Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Blended Dimensions ❯ The Zeboim ( Chapter 21 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Author's Note: Please take your time to review my story. I highly appreciate the comments, critisim and flames.

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Blended Demensions
By Bud


Chapter 21: The Zeboim

Weltall stood on top of the Goliath's massive wing and faced off against Grahf and his dark Gear. Ranma eyed the 'Bringer of Destruction' with a bit of trepidition. Grahf was like the Happosai of this world. But instead of being a pervert and panty theif, he brought chaos and destruction to all. Especially to Ranma. The visions of Maitreya's group and the Kasumi-like Falcon dying because of Grahf giving a dark power to the Dora were still fresh in his mind.

"Grahf... You have alot to answer for...!"

The Seeker of Power chuckled at the young warrior, seemingly not caring about whatever he did to Ranma in the past.

"The Goliath wasn't built for you to use. You must remain on this land a little longer. I can't allow you to leave..."

Weltall made a quick sweeping motion with it's hand, clenching it's fist at the end.

"The hell you are, bastard!" A red aura surrounded Ranma inside the cockpit, displaying his emotion of anger. Unconsiously, the aura seeped into the controls, powering the Gear's ether machine and giving Weltall an identical aura. "You and me! Right here! RIGHT NOW!! I'm gonna pay you back for all the suffering you've caused me and EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN WORLD!!"

Grahf chuckled to himself, amused. "Interesting."

Just as Grahf jumped off of his Gear to attack, a clusted of missles darted in from the side and pinned Alpha-Weltall down to the wing of the airship. Grahf looked to the end of the wing and saw a strange gear that looked like a big bird pointing a large weapon at his Gear.

"Two against one ain't really fair, Grahf!" said Buddy on a loud speaker. The YF-19 was flying backwards in gerwalk mode, keeping relative speed with the Goliath. "Ranma! You take care of him and I'll work on his Gear!"

The variable fighter suddenly dove, dodging a high-powered blast of dark ki shot by Grahf. Like a bird, the 19 pulled up and soared high into the air. Alpha-Weltall moved on it's own, flying at the fighter with all the speed it could muster.

This is were Buddy had total advantage in everything.

The 19's engines blasted forth and it banked into a power dive. Transforming to soldier mode, it stopped in mid-air only to skate along the sky while firing it's XS-15 heavy assault rifle. Buddy laughed as the stupid, chi controlled Gear couldn't keep up with him.

"Whoops!" He pulled back and mentally shifted the 19 to fighter and barrel roll out of the reach of the Gear. He piloted the fighter eratically. Banking and weaving in random patterns that Alpha-Weltall couldn't predict which way he was going.

He was flying circles around the confused Gear.

And Suzarn was barfing into a bag in the back seat.

-----

Ranma climbed out of Weltall and faced off against him on the airships wing. He felt the strong wind blowing against him and felt the cold atmosphere, nearly making him shiver. The wind was strong, meaning that regular jumping was out of the question.

During the later stages of learning the art before he was cur--- blessed by Jusenkyo, his old man taught him a certain type of jump that allowed him to anchor his spirit down on a single point. This in turn allowed a fighter to fight on top of moving vehicles like cars, trains and even airplanes. It was the type of jumping style that he needed now.

As Ranma got closer, he could feel the darkness ooze from out of Grahf. It was the same evil feeling he occassionly got from Id. But this time it was more concentrated and directed towards him.

It was Grahf that attacked first, running at Ranma with his hands still tucked in his sleaves. He came with a flying toe-kick that Ranma miraculously dodge in the nick of time. Grahf was fast. Very fast. And he proved it by attacking with an array of kicks that began to wore down Ranma's defenses quickly. Ranma's arms were stinging from all the attacks he had to block. Not once did Grahf leave an opening big enough for him to take advantage of. As much as he didn't like this, Ranma would have to use brute force!

Grahf attacked again with a slow, but powerful roundhouse kick. Ranma brought his fist up to block. But what seemed like one arm was multiplied by many as he used the imperial chestnuts roasting on an open fire attack to strike the Seeker's ankle with over a hundred blows in a single second. If Grahf felt it, he didn't show it. Only a grunt of discomfort was heard before he fell back. It was Ranma's turn now! He rolled forward and came up with a powerful mule kick that Grahf avoided. The Seeker grabbed ahold of his rising leg and prepared to twist it in his grip.

Ranma countered.

Saotome used his momentum from the counter to bring down a hard leg-split axe kick at his shoulder. Grahf stepped forward and caught Ranma by the knee with his shoulder instead and striked at his exposed groin with an open palm.

Ranma desperately countered quickly, striking the incomming palm with a fast Haku Dato Shin Sho, the White Snake Reliable Fist strike, making the Seeker finally gasp in pain and back off once again.

Grahf looks at his palm then looks at Ranma. He chuckles and takes up a stance Ranma recodnizes. It's the same stance Fei always used before he passed on.

Suddenly, a crash his heard and both look to the end of the wing. Alpha Weltall was smoking but not heavily damage seeing as it tried to get up. But a thunderous hail of 40mm penetrators pinned it down again.

Ranma found this the best chance he got. While Grahf was distracted by seeing his Gear get it's ass handed to it, he quickly dashes forward and unleashed on of his most deadly moves.

"DOKUJA TANKETSU SHOO!!"

His hand strikes out at Grahf, palm flat and fingers first at his heart. This caught Grahf by surprise and couldn't dodge, block or counter the attack. The Seeker screamed in pain, being done some very serious damage by the attack. He staggers back for a moment before finally righting himself. A chuckle started coming from him.

"So, you can now draw upon more of your power... if that's the case then..."

Ranma almost wet himself. That was a DEATH BLOW he used and the guy shrugged it off!

"Ranma!!" He heard from the radio in his Gear. "Hold on tightly now!!"

"What..?" he felt the ship lurge to the side and the wing began to lower. He felt a sliding feeling knew what was happening. He turned and slammed his hands into the armor of the ship, a pair of chi claws manifesting unconsiously that held on tight to the ship.

-----

Buddy watched as the Goliath begins to lower it's left wing and due to the shift, Grahf slides off the wing. Following him, Alpha Weltall slides off after him. He glanced at the wing and saw Ranma hanging for dear life. When he checked to see what happened to Grahf and the Gear, both were gone from visual and from radar.

"Doc! That's enough!"

The Goliath soon returned to his normal, level flight. He watched Ranma enter his Gear and walk it back towards the hatch it immerged from.

----

Inside the bridge of the Goliath, it was a total mess. When Ranma walked back in, Hammer was rapidly appologizing Rico for some odd reason, and Elly...

He snickered.

Elly was hanging upside down from a pipe by her legs. She was blinking in confusion and her hair was hanging low. From this position, she really does look very much like himself and Ranko.

Ranma eyes travelled a little pit upwards to...

Awww crap, he thought. She was wearing tights.

"Thanks a bunch, Doc. You really helped me out." Ranma said after helping Elly down. "He was one hell of a tough fighter. I'm not sure, but I think it was him that taught Fei how to fight."

Citan perked up at this.

"How do you assume that?" he asked. Ranma sat next to him with a sad expression.

"He fights just like Fei..." Ranma reaches for a snack bar in his pocket and opens it up. Just as he was about to take a bite, it suddenly breaks and falls to the floor. He looked at the fallen piece for a moment. "... I've got a bad feeling."

Citan looked at Ranma.

"What do you mean? Still thinking about this Grahf person?"

"No, it's not that." He turned and looked out the window. "It's like this feeling of uneasiness that I've had before..."

"You too!? Well, to tell the truth, I am getting a terrible feeling of deja vu..."

"Yeah. And I feel like we're being watched..."

-----

The world suddenly becomes a green hue. A targeting reticle takes up most of the world. It moves around, rotating until it locks on and views the Goliath above it. It pans down to put the ship in the exact center of the reticle.

"Bingo! Our information was correct. It's Kislev's... It's huge! It appears to be a..." The reticle zooms in for a closer look. "That's it! The Goliath! The one from the underground factory we've heard so much about!! Crap... they're taking revenge! Bet they're going to bomb Bledavik!"

-----

A person backs away from the periscope. It's Bart! And it's on the bridge of the Yggdrasil!

"Either way, no need to let him go so fast... right...?" He speaks to himself. He retracts the periscope. "Gunner!"

"Gungany.. No, Bart Missle, fueling! it'll take fifteen seconds from opening the hatch to engage the illuminator!"

"Franz!"

"I don't hear anything other than the surface wind waves and our engine." said the dolphin demi-human. Threat is minimal from looking at the radar and sonar."

Bart walks off the top-bridge and stands next to the gunner.

"Here we go! BattCon level 1!!"

An alarm sounds and red strobes flash around the bridge. The lights cut off only to be replaced by a red hue of the emergency/battlestation lights. At the back of the bridge, the door opens and Maison runs in.

"Y, young master! What is happening? What was the alarm all about...?"

Sigurd follows in next.

"Young master! Again!!?"

Bart ignores them.

"Battle stations, everyone! Surface navigation! Close the vents! Blow the main tank! Prepare for anti-aircraft battle upon surfacing!"

Montel walks into the bridge next.

"What the fuck is going on?! A niggah was tryin' ta sleep!"

Sigurd and Maison both mutter at once.

"Just doesn't know when to give up..." muttered Sigurd.

"Y, young master! The Gungany missles... You need permission from more than half of the crew members to..." protested Ol' Maison.

Bart turns towards Franz, ignoring Maison.

"Surface-combat! Stand by with the anti-aircraft guns. Gunner! Give me the trigger for the Bart Missles!"

-----

Outside, the Yggdrasil is intact and floating in the water. A bay door at the rear of the ship opens up. A bright orange missle is lifted up into place. As the Goliath nears the ship, the missle is fired and immediately homes on the massive Kislev airship.

-----

"What's wrong?" asks Elly.

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Okay.. I'm glad..." She turns to Citan. "Anyway, Citan, is it okay? We're flying in such a large ship. What if Kislev or Aveh find us..."

Before Citan could answer, Buddy came on the comm net and was frantically shouting.

"RANMA!! CLIMB AND BANK!!" Seeing their confused faces, his voice grew louder. "INCOMING CRUISE MISSLE!!"

"Shit!!" Cursed Ranma as he got to the controls. He immediately grabbed the wheel, turned to the left and pulled back hard.

Outside, Buddy watched the Goliath turn as fast as it could, but it wasn't fast enough. With a quick thought, the 19 transformed into Soldier mode and he brought up the shield.

The missle exploded on impact!

-----

Bart watched as the missle exploded on impact. The blast radius of the missle was so large that it completely covered the Goliath from site. He leaps up and walks to the wheel on the bridge. With a loud laugh, he starts flexing a muscle.

"Rah hah hah!! That's the power of the Bart Missle!! Even the Kislev's prototype can't stand up to it!!"

"Y, young master!" shouted the Gunner. "Look!"

"Hmm?" He walked back over to the Gunnery station too see what was wrong. Watching the screen, the dust clouds parted in the high altitude where he attacked the Goliath. But something was definately wrong...

When the clouds parted, it revealed a type of Gear never seen before. But when he panned around, he saw the Goliath still flying in the air on it's course.

"What the...?" He growled. "Gunner. Prepare another Bart Missle."

"Aye, sir!"

"Young master!" Called Franz. "The enemy is an unknown Gear. Not in our database. And it's diving right at us!"

"Tell the anti-air gunners to fire!"

-----

"Where gonna die! Where gonna die!" Suzarn screamed from inside the cockpit. "Ya bloody moron is gonna get me' killed!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!!"

Buddy sighed. "We're not dead. It'll take more than that to kill this bird."

He brought the YF-19's shield down and checked over his systems. Even diverting power from the weapon systems to the pin-point barrier, the explosion still overloaded and shut down the barrier's power connectors. He frowned. He'll have to do two days worth of repairs just to get the main gun and the pin-point barrier back online.

That pissed him off.

"Ranma," he called, sending a direct laser communication. "Three o'clock low on the ocean surface. I believe those are some friends of yours."

"Yggdrasil!"

"Yep. You guys up there try to make an emergency landing on the ocean surface or whatever you feel is nessaccary." He smirked evily. "I'm gonna get some payback!"

"What!? No---!"

He cut communcations link.

"Ey uhh... ya not gonna do what I think youse is gonna do, right luv?" Suzarn asked carefully.

"Oh bloody fuk..."

-----

"Shit!" Cursed Ranma. He attempted to get communications link again but it was rejected everytime. "That dumbass!" In a few moments, the Goliath was placed on auto-pilot and cruising at the lowest speed possible to stay in the air.

"Listen up," he began. "Where going to ditch the Goliath in our Gears and transfer to the submarine below. The captain is a good friend of the Doc's and mine. Bart and his crew will welcome you guys."

Hammer decide to point out the obvious.

"Hey Bro! I guess he's not a friend of Mr. B, because he's about to kick their ass." Then he cheer, "Yeah, dude! Show them your L33T SKILLZ!!!!"

Ranma groaned.

-----

The Yggdrasil opened up all of it's anti-aircraft batteries and quickly filled the air with high-velocity tracers. With over ten 4 x 20 sem anti-gear guns firing at one target, it should be an easy target to destroy.

Buddy proved them wrong.

The YF-19 continued in it's high-speed approach to the ship, bobbing and weaving and rolling out of enemy fire. Tracers zipped and snagged along it's air-frame, barely missing, sometimes by just a few millimeters. Buddy knew that is was really annoying the gun crews that all of them couldn't shoot down one little fighter. Deciding to piss them off more, the leg internal weapons pallets on the sides opened up and dropped a pair of medium ranged missles. They streaked down right at a pair of AA guns and destroyed them in a big explosion.

He didn't stop there. Coming in low, he opened up with the XS-15 gatling rifle and REB-23 laser cannons and started to lay straffing fire, battering the ship's defensives. At full speed, it rolled pass the sail of the submarine without missing a beat.

"HA HAAA!!" Buddy shouted excitedly. Cutting his engines, the 19 transformed to gerwalk mode and hovered above the water following the Yggdrasil.

He charged again! This time the fighter surfed along sea-level and tore into the AA batteries with only it's rifle. Small, quick burst of depleted uranium penetrators turned the emplacements into piles of melted swiss cheese and metal slag.

-----

Most of the bridge crew was in silenced awe at what just happened. In a matter of moments, a single enemy unit decimated their entire anti-aircraft/gear defense as if it were a walk in the park.

Bart stared at the screen with the strange transforming Gear.

"S, status report?"

"Young master! All gun emplacements are heavily damaged and inoperable. Gun crews report several wounded casualties - two are critically wounded but stable."

Montel let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Franz! Enemy status!?"

"Right on top of us, young master!"

Bart steeled himself and walked towards the back on the bridge. He didn't get very far, Montel grabbing him by the arm before he had the chance to leave.

"You gonna go fight him!?" he asked, worried for the blonde pirate.

"Someone has too!"

Montel shook his head. "Forget it. We're already dead." Then he pointed at the forward section of the bridge and the main view screen.

At the bow of the Yggdrasil, the strange Gear hovered in it's bird-like configuration. As the crew watched, the Gear shot forward and started transforming again, this time into a highly advanced-looking version of a modern Gear. Some of the bridge crew gasped at seeing this, technology that was seemingly impossible. As the Gear got closer, it haulted and pointed it's large weapon...

.. directly at the bridge!!

The crew braced themselves for instant death. But, when nothing happened after a few moments, they all looked up and saw that the multiple barrels of the weapon were revolving at high-speed, but not firing.

"Is he out of ammunition?" wondered Sigurd. He glanced at Montel and saw that the dark-skinned man looked amused.

"Y, young master. Incoming communique..." The comm officer looked up. Bart turned to her. "... from the enemy."

The Aveh pirate and captain shook his head to clear the cobwebs. Why didn't the Kislev pilot get it over with?

"Put it on the speaker."

"Aye, sir."

"Don't think that I'm out of ammo, Prince Bartholomew Fatima. I've still got three hundred rounds left and that's more than enough to waste your bridge and it's crew."

"I will not surrender my ship or my crew to a Kislev dog like you!" Bart shouted angrily. It even made him more infuriated when the voice snorted.

"Moi? Kislev dog? You are the most silly little ass pirate that I have ever heard of. Tell me something, since you've obviously survived that Red Gear in the desert. Is Montel in there with you?"

The bridge crew, Sigurd, Maison and Bart looked at the black man. He was rubbing his slightly bearded chin while looking at the view screen. He stepped up and spoke.

"That you Buddy?"

"Who else do you think it is, niggah!?" The voice, identified as a guy named Buddy to the crew, paused. "Listen, tell that ass bandit of a pirate to stand down and let me come aboard. I've got Ranma, Citan and a couple friends coming in."

"Ranma and Citan?" Sigurd and Bart asked at the same time. Maison silently said a prayer of thanks.

Franz got their attention.

"Sir, I got the Goliath on radar. It's altitude is decreasing and estimated landing point will be two sharls from our position. I also have also detected Weltall and two unknown Gears escaping the Goliath."

"Young master?"

Bart looked at Sigurd, then looked at Montel questioningly.

"You obviously know this guy." He pointed out. "You have helped me and my crew through thick and thin. Did more than your share of work than any other guest should. Your apart of this crew just as much as anyone else." He placed his hand on Montel's shoulder and grasped firmly. "Do you trust this person?"

"With my life." It was a bold statement. No hesitation at all. And this made Bart sigh. The one-eyed pirate turned faced the front bridge.

"Young master, I don't believe this is a good idea..." said Sigurd. Bart ignored him.

"After we have confirmed the boarding of Ranma, Citan and your 'friends', you shall be allowed to board my ship. And you WILL be under heavy escort at all times while aboard this vessel. And you will be held in our brig until everything is sorted out." he stated firmly. "That is my decision."

"A good decision, Captain. I wouldn't trust myself either."

-----

"Bart! Sig! Ol' Maison!" called out Ranma. "It's good to see guys again!"

Sigurd nodded. "Welcome back, Ranma."

"It's good to see you again, young Ranma." nodded Maison.

"Ranma." nodded the blonde pirate. He also nodded to Citan's presence. Then he spotted her. "The Gebler officer that help us escape Aveh?"

Elly nodded.

"I decided to leave the military," she stated softly, looking down. "I hope I won't be of any trouble..."

Bart welcomed her aboard then looked at the next person. Well, he bent his head back and looked up at the tall, green skinned Rico.

"Whoa--! Uhh.. Hey there.. Big guy..!"

Rico grunted, crossing his arms in annoyance.

"I have a name, Cyclops... It's Rico Banderas... But everyone calls me Rico!"

"Right..." Bart drawled out. "A couple familiar faces and a pair of new ones. I welcome you all to my ship, the Yggdrasil II."

Ranma's smile faded.

"Bart, about the thing in the desert---" But Bart cut him off.

"Forget about it Ranma." he said, waving him off. "Montel already explained what happened and I forgive you. It was something you couldn't help." He paused and turned away.

A large commotion was heard on the other side of the Gear dock that gained the groups attention. A crowd was gathering on the lower level by one of the lifts. The sounds of cheers from the growing number of crewmen could be heard. But what seasoned fighters like Ranma, Citan and Rico could hear were the sounds of a fight! A big one at that.

"What's going on over there?" asked Elly. She broke off from the group and looked across the dock. She could see the large crowd but nothing else.

Bart smirked.

"Some of the crew decided to 'greet' our other 'guest' from earlier." he said casually. "I'd say their doing a good job of it too."

"WHAT!?"

That didn't come from anyone of them. But from the person just arriving. Montel!

"Son of a---" Montel knew that he could say hello some other time. He knew this ships crew really good and if he was right, Buddy was really getting worked over.

Elly looked at the new arrival for a moment before looking back at Bart. She turned and headed toward the crowd to try and help stop what's happening.

Ranma glares at the pirate before turning to help.

"Ranma! I have two crewmen critically wounded because that asshole attacked my ship. Both were very respected by the crew on this ship. He's getting what he deserves." Ranma stopped before speaking, but he didn't turn to look at Bart.

"Then you shouldn't of fired that Gungany missle at us in the first place. I thought you learned from the last time you went headstrong, but I guess you didn't. Last time I didn't want to fight you, but this time you bit off more than you could chew and those two men in the hospital and others paid for it. They shouldn't blame my friend, but YOU!"

Bart slumped his shoulders, shaking his head. In the span of a few seconds he watched Ranma turn from friend to.. something other than a friend. In his mind, he played back everything that happened up to now. Ranma was right in a way. He started this whole thing because he attacked the Goliath with his Bart Missle. The smaller ship piloted by Montel's aquaintence had all rights to defend and strike back at the Yggdrasil. Realising this made him even more crushed.

-----

"You piece of shit!"

"Ooofff!!" "Gaaah!!"

Buddy's head slumped down, but his eyes remained locked onto the large sailor that was currently using his body as a punching back. He struggled with the other two holding his, but his strength was waining quickly.

"Fuck you bitch!" he snarled before spitting blood into the man's eyes.

This only made the Bart's crewmen mad, something he wanted. Using the other two as leverage, he struck out with one leg and hooked it over the incomming punching arm. He then kicked with his other leg, planting the heel of his boot right on the bridge of the sailor's nose. He would of laughed his ass off but another pair of crewmen decided to run up and start pumbling on his body. By now, he didn't feel any pain as his body goes into shock. But he does feel the impacts of each blow slamming into him.

While this happens, he glances over to his left to see how Suzarn is doing. Although she didn't have any participation in the act, they assumed she help him out because of her presence in the fighter. He knew he would hear shit from her when this was all over.

"You fukin' cows! Ya bloody tossahs!!" She screamed, thrashing her body around wildly to get loose from the men holding her arms and legs. "When I get free I'm gonna kill the lot of ya!! Let go of me ya blouse wearin' poodle walkahz!! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!!"

"STOP THIS SHIT RIGHT NOW!!!!"

The crew stopped their cheering and heads turn to the voice. Montel walked into the center of the circle of men and confronted the crewmembers attacking his friend and the girl.

"Let these two go." When no one moved he raised his voice. "NOW!"

"Why should we listen to you?" asked on of the men, smirking at Montel. "I only take orders from the young master an' the First Mate."

Montel recodnized the guy. "Because your bitch ass wouldn't be standin' here if I didn't dig your ugly mutha fuckin' ass outta the sand, ya chump. So let them go. All of you!" He watched them let go of Buddy, his friend slumping to the floor unconsious. But the men holding the girl didn't let go. "Well?"

"But she says she'll kill us, sir!"

"Dude, they always say that shit. Let the girl go."

And they did. The problem is, they dropped her a few feet from her scythe. Montel watched the strange girl, that kinda looked like a cute witch, roll forward and picked up the polearm. With a loud war cry, she jumped in between the three men that held her and slashed in full circle. The men stood in place for a moment, but soon they each fell backwards, heads rolling off and spilling blood everywhere. Montel flinched after seeing the feral look in her eyes.

"Whose next?" she asked, eying all the men around her. A group started to approach from behind, but Montel intervined.

"Keep back you guys!"

At the rear of the crowd another scene was forming. Elly gasped when one of the shipmen grabbed her by the throat, almost lifting her off the ground.

"Well look what we have here...A GEBLER OFFICER!!" shouts the sailor. This gains the attention of the rest of the men, a bad thing for Elly because the ships crew had a certain hate for Gebler or anyone else from Solaris.

"I'm not---" stammered Elly, gasping for air.

"I hate you, fucking Gebler bitch! Me and the boys are gonna have a good time with you!" Elly started thrashing but he immediately punched her in the stomach, knocking out what little breath she had in her. "Come on guys! Let's stomp this Gebler slut out before we kill her!"

"OH NO YOU DON'T!!"

A heavy foot connected with the sailors face forcing him to release the auburn-haired officer. A follow-up kick sent him flying, slamming into the hard metallic wall of the ships paddock. Ranma lashed out with a few more kicks at the other men, not actually attacking them but close enough to force them back. The men easily recodnized him.

"You guys touch her... I'll kill you."

Elly rubbed her throat, staring at Ranma's back. That was a very strong threat he just issued. Especially to a group of men that he served with. "Ranma..."

"Elly, are you okay?" he asked, kneeling down and looking at her neck. She nodded slightly.

"I'm fine. But what about Buddy and Suzarn?" she asked, worried more about the other two than herself. Ranma looked at the crowd and took her hand in his. She stood and followed him. The crowd of men parted for them. She saw the looks of hate and disgust directed at her. She also saw looks of betrayal and anger toward Ranma. It was a bad sign that they all would be getting the third degree on this ship, not just her. "Oh god, Buddy!"

Arriving in the center, Elly rushed towards the unconsious young man. He didn't look too bad - no weapon wounds or the such - but he had several small cuts and was heavily bruised. She nodded to Suzarn and helped lift him up by the shoulders, both struggling with his dead weight. Then the strange black man from earlier approached.

"Follow me." he told the two women. Suzarn seemed reluctant at first, but after a glance in Ranma's direction and seeing his nod, she relented. Montel turned, looking at almost half of the crew. "Get back to your stations. Bart wants the ship fully repaired within three days. We don' want Gebler to catch us flat-footed do we?!"

"NO!!!" shouted the crewmen. They quickly dispursed, many still sending evil glares towards Buddy and Elly.

"Montel." Ranma acknowledge the dark-skinned man, clasping hands and hugging. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, I know my niggah." He began walking at a slow pace, the two girls carrying Buddy along with Ranma following next to him. "I know you two numb-nuts got some stories to tell. Mine's probably aint as hard-core likes your's probably been."

They traveled across the lower section of the Gear bay to the far end, opposite of the heavy elevator to the outside. After walking up a set of stairs, they reached the base level.

"Is she awake now?" Montel asked Ranma. The pigtailed man nodded, knowing exactly who he was refering to. "Better be. I didn't like the way you were actin' the last time we saw each other. Wasn't you at all."

"She had a thing to do with that."

"I know."

They passed through the access door, arriving into the main corridor of the ship. The group rounded a corner, eventually stopping at a room with a red-cross. Montel opened the electronic door and stepped in followed by the rest.

"Nurse?" Montel called out. He looked around. Of the several wounded men from the battle, the only two occupants of the room took the worst. He didn't know if both could live with the fact that they won't walk again. "Nurse?" he called out again.

A white robed young lady appeared from behind a curtain. "Yes?" She immediately noticed the unconscious man. With a sigh she said, "Place him over here," jesturing to an empty cot. "How did this happen?" she looked at Montel.

"The crew wanted some payback for these two." he pointed at the other patients. "He's my friend and a guest on the ship. Treat him as such, okay?"

"I'm not like the rest of the crew, Montel." snapped the Nurse, feeling insulted. "My profession doesn't distinquish friend from foe. I help all that needs healing."

"Can I... stay with him?" asked Suzarn. The nurse nodded.

"You have to help though."

"I know."

Montel helped placed his large friend on the cot. He had to let out a sigh. At times like this, he couldn't help but look back and hate himself. If it wasn't for him, if he just listened and followed Buddy's warning back in their own world, his friend wouldn't be in situations like this. It was his fault that his best friend was on the recieving end of his fuck up.

But, he couldn't help but smile. No matter what is thrown at him, Buddy just seemed to bounce back.

"He'll be fine," he said to Elly, placing his hand on her shoulder. He glanced at Ranma and nodded. "Come on. He won't recover any faster if we stay here. I'll leave him in your hands, Nurse."

"You two hungry?" Montel asks Ranma and Elly.

They just arrived in the mess hall. The room was very large compared to a real submarine, but Montel didn't care. There were not many crewmen inside, most of the currently working on the repairs. But Montel did recodnize Bart, Sigurd, Citan, that greenskinned guy and the furry thing sitting in the center of the room.

"Yeah, I'm starved!" exclaimed Ranma. Elly nodded also.

The three of them walked to the center table and sat down, Bart nodding to the the three.

"Ranma," Bart began. "I'm uhh... I was wrong. Again."

"Forget it Bart. As long as Buddy, Elly and Suzarn are treated fairly from now on, I'll forgive ya. But it won't mean I won't forget."

Bart sighed. "I can accept that, at least. How is your friend?"

"He's knocked out, but that crazy ass jerk we'll be alright."

Sigurd spoke up. "Ranma. I would be more worried about that other woman that your friend arrived with. She killed four members of the crew. Though I did not tolerate the crews behavior at the time, this is a serious offense that she has committed. The crew will either fear her or plan to assassinate her at one time and not even Bart, Maison or myself would be able to do anything about it."

"She's with my friend, Bud, in the sick-bay along with one of the nurses. She'll be safe for now." said Montel.

During a moment of silence, Maison appeared with several trays. He laid down one for each person except Ranma. After disappearing for a moment, he returned again with several trays, parking the cart they rested on next to the pigtailed man.

Damn, he eats alot, thought Elly.

"By fa mey..." Ranma gulped down his food before speaking. "By the way, what happened to the ship? I thought my cat side destroyed it?"

Cat side? Elly was really curious about Ranma now. What exactly is he talking about?

"Well, after that red guy, who Montel told me was Ranma's evil dark and nasty side," Bart looked over at the pigtailed man and saw him shrug. "beat me and then left us to sink into the sand. But this next part sounds wild. We sank into this huge cave uner the sand! And then a sand cruiser just like the Yggdrasil was there! We replaced the usable parts and the bridge and then remodeled it."

"Frankly, I do not believe it myself." stated Citan. "It looks the same but it can float. Most likely it is the Yggdrasil's prototype."

"People lived there long ago and they had many weapons. That's how we got them."

"Like that uhh..'Cruise' missle?" asked Elly. She saw Bart and Citan's blank face. "That is what Buddy identified that missle you shot at us."

Montel spoke up. "My friend Bud is from the same place I'm from, Bart."

The one-eyed pirate nodded, already having heard the explaination Montel during the Yggdrasil II's construction. "What about you Ranma?"

"Don't bother me, I'm eating." And said person proceeded to wolf down the several plates of food as if it was his last meal.

"If it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face." deadpanned the black guy. Montel shook his head, picking out the onions from his food. "He's from another world also. But not the same as Bud and myself."

"What do you mean, Montel?" inquired Sigurd.

"I can't go into detail since I don't know alot about it, but I could kinda simplify how it is." He took a deep breath. "Imagine the world we have now is our world. And since the beginning of time, events have been happening that formed this history of what is present day. Now everyone wonders what would happen if historical events happened differently, and what would the outcome be? And in other worlds, these different outcomes actually happen?"

"Huh?" replied Bart, Sigurd and Citan. Montel sighed. He wasn't good with all this science and physics crap anyway.

"Nevermind." he waved them off.

Citan coughed. "I seem to somewhat understand. You are saying that you are from an alternate reality, as Mr. Buddy explained to Elly, Rico and myself during out stay in Kislev." He adjusted his glasses. "Dispite my strong belief that this is not possible, the proven facts such as his knowledge of our world and current timeline, advanced technology - It's truly a facsinating and horrifying experience."

"What do you mean 'horrifying'?" Rico asks.

Citan crosses his arms, rubbing his chin.

"Just this conversation we are having is changing what is suppose to be the timeline of this world. We could possibly cause a time paradox."

"The longer Montel, Ranma and Buddy stay in this world, the more time is diverging into a different path. From what Buddy has told me, an young friend of mine named Fei Fong Wong - rest his soul - should of been the center of attention, specifically in Ranma's shoes. It should of been Fei that travelled with Bart in the underground Stalagtite caves. It should of been him that became 'Id', a male version, and attacked the Yggdrasil. It should of been him that won the battling tournament in Kislev."

"So what you are trying to say, Hyuga, is that everything that happened to Ranma up to this point was suppose to happen to this 'Fei' friend of yours?"

Citan nodded.

"Yes, but from Ranma's memories and Mr. Buddy's description of he timeline he knows of, events would transpire somewhat differently."

"Ranma's memories?" asked Bart. He looked at his pigtailed friend.

"Not entirely my memories. I can only remember bits and pieces, nothing that I can clearly point out. Only one that can remember everything clearly is... her."

"Her?"

"Me."

Bart jumped out of his seat and stared in wonder. Ranma just turned into a girl before his very eyes! And what a hottie! He fought back the urge to whistle and paw on those very large breasts she has. The evil look she was giving him sent shivers up and down his spine, and not the good kind.

He looked at everyone else. Sigurd and Maison were clearly surprised. Yet, everyone else didn't bat an eye at this. Montel, he already knew.

"It's been a while," Montel said to Id. "Ranko."

"I told you to call me 'Id', damn it." she grumbled to him, looking at him with slitted eyes. She looked over to Bart, cocking her head to the left and resting her cheek on her hand. "You look exactly how I remember you, Prince Bartholomew. You look so much like your father and Roni."

"My father...? Roni? Do you mean my ancestor Roni Fatima?"

She shook her head.

"Roni Bartholomew. Yes, he was your ancestor and founder of the Fatima dynasty." She smiled at the memories. "But his name was in no way Fatima. That was his wife's name."

"H-how do you know of them?"

Everyone listened in.

Id sighed. This was going to be a long story.

-----

An unknown ceiling.

That was what Buddy was thinking when he first opened his eyes. Then he took in his surroundings. The room was dark, but not too dark as his eyes were already use to the lack of light. Then his ears were assaulted by an audible and continuous 'beep' sound to his right. He looked over.

A heart monitor.

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in - and regretted it. It hurt to breath, obviously. He moved a hand over his chest and felt bandages wrapped around his chest and upper abdomen. Whoever did it was obviously professional.

Of course they would be professional you moron, he thought to himself. He was in some sort of sick-bay.

The last thing he could remember was getting his ass beat down by some dipshit crewmen of Bart's then being rescued by Montel. That must of been when he passed out. He'll have to thank his black homie when he get's the chance. But he won't get that chance if he stays here.

Sitting up slowly, he swung his legs off the bed and stood up. He wobbled for at bit, whincing occassionally and bitting off sudden urges to curse the assholes that did this to him. He ripped off the cords attached to him causing the heart monitor to suddenly flatline. But something also happened at that point.

The room suddenly lit up into a red-light and a siren started blaring loudly.

"Damn, all I did was get out of bed! You'd think they'd give a guy a break."

-----

"Young master! We have a high-speed object on an intercept course on the sonar. It's definately Gebler."

The Yggdrasil's bridge took on it's red-battle lights after the general quarters was sounded. The crew quickly prepared themselves and took their positions for the upcomming battle. Bart, Sigurd and Citan arrived just in time to hear that piece of information from Hans.

"Sonar? Underwater?" Asked Sigurd. Hans immediately confirmed it. "Young master. If we use depth charges we can take out this enemy when it attacks us from below. But..."

"But what, Sig? Oh..." Bart rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"You prioritized the gungany missles before everything else." deadpanned his First-mate.

"Young master! How could you ignore such an important defensive weapon like depth charges?" scolded Citan. But he shook his head. "It doesn't matter though. We have to stall that underwater enemy long enough to prepare the depth charges. Young master?"

Bart nodded.

"I was thinking the same thing, Citan. First mate," he address Sigurd formally. "Inform Montel of the situation and have him prepare Deathscythe for underwater battle. Gunnery chief," he turn towards the bridge screw who awaited his orders. "Prep the depth charges for emergency usage. All hands, battle stations!"

"Enemy unit closing fast. ETA five minutes. It's larger than gear-size."

"All sections have been sealed off for battle. Crew chief's report one-hundred percent ready."

"Preparing depth charges. Estimated fifteen minute until they are armed and ready."

"Sonar report: It's confirmed! Gebler unit closing in. Three minutes."

The comm officer turned to the center bridge.

"Young master. Pilot Ranma wishes to speak with you."

Bart blinked. "Put him on."

"Hey Bart." Ranma's image appeared on a smaller, secondary view screen. "I'm going out with Montel. Don't try to stop me."

"Okay."

Ranma blinked.

"Huh?"

"It's okay. You were my best Gear pilot," Next to me of course, but he didn't say that out loud. "I know I told you to take it easy while your aboard the Yggdrasil, but if you want to help us out, it's more than appreciated." Bart sighed. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Got'cha. Ranma, out."

"He's more energetic than the last time we saw him before the desert operation," Sigurd noted. "The more I see how he acts, this true personnality of his, and that red-haired woman, I cannot help but think back to what we talked about three days ago and truely believe it."

"Yeah, I know what you mean..." Bart suddenly looked upset. "And I'm still upset with you, First Mate Harcourt!"

Sigurd took a step back, looking a bit sheepish.

"All this time that we knew each other, you didn't even tell me that you're my brother! I've always had the feeling that you and I were connect someway, more than just friendship. Especially when I look into your eye." Bart grumbled. "How could you keep something so important away from me?"

"Young master, please---"

Hans looked back at the two head officers of the ship, shaking his head. The dolphin man leaned over to the comm officer and whispered, "It's like watching a drama."

"No shit," she replied.

-----

A hatch opened up on the Yggdrasil's deck. Deathscythe and Weltall rose to the surface and stepped off. Before Ranma and Montel could discuss their attack plan, a second hatch opened and Vierge rose up via the elevator.

"Elly?! What are you doing up here?" Ranma asked, a bit worried and a bit relieved.

"I.. want to help." she stated firmly.

Deathscythe shook it's head while looking down at the smaller Gear. "Listen lieutenant. I don't know if ya understand what's up, but that's your own people attacking us. I don't mean any disrespect, but I can't trust you down there."

"I believe in you, Elly. But Montel has his point," Ranma said, unwillingly.

Elly looked down at herself in her cockpit. Her hand reached into a compartment and pulled out a large caliber pistol. It was the same one that Buddy gave her when he asked for her trust in him. Placing it back, she looked at Deathscythe with a new air of determination.

"Buddy and Ranma put their trust in me. That's more than enough reason for me to help. I may be a traitor to my own people, but not to my friends!" With that Vierge dived into a ocean depths.

"Now that's more like it!" Montel smirked. "She seems more into it now. Let's go!" Deathscythe soon followed along with Weltall.

The two Gears and one Gundam sank to the bottom of the ocean. To Montel, it wasn't as deep as the oceans of his and Ranma's world but it was close. By their location on the maps and the reading of his altameter, they were approximately 5587 meters below sea level. Almost equal to the deepest point of the Artic Ocean. The deepest point of this world was around 8000 meters, almost 600 meters shorter than the deepest point of the Atlantic ocean.

"Elly. Ranma. Keep communication to a minute, line of sight contact only. We have ten minutes to hold this guy off in time to the the Yggdrasil to drop some depth charges."

"Roger." agreed Ranma.

"Affirmative." Elly replied firmly.

"Yggdrasil to Deathscythe. Enemy should be within visal range. We are dropping flare charges to give you illumination."

Montel's sensors picked up the sounds of objects diving from the surface. Then came the vibrations of something exploding around 4000 meters followed by lights that illuminated the ocean floor.

"I see it," Elly said, Vierge looking directly at Deathscythe from behind her hiding place. "It's the Haishao. Elite underwater platform. It uses elemental attack power, specifically electricity."

The 'Haishao' stopped it's advance when the flares brought down light upon it. Ranma took a good look and he almost wanted to laugh. It looked like a halibut with a long tail and lobster claws.

It's dangerous Ranma, Id informed him. Protect Elly from it. Dominia is in that Gear.

"Damn, not her again. That crazy ass chick.."

-----

Earlier...

"We've got sonar." Said a young girl with grayish-black hair and closed eyes. She was sitting in the pilot seat of a Gear as is travelled underwater. "That's not it. This type... It matches with the Aveh pirate ship, Yggdrasil."

The Gear itself looked like a purple fish-like vehicle with pincer-like claws and a tail. It looked more like a cross between a halibut and a lobster than a fish. The left side of the Gear contained the cockpit of the first girl, the other side held the other pilot. The female inside was clearly Dominia.

"Yggdrasil? Wasn't she sunk in another battle?"

"There's no record of it's sinking. We were too busy fighting that red Gear to try to confirm it."

"Then, there is a chance that it did not sink... I believe the data shows the Yggdrasil was the carrier for that Gear."

"One moment...." The other girl looked down at her console, scrolling through information. "Yes, that is correct."

"Excellent. Give me the controls."

"Excellent?" The girl looked confused. "What are you planning on doing?"

"Sink it, of course. She will never trouble the Commander again."

Now the girl was worried.

"Wait. The Commander's orders were to investigate the disappearance of that flying battleship. We can't deviate from our mission. Besides, we are low on fuel and need to refuel."

"We have enough. I'll take her down." Dominia said confidently.

The girl groaned. "... once you start, there is no stopping you is there? I hope you know that fighting in water is totally different than fighting on land."

"Of course." Dominia nodded. "Sorry, Kelvena."

The pair travelled the ocean depths, sticking mostly to the ocean floor. They were clearly trailing the ship from it's rear and approaching. When they were ten minutes out, Kelvena's instruments detected a sonar wave.

"We have been detected."

"Then we shouldn't keep them waiting!"

The engine noice of the gear increased along with it's speed. The two were closing in faster on the ship, but also diving to a deeper depth for an attack from below. But when they reached the darkest and deepest point, a vibration alerted their sonar followed by flashes of light that illuminated the sea floor.

That's when Dominia spotted that Gear from the failer purge mission.

"YOU!!"

-----

"Yo." Weltall waved it's hand at the Haishao. "Long time no see."

Ranma didn't wait for a reply. He attacked quickly, flowing through the water to connect with fierce back-fist to the center to the Gear, knocking it to the side. Oxygen ejected from it's thruster ports, assisting the Gear's movement underwater, placing it into a spin that turned into a powerful round-house kick. But the Haishao, unlike Weltall's omnienvironmental frame, was specifically designed for underwater engagements. It brought it's pincer arm up to block, surprising Ranma. Not even a dent was shown from that powerful attack he used. He retreated back to avoid the swipe from Haishao's other pincer.

"Regular attacks won't work on the Haishao, Ranma!" Elly said as Vierge took it's place beside the black Gear. "Only high explosive depth charges will work on it's thick armor."

"Elhaym!! What are you doing here?"

Elly reacted immediately to the transmission. A bit surprised. It was coming from the Haishao. A view screen appeared to her left. Dominia.

"Dominia!? Why are you here?"

"Why? Gebler needs no special reasons to sink an enemy ship! It is our divine duty to rule those crass land dwelling Lambs."

"Hey! I'm not a farm animal damn it!" grumbled Ranma.

"But why? How are they different from us Shepherds, the -Abel-?"

"To me -Lambs- and -Abel- are the same. The only definate difference is personal ability. The ignorant must be led by the wise. That is our job. Look what you've gained as an Element, Elly. Why do you even question? Your superiority is obvious!"

"... So the wise harming the weak is a sign of ability? A sign of superiority?" Elly's voice became harsher with each spoke word. "The only ability I gained as an Element was the power to kill and not regret it. If that's a sign of being superior then Gebler can take it back and shove it! I didn't want that.... Not at all!!"

"Elly?" Ranma called to her.

Dominia's eyes travelled over to Weltall.

"That Gear, you're the one? Hah! So that's how it is." Domina began to laugh to herself. "How amusing, Elhaym. All this for a man? I guess that story was true after all. You were born of those lowly Lambs."

"Stop! Don't say another word!"

"Hmph, what are you doing to do about it, mongrel!? Are you doing to use the power you used in that incident on me now? Go ahead. Show me. Show me your true power!"

Ranma was tired of listening to the crap Dominia was spouting. Especially Id. Weltall was moving in to attack the Haishao, but someone else beat him too it. Elly herself.

Vierge suddenly powered up. From under it's skirted armor, several AERODs deployed and began to circle behind the white and pink Gear. From the rods Vierge carried, lightning shot forth and linked with the aerods forming a circle of electricity.

"You want to see it?! You want me to use it!?" Elly shouted angrily. "Here it is. Take as much as you like."

The AERODs darted forward through the water like torpedos. As the Haishao moved to evade, they followed and homed in force Dominia to take quick evasive action. While that happened, Elly surprised Ranma by producing even more AERODs and following up her first attack with another swarm of electrified attack drones.

Inside Ranma's mind, Id had to think about this feat Elly was performing. She knew she could do it herself, but never tried actually tried it out. It took alot of concentration to used the first swarm of ten AERODs. But Elly has already attacked with over fifty drones and hasn't passed out from the intense mental and ether strain.

Ranma watched in facination. The last time he fought Elly, she was very powerful, yet sloppy due to the use of 'Drive' drugs. But while she's fueled with anger, she was a force to be reconned with. He didn't even want to step in and help out, affraid that she would attack him too.

"Wow, she's good." He wasn't commenting Elly though, but Dominia. The Haishao was moving erradically trying to dodge the swarm of AERODs thrown at it. He had to admit that the maneuvers she was performing were putting major stress on the frame of the Gear. Something he learned from Buddy about 'g' forces. A thought suddenly came to his mind at that moment - where was Montel? At that, he spied something moving towards the Haishao. It was very blurry and he could barely make it out. Not even his sensors could detect it. He thought about that for a moment, and smiled.

While Dominia took evasive action, Kelvena watched the instruments. Despite the maneuverability of the Haishao, Vierge's AERODs were closing in with each passing second. It would only be a matter of time before their Gear would take damage. But suddenly an active sonar ping caught her attention. She slightly opened her eyes in surprise when a blip appeared just meters behind them.

"Behind us!"

"WHAT?!" Dominia shouted in disbelief.

It was at that moment that the first of many AERODs struck and exploded. At the same time Deathscythe dropped out of it's cloak and attacked. The God of Death slashed quickly at the Haishao! With each five AERODs impacts, Montel struck once raking the green thermal-beam scythe across the aft sections of the Gebler Gear. The multiple attacks and explosions created shockwaves through the water disturbing the sea floor. Within a matter of moments dust, sand and debri clouded the battle area. Ranma could barely make out the form of the Haishao and Deathscythe, but he could clearly see the scythes glowing blade slashing away.

"Elly, are you okay?" he asks, hearing her heavy breathing over the comm channel. There was a pause, but she replied.

"...I'm.. fine. Just took alot of... concentration and ether.." he said, smiling afterwards at his direction.

Out of the debri cloud, Deathscythe joined them. It's eyes flashed for a moment as it waited for the debri to settle.

"Did we get it?" Montel asked outloud, mostly to himself.

Ranma had a bad feeling. "Maybe but..." His saw something from the corner of his eye. "Elly! Get down!"

Weltall lunged at Vierge, knocking Elly's Gear down and out of the way. One of the Haishao's pincer claws cut right through were Vierge stood, missing it's original target but slammed home into the side of Deathscythe, rocking the black Gundam. Before Montel could react, the pincer double-backed and struck again, this time knocking Shinigami down.

"Fuck--!!" Montel cried, his head slamming against his own consoles.

The ocean floors debri finally settled. Ranma narrowed his eyes at the Haishao. It took a major beating from both Elly and Montel, yet the only damaged it showed were blackened scorch marks from the exploding AERODs and the beam blade.

Ranma steeled himself to attack when he got an incomming message from the Yggdrasil.

"Sigurd?"

"Ranma! Depth charges will be dropped! Please stand back!"

He didn't need to be told twice. While holding Vierge, Weltall rolled along the ocean floor dodging the Haishao's pincers. Finding the right position, the black Gear rolled to it's feet and made a dash for Deathscythe. With all it's might, Weltall grabbed the Gundam and swung the heavier mecha with all it's might, tossing it behind a boulder large enough to cover the three of them.

Ranma dared to peak around the corner to see what was happening. He watched as several round objects floated close to the Haishao and exploded. The explosions caused massive shockwaves throughout the water making even Weltall's sealed internals shudder. The Haishao was tossed around like a ragdoll. It shuddered at each explosion but held up as more depth charges went off in it's proximity. A closer explosion, just a couple meters from it's hull, completely knocked the Haishao down to fall on it's side. That seemed to have been the last of the depth charges. But after a short moment, the Gebler Gear gets back up and rights itself.

"Hyah!" Laughed Dominia. "That was nothing. Come on, come on!"

"Enough already!" Snapped Kelvena. "Dominia! Retreat!"

"Tch! I was so close." she cursed. But then she smiled darkly. "But... don't think I'll be leaving empty-handed, now!"

One of the Haishao's pincers flew forward and crashed through the boulder the three of them hid behind. It's other pincer soon followed and zeroed in on it's target.

"Wh, what!?" Elly gasped in suprise. Her Gear wasn't responding. As if it was restrained. "Aaaaaaahhhh!! Ranma!!"

"Elly!?" The dust from the attack cleared up and he saw what was happening. "Elly! Hold on!"

Ranma's control of Weltall seemed to increase. Before Dominia could retrieve Vierge, Weltall grabbed onto the ether controlled pincer claw, preventing from returning to the Haishao. The power between the two seemed to be a stale mate as neither could dominate over the other.

"Damn you!" Growled the white-haired elemental.

The other pincer claw circled around the Haishao, seeming to gather speed. After a moment, it launched itself at Weltall. Ranma stared. If he didn't let go, he would be a goner. If he does let go, Elly would be captured and probably killed. He didn't need to think of the consequences at all. He simply closed his eyes and waited for it to come.

"What?!"

Ranma's eyes snapped open. He gasped seeing the claw just a few feet from killing him. His eyes widened seeing the buster shield of Deathscythe drilling into the claw before finally tearing it into two pieces. The pigtailed pilots hope was renewed! He felt some give from the claw holding Elly as if Dominia control slightly slipped. He didn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

"KIYAAH!!" With that mighty shout, Weltall ripped the claw in half freeing Elly.

"Shit!" Dominia cursed. She'll make them pay soon. Haishao quickly retreated.

-----

A few hours after the battle Id, Montel, Bart, Elly and company were assembled in the 'gun room' where most of the important meetings take place. It was an exact replica of the first Yggdrasil, possibly transfered over during the refit. The group were discussing the battle they just had and about future plans.

"They will be attacking again?" Bart asked curiously.

"Yes. Gebler will be attacking the ship once again. With Dominia, the leader of the Elementals, knowing the exact area the Yggdrasil is located you can automatically expect Kahr Ramsus to follow." Id stated. "But how he would attack would be the mystery. Ranma and Montel damaged the Haishao heavily during the battle and the depth charge attack possibly placed major stress fissures along it's armor plating. It would take several weeks to repair it. I would expect a ship to ship battle."

"I don't think the Yggdrasil could handle that now." Bart said, thinking of the ships status. "Even though three days have passed since your friend attacked us, our anti-aircraft is still out of commission and we can't repair them while they are in their holds. And we can't dive if if they are deployed. The only armaments we have are Gears, depth charges and the Gungany missles."

"We would just have to do what we can with what we are limited to." Sigurd stated. "The crew is always ready for a fight."

"Oh, I already bloody know that quite perfectly." Suzarn said sarcastically.

"Suzarn, please. Your not helping." Rico grumbled. "I'll help as long as I'm on this ship. But I ain't taking any orders from you, cyclops!"

Bart muttered to himself.

"I, Hammer the Supplier, will help also. But, I don't know anything about this ship and all my connections are back on the main land. So I'll just kick back."

No one really listened.

"I'll.. help as best as I can." Elly said, a bit shy.

Bart turned to her. "No you won't."

"Young master!"

"Bart!"

"Be quiet. I have my reasons," he said. He looked Elly right in the eyes. "It's not like that. I know you won't backstab us. I was raised around thugs and charlatans. I can tell by just looking in your eyes." He paused. "But that's why I can't. Everyone else may be okay with it. But what about your family back home? Do you think you can live with that? Can you do that? Just get red of your family? You have to decided." He stared right into her eyes, despite her gaze moving to the floor. "Elly... I can tell your probably worried about that. I can't involve people who have attachments."

"I.. already know the consequences." she said sadly. She knew exactly what she had to sacrifice to get out of the military. Especially since her father was a high ranking officer within the Solarian military. "I do worry about my family! But," she paused after looking up at Bart. "But I made my decision and I will stick with it."

Bart shook his head. A small hand rested on his shoulder. He looked back at Id and saw her shake her head at him.

"Trust her."

Despite his own opinion of the situation, he nodded. Elly would be a burdon to this crew but he'll just deal with it for now.

"Besides all this, what is our current course of action at this point?" Citan asked.

Sigurd spoke up.

"Repairing the Yggdrasil takes top priority. Like Id has stated, Ramsus will attack sometime within the next day." He shook his head. "Unfortunately, most of our resources were deplete refitting this ship alone. I doubt we have the correct materials to even fix most of our anti-aircraft batteries."

"The best course of action would be to find a port or dock that we can visit and purchase the nessaccary material." said Citan.

Bart shook his head. "The closest port is in Aveh, but that's a no-go. Kislev is out of the question also. I doubt they would appreciate the Yggdrasil pulling up to dock after all the raids we have done to them in the past."

"The Thames."

"The what?" Bart asks.

Id smiled. "If I remember correctly, a salvaging ship named the Thames should be somewhere in the area. It's a floating city with it's own dock. We could purchase material from them to repair the Yggdrasil." She paused. "If I remember right, the Captain of the Thames is your type of person, Bart."

"Oh really? If he's anything like me then I know how to deal with him! Wha ha ha ha ha!!" He turned to Sigurd. "Sig! Inform Hans to look out for this Thames. If we find it you are to contact them and ask permission to dock for repairs."

"Aye-aye, Young master."

Suzarn yawned.

"Well, this has nothin ta do with me. I'm gonna check on Bud."

Just as she turned to leave, one of Bart's crewmen quickly entered and called to Bart, Sigurd and Montel. Suzarn ignored this and continued past him.

"Young master, First Mate, Montel!" he shouted. "Come quickly sirs, you have to see this immediately."

-----

Suzarn stared at the empty bed where Buddy was suppose to be in the sick-bay. She looked around at some of the equipment that was knocked over. His clothes were missing also.

"...."

She knew where he would be.

-----

"What's up with this thing?" asked Montel, checking out one of main electrical connections to the anti-aircraft batteries. It was the so-called 'completely destroyed' connection that allowed the emplacements to rise and lower from the main deck.

The crewmen scratched his head. "We don't know, sir. The only guy that knew how to fix it is still in sick-bay. No else could of done it. Be we can dive now, young master."

Bart scratched his chin.

"Any idea who did it though? I wanna thank the crewmen."

He shook his head.

"From witnesses, it wasn't any of the engineers or other crewmen." He looked back down at the connection. "They say it was that guy the gunnery crew roughed up that one day."

"What?"

-----

Id and Elly were the last two to leave the 'Gun Room'. Rico and Hammer left earlier to the Gear bay to work on Stier. Something about getting it ready.

The two of them immediately headed to the sick bay to join Suzarn and Buddy. Both worried about him. He has been unconsious for the past three days. Not quite a coma, but a deep sleep. Id knew he hasn't had a good night sleep for a long time, and combined with his injuries, it all just caught up with him.

"Suzarn?" Elly called softly as the two stepped in. She paused, staring at the bed. "H-he's gone!"

"...." Id stared at the bed.

"Could the crew of---?"

Id shook her head.

"I know where he's at."

-----

Suzarn stood in front of the YF-19. There were various tools and equipment by the fighter. And there did seem like someone has been working on it.

"...."

But no sign of Bud.

There was only one last place she could guess where he was at.

-----

Elly climbed up and exited the hatch. She stretched as she stood on the bridge of the submarine's sail. The wind whipping her hair about. Id followed suit, looking around. They both spotted Buddy at the forward section leaning against the railing dressed in his flight suit. He had and air of deep thought as he stared forward, looking past the horizon. They quietly approached him, not wanting to disturb him in anyway.

"I've never been out to sea before," he suddenly says, surprising the two. "This is the first time I've even been on a ship travelling the ocean. Standing here and staring out into the near endless expanse of ocean is... calming."

A short pause.

"When I fly my fighter, I feel a rush of excitment. The adrenaline pumping, the throttle to the max and the g forces smashing me back into my seat - it's like nothing else in the world matters and I can forget everything and enjoy myself." He turned to them, sinking down to sit on the deck. "But when I stand here and smell the fresh salty air. I can think more clearly of who I am and what I've become."

The two girls approached him and sat on opposite sides. Id to his right and Elly to his left.

"And who or what exactly have you become?" Id asks. Just by her facial expression, she was seriously worried about him.

Buddy sighed before speaking.

"I was worrying about what I was becoming. Am I a killer? Do I like to kill? I was comming to the conclusion that I continued to kill, despite how much I wish to stop, because I LOVED it." He move forward then laid his back on the deck. "But I remember someone in my family saying 'Never like it. But do not hesitate when it is neccessary. And always remember the dead.' Pretty strong words for ten year old to hear. And when I do something wrong, like kill a cat or a mouse, those words always come to my mind."

Then he asked, "How do you two deal with it?"

"It was my job," Elly said softly. "But I always try to avoid it as best as I can. But if there is no choice, I always convince myself that it is either kill or be killed." She chuckled. "My father always said, 'either way, you're screwed.'"

"Har har." He dead-panned. "I'm trying to be serious here, Van Houten."

"Hmph, I don't know what's your problem with killing," grumbled Id, crossing her arms in annoyance. "I for one enjoy it. I don't see a problem with it."

"Yeah yeah, your the 'Bringer of Destruction' and all that bullshit, Ranko." Buddy said, exhasperated. He sighed.

"I've always wanted adventure in my life. But I think my mind snapped after Montel and myself first travelled demensions in that accident. You can ask Montel. I definately wasn't acting myself. But, laying here on the sail-bridge of the Yggdrasil, the smell of the ocean and the sounds of the ship moving along the water, I feel for the first time in a long time that I'm finally coming to my senses."

"You are acting differently, that's for sure." Id pointed out. She grinned. "If that's the case, why don't we go get a bunk and---"

"I still won't sleep with you! I'm limiting it to foreplay and that's it. I do have SOME morals, ya know." he grumbled.

Elly was blushing red as a tomatoe.

"Your no fun," Id pouted cutely.

"Yeah, I know." he agreed. "See what I had to deal with Elly? You should tell your reincarnation to calm the fuck down and stop begging me for hot, passionate sex." Wow, I didn't know someone could blush that red, he thought when he glanced at the auburn-haired Elly.

Id rolled her eyes.

"Anyways, we will be stopping at the Thames soon to repair the damages you've done when you went gung-ho. But after that, I don't know. Bart and his crew have their own agenda while we have ours."

"What exactly are you planning?" Elly asks Id.

"Well, one thing would be to visit the Zeboim ruins." she said. "We need to find critical parts for Weltall. Buddy here figured out a way to convert a Gear's existing engine to automatically recharge it's fuel supply during active usage."

Elly blinked.

"T-that's impossible."

"Not really," said Buddy. "If I studied the books correctly, a Gears engine operates similiar to that of an nuclear engine. The 'fuel' is actually a set of rods that degrade during active engine usage. But, when the engine is passive, like during times when the Gear is standing still, little or no fuel is used and the rods do not degrade. But, when a Gear is charging to replenish fuel, the engine actually becomes active, but a type of dynamo activates within the engine core turning in the opposite direction of power-flow and draws upon the engines power to restore fuel to the rods."

"By theory, if I were to take a fuel charging unit and connect it directly to a Gear's engine, fuel would be replenished automatically, even while in a passive mode. But a draw back is that the charger would over load and meltdown the fuel rods, destroying the engine."

"From what I remember, a past-self of myself and Ranma, a man named Kim actually theorized this. Even though he was actually a nano-technological expert, mechanics was a hobby of his." Id says, "That is why we must visit the Zeboim. To rebuilt Weltall and find a way to get into outer space. Specifically for myself and Montel."

"Outer space?"

Elly looked up at the sky as the sun began to set. Hearing all this information from these two made her very curious. What else is out there? What is beyond the clouds? She wishes she could leave to wherever they would eventually go to once they depart from this world. But she already knew the answer to that.

"Speaking of which," Buddy's voice became dead serious. "We'll have to take care of the Ethos before we go to the Zeboim. They'll bring us no end of trouble."

Elly then asks, "What about the Ethos?"

"The Ethos isn't all what they claim to be," Id began, also in a serious voice. "They secretly work for Solaris as destroyers for creatures known as Wels."

"I've heard of these Wels. Go on."

"Wels are said to be monsters that thurst for blood." Id shook her head. "It's a bunch of bullshit. They are in actual humans whom have been mutated because of the Shephards, -Abel-, of Solaris wanted to experiment on us surface-dwelling -Lambs-." she spat the taste of that thought out of her mouth. "Alot of what Solaris does behind closed doors is nothing short of genocide and human experimentation. So to them, us -Lambs- are just guinea pigs."

"You should know Elhaym. We both have been through it." Id said softly, almost in tears.

"That is why.. I don't regret abandoning my family - to become a traitor..."

Buddy sat up and stood, stretching himself. He winced from the lingering pain of his injuries. "We'll just take things one step at a time," he said, once again turning to face the bow of the ship, looking into the sunset. "It'll be easier to deal with everything else that way."

Both girls agreed and stood next to him, joining him in watching the sunset. Like Buddy, both of them where thinking of what has happened up to this point and what is to come.

For Id, everything was a replay of her previous lifes as Elhyam Van Houten, and the memories from Ranma's past life as Fei Fong Wong. The struggles that both of them faced and feelings of loss as time progressed and Fei's past was revealed. Ranma though, was experiencing the life of his ancestors first hand. To him the memories that were locked away within his subconsious and soul of his previous lives, which Ranko inherited due to Jusenkyo's magic, where nothing but stories told by his red-headed soulmate. This was a big adventure that only dreams were made of, and it was a learning experience in which he slowly coming to understand her.

Elly was thinking of father and how he would strongly disapprove of her actions. The military has always been Elly's life. She was the youngest and supposedly most talented of the Elemental caste, but that freak accident during the testing of -Drive- ruined her offical exceptence into the most elite unit. Thinking back to it, she joined the military, Gebler specifically, to impress her parents, to have them proud of her accomplishments. But that wasn't the only reason. The rumors that people say behind her back, about her being born from a -Lamb- due to the different color of her skin made her curious. That was another reason why she joined Gebler, to see what the surface world was life. Sure, she didn't regret doing her duty, killing whomever surface dweller got in her way - she didn't like it but she did it. But that all change when she met Ranma. Here was some -Lamb- that actually wanted her to kill him. And she hesitated and was then later saved by him many times. But later on when she was in a situation that forced to fight him, she had to use the -Drive- to do it. She didn't want to! But she had to for her teammates survival. But up to now, she didn't know how she felt about Ranma. Was it love? Was it this soul-mate theory Buddy and Id talked about? She didn't know what it was. All she knew is that the two people next to her, she felt attraction to both. Id AND Ranma, it was something close to a sexual attraction - something that made her heart pound and made her feel secure and calm. But with Buddy, she didn't have any type of feelings she had for the other persons. He was different. The feeling she had was akin to a big brother watching over his little sister, or that of a more fellow soldier who would watch her back as long as she watched his.

The three of them stayed there until the late of night. Nothing else was said. Only the sounds of the ocean was heard.

-----

Suzarn stood in the mess hall, glaring at some of the crewmen. They returned the glare if with on their own. Some wanted to step up to her, but the memory of what happened three days ago was still fresh in their mind. No one wanted to lose their head tonight.

"....."

More importantly, Buddy wasn't here.

"Where the blood 'ell is that bloke?" she grumbled.

-----

In the late of night, the Yggdrasil's crew spotted the Thames Id was refering too. After a long communique with the Thame's Captain, the Yggdrasil was allowed to dock for refit, repairs and resupply. For a fee of course. Like Id said, the Captain and Bart would hit it off quickly. Something about 'Men of the Sea'.

While the ship was undergoing repairs the following morning, Buddy was down inside Gear dock working on the electrical systems of the YF-19. Montel and Suzarn were also there, but with their lack of knowledge of the fighter they didn't help much. They just played poker. Most of the crew stayed away from the section of the Gear dock Montel allowed Buddy to store the YF-19. But those who dared come close or looked that way always send a hateful glare towards the large asian pilot.

"Shit," cursed the black man. He slapped his cards down, folding for the fifth game in a row. He was glad they weren't playing for money - not that he had any in the first place. He looked over at Buddy as he busied himself. "You and Ranma been keepin' me in the dark, dawg. What's up? What we gonna do since we're back together?"

"We're gonna help these guys out as long as we can. We'll eventually get to were we wanna go along the way." he said, stopping to concentrate on some critical soldering.

"Like destroying the Ethos and visiting this Zeboim place?" Suzarn asked.

Buddy paused for a moment. But then continued his work.

"I had a feeling you were there last night when Ranma and Elly were talking with me. Why didn't you join us?" he asked, but spoke again. "Nevermind. I think I understand why."

She blinked.

"Understand?" She stared at him for a few moments before bursting into a fit of laugher. "Ya wanker! I don't love you. Get yer head out of her bloody ass!"

"Why? Because you like my OTHER head in YOUR ass?"

"Damn right!"

Montel blinked. He seemed confused.

"Am I missing something here?"

"It's a long story," the both of the said in stereo.

"Whatever yo." He shrugged. "I'm down with whatever ya'll do. I just wanna bounce outta this place."

Buddy nodded.

"I do to. It's just that we have to find a way to get your Gundam into space. That's why we gotta visit the Zeboim ruins. Ranko doesn't remember the location of the Zeboim military facilities."

"As long as we get out of here and get back home, I'll follow ya'll wherever, homie. As fun as this shit is, it's gettin' really old. I miss my peoples, ya know what I mean?"

"We all do."

Montel stood up and stretched. "Hey, I'm gonna do my usual routine around this bitch. I'll peep you later."

Buddy looked at Suzarn. "Why don't you join him? He's a cool guy and you'll be workin' with us."

She shrugged.

"Well, I got nothin' else ta be doin' so I might as bloody well." She quickly followed the black guy.

Buddy smiled. If she could like him, she would definately like Montel. He turned back to the YF-19, wanting it to be in top shape before the next fight.

-----

A few hours later...

"OH FUCK ME!!!"

Buddy's knuckles paused just inches from Montel's cabin door. He stepped back shaking his head, smirking.

"Damn, that nigga beatin' that shit up." He shrugged. "Oh well, I guess I ain't gettin' none later."

Then he walked off in search of something else to do.

-----

He walked around the Yggdrasil for a while. Most entrances were barred from him entering. He already understood and didn't need an explaination. It was when he was walking the main hall for the eight time that he bumped into someone he wanted to talk too.

"Oof!" Bart gasped out, falling to his ass. It felt like he walked into a solid wall. "Hey man, watch it!"

"Sorry 'bout that."

Bart's eyes turned up, looking directly at Buddy. He stared at his outstretched hand for a moment before finally taking it. Once on his feet, the two of the stared at each other for a long moment.

Then Bart finally asked, "It was you that fixed the Yggdrasil's electrical system, didn't you?" Buddy nodded. "I don't know how to thank you. You saved me and my crew several days of work."

Buddy shook his head.

"Don't. Let's just say we're even for what I did." He sighed. "Look, it's obvious we started on the wrong foot. A bunch of total misunderstanding and mistakes were made by both parties and others paid for it. I don't regret what I've done to you and your crew and I'm not sorry for attacking - I had every right to do so. But I will apologize for over-reacting the way I did. Could you accept my apology?"

Again, Bart looked at the outstretched hand. For a moment, he clenched his fist. Was this guy cold or what? He thought. His fist loosened. This guy reminded him of the deceased General Maitreya. A man that did not regret anything that he does and someone who would not apologize for defending himself. Plus, he couldn't continue on like this.

"I accept it. But the crew will be harder to deal with than me." he stated as a matter of fact.

"I know..."

Suddenly, the warning alert began to sound followed by flashing red strobe lights. Soon after wards, a voice calling Bart to the bridge immediately was heard.

"Shit," cursed the one-eyed pirate. "I guess it's that time again." He looked at Buddy. "Follow me to the bridge."

"What?"

"Just come on!"

-----

Once Bart entered the bridge, Sigurd turned to inform him of the situation. He paused seeing that Buddy guy, but relaying the information to Bart was more important than worrying about the crews reaction.

"Young master, the radar has picked up a large ship! It's headed right for us!"

"What!? Them again!?" He frowned. Id was correct.

"That shape looks like..." Sigurd recodnized the Gear.

"Alright!" shouted Bart. "Recall the crew and finish taking in supplies from the Thames. Prepare to launch the Yggdrasil immediately. We'll go out in our Gears!"

"Yes, sir!" Sigurd turns to the bridge to give orders.

"I'll go out."

Bart looked at Buddy. Sigurd turned around to stare at him also.

"Look Bart. I can take off now and intercept the ship faster than you guys. I can stall long enough so you can figure out a plan of attack." He turned away towards the exit. "It's also the only way for me to get on the crews good side, if that's possible."

Bart thought about it for a moment. By all rights he should deny him his request. But, he has already seen his skill first hand. His gunners were the best in Aveh and they couldn't touch him. He knew what he had to do.

"Sigurd." He looked at the platinum haired First mate. "Enter Mr. Arnold into the ships registry as 'Pilot'. Effective immediately."

"On it now, young master."

Bart nodded to Buddy.

"Go get 'em."

Buddy turned to leave. But he paused for a moment to look back and ask, "Can I borrow something?" Bart blinked.

"What...?"

-----

By the time the hostile Gear was in range, the Yggdrasil had aleady disembarked and cleared nearly four nautical miles from the floating salvage city.

The Gear on intercept course was know as the 'Bladegash'. It was a fairly large gear with the primary colors of white with a secondary color of purple. It held a large blade sword that seemed to look more like a really long fillet knife. A pair of large booster engines provided it's flight. By the insignas on it's shoulders, it was a Gebler Gear from the Element caste.

It's pilot, Dominia, only had revenge on her mind. She wanted payback for the loss to the three Gears the day before - especially from that stealthy black Gear. It was also a plus to kill that traitor Elly. She would leave the black Gear to the commander, seeing as he wished to end that pilots life.

Coming up on the Yggdrasil, she smirked when she spotted no armaments to deal with prior to her attack. She watched a bay door opened up. Good - she didn't want this to be that easy. But the enemy that came into her view forced her to stop her Bladegash in it's flight and hover.

"YOU!!!"

"Oh, hi." The YF-19 waved in soldier mode, as if to mock the elemental leader. Buddy grinned sheepishly. Of course he knew she was coming, but this was turning kinda cliche with her Gear pointing at him. "Come back for revenge?"

"You bastard! I still owe you for ruining the mission to -Purge- that city!"

Buddy shrugged, the YF-19 seeming to mimic it, still mocking Dominia.

"Oh well, you're bad." he said. "I guess you wanna fight now!"

"I'LL KILL YOU!! PREPARE TO DIE -LAMB-!!!"

"What's with you guys calling people farm animals?!!"

The leg compartments of the 19 opened up and Buddy let loose a salvo of five mini-missles. They cork-screwed in the air in random directions forcing Dominia to take immediate evasive action. The Bifor's mini-high manuever missles and their nearly unpredictable movements placed the white-haired girl's attention mostly on dodging and moving. With her full attention on survival, she didn't see or notice the YF-19 bring up another weapon besides it's XS-15.

I'm glad Bart's letting me use this, Buddy thought. The weapon in question was the same weapon that Falcon - rest her soul - was issused during the raid on the Aveh border fleet. Buddy had to jerry-rig the large caliber anti-gear cannon to his targeting systems just moments before he had to fight. The YF-19's targeting system locked on to the Bladegash quickly and Buddy's eyes followed it, leading ahead of the Gebler gear as it moved until...

A shot sang from the cannon and the high-yield reactive shell crashed into the cockpit of the Gear. The burning mass fell to the sea surface but remained floating.

"Bart," he called to on an open channel. He wanted the enemy units in the area to hear this. "The Gebler elemental, Dominia, has been eliminated. I suggest you instruct your gunner to fire a high-yield torpedo at these coordinates, just to make sure she's dead."

There was a long pause followed by a brief second of static.

"We'll get right one it." he replied. Then he said, "That was some good shooting. Despite what occurred between us, you're a good guy in my book."

-----

"Torpedo impact, Young master. Radar-sonar confirms the destruction of downed enemy Gear." reports Hans, the dolphin man.

Sigurd asked for a replay of the single shot that Buddy took. While looking at the replay a second time, he asked Hans to give an estimate distance of the target. To his single eye, it looked very difficult.

Hans got the information quickly. "3000 sharls or higher, First Mate."

Sigurd and Bart whistled.

"And at a moving target also," murmured Bart.

Sigurd nodded. "And a direct cockpit shot to add-on." He only knew one person that was THAT good a shot - someone he hasn't seen in many years but remembered quite clearly.

"Hans. Keep a close watch on the sensors. If you detect anything suspicious, report it immediately. Anything!" Bart shouted to make his point. "I don't care if you detect a 'Gull crapping on the Yggdrasil's deck." He turned to the comm officer. "Sound general quarters. BattCon Level 3!"

Ranma arrived on the bridge just in time to hear the call. Inside his head, Id gasped at the young master's decision. BattCon Level 3 was reserved for major carrier based engagements where Gears would launch from a ship and counter-attack an incomming ship. Things were getting serious to the point where Id would know nothing of what's to come.

"Bart! What's going---?"

Maison stopped at the door, panting slightly, but managed to interrupt Ranma. "Young master?!"

Bart turned around. "Ranma, just the man I wanted to see."

"Huh?"

"We need serious help on this matter." Sigurd began. "Pilot Arnold just took out a major player within the Gebler Elemental sect. With their leader missing and knowing Ramsus from the days of the Jugend Academy, we should be expecting heavy retaliation from a large Gebler force."

"Elemental Leader? Dominia!?" Ranma asked curiously, thinking of the name of that crazy chick.

Bart nodded.

"The same person that attacked the other day."

Ranma sighed. "What do you need help with?"

"We need to get as far away from the Thames as possible. We cannot risk placing that salvage crew in danger. The Captain granted us a safe port whenever we are in their range." Bart turned towards the forward bridge. "Do you, or specifically Id, have any suggestions of where to make a quick escape? I remember you mentioned of someplace you wished to visit."

Ranma nodded. "It's the exact reason I came up here." He handed Bart a note. "These are some coordinates Ranko wanted me to give ya. It's pretty far from the Thames and it'll put Gebler on a run for their money. Especially since it's an Ethos dig site."

Bart handed the note to Sigurd, whom handed it to the navigator.

"Whatever it is you got me doin', it's no problem." Ranma finished.

"We need you to lead a long-range strike force to counter-attack an enemy assault. I want you to do it because Montel's uhh.. Gear cannot fly. You'll be commanding ten of our flight Deurods - five standard and five heavy weapon units - and anyone else you want to bring along."

Ranma coughed.

"Well, it would kinda be easier to send Buddy. He has all the heavy fire-power."

"I'm not going."

Ranma turned to the voice, frowning. "How come man? Can't you just blow it outta the sky with that main gun of yours?"

Buddy shook his head sadly.

"If you saw the short fight I had, I took off the fast pacts because I have to replace several power-transfer cables. They were shorted out when I took that cruise missle hit for you guys."

"Oh."

Buddy continued. "The best I can do is stay back with Montel and protect the ship. If that's okay with you, Captain?"

Bart nodded, recieving on in return.

"I'm gonna go back to working on the fighter. I'm gonna see if I can link up that anti-gear cannon correctly so I can use it properly." With that, he dismissed himself.

"Well, Ranma?"

The pigtailed man nodded. "Tell that squad to meet up at my Gear. I'm gonna find some volunteers."

-----

In another part of Aquvy...

"Commander Ramsus. I have a report from the data we just recieved. It seems that ... Oh no!"

"What is it?" the white haired Gebler commander demenaded.

"D-d-d-dominia has been shot down, sir! No ejection information. No life beacon signal. Nothing. The cut-off data stream reported that she was shot down approximately 3103 sharls from the target. But the target IS officially confirmed as the Yggdrasil." The bridge officer turned to Ramsus. "Sonar also confirms a splash of the Bladegash followed by the enemy ship launching a torpedo. An explosion then nothing else. All the data stopped at that point."

To say Ramsus was furious would be an understatement. He looked down at the console he stood infront of while the bridge crew awaited orders. Within his mind, he though of the days when he brought four young girls under his wing and raised them to be strong and intelligent young women they are today. A team of Elites. A new and greatest generation of the Elemental caste. But now, he lost something precious to him. The issue with the pilot of the red gear was more a matter of pride and destiny. Now, these -Lambs- have killed the ONLY family he has known for a long time! He wasn't furious - He wanted REVENGE!!

"All hands battle stations!" he bellowed, surprising Miang, his second in command. "Navigator. Plot a course to intercept the Aveh pirate ship at full speed! We shall make these surface dwelling scum pay for killing one of our best! REVENGE SHALL BE OURS!!"

-----

"These cameo's are getting annoying," grumbled Rico.

Ranma raised his eyebrow. "What?"

"Nothing.."

Ranma let out a deep sigh. Here he goes again on another strike mission, yet this time he is facing Ramsus and Gebler instead of the Aveh border fleet and that knuckle-headed Vanderkaum. And again he has subordinates under his command - ten of them. Rico was eager to help mostly to keep himself busy. Though Ranma knew he wouldn't be taking any orders - it was at least good to have Rico fighting instead of staring down the men and women of the ship. Also joining, obviously, was Elly - which left some of Bart's Deurod detactment a bit skeptical about an ex-Gebler Special Forces officer. They didn't trust her, and possibly won't any time soon.

"As of 0845 this morning, Pilot Arnold shot down an incoming Gear which was identified as the leader of the Gebler Elemental elite unit. At 0920, long range radar has also detected a Cruiser-class airship on intercept course with the Yggdrasil II. Our mission will be to launch a counter-offensive before it comes into range of the ship. This will be a very difficult assignment. That ship will have about most of Solaris's best soldiers, including the Elements caste soldier and the Gebler surface commander Kahran Ramsus."

"Deurod unit, your main objective is that ship. You are to engage and bring it down using any means neccessary. Rico, Elly and myself will provide air cover. But prepare to watch your own backs when the shit hits the fan."

"Yes, sir!"

"Also note that if Ramsus enters into the battle, the Red Gear will also appear. Do NOT, I repeat, do Not engage either one! Especially the Red Gear. Despite what happened in the desert months back, it is now our ally."

One of the more bolder pilots asked, "How can you say that kinda of crap, sir?!"

Ranma stared him down, nearly make him pee in his pants.

"Because it was me."

-----

"That's the last of them, First mate."

Sigurd nodded to the bridge crew. At the moment, he was in charge of the bridge while Bart personnally directed the launching of Ranma's platoon of Gears for the strike mission. Ranma was the last one to take off. Sigurd knew Ranma would do a spectacular job, but the fact that him, his friends, and the majority of the Yggdrasil's skilled pilots - or what remaind of them after the desert incident - are apart of this mission.

He wondered about Citan. Ever since Buddy asked for his assistance in repairing his fighter, the good doctor jumped at the chance to observe the out-of-this-world unit. That was yesterday and Hyuga is still at it.

The door behind Sigurd opened up and Buddy walked in, looking around.

"Yo, Sigurd." Buddy greeted nonchalauntly. "Where is the Captain? I need to ask him something about requisitioning a certain item."

"That is usually directed towards me. What is it exactly do you need?"

"One of your cruise missles."

Sigurd blinked. "A what?"

The large pilot slapped his forehead. "Sorry. I meant a Gungany missle." Sigurd's eyes narrowed.

"What exactly do you need one for? Those are restricted military hardware."

Buddy sighed, shaking his head.

"Citan and I got this bad feeling that something might happen," he began. "Him and I have got my fighter almost completed, but I don't have anything powerful enough to effect a ship the size of the cruiser since my main cannons still out of commission."

"That is a definate negative, Arnold. Gungany missles require half of the crew's permission to be used in any situation. On top of that, there are many who would protest and possibly cause a mutany if I allow such a request to be passed. Most of the crew does not trust you, including myself unfortunately."

"I see..." Bud shrugged his shoulder and turned to leave. "Thanks for the time anyway. I'll be down in the Gear docks."

The one-eyed First mate didn't like the sound of his voice. It was very suspicious. He decided to have someone watch Bud from a distance to see what trouble he might cause in advance.

-----

Ten plus three Gears that launched from the Yggdrasil were drawing closer to their target. They were thirty minutes out from the Aveh submarine, possibly over seventy-five nautical miles. They flew in three groups, diamond formations of four with a single gear in acting as a point-man and commander of the air group - or CAG.

Ranma was leading the flight followed by Elly and Rico, each one accompanied by three Deurods while the third group consisted of the Deurod leader and the three remaining Gears. Bart's units had mixed configurations - five standard riflemen, three heavy weapons units armed with 120 sem high-yield cannons, and a pair of support units armed with a high-velocity autocannon and twin anti-ship missles. They were armed to the teeth.

A ping sounded in Elly's cockpit. She looked down at her console and reviewed the radar. She signalled the group.

"I have it. It is over fifty miles out. One Gebler airship cruiser-class along with several Gear escorts." Another ping sounded. "Looks like they found us too."

"Let's not keep them waiting then!" shouted one of the other pilots.

"Shut up, rookie!" grumbled Rico. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't slap the dip-shit out of the sky. "I don't want you stupid morons trying some stupid shit while you are under my orders, ya got that?!"

"Teme, hanyou yarou." Ranma spoke in Japanese to himself. He didn't point out that Rico was just as inexperienced as the other pilot was. Battling is a whole different subject compared to live gear-to-gear combat. "He does have a point though. All units speed up to attack speed. Deurod units break formation and follow us in."

Elly, Rico and Ranma broke off from the main formations and closed into their own wedge formation. The Deurod's broke off into pairs, each pair taking a position to create a five-point star.

"D1 and D2, high-zero-zero."

"D3 and D5, vector zero-two."

"D4 and D6, vector one-one."

"D10 and D9, zero-seven-low."

"D7 and D8, zero-five-low."

Ranma was surprised at their quick reactions, and the formation that they took provided cover in a 360* area. A perfect defense.

"Hey, good job. Break off an attack primary target on my signal. Codeword 'Buster'." Ranma's channel switched to Vierge. "Elly, get ready to attack using ether. I want you to hit the biggest group of Gears that you can before Rico and I move in to attack."

"Yes sir."

The airship was closing in quickly. Gears started pouring out from the Gebler craft and Elly immediately attacked them with multiple long range electrical ether bolts that came from the clouds above. Many of the skilled and veteran pilots evaded the deadly blast that could short-out their systems - the unfortunate victims were swatted from the sky and either had to eject or crash into the waves below.

Then special Gears came from the rear of the airship. A lion, a flying dolphin and some sort of bird. Elly immediately recodnized the Elemental units under Ramsus command.

"Ranma, we have company. Elementals!"

"Ohh?" He eyed the quickly approaching Gears for a moment. Then he contacted the group. "Ranma, Group. Buster, I repeat, Buster."

"Yeah!" Shouted one of the heavy Gear pilots. "About time I get to use this big mutha fucka!"

A single shot rang out from the pilots cannon. The high-yield reactive shell slammed into forward section of the airship in a powerful blast. More explosions occurred, possibly set-off due to a chain reaction, which literally sheerd off a large portion of the hammerhead-shaped bow.

-----

"Damage report!" shouted Miang.

"Forward sections one and two, all levels completely destroyed!"

"Main battery inoperable! No power to the secondary forward anti-gear weapons."

"Hull breach closed off. Crew engineers working on re-pressurizing forward sections three through six."

"Damn! That pilot is damn good," cursed Miang. "Zoom in on those incomming boogies."

"Deurods?! How could those Aveh pirates launch such a counter-offensive?" growled Ramsus. Again, he overestimated the fire-power of the -Lambs-. The first time cost him a loved one. This time it cost him over four-hundred members of his crew. "And that bitch Van Houten. The traitorious whore."

Then his eyes caught one something more important.

"Him!!"

"Commander Ramsus! Where are you going?" Miang called to him when he turned to leave. She got no reply.

Again he shows up to torment me, though Ramsus as he headed towards the Gear bay. This time, I will show him exactly whom is the superior!

-----

"Hoo-Ahh!! Did you see that shit?!"

"Cut that chatter D8. D3, 5, 7, 8 and 10 - concentrate all fire power towards the aft sections of the airship. D2 and myself have point. D4, 6 and 9 cover the flank. Keep these assholes off of the heavy guns so we can go home early."

"Roger!"

"Yes, sir."

"No problem."

"Hoo-Ahh!"

"Aye, aye."

Ranma flew by the attack group, being chased by multiple Gebler Gears. Taking a page out of Buddy's book, he had Weltall fly up into an big loop with the Gears right on his tail. At the very apex of the loop, Weltall's flight boosters cut off and the black Gear started free falling. The manuever caught the Gebler pilots by surprise and that gave Ranma enough time to fly Weltall back up to them and strike with a flurry of punches and kicks.

The Elements singled out a sole target, and one that hit very close to home. Elly found herself on the defensive as all three of the last remaining Elemental's attacked Vierge. Elly was being hard pressed to the limits. Vierge's light frame was taking a heavy beating but it held together.

"Look, those three Gears are duking it out with that Gebler officer chick that's with us. Ya think we should help her?" asked one of the Deurod pilots.

"Fuck that bitch," said another. "The only good Gebler is a dead one, even if they are suppose to be friendly."

"Yeah!"

"Man, fuck this shit!" growled D8, breaking from formation to vector towards Vierge. "You bitch ass uppitty mutha fuckas can suck on a fat dick. I'm gonna help that girl, ya fuckin' pricks!"

"I'm with ya, D8." said D5, also breaking formation to assist.

The two Deurods, one heavy weapons Gear and a support Gear, climbed to a higher altitude before diving down from directly above the Elements. D5's high-velocity autocannon roared filling the air in front of it with armor-piercing slugs. Multiple shots impacted the lion-like Gear, shocking the other two long enough to allow Vierge to escape.

"Thanks a bunch!" said Elly.

"No time for talkin' now babe. It's time to waste these bastards!"

D8 signalled D5 to attack the lion-like Gear again. This time it's pilot was ready, starting to evade the hail of lead raining down upon it. The other two Elements, the bird and dolphin, scattered as to avoid damage. To D8's keen eye, those two were lightly armored.

Elly joined back into the fight after a few moments to catch her breath. She concentrated the ether around Vierge to draw it into the ether machine. AERODs began to shoot out from under the skirt of the Gears armor then launch themselves in the direction of the dolphin Gear. Of all the Element caste, Kelvene was the weakest when it came to combat. She was more of the brain of the group and a strategist.

"D8!"

"Yo!?"

Elly continued. "Target Kelv--- Target the dolphin Gear with your cannon. Fire on my command."

"No problem, toots!"

-----

On the bridge of the Yggdrasil, Bart and the rest of the bridge crew listened in onto the battle.

"D8, fire!"

An muffled explosion.

"Direct hit! Ace one Gebler Elite!"

The bridge crew cheered.

"Rico, give me a hand with this." Pause. "Thanks."

"D5, mark-two-two-niner, King-One. King-Two. Come on... come on...YES!!! D5, another Gebler Elite down! I missed the other one though."

"Ranma! Two on your tail, hold on..." It was Rico. Two explosions followed his voice. "Pay attention you num---- GAAAH!!! Fucking prick ass Gebler trash!"

"What was that about paying attention?" teased Ranma.

"I'm hit! D7 going down!"

"Eject moron!"

A bridge officer turned to Bart. "Confirmed, Pilot Jonas ejection from D7."

Sigurd nodded.

"Who the fuck is that?!" Static. "D3, mayday! Mayday, going down!"

"Confirmed, Pilot Honlda ejection from D3."

"This is D1 to base. We're under attack by hostile Gear. It's definately Ramsus."

"Get your asses away from that dick-head!" came in Ranma. "He's mine!"

"Shit! Strike team, break formation and AHHH----" Static.

The bridge was silent.

"Sir... negative on Major Kylin's ejecttion. Other Gear's report negative parachute deployment."

"Son of a---!!" Bart slammed his fist onto the bridge railing. He turned and walked away but was stopped by Sigurd. "Let go of me!"

"Young master, where are you going?"

Bart shoved his first mate away. "Where do you think I'm going?!"

Sigurd shook his head. "I cannot allow you to leave the ship, Bart. The crew needs a leader, and they need their prince. If you go out there and die, what will happen with us?"

"Our people are dying out there! Even with Ranma, Elly and that Rico guy, their getting slaughtered by a single Gear. All our flight-equipped Deurods are deployed and the only other Gear fast enough to reinforce them is Brigandier!" Bart turned to communications officer. "Tell the my crew chief to prepare my Gear for immediate deployment."

"Belay that order, comm officer. Bart," Sigurd was starting for feel irritated. "Stop acting like some gung-ho brat and think this over. I want to save our people as much as you do, but without proper leadership, we'll never take the throne from Shakahn and free Aveh from his and Solaris's hands."

"Then what CAN we do, Sigurd?!"

The door to the bridge opened.

"I'll go." said Buddy, stepping into the bridge followed by Citan. Buddy was carrying someone, which he uncerimoniously dropped to the follow rather abruptly. "Next time if you want someone to spy on me, tell the fucker to not make it so obvious."

"I apologize for his ruffed up condition, young prince, but he almost got us killed trying to disrupt our work."

Sigurd slapped his forehead. He should of picked someone else for the job.

"Mr. Bud!" Bart firmly grasped the young man by the shoulders. "You'll help us?"

Buddy nodded.

"I've been listening in ever since it started. Your people are getting torn up out there. My fighter is finished thanks to Citan's help and I can take-off at any time." He walked off the upper bridge down towards the radar station. "They probably did some good damage so far, but from what I can tell they didn't effect the airships engines. It's still moving at battle speed."

"You have a plan?" asked Bart curiously.

Again, he nodded.

"When I get in firing range you'll have to call back the Deurod detachment, and instruct Elly, Rico and Ranma to get to a distance of 1400 meters.. I mean, sharls away from the Gebler vessel. But I'll need some special ordinance from your weapons cache."

Bart nodded.

"Whatever it is, you've got it."

"I'll need one of those 120 sem low-yield cannons and a gungany missle."

"Weapons chief. You heard the man. Get on it!"

Sigurd jumped in quickly.

"Young master! Gungany missles require half of the crews consent to fire. Did you not forget what happened last time?" Inwardly, Sigurd felt like an asshole doing this to Bart. If it was him, he would of done the same things as his younger half-brother. But, even in times like this were lives needed to be saved, protocol had to be followed. Giving a powerful weapon like a gungany missle to just anyone was suicide in itself. Though he would of also done the same thing.

Bart eyed Sigurd for a moment before addressing the crew.

"I know you all have been listening. Whomever objects to allow Pilot Arnold the use of a single gungany missle to destroy the objective and save many of our crewmates lives, raise your hand now." No one raised their hand. Bart looked at Buddy. "You got permission. But I'm sending Sigurd along with you."

Buddy grinned.

"No problem!"

Sigurd groaned. This was going to be hell.

-----

Ramsus saw him. The bane of his existence. First from birth he was cursed to be second best, a useless being. It wasn't until he became the supreme commander of Gebler that he achieved the power to be recodnized as being THE best there is.

But that all started going down hill after that incident in Lahan. That cursed black Gear the Special Forces unit failed to steal, forcing a retrieval operation on the Ignas continent that he didn't want to do. Then that blasted voice taunting him - a weaking. The voice was definately female and she was calling him, Kahran Ramsus, a weaking and taunting him to become stronger. Then came that young boy, Ranma Saotome, attacking him in a similiar fashion as that female from Lahan during the Bledavik tournament. That was followed by that cursed red Gear again, but it was piloted by some monster that nearly obliterated him yet destroyed almost all of the Aveh fleet. Again the black Gear was reported by Dominia during the failed -Purge- mission assisting the country of Kislev from total destruction. Again he was reported upon the Aveh pirate ship before Dominia was shot down by another Gear.

And here he was again. Taunting him by just it's meer presence.

-----

"If you vomit at anytime on my consoles, I'll eject and frag you, got it?" Buddy said in menacing tone to Sigurd.

The left-eyed pirate didn't pay attention. He was at awe being inside the YF-19. Such advanced engineering, he thought in wonder. Everything about this fighter was decades ahead of anything Solaris had back when he was in Jugend.

Buddy looked up at the back of his fighter. The cruise missle was too large to fit on the underside of the fighter, so he had to mount it on the upper central dorsal section as he does with the main guns. Luckily, those buster cannons were temporarily disengaged from it's mount as a safe precaution during the repairs. He also refrained from taking the XS-15 gatling cannon to save ammo. Deplete uranium ammunition was possibly only avalible during the Zeboim era and wasting his already low ammo was a bad thing.

A thumbs up from Montel and the weapons chief signal that he was ready to go. He immediately dawn his flight helmet and strapped himself in, instructing Sigurd to do the same.

"Watch your hands, dropping the canopy."

-----

"I don't have no problem with you, Ramsus." Ranma said. But then someone else continued.

Id smiled evily. "But I do..."

"YOU!!"

"Fight me, weakling." she taunted.

"DIE!!"

Ramsus's Wyvern Gear dashed up to Weltall. But a suddenly powerful aura erupted around the black Gear sending the gold-colored Gear away. When Ramsus righted him Gear and equalibrium he was now face to face with the red Gear from Lahan and the desert.

One and the same, he thought darkly.

"Intimidated by my power, Kahr? Or is that jealousy that I feel oozing off of you?" Id's lips turned to a sinister smile. "I bet you would like some of this power, wouldn't you?"

Ramsus growl and charged at Id-Weltall. Yes, he wanted the power! Yes, he desired power! Yes, he wanted the power just to kill her!!

Id read Ramsus like a book. Weltall lifted up it's armored left hand and clutched it's fingers creating a red aura of power. The same aura formed around the Wyvern stopping the Gear in it's tracks.

"Feh, I'll give you power Kahr. I don't want to kill you too easily." Then Id began to chant.

"My fist is the divine breath!" Weltall's right hand raises, palm out towards the Wyvern.

"Blossom, o' fallen seed, and draw upon thy hidden powers!!" Weltall's hand begins to glow with an eerie black and red aura.

"Grant unto thee the power of the glorious 'Mother of Destruction'!!!"

Ramsus let out a silent scream as his body and mind were torn apart by the powering being fed into him. The area around his Wyvern and Weltall was engulf in a huge ball of light that blinded many of the surrounding Gears. Before the light subsided, a figure flew out and stopped just outside of the impressive aura of power.

It was the red Weltall and it was smoking.

"Tsk, tsk, Kahr. Play too rough and I'll have to spank you." she teased. The light finally died to show the Wyvern once again. Nothing seemed to have changed about the gold gear from the gift of power. Maybe..

It was then that the Wyvern blurred from site only to appear in front of Weltall. It slashed quicker than the eye can see, impacting Weltall's blocking arm. Ramsus followed up with several more strikes, all aimed to decapitated the red Gear in different ways. On one strike, Weltall ducked under the horizontal slash and delivered a heavy palm strike to the sternum or cockpit section of the Gear. Id followed up with several more strikes around the Gear's body, alternating between left and right.

"KI----" While Wyvern was stunned, one of Weltall's hands cocked back glowing with dark energy. "--SHIN!!" The strike was right at the waist of Wyvern and strong enough to send the Gear hurdling through the air uncontrollably into a cloud bank. He disappeared.

"Feh, too easy." Weltall suddenly brought it's arm up and blocked Wyvern's slash. Id's face brightened. "Good, your still alive."

-----

"Target coming up in two minutes. Cruise missle armed and locked on." Buddy took a short breath and contacted the Yggdrasil. "Alpha-One, Yggdrasil. I'm in range. Pull them out. Over."

"Copy that Alpha-One. You are clear to fire. Yggdrasil, out."

"How... fast.. are we... going?" Sigurd barely breathed out. The speed at which the fighter was going was breath-taking - literally! The G forces were pressing him into the seat that he felt like he had a Gear stepping on his chest!

"Mach five-point-five." Buddy thought it over for a moment. "Four-thousand two-hundred thirty repsol."

"How... can you... breathe.. in here?" Sigurd gasped out.

Buddy tapped on his helmet, grinning to himself.

Sigurd felt like strangling him.

-----

D2 was in charge of the group when the recall was issued. He didn't understand why it was sent but it was a direct order from the young master.

"D2, group. Break off and return home immediately. The young master is calling us back!"

"What about Van Houten, Rico and---"

"Forget them!" D2 was one of prejudice members of the team. "The young master is calling US back. Not that green freak, that Gebler whore or that, that... Monster!" he shouted, refering to Ranma's second personality.

"Ya know what, fuck you bitch! I'm staying here with them!" growled D8. Unlike the newly appointed team leader, he believed that a team should stick together no matter whom or what they are. That's how he was raised in the streets.

"Me too!" said D5. "Brother stick together!"

"Me too," said D10.

"Those asshole will get you killed!!" shouted D2 as the rest of the platoon and himself head back to the Yggdrasil.

"Fucking cocksucking fag," grumbled D10.

"Hey guys!" called Elly, Vierge pulling up next to them. "I heard what just happened. Form up and follow me, I just got a contact from the Yggdrasil."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Roger!"

"Roger!"

Vierge faced away from the speeding airship and headed southeast, adjacent from it's south by south west course. D5 wonder why she had them following AWAY from the battle and quickly voiced his question.

"Ma'am? Why are we heading away from the fight?"

Elly shook her head. "That's what the message said. Everyone was suppose to get at least 1000 sharls away from the ship while another strike is being initiated."

"Another strike?"

-----

"YAAAHOOO!!!!" shouted Bud.

The YF-19 dove from it's extremely high altitude of thirty-two kilometers above sea level down past the tropopause into the troposphere just under one-hundred feet below cloud level, around fourteen kilometers above sea level. Buddy flicked his wrist to the right flipping the fighter upside down into an inverted position before releasing the gungany cruise missle. As the missle dropped, he again flicked his wrist to level off the fighter right side up. Pulling back up into a climb, he watched the cruise missle deploy it's wings and streak towards it's target.

"Bart missle deployed." he reported to the Yggdrasil. "Now moving into attack position. Alpha-One out."

-----

Around 1000 sharls from the Gebler airship, Elly and the three Deurod units were fending off intercepting Gears while keeping distance from the ship. Elly was more idle, though. The three Deurods mostly protected their new commander while she monitored the battle between Id and the powered-up Ramsus. Both of them were all over the skies, fighting like a pair of hungry dogs for a piece of meat.

The red Gear was something out of a dream. It was like the devil come alive, a fallen angel in the guise of a machine. She could feel the power and ether that it emminated, even from the distance she was at. She was so transfixed by the site of Id-Weltall's six wings of power that she was scared shitless by the missle passing right over her head.

"What the---!!??" she screamed in panic!

"Gungany missle!" shouted D10.

"Hoo-Ahh! Yggdrasil came to support us!" cried D8.

Elly checked her radar. "Negative on that. Yggdrasil is not in range for that type of weapon."

-----

The crew of the Yggdrasil was monitoring the flight of the missle. The YF-19's targeting system was sending data in real-time, something the Yggdrasil was incapable of processing quickly enough to decipher the information. But they did recieve the data.

"Impact in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." Sigurd's voice counted down. "Impact!! She's going down!"

The crew started cheering loudly. Bart was smiling along with Montel and Citan. This was first major victory against a large Gebler force. But it wasn't the last.

-----

Elly watched the gungany missle strike directly upon the aft engine sections. The explosion was monsterous in proportion. A chain reaction occured, engulfing almost half the ship in a blaze of fire as the original impact of the missle created secondary explosions within the engine rooms spreading to the rest of the ship. The ship and it's crew were definately goners.

"What the heck was that?!" came a voice rough voice.

From the south, Rico flew up to Elly's group holding a mangled and headless body of a Gear. Judging by the color scheme, Elly indentified it as the Grandgrowl piloted by the fire elemental Seraphita.

"Rico!" Called Elly. "That was a high-yield gungany missle that someone fired. It took down the ship in one hit."

Rico grunted.

"I decided to take this kid as a prisoner. She's too childish to really be a threat. These damn Gebler jerks, using kids as pilots."

"But uhh.. that's how she really is." Elly informed him.

"...." Rico shook his head. "I'm heading back to the ship. They might wanna interogate her or something."

"Roger that. D5, tag along with Rico and protect the package."

"Yes ma'am!"

Elly searched her radar to find the source of the missle strike. It came from the same direction as the Yggdrasil, but after being in that ship she knew they didn't have the range to strike at such as distance. Could they? No, it had to be something else.

"Team, spread out and attack the rest of the stragglers. Let's wrap this up and head back to base." she ordered the remaining two Gears. Enemy resistance greatly deceased as many witnessed their ship go down. To the trio, it was shooting clay pigeons in a pot - a simple sweep and clear.

While sweeping the last of the enemies, Elly got this strange feeling of being followed. For some reason she had the urge to look up... and she smiled. Buddy was giving her a thumbs up from his cockpit to hers. Elly returned the jesture before pointing to the battle in the distance. Buddy acknowledge the signal, slowing his speed and pulling away from Elly's group to vector towards Id's position.

"Good luck." she whispered.

-----

"Such power..." gasped Sigurd. "That is how powerful Ranma is?"

Buddy shook his head.

"No, that is how powerful Ranko is compared to Ranma."

"Spectacular."

"I know, but I wouldn't want to be on the recieving end of it."

A shifting of the cockpit caught Sigurd's attention. The world suddenly became dark for a second as the fighter started transforming. It was startling at first when some of the instruments shifted in his portion of the cockpit, but he found that it was similiar to a Gear's standard controls, yet advanced at the same time. He doubted he could pilot it.

From the forward cockpit, Buddy smirked. Like Citan, Sigurd was also interested in his fighter. But schooling him about it would have to wait for another time.

His first mental thought brought the advanced varible fighter into soldier mode. His second thought then brought up the 120mm into a shooters position while the battloid hovered in the air. Scanning into the distance with his eyes, the sensors in his helmet locked onto his line of sight and targeted the extremely fast gold gear fighting the red Weltall. The targeting system ranged the gold gear bouncing between 3200 and 3300 meters.

"Wait for it... wait for it..." Buddy mumbled to himself in concentration. The crosshair on his helmet's HUD was leading ahead of the gold Gear's movements. It was only a matter of time until... "NOW!"

-----

A powerful impact connected with the head of Ramsus's Wyvern, jarring him from his attack. He turned to the source of the attack. His darkened eyes narrowed, his face turning into a vicious snarl. Another enemy enters the fray. This time it was not another tormentor, but a murderer. Vengence for Dominia's dead comes now!

Id blinked for a moment, confused. Looking towards her right, she couldn't help but send an unseen frown towards Buddy. The bastard, she thought sourly. She was having fun toying with Kahr and he had to go and interupt.

"Oi! Where you going?!" she shouted at the Wyvern. She gasped seeing Ramsus speed towards Buddy, poised to deal a quick, lethal blow to the YF-19. "NOOOOOO!!!!"

Ramsus heard the scream from the girl as his blade neared the head of his enemy. Only an evil smile of satisfaction and dark thoughts entered his mind. You love him, he thought to himself as if seeming to read Id's thought. Now you'll know what it feels to have a loved one die!! Ha ha ha ha!!

The hell I will, came another voice within his mind. It was HER voice!

"TERRA GHOST!!" Id loudly called out the ether spell.

Huge boulders materialized out of thin air and crashed together at the Wyvern's position, crushing and sandwiching the gold Gear at once. It was enough time for Buddy to pull away and get to a safe distance before another pair of huge flying rocks clashed together. It happened several times, tons of earthen rock colliding together, burying Ramsus alive.

"Holy shit..." Buddy murmured. "No one could of survived that..."

Sigurd nodded his agreement from the back, obviously speechless.

"Maybe you are not weak, Kahr," Id began, Weltall hovering just a few meters away from the hulking mass of rock. "But you made the mistake of trying to kill the man I love!" Weltall's fist reared back. "RAIJIN!!" The strike connected, completely shattering the massive rock along with the Wyvern burried in it. The chunks of earth fell quickly to the sea below, sinking to the ocean floor.

"Good-bye, old friend..."

-----

On the ocean surface, Miang clung on for dear life to some debri while cursing whomever the name it was that destroyed the airship. She also felt a sense of loss as to her life mission of ressurrecting God.

"Damn them!" she spat, sputtering when some salt water splashed into her face.

She knew Ramsus was dead. That ultimately ruined the plan of killing Cain. Not to mention that the 'Contact' has also fully awakened in this boy named Ranma. A boy whose body also held the 'Slayer of God'. His presence, along with his allies, have disrupted the plans of her and the Gazel Ministry from bringing God to life.

It would take another 4000 years before plans come back into fruitation.

-----

After mopping up the last of the remaining Gebler forces, the Yggdrasil's strike force made their way back towards their home ship to celebrate and mourn their losses. Elly and her three subordinates went ahead at fullspeed, leaving only the red Weltall and the YF-19 whom were travelling at a slower speed.

Inside the fighter's rear cockpit, Sigurd's mind was spinning with different thoughts. Before his very eyes, his old friend Kahran Ramsus was killed in battle. His first thoughts were of sadness for this loss. Then came anger directed towards Id, the person whom dealt the killing blow. On the other hand, he also understood why she killed him. He also felt a sense of relief for his old friend. Relief that he didn't have to deal with anymore of the Nazi-like crap that came with being apart of Solaris. If it wasn't for himself finding out about what happened deep within Solaris, he would of stayed with Ramsus all those years ago.

In the forward cockpit, everything was a different story.

Bud glanced over to Weltall with a sigh. With a single thought, he brought up a communications window and signalled his friend.

"Hey." he said when her face popped into view.

"Hey..." she replied calmly.

There was a long pause. Then Buddy spoke.

"I umm...I want to say, Thank you." She looked at him curiously. "It's the first time you ever saved my life..."

She looked down. "Oh uhh... no problem!"

Another pause, this one longer than the last.

"Can I uhh.. ask you something?"

She nodded. "Sure."

"Did you mean it?" he asked, pausing for a moment before looking away from her. "That you love me?"

Id blushed and looked away.

"H-h-hai.." she replied shyly in Japanese.

He faced her, looking her directly in the eyes. "I.. love you too, Id..." replying in the same language. Her face brightened for just a moment, until she heard what he had to say next. "But only as my friend."

Only as my friend. Only as my friend. Only as my friend. These words replayed in her mind over and over to the point of insanity. But Buddy's following words brought her spirits up.

"But... sometimes feelings change. Maybe down the road of life when we finally reach home and all this crazyness comes to an end, maybe we might be more than just friends." He winked at her and she smiled at him. "But until then, I'll be depending on you and Montel to watch each others back and mine."

"Hai!" She saluted him, winking an eye at him also.

They both chuckled together, the tension between the two loosening up. Both felt so relaxed after the exhausting day. Buddy started to say what was on his mind.

"Ya know, maybe after we all get back to Montel and my world and settle back into our lives, you and I could go on an adventure or something." He peaked her interest so she listened in. "I mean, I'll still have the fold system with me. Maybe we can go on an adventure to find a way to seperate you and Ranma into two bodies, ya know?"

"That sounds like a good idea!"

And the two started talking about what they wanted to do when they reach that final destination.

In the second seat of the fighter, Sigurd listened in on the strange language they spoke. From what he could tell, whatever it is they were thoroughly enjoying it.

-----

Bart stood behind his operations officer on the lower bridge watching the monitors. He was observing the landing and descent of Id-Weltall and Buddy's YF-19. It really hit him in the chest seeing the same Gear that sunk his first ship, but he immediately reminded himself that it was only Ranma or Id. He turned to his Ops officer.

"Is that the last of them?"

"Aye, sir."

Bart easily hopped up to his post on the upper bridge next to Sigurd. "Sound the dive alarm, Sig. Five hundred sharls."

The first mate nodded. "All hands prepare to dive. Sound the alarm. Five hundred sharls."

"This is the bridge, all hands prepare to dive! I repeat, dive!"

"Sealing hatches one through thirty. Locking main Gear bay doors."

"Opening the main vents. Flooding all tanks."

"Confirm dive, five degrees. Ahead steady at fourteen knots. We shall achieve a depth of five hundred sharls in five minutes."

"Good." Bart nodded. He turned to Sigurd. "When we reach dive depth, I want a course plotted that will take us to the Ethos dig-site."

"Aye-aye, young master."

-----

Down below in the Gear bay, some of the pilots from the strike team were discussing matters of importance.

"Bitch, fuck you!" shouted Marshall, the pilot of D8, as he shoved the D2 pilot away from him. "Yo' a mark man. You and these other jack-offs need to get with the program and realize that we need people like Elly."

"I will never follow some 'Ex'-Gebler bitch! How do you know she is not a spy trying to infiltrate our sub?!" D2 pointed to Buddy and Id who were standing off in the distance. "What about THOSE two?! You wanna trust them too?! You wanna put your life in the hands of a psychotic monster and some fat-ass cocksucker that almost killed two of our own?! Huh!?!"

Buddy and Id blinked. Where they talking about them?

"Shut the fuck up John!" snapped Paine, the D5 pilot, addressing the D2 pilot by name. "You're nothing but a hateful little shit! If it wasn't for Ranma, err.. Id, Ran - whatever - you would of got killed just like the Boss, Kylin and Honlda. If it wasn't for that other guy we would've ran out of fuel or been shot down by that ship!"

"That's right!" interjected Herris, the D10 pilot. "And where were you asshole's when we needed your help the most, huh?! Running away and leaving your teammates behind, that's what!" He glared hatefully at the other pilots, only a couple of them looking away in shame.

"And you know what?" asked Marshall. "You may be the new group leader, but I ain't followin' no coward bitch!" He ripped off the patch from his left sleave and tossed it into John's face. Paine and Herris followed suit. All three stood away from their ex-teammates and stood with Elly. "If you mutha fuckas got a problem with us, then step up homie!"

John looked steamed.

"You little dirt bags! We don't need you! That's right! We don't need you! The Yggdrasil was better off without you," He pointed at Marshall, Herris and Paine. "You!" He pointed at Elly. "And definately YOU!" He pointed at the, now male, Ranma. "If I had it my way, I would have all you dip shits executed! Especially that transsexual monster!"

Ranma tilted his head in curiosity. He looked at Buddy with a 'What did I do?' look.

Bud just shrugged.

But some of the other pilots, especially the veterans, didn't like the attitude John was giving out along with the obvious disrespect towards someone they trusted. Ranma. One by one each pilot ripped off their unit badge and tossed it at John's feet or threw it in his face. Some, mostly the Aces, actually had the gall to spat in his face in a direct insult. They all joined the other three pilots, now standing behind Elly in a show of definance.

Only three people remained standing, John and two other pilots from the strike mission. All three were sweating under the harsh stares from their fellow crewmen. But the worse look came from Elly. A sad frown with eyes the spoke of pity for them.

The straw that broke the camel's back happened when Elly procured a thin wallet from a belt pouch. She flipped it open for John and showed him her Solaris military ID and information. She flipped it closed and tossed it at John's feet, the jewel on her folder collar that signified her rank soon followed. For a moment, the two stared at each other - one full of hate, the other with pitty. Then Elly spoke.

"I do not blame you for hating my people or me for that matter. I know I have done wrong to the surface dwellers of this world which was right in the minds of all Solarian soldiers." She paused to look back at the men and women supporting her before turning back to him. "I didn't tell these men to come under my wing. They choose me on their own free will. I don't want the job at all. But, I won't walk out on them either."

"Good. Then it's official."

The crew suddenly came to attention when Bart, Sigurd and Montel came through.

"I actually wanted to congradulate you all on a job well done. But then I find all of you bickering like a bunch of pansies!!" he finished in an angered snarl. He quickly turned to John and his two followers. "Montel. Have these three arrested and thrown in the brigg. They are to remain there until we find a place to kick them off my ship. I will NOT have anyone aboard this ship try to cause a riot aboard this ship!!"

"No problem. Come here white boy!"

He turned to Elly. "As for you, you've done everything and asked for nothing in return ever since you came aboard my ship." He glanced at the crewmen for a moment. "If you will honor me with a request, I would like to have you as this ship's Gear commander. You have the experience and the atitude. Hell, you already got their trust. I wouldn't doubt that they would follow you to hell and back as it is. But, will you take it?"

Elly didn't have to think about it. She brought her hand to her brow in a salute. What she said was a disappointment to Bart.

"I'm sorry, I cannot accept it.. yet."

-----

Two days later the Yggdrasil arrived at the island chain in the southern section of Aquvy's waters. Though now official a submarine the pirate ship still had sand-traversing capabilities, which it showed by beaching itself on the north-western part of the largest island.

In the 'Gun Room, many of the officers were assembled including Buddy, Ranma, Elly and Citan. They were all discussing whom would be going on the landing party. The obvious members were already suited up. Bud had on a set of BDU's in a three-color desert color pattern. He also had the standard woodland camouflage body armor that he used in the escape from Kislev along with the OD green load-bearing harness with belt that held all his equipment. Like that time, he had four detachable ammo can-pouches filled with ammunition for his M249 SAW along with the can attached to the weapon. On his right thigh he had a USP .45 ACP pistol holster with extra magazines for the small arm on a left leg set-up. His PASGT helmet and a small communications device strapped to his back rounded off his equipment.

Elly had a set-up similiar to Buddy. The main reason for this was she had no other weapons to use after loosing her infamous rods. She wore a similiar body armor and had the same load-bearing harness with belt over a pair of 3-color desert BDU's. Unlike Buddy, she had smaller pouches, four of them, that held two 30-round 9mm magazines for a H&K MP5 Navy. The same gun used by Suzarn during the escape but this time issued to Elly, seeing as the other girl was out with some sort of sickness. She also had a PASGT helmet system and holstered on her left thight was Buddy's Desert Eagle XIX .357 magnum.

Montel matched the other two. The body armor, harness and BDU's were exactly alike. The only difference was his load-out. He carried Buddy's M16A4 with M203 launcher, the same weapon he used in the sewers against the monsters, a weapon Ranma thought his friend lost but discovered that he took it along with him when he went to retrieve the YF-19. His harness carried four pouches that held three 30-round magazines of 5.56mm NATO ammunition. He also had a grenadier's vest over his body armor and he was loaded with close to forty 40mm grenades of various types ranging from M1001 canister rounds to M433 high explosive dual purpose ammunition.

Ranma was the only one of the four not outfitted with any weapons. Though he did wore a PASGT helmet and body armor, recommended by Ranko, in case the shit hits the fan. He also had a load-bearing harness that held extra ammunition for the other three along with a couple grenades supplied from Maison.

"Listen up everyone." Bart said, gaining the crews attention. "After today, we will be departing back to the Thames for refit and resupply. Until 0800 tomorrow morning, the whole crew with the exception of a select few will be authorized for R and R." The officers cheered. "But while that is happening, these four will be departing the ship and infiltrating the Ethos dig-site." The officers stopped cheering, worried and curious looks among them.

Then Elly stepped up to the plate.

"As Bart said, we'll be inside the Ethos dig-site. We will be underground and possibly out of communication for the most part. Our main objective is a find a locate a possible Gear facility somewhere inside this underground City that the Ethos have found. The city known as the Zeboim is huge and we could be gone for days." He paused to let this info sink in. "What we are looking for are some volunteers go along with us and stay on the surface to act as a communications relay between us and the Yggdrasil. The mission danger is fairly low but I wouldn't count on it. Your job would basically be to operate a delta-band reciever and relay our comminque to the Yggdrasil. But we need someone that won't be sleeping on the job. We need two people. Any volunteers?"

Multiple officers raised their hands.

Bart selected a pair a crewmen. Both were highly reliable back-up bridge officers when some of the his crew became sick or injured. He turned to Ranma, Elly, Buddy and Montel.

"Anything else?" They shook their heads. "Then I wish you four the best of luck. Everyone is dismissed. Inform the crew we are offically on R&R. Sigurd and myself will be on the bridge is anyone needs us."

The four-man squad saluted Bart before departing.

"He's come a long way," said Citan, approaching Bart from his side. "All four of them actually."

"I cannot get the feeling that I won't see them again out of my mind," mused Bart. "Like they would disappear out of thin air one day, but not anytime soon."

How close you are young master, thought Citan. How close you are to the truth.

-----

"I heard that there was nothing in this excavation site." said Elly.

The group of four were descending a lift platform to the bottom of the 'Ethos' excavation site. They left the two volunteers from Bart's crew at the entrance of the shaft with close to two weeks supply of food and water, a digital reciever and transmitter, and a heavy machine gun. While the four of them descend, Buddy was balancing Ranma on his shoulders while said person was attaching some sort of beacon device to the angled ceiling every fifty feet. By the time they reached the bottom, Buddy set a final device near they door they had to pass through.

"Let's move out," Buddy said. "I'll take point."

They follow Buddy through the door east of the elevator room. The foursome found themselves on a huge skywalk that over-looked a large technologically advanced city. They continued to walk a few more yards before gazing at the site before them.

"Woah..." whisper Bud, amazed at how the city looks in real life.

"This place looks tight!" exclaimed Montel, also at awe with the cities beauty.

Ranma remained quiet, as if he was reliving a dream.

"... I know, I know it well..." came from Elly, garnering the others attention. "Yes... the cavern city Zeboim... When we were buried in that vast mausoleum."

Ranma looks at Elly, tilting his head.

"Are you....?"

Elly shakes her head, as if coming to her senses.

"Huh? ... what? Did I just..."

"Sorta..." Buddy whispered as he pasted by her. "Let's keep moving."

Buddy lead on followed by Ranma, then Elly and finally Montel covering the rear. The passageways of the dig site appear to be part of the Zeboim structure. Metallic walls that seemed to have been preserved for the past 4000 years and instrument panels that still had power running through them. It wasn't until they passed through another doorway that they discovered one piece of information that Ranma or Buddy neglected to remember.

Gebler was here also!

"Shit!" Buddy cursed at two soldiers rounded a corner in front of them. He quickly opened fired with the M249 and mowed the two soldiers down. "Gebler is here!"

"I can obviously see that, dipshit!" Montel shouted. He looked at Ranma then at Buddy. "I thought you niggas said we'll only be fightin' some monsters or some shit."

Buddy shrugged and continued forward. "I uhh... kinda forgot."

"Uhh.. yeah, me too.. Happens sometimes, ya know? Too many mallets.." Ranma replied, slightly embarrassed.

"Son of a..."

"Well it's no use arguing now," said Elly. "Everyone must of heard those shots so we'll be getting alot more company."

They continued onward, disposing of several Gebler guards station at watch along the way. Elly was correct in assuming more resistance. After descending a second elevator. Soldiers had barracades erected that sometimes prevented the group to continue down certain hallways. Many times they found themselves under heavy resistance.

"GRENADE!!" Ranma cried, pushing Elly down behind some cover for the 12th time in a row. "How many of those things do they got?!"

"I don't know!" shouted Elly, frustrated at being pinned down by the enemy AND Ranma.

Montel peeked around the corner across from Elly and Ranma. "Shit, they can have one of their own... Frag out!"

A grenade shot out of the M203 with an audible 'thump' followed by the sounds of panic and a loud explosion. Buddy then leaned out of the same corner as Montel from a kneeled position and laid heavy suppression fire.

"Let's roll." Montel moved forward to take point. Ranma and Elly followed with Buddy taking the rear.

Turning the corner they entered another door of an elevator and descended once again. Upon exiting and passing another door, they found themselves in a red-tinted passageway. Buddy looks at Ranma.

"Ranko got any more directions to give us?" Ranma shook his had.

"She shut up for some reason..."

Buddy shook his head.

"Let her be. Even if we wonder around aimlessly, we should be able to find something." He looks at Elly. "You okay?"

She nods.

"I'm fine."

They group continued on in formation along the right wall. They moved in a tactical manner which placed Buddy at point, Ranma following Buddy whom was now holding said persons pistol, Montel watching the rear and Elly checking between the two points. Occassionally they would halt at a corner in which Ranma would take the point and peak around. So far they haven't ran into any more Gebler guards.

Until they got further down the way.

"GET BACK!!" Ranma shouted, turning away from the corner and grimacing as a rocket explodes on the opposite side. Luckily for him the walls were made of strong material.

"Shit, RPG's. Switch." Buddy switch places with Ranma and peeked around the corner. He could see a pair of guys struggling to reload a new rocket into the launcher as quickly as possible. He looked over to Elly and made a couple hand signals that she understood quickly. He then turned the corner and started firing full auto with the SAW. "Go! Go! Go!"

Elly rushed round the corner, keeping low to avoid taking friendly fire. The guards behind the barricades were ducking down behind their protection to avoid the flying bullets also. So when they heard the shooting stop and popped up to fire the RPG again, they were shocked to see a woman roll forward to her feet and fire her weapon point blank range into their chests.

"Good job," Buddy said as he ran by, slapping her ass.

Ranma smiled when he passed her, causing her to blush. But Montel gently shoved her forward in a hurrying motion.

"Keep movin' gurl!" He turned back around and face their flank, just as a small group of three Gebelr soldiers rounded the corner. A loud 'thump' came from the M203 and the soldiers cried in pain as the canister grenade exploded and filled a ten-foot circle with lethal darts. Montel quickly follows the rest of the group.

The next door they entered ended up being some sort of laboratory. Ranma felt a bad sense of deja vu and had sit down next to the kneeling Buddy. Montel takes a position at the door, watching down the hallway.

"Oh!..." Elly exclaimed, feeling something in her mind.

"You rememberin' anything, Van Houten?" Bud asked in a serious tone.

"Y, yes... I wonder why....? It's terribly lonely... and familiar."

Buddy stands and looks over a control panel. He could somewhat understand the basics of the panel but not totally. He pressed a switch and recieved a message. He read it out loud for everyone.

"Emergency level 5. The central reactor is isolated." He pressed it again. "Yadda yadda... All access to the main laborator databases is denied." He tries again. "It repeats. I guess we'll have to try somewhere else."

They exit the way they came in. Ranma felt something odd and turned to the first door on their right.

"Here?" The door opened when he tried the control panel. It revealed a flight of stairs. "Maybe we should try here?" He asks the group.

"Better than nothing," replied Elly, following the pigtailed man in and down the stairs.

Again they descended carefully, watching each others backs. So far everything was clear but Buddy didn't leave himself relaxed. When the reached the bottom and entered another door, the found themselves in another red-tinted hallway.

"I think these are some sort of decontamination rooms," he voiced out, gesturing to the type of doors on each end. "Let's keep going."

Buddy opened the swinging down and stop. Before them was some sort of monster woman that seemed a mixture of human and shark. The other three backed up in fright at first site, but Buddy stared at it right in the eyes without moving.

"Shhhaaaaa...." It hissed at Buddy in warning. The large asian man just stared at it, his eyes roaming around it's body. Despite the skin color, everything above the waist looked human. The face was pretty. Long, thick brown hair. And one hell of a rack.

"What are you 'shaa'ing at?" He asked, reaching forward and caressing the Phobia's right breast. The female monster seemed to moan, leaning forward and licking Buddy's cheek. He continued to maul her breast with his hand to the point were he pinch and twisted the nipple between his thumb and fore-finger. This seemed to set the female off and she reared back and screamed in orgasm. While she screamed, Buddy used his right hand to reach into his body armor and pulled out a syringe. Plunging it into the other breast of the Phobia, he injected the aquasol into her. As the female monster died, she look at Buddy with a smile on her face and leaned forward in a kiss that he didn't return. She completely disappeared into thin air.

Bud grasped his weapons trigger and continued forward as if nothing happened. "As I said, let's keep moving."

Ranma, Montel and Elly stared at his departing back. What the fuck just happened?

-----

The group later found another room similiar to the first. Like in the first room, the control panel seemed to be locked out so eventually they had to find an alternate route. Another flight of stairs down took them straight to another room filled with electronics. Buddy immediately tried a control panel and was successful.

He reads the infor out loud, mostly skimming through and saying important parts.

"Emergency level 5. Button in reactor activated blah blah blah. Danger of nano contamination... execute manual scan yadda yaddaa...Execute manual scan? Yes." He turns to the group. "Says we can re-enter whatever room was locked out now. Probably that second room we tried. It looked really important."

As the group carefully walked back upstairs and travelled the hallways - occassionally shooting or blowing up the random monster or two - Ranma brought up another subject that happened earlier.

"Hey, Buddy..." He paused. "What was up with that monster chick? I mean..."

"I don't know." He stated firmly. "When I looked in it's eyes, it seemed more human than otherwise. But I think it was the right thing to do.. what I did." He paused. "I couldn't shoot it, if that's what you're asking also. She wasn't going to attack me anyway."

"How do you guess that?" asked Elly, curious.

Buddy stopped the group and looked down at them from atop the steps, just before the closed door.

"It was looking at me through the small port hole the whole time we were in there, just like her." He opened the door, revealing another Phobia, this one with blonde hair. Again he pulled a syringe from inside his body armor, smiled at the Phobia and injected the aqualsol into the body. Like the first time, the female kissed Buddy without it being returned before it disappeared.

Ranma blinked. He couldn't even sense it. No ki at all. If that's the case then...

"Zombies?"

"Lost souls," Bud corrected. He saw the look on Elly's face. "You heard them too, huh? Asking for help - to cure them." The auburn haired girl nodded. "They mean us no harm. I'm guessing the nanoprobes got to them and manipulated their bodies thousands of years ago, and now they find peace."

They reach the second room again, and this time Buddy could accss the terminal. Looking through the info, he managed to reset the emergency level back to normal. But the database files were a lost cause.

"So where now, Dawg?" asked Montel. This place was creeping him out.

"This way," said Ranma, leaving the room and heading back to the stairwell. Descending the stairs once again, they continued even further down this time until they came to a closed door. Pushing the door open, the four of them walked in before it closed on itself. "We are getting close," he said.

Yellow lights began flashing as the sound of air pressure being released could be heard.

"Depressurization chamber," Buddy noted.

The following door opens and they walk out to follow the hallway. Ranma seemed to get edge as they neared the end of the hallway. Two doors remain at the end. A small door and a larger, heavy duty door. Ranma looks back and forth between the two.

"Ranma?" Ignorning Buddy, the pigtailed man takes the larger door, pressing forward without the other three. "Wait up!"

Montel hurries to catch up with the other two leaving Elly behind. But she seems to be in a world of her own as she looks at the old, dried blood on the walls.

"... blood... covered in blood.. my blood... There was no pain. Just... coldness and sadness..."

She slowly follows the rest of the group.

-----

By the time Buddy caught up it wasn't Ranma in control but Id, her fingers working along a control panel. Information was quickly streaming by on a small screen, faster than Buddy could decipher.

"Ranko?"

"Shhhh..." she jesture, a finger over her lips. Looking ahead, she gazed into the now tinted window and smiled as a circular chamber is revealed. In the center of the chamber, large green tube is lifted in from below and docked in the center of the room. Within a few moments, the green of the tube becomes a very light tint and reveals the body of a young naked girl floating inside. She appears to only nine to eleven years of age.

"Emerelda..." Buddy whispered her name, awe struck by the sight of the little girl.

"My daughter..." sighed Id happily.

-----

Id, Elly, Buddy and Montel stood around the chamber gazing upon the young girl inside. Elly seemed to be back to her normal self. Montel and Buddy were both passive about the situation, yet deep inside they both knew about what exactly this young girl is to this world. But Id...

She was crying.

"So long..." she murmurs. "It has been so long since I have scene the young child. She has been here all alone for over four thousand years. And I haven't seen her for many life times..." Then she starts to speak to herself as if talking to Ranma. "Do you see her, Ranma? This is our daughter, created to save this world thousands of years ago from extinction.."

Elly looked at Id. She remember that she was the ancestor of both Ranma and her in another plane of existance.

"Are you saying that...?"

Id shook her head.

"No, she isn't really a child of your previous life." She stated matter-of-factly. "She is something much more. Much more than you can imagine."

"I can imagine alot," said Buddy. He looked at Elly and Montel's confused faces. "She's an artifical lifeform created inside the reactor. Her body is constructed from autonomic machines on a molecular scale... In other words, a colony of nanomachines."

"How do you...?" Id asked Bud, but recieved a look instead of an answer. "Oh yeah..." Her head turned to the chamber. "Her programming isn't complete though. The Kim and Elly at that time did not have time to deal the final touches to complete her. She was suppose to be a grown teenager, not the child that she is now."

Elly stared at the young girl inside. She seemed to be looking directly at her, smiling.

"She's smiling at me," she observed, returning it in kind.

Buddy leaned down and whispered to Id. "Take your time here. Me and Montel are going to search for that Gear facility you were talking about." He stood up and motioned Montel with a nod of his head before speaking out loud. "You two stay here and see if you can revive the girl. Elly, help Ranko with whatever she needs."

Elly nodded.

"Okay, I will."

"When you hear someone at the door, you yell 'Flash'. If it's one of us, they'll say 'Thunder'." He charged his M249. "If you don't hear 'Thunder', waste them. Go it?" Elly nodded again, more determined. "What was the call again?"

"Flash."

"Thunder." Buddy grinned. "We're gonna find that military section of this place. Take care!"

-----

Buddy put away the transmitter for the digital radio he carried.

"Yggdrasil just departed. We're on our own."

Montel nodded. "So what are we going to do, really? I kinda get why Ranko wanna be up in this place, but what are we here for?"

"Ranko told me that the Zeboim had technology that was way ahead of what it is today. Just by looking at Emerelda you can tell. She said that one of her previous lives as 'Kim' found a way to constantly charge an active Gear engine giving it an unlimited supply of power." He opened a door that lead to a set of stairs. "According to her, it's somewhere in this building on the lower floors, or in one of the adjacent building."

"So we got alotta ground to cover, huh?"

Buddy nodded and started descending the stairs carefully. "ALOT of ground."

------

Hours later...

Once the two of them hit ground level they started searching the huge complex thoroughly, not leaving any stone unturned. Compared to the ground floor, the top floors were sand boxes while the ground floor was a huge state beach. It took them nearly an hour to walk from one end of the complex to the other. It wasn't a walk in the park either. Along the way they faced strange creatures, some lookin like humanoid hammerhead sharks, others looking like floating sea shells with the siren of the sea stuck inside of it. On a few occassions they were attacked by strange monsters that reminded Buddy of 'Hunters' from that Resident Evil game. But these creatures had long tails, bigger hunched backs and lacked a certain slicing claw.

Buddy lowered his weapon after dispatching another group of the creatures known as Carriers. The closer they got towards the far end of the complex, the more enemies they had to fight.

"How's your ammo?" he asked Montel. The black man checked himself.

"Two mags, and twenty-four 'nades." he replied. "It's been almost six hours and I'm getting hungry. You think we should head back for now and come back with them girls?"

Buddy looked at him for a moment before continuing down the barren hallways.

"Keep moving."

Montel grumbled to himself but followed. As if by chance, he spotted a dust-covered sign and decided to check it out. Wiping it away revealed exactly what they were looking for.

Gear Maintanence Dock.

"Well, you son of a bitch." Buddy said tiredly. "I guess we could head back now since we found it. Let's take a peak inside first to see if it's clear."

The door opened with an audible slide. On the other side was this huge profile of a black dragon's head, snarling and staring one of it's eyes at the two young men. Buddy immediately closed the door and turned to Montel.

"Well, I think it's a good time to go back now. Don't you agree?"

Montel nodded wordlessly.

"...."

"Exactly." Buddy replied to the unspoken question.

They ran.

-----

Id was hard in concentrating on the console in front of her. The data concerning the final processes of Emerelda's completeness were almost totally wiped out during the highly extended time the emergency mode was activated. Luckily she had both Kim and the Elly's, of that time, memories giving her the knowledge to complete the final stages of Emerelda's creation.

Id looked up and smiled at the chamber. The greenish-liquid began to clear inside, soaking into the young girls body. In a matter of seconds, billions upon billions of the nanomachines began to multiply causing the girl to grow. She became more taller, femamine, solidifying into a fully humanoid lifeform, specifically a human. Instead of the young girl that she was, she was now a fully grown teenaged female of close to sixteen to eighteen years of age. A lightly brownish complextion toned her skin, eyes the color of sweet oranges, and hair the color of grass during the summer time, a light green.

She couldn't help but smile as her daughter looked over herself, also smiling at what took place. After all these millenia by herself as a child, she was finally able to grow, Id thought to herself. She inputed the final codes that would set Emerelda on the track of life.

'30 Minutes Until Chamber Drainage.' said a message on her console. It was only a matter of time now.

"Beautiful." Id turned to Elly, the auburn-haired girl. "She's very beautiful. I've never seen anyone like her.."

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Elhyam." said Id in the Solarian language. "Our daughter is not only beautiful, she is a masterpiece created out of love and need. The Elly of that time could no bare a child for Kim because of a spreading virus, or a birth defect. Both of them worked together to create this bundle of joy, to be the daughter they both wanted."

Id's voice darkened.

"The goverment wanted her to be a weapon and tried to seize her from us. But you, or in some cases 'me', locked Kim inside with her to save us both while we died to protect them."

Elly opened her mouth to speak but a noise at the end of the hall caught her attention. She motioned for Id to stay back, reluctantly she did. The former Gebler officer made a quieting motion with her finger to her lips before taking her MP5 in hand. Peeking around the corner, she could hear unclear voices and see the shadows of two of more individuals. She really hoped it was Buddy and Montel.

"Flash!" She shouted loud enough for them to here.

"What? Whose there?!"

Elly swung around the corner and opened fire!

-----

Hours later, Buddy and Montel returned back to the laboratory where they left the two women. Upon their arrival, they froze at seeing bodies upon bodies of men and women strewn about. By the looks of things, they were shot trying to get into the lab. He was more worried about the other two than what these people were trying to do.

"Damn..." muttered Montel.

"Flash!"

Both of them froze at hearing the voice. Bud started walking forward after a moment and gave the reply.

"Thunder!"

Elly walked around the corner she hid behind, letting out a tired sigh. She was glad that these two finally came back.

"Someone's been busy," Buddy joked, earning a frown from the former Gebler. "Sorry, sorry. But I wonder who these asshole are. Some are Gebler and others... I don't know."

Ranma came around the corner, minus a shirt, and kneeled down next two one of the dead. A robed figure.

"Etones." He said, looking further down to identify the non-Gebler personnel. "Ranko says that these guys are from the Ethos and..." He reaches into a pile of dead bodies and retrieves a man whom is barely alive. "This is Bishop Stone. Hello Bishop Stone."

Buddy walked by the two, taking a knife and slitting the throat of the Ethos bishop along the way.

"W-what you do that for?" Ranma asked, surprised and shocked. He didn't care about the bastard from what Ranko was telling him, but just the general reason he did it garnered his question.

"History is your favorite subject, right Ranma?" Said person nodded. "The Ethos and Etones, especially Stone, would be the equiviliant of the Aldof Hitler's Waffen SS. Same thing goes for anyone involved with Solaris."

Buddy looked at him and Elly, right in the eyes.

"Haven't you figured it out Ranma? Jugend. In German, Jugend means 'youth'. Like Hitler's Jugend program, the Solarian Jugend Academy instills the beliefs of Solaris into all their soldiers. Elly was one of the lucky ones. Soylent System, just like the concentration camps deep within Nazi Germany. Experimenting, mutalating and burning living humans. -Lambs-. Us surface dwellers can be compared to the Jews. Solaris experiments on us, uses us for manual labor or enslavement. Shit, I bet over seventy-five percent of the assholes in Solaris don't give a rats ass about anyone on the surface."

Montel and Ranma were both shocked beyond belief. Id was also surprised. All three of them couldn't make such a connection to history like Buddy just did. Id was the one most shocked. The history of Ranma and Her world was something she enjoyed reading about when Ranma happened to be in that mood. Remembering those history books and comparing it to what Buddy just stated, he was damn right about the comparison.

Elly blinked. What the hell were they talking about?

Buddy sighed. "But anyway, I wonder if the two guys upstairs are okay. These dead-heads had to come through there to get in here."

Ranma turned to Montel while Buddy was on the radio.

"Did ya guys find anythin'?"

Montel nodded.

"We found that Gear dock Ranko was tellin' us about, Ran-man." He paused if remembering something. "Oh yeah! There's also this HUGE black dragon inside the place too!"

"Fuck!" Buddy cursed, throwing the radio hand-set down. "Their dead. Those dick-head Gebler guards probably got a message out to the Ethos or Gebler. We're gonna be swarmed by them sometime soon."

Buddy continued walking to the back of the lab.

Then he walked back out.

"How come there is a naked adult version of Emerelda standing in the middle of the room?"

-----

"Kim! Kim!" Emerelda said cheerfully, glomping Ranma in a way that would make any Amazon proud. Fortunately for Ranma, it was in more a way a daughter would cling onto her father. "Kim papa!"

Ranma smiled, embarrassed beyond relief. "I'm not Kim anymore, Emerelda. My name is Ranma now."

"No Kim?" She blinked. "Ranma's Kim?"

"Just Ranma."

"Ranma papa!" She hugged him tighter.

Montel and Bud were at a distance from the two, laughing as Ranma was smothered by his pseudo-daughter. Very good dinner-time entertainment. It also ment Ranma wasn't eating everything in sight. It was also nice of Ranma to give the young teen his shirt, which was big enough to act as a small dress for the previously naked girl. Elly was even kind enough to give the girl the brown leggings she wore under her BDU's. Sadly, they had to scavenge the dead bodies to find proper footwear for the girl. But fortunately, they found a good pair of boots off of one of the Gebler guards - very durable and made her look cool.

"Emerelda?" Elly called, gaining the girl's attention. "Introduce yourself to our friends."

The green haired girl smiled and nodded. "Okay Elly!" She shyly stood and looked at Buddy and Montel before speaking. "I'm... Emerelda Kasim." she looked away in embarrasment.

Montel grinned. "I'm Montel, also known as Shinigami, the God of Death." Emerelda blinked.

"Stop being a fake ass Duo Maxwell, ya asshole." Buddy grumbled. He stood and smirked at Emerelda, towering over the girl by a few inches. "Welcome to the family, Emmy. My name is Buddy, but you can call me Bud for short."

"Family?" She asked curiously. Buddy nodded. "Emmy...?

"Short for Emerelda. Do ya like it?"

"Emmy...? Emmy...?" She murmured in thought. "Emmy?" Her eyes brightened. "Emmy! Emerelda like the name Emmy!" She sat in front of Elly and pointed at herself. "Elly mama! I'm Emmy!"

Buddy showed a genuine smile while watching the girl interact with them. She was very different from the Emerelda in the game. She was more like a curious child learning things about the world, but at a much more accellerated rate. He also knew the girl was intelligent because of her being connected with the lab's databases, but she would be lacking alot of common sense.

"As much a beautiful family you three make," Ranma and Elly blushed. "We need to get some sleep." Buddy stood and moved to turn around the corner. "Montel, come help me out."

"Aight.."

The two of them left the other two and their charge alone for the time being. Back in the chamber, Ranma watched Emerelda interact with Elly. The auburn-haired girl that looked so much like him had the feel of a natural mother, despite the fact that she was the reincarnation of Sophia, Nisan's Holy Mother. Hell, he was the reincarnation of Sophia AND Lacan. But as he looked at Emmy, as Bud nicknamed her, he could feel the connection he had with her from Kim's lifetime.

"You can feel the memories, Saotome?" Id asked him as she materialized within his mind, dressed in a Gebler officer uniform. "I can feel a part of me slowly leaving. The memories that I hold within myself that belong to you are returning, bit by bit. Piece by little piece. It would be only a matter of time until you have all the memories of Abel, Kim, Lacan and Grahf, Fei, and Domon Kasshuu - one whose memories are still very vague, even to myself."

"What would happen to you?" he asked, also appearing within his dreamscape. He worried about her sometimes, especially now.

She smiled at him. "I will still be here. I do hold the -Yang- of our soul - Elly - while you hold the -Yin-. I will still have your past incarnation's memories also, but they would be more like vivid dreams that one could never forget." Her mental image wraps her arms around his waist, leaning into his chest while he returned the jesture. "Thank you for caring so much about me, despite all the trouble I've caused you."

Ranma surprises her by leaning down and initiating a long, passionate kiss. He pulled back when she felt like putty in his hands, blinking up at him in confusion.

"You mean the trouble that WE caused. I ain't lettin' ya take all the blame around here. Me and you are a team and we share everything together, good or bad."

Id smirked. "You know, Saotome. You're the most unique out of all of our reincarnations."

He chuckled, scratching the base of his pigtail out of habit. Something he hasn't done in a while.

"Thanks, I guess..."

-----

The group only were able to sleep for a few hours before they were attacked. Elly, whom wsa taking the third watch along with Buddy, who slept at the barricade that Montel and himself erected, opened fired on a heavily armed squad of Gebler soldiers. The sounds of Bud's light machine gun and Elly's submachine gun woke up the rest and they soon joined the shoot out, with the exception of Emerelda.

"Yo B'," Montel shouted to Buddy using his other nickname. "We gotta get moving to the Gear dock. Maybe Ranko can handle that dragon?"

"Ranma?" Buddy looked around. "Where the fuck is he?!"

"Emmy is gone too!" Montel pointed out, seeing that their charge is not in visual sight also.

Cries were heard from down the hall were the soldiers were originating from. The three of them - Bud, Montel and Elly - stopped firing for a moment as the sounds got closer. Montel could see bodies flying around in the rear ranks and it was getting closer and closer. Elly spied a look of what would be a mallet knocking someone up against the ceiling before it melted away suddenly. Another object, a mace, smashed and impaled another man before forming into an axe to slice several others into pieces. Fist were flying, along with hard kicks. The phenomenom became closer to were Buddy, and his hawk-like eyes could describe what exactly what was happening.

"There they are.." He pointed at the two fighting forms drawing more attention from the soldiers than them. "Ranma and Emmy somehow snuck to the back and flanked them. Good job, Saotome."

"Wow.." Elly mouthed before blasting away a quarter of the last soldier's head with a .357 magnum round.

"Good job, man." Buddy stood up and dusted himself off. "Both of you two, especiall you Emmy."

"I did not wish for my family to get hurt, especially after I have just gained one." said the nano-tech girl. Buddy couldn't help but smile. "I asked Ranma to take me to the rear of the formation and attacked their weakest side."

Elly stepped around the barricade and huggest the young teen to her. "Don't worry us like that again, Emerelda. Okay?"

"I will try, Elly."

Buddy patted Emerelda on the shoulder, grinning at her. "But anyway, we need to get moving now! The target is the ground floor western sector of the facility. We found the Gear facilities but there is a live dragon-like creature living inside and we couldn't get in through the door."

Ranma's eyes glazed over for a second before asking, "She wants to know what color were the scales."

"Black."

"No problem, she says." Ranma relays the answer. "Said just let her handle it."

Buddy looked skeptical, but relented. "Okay, let's move out then." He turned to Elly. "You'll protect Emerelda. I've got point and Montel will cover our rear. Got it?" They nodded. He turned to Ranma. "Pick up a weapon, Saotome. We won't have time for none of that martial arts crap now."

The pigtailed man was hesitant at first, but complied, picking a dead soldiers weapon and ammunition.

"Lock and load people. We're moving out."

-----

Bridge, Yggdrasil, 500 Leagues under the sea

"Any messages from the surface team?" Bart asked worriedly.

It has been nearly two days since they have left the Ethos digsite, and almost a whole day since they have lost communication with their crewmembers left at the entrance of the site. He was worried about Ranma and his friends, wondering what happened down inside that place that Id called the Zeboim. He wondered how they were fairing at this time. Do they also have commuincations problems? Did something happen? The worse case scenario would be that they were dead. That was something he didn't want to think about.

"Negative, young master. But I do have some blips on the radar that we cannot identify. They are not giving off a friendly or enemy IFF. They seem to be mining transports, but they are too large to be civilian craft." reported Hans.

Sigurd turned to Bart.

"Young master, it could be the Ethos sending those ships. They do issue contracts for civilians to mine their digsites."

Bart shook his head. "But I have a bad feeling about this." He turned to the helmsman. "Bring us to five hundred meters and deploy a radar buoy. We need a better scan of that island chain and those ships."

"Aye, Captain. Blowing tanks six and seven. Five hundred meters in thirty seconds."

The ship lerched backwards briefly before leveling out and slowly rising to it's new depth.

"Deploying bouy. Ten seconds to surface contact." The sound of an object being launched is hear. "Mark. We have surface contact."

"Checking the radar," Hans said, pausing to eye his console and listen for sound waves. "Mix of vessels, Captain. But I do confirm one Gebler airship - frigate class - in the area over one hundred miles out from the Ethos digsite."

"That's still very close to the island." informed Sigurd.

Bart grumbled. "That's too close. Set course back to the Ethos digsite, full speed. We need to che----"

Emergency lights started flashing, startling the bridge crew.

"What the hell--?!" Bart snapped, wondering what was going on. He go his answer by a transmission from the Gear bay.

"Young master! We have a major problem! Ranma's Gear, Weltall started up on it's own and has mounted the elevator and is trying to get out through the main doors. It's as if everything inside just came alive and had a mind of it's own." The was a loud sound of something pounding in the background, and it reverberated throughout the whole ship. "It's trying to bust through the doors, Captain! If we don't do something now, the whole Gear bay will be flooded and the ship will sink!"

"Damn it! BattCon level 1! Emergency procedures!" Sigurd shouted quickly. "Blow all tanks! Emergency surface now!"

"Engines at maximum power. Fins at forty-five degree positive angle."

"All tanks are venting water. Now blowing main tank."

"Surface contact in five... four.. three... two..."

The Yggdrasil burst from the ocean depths like a whale, breaching the surface befor flopping down and floating on the surface. The deck door opened at the rear of the submarine allowing the autopilot Weltall to fly out of the ship and hove around three hundred feet above the deck.

Bart and the bridge crew watched in awe as the black Gear went under transformation. An auro sprung around Weltall and it's armor turned red. The sides of the head moved out while the top moved up and forward. The chest split open and shifted to either side while the back sections rose and split creating shoulder armor before shifting down along the arms to it's hands. The leg sections recceeded into the body and the outer sections shifted around and forward locked into place. Finally, the remaining back sections split open and six wings of light formed. The Gear, just as if first appeared to him in the desert, looked streamlined and very intimidating. Especially now.

"A very bad omen," The Doc said as he stepped onto the bridge. "For Weltall to activate by itself would mean that Id has summoned it for a grave situation. It would be wise for us to head back to the Ethos digsite."

Bart ripped his eyes away from the view screen after Weltall took off to the skies. He turned to the bridge crew.

"Sig! I want ALL and I mean ALL Gear pilots ready for combat. Have the crews chief's ready all Gears for an assault on the Ethos digsite. Have the marines prepare for a beach landing also. And I want my Gear prepared for battle."

"At once, Young master."

"Helm! Set a course for the Ethos digsite. Full speed ahead."

"Aye-aye, Captain."

"Hans! Monitor both radar and sonar. Keep track of everything that happens."

"Aye, Captain."

"Gunner!"

"On it captain! Turrents A 'Anton' and B 'Belta' are on stand-by. Anti-air batteries are now operational."

"Sound BattCon level 1 when we are close enough to confirm what's on the island. Sigurd, you have the bridge."

"First mate has bridge. Aye, Young Master."

As Bart turned to leave, he only hand one thought on his mind.

May God help us all.

-----

The ground shook causing Buddy and present, with the exception of Id, to stumble and fall to the ground. The shaking continued for another few moments before receeding. Bud looked around and checked on everyone. It felt like a 5.7 quake on the richter scale. Being a former California resident and Los Angeleno, he could accurately guage the power of a quake within the last few seconds of it.

"Shaker?" Montel asked curiously.

Buddy shook his head. "It couldn't be. We're in the center of a tectonic plate, and a fairly large one at that. It didn't seem artifical either?" He suddenly whirled to face Id as the psychotic girl began to laugh like a maniac.

"It's time." She stated calmly, walking to the door that stood between them, the Gear dock, and a huge black dragon.

"Time for what?!" Bud snapped sharply. "You've been smiling for the past two hours as if something funny was going to happen. What do you got up your sleave, bitch?" He was really tired of her today also. Must be the lack of sleep.

A loud crash shook the building this time making everyone except Bud and Id fall to the floor. This was stronger than the supposed earthquake, and the epicenter was VERY close. Before Buddy could say something, he heard the loud roar of the dragon and the sounds of a battle coming from the otherside. He stared at Id for a moment, blinking in confusion. It was the smirk on her face that he finally realized what she did.

"You called.. it."

"Bud, Bud! What is Ranma Elly doing?" Emmy asked curiously.

Buddy ignored the girl making her pout. He followed Id into the Gear facility with the others trailing behind. His eyes widened seeing the Red Gear up close in action.

The Dragon and Weltall, even before Id jumped in to pilot the Gear, were brawling like two vicious animals over a slab of meat. Though slower, Weltall pounded it's fist repeatedly onto the black Dragon's skull when it latched it's sharp fangs on it's arms. But even on autopilot, Weltall wasn't as strong as the dragon. It shook violently, thrashing the red gear around like a rag doll. If it wasn't for it's hyper-mode being activated, Weltall would of been missing more than just it's arm. But the momentum suddenly changed when Id mounted her Gear. She literally used Weltall to pry open the dragon's mouth before shoving hard and snapping it's jaw bone. The dragon roared in extreme pain and agony, thrashing about and nearly hitting Buddy with it's massive tail. Id saw that, and it just made her livid! The Red Gear flipped forward, landing in a crouch position before jumping forward in a back flip. The very tips of Weltall's feet slashed at the dragon, literally cutting the beast in half.

Buddy turned around and saw Elly puke from seeing the insides of the dragon when it split apart. Fortunately, the decaying beast turned to dust in a matter of seconds, then nothing when a minute after it's death passed.

"It's beautiful." Emerelda said softly, commenting Id-Weltall. He smiled when Buddy placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, it is." He turned to Montel. "Take Elly and scout the area for any entrances into the Gear bay. I'll secure the door and see if I can get a communique to Bart and his crew."

"Aight."

He turned to Id as she dismounted her Gear close to him. "Nice job, but warn me next time, okay?" She nodded. "Anyways, take Emmy with you and see if the workstations around here are still operational." He looked around. There were many types of Gear's in this facility. Some that looked more advanced than the current top-military grade Gears in this time. "I'll contact Bart and tell him the situation."

He looked up at the giant hole in the ceiling, and even up to the giant tunnel that Weltall seemed to have made in the earth itself to reach down here. It was astonishing.

"We're definately gonna need to resupply on ammo and food."

He deployed the bipod of is M249 and layed down in a prone position from one corner of the door. His line of sight was good from his position, as he could see down the corridor they came from and the slight curve of the corner further down the ways. It was a good but dangerous position. Anyone that slips by his sight could travel along the opposite side of the hallway, directly in his blind spot.

"Infiltration team, Yggdrasil. Come in Yggdrasil."

Static.

"Come in Yggdrasil. This is Bud reporting our status. Over."

Again nothing.

"Shit. Still to deep to get a signal out. That hole in the ground didn't help any."

"Hey dawg," Montel called to him as he approached with Elly following not far behind. "Only other door around here is the main gate on the other side. Nothing else of importance besides a couple things."

"We found a weapons locker in one of the abandoned offices." She set down a pair weapon she was carrying. Montel also set down a weapon and a bag. "I'm not sure, but it could be possible that this place was just as advanced as the world you two come from - for firearms at least."

Bud eyed the weapons. Elly was correct in assuming the Zeboim era had similiar weapon tech like his world. Seeing three Colt M4A1's and a bag full of ammunition was the obvious give-away. He picked up one of the carbine rifles and looked it over, sometimes shaking it slightly. He ejected the magazine and tossed it, only to take one from the bag and load and lock the weapon. He looked around for a moment before leaning out the door. He aimed at a stray monster before taking a few pot-shots on semi-auto. The weapon sang twice, causing him to smile. Then he toggled the switch and let the monster have it, emptying a full magazine of 5.56mm ammuniton within a few seconds. He repeated this with the other two before laying them back down.

"They need to be serviced." he said, picking up the M249 and motioning Elly to come with him. "Show me were you got them. Montel, you got the door."

While the black man watched the hallway, the other two made their way to the main office of the Gear bay, designated by a sign indicated the room. For one thing, it was a mess, something that came to Buddy's mind when he looked at the room. Desk were turned over, papers and office appliances strewn about, probably due to someone being in a hurry. But from what? Maybe Ranko could answer that, he thought.

"It's further back," Elly said, taking the lead. Then she asked, "What about the Yggdrasil?"

"No word from them. We're still to far underground to get message out. Even that hole Weltall made didn't help at all. I was gonna ask Ranko to take me to the surface so get off a message, then you and Montel came back."

"Sorry.."

"It's nothing to be sorry about. The communications can wait; not really that important. Bart knows we can take care of ourselves."

Elly spoke up again, "Why do you call her Ranko? Id, I mean."

He chuckled. "You remember we told you about how he can change into a girl with cold water before Id manifested?" She nodded, remembering that tale. "You see, his dad forced him to hide from his mom because his old man thought she would force him to commit seppuky - or honorable suicide - if she judged him unmanly because of the curse."

"That's stupid." she said. And it was too.

"Yeah, I know. So Ranma hid using his female side and out of the blue came up with the name 'Ranko' to cover himself up. Luckily, it worked. So whenever I feel like teasing Id, I call her Ranko because it annoys her thoroughly."

"Here it is." informed Elly.

He opened up the semi-armored door and took a good look inside. The room was somewhat big, about the size of a walk-in closet. Weapons of various types lined one wall, body armor and load-bearing gear lined the other, while the center wall contained boxes and containers of ammunition.

"Assault rifles, shotguns, automatics and side-arms. Kinda heavily equiped for just a Gear dock." He started counting. "Hmmm... Just enough for two platoons. We should take the ammo and some back-up weapons. You'll never know when we'll lose something."

"Lose something?" she asked. He nodded.

"I lost my other carbine rifle and a laser rifle which got destroyed; both of them in this world."

"Oh."

"Do you wanna come with us, Elly?" Bud asked suddenly, surprising the former Gebler officer. She was speechless. Recieving no answer, he started hauling crates of linked ammunition for his M249 out of the armory along with various other items.

There was a very long period of silence between the two. Elly seemed to be actually thinking about what was asked of her. This was a once in a lifetime offer to her. To travel to other demensions, as was described to her, and take part in an adventure of a lifetime. Could she do it? Would she do it? Is this just a dream? Those questions ran through her head. It wasn't until Buddy literally shoved heavy crate into her arms that she finally spoke.

"I... I don't .. know.."

"Think about it, okay?" He starts heading back - a crate balancing on his shoulder and multiple weapons slung over the other. "Come on, let's hurry back."

"....."

"Elhyam?"

"Oh.. uh, I'm coming."

-----

"What's the sound?" Montel asked out loud.

He wasn't the only one whom heard it. Id pulled herself away from removing the engine inside Weltall - which is now in it's normal mode - to heard listen more clearly. Emerelda was listening also.

There it was again. Even with her ether-enhanced powers and superior ki control, Id could barely hear it. She was still human. But the sound of obviously coming from above, possibly on the surface level. Montel still couldn't tell what it was.

"Explosions." stated Emerelda.

"You can hear it, Emmy?" Montel asked the nano-teen.

"Yes. The explosions are scattered, but they appear to be to come in patterns of two."

Montel looked at Id. "Could it be the Yggdrasil?" He listened again. "It has to be. 'Anton' and 'Belta' were finally completed when we left the Thames, and they have longer ballistic arc than most naval guns."

The shockwave of an explosion rocked the building. Id screamed when Weltall's engine and generator shifted and nearly pinned and crushed her inside of the Gear. She left out a sigh of relief before cursing like a drunken sailor whose wife just cheated on him.

"What the fuck was that?!" shouted Buddy when he and Elly returned with the weapons. He turned to Id when she started glowing.

"DAMN YOU FATIMA!!" She shook he fist at the hole in the ceiling and the tunnel that lead up to the surface. "I'm going to rip your balls off so you won't contaminate the rest of the world!"

The psychotic red-head jumped into the cockpit of her Gear and prepared to take off.

"GGRGRAAAAAHHH!!!"

It was at this time that Elly decided to point out something.

"Umm.. Id?" The red-head was still growling. "Id? ID!!" Nothing. "HEY RANKO!!"

"WHAT?!! AND IT'S ID DAMN IT!! ID!!!!"

"You are going to go take off in Weltall, right?" Elly asked curiously.

"No shit, Elhyam. I'm gonna fly myself out after sprouting wings. Of course I am!"

"How can you take off if Weltall has no engine?" Elly stated, pointing at the foot of Weltall.

"....."

Id just happened to look down and saw what remained of the Gear's engine. It seemed that after it shifted and she managed to escape from being crushed by it, she forgot to secure it in place on the crane. So in other words, the whole thing fell off the crane and is now a pile of scrap on the deck.

"What a fucking dumb ass..." Bud muttered. He looked up at the red-head. "So what now, dumbass? How the fuck are we going to find an engine AND generator for Weltall? And we still need to find that GNRS50, charging circut and other items."

"....."

"Yes, I know you are stupid. Now get your cute ass down here and start looking in those other Gears for an engine. Come on Kim." Refering to her and Ranma's name in another lifetime. "I'll going to go find the parts we need in that parts shop."

"Emmy. Wanna come with me?" asked Buddy. Emerelda nodded and followed the large asian man with a slight bounce in her step. They disappeared around a corner.

Montel stepped up to Elly. He ignored Id grumbling about how unlucky she is to speak with her soul-sister.

"Did he ask you?" he whispered just low enough for only Elly to hear. The auburn-haired girl blinked for a moment before nodding. "I'd take it if I was you."

"But why? I still have family in Solaris and I'm still thinking of taking Bart's offer on being the crew's new operations commender."

"Ya think you'd be happy doing that?"

"I don't know..."

Montel sighed. "Check it, I've seen the way ya be lookin' at Ranma, Id and my boy Bud. And I've already seen on how you like Emerelda. I'm thinking you consider her a cousin, or at least her auntie. Hell, if you remember the past she's your kid, somewhat. And if I know Buddy, he's asking Emerelda right now if she wants to go with us or not." He smirked. "And knowing how she is, she won't leave Ranma for anythin'. She won't leave you also - technically, you are her mama."

"You mean what Id told us and the random visions I keep seeing in my head?" Montel nodded. "I still don't know..."

"Well I ain't gonna pressure you or anything. You got all the time to think about it and give Buddy the answer. We ain't gonna leave unless you tell us 'yes' or 'no'."

As Montel turned away and head back to the door, Elly's mind was spinning with different scenarios. One one hand, she could stay and become apart of Bart's crew. Some of the crew still didn't trust her, with the exception of many of the Gear pilots and actual soldiers. She could lead the men and women of the Aveh pirate ship into battle over and over against her own people, become singled out by Gebler and have an special -Purge- team sent out to capture, assassinate, and drag her body back to Solaris to be displayed as a total traitor and have her family suffer the embarrassment and ridicule of others.

Or, she could just leave. Going back to Gebler and Solaris was already out of the window. They would of most-likely deleted her off of the system and labelled her as killed in action or missing in action.

She felt as if someone was watching her all of a sudden. Turning around, she saw Ranma in the distance standing on the shoulder of one of the ancient, technologically advanced Gears. He was watching her, softly smiling, but his eyes showed concern, and maybe... hope? Then she thought of her final option.

She could go with Buddy, Ranma and Id, and Montel to do what most would think be impossible in her country. To traverse the known universe, space, time and reality, all in the same package. Help Buddy and Montel find this home of theirs. Maybe find herself a new home also? The thought intrigued her. It even excited her. But what of her parents? Especially her father. He must be worried about her. Maybe, if she could see him one more time and explain what has happened to her, she could make clear choice on such an important decision.

Little did she know, but Gebler Special Forces officer 1st Lieutenant Elhyam Van Houten was bitten by a special bug. A bug that would leader her on an adventure of a lifetime.

-----

End of Chapter 21


Author's Notes:

Special techniques that Ranma uses in this chapter can be find at http://www.wot-club.org.uk/RanmaFAQ/
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