Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / Digimon Fan Fiction / Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sonic Series Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Ultimatum 3: Trance Trauma ❯ Chaos in Magnopolis! The Miacas Surfaces ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

(A/N - Several minor changes have been made to the previous two chapters since posting, mostly concerning Shaun Garin's character. Nothing terribly damaging, but the hand cannon being used is less of an actual gunarm than a hand cannon - a long-barreled gun that can be used with one or two hands and fires 120mm shells. Just thought I'd like to bring that up. And the entire fight scene that he had to go through is remixed and extended now (It just feels cool saying it like that, don't mind me. ^_^), if you're into that kind of thing. Something else, I'm going to be jumping between the Japanese and American digimon cards, just picking out ones that work for the situation, so... well, it's just a warning...)






Ultimanium (VO)

Eh, I'm really getting tired of these openers. Let's just keep it simple - the crew had a day to get into shape for the coming fight, which none of them did, I might add... anyways, Shaun dug up an old android in the training room from the Ultramagnus days and had a surprise spar against it before putting it away for good. Meanwhile, Takato had made some movement on the entire Prospector situation, after looking up the profiles for the World State Government on Conker's old computer. While he doesn't have definite answers, he's telling everybody that the entire situation at hand has to do something with the Unity, a wacko religion that believes in uniting a person's six possible identities in a situation called Trance, and that's supposed to make them into a supposed invulnerable entity. And, still, we have the entire J situation to deal with, so either way we're screwed. Still, we've gotten out of worse situations before, and I'm not exactly about to call it quits on this one...


















********


The entire crew was shooken awake by Powerman 5000 playing full-blast over the intercom. Don't even ask, it just works. It didn't exactly fling them out of their beds, it DID, however, get them somewhat prepped for what was to come next.

"Hey, guys," Ultimanium's voice echoed over the intercom. "Rise and shine. And do it fast. In case you don't, we're entering planetfall in approximately 1 minute. Ta ta." A loud click ended the transmission.


********


Trunks sat out of bed, trying to grind sleepiness out of his eyes. "Does he do this all the time?"

Locke also sat up, though hunched over. "I have a feeling by the end of this trip I am reeeeeeeeeally going to despise hard rock. Well, if we don't want to get thrown out of bed, we should be getting ready." Locke swung himself down from his top bunk, and scooped a set of shirt and pants out of the dresser. As he got dressed, he picked up his dagger and contemplated, before sticking it in his back pocket. Trunks was already set up in his usual gi. He gave Locke a nod, before they both turned and headed for the door. They weren't even halfway when the ground beneath them shuddered slightly.

"45 seconds," Ultimanium spoke. "What you just felt were our secondary thrusters cutting out. Whatever you're doing, get ready for a fall."

Trunks and Locke stared at eachother. "Fall?"


********


Ultimanium studied the control panel in front of him. "Minonim. Status report."

The probe bleeped. "Secondary thrusters have been deactivated as commanded, Ultimanium. The Argetlahm's orbit is beginning to deteriorate. Are you sure you know what you're doing? You haven't brought Argetlahm into a planetfall during the last nine years, or any other starship, for that matter. I would suggest turning control of the ship over to the main computer."

Ultimanium shot a glance back. "These computers keep failing whenever I put in the landing coordinates. I never really trusted them fully, anyways... we're going to have to use manual control. Deactivate primary boosters on my mark. We're heading for the Magnopolis spaceport drydocks." Ultimanium turned back to his panels, the only indication of Minonim's instructions being a hand gesture over his shoulder.

Minonim's eyes shut off and reactivated, as if simulating a confused blink. "Okay. Disabling primary thrusters."


********


Crono sat, whistling to himself. He looked at his bare feet for a second before he reached for the folded socks next to him on his bed - and found out they weren't there. After several quick pouts, he rolled his eyes up, and saw them hovering in front of his vision. He swiped out a hand to grab them, but missed by a foot. It was then he realized he was floating too - and rapidly approaching the celing.

Gohan lied on his top bunk, legs crossed and bouncing an open book on his chest, also unaware that he was hovering a good foot off his bed. He looked over in time to see Crono flung into the celing facefirst with a loud thwack. Gohan simply winced, and went back to reading his book, using his free hand to push himself away from the roof.


********


"Set up the heat shield."

"Aye."

Ultimanium turned his chair around to face the glass shield. The space outside was slowly being covered with a navy-blue barrier, which quickly turned to a searing red as the Argetlahm began to plunge toward the surface of Earth. Ultimanium quickly rolled the chair over to another station and examined an artificial horizon. "Okay, we're all straight and set... let's go! Minonim, reengage all forward thrusters and maintain our downward velocity! Adjust the forward boosters as you see fit to set us on a perfect diagonal freefall towards Magnopolis."

Minonim was immediately at work switching the primary and secondary boosters on and off.


********


Just one thing you should know. The Argetlahm was perfectly still when it started falling, so a quick adjustments of thrust might not be all that great for Crono.

*THWUMP*

Gohan raised an eyebrow as he lowered his book. Indeed, Crono was plastered in a spread-eagle against the far wall, directly above the computer. The squeal and combustion burst downstairs was enough to let Gohan know that the Argetlahm was changing its trajectory - again. He didn't have time to say anything as Crono came in a red blur back at Gohan, flattening him against the wall.

Loud knocking came from next door. "Will you two keep it down in there?! I'm having enough trouble dodging... whoa!!" *THUMP* "Damn it, get off of me! Will you quit flinging yourself around?!"

"I can't help it! I just.. AAAAHHH!!" *WHUMP* "GAAAH! Guilmon, you hit me in the nads!!"

"Sorry, Takato, I just feel like I'm... oh no..." *WHUMP POW CRASH*

Crono and Gohan were tangled together, trying to pry each other apart from the inertia that was tossing them around when the door shoved open, showing Eric hovering, and struggling to keep himself steady. "U-Ultimanium's s-s-stopping the reentry any m-minute! Hang tight! We can.." he was silenced immediately as Rika flew through the air and slammed into him, sending them both down the hall. The gust of wind pushed closed the door.


********

















A large airlock on the far side of the bridge opened with a long hiss, signifying the end of the Argetlahm's long descent. The various crew members sat lined up on the bridge, with various punch and kick bruises forming on them. Ultimanium made his way to the front of the group, with a bandage tied to his head, along with Minonim, who had a large dent on his forehead as well. "Well," Ultimanium sighed. "See? Reentry wasn't that bad, was it?"

Everybody growled.

"Anyways, we've set down at the Magnopolis spaceport drydocks. Before we head out and do what we need to do, you're probably wondering what the entire deal is with Magnopolis. Magnopolis is one of the four major cities in the third dimension, this one being the largest. I've never actually been to the others, since they are pretty much in the southern extremes of the world. Magnopolis is situated mid-northeast. This is where the main headquarters for where the World State Government lies, everybody except for Magnus, who decided to keep his base of operations somewhere else.. I don't know, even I haven't heard from him since we last left the Argetlahm."

Rika nodded. "Anything else we need to know?"

"Everything else is pretty much facts. But one thing... the entire northwestern section of the world as we know it in the third dimension is barren wasteland... it's listed as the Wastes of Kardis, though I have NO idea why it would be called that."

"Well, we're wasting every bit of time we have just standing around HERE." Takato sighed. "We should head out and try to get every bit of information we can on the Prospector."

Shaun smirked. "But we don't even know where to start."

"Do we need to know? We're just going to head out into Magnopolis and get information any good way we know how." Takato used both hands to refit his goggles. "I know I have mine."

"Whatever," Ultimanium muttered. "But don't get lost on us, everybody. I want everybody to return to the Argetlahm tonight at 7 PM, and give me what they know. I'll be out on the town too. Then we'll be able to decide whether we have the info we need to start tracking the Prospector."

Everybody nodded, then immediately darted off through the gate leading out of the bridge, and down into the city below. Cody was the last to leave, along with Armadillomon.

"What's going on, Cody? You look pretty worried."

"I haven't seen Magnopolis for so long," Cody murmured. "It's hard to envision what sort of change could rebuild Magnopolis to the great state that Ultimanium keeps insisting of. Do you remember Magnopolis? During the very first mission... we were outside Magnopolis, but we got a good look inside from the plateau we were on - I could never get that image out of my mind, how this city was so... damaged... and deranged. But maybe it is better now. We need to check this out."

Armadillomon nodded. "Let's."

Cody and Armadillomon both took their first step out of the airlock. What they saw amazed them.






A massive panel of plate glass windows was directly in front of them. The hallway of the spaceport intake was just as a normal airport intake corridor, as people from other nearby docked ships crowded the halls - businessworkers nattering endlessly into celphones from either benches, nearby restraunts or just talking while striding along, families were being tugged along by their parents, as well as strollers. Outside, a massive plain of green grass started at the end of the concrete pad the hall was centered on, that stretched off into the horizon. If they were really in Magnopolis, they were probably at the farthest reaches of the outskirts of the city.

Cody pulled his jacket he had brought with him further over his shoulder. "This place is absolutely incredible. Just a couple of years ago the place was completely wasted..."

Armadillomon was already waddling down the hall, avoiding the feet of passerbys. "We'd better hurry, the group's already a good distance ahead!"

Cody nodded, waking out of his trance. "Gotcha."


********


Ultimanium sat at the very front of the group. He sat, turned around his bus seat, explaining to everyone the operation as the bus quietly rolled its way to the center of Magnopolis, where Techno Tower lied.

"Techno Tower is a Magnopolitian landmark. If anyone gets lost, just report back there - we have several allies there that will keep track of you if you lose your way. Just head towards Techno Tower, and they'll be able to assist you and get you back on your way. I simply want you to go out, scour the town, and bring back as much information you can get your hands on. Everybody will report back to Techno Tower at 7 PM, when we'll be catching another bus back to the Argetlahm. Then, we should be able to head out to the Atlantic and begin searching for the Prospector's hideout."

Everybody nodded, as the bus came to a slow halt. The bus was parked at a good 300 feet from the base of Techno Tower as people began to file out, the group last. They all made their way out onto the street, staring out into the courtyard that surrounded the spacescraper, and several sprinklers that were spreading water across its surface.

Locke tilted his cap, also brought down from the ship. "Are we ready to go, then?"

Ultimanium turned back, his normal affirmative glare taking shape. "I'm assuming."

As the youngest crews sprinted off, and the adults slumped off at a relaxed pace, Ultimanium also began heading down a nearby street. Eric glanced over at Shaun who was also slipping away, a large round bag in his left hand. "Hey, Shaun, where you headed?"

Shaun paused momentarily, not shifting his view. "...somewhere." Eric remained silent as Shaun disappeared into a backstreet, leaving Eric, standing alone in the middle of the sidewalk as the bus rumbled away, leaving him swamped in the pedestrians that were beginning to clog the pathway.

"Where do I start?... hmm..." Eric reached into his pocket and plucked out a penny, which he flipped onto his hand.


********


Raynor sat leaning against a nearby lamppost, keeping a steady eye on the onrush of pedestrian traffic that swarmed by him on the sidewalk. It had been nearly half an hour since Ultimanium split the group up and Raynor had few questionable encounters with any strange behaviour around him - well, except for a mugger, which Raynor managed to kick the crap out of single-handedly, after which he threw through a nearby shop window. Many of the nearby storeowners were still peering at him through the remaining glass with a look of certain fear on their faces. Raynor's own still appeared as gruff as it always was. His choice of apparel today was a simple white muscle shirt and the customary jeans. He knew coming out into a crowded city in his usual tungsten marine armor wouldn't be the most inviting thing in the world to the populace.

Before Raynor shoved himself up to try to find some other position when his eye centered on a single figure that was weakly shoving other people out of his way. He wore a blue backwards baseball cap and an obscenely large overcoat, both of which managed to hide his face somehow. He carried a large briefcase in his hand loosely, the left hinge of the handle wearing apart. Raynor kept a pair of squinted eyes on the man as he slipped in and out of the crowd.

"...something about that guy's vibes is really putting me off... maybe I'd better find Ulty and tell him to keep an eye on this guy..."

Raynor hopped as he saw Goten rush out of the maelstrom, chased by Trunks. Both children were laughing as the sped after each other... and had no idea of the collision course they were headed on with the shady figure. "Trunks! Goten! Stop that before you..."

A startled cry rose from the crowd ahead as the man sunk into the sea of heads. "...hurt someone." Raynor muttered to himself as he broke from his defense and jogged over to the site of the disaster. The same person was down in a kneeling position as his briefcase fell uncerimoniously to the ground with a thump. "Excuse me, sir, do you need a hand with that..."

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you." The man grunted. "...ah, so it IS you, Raynor... Argetlahm... crew member!"

Raynor lifted an eyebrow. "Huzzah? How do you know?"

"Leave this place now," the man hissed. "you're only prolonging the inevitable. Soon, Trance will occur and there is little you can do about it. Soon, the J will be the doom of your world and the Prospector will live on high as master Trance!"

Raynor ripped the man up into the air by his overcoat with surprising strength. "You're one of his goons, aren't you? Well, that was kind of a stupid thing to ADMIT it."

"Oh, but don't you see? His plan is already taking effect. Somewhere, among his several agents, there is a single person that is plotting the destruction of Magnopolis as we speak - and when he gets to his goal, this place'll be nothing more than the rubble that was here nine years ago."

Raynor threw the man up against the lamppost, hitting his head with a dull clang. "You don't seem to realize that we're ALL here. We'll take care of whatever you throw at us!" Raynor gripped the coat with both hands and threw the man out into the open street, landing on top of a car and bursting through the windshield. Every car behind it screeched to a halt. As Raynor advanced on the briefcase still left on the ground, horns were already blaring. He checked around himself, and saw a pair of construction workers pounding a small fencepost into the ground at a small park about a block away, one carrying a large sledgehammer.

"Excuse me," Raynor growled. "Can I borrow that for a second."

"I guess," the man gaped, handing the angry, built man in front of him the mallet. "What for?"

Raynor dropped the briefcase, snatched the hammer and brought it as hard as he could down on the handle of the suitcase, smashing the lock open. He tossed the hammer to the ground and opened the package - inside was a small computer that had apparently been built into the carrying device.

"A comm device. The guy's henchmen probably use it to relay to each other. I gotta scope out every single one o' these guys..." he tapped a button on the far edge and a screen flipped up, showing the circular structure of Magnopolis. Seven other dots were flying wildly throughout the display, signifying the other workers' movements. "I have to get this to Ultimanium. There's no telling what these freaks have planned."


********


"You are from the Argetlahm crew, correct?"

Rika took another few steps back, also confused at the shrouded man's sudden interest. "What's it to you?"

"Soon, Magnopolis will be destroyed by the great Prospector - there is nothing you can do! Give up your little crusade now!"

As if on cue, Renamon phased in behind Rika. "Whoever this Prospector is, he's going to see you in pieces if you take another step."

"You.. must be destroyed too!" with blinding speed, the man ditched his overcoat and hurtled toward Rika, a clenched fist in the air, ready to strike. Renamon's eyes widened as she tried to trace the attacker through the air - but was unable to. Seeing little other choice, she dashed in front of Rika and threw her arms across her face to repel the hard punch that landed directly on her limbs. As Renamon unsheathed her face, she saw the man flip out of the air and land back where he had started.

"This person is NOT normal... I might need a hand here, Rika."

Rika nudged Renamon. "Just beat him senseless, I don't want to have to use any Modify cards on anyone, that might be a little overkill."

The man threw himself back in a frenzy at the digimon, wailing away at Renamon's defense with his fists. Renamon blocked several of the first blows, but was soon struggling to keep pace with the assaults coming at her. With one shot, an attacking hand grazed Renamon's neck, letting her know she was in too deep. She ducked one last pummel and flipped back to Rika's position. "He's too fast..."

"You now know just the small potential of Trance, Argetlahm crew member!"

"We have names, you know. Rika, I sense something extremely wrong with this situation - I need some cards, we need to get rid of him, and fast."

Rika grit her teeth. "..I don't know..." she was already beginning to take notice of the large crowd that had gathered in a circle around the agent, Rika and her digimon, giving them little leeway, at least as far as higher-level digimon were concerned. "Everybody! Leave here, now! This is dangerous!" she remained still, as the citizens started giving eachother confused glances. "...maybe you need a little danger to get you moving, I suppose?"

Rika ripped a card from her pocket, and flipped it into the air, catching it inbetween her index and middle fingers as it came down. "I'm giving you one last chance! Get out of here! And as for you... I suggest you just give up before I have to use the bigger guns!"

"Do what you must!"

Rika yanked the light blue D-Arc off the other side of her belt and held it in front of her as she ripped the card through sideways, with an accompanying crackle of electricity.

"Digi-modify! Power Blast... activate!"


********


Gohan and V2 had already somehow found their ways into the lower recesses of the city, the slums that took up a small section of the southwestern corner of the city. The dozen-or-so blocks that made up the grittier side of Magnopolis was set on a small incline, which was evident through the increased speed of the vehicles on the road next to them compared to the main center of the city, and the increased momentum that they used to get around turns at each block interval.

"Sounds like a reasonable hideout for terrorists..." V2 mumbled. "Where do you think the guy would keep any of his contacts?"

"I'm not too sure, every block around here looks exactly the same." Gohan's eyes wavered to a pair of built mohawkeds as they walked up the opposite side of the street, carrying a small crate. Gohan concentrated on piercing into the escorts' minds, but found nothing of interest. They certainly weren't handling anything potentially dangerous. "Well, anyways, we'd better keep looking. Say, have you noticed any funny-looking people around?"

V2 stared blankly at a group of people sat around a lamppost, all smoking joints. "That's kind of an open-ended question."

"No, I mean like a weird person in an overcoat and fedora. I swear, he's been following us since we've got here. I've seen him every damn place we've been. It's freaking me out."

As Gohan and V2 walked by a dark alley, Shaun plodded out of it, also watching the crate make its way up the street. "...I have a feeling... I can sense the energy coming off of whatever they have... It feels so familiar, but what is it...?"

A lanky teenager with pink dyed hair crept up from being Shaun. "Hey, what's goin' on?"

"Excuse me, do you know what those people are taking up the street?"

"Oh, you mean THAT. I'm part of the Flaminco Flight, the owning gang in these parts. Some of our fellow men dug this thing up in the trash, and they heard it's been going for a lot of cash. I'm not sure what the boss wants done with it other than selling it, but..."

"We got the thing you wanted."

Both Shaun and the teen stuck their heads out of the alley and peered up the hill, where the two men were speaking with a short, fatter member. "That's the leader of this part of the turf. Whatever those people are haulin' around with them, they're probably gonna have to explain it to him."

Shaun shushed the member, as the group began speaking again.

"Is this what you've found? Well, open it up and let's take a look, shall we?" The bulkier member handed the turfmaster a crowbar, which he planted underneath the roof of the crate. With a downward push, the top flew off, landing hard on the cement below. "...whoa! This is it, alright! This thing'll go for a fortune! But you DO know what we're gonna do with it, right?"

Both henchmen shook their heads.

"Magnopolis security has been busting down on us for our late-night street sports. What we'll do here is have ourselves a little competition - 2 hours from now, we're gonna do ourselves a downhill street luge, and winner takes all. I want you to round up as many people as're willing to take the plunge, fastest man takes home the treasure! THAT oughta spark some resistance around here!"

One of the workers bent down into the crate and struggled to lift its contents. What Shaun saw made his jaw drop. In the hands of the man was a 2-foot tall cat statue, absolutely perfect and undamaged from wherever it was.

"...a Miacas..."








~------------~
< br>
"Shaun, you do understand what I say, correct?"

Shaun nodded solemnly. "Yes. I'll do whatever I can. But, still, I'm not entirely clear on these techniques you speak of... the texts have no indication that these arts exist..."

"Remember what I told you before, they are absolutely top-secret. The powers that are locked away are the ultimate attacks designed by the Craymel... I believe some of them are could very well be on par with those utilized by the Van Eltia. If they were to be accessed by the enemy, they could be the doom of us all. Fortunately, they lack the qualification necessary to use the arts. The Craymel hid the spirits of these lost skills within the hulls of ancient cat statues that had been manufactured by the Craymel in the days before their civilzation disappeared into the mists of time. The tomes I've heard of refer to the artifacts simply as 'Miacas', roughly translating out 'the courier of good fortune', similar to the good luck statues constructed by Earth's Chinese and Japanese cultures. According to your background, accessing these skills should be second nature to you - simply mental and/or physical contact with the artifacts should be enough to trigger its effects and implant the arts directly into your mind. You will need these skills on your journey - there's no telling what evils you may run into outside this system."

Shaun blinked. "I... understand. I'll find the Miacas.. and that will give me the power to retake the Van Eltia..."

"Don't sound that way. I know you, Shaun, you are extremely well educated in the arts, and a born fighter - whatever path you choose, you'll find a way through it. Chat is counting on you."

"Thank you, Max. I will do whatever I can to get the Van Eltia back in our control once again..."


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





******* *


A heap of papers sat in front and around Ultimanium as he flipped through them, bored, trying to dig up some remnant of a clue on the Prospector. Crono and Locke sat on opposite sides of him, searching through the sheets too. The bar was unusually empty for this time of day, but it had provided a temporary sanctuary for the group while they scavenged through Magnopolis newspapers from up to three weeks back for some sort of information. A celing fan above the group rotated lazily, a fitting contrast to the work that was going on below. The entire group had been reading for nearly three hours already and had no indication of success.

"...TRANCE album highest on dance charts..." Locke droned.

"...Planetary UNITY Organization renews peace treaties with Middle-eastern countries..." Ultimanium sighed.

Crono shook his head in disappointment.

The group went back to reading as the bartender returned from behind the shop. "What's the deal with you guys? You've been sitting here for hours already... what EXACTLY are you trying to find out, anyways?"

"Stuff about that Prospector dude." Locke grumbled.

"Oh, the guy going to destroy creation?"

Everybody nodded.

"Well, that's nice. Do any of you want anything to drink?"

"A Dr. Pepper." Ultimanium said flatly.
"Shirley Temple. On the rocks." Locke continued.
Crono pointed at the water tap.

The servant nodded, and returned a minute later with the three drinks on a small tray, which he distributed among the three men. They each took a sip, followed by the clap of each of their glasses touching against the counter. Before they could look back down at their papers, stifled giggling could be heard from the back of the room.

Locke never moved his gaze. "Is someone watching us?"

Ultimanium pushed his swivel stool around. "'fraid so."

Sitting at a back table were a pair of women, both 19 or so. One was blond, generally short, a bit pudgy, and wearing rather... large glasses. The other was a tall, slim figure, with red shorts, a white t-shirt, and neon green dyed hair that was split back behind in two spiky ponytails. Blue eyes, and a white visor that pointed up at an angle.

"Don't let 'em get to you," the bartender interrupted, polishing a shot glass. "They're the Citrus Sisters, they show up here all the time. As far as I can tell, they're looking for someone to take home, but they normally don't pick out anybody from here... most of the people who stop in here are the unkept truckers. The only reason they come HERE is that the next nearest pub is nearly 20 blocks down from here. I'd keep a watch out for them, you fellows look exactly like the type they'd drag away."

"The taller one don't look so bad." Ultimanium said.

"Am I hearing that right?" Locke chirped. "According to the vets, you NEVER talked about girls during your entire first tour, and we haven't heard anything until now. I think Ulty has an-oof!" Locke stopped as Ultimanium's elbow flew into Locke's gut, shoving him off his stool.

"You never seemed to say anything when Eric's dropping hints for Rika left and right."

Locke pushed himself off the floor. "Yeah, but you're the LAST person I expected to say anything!"

"Say NOTHING if they get ideas of hitting on us."

With that, everybody returned to looking at their papers. No one noticed the visored woman keeping a glistening eye on Ultimanium.


********


Shaun glanced over to his side as the men began packed up the Miacas and began carting the crate off. "..crap. There's got to be SOME way I can get in that competition..."

"Hey, Shaun, find anything?"

Shaun sighed as he turned to face Gohan and V2, standing side by side. "Oh, it's you guys. I need your help for something."

V2 shrugged. "Name it."

"I've already tried to get into the street luge that the Flaminco Flight is trying to get going... but they said that they won't accept me unless they have some indication that I have prior experience in traffic street luging."

"Don't you?"

"Not really.. but I can handle it.... alright, I need you guys to keep a secret for me. If this gets out to any third dimension people, the Argetlahm crew is good as ruined. Can you?"

Gohan scratched the back of his head. "..I guess. What did you need to do?"

Shaun set down the bag in his hand and began to unzip it. Out of it he took a perfectly polished biker helmet, with navy blue and white stripes streaking across it. Large block letters showed the initials AM on the top-back of the helm. He began to set it down on top of his head, and clicked the visor shut. "Oh, yeah, I forgot, you guys are fourth-D inductees, right?"

V2 nodded. "Sure are."

"Well, whenever I have this helmet on, CALL ME ALEX MANN. I don't want ANYONE to know I've Shaun Garin. Understood?"

"What's the deal with that?"

"When I first entered this solar system from my home galaxy, I found that many of the outer-rim colonies wouldn't accept the currency I had on me, so I had to find a fast source of money to take me further into the system. I passed off the money I had as antique coins to a collector on Pluto, and used the paltry sums I got for them to enlist in a extreme sports competition on Chiron. I didn't want any sort of celeberty following hindering my travels, so I entered under a false identity - Alex Mann. I quickly climbed the ladders for the various events and eventually gained enough money to continue my travels. This occured at every large base I found myself passing, and after a year-long career, I found myself with enough prize money to keep myself going for the rest of my travels."

Gohan raised an eyebrow. "Exactly HOW much money do you have?"

"Oh, I've spent most of it going places... by the time I found the Argetlahm, I think I had somewhere close to $250,000 in my account... I haven't been able to touch it since."

Both Gohan and V2 exchanged stares, and brushed off their sweatdrops. "Well, sure, we'll help you, I guess. What do we have to do?"

"I've already tried talking to the turfmaster of the Flaminco Flight, and requested to join. As far as Shaun Garin's concerned, he's been denied. But I wonder how he'll take the great Alex Mann joining in on his little competition. I just need you to talk for me. He's already heard Shaun, so he'll know who I am if I speak. Just say that Alex Mann has a bad case of laryngitis."

"Well, sure, then. On one condition..."

Both Gohan and V2 grinned. "We want to join the luge too."

"...you can't be serious. Do you have ANY idea how to street luge? Through open traffic, for that matter?"

V2 stared, eyes half open. "Oh, okay. I wonder how everyone will take Shaun as being Alex Mann, though..."

Shaun sweatdropped. "P-please! Don't tell anyone! Fine, stay in, go luging, get yourself killed, whatever, just DON'T tell anyone! C'mon! Be a friend!"

V2 smiled slyly. "THAT'S more like it. C'mon, Gohan, we have a race to attend to."


********


"Do you think your petty card tricks will defeat me?!"

Renamon hurled herself at the man, fists raised. "So maybe we'll just have to go barehanded then!" She dove downwards at the figure, rocketing her hand down at the target, the boost of the Power Blast pushing her fist forward even harder than before. A shriek of wind echoed through the streets as Renamon plunged her attack down into the sidewalk where her target was once standing. "What the... how is he so fast...?" Renamon barely had time to think as a boot whizzed by her face. The agent was assaulting her again, this time with various kicks. Renamon let out a pained gasp as she was slapped in the side of the chest with a roundhouse.

"Digi-modify! Hyperspeed... activate!" Rika's voice shouted from nearby, synchronous with the sudden boost of energy Renamon felt surge through her. Faster. More agility.

Renamon flipped as she came down, and flung herself against a nearby building, effortlessly kicking herself off it with blinding speed, granted by the card slash. A painful whomp echoed out from the fight as Renamon dropkicked the oncoming man on her way down, sending him to the pavement. As the man twitched, apparently something being broken, Renamon advanced on the disabled fighter and gave a drilling stare down onto him. "What are you attempting to do? We demand an explanation for these acts."

Rika was met with shock, as, before her, the man began to rise to his feet, a white-black aura beginning to enclose him. "You... fool! You know not of the true nature of Trance! Trance has been bestowed upon me by the Prospector, and now you shall see it in action! You should be thanking me... for letting you witness such a display of power... before I destroy you all!!"

Takato sprinted up from a sidestreet, Guilmon in tow. "Rika! What's going on here? I could hear this all the way from the Tim Hortons down the street!"

"We were enjoying the Timbits, for your information!" Guilmon huffed.

"This isn't a time to eat, you moron!" Renamon growled. "Something's seriously wrong with this person... his power level is rising... too high! He's undergoing some sort of transformation!"

People were breaking off from the spectating crowd, running away screaming, crying and tripping over each other. As the aura began to fade, the man's overcoat shattered into glass-like shards and broke off, hovering, spinning a short distance away. They turned a pitch-white and began to reattach themselves to the man's skin, forming a gigantic suit of white, black-jointed armor. He was nearly 11 feet tall now, with a heavily plated horned helm, accompanying crimson eyes, and a pair of glowing white fists.

"Well, that's dandy..." Takato reached for his pocket, and took out a small set of cards and began to flip through them. "What to use, what to use..."

"Hurry up, goggle-head, he's not giving us preperation time here..."







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This first form of Trance is a relatively weak one, as far as Trances are concerned. This Trance is born of the frail body of one of the Prospector's low-ranking agents, and therefore is definately not a sign of the Trance's true power, but he is still potent. His Omega White and Blessed Cannon attacks send opponents back to Creation!
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LUXATOR - White Trance















Holy mother of Ghandi!!!! Trance is being used already?! Looks like Takato was right on one thing, anyways... why is the Prospector applying Trance already? Can even the Tamers beat an abomination like Luxator? Will Ultimanium ever pick up the hot, tall chick? Will Gohan and V2 get creamed by passing traffic? And will Eric ever get a good part in this fic? (yes, he will) Find out on the next Trance Trauma!