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 ❯ The Power - Magnus Explains All ( Chapter 6 )

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

Chapter 7: This is the Power! Magnus Explains All







(A/N - This is a biggie... Okay, maybe the "references" in the last chapter weren't as plentiful as I had mentioned... by the time I got to the end I had totally forgot about it. Anyways...

1. Rika's snakebite. Anyone who missed that episode of Malcolm in the Middle missed a very sad fat dude. Sigh...
2. Firewood stacking, in a pub, in search of "information". Gosh, that sounds like a Steiner we all know and love.

No more puzzles, I'm already aware I blow at implementing them anyways. Oh, and another thing - holy crap, last chapter was over 9000 words! Dude, that's Archive-size!... maybe I should get that phrase coined... um, never mind. See, that's what happens when you switch to 1024x768 after watching the screen flicker at 800x600 for three years... I had no idea how far I was through the fic at any given point. Damn... anyways, on with the next chapter.

Oh, another thing - Tanya doesn't have blue eyes, she has BROWN eyes. Just a minor error. If you haven't guessed, she's a crossover too. The subject matter of the media in mind pertains jack all to our storyline here, so I'm going to let you figure out where she's from for yourself. Well, maybe I'll give you some hints if you be good little children and continue reading...

And the name Argetlahm's history is mentioned in this chapter - and THAT is crossover material. Anyone who can tell me either where Tanya's from (hint: that isn't her real name) OR where the name Argetlahm actually comes from will get a cookie, honorable mention in later chapters, and I will have a statue of them erected in my front yard. Send wild guesses to ultimanium@hotmail.com, with "Name Game" in the subject line.

(Ultimanium dodges garbage)

The reason I had the people dumped off in Magnopolis that I did was to give some of the lesser used characters so far a chance to shine - something you may have noticed throughout the entire Ultimatum Saga that I was horrendously bad at. I wasn't actually intending to use either Lord Raul or Magnus throughout the entire Trance Trauma, but Eric's character description just SCREEEEEEEEAMED "reunite". How? Read on...)













Cody, Armadillomon and Crono watched as the Argetlahm began to slide away from the Magnopolis drydock, and began exchanging waves between the half of the crew that waited inside the spaceport to watch the capital ship's exeunt. As the intake building began to leave the viewing area of the bridge windows, the three fighters returned to the main area of the bridge a short jog away, where the remaining crew members were gathered in a huddle.

"We're going to be stuck hovering over the wastes before we actually find anything," Ultimanium announced. "the wastes DO take up a quarter of Earth, remember. Though the Argetlahm can jump dimensions, it isn't the fastest groundspeed flyer in the world... we should get there in a hour or two. Until then, I want everyone to lay back, and maybe actually get some training done. I'll see you then." Ultimanium gestured everyone out of the conversation and strided over to the main bridge panels a short distance away, where Minonim was already punching in coordinates.

"We have a gym to invade!" Trunks cheered, speeding towards the turbolift followed close by Goten. Crono marched after them, taking the sword off of his belt.... he's going to go train!! As much as people want to kill those little bastards right about now, HE'S NOT GOING TO!! Geesh! Can't you people see? He's taking his sword, and...

"SHUT UP!!" everyone else screamed.

God, fine, it's just that people would get the wrong message. Screw you. Anyways... Cody, Armadillomon, Eric and Raul removed themselves from their room and took a turbolift down to their bunks, where they walked in a line down the hall. People were getting some goods from their room before training.

"...uh..." Cody mumbled. "Raul, what are you doing down here? You don't have a room."

"Are you kidding? I get the executive suite." Raul pointed to a room at the far end of the hall next to the furnace room, with a large sign that had RAUL painted on it. "If you don't mind, I have some reaquaintances to make."

Cody and Armadillomon watched blankly as Raul hid himself in his chamber, the heavy iron door clicking shut behind him. "Well, he hasn't chaged any. I guess we could just head upstairs and see how the new guys are doing pounding each other." Cody ducked into his room quickly, nabbing the Murasame off of the desk.


********


Cody and his digimon were greeted warmly by the training center, which had apparently been cleaned by Ultimanium at some point after Shaun's little incident... the floors were as well polished as Cody remembered, and the walls were torn out above the weight room and the target range. In place, there was a large paneglass window that displayed the rapidly darkening sky as it whipped by the Argetlahm at a relatively quickly pace. The ship was approaching the outskirts of the massive wasteland ahead of them. Cody's concentration was broken as Crono strafed in front of him, parrying off fist blows from Trunks with the handle of his blade. Goten was busy sitting off somewhere in the weight room, marvelling at the vast armament of equipment that dotted the room.

Crono deflected one last blow before Trunks set himself down on the floor in front of him. As Trunks began to speak, he settled himself into a defensive stance, with his blade held across his face.

"Geez, are you going to hit me or something? You've been just defending yourself since we started here, and.. huh.."

Crono grunted as his free hand pulsed a lemon yellow, and he thrusted it out in front of him - raining forth a gigantic bolt of lightning that struck the ground directly in front of Trunks with a rolling crack that made even Cody stumble.

Armadillmon looked on. "I think he would know how to use that thing. I would say he's the one you'd want to practice Kendo on."

Cody ripped the Murasame from the sheath that he had left on his belt, and held it firmly in front of him using both hands, assuming an offensive stand. "I think that'd be good right about now. Everybody else here has gotten into some sort of fight, pretty quick it's going to be my turn.. I have to be ready. Crono!"

Crono froze where he stood, turning to Cody. He must've heard some sort of indication from his self-conversation, because he parried back from his magic attack and had his katana back up and ready for a strike. Cody's eyes went wide as Crono leapt in to start the fight, and Cody quickly resumed his defensive posture with his blade held high as Crono dove and threw his own weapon down, hitting the Murasame with an echoing clang. Trunks sat, mystified, as both combatants struggled for control of the attack. Cody finally surged up and shoved Crono's assault off, making him backpedal to his start position and begin to regain stamina. Cody took the oppritunity to make his own advance, slashing in an upwards cross, which Crono reflected easily. Both warriors caught themselves in a series of sideways slashes, which were defeated immediately by their opponents. After a long series of swipes from each others' blades, both fighters distanced themselves slightly, both with their blades held in front ready to intercept any attempts either side made.

Cody grit his teeth as Crono began another charge. He held Crono down as he attempted a rising slash across Cody, and soon found himself under another barrage of slices. Cody soon began forcing Crono back, but it fell short as Crono dropped out and swept Cody out from underneath, flipping him over with a startled cry and landing on his back. As he began pushing himself up, he quickly found the tip of Crono's blade at his throat. Crono kept a watch on him, a smirk hiding on his face. He removed the weapon from his spectators' sights, slipping it back in its sheath as he headed for the double doors leading out of the gym.

Cody began pushing himself up. "I don't get it! I had him... if he didn't..."

"...sweep you?" Armadillomon continued. "Cody, I don't have the foggiest what Kendo is, but I'm sure our friends here don't exactly have the code of honor that you do. You're probably not going to be able to live by the sword alone."

"Ugh.. you're right..." Cody muttered, dusting himself off. "...still, that guy gives me the creeps."


********


At this point, Raul had found himself back up on the bridge, supporting Ultimanium with work being done on some of the substations of the bridge. Eric kept a constant eye on Ultimanium's movements, as he was the one at the helm of the great ship, second only to Minonim who was performing some navigation work.

"Magnus gave me the coordinates for his hideout," Raul murmured. "90W, 30N. I'm not sure exactly what he has there, if it's some sort of retreat or facility..."

"We'll figure it out when we get there," Ultimanium spoke. "Minonim, redirect our trajectory. We want a straight-line clearance to 90W30N."

"Aye." Minonim continued pressing buttons.

Eric turned his attention out to the cracked plain that sped towards and underneath the cockpit of the Argetlahm. Jagged mountains could be made out in the distance. Just by the appearance of the land, it was easy to come to a conclusion that these wastes were created recently. But how? There's no destructive force in this world that could turn a quarter of the world into barren wasteland...

Everybody remained quiet, remaining on the bridge, and watching with false wonder at the expansive lands that rolled out before the ship. A single voice broke the silence.

"...so...how HAS Magnus been doing?"

Everybody turned to face Cody. "..I mean, we never really heard from him after we left the Argetlahm... it's just a query, that's all."

"He was in Albuquerque. The forbidden subdimension. That's all we know. He returned here and set up shop out in no-man's-land here, why, none of us have any idea." Raul shot a glance to Ultimanium. "Since then, nothing."

Ultimanium turned back to the group as he finished punching several more keys on the panel behind him. "We shouldn't be running into anything more spectactualar for the rest of the ride, so you guys can hang back for a while, maybe continue your training. With our velocity, we'll get to the coordinates in anywhere from a half-hour to an hour."

Everybody nodded, and began to slump off to their bunks. Eric continued watching the horizon as it slowly faded out under the cover of night.


********


Soon the bridge had emptied itself. Even Eric was eventually coaxed into sacking for the night, leaving Ultimanium and Minonim leaning back from operating the controls of the ship for nearly the past 20 minutes. The bridge lights were starting to dim, signifying the end of a day - however, they were still a short distance away from Magnus' hideout as Raul had interpreted it, and still nothing could be seen.

"Um.. sir?" Minonim hovered over to Ultimanium, slumped in his chair, fast asleep. And he was drooling on the floor again. "Master, I just had the bridge cleaned. Could you please.." Minonim nudged the man's arm, but got no response. "...WAKE UP!!" Minonim yelled, his voice magnified by his electronic sound components. Ultimanium plunged out of his chair and landed on the floor facefirst. He quickly threw himself back up, brushing himself off. "..um.. are we there yet?"

"If that's what you call it."

Minonim pointed off into the distance. And it was quite strange.

Sitting in the middle of the desert around it was a large patch of grass, on top of which sat a medium-sized chateau, with a deck.

"...THAT'S Magnus' place?" Ultimanium droned. He smacked an alarm on the control panel next to him, causing U2 to blare out of the intercom. Soon, everybody was up on the deck in a half-awake stupor, with Eric leading the charge. The Argetlahm since then had landed a couple hundred of feet from the settlement, dwarfing the small house even at that distance.

"We've located Magnus' chateau," Minonim announced to the group. "It appears that Raul's coordinates were indeed, correct. We'll be setting up the turbolifts to take you down to ground level. Until then, sit tight - with the proper security access this should take no more than five minutes."

"Can do." Cody confirmed.

Eric refused conversation with anyone else, as he worried mostly about his questions of the Power... and talking to a high-level government official didn't exactly throw away his fright.


********


Tanya ducked out from another corner, staying hunched as she jogged down the hall. She dove into a broom closet as she swore she heard footsteps, piercing the bleakness of the corridor.

Swish, swish.

"Damn it, a broom closet, and a janitor. Tanya, you suck." Tanya muttered under her breath, shoving a stack of mops away from her. She held her breath as the broom outside froze in the air, but was quite surprised when she heard the broom resume its attack on the floor, as the sound began to fade out. Cautiously, she opened the door a crack to get a look at the man. He was gone. "..whatever."

She took a step out into the hall, and noticed the thrumming evident through all the ship's floors was missing. "...we must already be out in the Wastes! The ship's come to a stop... where are we?" Tanya peeked out the window nearest to her in the hall - all that could be seen on that side of the ship was the plain wastes, in all its non-glory. Tanya jumped as she heard conversation searing past her - further up the hall, several figures hopped between the turbolifts. Two children, one with spiky black hair and the other with sloppy purple hair that hung down in front of his face. "..children? This place is getting more confusing by the second. Maybe I'd just better confront Ulty now and tell him what went on.. oh, who am I kidding, I probably just ruined myself..."

"Maybe you might be able to do something."

Tanya leapt around, ending up staring Raul directly in the face, less than a foot away from her. "...you're that goth dude, that was in the bar with Ulty! What are YOU doing here.."

"I was about to ask you the same question. I overheard your little conversation with yourself a minute ago, and I don't think Ultimanium will be as angry as you insist. It normally takes a lot to get him aggravated. Still, your presence out in the Wastes is dangerous. Do you have any idea what the crew of the Argetlahm is attempting to accomplish?"

Tanya gulped. "Well, as a matter of fact, no."

Raul paused for a second, giving Tanya a cold stare. "The situation you're part of is bigger than you could ever imagine. If you would allow yourself the priveledge, I will tell you the true happening with the Argetlahm and its crew. Ultimanium is more than a mercenary, Tanya. Maybe if you knew what he's done over his period of owning the Argetlahm you'd know what you're getting yourself into."

"Well.. I guess."

"I still don't know Ultimanium's possible reactions to a stowaway," Raul hissed. "but I don't THINK he'd do anything too rash... anyways, come. We shall return to my chamber, we have much to discuss."

Tanya blinked, as Raul disappeared into the shadows. The natural obstruction of light caused by the girders overhead in front of the skyroof and windows was only magnified by the fact that the sun was nearly finished setting. Tanya followed Raul slowly as he began to disappear into the darkness.

********

It was night.

Ultimanium and his crew marched onward through the sandy storm that laid before them, the only indication of where they were headed the floodlight from the landed turbolift behind them, and the search light that was planted on Magnus' deck. It had flicked on seconds ago, meaning someone had taken notice of the Argetlahm's landing at some point.

"Who goes there?" A voice echoed out from the abyss ahead of the group.

"It is I, Ultimanium," Ultimanium shouted. "Me and my associates seek an audience with the ruler Magnus."

A short pause stretched out. After a couple seconds, the guard spoke again. "..proceed." The searchlight flipped to the side, pointing into the front yard of the facility. The area was small, a minor courtyard with a single sidewalk running up to the front door. The grass was well-kept. Everybody kept their eyes on their sides as they advanced to the door, wondering exactly how the grass was managing to grow so well in an enviroment as desolate as this. After the walk, Ultimanium shoved open the doors, taking the group into the middle of a hallway - the entire atmosphere didn't seem geared to defending the president as it did to comfort him. Pictures of friends and family lined one side of the hall as Ultimanium escorted his crew up a small flight of stairs, and into a moderately-large living room. Everybody paused at the entrance, and looked in.

The room itself was a chateau, alright. A kitchenette sat in the far corner of the room, and the walls were log. A fire burned at the end of the room, in front was a bear rug, and then a recliner - an occupied recliner. The chair creaked around, showing the Saiyan Magnus. He was fitted in a burgundy housecoat, and his hair was plain black - not as nearly as wild as it was in the first tour, mostly due to the fact that he was out of Super Saiyan for the time being. "...Ulty, did you wreck my ship already?"

"Whoa, whoa, YOUR ship? You hadn't even bothered to touch it since I gave it to you! If you don't mind, I'm going to go back on my word."

Magnus gave a satisfied smirk to Ultimanium, before spreading his arms out behind his back. "Ah, hell, do what you want with it. I OWN this world, you know. I could always build a ship dozens of times better than yours if I really was up to it. Alright, you seemed urgent to talk to me about something - it's that entire Prospector situation, isn't it? What have you guys dug up?"

"So YOU are Magnus..." Eric mumbled. "Well, you aren't really taking serious care of your city, because the Prospector is already attacking it. We already had to fight off his first wave, and our forces are divided trying to keep Magnopolis in line."

"I knew you would show up, Ulty, so I just held back."

"That's a bunch of crap," Ultimanium huffed. "You could at least put some sort of defensive perimeter up."

"Cut to the chase, Ultimanium," Magnus muttered. "What are you here for?"

"Well, we were hoping we could drag you out of your early retirement and help with the Prospector," Cody sighed. "But I don't think we're going to be getting anywhere with THIS kind of response."

"Listen, guys, I'll help with what I can. I'll come aboard the Argetlahm if you really want me to.."

"Do what you can?" Ultimanium scoffed. "What happened to the good 'ol days?"

"Don't give me that bullshit," Magnus growled. "I've been through a bit more than you, I would say. I had to fight through Albuquerque to get to where I am today, and I can't say the Argetlahm had too much influence on that."

"Don't even bother then." Ultimanium said, sadly. "I guess coming out here was a waste... well, the guy here wanted to talk to you about something. His name's Eric Cloud. He says that you might know something about what he calls the 'Power'." As the rest of the group shuffled out the door, scowling to themselves, Eric and Ultimanium were left standing in the expansive den. The fire in the heath continued crackling as both sides stared each other down.

"Okay, then. But I wish to speak to him alone." Magnus said.

Ultimanium glanced hesitantly at Eric before returning his distressed gaze back to Magnus, multiplied a hundredfold. "Lay a hand on him and I get medieval on your ass." Ultimanium abruptly turned on his heel and stormed out the door, and Eric kept a ear open until his footsteps faded out of view.

"Now, Eric, you wished to speak to me? I'm not really into fighting and all anymore but I can talk up a storm if need be. Now, you were speaking about this.. Power. As you might've heard already, my full name is Magnus Power. I'm guessing the world Power is what drug you to this place, right?"

Eric nodded.

"...geez, don't get so uptight. Have a seat." Magnus gestured toward a smaller armchair that sat on one side of the fireplace. Eric slowly made his way toward the chair and plopped himself down. "..alright. I don't know why, but your name sounds familiar somehow. Did you use to be in politics?"

"...no."

"..star in a feature film?"

"..no."

"...are you a comedian?"

"..no."

"...are you a..."

"No!" Eric scowled. "You aren't SUPPOSED to know me! All I know about myself is that the Power is somewhere in this universe, and it has some key to my heritage." At this point, Magnus had left his seat and was facing out the large pane window that occupied the other wall. "I was thinking Power meant I was part of your family or something."

Magnus turned around suddenly. "There's just one thing, though. In order to be related to me, you have to be a..."

"Super Saiyan?"

Magnus' eyes shot open as he turned to the window, and back again. "...are you a... Super Saiyan?"

"That's what Ultimanium told me."

Magnus resumed his gaze outside, trying as hard as he could to keep surprise from his face. "Then I may just know the answer to your little riddle. Alright, you need to keep what I tell you completely confidential. I'm only telling you this because it may give you a lead and/or solve your problem, and I know I can trust you because you know Ultimanium. If any of this got out to the public I could be ruined. Understood?"

Eric nodded. "Understood."







"Alright.. where should I start... you're undoubtedly heard about my involvement with the first tour of duty of the Argetlahm, I'm guessing. The operation went relatively smoothly, as far as Magnus Power was concerned. It was when I regained control of the third dimension that things were starting to happen. Rumors were starting to arise of various atrocities that Magnus Power was committing, including the murder of several young children in the slums of Magnopolis. I was run out of Magnopolis for the time being, until I realized a master shapeshifter had stolen my identity. After realizing Magnus was on his trail, the shapeshifter, calling himself Shadow Man, led me to attempt to face him down and defeat him. I called upon many of my own mercenary sources, as well as some of the original heroes of the Argetlahm.

"After a long battle we finally won. Somewhere along the line, parts of my past were outlined by various sources I met throughout my quest, that took me through the forbidden subdimension Albuquerque and eventually to Shadow Man's moonbase... oh, before I forget, do you want to hear a little history lesson?"

"Depends what on." Eric said.

"You know why this place is called the Wastes of Kardis?"

"...actually... no. Why?"

"Near the end of my adventure, me and the physical incarnation of... well... that would ruin the surprise, but we married. We're sparring partners... and we kind of destroyed this part of the world. No one really lived in these parts though, so it wasn't a big loss."

Eric blinked. "This damage is catastrophic! Who WAS your sparring partner?"

Magnus stopped to take a sip of hot chocolate. "The physical incarnation of Kardis, Goddess of Destruction."

Eric nearly dug into his seat. "Kardis... Goddess... of Destruction?!"

Magnus shrugged. "Yeah, she could probably destroy this planet if she wanted to, but she just used the very extent of her power when we had our first spar. She's too damn powerful, even at her lowest power level I have trouble beating her."

Eric grit his teeth. "...o...kay. Is she here?"

"Nah, she went back into the Astral Plane for something, I forget. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah... anyways, I was finally able to pierce together the facts I had received, and I was able to build my biography. It's being published right now and you can pick it up for three easy payments of $6.99.."

Eric sighed.

"...well.. I'll give you the gist of it. The biography doesn't cover me as much as it covers the events before my birth...

It started a long, time ago... history states that the Saiyan homeworld Vegeta-sei was destroyed ages ago by the universal tyrant, Frieza, and his private army. What most people don't know, though, is that the battle for Vegeta-sei started much earlier than the main assault - what happened was simply a covert operation. A celebrity figure among Saiyans, the first-class warrior Lorack was supposedly the first Super Saiyan in existance, deemed a god by his fellow race when he went Super Saiyan level one in a brawl in a massive riot that occured on Vegeta-sei, over a new law that prohibited mating between Saiyans save for certain official mates, referred to as "birthers". The entire outrage over the situation was able to push Lorack over the top, and the riot was broken instantly, with the law immediately being abolished. As the new SSJ Lorack defended Vegeta-sei from invasions, both from internal and external sources, Frieza saw that the insane amount of Ki being given off by the man could be a threat to their invasion plan.

Frieza quickly had a solution - assassination. He was going to head down to the planet in covert and take the pleasure of killing Lorack himself. Hopefully, he would be able to defeat the Saiyans' 'god', crushing the Saiyan ethic and making the invasion that much easier. Needless to say, Frieza was surprised by Lorack and a massive fight ensued, with Frieza barely escaping with his life. Lorack, knowing that Frieza would most likely go after him before even Vegeta-sei, fled the planet. Frieza was able to track his progress, and he threw a constant stream of bounty hunters at him as he attempted to escape the system and away from Frieza's wrath. While many of the hunters hovered around Frieza's power level, they were constantly defeated by Lorack as he made his way around uncharted space. Eventually, Lorack had enough combat experience to finally rise to Super Saiyan level six.

However, the hunters Frieza was rounding up with his massive rewards were beginning to become as and more powerful than Lorack himself. Sensing that a last stand was approaching, Lorack settled himself temporarily on the planet Earth. He was actually able to settle there for a peaceful six years, in which he fell in love with... a summoness. They stayed quiet on Earth and sired a child. So, you can guess when Lorack heard that Frieza had located him and was bringing every last ounce of his forces to attack Earth, he wasn't too happy. He fled the planet with no indication of his direction, with Frieza trailing him. Frieza got no reports on Lorack for the next year, so the Saiyan was pronounced missing, and dead. Frieza immediately began his siege on Vegeta-sei shortly after and it fell to his forces quickly."

Eric rubbed his chin. "So you're the child."

"I was named Magnus, as sort of a thank-you to Earth for taking care of his family so well. Magnus is a Norse word, mostly signifying raw power. But that's not the length of it - it was revealed to our sources that the summoness beared fraternal twins. Lorack made the decision to ship the second child off to a foster home on a rim world, knowing that this second child would have the Saiyan genes, but also have an easier time harnessing the summoning abilities that were passed on. I would normally have no lead on who this person could be... so I took a look into both Ki usage and beginning summoning.

Using information gathered from both sources, someone with both Saiyan and summoner genes master red Ki, the weakest kind, and fire summoning, aka Ifrit, before anything else. The attack would be a sort of Ki fireball."

Eric's eyes widened.



---------
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!!"
---------




"So..."

"It would seem that way," Magnus spoke. "You have your answers that you seek, Eric... or should I say...


Eric Power."




********




Raul sat sideways on his bed, his head lowered against his interwined hands. "So now you understand exactly what's going on here. This conflict could very well spend the end of Life itself if it were to get out of hand. If I were to make the decision, I would make sure that you were returned home as quickly as possible."

Tanya was seated backwards on the office chair in the roof, facing Raul. She had her arms crossed, leaning forward on the back support. "I knew Ulty had some kind of fight going on that had something to do with the Argetlahm..." Tanya mumbled. "...but I had no idea that it was this serious. The Trance you talk about sounds really powerful.. can you guys beat the Prospector if he uses Trance on ALL of his troops?"

"The Trance that Eric, Takato and Rika encountered was reported as insanely powerful.. it took Wargrowlmon to defeat him. And this was one of his lowest ranked officers. It's possible that people higher in his hiearchy may have different Trances, and they might be too powerful for us to handle."

Tanya nodded. "I understand if I have to get off at Magnopolis. But can I at least get a talk with Ultimanium?"

"I don't think you should unveil yourself. I say just make a break for it when the Argetlahm gets back to Magnopolis. You wouldn't get too much of a chance to talk to him right now, anyways. He's probably talking up a storm with Magnus Power right now, I mean, they haven't seen each other for practical years now."

"Yeah, okay. Anyw..." Tanya paused. A gentle thrumming was echoing through the hall outside of the bunk, that stopped suddenly. "What was that..."

"Damn, someone's coming back to their bunks!" Raul cried. "We've got to find somewhere to hide you... daaaamn... where can we put you..." Raul quickly glanced around, before throwing up his hands in disgust. "There's only one good place for you... quick, get underneath the bottom bunk."

Tanya stuck her tongue out, but did as she was told. She slumped herself down onto the ground, dirtying up her clothes as she shimmied underneath the bunk bed. As she slid herself into place, she was down on her stomach, facing the bunk door. As she ducked her head, Goten bounded into the room, carrying a large box. "Who.. is..." Tanya whispered to herself. "...that?"

"Hey, Raul," Goten chirped. "I was wonderin' if you still do that dupe thing that V2 talked about."

"Additive Magic." Raul corrected. "I'm kind of busy right now, could you come back in a while?"

"No maaaan, I need this now! I want you to make a copy of this computer monitor. I unhooked it from the rec room, so you could make a copy. The one at the Kame House is busted." Goten grunted as he picked up and tossed the box on top of the bottom bunk, sandwiching Tanya between the mattress and the metal plating floor. She struggled to wrench herself from the pin, but couldn't move. Raul sweatdropped as Goten began to watch the mattress with some suspicion. The large box had sunk little into the mattress. "...eh.. Raul, isn't your mattress a little stiff?"

"Well... um... yeah!" Raul quickly spat. "I was going to switch the top and bottom mats tonight!"

"I'll just jump on it, that usually snaps it back into place." Raul tried to stop Goten before he bounded onto the bed, but to no avail. Goten was already hopping up and down on it, making the wire caging on the botton of the mattress smack into the back of Tanya's head repeatedly.

"Hmph!!... hmph!!...hmph!!..."

Goten suddenly stopped. "Hey, Raul, your mattress is talking."

"Oh... er.. yeah, it's one of those 'warning' mattresses that keep kids who like to jump on beds off. Just... move."

Goten sighed, stepping off the bed. "..fine."

Tanya breathed a sigh of relief - before noticing a section of her left ponytail was caught in the wiring.

Raul picked up the box and placed it on his counter, before turning back to the bed. "...Tanya, you can come out now... Tanya? Hmm..." Raul bent down and attempted to lift up the mattress to get to Tanya - and in effect, ripped her ponytail up.

"AAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!! WATCH IT, YOU MORON!!"

********

"It's your fault."

"It's YOUR fault."

"It's YOOOOUUURRR fault."

"I'm not the hijacker!"

Raul and Tanya continued screaming at each other as Goten kept an eye on his escortees - the smuggler and the smugglee. Goten drug both Raul and Tanya into the elevator and hammered the button leading up to the bridge. Soon, Raul and Tanya were thrown into the vision of Ultimanium, who just happened to turn around at the sound of the turbolifts.

"Oh, hey, Raul, and Ta... TANYA?!" Ultimanium nearly knocked over Minonim as he marched over to the pair, and gave a heated stare to Raul as he pointed out a finger to Tanya. "What's SHE doing here?!"

"She's a stowaway," Raul choked out. "Don't worry, Ultimanium, I've already informed her on what she's getting herself into. She's getting off at Magnopolis when we head to pick up the other team."

Ultimanium quickly turned to Tanya, denying her an attempt to reason. "I enjoy the company of people as much as anybody, but we can only have so many people aboard this ship - and it's mandatory that they be fighters, people that can help us against the Prospector. Do you understand?"

Tanya bit her lip. "Yes." She watched worriedly as Ultimanium went back up to the control panels - and that's when she spoke. "Ultimanium, I can fight."

Ultimanium pivoted his head. "You.. can fight? Is that some sort of self-invitation?"

***What are you doing, Tanya?! You couldn't fight if your life depended on it!! You just want Ulty!!***

"Yes, I can fight! I have... mastery of sniper rifles!" Tanya fibbed, sporting a half-assuring grin.

Ultimanium remained still, before looking back at Tanya. "You really want to stay aboard the Argetlahm? I'm not thinking you're the type that would generally like to fight... you sure don't look the part. Yet, a team sniper is a position I think we've been missing for a while, now that you mention it."

Tanya lit up. ***Yes! I did it!*** "Glad to be of service!"

"..okay, then," Ultimanium said. "Goten, tell the others that we're going to be leaving in half an hour. Raul, I want you to take Tanya down to the firing range and see how she does with the sniper rifles we have in stock."

Tanya's eyes grew wide. ***well, you've really done it this time, Tanya.***

As Raul, Tanya and Goten left, Minonim floated next to Ultimanium as he resumed his gaze into the desert ahead of him, lit only by the moon.

********


Back through the desert winds, a new shape began to take form as it marched through the maelstrom. It cocked its fedora as it began to bear down on a series of lights in the distance. This was his target, alright. And it was time to begin the operation. There was a gleam in both his hands, and his eyes.

It was a gleam of Trance.














DUM DUM DUUUUUUUUUM!!! Big-ass fight scene with the little-used guys running the show! Can the divided Argetlahm crew stand to deal with another Trance? And how exactly is Tanya supposed to cover her position up with Raul watching? Find out next time... on Trance Trauma!