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

Chapter 6: Eric, Meet Luxator! Race for the Miacas!




(A/N - Just one comment today, folks - any comments made on the Digimon card market are story-related, and those cards might not exactly cost that much...=) Oh, and see if you can catch some of the "references" I snuck in this chapter.. there should be three or four. Happy hunting!)





V2 (VO)


Last time on Trance Trauma, Ulty brought the Argetlahm into planetfall so we could stop by the newly-rebuilt Magnopolis, and try to scope out some info on the Prospector's whereabouts. Though the place seemed calm enough, some of the crew members around the city soon had their eyes set on several creepy guys that were wandering around the city, draped in huge overcoats. Takato and Rika were the first ones to get their point, as one of the agents attacked and Renamon had little choice but to defend the singled-out Tamers. However, it soon came to bear that the man actually had the ability to Trance! With everything about the Unity dug up and their constant struggle to attain Trance, Takato soon realized that he had the right guy as far as the Prospector was concerned. He was, at one point, the vice-president of Magnopolis, and the vice leader of the third dimension itself. Armed with some knowledge, both Argetlahms and their digimon turned to face their enemy - the heavily-armored, lumbering white beast Luxator.

Meanwhile, Shaun's got it in his head that he wants to join an underground street luge in order to win some funny-looking statue called a Miacas. I can't believe one shred of information he's told us about the thing. Anyways, he's going to join in under the guise of Alex Mann, super-duper-athlete or something.

Ulty's hanging out at the neighborhood pub with Crono and Locke, scanning the Magnopolis records for some sort of hint on the Prospector's whereabouts, like everyone else. But it looks like those Citrus Sisters have some sort of plan to "distract" our heroes...

As for Eric, he's going to have a hell of a time when he meets up with the Trance Luxator - when he's the only immediate reinforcement in the area, can he stand up to the beast?











********< br>


Appleton stared at his unmoved face in the bathroom mirror once more before he cleared his throat and departed into the hallways. A short jaunt from the private chambers was the Prospector's main room. Appleton had been preparing himself long and hard for this - he had to get a direct word from the Prospector himself, and get some sort of idea what was going on with Project Trance. Straightening the fabric on the shoulder of his jumpsuit, he paused for a second, and threw the doors ahead of him wide open. Whatever his boss' response was, he was prepared for the worst.

The dark man placed his fedora down on the table and turned the chair to face his underling. "...Appleton. I dare NOT ask what you are doing here."

"I've had enough of working like I'm missing my head, Prospector. I demand some sort of facts on Project Trance, and the Unity itself. I have to ask, why the enitre J terrorism act? What are you intending to do with this 50 billion dollars? I want an answer." Appleton abruptly stopped. Hell, he was probably on the hit list by now, he might as well go through with it.

A silence swept through the room, as the Prospector considered his response. "...you seem like a faithful worker, Appleton, I guess I can give you SOME insight. You've served me all these years, assisted in the development of the mission, served as my second man... well, are you sure you're prepared for the future of the Unity?"

Appleton tugged his collar. "...I... guess..."

The Prospector let the deepening quietness settle, before rising slowly from his chair. He made his way to the window, arms folded behind his back, as he stared down onto the ocean below. "As you may recall, I was, in fact, a member of the extremist cult The Unity. The Unity does not follow any sort of mantra, it is only an organization dedicated to the bonding of a person's six possible forms. I'll tell you now, reality itself is divided into six tiers, each representing a progressive plane of the associated reality - the first plane is length, the second plane is height, the third plane is depth, the fourth plane is time, the fifth plane is magic, and the sixth plane, is life. With each tier you advance, its residents have greater powers, corresponding to their current planes."

"Go on."

"A long time ago, in the fifth dimension, the Unity first caught word that a machine was being researched and developed, one that could warp people inbetween dimensions. This was clearly an attempt on behalf of the scientific world to cash in on the power that the Unity would soon have, the manipulation of dimensional structure. The Unity's militia powers sent their greatest weapon, me, the Prospector, into covert service and find the J, and bring it back to HQ. A week ago, the J was placed into a museum of technology in New York, and I soon launched a raid on the facility and stole it - using it, I warped to the third dimension, where we are now, to escape. To prevent further action to rob the J from my new base of operations, I threatened to activate it on its highest velocity setting, which could probably collapse the entire dimensional structure and practically destroy reality. With the funds I will get from my 'ransom', I intend to continue working with and building Project Trance until every one of my workers, including myself, can fully go Trance. Then, our true mission will begin."

"True mission?"

The Prospector turned back to Appleton. "Legend says that if the six dimensions are all melded together, which we are doing with Project Trance on a more personal scale, the object in question will exist in the Seventh Dimension - the threshold of godliness itself if used in the right hands. Then, we shall rise up, and take what is rightfully ours!... rumor has it that off, somewhere outside of this star system, a machine called the Van Eltia is the prize in a massive war between the combined forces of the Inferian and Celestian navies and a massive organized space pirate brigade. As current events fly, the pirates have the upper hand, and have gained control of the Van Eltia and its systems."

"Sure, but what's the Van Eltia?"

"I'm not exactly sure myself. The reports we've received tell us that the Van Eltia is a flagship of Celestia, their largest, most powerful ship. But the real kicker is that the weapons themselves are of Craymel design - the ship itself has been imbued with the spirits of the greatest Craymel forces of both Inferia and Celestia, making its weapons and defenses insanely powerful, and its containment of the Craymel spirits makes it an extremely sacred item to both Inferia and Celestia. Simply put, it is the ultimate weapon. The ship's power envelopes it so much, in fact, all of space around a 20-foot radius of the ship is a Seventh-D anolomy. Only by climbing to the Seventh Dimension can I gain enough power to put an end to the war single-handedly and take the Van Eltia for myself! When I finally fuse with the Craymel spirits of the Van Eltia, I will be immortal, and the Unity will rule Creation itself!"

Appleton sat, frozen in his seat. "...I think you told me a bit much, there."

"...then be comfortable, knowing the Unity's final victory is nigh, Appleton. You are excused."

"Um... sir... I was told Project Trance was entering Beta."

The cloaked man paused before turning back to Appleton. "What are you talking about? All the schedules state that Project Trance is still going through pre-Alpha testing."

"But, sir, the records clearly indicate that you gave the command to imbue Trance onto several of the lower-ranked officers. You sent them out to Magnopolis to hold it under military control until further notice."

The Prospector slammed his fist down onto the desk, making Appleton shove back. "I made no command of the sort! I don't know where you bozos got the word to send Trance-enabled troops down to Magnopolis... I didn't even know Trance itself was in working order!" He quickly rose himself from the surface and paced away from his workcenter. "If the World State Government realizes that Trance troopers are in Magnopolis, they'll NEVER give me the ransom, they're just going to launch a retaliatory attack! I want you to find whatever idiot gave the word to send the Trance into Magnopolis, and get him to my office, pronto!"

A voice crept out of the corner of the room. "You would be speaking of me."

Appleton spun and ripped the pistol from his holster, pointing it in the direction of the interruption. Standing in the corner of the expansive office, next to a potted planet, was a man dressed in the exact same attire as the Prospector. "It's about TIME someone noticed me. I imagine you're wondering who I am."

Appleton flicked off the safety. "You'd better speak up quick, then."

The man removed his hat, exposing his face to his spectators. Well, it was quite apparent then that it wasn't a man Appleton was dealing with - a good portion of his forehead was ripped apart, showing metal plating beneath. A small, red wire poked out from beneath the artificial skin.

"An android," the Prospector hissed. "it's definately Ultramagnus' model, alright."

"What do you want me to do?" Appleton whispered over his shoulder.

"Let him talk. It's feasible that he wanted to come up here for something other than killing me, he's not armed. Alright, whoever you are, what are you doing here and what do you want? I've already caught onto the false orders you've given my troops... I want a good explanation."

The android nodded. "As you have guessed already, I am, in fact, one of Ultramagnus' androids. One of his most trusted, I might add. I am Ultramagnus' literal second-hand man, replacing his older probe, Minonim. After Ultramagnus' defeat by the crew of the starship Argetlahm, I escaped to normal third-dimensional life until a new threat began to consume the world and offer it a taste of fear. That time is now. I took temporary command of your troops, because I knew of a threat you did not. The leader of the Argetlahm, Ultimanium, is planning your demise as we speak, and he was in Magnopolis, trying to gather information on your forces so he may attempt to stop you. I just took the liberty of attacking first before Ultimanium has any idea what's going on. You can call me... Servant."

"Our defenses will be ready for Ultimanium if he comes for the J," the Prospector growled. "I don't need a damn computer running around making my decisions for me. You've already possibly screwed up my entire plan."

"You have no choice but to listen to me. I could self-destruct right now and bring this entire building down, you realize. Stick with me and I will make sure that you do not lose. Otherwise... I'll make sure you do. Understood?"

Appleton glanced back at his master. "Should we get security?"

"Let him talk."

"Anyways, as I was saying, I will help you fight this new threat to the Unity. The next part of my plan is to shut down Gaia's Isle's engines for the time being. We will let the Argetlahm come to us, Prospector - then, we will have our entire army Trance and deal with them. As for my entire intervention itself, when I insist something, I mean it. I will be keeping an eye on you, Prospector." With a flash, Servant vanished, leaving only a scratch on the floor from his heavy boots.

Appleton uncomfortably rose from his seat and stared confusedly at the Prospector before turning and departing, leaving the Prospector still staring into thin air.



********


Okay, maybe I've been sending the wrong message. Okay, Eric, here's your part. Big-ass-pyrotechnic-filled fight against Luxator, coming up!.... did I say that out loud? I sure wish I couldn't spoil. o_O (begins mashing face in with brick again)


********


Eric looked over the sheets in his hands again. A trip to City Hall's main lobby had provided little help with Magnus' whereabouts. When he asked about the leader, he was simply ushered out by a pair of security guards. "God, this place sucks. I wonder if any of the other guys got a lead... or at the least a fight, I wouldn't mind a good..."

KRACKOOM

...battle! Damn it, it's coming from the commercial district too! I've gotta get down there!" Eric braced himself as a white-hot aura flared around his feet. In a flash, he blazed down the street toward the store sector of the city, a hurricane of wind in his wake. Several cars nearly tipped over from the force. As he shot around a corner, his hair spiked wildly in the yellow aura that surrounded him as he flared up into Super Saiyan level. Several old guys were already yelling at him and waving fists.

"Digi-modify! Berserk Sword...activate!"

Eric's eyes widened as he heard the voice. Quickly adjusting his trajectory, he dove down another side street, leading straight into the heart of Magnopolis. As he exited the alley, he propelled himself upwards and gave a wide scan of the courtyard he was overlooking - as he'd thought, Rika was standing off alongside Takato at the far edge of the circular garden, with their digimon in front of them. A giant, white armored beast was bearing down on them.

An armor-hilted sword appeared in the air in front of Renamon, which she snatched up with both hands. "It wouldn't be slaying without a blade. I hope that plating doesn't chip easily!" Renamon struggled to lift the sword into the air as she lept high above Luxator, holding it over her head as she dove down at the behemoth. She brought the blade down as hard as she could on Luxator's head, with an echoing clunk being the only indication that she'd hit. Luxator didn't even flinch. With a deep growl, Luxator lobbed out at Renamon, grabbing her and throwing her through the side of a nearby building.

"Renamon!!" Takato watched, half guilty, half impatient as Rika rushed over to her fallen partner.

"It's down to you two, then!" Luxator boomed. "I'll jus.. what in the name!"

"Eric Cloud, heir to the Power!!" Eric bellowed. Takato and Guilmon quickly glanced up to Luxator's attention, Eric Cloud, hovering in the air several hundred feet off the ground. His dull-golden aura contrasted against the high-noon sky, making his po'ed face noticable even on the ground. He extended a finger down to Luxator, striking a pose. "I will NOT allow you to hurt anymore people!"

Luxator's armored face twisted as he let loose a deep growl. With little warning, he flung his hand up, erupting in a white flame. "Blessed Cannon!!" Eric gaped as a massive, blinding laser blasted forth from Luxator's limb, blowing away much of the grass at his feet - and it was approaching Eric.

********

Crono and Locke's fervant consumption of water was disrupted with a crash coming from the back of the bar. As both looked around, their sights finally centered on Ultimanium, coming out of one of the back rooms. "Your firewood is all stacked, sir."

The bartender sighed, and leant down on the counter. "For the last time, I know NOTHING on this Prospector guy, okay? Not one inkling."

"What's the deal with this? Pubs are supposed to be a prime source of information..." Ultimanium seated himself back on his stool with a thump, and leant down at the desk, scanning one last headline of the newspaper in front of him before shoving it away. "That's it, I'm totally sick of scanning through this crap. I should head straight to City Hall and demand what information they know."

Locke raised his glass of water. "Amen to that."

As Ultimanium, Crono, and Locke clinged their glasses together and began folding up papers, a chilling wind ran through the tavern, making everybody shudder and take a glance toward the doors. Standing in front of the door as it slipped shut was a dark man, dressed entirely head to toe in black clothing - black shirt, black jeans, and black heavy boots - except for a pair of silver bracers and a cape that was outlined in a gold fabric. Everybody currently in the pub, its population increased over time, watched closely as the mysterious figure slid to the main bar, his boots clopping in the silence. After a long journey, he finally seated himself down next to Locke.

"It's... been a while."

The words seemed to echo a mile. Locke leant over to Ultimanium. "Are we supposed to know this guy?"

Ultimanium peered deep within the man's face.

"If you've read the Argetlahm database you should. Lord Raul. It's been a while since we last saw you. I was figuring we'd have to go looking for YOU. What brings you back to Magnopolis?"

"I finished my meditation at the Temple of the Winds early. I was able to tap into the Great Smiths' spirits quicker than I had anticipated and they agreed eagerly to help me craft a new enchanted sword for myself, one that would bear MY title... the original Sword of Truth was simply handed down to me... I wished for one of my own, and I knew I would need one quickly as soon as the situation with the Prospector arose, so I headed for the Temple of the Winds, knowing the Great Smiths' spirits would help me craft my blade faster than the mortal hand could alone... and I have my new blade. It was a discarded design that one of the Great Smiths once planned on using... he let me have the plans and a copy of the sword... the legendary Grandfather." Raul rose from his seat and turned so everyone could have a look - the 6-foot long katana was tied neatly within a sheath on his back. Both Crono and Locke gaped at the blade - no man could carry a weight like that!

As Raul, Ultimanium, Locke and Crono all conversed, the Citrus Sisters were having their own look at the group...

"Tanya, get your eyes off him already, you've been watching his ass for the past half-hour."

Tanya flipped over her visor, straightening it, as she whipped around to her other bar-hopper. "You can't blame me if he's the only person who shows up in a whole year that has a decent ass. I don't recall YOU making any moves on anyone since we got here."

"That's because everyone else here is damn ugly... how about the goth guy who just walked in?"

"I don't know, there's just something about that one, some sort of dangerous appeal... look at them, they're handling swords. I don't know, but that's some kind of weird like that I have. So sue me," Tanya licked her lips. "This one I'm going to have to go after, Jen. Some of his drinking buddies over there are calling him Ultimanium, probably some old-school nickname or something. If you'll excuse me, I'm going up there to talk to him right..."

"Oh, no you don't," Jen spat, pulling Tanya back into her seat. "Rule #1, you DON'T ask a guy straight. Why don't you try asking Goth-dude over there to introduce you?" Jen turned over to the conversation happening at the counter, cupping her hands to her mouth. "Hey, goth dude! My friend here wants to ask you a favor!"

Tanya beat her head against the table.

"Just a second," Raul muttered. "some chicks at the back table want to ask me something." As Raul made his way to the back of the club, ducking between tables, Crono and Locke could be heard snickering. As Raul came to the table, both women sat upright quickly. "alright, what did you want now?"

Jen nodded. "My friend here has the hots for Ulty-whoever's up there. She would really like to get over to talk to him, but she's a bit of a WUSSSS!!!.... please?"

Jen's outburst had already garnered some attention from all the drinkers in the immediate vincinity. Raul glanced around himself, before returning his attention to Jen. "Listen, I think Ultimanium would be really interested in your friend here... but it's kind of inconveinient right now, see, the guy's due to leave aboard a starship later tonight to find the Prospector's whereabouts and shut him down..."

"He's a mercenary! Boy, Tanya reeeeeeeally has a thing for those."

Raul sighed as he turned over to Tanya, lying face down on the table. "Um... yeah."

Tanya raised her face up. "Can you at least tell me what ship he's leaving on? I want to talk to him at least once."

"The Argetlahm. You can't miss it. It's the largest ship that's ever been parked in the Magnopolis spaceport."

"Thanks," Jen snickered. "I'm sure Tanya here appreciates the information."

As Raul and Jen continued their bickering, Tanya raised her head and kept a constant watch on the information that was being distributed. "Aboard the Argetlahm... and fighting the Prospector. He's on some kind of cruise. I've run into this before - person leaves on an outboarding starship... I can sneak aboard the Argetlahm when it leaves tonight! THAT oughta get Ulty's attention..."

********

"So let me get this straight," the turfmaster coughed, as he lifted his cigar up. "The extreme athlete Alex Mann insists on joining the traffic luge? I never saw him as the kind of guy that would head against common law to get his thrills. If he wants to join, we'd have the honor."

Gohan and V2 stood on opposite sides of Shaun, sheathed underneath his Alex Mann helm. Shaun gestured to both Gohan and V2, which Gohan took notice of quickly. "There's just one catch," Gohan smirked. "We have to join in on the luge too."

"Oh, sure, there's no problem with them joining up, this IS an underground operation, you know... it's just safety issues. There's always some idiot who flings himself under a passing semi, if you catch my drift."

Gohan and V2 exchanged grins. This was going to be one to remember. "We're in."

"Well, it's nice to see such suicidal people for a change. We only have about 18 petitioners who are willing to race for the weird statue we dug up... and to oppose Magnopolis traffic laws. We keep all our luge cars in the back. Get one and head up to 110th Street - it's where the race is going to be starting." As the turfmaster finished his speech, Gohan, Shaun and V2 were already making their way out of the master's shoddy office, turning down a hall and heading to the warehouse access at the far end of the corridor.

"I sure hope you guys know what you're doing," Shaun growled. "This could get both of you killed."

"We've been through worse." V2 muttered. Gohan shoved open the large wooden door leading to the expansive warehouse. The inside was about as spectactular as a warehouse would normally be - unmarked crates everywhere (clearly illegal goods), stacked in just about any manner, and dull grey concrete for both the walls and the floor. In one corner were the luge cars, the area surrounded by a long band of danger tape. Several other petitioners were already down on the floor examining their cars and making last-second touches to the luge cars, tightening the axles, or whatever modifications they could think up. Each Argetlahm took their own car and placed it away from the crowd, and took a look at its infrastructure.

"I don't get it," Shaun mumbled. "I mean, look at this! These cars have been maintained perfectly..."

While Gohan and V2 examined their cars, determined to punch out any minor imperfections in the upkeep of their vehicles, V2 gave Gohan an embaraseed glance. "..um.. Gohan..."

"What?"

"What exactly IS street luging about, anyways?"

"Oh, it's quite simple," Shaun explained. "It's a downhill race on these cars. You just lie down on them and let gravity build your speed up..."

V2 nearly turned white. "HOW fast do these things go at top speed?"

"...with enough clearance.. like through downhill city streets, I'd say anywhere upwards from 80 mph." (A/N - rough guess)

V2 immediately fell into the fetal position and rocked back and forth. Gohan and Shaun turned to each other and sighed - and that's when Shaun noticed something in the background. "..hey... they're keeping the Miacas here!" Indeed, several workers had just placed down the crate in the far corner of the warehouse and had just left out through the rising gate at the end of the chamber. "...I wonder.... Gohan, wait here, I'm going to see if I can nab the Miacas. If I can, then we can forego the entire race, and we'll be able to get back to Ultimanium faster."

V2 sat up. "PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!! I DON'T WANNA GO ON THE LUGE! I GET SICK EVEN FROM THE FRICKING TILT-A-WHIRL!!! PLEEEEASE!!"

Shaun gave V2 a distressed look as he rose to his feet. Casually, he approached the crate - however, as he began to draw closer, he felt a surge of energy rising from the Miacas. A thought ran through his mind - he wasn't going to get any closer without causing a disturbance.

-----------


"You have to be careful when going after the Miacas, Shaun," Max stated. "While your lineage is able to interact with the Miacas' power fully, the Craymel still have some security in effect..."

"Security?"

"If ANY force capable of harnessing the Miacas approaches it too rashly, security will activate and the statue itself will gain temporary sentinence, which roughly means that if you get within a certain radius of the Miacas it WILL come to life and attempt to make a break for it. While the entire process is inevitable, the Miacas' actions can be postponed if you approach it carefully. Remember, you need to TOUCH the Miacas to learn its Craymel skill."


-----------

Shaun grit his teeth. It was going to be harder than he thought. But.... wait, we had.... luge cars... if we could get the Miacas going downhill.... there was no time to waste.

********

Eric barely had time to plan as the epic blast began to consume his vision. He quickly swung both of his hands forward and fired out a similarly-sized blue Ki blast, which impacted against Luxator's assault with a deafening crack. Both fighters struggled to keep their side of the fight, as their lasers' ends bobbed up and down. Eric switched the blast to one hand, temporarily losing his ground against Luxator before his Ki surged up again against the assault. A ball of red energy began to gather in his loose hand, orbits of energy swelling up against it. "....urrgghh.... you want to see how this little toy works?! NEUTRON FLARE!!" Eric hurled the projectile down at the ground, completely bypassing the Blessed Cannon and slamming into Luxator with a thunderous, nova-white explosion that hurled Takato and Guilmon back onto the street, and shredded the entire courtyard to debris.

Takato lifted his head as he struggled to push himself up. "Holy... crap! This guy's right up with us!"

Eric dove down into the crater grown by the Neutron Flare. Almost immediately, Luxator hurled himself accordingly up into the air and launched a large fist toward Eric, which he lunged sideways to dodge. He quickly flipped himself off the rock cliffing, narrowly missing an energy blast from Luxator. As Eric flipped over top of Luxator, he fired several more quick Ki blasts, tagging Luxator on the shoulders and blasting away part of the armor panels. As Eric touched down outside of the crater, Luxator touched down from the sky behind him, and took several more swipes at Eric, which were barely avoided. A backhand from the beast sent Eric flipping. He quickly braced himself with his hands and flipped back onto his feet, quickly resuming a battle stance.

"Maybe the funny-haired person needs help?" Guilmon sighed, staring at Takato.

"I was intending on using these by myself... but at this point, Eric's looking like he might need our help in a bit." Takato removed another couple of cards from his pocket and turned them inbetween his fingers, the foil-stamping shining in the sunlight.

"Where did you get those?"

"Hey, buddy, you saw me, when we went into that collectible shop! They were selling digimon cards... but they had cards they don't even have in Shinjuku! Man, when I show these to Kazu he's going to have a fit..."

"Takato!" Eric shouted, shooting up into the air to dodge a speedy sweep from Luxator. Eric spun and delivered a hard roundhouse to Luxator's head, sending him to the ground with a rumbling crash. "If you've got cards, use 'em!"

Takato flipped a card into his hand from his other pocket. "Hey, Lux! How about you get started with me?" he took the D-Arc and braced himself as he ran the card through the device, held above his head. "Digi-modify! Digivolution.... activate!"

DIGIVOLUTION...

"Guilmon... digivolve to.... Growlmon!!"

Takato was far too used to the skin-tearing-off and general weirdity of the 03 digivolution process, and just sat staring at Luxator with a smirk on his face as the process finished, ending with the towering Growlmon standing alongside Takato. "Go get 'im, boy." (A/N - Did anyone else NOT think that was weird the first time you saw it happen?... Okay, I'll shut up now.)

Growlmon started to take a step forward to enter the battle, but was stopped midstride by Takato's shout. "Digi-modify! Devil Chip... activate!"

A black aura burst around Growlmon, which peaked around the energy blade that sliced out of his arm. With added force, the giant lizard hurled himself at Luxator. "Dragon Slash!" The edge impacted against Luxator's shielding arm with a crack, echoing in the air as both Growlmon and Luxator fought for control of the attack.

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

Another boost of power rushed through Growlmon. With another hard force, Growlmon hopped up and forced the blade down with his own weight, embedding itself deep into the metal. Luxator let out a deep groan, stumbling back from the blow. Eric launched himself at Luxator from behind and struck with a straight fist into his back, with every ounce of force that wasn't dampened by Luxator's assault - the fist plowed straight into the armor, leaving a two-inch thick dent in the plating and sending cracks from all directions of the blow. "He's damaged in the back! Go for the fracture and we'll be able to finish this quickly!"

A blur blasted across the ground, scooping up the Berserk Sword. With a resounding clang, Luxator fell to the ground once again with a disasterous crash, showing Renamon back in the air, the massive blade held to her side. "Now! Finish this!"

Growlmon reared his head back, streaks of light drifting off of his face. He violently threw himself forward, a massive blast of flame searing from his mouth. "Pyroblaster!!" the heat impacted against Luxator's vulnerable back, warranting another pained shout from the downed monster. While it was apparently dishing out pain, most of the flames were being deflected wildly from the polished armor and were torching much of the ground surrounding him.

"We need more power! We've nearly got him...!" Eric brought himself up and slammed his elbow down onto Luxator's head again. Eric leapt back as Luxator slowly began bringing himself to his feet. "He's coming up AGAIN! Let's hurry up already!" Eric charged bolts of Ki on his index fingers and shot them straight into Luxator's chest, staggering him back.

Takato raised another card to the D-Arc. "I've got it all arranged. Let's see what these new cards can do.... alright... get ready!...." the battle was interrupted by a loud shock coming from the D-Arc. "Digi-modify! Shining Evolution... activate!!"

Rika watched in disgust as a beam of red light leapt from Takato's D-Arc and connected with Growlmon. "Nice try, moron, but you're forgetting one thing... do YOU see Culumon anywhere nearby?" Rika kept an eye on Takato as she slid a card from her pocket to scan... but her jaw dropped when she noticed Takato raising one of his own - a somewhat rare one.

"Digi-modify! Culumon's Matrix Digivolution.... ACTIVATE!!"

********

"Gohan! Veemon! Get your luges ready! We're going NOW!" with that, Shaun darted toward the crate, and started rolling his luge car toward the open gate, just brushing by the crate. With a burst of crimson energy, the Miacas smashed through the crate, and roared through the air out the open gate ahead of Shaun, before landing on the ground and turning to head down the street. Shaun leapt and landed lying on top of his luge car as it exited, turning and beginning to roll down the street with Shaun's added force from the dive. Gohan and V2 quickly snapped out of their trance and followed suit, diving with their cars held to their chest to the road below.

"What the hell?!"
"Call the boss!!"
"That weird statue's getting away!"

The turfmaster burst through the building door. "Don't just STAND there, you idiots!! Go after them!!" he reached over and snatched a luge board of his own and joined the crowd of punks that were starting on the route leading downhill.

Gohan, V2 and Shaun had finally caught up to each other and were streaking down the road in a V formation. Luckily for them, the first leg of the race had them going WITH traffic, and their low starting velocity helped them stay at the constant speed of the vehicles next to them. While Shaun was lying on his back and looking forward over his chest, Gohan and V2 were lying on their stomachs, uncomfortably being slammed directly in the face with wind. Slowly, the Miacas was beginning to disappear from Shaun's vision, but they were still gaining speed.

V2 just kept his eyes closed. "...oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god..."

The crowd of members behind the group was apparently as intent on snatching the Miacas for themselves as they were for the gang itself, and were already ramming each other, as they began to close in on the crew members. A shriek was heard behind the group as one person was run into the curb, flipping him clockwise onto the sidewalk and throwing him skidding down the pathway. Pedestrians yelled as they leapt over or otherwise dodged the injured person as he flew along the sidewalk.

But as the gang was gaining speed, so were Shaun and the others - and they had come to their first... intersection. Everybody glanced up with wide eyes as the light turned from green... to red. Cars were already sliding across their determined pathway.

V2 was still white. "...I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die..."

Shaun nudged his car to the side, streaking directly in front of a pickup's advancing tire. Gohan grabbed onto V2's car with his right hand and drug him around the other way, barely clearing the tailgate of the vehicle. Meanwhile, every other car in the vincinity had screeched to a halt, upon noticing the mob of luges that were still approaching from up the hill.

"We've got company!!" one helmeted rider screamed, narrowly dodging the tire just as the previous riders had. While everyone shot around the vehicle as its driver sat stunned in the cab, not moving the vehicle an inch, one idiot launched himself directly under the vehicle, clipping his head and snapping his neck back. He rolled further down the hill and eventually spun out.

Everything was beginning to heat up around Shaun. While the group had entered relatively safe territory again with the traffic flowing with them, the luges were beginning to get up enough speed as to be moving faster than the vehicles around him. As well, handling the speed had meant that Gohan and V2 were beginning to slide out of their formation and take opposite sides of the street. While he realized he was gaining some ground on the Miacas, simply one sharp turn could bleed off nearly all his speed and spell the end of the pursuit. "...c'mon... keep heading straight... there isn't much straight... I should be able to reach it then..."

Well, having the race stay straight would be faaaaaaaar too simple.

The group was coming up to an onramp.

********

Rika and even Eric hopped back from their target as the crimson beam surged out even larger, striking Growlmon with added force. The beam turned a burning white, and its center soon blurred everyone's vision.

MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION...

"Growlmon... matrix digivolve... toooooooo...."

Beams of light burst out from all over Growlmon's tough skin, blinding his spectators a second time. As the light finally subsided, blood-red metal plating began to sheet out all over the Champion, defending his torso in a giant breastplate, creating a pair of large cannons on the sides of his chest, and installing a jawbone cover over his face. The two energy blades extended to double their length and stretched out horizontally, eventually losing their glow and fading out into a pair of gigantic axe blades.

"Wargrowlmon!" Takato slumped slightly, feeling a portion of his energy being leeched for Growlmon to enter Ultimate.

(A/N - I would've used Megalogrowlmon, I mean, that sounds SO much cooler, but I think I already have enough English/Japanese discontinuities in here as is. ^_^')

"Takato, where the HELL did you find a card like that?!" Rika exclaimed, an aggravated frown growing on her face. "Bandai discontinued BOTH of those cards more than a year ago! I doubt you'd find either of those cards in a collectible shop bargain bin!"

Takato grinned sheepishly. "Well, I found them in a collectible shop, all right, but I didn't exactly get them from a bargain bin."

"...Takato, exactly HOW much did you pay for those cards?"

"...oh, somewhere in the neighborhood of.... um... er... 783 dollars?"

Eric and Rika sweatdropped. "WHAT?!?"

Takato tugged at his collar. "...uh, yeah, I was meaning to tell you and Henry, I've been saving up for the cards ever since I first got word they were being taken off the market... I was just looking for a shop that had them... hey, let's just never mind about that and take care of our friend here?"

Wargrowlmon began to draw energy from around him as the cannons on his chest began charging, a vortex of blue/red energy forming in front of the massive guns. "Atomic...Blaster!!" A corkscrew of red energy pulsed out, drilling Luxator in the back once again. Luxator shoved himself back up, slowest he had for a while. This time, however, chips of metal were blasted up into the air. "I've made enough of a clearance... NOW we can finish this! Radiation Blade!!" Wargrowlmon held his blades back to his side as they began to vibrate rapidly until they were nothing but a blur, after which they were basked in a glow of neon green energy. Wargrowlmon's boosters lit up, taking him streaking across the ground to Luxator's position, where he slashed upwards in a cross. Luxator tried to defend by putting his own arms across his face, but a shriek filled the air as soon as he realized his arms were missing and up in the air, still just beginning to trail blood. Before Luxator could make any more moves, both of the blades were impaled through his torso. Wargrowlmon ripped in different directions, tearing Luxator apart. Before any gore could even show, Luxator's shell exploded in a blast of light, leaving the Prospector's worker on the ground, carved neatly in half.

As Takato and Rika turned away from the vastly bleeding corpse on the ground, Eric watched it for a couple of seconds before falling out of his battle stance. "Ho...ly.... crap. That was a WEAK Trance?"

"Sounds so," Renamon cooed. "If Ultimanium knew what was going on here, he'd have a fit. Though, however, further investigation would give us greater insight on the Prospector's motives for moving forward with his plans so quickly."

As Takato turned and ran off into the street, everyone else watched. Wargrowlmon sat down with a thud on the burnt turf beneath him. "I can't go around like this, people get scared of me."

"I'm sure smartass running away has a plan."

"Takato has a smart butt?"

Rika groaned. "You're even stupider than him."

"A lot of people I know tell me I'm as stupid AS him. I like being like Takato."

"...god, forget it. As for you..." Rika turned to Eric, who was still examining the body. "You seemed to come here on pretty short notice. How far away were you?"

Eric nodded. "City hall. A couple blocks from here. I was thinking you... um.... needed help... or... something..."

"Something you need to know about me. One, if Renamon's the one fighting, then I do NOT need help. Oh, and something else... the only thing that could've drawn more people here was the explosion. If you were at city hall like you insist, then you got here in... let's see... 6 seconds. That's 2 kilometers a SECOND. You apparently care about someone here."

Eric smiled a distorted grin, embarrasedly scratching his neck. "You could say that."

Rika stared, disgruntled, at Eric before strutting up to him. Eric watched confused, at least until Rika latched onto his forearm and gave him a snakebite, surprising the Saiyan. "Huh... OW! Damn it.. what was that for?"

"NO. No, no, no. No. I want you to remember that word, No. And every time you think otherwise, remember that pain. Otherwise, I'll give you another demonstration." Rika threw Eric back, before storming away from him. "C'mon, Renamon, we need to go after Takato." Renamon watched as Rika stomped away from the site, then turned back to Eric, who was still watching the Tamer, blinking in confusion.

"She's just a little... confused... by the entire situation. Don't let it get to you."

"RENAMON!! Come ON already!"

Renamon sighed, turning back to her master. "Coming, Rika." Renamon phased away while breaking into a run, appearing alongside Rika as they both disappeared over a nearby hill.

Eric sighed, folding his arms. "Well, THAT'S just nice. NOW what am I supposed to do? I REALLY screwed up that time... I wonder if she'll ever...MAN, I was stupid back there! Ugh.."

He was interrupted by Wargrowlmon. "Eric, who do you think is stupider, Takato or y.."

"Takato."

********

Raynor leant against the rim of the backseat window as he looked out onto the freeway alongside him. Families were driving by, nearly swerving off the road as their angry parents tried desperately to make their kids shut up. Trunks and Goten sat neatly with their hands folded, quite aware of the rage Raynor would exhibit upside their heads if they so much as peeped.

"You guys don't look like you're from around here," the cabdriver laughed. "you guys come from the spaceport?"

"..you could say so." Raynor tried to keep himself quiet, drumming his free hand's fingers on the closed briefcase that seperated him and the two demisaiyans.

Raynor lurched forward as the taxi came to a halt. Grumbling, Raynor poked his head over the passenger seat - ahead of them was a small traffic blockoff, about eight cars parked in the middle of the freeway. "What the hell..." Raynor quickly rolled open his window as a policeman approached the car. "What's going on here?"

The cop let out a gravelly growl. "The Flaminco Flight hooligans are having their underground street luges again - but they're in broad daylight, if you get the picture. They're a menace to the traffic ar.. shit, here they come! Everybody, get back!"

Several people who had left their cars to get fresh air were startled by the Miacas that flew through the air at an angle over the traffic, and Raynor's taxi, accordingly. The cat landed at a run, soon followed by a luge car that hurtled through the air and landed on the pavement in front of the blockade with a bang. The car lost some speed but quickly regained it as it began to hurtle down the freeway, which began to curve slowly downwards. Raynor simply watched in shock. "Who the hell are those morons?!" He was quickly silenced again as another pair of cars, side by side, took to the air and over the bustle - carrying...

"Gohan?!" Raynor bellowed. "Veemon?!? What the hell?!"

Gohan held his fist up as he soared over the crowd. "WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

V2 was a bit less optimistic. "There's no place like home There's no place like home There's no place like home There's no place like home There's no place like home There's no place like home There's no place like home.."

"The flying pigs should be showing up any time now." Raynor grumbled.

As several more cars shot by overhead, a larger member fell with a thud on the hood of the car. He was certainly more rotund than the other people who shot by overhead. A tattoo on his arm, his gang insignia, was inscribed PIG. Raynor sighed, burying his head in his hands.

Trunks and Goten both hopped forward and occupied the front seat, trying to get a good glimpse out the windshield at the crowd ahead.

********

Takato, Rika and Eric sat casually on the bus, gripping the hang bars suspended from the celing. Eric was occaisionally able to steal a glance at Rika, but Renamon was able to shove him back into place before she noticed. Wargrowlmon was scheduled to meet them back at the spaceport before everybody reboarded the Argetlahm, mostly due to his rather... intimidating appearance. It would take time before he could devolve properly and that left him to his lonesome.

"Hey," Eric called out to a person across the car from him. "About how far is it a drive to the Magnopolis spaceport?"

"Normally, it would be about a 20 minute drive... but we have to take some detours now, so it should take us about... anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour."

Takato blinked. "What's the holdup?"

"They're rebuilding the freeways."

********

Shaun, Gohan and V2 were rocking wildly back and forth on their cars, weaving intricately between the rush hour traffic that was surrounding them. They all leant synchroniously, banking in a turn down a incline in the road that bent down and to their left. Behind them, the members could be easily heard screaming at each other and hammering on their associates with hard rammings. V2 attempted to pivot his head to get a glance at the crowd that was slowly being weeded out by accidents, and turned back to realize - he was underneath a semi boxcar and rapidly approaching the front. He turned his usual shade of white, as he hunched down and grasped his head for dear life. He stole a look to the right, where stripes of neon orange were zipping by. Pylons. V2 held his breath as he tossed himself to the side and dove out from underneath the semi, back onto the road. He was pleasantly surprised by the general lack of traffic - and the road was completely bare for the distance ahead.

He turned in time to see Shaun shoot by him, still trailing the Miacas at about 300 feet. The pylons ahead shaped into a v-pattern, which were easily dodged by all three crews. It was clear the Flaminco Flight had given up the chase, but what for?

"Almost...there!" Shaun grunted. "At the rate we're gaining speed... we'll get it in minutes!"

Everybody watched as the Miacas gave a little hop, than a long bound ahead of the group. It landed further down the road. "...crap! Is that some kind of trick it has?"

"Um.... Shaun..." Gohan stuttered.

"C'mon, let's go!"

"...Shaun..." Gohan gaped, a little worried.

"What?"

Gohan pointed ahead. Where the Miacas had jumped, was a large bridge connected to the freeway, suspended over a river hundreds of feet below. And in the middle... was a 80-foot wide crevase.

Shaun's eyes grew wide. "Oh... shit!"

"Oh, I've HAD enough of this!" V2 scowled, rolling his eyes. THIS is where I get off!"

Veemon...digivolve to....
VEEDRAMON!

Veedramon threw his spiked fists into the pavement on both sides of the car, carving a long ditch in the road as he approached the bridge, the friction slowing the car down quickly with a loud squeal as the plastic wheels skidded to a 3-second halt. He quickly unbuckled himself from the cart and hopped to his feet, where Shaun and Gohan were just advancing onto the bridge. Shaun and Gohan weren't even focusing on the long drop ahead of them, simply the Miacas which had stopped to face the group from across the gap, as if it were taunting them.

"We can't stop!" Shaun growled. "There's a way across this, we just need to... figure it out!"

As Shaun began running facts through his mind, it almost felt as if everything around him began to slow down. He began putting pieces together.





He had his yoyo with him, still clamped to his belt.

A man was working at a crane a short distance away from the rift.

The crane was helping to support a thin girder that was standing upright.

There was a plywood "under construction" sign standing directly in front of the crack.




Shaun grit his teeth as he and Gohan approached the gap. He knew Gohan could fly if he needed to, so he didn't need to worry about him. "...damn... I need a good trajectory to do this... maybe if... I'll need.. about a two-second advance. Well, here goes nothing..."

Shaun ripped the yoyo from his belt and threw it out sideways, with the momentum carrying it straight into the window of the crane and hitting the crane operator in the side of the head. As he struggled to regain his balance from the attack, he spilled his coffee onto the floor of the cabin and grabbed the crane controls to pull himself back up. The lever fell, dropping the girder to the ground with a dull clang and making it fall to the side, blocking off the road directly in front of the missing section of the bridge. As the girder hit the ground, Shaun flew straight into the sign, knocking it down so it landed at an angle onto top of the girder. He had lost some speed from the hit, but still had enough to clear the gap. Him and Gohan soared through the air, bearing down on the shocked Miacas. Shaun turned himself over in midair and snatched the idol as he landed, skidding across the pavement for several dozen feet on his chest. After a long pause, Shaun spoke. "OOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!"

Well, road rashes DO hurt, don't they?

Gohan put his hard hands down, slowing him to a stop. "That looks like that hurt."

"We.. have the Miacas." Shaun placed the artifact next to him as it began to glow, and a message began to play from within the statue.

"The holder of this Miacas has proven him/herself to be of the skills archived within, locked away by the Craymel eons ago. This archive contains many of the Craymel's elemental hammer masteries, ones that were used to repel an invasion of the Ice-jins in the Craymel's past. While the charged energies of the hammers, used for throwing, are associated with the various elements, all of them share one vital ability - all charged hammers, in order to accomodate the elemental charge, radiate negative Ki energy, which was used in the aforementioned defense of Craymel's homeworld. Because negative Ki cancels out the psychic energy most high-power level organisms use to fight, the radiation was able to negate any of the Ice-jins' special techniques and the Craymel were able to fight them off. I present these skills to you. You will be able to charge any normal mallet with these same energies and use them for your combat purposes." Everybody watched the eyes dim out, and the statue strike Shaun's hand with a small shock, signifying the ritual. Shaun had the skills.

Shaun broke the silence. "Mission accomplished. Gohan, what time do you have?"

"6:42."

********

Ultimanium watched from the exhaust hallway as his crew members began to approach at various angles. Already next to him was Raynor, who held his newly-found briefcase at his side. The groups filed themselves in a huddle around Ultimanium.

"We've got a lead," Ultimanium spoke. "Raynor ran into one of the Prospector's cronies while hanging out and managed to get away with his communicator. We've been keeping track of the Prospector's island's location, and Raynor insists that the island hasn't even moved from when he picked up the signal earlier today. Point blank, the Prospector's staying still for some reason, so we don't have to worry about him getting away on us."

Eric stepped to the front. "Eh... Ulty, it gets a bit worse than that. Takato, Rika and I ran into one of the Prospector's goons, too. There was one thing wrong, though - he was able to Trance. We had a hell of a time trying to get rid of him, and that was clearly one of his lowest ranked people. I don't think Magnopolis has seen the last of Trance."

Ultimanium paused. "...what... he's already deploying Trance? This could be worse than we thought... I normally had planned, since the Prospector is in our sights and a successful assault would take not much longer than a couple of days, that we'd head out into the Wastes of Kardis. Lord Raul tells me that's where Magnus has been hanging out since the end of the Argetlahm's first tour and that he could draw a signal on him. We were planning to head out and pick him up before we began our assault."

"The radar I got from Magnopolis' visitors says that there are another five of the Prospector's henchmen sneaking around Magnopolis."

"Exactly. So, I need some of you people to stay behind in Magnopolis and keep an eye on the place until we come back from Magnus', in case any other of these people ARE Trance-enabled. So, who wants to hang out here for a while?"

Rika folded her arms. "We can watch the place. Scarred land isn't THAT exciting. And I'm sure goggle-head wants to do more card shopping."

Gohan nodded. "Me and V2'll stay behind too."

"I guess I'll stick around," Raynor said. "There's no telling what types might show up, even AFTER the Trances. I think Locke hasn't pickpocketed anyone here yet, either."

Locke grinned. "I'm working on it."

Shaun leant against a wall. "I need to learn more about the Miacas. Perhaps the libraries around here can give me some sort of insight. If you don't mind, I'll stick around here."

Ultimanium looked around the crowd again, which had seperated into the two groups. "Okay, then...Cody, Armadillomon, Crono, Trunks, Goten, Raul and Eric are coming with me, then, and everyone else will stay in Magnopolis for the time being. Settled?"

Everybody nodded. After exchanging goodbyes, the Magnopolis group departed, leaving the rest of the group to march down through the intake tunnels that lead back to the Argetlahm's bridge.

"Hey, Ulty." Eric mumbled.

"Yeah?"

"You think Magnus might know anything about the Power? And if he did, would he even tell me?"

"He's a bit more... easygoing than you might think, Eric. He tells US everything, I know that. As soon as he figures out that you're part of the Argetlahm, he'll be pretty openended. Don't worry, we'll get what we need out of him."

Eric slowed down, allowing the rest of the group some distance from him. They were headed to the Wastes of Kardis. The place of no return. He was going to find Magnus, alright. And he was going to get answers. As he started moving at a respectable pace down the corridor again, a slim shadow unveiled itself from the background, pushing its visor above its forehead. An impatient hand twisted the ponytail on the back of its head.

"The guy sure hangs out with some weird types. No matter. The Wastes of Kardis might be hot for Ulty, but I know ways to make it hotter..."












AAAAAAHHHH!! SEXUAL PREDATOR ON THE LOOSE!!!!.... made you look. Well, it might be a little more literal soon... anyways, with the entire group heading out to the Wastes of Kardis in the search for Magnus, will Eric finally find the answers about the Power he seeks? And how about everyone else? Will Magnopolis ever be safe from the wrath of the Prospector and his Trance troopers? Find out next time, on Trance Trauma!