darkness waiting upon them is only a sign of the even DARKER situations ahead of them. I'd have to agree, I haven't seen too many happy-go-lucky long-distance traders in my day. People fear it, the great beyond, 'cause of all the scientific mumbo-jumbo that goes on in the background. Black holes, aliens, the Death Star. The like. Space means something now that it's never meant to me before. It's not just the six months cryogenic freezing period between outposts, it's the rallying call at a battlefield lightyears away, a battle I inadvertantly stumbled into upon taking this job. Soon, as it stands, the Van Eltia that everybody talks about, is going to be seething right at us, with the dreaded Grapplers, Antimagnus, too many Trances, or all of the above. I have people around me throwing cards around, partnering with funny-looking sentinent "digimon", shooting lightning bolts, lasers, magic spells and cannon shells, and it leaves me standing here... what am I? I'm an asshole in bulky armor with only a gauss rifle and a tattered Sons of Korhal ensignia to show for myself. I don't really give a flying fuck WHAT Ultimanium says, the only way I'll be able to stand up for the Argetlahm let alone myself is to figure out all this Trance stuff and get myself supercharged. I mean, even a kid like Takato can figure it out, it can't seriously be that bad... "Raynor?" Raynor blinked. "...uh.. yeah?" "Did you ask me something?" Ultimanium was seated at his normal chair, carefully studying the command module screens in front of him. Minonim was at his side like usual, quickly scanning the data received. "...uh.. yeah. What time did you say that we were going to arrive at Mute City?" "About three hours." Slippy said. That's another thing. The talks of manipulation of space ALSO freak people out. And walking, talking animals, like I said before. The two do NOT go together. A couple hours after we left, one of those guys, forget what his name was, he plotted our course to run through several minor space-time compressions on a zig-zag towards Lylat-Hybrid. We cut our travel time from a month to a week. I've spent all my available time in the past seven days trying to get what I could out of the Argetlahm crew members on Trancing as a whole, and so far all I've gotten is shrugs. Even Balkan, he has the nerve just to tell me "your time will come". Pisses me off, the bunch of them. ******** "Exactly HOW do we get in?" Teisel asked. "You said that we had to wait until Station Square revolved around Lylat-Hybrid to the point that we were going to enter the system." "Star Fox is a military-chartered task force. We could probably get admission from any point if we deemed it a public emergency..." Peppy dabbed at a sub-comm panel a distance away from the main podium. "...well, we won't have to wait very long, long-range scanners are already extending from Station Square around to us. I'm setting up a subchannel." Peppy pressed another button, causing the screen in front of him to fizzle. The static quickly died out, showing a small, cluttered office, with various receivers and transcievers scattered around the room. A large, buisness-suited man seated himself down in front of the camera, stuffing half a pizza slice into his mouth. "Yeah, whaddya want?" "...Eggman?" "Yes, what the hell does it look like? I take it you want to get into Station Square?" "...is this signal coming from Station Square?" "YES! Check the damned frequency!" Peppy sweatdropped. "...uh... uh-huh, Station Square... but what are YOU doing manning the outgoing inquiries?" "If it's any of your business, this is my 39529th hour of community service. Could we quit with the formalities and get cracking?" "I was thinking you would've gotten hit harder for the entire Chaos incide.." "DO YOU WANT IN OR NOT?!" Eggman bellowed. "...um... sure?" Eggman started drumming on a keyboard next to him. "Identification number?" "Ronald McDonald is dying his hair blue." Eggman paused for a second, before wheeling his incredibly strained chair over to a bookshelf, sliding out a giant binder labelled PASSCODES. "...let's see here... why?" "Because the animal activists told him to." "Are you sure?" "Dave Matthews told me himself." "Okaaaay... Ronald McDonald dyes his hair blue..." Eggman flipped over several pages. "...because of the animal activists..." Flip. "...Dave Matthews told you to... aha! Lylat task force secret passcode Type 8A... HERE we go.... Star Fox team. Stand by for retinal scan." Eggman grabbed the drag-down flatscreen in front of him and moved it inbetween a pair of metal plates. He pressed a button on the side, causing a brief red flash of light. He removed the screen and swiveled it back into place. "Identity confirmed." "..." "...have a nice day." Eggman growled. The screen turned back to static. "...we have access to Lylat-Hybrid," Peppy said. "All we have to do now is just head for Mute City." ******** The Argetlahm continued on through space. It was a short time later that the ship passed through a phalanx of small scanner probes, with jagged insignias on them. The scanners settled on an infrared side view of the destroyer, zooming in on the Great Fox, then quickly switching to the bridge, where Fox was dealing out poker hands to the rest of the Star Fox team. Fox paused as a loud beep radiated out from his headset. He reached up and tapped a button on his helmet, while the other pilots took out small modules from their jacket pockets and started fiddling with them. Takato was slumped down over a guardrail, fast asleep. Falco stood up, ready to wake the boy, until he noticed his rather... uncomfortable sleeping position. Falco tapped Takato on the back, making him jump in shock and fling himself over the rail, landing flat on his face against the clear plastic flooring beneath the main walkway. It was a decent 8-foot drop. Takato pushed himself to his feet, stretching. "...oh, hey, Falco. How's the trip?" "Uh... okay. Anyways..." "I just had this really weird dream. You know how you're always supposed to wake up BEFORE you hit the ground?" Falco sweatdropped. "That's not the point. We just passed through a first-line Cornerian checkpoint. We're entering the Lylat system. Where did Ultimanium go?" "Conked out, I guess. Anyways.. what time is it?" Takato drew back his sweatshirt sleeve. "...it's already nine. Time to wake up?" Falco shrugged. "There isn't really... a 'morning' in space, you kn.." "'kay. G'night." Takato collapsed back to the ground, fast asleep. ******** It was only after several disputes with non-"morning" people that Falco managed to drag everyone up to the bridge. Ultimanium was the easiest to get up and going, immediately returning to his chair and beating away at the keyboards ahead of him. Everybody was lined up on the main walkway as usual, peering out into Lylat space. Ultimanium looked up from his console in time to catch the large, terran grassland planet Corneria passing by in the distance. Peppy entered a number into the comm terminal he was seated at, and rolled his chair away to make room for Fox. The display lit up with the familiar face of General Pepper. "...Fox! Back so soon? I take it your investigation was a success. Do you have the analysis information with you?" "...yeah, we'll upload it to you right away. However, we conducted a joint inquiry with military forces of Earth, and we've come to the conclusion that a person was responsible for the Ki outburst. We have an identity, and current headings. We request permission to continue operations." "Permission granted. Not even we have information on what could possibly create a power flux of that magnitude, and perhaps this culprit of yours could shed some light on the situation? I look forward to receiving more information." "Can do. Fox McCloud, over and out." Up on the main bridge, meanwhile, Slippy was yet again running over every question that remotely appeared in any of his spectators minds... "If we catch every space-compression from here to Mute City... then we should make it there in under two hours, even shorter if we slingshot around Titania..." More interesting ideas flew across the room though. "Smash Bros." "Wonder if they got Digimon cards around here..." "Do they import Elements?" "I've got a date with destiny!" "I've got a date with Dumbass." "There's got to be a Miacas around here somewhere..." ******** The remnant of the journey carried on at a snail's pace. It soon came to the point that much of the crew simply loitered on the bridge, with Minonim constantly whirring around the command center, stopping people from pushing any large red buttons on the control panels. "I think I see it!" Serge stepped forward, adjusting a small trackball ahead of him. The display next to it zoomed in rapidly on the horizon, revealing what looked like a small star, with a large asteroid belt on both sides of it. Shaun nodded. "Mute City. The place could probably radiate light for a good ways... does that look like the place to you, Fox?" "Sure does. At this rate, we should be there in a couple of minutes." ******** A couple of minutes passed. Away, in the distance, the full spectrum of light radiating off of Mute City could be seen. It appeared to be a normal terran planet, but on careful inspection a large metalling plate could be seen running across the equator of the artificial planet. At least three quarters of the face of the biosphere could be seen littered with buildings, skyscrapers, futurisitc high-altitude freeways populated with a swarm of hovercars, various arenas, sweeping wide tracks on which F-Zero preliminary qualifying races were being held, and a gigantic space elevator ending at the top with a large, flat platform. Several smaller moons could be seen off in the distance. High in the sky, several smaller moons could be seen, each a different color. Everybody spent a good while aweing over the epic megalopolis ahead of them, before heading down to their bunks and getting ready for their day in supposed paradise. Locke strided down the hall, hoping to find a cleaner shirt in his bunk. He waved as he passed by Raynor, who was changed into more comfortably-fitting jeans and a muscle shirt. He paused as he faintly heard someone whistling Eye of the Tiger. He would have thought a little more, except... Swish, swish. "Man..." Locke groaned. "That guy is seriously starting to creep me out." He glanced around, before sidestepping into an adjacent bunk as the silouette crept by, dusting the floors with his broom. "JESUS CHRIST!!" "AAAHHHHH!!" Locke tumbled out of the bedroom, with a... less than clothed Teisel beating him back with his wrench. As Locke tumbled to the ground, the door slammed shut behind him. Locke writhed on the floor for a little bit, while Gohan, Vegeta and V2 walked by. "Do YOU know who nabbed my clock radio? I swear, if I find out..." Vegeta muttered. "...better for you, you don't HAVE speed metal blaring in your face at 7 AM on the dot every morning!" Falco walked by. "There is no morning in space..." Gohan sulked. "This had better not be a running gag..." "Speaking of gag..." V2 choked. "Who the hell is singing?" "EYYYYYYYYYYEE OF THE TIIIIGERRRRRRRRRR!!! DA! DA DA DA! DA DA DA! DA DA DAAAAAAAAA!!" Gohan and V2 froze as Eric strutted by, wearing a tuxedo and carrying a bouquet of roses in one hand, and a full-volume clock radio in the other. The radio was linked up to headphones. "...oh... uh.. hey. What's going on?" Gohan opened his mouth to speak, but Takato poked his head out of a bunk further down the hall. "Rika's not the romantic type! You're gonna get creamed!" Guilmon poked his head out of the door opposite of Takato. "Does someone have cream?" "Guilmon, what are you doing over there? Our bunk's over here!" "Actually, our bunk's over HERE!" "Then who's bunk AM I in...?" "COULD I GET SOME PRIVACY HERE?!" Glenn, draped in a towel, grabbed Takato by the seat of his pants and hurled him into the adjacent bunk. It was then that Shaun stepped out of his bunk, in khaki jeans and a white tank top. The first thing he saw was Eric. "Hey, gu... you're kidding." "What?" "We're disguising ourselves in formal dress? I guess you're right, there could be a Trance down there... give me a second, I have a uniform I can use..." Before anyone could say anything, Shaun shut his bunk door. "Poor misguided soul." Serge sighed. He was seated against the wall, lifting up a magazine as he finished his sentence. "We should be worrying more about Casablanca over here." V2 murmured, nudging towards Eric. Again, Gohan was quickly silenced by Eric's palm directly planted in his face. "Hey, don't worry about it. This is my night... I'll try to not bother you, whatever you intend on doing." V2 rolled his eyes toward Gohan. "...what ARE we doing?" "I guess we'll have to try to find something... it can't be THAT hard to keep ourselves busy." As Gohan and V2 left, Vegeta went deeper into the ship, where his bunk was situated. Most of the male crew passed by Shaun's bunk as he stuck his head out, watching as the majority of the fighters entered the left turbolift. Shaun paused hesitantly. "...nah. I need something comfortable to wear anyways. I'll need maximum mobility..." He turned and looked back into his bunk, before stepping inside and grabbing a small keychain off the wall, with a pen-shaped crystal and a small steering-wheel shaped apparatus attached to it. He clipped the small brass ring onto his belt. "...I'm not taking a chance like the Trances again..." ******** The view scrolled down, making the female bunks' hallway visible. Inside the nearest bunk, Rika sat in her overcoat with her chair leant back, slapping a paddle ball back and forth. She tried to ignore the clatter-like rumble that rolled down the hall, until Charmy's skates clanked to a halt, and she quickly slipped in. She was changed out of her normal shorts, now draped in a long silver dress. "...so what's going on here?" "Absolutely nothing." Rika growled. She began to beat the ball back with more force, wincing as the ball completely snapped off the rubber cord and rebounded on the wall in front of her, rolling to a stop on the metal floor. "Aren't you getting ready? We're stopping in Mute City in a couple minutes now." "I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Rika scooped the rubber ball off the floor and slipped it into a nearby drawer. "...I was thinking Eric would be putting on a show now that we've arrived in a suitable dating jungle." Rika still never glanced over. "If he's expecting me to walk out there in a thong, he's got another thing coming. Towards him. Fast. Like my fist." Charmy sweatdropped. "Well... no. I just thought that looked a little bulky, that's all..." "My wardrobe's decided. There's going to be no more on the subject." Rika suddenly sprung into step, shoving Charmy against the door frame as she exited. Charmy just shrugged, and followed suit. Renamon sat against the wall a short ways away from the bunk entrance, watching intently as the two crewwomen slid into the turbolift and raised it to the bridge floor. ******** The small door on the side of the bridge swung open with a clang, leading out onto a metal catwalk not unlike the one at the Magnopolis spaceport. As people began to file out, Ultimanium leading, though, it was easy to tell that their surroundings certainly weren't of Magnopolitian style. The entire surface around the Argetlahm was intricately-cut plate glass, broken at the front by a blue-tinted metal structure that led out into the main city. As the group began to exit the compound, they realized that they were actually on a higher level - for several floors of catwalks beneath them, there were people constantly buzzing this way and that - along the walkways, through large suspended open areas (often with little shops, rest areas and such) and in and out of taller buildings that stretched from the very bottom of the superstructure to out of sight. The residents were varied, as well, something that surprised the crew. Raynor, though, brushed the observation off, knowing that this surprise often came at new exotic ports - there were normal humans, among other races, including different animal-like anthromorphs, several multi-legged mermen, large buzzing insects that hovered a good three feet off the ground, a variety of muscled workers hefting steel I-beams that could very well be described as halflings, even a large, turreted purple octopus at a booth serving what appeared to be some kind of dessert to several jumpy children. "This is insane." Takato and Locke chorused. Further off in the distance, behind a thick plate of translucent crystal, highways could be seen erected high above the crowds. They were interweaved between infinitely tall skyscrapers and domes, supporting leagues of hovercars as they sped at unheard-of speeds up and down the roads. Off in the distance, a large black rail rose above all the buildings combined. It reached high into the sky until it ended abruptly. It appeared as if it were pointed at a purple star, high in the sky. Balkan held his heavy hand up. "What in the name... what is that giant pillar for?" Fox looked around. "...remind me to tell you sometime. Well, everybody, here we are, Mute City. You ARE in semi-alien territory, so please, don't try to get in too much trouble. Hey, Ulty, you got a time when we need to leave?... Ulty?" Ultimanium was also looking around. "... this place is WACKED... uh... you say somethin'?" "When are you planning on leaving?" "I wanna check this place out too," Ultimanium replied. "Let's give everybody a day. Back here by 1000 hours tomorrow morning. You guys can stay aboard the Argetlahm for tonight, or you can check out what the hotels around here have to offer. It's up to you." Falco slapped his hands together. "Well, then let's have some fun. Before anyone decides to run off on their loneso.." Falco paused, and looked off into the distance, where Eric could be seen dragging a stationary Rika down a walkway by her feet. Rika gave a weak wave to the rest of the crew as they disappeared behind an archway. Charmy heaved a sigh in response. Falco tugged at his jacket. "Okay, now... as I was saying, did anyone wanna check out the Smash Elite Tournament? We've got to sign up right away before all the slots are taken, and preliminary matches are starting in a couple of hours..." Tron leant forward. "Hell.. maybe I'll join up." Serge nodded. "Me too." Fox gave the two hesitant stares. "...uh... this IS the Smash Elite Fighting Tournament... the contestants here are from all over the galaxy! I can't exactly guarantee your guys' safety... the participants are usually rowdy, coming from every dark place in space and all..." "I'm pretty sure Millenial was a bit worse." Shaun mumbled. He planted his hands on a nearby guardrail, looking out over a freeway beneath him. "I wouldn't mind checking this out too. Maybe even I'LL join up." Gohan shrugged. "Me too." Fox looked over Gohan slowly. "...remember, the Smash battles are all machinery-based... the 200 powerlevel limit? Remember?" Gohan shrunk. "...aw, man... what does that leave ME to do?" Peppy immediately stepped forward. "Hey, I need a crowd too! I've got a qualifying race for the Silence circuit in the F-Zero Grand Prix! You wanna head to that?" Gohan brightened, as did V2. "Sure!" The group exchanged waves. The higher powerlevel fighters, Ultimanium, Vegeta, Balkan, Gohan and V2 among them, departed with Peppy to the main streets of the city, while the remainder turned where they were and continued down a side street. ******** Fox and Falco led the lower-powerlevel bracket down the streets, taking multiple turns through unpopulated avenues until they finally arrived back at the city center. The selection of races was even more diverse at this point. Off in a secluded corner of the city square was what looked like a large office building, with a large quarter-circle emblem to the right of the door. The group stopped short of the entrance, as dozens of different people flooded in and out of the building. "...this is the subheadquarters of the main Smash Mute City Division." Falco spoke. "This is where the new initiates go to have themselves put into the lower ladders, and it's also the main access station to most of the arenas. There's a fair-sized tube station underneath the building that leads to most of the battlegrounds." Takeru looked up at the rising building, and the expansion behind it. "...I know we don't have enough time for a full-fledged tournament, but don't they at least have exhibition matches? It would really help the time pass." Fox looked back. "If you guys want to go in an exhibition match, it's up to you. It's normally reserved for the less serious combatants, so it shouldn't be too hard on you. How many of you wanted to go in?" Everybody raised their hands. Takato grit his teeth. "Guilmon? You can't go in there!" "Why not?" Guilmon asked, blinking. "Well... what'll people think? You're a digimon!" "There's certainly weirder things around here." Teisel grunted, stepping away as a large, uniformed lobster crawled by. The crustacean reached up and tipped its small hat at Tron, who sweatdropped. Patamon tilted his head. "How bad could it be?" Takato backed away from the crowd staring at him. "..oh...oh, alright. Guilmon, TRY not to make too much of an issue!" "Yay!" Guilmon hopped ahead of the group and began lumbering towards the rotating door that led into the vast lobby of the building. Everybody caught on a split-second after, and quickly hopped into a surprised run as they tried to keep up with the Rookie. ******** It was an hour later when the other half of the crew showed up at their destination, a long, wide walkway that hovered at least 200 feet above the ground level. On a large platform beneath them, dozens upon dozens of smaller, colored vehicles were being tended to by their owners. Several cranes were running nonstop, picking up the inspected racers and placing them on nearby elevators. The far wall was made up of several giant plates of glass, showing just beyond it a straightaway section of the Mute City main track, and beyond it the city's skyline. Gohan lent over the guardrail. "Are these the F-Zero racers?" "All prim and proper." Peppy finished. "I already gave the inspectors the dock number of the Argetlahm, so they'll be retouching my Arwing and dampening the G-Diffusers so it'll be down to F-Zero regulation specifications." Ultimanium stared at Peppy. Balkan lent in front of him. "Are you sure that's the brightest thing to do? There COULD be Trances after us, you know." "Trust me, I know these fellows. They wouldn't let anybody but themselves on before they start shooting at them." Everybody looked up as a giant speaker hanging from the celing of the bunker crackled. "Racers #25662 and #59259, please report to the main registration office for your inspection results." Peppy straightened back up. "That'd be me. You guys wanna come? There's a real great donair shop right across..." "For the last time, we don't HAVE anything better to do!" Vegeta growled. Peppy nodded uneasily. "..y-yes, right. Well, c'mon..." Yet another maze of catwalks would follow. What everybody intended to be a short jog eventually turned into a 20-minute test in navigation. Finally, everybody arrived at a small office supported in midair aside from the main catwalk, supported from the celing by several large pillars. While everyone else went to wait in the abeforementioned donair shop, Peppy strided into the office. The main lobby appeared like a bank, a small chamber with finely polished floors, and several openings along a long counter. Two of the lines had at least a dozen aliens and humanoids in queue, so Peppy stepped up to the center opening, where the last person, a large, tall man in dark spandex and a red helmet with the insignia of a falcon was just finishing up. As the man stepped away, Peppy moved into his place. "Hold up your badge." the female clerk droned. Peppy dug in his jacket pocket for a small metal strip. He held it up while the worker quickly ran a small laser pointer across from it. "Racer #25662, Peppy Hare, our inspectors have finished inspecting the racers, the Arwings, and have deemed them fit for use in the Mute City qualifying round." Peppy blinked. "As in the plural tense?" "Well, yes." Peppy leapt as he felt someone poke him in the back. Peppy whirled around... and found himself staring straight at Heero. "Heero? What are you doing here?" "Just having some fun." Heero lowered his head, chuckling. "You seem to be alright with taking a multi-million dollar fighter into a drag race, so it can't be that dangerous." "What?!" Peppy fumed. "You think this is EASY?!" "This isn't easy." Heero replied. "FIGHTING with this thing is easy." Heero smirked as he turned away from Peppy. Peppy, in response, turned back to the clerk. "You let him in?!" The clerk scanned Heero. "Racer #59259, Heero Yuy, piloting the Arwing II." "No way..!" Peppy turned back... and found no one there. "...well, if Mr. Yuy is so full of himself... we'll have to see how he does with the Arwing!" Peppy placed his hands on his hips... though felt sort of concerned given Heero's earlier performance with the Arwing... "...bah, what am I thinking..." Peppy sighed again as Balkan and V2 walked through the doors, their sizes totally mismatched. "...was that Heero that just walked out?" Balkan asked. "He's already signed up for the qualifying rounds... first race is on Mute City's main raceway, two hours. Come to think of it... I wouldn't mind seeing exactly HOW he does in a situation like this." V2 crossed his arms. "Is that the same race you're in?" "Exactly. I have a feeling he's going to get pummeled." Balkan shook his head. "What is the problem? We have TWO representatives of the Argetlahm running in the race. I really don't see the bad side of it..." "Then you obviously know jack about F-Zero." Peppy shot back. ******** As everybody ran about their business, the artificial sun off in the distance began to sink, casting an orange hue over most of the city. Down on a walkway interweaved between several dozen other smaller ones, a small set of tables and accompanying chairs were set up on a large, open grate linked to a cafe that made up one tier of a gigantic tower. Seated at one table near the edge were Rika and Eric. "..." Rika sat with her arms folded, still in her overcoat. A single donut on a plate sat in front of her, next to a cup of coffee. Across from her, Eric sat behind a heap of pasta high enough to block his sight of Rika, with several other side-dishes scattered around the surface. "...I'm at least grateful someplace here serves nearly edible food." Rika coughed. Eric leant on the table. All his dishes were empty. "Yeah, alien dishes are an aquired tastes." He held his arm up. "Waiter! Another plate of squid gut pasta?" "Oh, hell..." Rika scoffed. She began to get up from the table, but noticed Renamon in her head screaming at her. "SIDDOWN!!" the imaginary Renamon shrieked, causing Rika to fall back in her chair again. She shook her head, and turned back to Eric, sighing in disgust as he began to dig into another plate of the irregular pasta. "Well, I'd better start up SOME kind of conversation before Renamon notices..." Rika murmured to herself. She cleared her throat. "So, Eric. Where did you get all your techniques?" "Bah, only know a couple. The ones I DO know I found by accident. Were you listening to a thing Magnus said?" "I wasn't there." "OH, YEAH!" Eric shouted. "I forgot. Anyways, I'm Magnus' brother." Rika spat out a mouthful of coffee. "...what?! Why does no one tell me these things?!" "His mom was a summoner, and his dad was a refugee from Vegeta-sei. According to what Magnus told me, I had successfully combined first level Ki skill and the first tier of summoning, fire into the attack Neutron Flare. Which reminds me... I have to talk to him and see if he knows any other possible combinations." "That's.. great." Rika said. Eric placed his silverware down. "Well, that was great. You're gonna finish that?" Rika looked down at her quarter-donut. "Yeah. Maybe later." she took the donut off the table and placed it in her coat pocket. "...so... now what?" Eric folded his arms behind him and leant backwards. "Yeah, what?" "What do you mean?" "Well, what do YOU wanna do? We've already eaten, that's the first order of business... so what's next?" "I thought YOU were controlling this." Eric shook his head. "YOU'RE the guest of honor." "Ha ha." Rika droned. "Let's see... what CAN we d... we? What can I do?" She looked around herself. Many of the walkways around her were beginning to become less and less populated. "Man, I can't stick around with him ALONE out here! There's got to be somewhere crowded where I can go... hmm.. that's it! Everybody else is at the Smash competitions and the F-Zero tracks... but where are those?! Crap... c'mon, think of something..." Eric blinked. "...maybe... you wanna head to where the Smash matches are going?" "Let's!" Rika blurted. "...um.. yeah." "Funny you should say that," Eric grimaced. "'cause look what I got!" Rika's eyes went wide as Eric produced a pair of tickets and held them up. "I got you and me free cover charge into Club Treno, it's a big place right near Smash HQ! They're gonna have the preliminary matches on a big screen tonight! I wonder if we'll see Fox and Falco! And if you're REALLY serious..." Eric pulled out another slip, a coupon. "...you can get season tickets." Rika blinked in confusion. "...uh...um... I... guess?" "Great! Everything's starting in an hour or so. You wanna head over now?" Rika was still lost. "...sure?" **Is this guy serious?** ******** Serge, Takeru, Shaun and Crono all sat in a small booth, silently sipping cups of coffee. Meanwhile, around them, a large group was seated in scattered chairs at one end of the room watching a currently going match on a medium-sized TV hanging from the celing. Onscreen, a short, fat man in jean overalls was trading blows with what looked like a giant yellow rat. As the rat attempted to whip his opponent with his jagged tail, the man grabbed it and proceeded to hammer-throw his oppressor far off into the distance and off the arena. The rat fell about 50 feet before impacting against a purple-tinted energy barrier. In the corner of the screen, alongside percentage damages of each player, the words GAME SET blinked. Shaun watched intently as the spectators leapt into an outroar, cheering and giving each other high fives, among other things. Serge turned back to the group. "What are we doing here again?" "We have to wait while everyone else goes through their physical testing," Takeru responded. "I was surprised we got right into the heart of Smash HQ in under ten minutes, but it doesn't look like anyone else is going to be that lucky." Crono just sighed in response. Everybody in the room turned their heads as a door slid open with a hiss at the far end of the room, and another eight people of different heights strided into the room, seating themselves at another cluster of seats around a pair of tables. They had devices on their chests and backs, signifying that they themselves just had matches. Shaun looked up again as more people entered - Fox, Takato and Guilmon. "Well, guys, we managed to get Guilmon registered as an anthro... what the?" Fox pointed towards one of the occupied tables, where another group of four sat. "Holy crap! It IS you!" "Whoa! Fox, great to see you again!" One of the figures raised its hand, bulked up by some metal plating. Takato stepped forward. "Is that..." "Ryo Akiyama." a medium-height woman called from the back seat. Ryo scoffed, staring across to her. Ryo resumed his smile, standing up. "Takato. This is the LAST place I'd expect to find you. What's going on?" Takato also had a mile-wide grin. "Ah, it's a long story. I was about to ask you the same question!" "Just lookin' for somethin' to do." Ryo wheezed. "We're all good friends with Falco and Fox. We're in most of the same ladders. C'mon, guys, introduce yourselves." Seated adjacent to Ryo was a six-foot tall dog anthro draped in an excessively long green cloak, and a totally out-of-place two-and-a-half-foot tall* pink puff with large, beady black eyes. They both turned to Takato, giving him blank stares. Fox tapped his foot. "C'mon.. your name is..." "....S-S-Scias." the dog answered shakily. "And yours..." The puff just stared at Fox, and shrugged. It was at that time that Crono walked up and tilted his head at it. The creature responded. Soon, the two silent protagonists were in a conversation of body language that no one else could figure out. Fox shook his head. "Kirby." "And the last one..." Shaun stared at the woman, and received a knowing glare back. "...ah, I FIGURED it was you. What's been going on?" Takato turned to Shaun. "You know her?" "Farah Oersted." she smiled, nodding. "Farah was also one of the people who frequented the Van Eltia. She taught me a large chunk of my melee moves." he looked her up again. "One of the heroes that shut down Shizel, remember? Still... what are you doing here?" "I've been here ever since the new Smash tournament started up a week ago." Farah climbed around Ryo, and stood to her feet. She was draped in a long orange and white dress, and wearing fair-sized boots. Takato blinked. "She fights in that?" "You'd be surprised." Shaun muttered. "Hey, Farah, we need to unwind until the exhibition matches start, my friends here are enlisted. I might join up if I get satisfactory results from my physical... what's been happening to the guys since I've been gone? I'm kind of wondering what happened to Reid... I hadn't even heard of him for a couple of weeks before the Van Eltia incident..." "Actually, he's here too. Everything's seemed to wind down a bit since everything happened... about everybody's wound down finally, except Chat, she kept running around screaming until she hijacked someone else's ship to use for the time being. We haven't heard from her since." Shaun sweatdropped. "Keele was at work with some of his techie friends at Mintche campus, trying to put together a minor Fringe engine for use in a rally car competition... Reid agreed to haul it out into the big leagues for prior testing." "REID is in F-Zero? That's the last thing I'd thought I'd hear. Does he even know how to drive?" Farah grimaced, twiddling her thumbs. "See, that's a good part of the reason I keep an eye on him." Everybody paused as an explosion rippled from outside. The intercom suddenly kicked in. "Please do not be alarmed. The Mute City preliminary race is experiencing some minor technical difficulties. Highway A6 will be closed for the time being while car debris is cleaned." Everybody present frowned. "I'm not sure if Reid's presence is a blessing or a curse." Shaun grumbled. "Hey, who's match is going right now?..." Ryo looked up to the television. Onscreen, a pale man with spiked hair and curved shoulderpads waved a lanky arm at his opponent, a blond, medium height teen in blue short overalls, and a yellow undershirt. He waved a translucent blue sword at him in response. Both contestants were stood on top of a building presumably in Mute City somewhere. The rooftop was wide open, with crates and pipes here and there to offer some sort of protection and tactical oppritunities. As the spherical barrier of purple energy expanded out to shield the arena, it stretched a bit beyond the edges of the facade, to allow either fighter to fall off. The camera panned around for a bit before the announcer kicked in. "Beginning round 17 of the Mute City Annual Smash competition, we have two more gladiators fighting for the coveted slot above the first tier! Fresh off the presses from our endorsement of Spira's Blitzball league three years back, our first contestant appears to have been making some impact in the lower levels of the league in his short time here. Make way for first-level gladiator Tidus!" Several people in the front seats started hooting. Everybody else clapped politely. "As for our second partic... hmm. This could be something, folks. Data on our second fighter has been supressed in the time between registration and our match. Based on cases in the past, this can't be a good thing for his career, folks. Anyways, welcome first-level gladiator Hyades!" Farah lent forward. "Hyades...?" "Oh, he only tried to KILL us how many times!" rang out a shout from the back. Everybody turned. Standing at the door was a medium-built man in a blue G-suit, with a large helmet under his arm. He had a head of bushy red hair that nearly stretched down to his shoulders. "Reid?" Shaun stammered. "Weren't you..." Reid shook his head. "Samaurai Goroh tried to do another trick. Off the edge of the track." "Aren't you supposed to still be racing though?" "The bastard put a hell of a lot of shrapnel in the road behind him. Me and some other cars got their fronts totaled, so I was excused along with them and granted access into the first round of the F-Zero Jack circuit. I have another race in Mute City, if I win I might be heading to Silence..." "Silence?" Locke asked. "All those moons that are heading around Mute City are artificial, too," Ryo explained. "That's where they have the majority of the F-Zero races. It's rumored that some of the highest-level Smash battles are held up there, too. Silence is the light blue one. It's called that because an unidentifiable source of white sound was discovered at that point in space when it was first constructed, making the entire moon completely silent. That's about all I know." "What about the other ones?" Raynor interjected. "All the ones that are visible to the human eye are Big Blue, 96% of its surface is freshwater, Fire Field is a lava planet, Bianca City is a sub-colony of Mute City, and Stark Farm doubles as an agricultural center for Mute City." "Any ot.." Takeru attempted to speak, but was assaulted with several dozen Shhhs. "The match's starting." One observer scowled. Everybody turned to the screen. Tidus was becoming more restless as the timer in the corner ticked downwards to game time. Meanwhile, Hyades sat ready, his arms behind him as if preparing to defend. "We're ready to go! 3... 2... 1.... FIGHT!" Tidus began a jog up towards Hyades, anticipating an attack. As he began to draw closer, with Hyades remaining stationary, Tidus broke into a sprint straight at the impish fighter. He leapt up with a bellow and flipped downwards, bringing his blade in one hand down at Hyades' head. Everybody winced as a crackle echoed out of nowhere. Onscreen, it appeared that Hyades was holding Tidus' sword off in thin air, but Hyades thrust his hand forward, revealing a ripple of air in the direction of his palm. "It looks like Hyades might be charging up for an attack. Tidus might have his hands full if he can't push forward!" Tidus pressed down, shoving Hyades back. Tidus quickly rushed, flicking his wrist forward for a sideways blow, but Hyades yelled out, swinging his hands up and down. A 20-foot lancing beam of energy slammed down, hitting Tidus square between the eyes. Instead of slicing through its target like the attack was intended to, a ripple of blue energy crackled in response and Tidus was hurled a distance backwards. He quickly got up, pushing on his sword. In the corner of the screen, Tidus' percentage rose from 0% to 24%. "An elemental attack! I thought those were strictly forbidden by Smash arena rules!" "Used to be. Lately the use of elements has been admitted, though the user IS subject to severe penalties that may hurt his ranking in future rounds." Tidus flipped forward, striking a surprised Hyades in the neck with the sharp edge. Hyades rolled to the side from the impact, smashing through a heap of crates. Tidus darted over and began to kick the body across the concrete, quickly raising Hyades' percentage to 50% as Tidus leapt back into a defensive stance. "Ouch! Eat that!" Tidus' tone quickly rose as Hyades burst from the wreckage, leaping a good twenty feet into the air. Tidus bounded forward with agility and leapt in an upward swing, smashing Hyades further into the air. 64%. "Eyah!" Tidus shouted, clenching his fist. The concrete underneath his feet cracked slightly as he began to focus. "I've been saving this one for you!!" Tidus leapt again as Hyades came down with a crash, swing his sword back and forward again, spraying a rain of blasts down onto the ground. The hard granite seemed to absorb the force at first, before exploding violently and sending shards of rock into the air, Hyades leading. 105%. As Tidus came down, he landed a hard overhand swing right on top of Hyades' head, spiking him completely off the building. Hyades let out a squeal as he began what appeared to be a ten-storey plunge, but instead impacted harmlessly against a purple barrier. The words GAME SET were stretched across the screen. A good portion of the crowd in front of the television jumped up, cheering. "Wow! A near-flawless victory for Tidus! If he can keep a pattern like THAT up, he should have no trouble in the next round." A man walked up, switching off the television. "That's all the ladder matches for today, folks. If you want, you can get front row seats at the exhibition matches for free. Just follow the directions on the schedule." Takeru watched as everybody got up and headed in different directions. "...how does this work?" Falco walked by, carrying a hockey bag. "We just use the tube stations we told you about earlier. They lead all over Mute City. It should be a couple minutes of walking from the station nearest the arena." "Who's on first?" Patamon asked. Takato leant on his toes, peering above the crowd around the newly-posted sheet. "First match... Brinstar... the match's between... Takeru Takishi and Guilmon... versus Serge and...Crono! Report to warpstation B7." Fox shrugged. "Brinstar? They never toss that in exhibition matches. Well, all I can say is that you guys are in for a ride, 'cause that's not any normal arena. You're going to be warping to Silence, and you're gonna be fighting underground. Brinstar is an actual planet, but it's a good distance away from here, so they found something similar to its interior there." "Any matches later?" Dante asked. "Just a second." Takato pushed forward into the crowd, now nearly diminished. "Second match... Dante Sparda and Glenn Fields versus Teisel Bonne and Scias, at Green Greens. Report to tubestation #3." Tron rolled her wrist. "Third... Tron Bonne and Ryo Akiyama versus Robo and Erkel. Rainbow Cruise. Tubestation #12. There's one more here - Locke Cole versus Cecil Harvey, Fourside Heights. Tubestation A." Fox blinked. "Cecil Harvey? What's HE doing in the exhibitions?" Kirby waved his limbs around at Crono. Crono waved his limbs around to Ryo. "...yeah, that's right." Ryo murmured. "How do you figure out what these morons mean?" Teisel spat. Ryo shrugged. "I'm used to it. Anyways, Cecil Harvey is THE original Smash swordsman. Hey, Fox, you remember when Marth and Roy hung out around here?" "Yeah, so?" "Cecil stole the publicity from them. Though they never had a big match, Cecil stole the title of Mute City's swordsman from the two when they weren't looking. Normally Cecil's hanging around the medium-high level Smash rankings! I wonder what he would be doing in the exhibitions... it's rumored that he might be a paladin." "Bah," Locke chuckled. "Let's just let the game go on, and may the best man win." "For some odd reason, the name sounds somehow... badass." Glenn rubbed his chin. "Then let's go." Falco nodded. "We don't have much time before these matches start." "Great, let's get a moveon. How about you, Far... ah?" Shaun turned to find no one there. Ryo was headed out the door. "Hey, Ryo, where're you headed? Your match starts in a couple hours." "Sure does," Ryo chuckled. "I've got a couple of things to do before then. Don't worry." ******** In a similar building on the other side of the city, everybody else was seated on a large sofa set up in a lowered section of a restaraunt. Other people stood, sat on the floor, or sat at nearby tables to get a good view of the bigscreen in front of them. On the plasma television, repeated flybys of Mute City's racetrack were being played. The eatery's patrons seemed to shrink away from Balkan's side of the couch, him being at least two feet taller than everyone else and extremely built. "Aw, man, when does this start?" Gohan sighed. "We've been sitting here for fifteen minutes already." "Public humilations always take time." Vegeta muttered. "I'm watching to see the one person that drives off the edge." Ultimanium started to speak but was overshadowed by the two speakers set up next to the television. "Ladies and gentlement, welcome to the first round of the F-Zero Grand Prix, Queen circuit, set in beautiful Mute City. You may be wondering why Jack circuit isn't currently being shown. As a matter of fact, it is beginning in several hours..." The camera switched to an isometric view of the starting grid, where racers were quickly darting around their racers, standing and waving to the crowd or seated already in their craft. "...and its winners will be added into the Queen bracket partway through. We think this new setup will give some fierce competition that's preserved throughout the rest of the season. We all saw Captain Falcon's masterful qualifying time, but it looks like he'll have some competition in the pole position today..." "Let's get started, shall we? Leading the pole position in the first Mute City race in the Queen Circuit... 1st place is held by Captain Falcon in the Blue Falcon, as said before." The crowd in the nearby grandstands rose into an roaring cheer. Everybody on the couch held their ears shut as the treble from the speakers kicked in. Onscreen, the figure in blue spandex gave a hearty wave from the crowd, and clasped his helmet on. He immediately sunk into the superlight craft, and clicked the cockpit shut. "Second in pole position, suspended three times throughout his earlier seasons for unsportsmanlike conduct but obviously back, Max Damage and the Eagle 3!" An extremely tall, shirtless bald with man with piercings around his body gave an insulting laugh out into the crowd. He flipped backwards into his car, landing on his back on a metal strip on top of his car. It lowered, and a panel of cherry-red metal, colored like the rest of the vehicle slid out over him. The actual machine was much like a sports car, with its axels removed and replaced with F-Zero standard-issue opposing-gravity devices. It was covered with a finely polished red sheen, and had a gigantic spoiler hanging off the back. "Third! Miles Prower in the Winged Victory!" A four-and-a-half* foot tall fox stood waving, a pair of tails swishing impatiently behind him. He kicked off the side of his craft, jumping and falling perfectly into the cockpit. The vehicle looked like it had once been a jet plane but cut in half horizontally, leaving a giant radial engine in front powering the craft, and a tall fin in the back with an emblem of a pair of tails. The entire transport was covered in blue patchwork metal plates, connected with hundreds of screws. "In fourth place, making a dramatic recovery from his qualifying race's tragedy, Samurai Goroh in the Fire Stingray!" A large man in an aging pilot's helmet and bomber jacket, with a shirt with a rising sun underneath, stood grinning and apparently taking in all the cheering that was going on with ease - even if it wasn't directed necessarily AT him. "Many of the trailing racers hail from the first qualifying rounds, as seen last Wednesday. Of particular interest is Pico and the Wild Goose, as this is the first F-Zero Grand Prix he's taken part in since his wild accident three years ago. Well, with all regards, we welcome you back, Pico!" The camera quickly zoomed into the middle of the pack, where a medium-sized scaly figure was in the process of getting into his moderately-armored dark green car. While it certainly didn't appear aerodynamic, it didn't look very pleasing to get rammed by it. "That's our lineup for today's race. We will now have a two-minute T-minus for our racers to get ready and in their cars, as well as a last-minute checkup by their faithful pit crews. We'll be back right after these messages from our sponsors..." V2 drummed his fingers on the cushions on both sides of him. "Awwwwww!! This'll never get going!" Gohan leant forward. "I think I can see Peppy in the front third." Everybody else craned forward in response. Indeed, the Arwing stuck out like a sore thumb in the phalanx of high-performance racers. Peppy bent down into the cockpit and cranked a lever, causing the wings of the fighter to contract and lock onto the sides of the ship. Ultimanium remained silent. "Something troubles you." Balkan groaned. "I don't know why, but I'm kind of concerned about the Argetlahm staying where it is..." "What's wrong?" Vegeta mocked. "Lose your key?" "That thing can't be moved by a cruise missile if it's parked in the position it's in," Gohan sighed. "Don't worry. I'm sure Minonim'll have everything under control if anything goes wrong. Say, how DID you lock the place down, anyways?" Ultimanium nodded. "Minonim, don't let anyone aboard that isn't fighting Antimagnus." "I'd advise you to think of a collective term for the Argetlahm before a technicality causes it to vanish into thin air." Vegeta huffed. ******** The crowd's cheering could be heard, though at a much lower tone. The solid concrete support celing above Ryo was mostly to blame. Ryo quickly rushed through the hallways underneath the grandstand with a hockey bag slung over his shoulder, rapidly turning as the path he remembered to the main stretch pulsed in his memory. He breathed a sigh of relief as he came out into a slightly wider hall, with a door of light at the end. He burst out into the F-Zero Mute City starting grid, and quickly glanced around himself. He grinned as he spotted a giant, dull-grey painted vehicle in the midst of the group. It basically looked like a giant rocket engine with a hastily crafted single-man cockpit on top, and a medium-sized sloping fin in the back with a lightning bolt on it. Ryo slowed to a stop as a cart rolled out from underneath the missile. On top of it was a mechanic, in a long black t-shirt and slacks. He tossed a wrench to the ground and sat up. He had a head full of brown hair, stuck in clumps from sweat. He whistled, sweeping sweat off his forehead, blocked somewhat by a visor. Ryo nodded, and smiled as he rubbed his hand along the surface of the craft. "Everything goin' well, Kazu?" "It's about freaking TIME you got here!" Hirokazu huffed. "The damn race STARTS in under two minutes, you know!" "Hey, don't worry," Ryo quickly laughed back. "You know I always get here in time!" "'In time' is a bit stretching it. Hey, the Silver Thunder's all ready to go. Everything's tricked out just the way you like it. Just go out there and win." "...you're pissed off, aren't you?" "...I know it, I just know it, one of these times you're not GOING to come, and every other car here is going to run me over when the green light hits! I tell ya, Ryo, I don't think balancing Smash Bros. and F-Zero is really the way to go." "Just trust me." Ryo climbed up and over the Silver Thunder, sliding himself into the padded cockpit. "I mean, every time so far, right?" Hirokazu just frowned, shaking his head. He began to step away as the engines of the Silver Thunder began to power up, lifting it a couple feet off the ground. He picked up his box of tools and quickly darted across the raceway to the far end, as much of the other mechanics and pit crew were doing. "Racers! On your mark, begin the F-Zero Queen Circuit Grand Prix! Let the best man win! 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." "GOOOO!!" ******** Takeru and Guilmon stood on one side of the capsule, while Serge and Crono stood on the other. Outside, space was hurtling by them as the space station beneath them began to shrink, and a distant moon started to take form. "...Silence..." Serge droned. "Say, why aren't our brains blasted out of our heads already?" Takeru asked. "I mean, we're travelling way faster than the Argetlahm ever has and I haven't felt a bump yet." Crono turned and stared at Guilmon, who appeared to get slightly queasy at the mentioning of his brains being dislodged violently. He tapped Serge on the shoulder and whispered into his ear. Serge shook his head. "Well, apparently it's already happened. Seriously, though, since Mute City has the technology to create kinetic amplifiers, they must obviously have some sort of method of pacifying kinetic energy and momentum." "...wait a min FRAAAASSHH In a split second, the capsule's inhabitants were crushed against the floor from the continuing force of the ship's high-velocity impact against the surface of Silence, and their insides were blasted out in giant bloodstains across the panel flooring of the craft. Or, well, they WOULD'VE, except the kinetic dampeners well still in action and the ship stopped harmlessly with the same FRAAASH, with everyone still standing as they were a second ago. "...that... was weird." Serge gasped. Everybody backed against one wall as an entire side of the pod folded backwards with a loud hiss. Outside, several technicians approached the capsule, and started dismantling the doors. A pair of armed guards ushered the group out of the space pod and out onto the catwalk in front of them. While offering a comfortable amount of space to move around in, the pathway was situated over a literal ocean of puke-colored acid, beneath the roof of the exquisite caverns of Silence. Off in the distance, a large platform was held to the celing by a series of girders. Beyond that, several other similarly designed overhangs sat, many of them being used. There were one-on-one duels in process on the two farthest ones. Takeru winced as with one smash a contestant was hurled over the edge of the jagged rock platform, but breathed a sigh of relief as he/she stopped with a crackle in midair as a purple barrier underneath him/her brightened into view. One of the technicians walked into view, flipping through a clipboard. "Takeru Takaishi, Serge, Crono... Guilmon? Is this our teams for Exhibition #237?" "Confirmed. Takeru Takaishi and Guilmon versus Serge and Crono, Brinstar." the other sung. "Could I please get you to follow our referee?" the man pointed toward a tall, shriveled man standing next to what looked like an upward-arched panel of metal with a large arrow painted on it. Serge walked over, leading the group. "...so, how does this work?" "I suppose you know many of the important rules of Smash Bros.?" the worker asked in a raspy voice. Crono nodded. "...okay, then. Could I ask you each to step on this panel, one at a time?" Takeru looked down at the embroidered panel stretching upwards off the main platform. He turned back to Patamon, who had since seated himself at the edge of the catwalk, ready to get a good view of the coming match. Takeru focused on the strip of metal in front of him, and stomped down on the lighted strip. He screeched out in fear as the ground left from beneath his feet, and he was launched in an arc, landing a good two hundred feet away on one of the battle platforms - in a period of two seconds. Takeru raised his head, wheezing in a cold sweat as he pushed himself off the ground with his right arm. He looked up and around the platform. The lower level was awfully plain, with several wide metal walkways built into the surrounding rock. In the middle, a strange bird-like statue sat, crouched. The upper platforms hung off of each side of the arena, held in place by strange, cartilidge-like cords. Takeru reached behind him, drawing the Sword of Truth out from the sheath hanging from his hip as the other three contestants landed around him, Guilmon the nearest. "Wehee!" Guilmon cackled. "That was fun!" "Guilmon," Takeru quickly called out. "We're going to be fighting soon. I know it might not be as comfortable fighting by me as it might be Takato, but you have to keep a target. Go for Crono, Serge is far too dexterous for anything but another blade to handle." Takeru grit his teeth as Guilmon blinked at him, hoping his instructions could sink into the apparently thick-headed digimon's motive. "...okay!" Guilmon bobbed his head in acknowledgement. "Good!" Takeru growled, holding his blade high. On the other side of the arena, Serge and Crono were in similar poses, ready to attack at a moment's notice. "It doesn't look like we'll have much else for a plan." "Ready, combatants! And... fight!!" ******** Rika sat in the expansive lounge, drumming her fingers as she had been earlier. However, this time it wasn't enough to drown out the growing crowd around her. The room had at least triple the attendance the cafe she and Eric had been at had, and the mood was further dampened by the excessive amount of black light attempting to keep the room with some kind of atmosphere. From a large door near the back, repetitive dance music was blaring. "Don't even THINK about it." Rika grumbled. Eric didn't have time to catch on to Rika's sudden outburst, but looked up as she gave a disgusted glance to the door several seats away. "Whatever floats your boat." Eric said flatly, sipping from a glass of ice water. Rika, while somewhat repulsed at the sexual innuendo thrown at her, was relieved that Eric wasn't the type to force her through hell in the sake of 'having a good time'. "Good. Now that we've gotten THAT down we can just sit here in PEACE." A good twenty feet away, the 56-inch TV rapidly switched from an uneventful rodeo on TNN to a desolate cavern, the score panel in the lower left corner totally replaced with red and blue symbols. "Welcome to our first exhibition match of the night, ladies and gentlemen. This year's Smash tournament has been met with great success, and we hope to expand that popularity with the exclusive television showing rights of tonight's exhibition matches at the Club Treno." Rika glanced over, just enough to notice Eric nodding in her direction. "Our first exhibition is set on the Brinstar depths of Silence. Team Red, gladiators Takeru Takaishi and Guilmon, versus Team Blue, Serge and Crono." "Heeeey!" Eric laughed. "It's TK!" "Shh!" a voice came from the table behind, a man in yellow suspenders, and standing red hair held back by a blue bandana. "Hey, we came here to dodge the hooligans, ya?" "...um.. sorry." Rika quickly covered up. "Just some friends of ours." "Kimahri have 50 credits on Takeru." another gruff voice answered. A short figure rose from the sea of heads, standing on a table. He was draped in a hastily sewn blue cloak, and his face was shadowed by a large steepled hat, only his beady yellow eyes visible from the darkness. He held a carton held forward by a ribbon wrapped around his neck, resting against his chest. "Peanuts! Get yer peanuts!" "Hey, over here, little man!" another person stood up, a tall, blond man in a light green coat. The person seated next to him, a shorter man in a darker coat with a spiky haircut and a strange, pyramid shaped amulet hung around his neck winced as his table was showered with a club's-worth of Shhs. Eric turned back to the screen as Takeru and Guilmon began their mad charge at their opponents. "C'mon, guys, let's give 'em a show they won't forget." ******** With a slight flash of light, every F-Zero racer on the starting grid leapt another two feet into the air and launched themselves at sonic velocities down the strip. As the crowds in the grandstands near the pole position began the Wave, everybody in the cafe leant towards the television. The camera angle switched to an overhead view of one of the cars in the middle of the pack, one that hadn't been mentioned in the starting lineup. It had a large spoiler on the back, keeping the largely under-sleek vehicle straight. It was painted a midnight black, with dark red flame pinstriping on the bottom. Ahead, some of the cars could be seen nudging each other as they came up to a wide turn. "Damn it, I lost Peppy," Gohan grumbled. "Why do they have to change the angle every freaking second?" "It's called dramatic effect, Gohan." V2 replied. "These vehicles travel extremely fast for a purely mechanical design, I must say," Balkan droned. "I don't believe I've seen this engine technology on Earth at any point." "That Miles guy is pretty good," Ultimanium gestured toward the front, where the Winged Victory, the Blue Falcon and the Fire Stingray were all trading blows. They broke off as the track curved upwards quickly, and the oncoming traffic flew up and down the placed loop. Slowly advancing on the conflict for first place was the Silver Thunder. ******** Ryo quickly tossed his yoke back and forth, weaving around the traffic on all sides of him. As he came to an open area of the track, he could see the usual aggressors of the race beating on the Winged Victory and each other. "That's funny," Ryo coughed. "Goroh was supposed to do a crazy turn and blow his racer to smithereen MINUTES ago. Well, maybe he just needs some motivation." Ryo grimaced as he slammed the yoke forward, causing the booster on the back of the vehicle to spout a small jet of turquoise flame. As the Fire Stingray began another bank towards the Winged Victory, Ryo jetted forward diagonally and rammed the pink hovercraft in the left rear, causing it to turn out of control to the side. Goroh's frantic yells could be heard as his vehicle flew spinning off a sharp turn which everyone else graced with ease, and began falling until his vehicle fell apart in a fireball. Goroh could be seen parachuting down into the city center of Mute City, shaking his fists and cursing. Ryo pulled up alongside the Winged Victory, with Tails staring at him in surprise. Before he could get his eyes back on the road, the Winged Victory suddenly turned toward him via another impact from the Blue Falcon. Ryo cursed as he quickly twisted his craft to the side, and winced as it bounced off the mild energy barrier on the side of the straightway, causing him to lose speed quickly. Another ten cars passed Ryo before he could shoot forward with another boost of energy. The first one was Heero. ******** Meanwhile, high above the race track, another Arwing flew lazily across the sky, with Falco piloting it. He glanced down at his watch. "...bleh, 3:30. Still have another hour." He turned back to the horizon, which was teeming with towering skyscrapers. Falco always enjoyed a good flyby of Mute City before a match started - he had clearly stated time and time again that a quick half hour of reflection and relaxation helped him more than rigorous training ever did. And the slow moving, beautiful skyline of Mute City was the perfect place for that R&R. Falco suddenly jumped, however, as a siren blared out from behind him. Falco pulled down a screeen in front of him, revealing his pursuer. It was a police cruiser, at least three times the size of his Arwing. "...uh... can I help you?" "Please disable your blasters before we are forced to destroy you." Falco sweatdropped. "...my bad." he reached up and flicked a switch on the celing, causing a green light on the front panel of the cockpit to go dim. As soon as it did, the police cruiser banked on its side and plunged down towards the city. "Can't blame ya..." Falco looked back up towards the skyline. Something caught his attention though. Down on one of the tallest skyscrapers, a pale man was standing, draped in bizarre armor. More strange, there was no roof access in the first place. "...who the hell is that...?" Falco twisted his flight stick to the side, feeling the Arwing tilt slightly and drop in altitude. When he got to a safe distance, Falco banked the Arwing and flew by the structure again. Down on the roof, the figure... was watching him. Though Falco couldn't pin his approval on it, it was almost like the man was maintaining perfect eye contact with him. "...huzzah?" As Falco spoke out in confusion, the figure responded with a toothy grin. A toothy grin... with jagged teeth. Falco paled as he felt himself let go of the flight stick. As he left his hand off it, the autopilot engaged fifteen seconds later to keep the expensive fighter from plummeting to the ground. "Eeeya ooseeak alleed! Eekyaa rallee euro... Illiee allsoo ralee!" Falco felt the Arwing pause. "Hyades." ******** * - Although their respective games render Kirby and Tails different heights, I just changed it around a little to keep things in perspective. For example, in SSBM Kirby is said to be eight inches tall. Well, if that were true, that would mean that Bowser's under three feet. -_-' Boy, now THAT'S intimidating. ******** END OF PART 1 TRANCE TRAUMA Competition (Part 2) Takeru hasted his pace with a growl as he lunged towards Serge. Serge got in an appropriate stance to counter Takeru's assault. As Takeru leapt up high ready to bring his Sword in a massive downward swing, Serge flicked his wrist and struck the blade on the side with the Setra Weapon. Takeru lost his balance in the air, landing in a slide next to Serge. As Serge advanced on the body, Takeru bounded off the ground, spinning. He tossed the blade to his other hand and struck Serge's barrier with a heavy side-slash. Takeru 14% Serge 16% As Takeru landed back on his feet, he began slashing away at Serge, who hopped back to dodge nearly all the blows. As Serge leapt back his farthest, though, Takeru lunged forward in a fierce jab. The barrier took the impact, though the sword was nearly managing to force through it. As Takeru applied force, the damage counter ticked up accordingly. Takeru 14% Serge 32% Serge grit his teeth. Takeru had just sat there for two seconds pushing. So Serge smacked him across the side of the head with the sharp edge of his swallow. Takeru 22% Serge 32% Takeru found himself stumbling to his side, but quickly righted himself - but not soon enough to avoid crossing right into Crono and Guilmon's sortie. Guilmon backed right over Takeru in the process of dodging a ferocious swipe from Crono's katana, and they both fell to the ground. Everybody on the sidelines sweatdropped. Serge and Crono exchanged glances as the other team quickly got up, Guilmon slipping and falling again. Takeru 24% Serge 32% Guilmon 4% Crono 0% Serge leapt at Takeru, ready for another strike. Takeru flipped out of the way, landing on a small platform above. Serge grimaced, running up a nearby ramp to gain access to his target. Serge spun at the top, holding back his swallow as he began another mad charge at Takeru. Takeru glanced over to his side as a small capsule fell to his feet. "...an item!" He quickly picked it up in his right hand, switching his sword. He held Serge back with weak parries. As Serge began an overhand swing, Takeru rolled to the side, ending up completely behind him. Takeru quickly tossed the capsule against the ground, causing it to crack. He quickly bent down and dumped its contents into his hand - a small land mine. As he finished he was hit hard in the head by a devastating axe-swing from Serge. Beginning to feel the effects of damage, Takeru was sent sailing a good 15 feet down the walkway. Takeru 38% Serge 32% Guilmon 4% Crono 0% Down on the ground below, Guilmon had just about had it. After a lightning quick series of swings, he reached forward and clamped his jaws down on the end of Crono's blade. Crono's eyes went wide and he began shaking his sword furiously, Guilmon trailing. Though slamming Guilmon against the ground didn't do anything, the sword slipped from Crono's hand and Guilmon had control over it. Crono stood for a second, staring at the digimon. After a brief staring contest, Crono simply leant forward and punched Guilmon directly in the face, causing him to fall over - and the katana to fly spinning from his mouth. The blade arced through the air until it flew and sliced apart one of the cartilidge ropes holding the platforms to the main foundation - the one that Takeru and Serge were fighting on. Takeru lurched as his end of the platform was launched into the air, strain being released from the platform being tied down. Takeru screeched as he was launched into the air, flying high above the platform and off into the distance. Serge, while further down the platform, suffered the same fate. He was launched through the air, though not to the same extent. However, it was quite clear to see - they weren't coming back. Serge flailed his limbs wildly, though Takeru was standing upright in the air. "Craaaap... If I want to use MAGIC to get over there, I'm gonna have to concentrate..." he looked down at the acid ocean seemingly miles beneath him. "..and THAT'S not helping! There's got to be a w..." Takeru looked down at the mine in his hands. "God, I hope this works..." Takeru closed his eyes as he clamped the mine onto his chest. A loud bleep filled the cavern as everybody on the main platform noticed a small explosion off in the distance. Serge watched as he continued falling, shortly before he landed on his back on the surrounding barrier. The energy cushioned him, but there was no more denying it - he was gone. Crono turned in time to see a charred Takeru torpedo hurl through the air and land in a long grind along the rock platform. He stood, blinking, as Takeru slowly got up, brushing himself off, and tossing his totally destroyed cape to the ground. "Bet you didn't expect to see me back here?" Takeru grinned as he lowered himself back into his fight stance. "Well, I got blasted in one direction, so I needed something to blast me in the other. I had just the ticket." Takeru 135% Serge N/A Guilmon 10% Crono 2% Crono growled, dashing to the side to grab his blade from the ground. He turned and rushed Takeru, beginning a long series of diagonal swings. Takeru blocked them all, then cried as he jousted forward, punching clean through Crono's barrier. The point of the Sword of Truth was inches away from his face. "Ladies and gentlemen, that was the prime example of a successful Smash Attack to date. It appears that Team Red has taken this match by storm! But don't relax yet, the last competitor of Blue may still have some tricks up his sleeve, given that he has barely taken a scratch yet save for that last Smash." Crono appeared to hear this. He hummed to himself, levitating off the ground. Guilmon and Takeru stopped their charge. "There is some reason I don't like what this looks like." "It looks pretty." Guilmon pointed down at the ground, where a series of green lasers were tracing the ground. "Ah, just stop it, Crono!" Takeru laughed insultingly. "Just get this over with!" Crono's light just intensified. "..." Takeru paused. "...that... WAS the right thing to say, wasn't it?" "...maybe he just really really really wants to win this?" Guilmon replied shakily. Takeru blinked as a crackling flash erupted from underneath Crono. "...I think so..." Takeru advanced. "But he's not gonna!" He hopped back again as a longer-lasting flash blasted forth. Takeru shook his head. "Jesus, Crono, it's just a game." Guilmon tilted his head. "Maybe he doesn't think it that way." Takeru turned back. "Well, this is Crono we're talking about here. He wouldn't attack, he'd just give some really obvious sign that he wants to continue!" TRANCE... -------- Takeru stumbled as the light brightened to the point it was forcing him back. Ahead of him, Crono gave an intelligible yell as his deep red hair flared up into a neon orange. He tossed his sword straight up into the air, and slammed his palms together, creating a clasping shudder as both his arms were sheeted in excessively worked bright green metal, from the hand to the elbow. He caught the blade as it came down, a large shock of energy escaping from the gauntlets and into the katana. The blade grew slightly, and broadened. He slammed the weapon into the ground, letting out another hiss of electricity. KRONOS - Thunder Trance -------- "Well, this is lovely..." Takeru muttered, lowering his arms from his eyes. "How is this match going to turn out versus a Trance?" "Not very f**king good." Kronos hissed. Long pause. Takeru blinked. "Did Crono..." Guilmon finished. "...just talk?" "What's so f**king wrong with talking?!" Kronos spat. "What the f**k is the big f**king deal?!?" ******** A long string of bleeps could be heard from the interior of Club Treno. Eric dropped his head on the table. "We've created a monster." "Looks like someone has a potty mouth," the announcer rang in his usual excessively-cheery voice. "Thank God our sponsors were able to fund our transmission of this match, otherwise even OUR minds would have been polluted. Though we watch people kick the crap out of each other 24/7 for a living, but anyways..." ******** Takeru grimaced, raising his sword. "Looks like he wants to go through with this. Alright... um.. Kronos, we're trying to finish up this match, like you insisted... well... could you please not kill us? Pretty please?" "I just want to win, okay?" Kronos shot back. "I won't kill you if I win! So f**k off!" Takeru chuckled nervously. "..o-kay. Well, Guilmon, are we going to give him a sho..." Takeru turned to see Guilmon bailing off the edge of the platform. "...well, frick." Kronos gave a shuddering roar as he blasted forward, a trail of blue energy following him. Takeru didn't see any other way to stop an assault like this, so he growled fiercely as he slashed forward as hard as he could to deflect the charge. Their blades caught with an echoing ring - and Kronos wasn't moving an inch. Takeru stood awkwardly with his sword to his side, fervently trying to press Kronos away. Kronos departed, leaving Takeru stumbling. He brought his blade up with a great swipe, trailing afterimages. He leapt, kicking off the side of one of the higher platforms and bringing his katana down hard on Takeru's head. Takeru screeched as the shield buckled under the pressure, before shattering. The shield generator flew off Takeru's back in a giant fireball. "...what happens if he DOES win?" Takeru quickly ran through his head. "If he manages to get out of here, there's still no telling if he'll be able to control his Trance or not... and this certainly isn't Crono I'm dealing with.. I have to get him unconscious, like Charmy did to Ulty... but this time, he's got a shield in front of him!" He looked back to the main warpstation, where Patamon watched with wide eyes. "...and I left my digivice at the main platform!" "Oh, that's it." Patamon sighed. Takeru stared back. "Hey, mister, is this an out-of-control situation?" "Well, yes." one of the workers sighed softly. Everybody in the background was screaming and running for dear life. "Keep filming." Patamon hovered over to Takeru's bag, and started digging, as Takeru in the background rolled out of the way of Kronos' katana as it smashed the metal plating beneath him to pieces. "Here we go! Patamon... warp digivolve!" Patamon lost sight as, momentarily, a pillar of light washed over him. It quickly scrolled away, leaving his Champion form. He closed his eyes again, feeling another, larger, wave of power being absorbed. He felt himself elevate again, before another disc of energy clouded him. As the light cleared, a pristine grassland was revealed. Over where a large katana could be seen, it was quickly drawn from the ground. A giant, navy blue gauntlet flipped the sword in its hand. Before returning the blade to the side of the massive, similarly-heavily-armed seraphim. Several golden wings flapped out from behind the angel's back. "...Seraphimon!" ******** On a lone bench outside of Smash HQ, Fox, Cody and Armadillomon were in conversation. "...tonight's been TOO quiet. Even for a city." Cody murmured. "Think there might be Trances here...?" Armadillomon queried. Fox shook his head. "Please... I don't want to think about it." Images of Millenial came to his mind. "Fox!! Fox!" Everybody turned their heads to see Falco jogging off in the distance. He continued running to the front of the bench, bowing and panting for breath. "You'll never guess who I just saw!" "Captain Falcon?" Fox asked. "Ultimanium?" Cody asked. "Elvis?" Armadillomon asked. Everybody stared at Armadillomon. "...what? Maybe he did." "That bastard Hyades is here!" Falco huffed. "I was doing a flyby of Mute City and there that little freak was, sitting on top of a building cackling to himself! It's almost like he knew we were here! It was freaky, it looked like he was giving me perfect eye contact, and, and.." "Falco, calm down." Fox interjected. "Now, what's with Hyades?" "He was up on top of that building, just staring at me! And there wasn't even a roof access!" Falco coughed. "Ever since that shitkicker dinged the Great Fox, I'd been wondering where the hell he went!" Falco continued grumbling as he kicked an empty pop can away. Cody shrugged. "Well, don't a lot of things ding the Great Fox?" "Not things that leave a big freaking hole in the side of the ship." Fox said flatly. "ROB didn't even remember what happened , so we got in major crap from Pepper the following day. It's always made me wonder - what kind of ship, with a brush, could do that kind of damage? I heard it, I know that, and it sounded NOTHING like the damage that we eventually found. Slipp y nearly got sucked out repairing the damages, but that's nothing new to him." Fox looked over to the group, which nodded. "Seriously, if he's a Trance, I'm going to vomit." He would have, too, if he noticed he was being watched. ******** "Well, ladies and gentlemen, this has been a long hard day of racing, and on our sixth lap of the expansive Mute City circuit our starting grid has been shaved down to six finalists. For those of you who have just gotten back or begun watching, F-Zero Grand Prix races, unlike single ones, are based on a Sudden Death policy - the two last people in each lap are eliminated, leaving everyone else intact. This continues until the last lap, where the first placer at the end of that lap is deemed the winner. Back to our race, sports fans." Peppy's Arwing glided across the track effortlessly, beginning a section of track that lead in a slow corkscrew towards the ground. He was fifth at the moment, with Black Bull trailing ahead of him, the Blue Falcon, Winged Victory and Silver Thunder were all trading blows, STILL, though his prime concern was Heero, who sat tauntingly in front of him. "I'm obliged to turn on the blasters." Peppy muttered. The Arwing ahead of Peppy wavered tauntingly. Peppy sighed as he watched the fighter boost forward, this time landing directly behind the Winged Victory. "Sounds inviting. You want road rage? I'll give you guys road rage..." Peppy flipped back a small red panel on his right, and flicked forward the switch underneath it. The red jetstream behind Peppy's craft quickly turned a light blue as the craft began to pick up speed. Peppy grit his teeth as the nose of the Arwing landed with a loud clank against Heero's left wing, shoving him forward against the Winged Victory. The blue craft glided forward from the impact, sliding it into first place as the Blue Falcon and Silver Thunder slammed into each other in a failed attempt to sandwich the cobalt plane. Tails turned and grinned at his pursuers as he took off ahead in another nitro boost. Everybody blinked as they saw him sink into the horizon, not aware of the sudden drop ahead. Every car drove straight off the end of the track, landing on the starting straightway below. It was under twenty seconds of the official start line. Both Heero and Peppy growled, falling back in their seats as the both reactivated their boosts. They both went around opposite sides of the Blue Falcon and Silver Thunder. With their acceleration they were virtually guaranteed slots in the next lap, but it was down to the Blue Falcon and the Silver Thunder in a battle for fourth place. Black Bull was nearly being lapped, so he wouldn't be a problem. Captain Falcon and Ryo both exchanged glares from each others' cockpits. The sides of the windows adjacent to each other opened as they drew closer - soon, both racers were leaning entirely out of their racers, smacking each other, Ryo starting. Falcon countered, but it was easy to see that they had no idea what was happening on the road ahead. Both vehicles swerved slightly as their drivers received vicious slaps from each other. Ryo's head was forced back by a backhand, and he turned just in time to catch Falcon's elbow in his face. He fell, sprawled sideways across his controls. The Silver Thunder turned, and started skidding down the road completely sideways. It was only a matter of time before the craft turned over and flipped, bouncing viciously against the hard pavement. Everybody in the audience shuddered as the Silver Thunder exploded in a blue shockwave, sending debris everywhere. As Captain Falcon, Peppy, Heero and Tails all shot across the finish line, ready for the next lap, all eyes turned to the burning heap several minutes away. Ryo fell out of the sky, landing braced on one knee. He slowly rose his head, his clothes covered in burns and his bandana totally ruined. Cautiously he stood up, brushing himself off. He turned back to his vehicle, or what was left of it. What used to be a high-performance F-Zero racer was a pile of burning slag, at least the quarter of it that was left at ground zero. "Ryo!" Ryo turned to see Hirokazu running out from the pit stop. "What the hell happened there?!" Ryo shook his head. "Bah, I'll never understand Falcon." A vein bulged in Kazu's forehead, his teeth grit in a stupid position as he shook his fist. "That fucknut! He's ALWAYS the one who kills off someone in the last minute!" He took a deep breath, sliding off his visor. "...well, it's great to see the High-Velocity Dispersal Seat Mk. III works well, anyways. Who knows what kind of a job I'd wind up doin' if I didn't know you, huh?" Ryo chuckled. "Makes me wonder. Hey, you hungry?" "As long as we're gettin' Chinese." Hirokazu and Ryo simply strided off the track and out through the grandstands, all the spectators making a path for them, jaws dropped to the floor. ******** "No, we're not." "Pleeeeeeeease!" Charmy ran another lap around the couch, V2, Gohan, Vegeta and Balkan adjusting their heads accordingly to get a good view of the TV. Ultimanium's face shriveled. "What the hell is wrong with you? We've talked for about half an hour since you boarded the Argetlahm, and you're..." "Please?" Ultimanium paused as Charmy shoved into his face. "...no." Ultimanium thrust out with his index finger, pushing Charmy away from him. Charmy stumbled back, landing flat on her ass. Everybody else in the cafe started throwing their garbage at her. "Hey, move it! You're blocking the view!" Charmy squeaked and rolled out of the way as a giant thermos full of coffee splashed where she once laid. "Please, Ulty? It's not what you think! I just want to talk!" "You sure didn't make it sound that way." V2 sighed. "Last I recall, I think you were the one who screamed 'Ulty, go out with me, PLEEEEASE'." Gohan droned, never lifting his eyes from the TV." "S-so I'm a little spontaneous!" Charmy stammered. Balkan leant over, whispering to Ultimanium. "Do you get this a lot?" Ultimanium just stared at Balkan. "...sorry." Ultimanium stood up, leaving off to the side. "Fine, fine, damn it. We're only going to 'talk', LIKE you insist, and to that extent we're only going as far as out onto the street. Understood?" Charmy nodded fervently. "Okay." The door opened with a chime, with Ultimanium and Charmy stepping outside. As with most businesses in the area, the cafe was set alongside one of the many tiny catwalks that weaved throughout the city. Off in the distance, the sun was beginning to set, making all the hovercar traffic that much more noticable as black silohuettes, hanging in the air. As the door fell shut with a slam and another chime, Ultimanium turned to Charmy. "Make it quick, the commercials should be over pretty quick." "Are you SURE that's what you want to do?" "It's a bigscreen TV. It's a club. And there's plenty of alcohol ready just in case. It's been a while since I've been able to do this kind of thing, clubhopping and all, okay? Go and have fun like the rest of the crew." Charmy tilted your head. "And how often do girls ask you out?" "..." Ultimanium sweatdropped. "That's not the point. Listen, I'm pretty confident I'm not the guy for you, and I don't particularly make it a policy to have relations with my crewmates." "Well, you must like me SOMEWHAT, how did you let me on the Argetlahm then?" "I didn't let you on." "...well, still!" "I spazzed on you, and could have potentially eradicated you given you never absorbed energy from my Trance form to diffuse the blast. I think that should be unforgivable enough." Charmy lowered her head. "...well, it WAS the totally wrong topic to rub you about... I imagine the sort of pain you must be in, being right in the middle of all this dimensionjumping, having to deal with the Magnusi, and otherwise having the fate of the entire freaking universe sitting in your hands, ready to self-destruct when you're not looking... I'm sorry." Ultimanium stared at Charmy. Charmy stared back. There was a brief pause. Both of their eyes seemed soothed by the conversation. Slowly, they began to near each other, watching the other's movement. Ultimanium sensed a undirected motive within Charmy. Charmy sensed a lost meaning within Ultimanium. They bowed toward each other, their faces moving closer. Closer, until they could feel each others' breath. Charmy's lips quivered. Slowly, they began to draw nearer. "I'll get you a good seat for the rest of the race. Stay out of trouble." Ultimanium abruptly turned and walked back through the door. Charmy fell to her knees, threw up her arms and screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" ******** Ships were coming in and out of the Mute City eastern port in a steady stream, mostly recreational craft, though one particularly large cruise liner and several small Cornerian destroyers could be seen docking. In one medium-large drydock stood the Argetlahm, which slowly bobbed up and down, though at a degree not noticable to the naked eye. The walkways around it, all leading to different sections of the drydock, were buzzing with vacationing famililes, business workers, security guards, and one lone dalmation anthro sitting on a cardboard box, playing a guitar. An empty soup can in front of him had an assortment of coins in it, tossed from passers-by. A collar around his neck read Totokeke. (A/N - Guess this crossover, people - just try me ;) A pair of walkways leading straight up towards the Argetlahm were bare, however. Weaving through the onslaught of frequent travellers was a short girl, tan-skinned with short blonde hair, draped in a long, red sweatshirt, covered with multiple burns. She had a small blue stone that appeared to be embedded in her forehead, though as was the case with most strange people in Mute City, no one noticed. "First my interceptor gets captured, then my Zig gets captured, then my ESCAPE POD gets captured! It's not like those illiterate fruits were doing anything special with it!" the girl tugged on her socks, muttering to herself. "Why can't there be any ships easier to steal, or anything..." She looked up, at the Argetlahm dwarfing her view. "...bigger?" she gave a low chuckle, stepping out of the onrush of people. She reached in a large handbag strapped across her shoulder, and tugged out a large pirate hat. She checked over the top carefully, brushing it off. "...gah, gets a bit wrinkled in tight quarters, but it's better that than having it swept away in a crowd..." she grimaced, slapping the giant hat on her head. She walked up the catwalk leading to the cockpit escape door on the Argetlahm, where she stopped. "...man, if giant capships didn't have the security measures to back them up they'd be practical." she began to check around the door, looking for some means of opening the heavy steel gate. "...'kay, this one might take some work..." she bent down, investigating the lower door frame as a monitor slid out of the other side of the frame and set itself up behind her. It blinked on, showing Minonim staring at the child, with a confused dim of his eye lights. "...well, better get this over with..." Minonim cleared his voice. "MINONIM CURRENTLY ACTIVE IN AUTO-SENTRY MODE." The sudden outburst made the girl jump, throwing her back against the door. "I WASN'T HERE! YOU DIDN'T SEE ME! I DIDN'T DO IT! IT WAS... um... HIM!!" she shakily shot her finger at a child sitting on a bench and licking an ice cream, further down the ramp. "REQUEST CONFIRMATION OF IDENTITY. ARGETLAHM CREW MEMBER. ARE YOU FIGHTING ANTIMAGNUS?" She paused. "Are you fighting Antimagnus? What kind of retarded password is this?" "THIS IS SIMPLY THE PROCEDURE I WAS INSTRUCTED TO DELIVER TO ANYONE ENTERING THE ARGETLAHM, AS INSTRUCTED BY THE CAPTAIN OF THIS SHIP, ULTIMANIUM. I REPEAT, ARE YOU FIGHTING ANTIMAGNUS?" She rubbed her chin. "Got a one in two chance, I suppose. Um.. yes?" "PROCEED." the girl jumped back, as, suddenly, the heavy door swung open. She watched the door for a second, then made sure no one was watching, with an evil grin on her face all the time. She stepped into the Argetlahm, walking slowly across the polished bridge floor. "...quite a piece of work." she stared down at the floor, and staring at the metal flooring far beneath the Argetlahm. "And all the controls are organized, too." she looked back up at the main panels, where Minonim was still busy, fiddling with the controls. "...this should make a fine replacement ship. Well, time to get cracking..." she walked up to the control panel, but hopped back as suddenly Minonim turned to face her. "...well, hello there. I take it Ultimanium's already talked to you about our mission?" Minonim asked. (Hmm.. since I got in on the first shot, he must think that I've already talked to this "Ultimanium"! This is going to be TOO easy!) "...yes." she nodded. "Okay, then. I welcome you to the Argetlahm, under control by my captain, Ultimanium. Being the newest inductee aboard the ship, could I register your prefered callsign in the database for future use?" Minonim reached over and tapped a button, causing a screen to eject from the control panel. The girl finally grinned, leaning on the end of the control panel. "...Chat." ******** "Well, I think I can speak for all of us watching this match that this one will be quite memorable. Never before have I seen a match stretched out this long. Crono must really want to make this one last." Over on the battle platform, it DID appear to be occuring at a leisurely pace. Takeru was caught between Kronos' shins as he sat knelt, punching Takeru's head from side to side. With his other hand, he was making blind swats behind him, keeping Seraphimon from getting close - the several times that he DID come in contact with the Trance, the slaps were enough to make even the large Mega stagger. Takeru 1242% Serge N/A Guilmon N/A Crono 2% Takeru coughed. "Alright *WHACK* Crono, I *WHACK* get the po *WHACK* point! I'll *WHACK* forfeit, if it *WHACK* will make you *WHACK* leave Trance!" "It'll end, give it a f**king second! I have to make this humiliating first, though." Kronos quickly whacked Takeru a couple more times. "Okay, Jesus, just let me go already! You hear me out there? I give up, okay?" Takeru sighed as a loud thrum washed over the small arena. The purple power field slowly began to dissiapate. Kronos bounded off of Takeru, standing a short distance away, as Takeru began to stand up. Even throughout the intense beating that Kronos was giving him, the energy field stood strong. What was left of it, anyways. Most of the energy had been diverted to the kinetic machine, explaining the giant Takeru-shaped crater in the ground where he had once been laying. "Team Red has forfeit the match!" Kronos tossed his arms up. "YEA-" a giant flash blinded Takeru. A split second later, Crono was standing where his Trance used to be. His arms were still in the air, but Crono himself blinked in confusion. He looked around at the arena, heavily damaged from Kronos' attacks. Cronos quickly glanced around, obviously perplexed at how the arena became how it was. Seraphimon shrunk in a flash of light, leaving Patamon at ground level. "...he doesn't know a thing that's been going on." Takeru slumped over to Crono. "You won." Crono stood motionless, still blinking. A couple seconds passed. Crono grinned, and skipped cheerfully over to the exit platform. "Team Blue has not won, however. Crono's abrupt change in power level is strictly prohibited by Smash Bros. regulations. Team Red will take the win." Crono slumped, sweatdropping. ******** Falco leant around the corner of the pillar, watching intently as the crowd swarmed in different directions in the distance. Entering the crowd was Hyades. As he was swallowed up by the crowd, Falco stepped around the corner, casually walking into the midst. Falco stood in the middle of the group, people scattered in all directions. He turned back as he began walking again, spotting Hyades buying something from a street vendor. He scowled as he began to approach him, but his eyes widened as several children rushed by at his feet, knocking Falco down onto the catwalk. He sat up, shaking his fists. "Hey, you little brats! Get back here!!" He cursed to himself as he began to push himself up from the ground. He looked back to the booth. Hyades was gone. "...damn it, you never DO stay in one place..." "Please give this up." Falco paled as he felt a clammy hand clamp down unto his shoulder. Falco spun quickly, knocking his assailant away. Hyades stood before him, his cold eyes piercing into Falco. "I would not appreciate any accidents occuring." "I'll give YOU an accident!" Falco yelled as he lunged forward, striking forward with his fist. A loud hiss filled the air as Hyades phased away, leaving Falco tumbling forward and landing on his face. As he did this, nearby people stumbled back, mothers dragging their children away from the brawl. Falco threw himself forward onto his hands, and flipped back up. He quickly turned around, staring down Hyades who stood unharmed where Falco had launched himself from. "What the hell... quit with the parlor tricks and let's get this over with!" Hyades nodded. "Your call." He lunged foward, raising his hands high into the air. He clawed downwards with his jagged nails, but Falco rolled out of the way as the blades hit the ground with a clang. Falco quickly somersaulted behind Hyades, striking him in the back with a vicious chop. Hyades reeled forward from the hit, and as he hunched over Falco slammed down on Hyades' outstretched back with a haymaker, collapsing him against the ground. Falco looked up around him. There was a large crowd already gathered, obviously Smash spectators from earlier matches that day. It looked to be a famous backstage brawl wrestling-style, and nothing drove that point home quite like the crowbar that someone had just tossed across the ground to Falco. Falco bent down and picked up the bar of tempered steel, but didn't attack, instead standing over Hyades. "I don't know what you were thinking of trying to accomplish by ramming MY ride, but I'm desperate enough to kill." "This is your downfall." Falco blinked as all of a sudden, Hyades warped back to a standing position, swinging a blade of yellow energy at him. Falco shrieked in pain as the sword of lightning struck him in the side, causing him to crumple where he was as blue energy arced across him. Falco shuffled on the ground while Hyades watched with grim satisfaction, and the crowd watched with horror. "I'm not done yet," Falco coughed. Everybody hopped back as Falco suddenly expelled the energy, slowly beginning to push himself up. He slowly began to climb to his feet, shaking his head. "Let's.. just finish this.. I have a really bitchin' headache now.." Hyades snarled, leaping at the stunned avian. Falco quickly dodged to the side as Hyades shot by him, Hyades slamming his foot onto the catwalk to keep him from flinging himself off into the chasm below. Hyades turned back to Falco, an expression of fury rapidly growing on his face. "I know this energy. Is Trance! Allow me to educate you." Falco felt himself go limp as Hyades dropped to his knees, screaming. He held his head in his hands as his body began to warp wildly, his lanky figure sprouting large amounts of muscle. He threw his arms back and bellowed as his exotic shirt exploded from the strain, leaving what could best be described as a wrestler kneeling in Hyades' place. His skin took on a dark grey tone, and his eyes turned a frighteningly bright shade of blue. ******** This Trance has decided his alignment from the beginning of imbument - two exact opposites. Fire and Ice. Not particularly helping is this Trance's obscene strength and the ability to use that strength to power up his elemental charge attacks. Don't stand still when he uses his Kaiser Slam attack! His Wolf Fang attack can stop you in your tracks if you're not careful - literally! Being a block of ice is not fun... ******** GEMINI - Dual Trance "You're a Trance," Falco spat, holding the crowbar behind him with both hands, ready to swing. "I guess that's it for playing fair." He took a deep breath as the behemoth began to charge at him. Falco wound up and Gemini reached behind, ready to backhand the bird out of existance, but looked up in surprise as Falco was high in the sky, falling rapidly toward him. "Hyaah!!" Falco dove out of the sky, ready to bring the crowbar down on Gemini's head. Gemini reached up to intercept the crowbar but instead found Falco's metal-clad boot in his face. As Gemini stumbled back, Falco pushed off, performing a backflip and landing back on his feet. Almost immediately, he began his charge again, swinging the crowbar into Gemini's side, eliciting a groan of pain from the Trance. Falco took a brief second to notice that a heavy bar of metal didn't do much to the Trance asides from motivate him into ripping Falco's head off. Falco looked up, frowning weakly as Gemini's gargantuan fist slammed directly into his face. Falco yelped again as he was thrown back through the air a good thirty feet, toppling a hot dog stand upon landing. Groaning, Falco began to raise himself from the wreckage, stumbling as he got up. He took a step forward, limping. "Hah. To be honest with you, Hyades, I was expecting your mighty Trance to kill me in one hit, but I guess not too many of you are up to Antimagnus' expectations, huh? You're going to have to do better than that." "Perhaps YOUR Trance may pose a challenge. I will wait for your full form to awaken before I do anything... rash. I will be waiting, Falco Lombardi, I will designate a Smash arena for our true battle." "Wha, running away so quickly?" Falco chuckled. "I haven't even got STARTED with you yet!" he laughed harshly, picking up the crowbar from the ground. "I shall await you at Final Destination. I do not want to be disappointed." Falco growled as Hyades' voice gradually deepened. Not wasting another second, Falco lunged foward again, ready to swat Hyades' head right off his shoulders with the heavy bar of steel. Falco put all his weight into the swing, but hit dead air. Hyades was nowhere to be seen. Falco held the weapon in the air for a brief second before lowering it to his side. "...damn." Falco looked up at the crowd around him, a small portion of the spectators already gone. "...can he be serious about going to Final Destination?" Falco looked straight above him. Off in the distance the ominous tower of girders could be seen reaching endlessly into the sky, its apex not visible from even Falco's distance back. "He's GOT to know that place is off-limits... I haven't even been up there!" Most of the crowd was gone by now. "That surge of power.. was that the beginning of me Trancing? Nah, seemed too anticlimatic... I wonder how it actually DOES feel.." Falco felt a chill run down his spine as the image of Millenial completely obliterating El Trazos flashed through his mind. "I wonder what Fox would say about all of this..." ******** Teisel writhed around on the ground, Glenn's frequent kicks just nicking him. Teisel flung himself back onto his hands and sprung forward, torpedo-kicking Glenn square in the face and sending him skidding backwards, but shrieked as Dante yelled and brought down his sword in a massive cleave, barely dodging. Teisel was dodging both Glenn and Dante's attacks, dodging behind trees when catching his breath. The grass-sheeted platform on which the match was being held was fairly large, but it didn't seem that way when the Bonne spent any spare time of his diving out of the way of fatal attacks. Off in the distance, Scias stood tall on a large stack of star blocks, staring out into the difference. "YOU STUPID DOG!!" Teisel dove, rolling out of the way as both Glenn and Dante attacked his position. "FREAKING HELP ME!!" "...j-j-just a sec." Scias droned. Teisel 145% Glenn 67% Dante 22% Scias 0% "Give a rest," Dante muttered. A Bob-omb strolled in front of him. Dante flipped the sword around and hit the explosive with a golf-swing from the flat side of the blade, sending it hurtling off into the distance. Teisel screeched as he ducked under the projectile, and watched with worry as it flew off into the distance and landed in a fireball at the foot of Scias' pillar, unveiling another five bomb blocks in the process. Everybody shielded their eyes. FWADOOM Everybody looked back up. Where the column of blocks had once been, a charred Scias stood in the middle of a large crater. The anthro shuddered, dropping a coat of ash to the floor. He appeared bright as new. "...o-ow." ******** Rika leant back in her chair, arms folded. Most of the tables around her and Eric were now vacant as everybody gathered to watch the Green Greens match. "I don't get it! What the hell is that other guy thinking?" "..." Eric stared at the screen for a second, but lurched back in his chair. "..." Rika glanced over to Eric, who was certainly looking uncomfortable in his chair, the back completely broken off of it from Eric's sudden leap backwards in his seat. "...NOW what's wrong?" "...Scias is sure to do something, I'm sure of it," Eric murmured. "But that's not the point. Doesn't it feel like something isn't totally right with this match...? I mean, asides from the static and all. It doesn't look like the match is getting full playback and all, like someone is trying to break into the broadca-" Eric suddenly froze as the screen burst into static, causing a series of different-pitched groans from the front row. Everybody shuffled back as Hyades' pale face appeared on screen. "What the-" "Greetings, sports fans. I terribly hate to interrupt this exhibition match of yours, but I do believe that you would be interested in the entertainment I have to offer. In one hour another exhibition will be held, a one-on-one battle between the champion, me, and the challenger, your Cornerian "glory" Falco Lombardi on the Final Destination arena!" Hyades chuckled for a second before breaking out into shrill laughter. "Keep in mind that I am able to control these broadcasts, so I must say, we should get some prime camera angles of your fate - if Falco Lombardi loses, I will waste no more time and destroy this city from the inside out. Manage to impress me, and I might delay your destruction and give the oppritunity to Antimagnus - a much quicker and painless death, I agree. Stay tuned, sportsfans!" Hyades tossed his head back and gave another banshee laugh as the television shut off by itself. Eric stood up, ready to leave. "This is bad." Elsewheres, on a giant-screen television suspended off a larger building, the same announcment was being made. The catwalks were cluttered with wide-eyed patrons listening carefully to the revelation. Right in the middle of the crowd, were Fox, Cody, Armadillomon and Shaun. "What the hell?" Cody sighed. "We just look away for a SECOND and Trances are already raping us. What are we supposed to do now?" "What I'M wondering is how Falco's supposed to handle Final Destination," Fox muttered. "That place is nothing but trouble." Shaun rolled his eyes over. "What IS Final Destination?" Fox pointed off into the distance. There was the massive metal tower, reaching into orbit. The purple light in the sky seemed to be pulsing a darker version of its normal self. "Final Destination is at the very top of that space elevator. One small platform, and that's all I've been told. There's been rumors that losers don't come home from the Final Destination, hence its name. Supposedly there's no shield barrier around the arena." "That's just plain stupid!" Armadillomon growled. "Then how-" "That would be why they call it FINAL DESTINATION." Shaun repeated. "We have to find Falco before the match starts," Fox grumbled. "He doesn't have any idea what he's going up against, and chances are if he's already encountered him Hyades has other tricks up his sleeve." ******** Charmy sat at one of the tables in the cafe, leaning with her head resting against the polished surface. The remainder of the group's half-finished cups of coffee sat in no particular order around the table, while everyone else in the coffee shop's couches, talking, not even paying attention to the race that was going on. Everybody turned over to the screen for a brief second, then turned back, everyone grumbling at once. "Captain Falcon. Always Captain Falcon." the cashier muttered. Everybody else nodded in agreement. "Who was shut down in the second last lap again?" Gohan asked. "Peppy and Miles." V2 responded. "What, so it was between Heero and Falcon?" "Uh-huh." "Well, God forbid if Peppy walks in here..." Ultimanium, Balkan and Vegeta were all slumped on another couch nearby. "Ultimanium," Vegeta groaned. "If you would mind telling me, exactly what the hell is that girl finding so interesting about large piles of concrete in the distance? She's sat and stared for three damned hours now." Ultimanium leant backwards. "Nice view or somethin'?" "There's a lot of ships," Charmy sighed. "A lot of 'em. Capital ships are pouring in here like no tomorrow. Holy crap, that one has fins just like the Argetlahm!" ******** (If you cannot figure out the significance of this last sentence, please remove yourself from these premises now.) Chat sat lazily in the captain's chair, slowly twisting the main thruster stick to the left and right. "Gods, this thing flies like a boulder. Maybe I should've gotten something with more oomph..." she turned the chair to the right, where Minonim was continuing to trick out the coffee machine, which now looked more like a torture device than anything else. "Hey, is there any way to make this thing move a TEENSY bit faster?" "Engines are running at 95%," Minonim called back. "Any more output may produce strain on the Chronoshifters." Chat sunk in the seat, folding her arms. "C'mon, this is the survival of Ultimanium we're talking about here," she fibbed. "If we don't get to the Van Eltia soon he'll probably be dead!" "It won't do us much good if the engines are on fire," Minonim shot back. "...still, if Ultimanium has already gotten to the Van Eltia..." There was a lengthly pause. The noise of the city below slowly began to dwindle. Chat stood up, heading to the edge of the bridge to look down on the city. She winced as she swore she could hear an aggravated scream from down below. In a split second, she leapt back landing on her ass as suddenly Ultimanium flew up from the city below, Regen ki trailing him, and started pounding on the front window like crazy. "Ah, it is you!" Minonim sighed. "Who the hell is this?!" Chat cried. "It's Ultimanium!" Chat started paddling backwards across the floor of the bridge, beginning to pale. "...ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK-" she whacked up against the open bridge access door. She slowly looked up to her side - and saw a very pissed off Ultimanium. Chat shrieked as a hand reached down and grabbed her shirt by the collar, dragging her up into the air a good three feet off the ground. "YOU have some EXPLAINING to do, MISS!!" Ultimanium roared. "It was him." Chat said meekly, pointing at Minonim. Minonim bowed his head in shame. "Yes, it was me. I'm afraid I've broken the coffee machine. It DOES look to be a suitable torture device, however." Ultimanium grimaced, looking down behind Chat, where her large pirate hat lied sprawled on the floor. "Oh, this is JUST great. I leave for a fucking DAY and the Argetlahm's already under siege by pirates! MINONIM, I told you not to let anyone aboard this ship that was fighting Antimagnus!" Minonim shrugged. "She said she wasn't." Ultimanium facefaulted, allowing Chat to break free of his grip. "If you'll GIVE me a damn moment I'll TELL you exactly what I want with the Argetlahm! If you give me a moment of your time..." "How the hell did you even get by the failsafes?! Only I'M supposed to be able to communicate to the Argetlahm through Minonim-" "Actually," Minonim finished. "Crewwoman Chat stated that you were already at your destination. Through my protocol the Argetlahm can be harnessed if you are reported to be in danger." "WHY THE HELL DO I EVEN *HAVE* YOU AS SECURITY THEN?!" Ultimanium bellowed. "Just.. hand over the ship, okay? Otherwise I won't have to get nasty." Ultimanium glanced over to Minonim. Minonim gave a responding beep. "Power level of Argetlahm crewman Ultimanium: 1 billion. Power level of Argetlahm crewwoman Chat: 45." "THIS ISN'T FAI-IR!!" Chat writhed around on the ground for a brief second. "Listen here Ultimanum-" "Ultimanium." "Whatever! I, Chat, am the great-great-granddaughter of the pirate king Aifried, assigned to steal from the rich for the poor and dispense justice, and I think borrowing a ship ISN'T AGAINST THE RULES!" "I'm going to find this thing in a chop shop if I let people like you in here." Ultimanium muttered. "Actually, Ultimanium," Minonim interrupted. "Crewwoman Chat has clearly stated in her profile that she is searching for the Van Eltia." Ultimanium paused. He turned back to Minonim. "...the Van Eltia?" he glanced back at Chat. "How do you know about the Van Eltia?" "BECAUSE IT'S MINE!!" Chat screamed. "It's.. yours?" Ultimanium sighed, blinking. "Yes, it's mine!" Chat snapped. "It was handed down to me through the family heritage, and it was upgraded and turned into a flagship by the Celestian and Inferian authorities, and it got overrun by Grapplers, and.." "...do you happen to know someone named Shaun Garin?" Ultimanium asked. "So don't get on my nerves! And... huh? Do YOU know him?" Chat sat in a daze. "Of course, he's with us right now. Actually, he's down in Mute City somewhere. I haven't seen him since we docked." Chat blinked. "You know, jet-black hair, large hand cannon, bomber jacket, carries a yo-" "Yes. I know." Chat remained still for a second, before resting her arms behind her head. "...holy crap. You're serious?" "Yes." Ultimanium nodded. "...it's been YEARS since he left the Van Eltia. AND HE NEVER GOT IT BACK!!" Ultimanium hopped back from Chat's outburst. "He was SUPPOSED to get it before his 21st birthday! As it stands he has under a month!! What the hell is he doing on a vacation to freaking Mute City?!" "He's with us," Ultimanium groaned. "We're heading for the Van Eltia." "Oh, and I imagine you'll be able to TELL me EXACTLY where the Van Eltia is at this point in time, right?" Chat mocked. "We should know. A force far worse than the Grapplers is headed to seize it. It's in Exodus system." "THANK YOU, Sherlock! Eternia is in Exodus system! OF COURSE it'll be there!" "Don't mind her, Ultimanium," Minonim cut in. "You were down in your bunk when Shaun was here, explaining the Van Eltia situation more in-depth. Shaun used to live aboard the Van Eltia, before the Grapplers invaded. He managed to escape with one of his mentors, a man named Max, and later fled the Eternia alignment of planets." "...so that's why he went so psycho when Balkan first mentioned it..." Ultimanium stared off into the distance. "So, what were YOU here in Mute City for, Chat?" "I've been hijacking ships for years on end trying to get one decent ride back into the Eternia subsystem. Usually one planet to another, dump the ship, grab another one. Otherwise I would've been attacked by the galaxy officials, for sure... I had charts with me that had all the wormholes in a ten-lightyear radius mapped out, so if I had a half-decent ship I could probably re-enter Eternia in about a month." "Man, I don't know how I'm going to take another MONTH." Everybody paused as Heero walked by. He received several stares. "...oh, did I interrupt anything? If Peppy stops by tell him that I parked the Arwing back in the Great Fox just like he nags to do. Hey, what's with the midget? Is he with us or something?" "SHE!!" Chat screeched. "Anyways, what are you planning to do with the Van Eltia when you get a hold of it?" "We're not trying to get a hold of it, just help Shaun liberate it, given all the Trances are heading there..." "Trances?" Ultimanium and Minonim exchanged glances. "I'm not sure if this'll have a positive impact, but..." -------- "WHAAAAT?! I can't have people KI fighting in there! Whenever that ship gets a scratch on it I lose a little bit of myself!!" "I don't imagine they'll just let us march in and say 'um, could we take this outside?', I mean, they're all rebels from Balkan's army, and that was a radical party to begin with. If you want them out of the Van Eltia, you're going to have to take a risk. Besides, I don't think you'll find too many people that are willing to do this, let alone for free." Chat grumbled to herself. "You've got a point. How fast is this thing?" "Chronoshifters." Ultimanium droned. "Specs, please?" Ultimanium paused for a brief second, and looked back at Minonim. The probe bobbed in acknowledgment, and turned to the control panel as a small slot in the side printed out a long sheet of dot matrix paper. Minonim tore the page off and handed it to Ultimanium, and Ultimanium in turn handed it to Chat. Chat grabbed the sheet, quickly running up and down the scribe of usually-illegible statistics. "W-whoa! These are state-of-the-art mechanics!" "Thank you. We upgraded." Ultimanium said flatly. "No, I mean, if we even go at 50% engine power we can get to Eternia in a week at most!" "Wait, wait," Heero spat. "Fox said that it would take us YEARS." Ultimanium rolled his eyes. He turned back to Minonim. On cue, a visual representation of the Argetlahm came up on one of the screens, with the Great Fox hanging off the hangar. The smaller ship blinked, followed by another sheet, which Chat tore from the slot. "...well, this would be why. The Great Fox uses default plasma engines." "You make it sound like a bad thing." Heero murmured. Chat held the sheet forward. "According to your history of plasma engines at the BOTTOM of the sheet, it would appear that default plasma engines were taken out of Magnopolitian commercial and military usage... 800 years ago." Ultimanium and Heero facefaulted. Chat walked by, tossing the sheet over her shoulder. "Yep, that's a fossil you've got over there. I'm surprised I can't see the runic writing." she chuckled softly as she finished. "I HEARD THAT!!" Slippy yelled from off the bridge. "So what's the story? Are you heading out for the Van Eltia right away?" "As soon as I managed to find a ride." Chat nodded. "Do you mind if I take a position on the bridge?" "As long as you can run it properly. I'm sure Shaun's getting sick of running communications at this point," Ultimanium sighed. "I guess. Did you still want to talk to Shaun? I can get some of the crew looking for him." Chat paused. "We have a crew?" "Well, duh, this thing doesn't run itself... well, actually, Minonim runs it all by himself, but I have a large group of mercenaries that was originally hired to help fight the Trances, and they've all agreed to assist in retaking the Van Eltia." "Okay, then. Don't worry.. I'll head down there and look for hi-" Chat, while speaking, headed towards the bridge access and tossed the door open. Heero held her back as she nearly stepped out into Mute City airspace. Chat sweatdropped, shoving herself back in. "...er.. on second thought.." Minonim raised himself. "The transport that Shaun used to access the Argetlahm has some sort of one-man flyer in the back. I do believe it is the Aibird that he was talking about when he was introducing himself." "I'll use that, then," Chat chirped, ducking into the turbolift. "They share the design of the Van Eltia, you know." ******** Traffic in the main avenues of Mute City had significantly increased during the period following Hyades' announcment. Though it had apparently been played only on the few frequencies that broadcasted the Smash games (the Club Treno getting playback of current exhibitions, normal stations playing reruns of matches from the night before), roads were packed with cars trying to get to the very edge of the city in a vain attempt to escape the possible aftermath of the Final Destination match. Fox weaved through cars, leaping up and running completely across vehicles' tops and hoods where the traffic was too dense, heading towards the spire of metal at the middle of the city. It was only a short distance from where Fox was at the moment, and it would take mere minutes for the dexterous fox to get there. He slowed down as he heard shouting from behind him. He finally looked over his shoulder, where Shaun sat keeled over, regaining his breath. "You gotta slow down! Fox, Hyades isn't a normal Trance! He has mastery of the Craymel Artes, and his magic might make quick work of Falco before his muscle will. You have to help him! Catch!" Shaun grunted as he hurled his crystal and its chain through the air, which Fox caught with ease, even 30 feet away. He looked over the gem in his hands before turning back to Shaun. "Fox, I can sense some sort of energy within you, and it is best aligned with the Great Craymel Efreet! I have trouble using fire Artes, but I think you might be able to harness it way easier than I can. You're holding a Craymel Cage, it's holding a portion of Efreet's energy within it! You might be able to use it to counter Hyades' magics if he tries to use them!" Fox nodded. "Thanks. Anything else I need to know?" "There's a steering wheel-type-thingy on the other end of the chain. That's a Parasol, spin it like crazy and it'll attract other minor Craymel in the area! You'll probably have a faster cast time that way!" "Okay! What are you doing?" "I'm going to head out and try to gather everyone back aboard the Argetlahm! You and Falco try to keep Hyades busy while we work!" Fox turned from Shaun, clipping the Craymel Cage onto his belt. He dashed across a crossing as the light above him turned green. A large truck barreled down the hoverway, blaring its horn, though Fox kept on running, diving and rolling underneath the truck as it lumbered in front of him. Fox slid running around the corner at the end of the next block. Ahead of him was a large courtyard with chain-link fence around it. Usually the base of the tower was heavily guarded and intruders would be shot on sight, but not a soul was there. Fox quickly scaled the fence and tossed himself over it, beginning to run as he landed. At the base of the tower there was a ten-foot tall plastic wall on all sides. Fox ran straight for the elevator access on the far end of the easily-100-foot-wide pillar - the car wasn't there. "Hell!..." Fox tilted his head back. Faintly, he could see a long distance up the pillar, as the car slid itself up the tower. "...DANDY!" He scanned the base of the spire, looking for some sort of emergency stop device. All he found was a sign a distance away from the door. -------- ATTENTION The Final Destination space elevator's controls will not function for another thirty minutes after the command has been placed to raise itself, to allow for a non-interrupted match. This security feature was added in early 2012 when a large gang assault was launched on the Final Destination platform. Should the car be activated, please wait the specified period of time to be serviced. Thank you. -------- "RRRGHHH!!" Fox viciously kicked at the wall, hitting a girder behind the weak plastic shield. "OWWWWW!!" He hopped back, holding his foot. He finally stood back up, looking up the grim structure again. "Man, there's got to be another way up there... If this wasn't in the atmosphere, I could probably just CLIMB up there if I wanted! I don't even know if it IS... I guess there's only one way to find out..." he tapped a button on his helmet. "...Slippy. I need you to fly my Arwing straight to the base of the Final Destination tower, it's an emergenc-" FWAM Fox shook his head as he felt his fur being blown back. He looked to his side and saw his Arwing's landing gear stretching out and buckling as the fighter braced itself on the ground. Fox raised an eyebrow as the cockpit slid open, and Slippy bounded out. "...well.. that was fast." "When I had an oppritunity to be useful, you wouldn't believe how fast I'd take the offer." Slippy grinned, beckoning Fox to the Arwing. As Fox walked by, he gave a Slippy a bestranged look. He turned back as he clambered up the side of the small fighter, sliding himself downwards into the cockpit. "Slippy," Fox shouted. "Shaun's running through Mute City, trying to rally up the Argetlahm crewmembers and get them back on the ship. I need you to help him." "Can do! Just make sure I get at least one fight before this is all over, at least." "Millenial." Fox barked, as the Arwing's gear retracted and the ship began to rise rapidly into the sky. Slippy just frowned, shaking his head. "...man, I need to get outside and do something." ******** Locke checked around himself cautiously as the roof access door opened in front of him. He was standing on top of a tall office building, where Tidus' match had occured earlier, dwarfed only by another pair of corporate towers near his position and the Final Destination space elevator. He could see the equipment being used to sustain the barrier around the towers on a building next to the one he was currently on. On a suspended platform at the far edge of the rooftop, a custodian stood, facing outwards. He was talking on a cel phone. "Are you kidding?! That's horrible! But what a... no way! C'mon, this is the last exhibition match for the day! Just feed this through to the station and as soon as it's over we'll cut the link!... listen, the rest of Club Treno paid top dollar for the showing rights to this and I'm not going to let it go unnoticed! Listen, you moron, the F-Zero Grand Prix will have already moved to the rim moons in a week! We'll never draw an audience! Oh, fuck you..." the worker continued muttering obscenities to himself as he clicked off the phone. He turned to see Locke. "Oh, it's you. You're the contestant fighting Cecil Harvey right away, right?" Locke rubbed his head. "Uh-huh. Hey, what was going on a second ago..?" "I was getting to that," the worker sulked. "Seems there's some weird guy named Hyades that's taken Final Destination by storm and is issuing a challenge out to one of the high-ranking Smashers. He's insisting that he's going to blow up the city if he wins. Some of the people living in Mute City have already escaped to the outskirts of the city, but while we still have an audience all the feeds are linking up to Final Destination to get THAT match broadcasted all over Mute City. Quite frankly, no one's going to be watching us. My boss says that if we want the match broadcasted we're going to have to give it a week." "We don't need to wait." Locke and the man both turned, looking up the side of an adjacent building. On top stood a tall man, with a sword hanging off his hip, light reflected onto it from his blinding white plate mail. He had a long, red cape, and his head was covered in thick, combed purple hair that reached down to his shoulders. "Just a second..." the main strained as he leapt forward off the building, falling another thirty feet and landing on the edge of the other roof, right across from where Locke was standing. "I couldn't care less if I have an audience. I entered the exhibitions knowing no one would care to watch. I just want a fight." Locke smirked. "Well, SOMEONE'S awfully eager," Locke began to draw the long dagger from his belt. "If he's willing to go I have no problem." The worker looked between the two. "The shield equipment is already set up. Just get on the vests and we'll be ready to go." Locke and Cecil both picked up large, black vests from one corner of the rooftop. Cecil removed his torso armor, slipping the vest underneath, while Locke simply slapped it on over his normal clothing. After they outfitted themselves, Locke and Cecil made their way to opposite sides of the rooftop. "You know the rules, gentlemen," the worker shouted. "Stock: One. First one to fall loses. 3... 2... 1... FIGHT!!" ******** Falco stood leant against the paneling of the elevator, tapping his foot. The elevator car was furnished with white plating for the walls and celing, and had a forest green carpet that was extremely well-kept, given the number of warriors that had probably trampled over it throughout the last Smash season. Opera music was playing softly out of a speaker in the top corner. Falco opened an eye as one wall began to slide downwards, revealing a large glass plate behind it. He stood upwards, leaning forward as the panel completely disappeared from sight. The window was of a hard plexiglass, though crystal clear, opening out unto the horizon of Mute City. The feature was presumably put in just for kicks. "Well, Final Destination IS the elite suite." Falco sat himself back against the wall. He shook his head. Was he feeling something pressing down on him? The elevator had increased in speed slightly. He turned back to the opening. He watched for a brief second, after which the view turned white. He was entering the cloud cover. "...no way. How can this thing go so high?" Falco stumbled as he felt the force increase. The elevator rapidly increased in speed, and when Falco finally regained his bearings the cloud cover was no longer visible outside of the window. The sky was a perfect blue, that was gradually beginning to die out in a perfect black. Falco opened his eyes, looking down. He could see most of Mute City from this far up, and he knew - that wasn't a very easy thing to imagine. As he anticipated another boost in speed, he felt himself sulk from the pressure - and as fast as it had started it was over. Falco could no longer feel himself rising. He looked down at the massive height he had gained - he was in space. Mute City was but the size of a spread-out candy wrapper. He hopped as a ding resounded... and the door in front of him slid open. Watching the entrance for a moment, he slowly began to slide out. Falco was standing right in the middle of a giant octagonal platform, with a strip of crude granite down the middle. Around the edges was a band of purple metal, which arced in various patterns on both sides, covering up a fine panel of cross-linked catwalk. Falco gaped, as, off in the distance, the thick line that was the Lylat-Hybrid asteroid belt could be made out clearly. Falco whipped around as he heard a loud grinding. The elevator car was beginning to sink back through the hole in the platform where it had come from. As the car disappeared, two panels of granite slid out and covered up the hole, blending in perfectly with the rest of the strip. Hyades stood at the very edge, looking outwards. "Alright, Hyades!" Falco called out. "This is over! Though, if you really want a fight..." Falco stanced himself. "You've ALSO come to the right place." "...this is no normal Smash match," Hyades sneered, slowly pivoting his head back to Falco. "There is no worker supervising the match. As it stands no person is watching us. The shield barrier is disabled." Falco stumbled back. "Hell..!" "And the safety barrier is weakened as well. Normally a member of the avian race such as yourself requires oxygen to survive. My Trance power can withstand these feeble needs. YOU, on the other hand.." Hyades held up two fingers. "...have five minutes before the oxygen within the barrier is used up, at this rate." "You rigged this." Falco growled. "You were silly enough to come here!" Hyades cackled. "Well, we should start, it would not be very fun if you died of natural causes.. instead of me!" Hyades made a distorted yell as he began to shift into his Trance form. Falco stood, ready to fight. Gemini began to walk slowly towards Falco, and Falco began to back away accordingly. "Well, what's the problem, little bird? You made the decision to take the challenge. Don't tell me you're backing down.. or should I say, OFF." Falco hopped back a short ways - and felt himself lurch backwards. He waved his arms frantically, regaining his balance. He turned, looking down. He was at the very edge of the platform - and it had a particularly dizzying view of the planet below. He glanced back up at his opponent, still approaching. "Oh, man..." "The end result is the same. I, on the other hand, can make it quick.. and painless." FROOM Both Gemini and Falco remained still as a fast-moving blue and grey blur blasted straight up from behind Falco. Gemini turned to stare at the intruder, growling. Falco took the chance, and dove forward at the behemoth, tackling him and sending him to the ground. As Falco leant over Gemini, winding up a punch, the Trance grimaced, kneeing Falco in the rear and sending him skidding across the pavement behind Gemini. Falco rolled as he came down, again coming within mere inches of the edge, springing back up. He ran and leapt at the giant again, swinging his feet one after the other. Gemini successfully blocked both kicks, and brought a massive fist down to Falco as he landed. Falco dove between Gemini's legs, dodging the attack. The ship still flew in a tight circle high above the platform, watching intently. ******** "Falco can't last through this," Fox muttered. "As soon as he screws up, Gemini'll pound him.. there's got to be SOMETHING I can do..." Fox continued to brood, but sat up a second later. "...I hope this works..." Fox reached up and started tapping switches on the side of the cockpit, before flicking a larger toggle switch at the front. "...if I screw up these blasters are toast.." Fox continued to wait as the screen in front of him remained dim, then suddenly lit up: HYPER BLASTERS ENABLED. 03 "Three shots. They sure don't make 'em like they used to." Fox returned his hands to the flight stick in front of him as a loud clank erupted from underneath the Arwing, a pair of long blue tubes slowly lowering out of the bottom of the ship, near the base of the wings. "Now, just keep 'im st-" "This is the Galaxy Police. I have already given you a warning. This is a registered No-Fly zone, and blasters are to be disabled. After you have done this, please leave the area. If you fail to comply force will be used." Fox tossed his head back, cringing. "..ugh.. Falco?! Why did you forget to disable blasters?.. he probably thinks I'm the same guy!... damn it, I don't have time for this!!" Fox rocked a throttle wheel on the side of the cockpit forward, causing the Arwing to boost forward rapidly. The fighter flipped on its side as it whipped into a lightning-fast turn, boosting again as it rocketed at the large police cruiser. "This is your last warning." "This is yours!!" Fox yelled, slamming the button on the joystick. Both canisters on the bottom of the ship glowed brightly before blasting out a bright surge of blue energy, which blazed through the air and completely blasted through the bulky hovercraft, imploding it in a wave of fire. Fox dodged around the wreckage as the flames died quickly, using up any air from the craft, and the cruiser began slowly to fall out of the sky. ******** Gemini ducked away as the police cruiser off in the distance burst into flames. Falco quickly rushed up, yelling as he delivered a fully-charged flying roundhouse kick directly into Gemini's face, sending him spinning into the air and falling to the ground halfway across the platform. Gemini roared as he pushed himself from the ground, where there now was a large crumple in the platform. "That... was a very cheap hit on me!" Falco blinked. "Well, what was that, the-" Falco turned to spot the Arwing as it flew by. He quickly dug in his jacket pockets, digging out his receiver as it started bleeping. "Falco!" Fox shouted. "Get Hyades away from you! If you can get him still and alone I'll be able to blast him!" "Are you on this? You are off this! Eagle Talon!!" Gemini stuck his hand out, bracing himself as a wave of force leapt from his hand, blasting out towards the Arwing. Fox's eyes went wide as he desperately tried to roll around the blast, but yelped as the blast instantly shattered the left wing of the ship, and the Arwing slowly began to fall into a downwards roll. "Fox!! Eject!!" Falco screamed. Fox shuddered as he clasped his hands around a large plug on his right side. Groaning, he gave the lever a hard yank, and it came out of its socket, a short string holding it in. "...what the hell!! Work!!" "Fox!! You don't HAVE all day!" Falco shouted. Gemini began to approach him. "I have no force to shoot the pod OUT!" Fox yelled back. "The propellant G-Diffuser.. isn't.. working." -------- FUEL LEVELS OPTIMAL HULL INTEGRITY OPTIMAL WEAPONS SYSTEMS OPTIMAL G-DIFFUSER...............ERROR "G-Diffusers have experienced a malfunction," ROB64 droned. "Systems scan indicates that G-Diffusers have a 99.999998% chance of working correctly." "Well, he's one to nitpick," Falco muttered. "99.999998's good enough for me." -------- "THIS KIND OF THING ONLY HAPPENS IN MOVIES, OR BOOKS, OR FANFICTION OR SOMETHING!!" Fox screamed. "Hang on, F-augh!" Falco coughed hard as Gemini bashed him in the back of the head, sending him back another distance across Final Destination. Fox twitched. "Hang on. There's always a backup plan." Fox reached for another lever - and didn't find it. "...JESUS CHRIST!! I TOLD Slippy to FIX THIS!!" ******** Slippy sat at the workbench, tying the lever string to a large counterweight. "There we go. All to factory specifications. Now to just slip this in, and-" Slippy turned to the empty space where Fox's Arwing was usually parked in the Great Fox hangar. "...uh oh." ******** "This is bad." Falco groaned, hanging onto the edge of the platform. He slowly lifted his arm up, checking his watch. "Under three minutes of air left... now what?.." Falco struggled to raise his head, looking upwards at Gemini. "Are you ready to surrender?" ******** Locke quickly switched the blade of his dagger to the other side of his clenched fist, charging Cecil. He leapt forward, hoping to find a chink in the heavy plate mail of Cecil. Cecil simply flicked his sword upwards, knocking the knife out of Locke's hand. The weapon clattered to the ground several feet away. Locke quickly ducked, rolling to the side as Cecil swiped quickly ahead of Locke's path. The blade caught the top of Locke's tunic, tearing a large gash in the cloth as Locke dove for his weapon. He snatched the knife off the ground and stood back up, holding the edge in front of his face to meet Cecil's. Both fighters struggled for control of the attack, before Locke pressed on the hilt of the dagger with his other hand, making Cecil fumble with his sword. Locke swooped in, digging the knife into a joint on the crafted armor. He stomped down hard on the handle, prying Cecil's kneepad loose. Locke dodged to the side as the strained metal whizzed by his head and landed a short distance away from the edge of the rooftop. "Some chintzy armor you got there." Locke casually remarked. "You should see the Evermore stuff."* Cecil shot back, punching Locke across the face. Locke 12% Cecil 23% As Locke's head reared back, Cecil smashed him again across the face with his sword, sending him flying onto his back. He bounced off the ground, landing flat on the concrete. His head lied a meager two feet from the edge of the roof. As Cecil approached for the kill, Locke suddenly lent up, grabbed Cecil by the ankles and drug him right off his feet. Cecil's sword fell to the ground, which distracted Locke long enough for Cecil to boot him in the face as he fell. Cecil continued to bicycle-kick Locke directly in the head as he lied on the ground, before shoving himself backwards and sliding backwards to his sword. Locke 45% Cecil 32% Cecil was approaching Locke again, and Locke knew he couldn't pull the same stunt twice. He was in a tight situation. So he did the best thing he could think of. Attack Cecil's loosely clothed knee. "GOD!" Cecil hopped backwards, yet again falling on his back, clutching his knee with one hand. "I don't take kindly to cheap shots!" "You haven't seen nothing yet." Locke sprung up, leapt into the air - and stomped right on Cecil's magical land. For mobility reasons, it wasn't particularly as well-armored as other, more vital parts of the body. First mistake. "...." Cecil's face turned ghostly white, and his eyes looked as if they were ready to pop out. "...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGG GHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Locke 45% Cecil 156% Locke dashed over to an item crate that was rolled onto the arena by an automated robot, and pryed the top off with his knife. He dug around inside... and took out a parasol. "...huh? You have to be kidding..." "URRGHH!!" Cecil sprung up, his face beet-red, and charged Locke. Cecil began slashing like crazy at Locke, while Locke gently fenced off the blows with the parasol. As Cecil charged up for a spinning attack, Locke reached over and whomped Cecil in the back of the head with the umbrella, sending him flying from the kinetic pack's increased output. Locke dashed over as Cecil slammed into a wall, and began kicking him down. Locke 45% Cecil 189% The worker just sat on the side of the arena, shaking his head and watching with a pained expression on his face as Cecil was showered with cheap blows. "The things that get you ahead in this game..." ******** Falco shuddered in pain as he watched Fox's Arwing slowly fall beneath his sight. He leant further over the edge of the surface of Final Destination, watching in horror as his wingmate's fighter began to fall faster and faster towards the surface of Mute City. "...Fox!..." "I don't believe we're finished..." Gemini laughed, pressing his foot down on Falco's heel. "Son of a BITCH!!" Falco bellowed. With one graceful movement, Falco pressed and launched his feet off the ground, smashing Gemini in the face, and completely swung off the platform, grasping the edge with his wings. Falco swung forward, pressing his feet against the slanted edge wall of the island. With surprising force, Falco completely launched himself back onto the platform, flipping through the air and stomping as hard as he could on Gemini's face. As Gemini stumbled back in confusion, Falco landed, sweeping the hulking Trace off his feet. Falco somersaulted back to his feet, quickly executing an arcing axe-kick down onto Gemini's chest, knocking the wind out of him. Falco finally leapt forward, performing a flying elbow drop directly onto Gemini's face. "GGGAAAAUUUURRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!" Gemini bellowed in pain as blue blood jetted from a rupture in his face. Gemini roared as he reached backwards, grabbing Falco by the leg with both hands. Falco yelped in surprise as Gemini began to twirl him around for a hammer throw. "You said we were playing fair." Falco coughed. "And this is not?" "A Trance isn't my idea of playing fair." "So what is your response?" Gemini slowed down as he noticed Falco with his blaster in hand. "Not play fair." Gemini shrieked in pain as Falco yanked on the trigger and, quite literally, blew off his face. Falco was prematurely hurled from Gemini's hands, but he landed on his hands, pressing off and flipping back onto his feet. Gemini writhed around in his stance, what remained of his expression a bloody mess. "Are we going to FINISH THIS?!" ******** Fox blinked. He franticly checked around him. A small fire had sprouted on his control panel, which he quickly extinguished by dabbing his jacket in his saliva and covering the blaze. "This.. isn't a dream." he sat back, watching in pain as the straight view of the Arwing had begun to devolve into a spinning kaliedoscope. "God, I'm gonna be sick... not that it matters... I'M DEAD MEAT OVER HERE!!" Fox screamed to no one in particular. Fox whimpered as the spinning view gradually turned into a straight color. "Any procedures, any precautions... NONE! My eject doesn't work! Nothing... am I not supposed to incinerated instantly by an enemy blast or just get sucked out into space instead of just get one long ride down into a ground I know full well will splatter me?! I ju-ech-" Fox scrambled through a side compartment, digging out a barf bag. He breathed in the fresh-packing air of the container, shortly before vomiting. "A fucking recon mission killed Fox McCloud!" Fox twitched. That twitch changed into an uncontrollable shudder. That shudder changed into laughter. "FUCKING BRILLIANT!!" A bright red aura grew around the tattered Arwing. The falling ship was already too close to the atmosphere for the Arwing's automatic countermeasures to have any effect. "WHAT DOES THIS FREAKING ANTIMAGNUS WANT FROM ME?! I JUST DO MY JOB! I WATCH THESE WORLDS!! GET OFF MY BACK!!!" Familes began to scream as a fireball plummeted down from the sky, barely missing a cluster of office buildings. "TRANCE, MY AS-" Fox opened his eyes. "...Hey, cool, I'm dead!" He shook his head, and looked around him. His Arwing was frozen perfectly in the air - a foot from the ground. He was ready to crash directly in the middle of a park. A pair of teens, a boy and a girl, were sitting on a picnic cloth mere inches away from the tip of the Arwing, both holding glasses of champagne. The bottle of wine sat in a small ice bucket between them. They were both pale. "...hey.. wait a minute..." TRANCE... "Waaaaaaah!!.." Fox shielded his head as shards of metal began raining down around the Arwing, again just barely missing the couple. Fox uncovered an eye as the wrecked steel began orbiting the Arwing, pasting itself on to wherever it had been blown off. Fox watched in amazement as the destroyed wing of the Arwing seemed to magically grow out of thin air. The metal that remained on the craft darkened in shade, gaining a fine polish. Fox shook his head as the Arwing fully repaired itself, and pulled down a panel from the celing to check the back of the craft. He looked at his hand. It was solid grey. Fox yanked back his hand in shock, and looked over the rest of himself. He was completely covered in grey fur. "...WHAT THE HELL?!" ******** Truly a Trance of a different color! Physical properties are nothing sacred to those who have the power to manipulate them - and Fox is no exception! Using forces close to thought, this Trance can move absolutely anything with his will! This Trance's Psychic Hammer skill can knock enemies flat from miles away! His Psion Wave produces an impassible barrier of EMP energy that can be commanded with merely a thought! ******** AIAL - Physic Trance "This.. is.. too.. GAH!" Fox quickly leant forward, looking out both sides of the Arwing's canopy. He checked back on his rear-view panel. The engines of the Arwing had completely stopped. "...why am I not falling..? I mean, the engines, should be turned on-" as Fox finished his sentence, on cue, the engines fired up. "JESUS! What is HAPPENING here?!" With a loud roar, the Arwing plunged itself straight into the ground. The fighter, with its front tip in the dirt, stuck upwards out of the dirt. "...well, I don't know how, but this thing is stopped... and not a scratch. Now, just to get it back to Final Destination..." Fox suddenly lurched forward, as, all of a sudden, the engines roared up again... ...and the Arwing flew completely backwards into the sky. The couple exchanged stares. The boy dumped his champagne out, shaking his head. "...never again." Fox screeched as the Arwing roared up through the sky, still backwards, at easily triple the speed that the ship normally flew at. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH.." Fox's voice disappeared as he was launched into the sky. "..HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Fox was thrown back in his seat as the Arwing stopped and sat perfectly still in space. He looked around, blinking. He was sitting right alongside the Final Destination platform. Falco sat stared at him, a twitch in his eye. "...yeah." Falco finally muttered. Fox's Arwing remained still, though pivoted to face Gemini. "I think I have a present for you." Fox held up the Craymel Cage in his hands as the cockpit opened. Gemini froze in place as Fox hopped out of the Arwing, landing on the platform. The fighter simply hung there as Fox positioned himself between Falco and Gemini. "...Efreet..." Gemini coughed. The Craymel Cage pulsed with red light, causing Fox's hand to shake. Fox slowly began to walk towards Gemini. The Trance bellowed in rage, his hands turning a bright yellow as he brought them down in front of Fox. "Thunder Blade!!" "Flame Wall!!" Fox growled. White energy glowed around Fox, before forming itself into a barrier of molten rock in front of him. The Blade cleaved a small ways down the wall, but became jammed in the magma. Gemini ripped his hand back, the sword of energy disappearing as he did so. "FOX!!" Falco shouted. "Don't use flame magic, we're already running short of oxygen for you to start lighting things up!" "...I just need one more cast." Fox stood to the side, watching Gemini as he began charging up another Arte. The Craymel Cage in Fox's hands flashed red once more. "Let's see what sort of stuff I can do with this Trance... Arwing, fire on my mark!" On cue, the hyperblasters glowed an eerie blue as they began to charge up. "It will take more than a simple Arte or laser to defeat me!" Gemini roared. Fox flicked his other wrist towards the ship, setting a disc of flame in the air, hanging vertically. "How about laser Artes?" Fox grimaced as he snapped his fingers, causing the Arwing to lurch back as a pair of giant blue energy balls blasted forward with a shriek. The wall of fire buckled to contain the blasts, but finally shattered, spewing ash into the air - and leaving two giant FLAMING blue energy balls still going forward. Gemini screamed as he shielded himself, but even that was not enough to defend properly. The shots hit the platform in different areas on Hyades' side of the battlefield, covering it in a tremendous explosion. Falco threw his arms in front of his face as chunks of twisted metal and shards of granite began to rain down around him, while Fox simply stood and watched. Gemini gave one last shrill scream as his third of the platform was completely severed from the Final Destination, and began plummeting towards the City. Fox continued to watch as Gemini toppled off the platform, erupting in flame as both him and the giant chunk of metal began to enter the atmosphere. Falco slowly began to stride over to Fox. "I sure hope that doesn't land anywhere TOO hazardous..." ******** Confetti flew through the air, carried by the constant breeze that whirled throughout the awards ceremonies for the afternoon's F-Zero race. At the very center of the audience, there was a large three-man podium set up, with Tails on the 3rd slot, Heero on the second, and Captain Falcon on the first. "...how much time do we have before ceremonies?" Tails winced. "I REALLY have to go." Heero looked down at his watch. "Ten minutes. You should make it." Tails gave a confirming nod. As soon as Tails could be seen dashing over the horizon... a massive piece of metal fell out of the sky, crushing Captain Falcon. Heero's eyes widened as he turned to his left - and stared right into the bottom of the Final Destination platform. Or a large chunk of it. The shattered disc landed perfectly on its side - the first and third slots on the podium were completely smashed several feet into the ground by the flying space junk, while Heero's position was left unharmed. The platform was miniscule inches from Heero's face. "..." ******** The traffic in Mute City hadn't lightened up, even with Hyades' defeat. Not one of the broadcasters, through their exclusive deals, dared to rise up to Final Destination after Hyades' announcement. This, of course, meant that the city was still collectively running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The entire crew of the Argetlahm, along with Fox's friends and several other Smashers hoping to escape being swept away in the flow of evacutees. Chat shook her head, turning back to the rest of the group. "No one has a clue what's happening. How long is this going to carry on?" "I wouldn't count on getting to the Argetlahm too quickly," Dante growled, leaning against the wall of the building and watching as a family vehicle swerved through the lanes of the hoverway a short distance below the catwalk him and the rest of the crew stood upon. "The spaceport would probably be the first place these people are heading if they want to get out of Mute City in a hurry." "Well, we can relax for the time being," Cody sighed. "Hey, Fox, you were up with Hyades? You used your Arwing, right?" Fox sat up from the ground suddenly. "..oh.. yeah. So?" "What did you do with it?" "It's... parked at the Great Fox." Fox had previously returned to his normal form, and dared not to inform Ultimanium of his recent Trancing, given he preferred his head on his shoulders instead of the ground. The truth of the matter was, Fox was already mentally piloting the Arwing through the skies of Mute City, its canopy pilotless, and returning the fighter to the Star Fox dock. Slippy would have to deal with a rogue Arwing parking itself in front of him, but that was the least of Fox's concerns. "It's great to see you all again," Farah said, smiling. "I was wondering what happened to the two of you." She stared over to where Shaun was seated, next to where Chat was still watching the constant traffic rolling by. "We can take heart that Chat hasn't really gone wacko and Shaun hasn't been killed yet." Reid earned a smack across the back of the head from Farah. "Are you two really from the Van Eltia too?" Takato asked. "You seem pretty normal to me." Reid frowned at Takato. "I wouldn't head up there if I could avoid it. With all the additions and 'enhancments' that the bigwigs in Eternia designed for the thing, I could get lost in there for days." Farah nodded. "He did once, actually. We had to send out a search party." Takato and Rika exchanged stares. "...well," Locke stepped in suddenly. "How did everyone's Smash matches go?" "Brilliant," Tron pouted, her arms folded. "Ours got cancelled halfway through 'cause the bozos running the cameras had the godly inspiration to attempt to watch a match they couldn't even see, and we were left with no supervision." "How about the F-Zero races?" Raynor asked. Gohan sighed, looking behind his back as Peppy and Heero were seated on opposite sides of the catwalk, staring each other down. Heero held an obnoxiously large gold trophy in his lap. "Winning by a technicality," Peppy moaned. "I never thought I would get so underhanded..." "I didn't see YOU in the final lap." Heero shot back. "I never noticed the date going on," V2 snickered. He sprung up, sitting himself besides Eric. "So, get any?" "No." "None?" "No." "Not a bit?" "No." "C'mon.." "No." "Not even any mushy stuff?" V2 was promptly kicked into the air by Rika. "Thank you." Eric muttered. "...guys," Falco looked up, causing everyone to shift their gazes toward him. "...Hyades said before he started his match that if I lost that he'd destroy the city. But if I won he said that Antimagnus would take care of it. Do you think... Antimagnus would come to Mute City?" "If it were to happen I believe we would have ample warning," Balkan wheezed. "Antimagnus is not one to go for cheap kills." Guilmon suddenly stood. Everybody shifted over to him. "Guilmon?" Takato asked. "What's happening?" "I don't know, Takato," Guilmon responded. "But... my fire's getting hotter!" Chat looked up from the catwalk. "Guys, the traffic's starting to thin out. We should get to the Argetlahm before anything else really inconvienient happens." ******** The sun was completely over the horizon of Mute City. Word had apparently gotten out somehow, and some of the vehicles that were leaving beforehand were now returning into the heart of the megalopolis. Vegeta stood close to the massive bridge dome, his arms folded, watching over the City as it began to wind down. Most stores closed, but the ones that remained lit up the night with neon signs and large lit billboards. He shifted his eyes to the side as he could hear some conversation occuring near the center of the bridge. Fox stood a short distance away from Shaun, Takeru and Charmy, leading the conversation. "So, where're we headed next?" Fox asked. "We're going to follow the charts that Chat's supplied us," Shaun sighed back sleepily. "With the Chronoshifters at full power and all the nearby wormholes open to us, it'll take us under a week to get to Eternia in Exodus. Once we get there.. we wait. Antimagnus and the Van Eltia are bound to be in that area somewhere. See you tomorrow, I'm getting to bed. Oh, and Fox.." "Yeah?" "The Craymel Cage worked well, I take it?" "You said the Craymel were 7D figures, right? I think I was able to use them a lot better than normal people mostly because I was in sync with them, mostly because being Trance is becoming a seventh-di-" Shaun glared at Fox. "...uh oh." Fox sighed. "You went Trance," Charmy murmured. "We know what Ultimanium did when he realized I had potential Trance energy. I'd stay on your toes if I were you. If Ultimanium finds out about any of this, you can kiss your ass goodbye. I don't imagine he would be so merciful on a member of the same sex, too." Fox nodded fervently. "I'll make sure of it." Shaun began to walk to the turbolift. "Well, I've had enough. I'm hitting the sack. Fox, keep the Cage, you've already put it to better use than I usually manage." Takeru looked up at the night sky. Even with the mass light pollution, the stars shone in great number and intensity, the effect amplified further by a large strip of starless sky where the Lylat-Hybrid dateline could be seen. "...I don't know why, but it seems all of this will be a spectactular sight more so when we're finally finished..." "...finished with the Magnusi." Charmy finished. Takeru nodded. "..yeah." Patamon flapped his wings furiously, raising himself to Takeru's head level. "Aw, TK, do you have to get philisophical at a time like this? Or emotional, or whatever... you know, I just don't understand you anymore." Takeru smirked. "You're telling me." The peace was interrupted by a loud honk, coming from the bridge access door. "Jesus, what in God's name do these people want at this time of night?" Vegeta growled. "Is someone going to get that or something?" Fox cursed, shaking his head. He walked over to the heavy steel door, flipping down a lock on his side of the metal panel. The door swung open slightly, and Kirby and Scias simply marched right in. Scias' cloak drifted mysteriously across the floor, while Kirby skipped forward in uneven steps, dragging a large suitcase behind him. "...could I ask what YOU guys are doing here?" "...F-f-fox," Scias stuttered. "..." Kirby looked back up at Scias in disgust. He tugged furiously on Scias' long green sheeting, before shaking his head and unpacking his suitcase. He sat down, taking out a sticky-note pad and a felt marker, and began to scribble viciously. A minute later, Fox leant down to read Kirby's message, and in response Kirby smacked the note against Fox's forehead. Fox stumbled back, blinking before tearing the note from his face. He started reading again. "...you guys need a room? Don't you guys usually stay in the Smash HQ bunks?" Kirby bounded up, tearing the paper from Fox's hands. He sat down and continued writing on the other side of the sheet. He gave it back to Fox. "...you mean the HQ's closed? What.. the Smash season's been cancelled?!" "..." Scias took a deep breath. "...our f-flights don't come... until-til the end of S-s-smash s-season." "Sorry to ask, but do you have room for one more?" Fox looked up. Standing at the door was a medium-height woman, with brown eyes, and long brown hair that fell down behind her. She was in a pair of simple jeans and a small tank top. "...do you? I can pay, if you want.." she began shuffling through a small stack of paper credits. "This isn't my ship, ma'am," Fox replied. Ultimanium walked by. "They can all stay. They have to be gone in the morning." The woman nodded. "Thank you, sir. How much do you want..." "It's on the house. Remember, though, we're leaving in the morning on very important business, so we would like you gone before then. Charmy, can you show our guest to the female bunks?" Charmy nodded. "..uh.. sure." "...thank you. I need to bring something, though..." she ducked back outside, and strained against the catwalk railing outside as she began to wheel in a five-foot long case on a handcar. "Can I keep this in my bunk?" Minonim suddenly went off. "Sir, scanners indicate the contents of that case are high-frequency energy weapons." The woman shook her head. "Please, I don't want to cause any harm." "Don't worry," Ultimanium grumbled. "If she wants to raise trouble she'll have to get by me first." Fox, Kirby, Scias and the new guest all headed for the turbolift, Charmy leading. The turbolift next to that one opened up, with Glenn stepping out in his boxers. He sipped from a can of beer, suddenly turning to the woman. "...whoa! What have we got here.." "Back off." the turbolift closed, cutting Glenn off from the group. He looked back up to Ultimanium, shaking his head. "Women." "Put something decent on." Ultimanium sneered. Glenn instantly turned around and stepped back in the turbolift. Inside the turbolift, Fox, Kirby, Scias and the guest all stood in a line, stretching from one wall to the other, the large carrying case included. Fox glanced over. "Hey, you said you had high-frequency energy weapons in there, right?" "...yes." Fox stared down at the large metal box. "That wouldn't happen to be part of a hazard suit, would it?" "..how did you know?" "You're Samus Aran, right?" "How do you know me?" Fox stretched out his hand. "Fox McCloud. I was on the opposite end of the Smash league ladder two seasons ago. These are my friends, Kirby and Scias. You had an interesting win streak back then," Samus reluctantly shook Fox's hand. "You took out those two guys in the preliminary matches using only a trash can lid, right?" "Well, yes. I wouldn't say that's the greatest thing I've had going for me though." Samus smirked. Her Smash personality was beginning to return, tossed away only a short time ago with the announced cancellation of the current Smash league. "I bet you've never managed to KO a person using your pinky before." ******** Peace and quiet was soon established on the Argetlahm, as it sat dormant in the Mute City drydock. Still, in one male bunk, Guilmon snorted and rolled over on the blanket that was spread out on the ground for him in Takato's bunk. Call it a bad case of indigestion if you will. "...my tummy hurts." Guilmon coughed harshly, feeling his throat begin to burn. "...this fire's getting too hot." He slowly pushed himself from the ground, leaving the room and slowly walking down the hall to the turbolift. He rose up several floors, and made his way into the washroom just prior to the bridge. He gripped the faucet with both claws and twisted it to the right, letting a weak stream of cold water out. Guilmon jammed his head underneath the tap and took in a mouthful of water, drinking it slowly. He raised his head finally, nearly completely soaked. "...Shaun says the Cruhmels amplify their elements nearby when things happen. And Shaun says the Cruhmels are on the Ven Altia. Is there a Cruhmel aligned with my fire...?" Guilmon waddled over to the window, looking out and upwards over the city. Many lights travelling through the sky pointed out mobile spacecraft. "...Is the Ven Altia close? If that's the case.." A larger light pierced through the sky. "Is the Argetlam almost done?" -------- * - Cecil cameos as a shopkeeper in Ebon Keep on the SNES game Secret of Evermore, asides from his starring role in FFIV. While the armor IS chintzy, he does give you a bazooka when you first talk to him, so I can't complain. ^_^ -------- Next Chapter - Yet MORE crossovers! Angry spellcasters! The beginning of the Endgame! And.. RAKUGO LADY! >o< \oo/