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

Chapter 12: The Great Equalizer? The Push to Trance!






(A/N - Hello, everybody. Been a long time comin' :P Three weeks for a chapter, even if it WAS a huge-ass one. Well, the officials indicate that GCW (Giant-Chapter Withdrawl) has passed, and my shrink even lets me out of the house now. ^o^ Well, onto more pressing matters. Welcome back to Trance Trauma.

First off, if anyone wanted to know -_- the lyrics last chapter were from Godsmack's Moonbaby. Hell if the lyrics mean anything, I needed hard rock SOMEWHERE for this to make an impact. And if you listen, everything speeds up right as Omnimanium and Millenial make their attacks. Mission accomplished.

Another little announcement, the next couple chapters are going to act a bit slow compared to the last couple. I have backstories to flesh out, you know. Shaun's would be the easiest to stretch out over a chapter.. so I'll save it until last! ^_^ Right before then, however, Ulty's got some past doubts about the J technology... why? Well, that's another story for another chapter.

But I'm getting too far ahead of myself here.

Oh, and before we go any further, I look at myself as an ass. o_o At least as far as crowd interaction. So, thanks to everybody so far that's reviewed, special thanks to Eric Cloud and Shaun Garin for putting their humiliation in my hands, ^_^' and Shaun for also lending me some webspace on his site for the Ultimatum series. If anyone's interested, you can find it at omnipheonixmon.tripod.com. Among other things, it also holds a few Slayers/Ranma/Pokemon fics if you're willing to dig. Okay, disabling suck-up mode. Oh, and Rakugo, if it takes ten people to screw in a lightbulb, you can sure as hell have more cooks making stew. It's all in the coordination. ~_^ Give me another ring in about a month or two, I might have plans for a character of yours if I plan things right.

DAISUKE - Trance Trauma starts now. (whops Ultimanium over the head with his railgun. Suddenly, a large klaxon starts blaring)

PLOT HOLE!! I REPEAT, PLOT HOLE!!


Okay, something to clear up... I'll attempt to cover myself up right now. -_- Balkan's huge rant about his plans with the Van Eltia and the 'I'll take over the f*cking universe!!!!!' speech totally contradicts his later speeches about the uses of the Trances. Well, to make things a bit clearer, he was simply speaking of a passive takeover, simply using the threat of the Trances as he did with the J. Judging by his attitude towards Antimagnus, chances are if he actually had to attack Magnopolis at some point or defend Gaia's Isle, he would've crumpled on the spot due to his reluctance to use the Trances.

(Story segments with asteriks are fully explained at the bottom of the chapter. In case you DON'T know the subject matter.)














GLENN (VO)



Last time on Trance Trauma, things took a turn for the worse when Xaeros and Millenial started threatening to smack each other down. While that alone could have destroyed the world, just the Ki waves being given off by Millenial were kicking up a high-scale hurricane closer to home. Atlantic cities were being evacuated, as was Magnopolis. That only left us one thing to do, head to the joint and bust down on him.

We came, a fight ensued, and every ship for kilometers around was tossed into the stratosphere. As well, Gaia's Isle itself was obliterated, and in the end, so were we.

We came to on Gaia's Isle, having been saved by Dante Sparda, the Star Fox task force, the Bonne family, and... Xaeros? Yeah, that's right, Prospector-man. He insists he had nothing to do with the Trances attacking the mainland, and going after Ulty, it was all Servant, or Antimagnus', doing. He's letting us into the catacombs of Gaia's Isle, and give us a tour of the place, and give us a first-person education of the principles of Trance. Everybody else seems pretty freaked by the offer, but I myself wanna see how this entire thing works...















********




Xaeros motioned the rest of his spectators over, twisting a large wheel on the ground. He struggled with the first several cranks, but backed off as a hiss left the edges of the entrance, and the plated door swung straight up from the ground. Giving another look to Ultimanium, he sunk down into the hole, scaling down a long ladder embedded in the dirt walls. Everybody followed, one by one, until they were all in a large, metal walled chamber at the bottom. A thick, white mist funneled through the air, painting the steel-reinforced halls a light blue.

"It's damn COLD down here!" Glenn wrapped his arms around himself. He was still outfitted in his light dress shirt and jeans, similar to Ultimanium. However, it was safe to say he was the least bulkiest dressed out of the group.

"We always store our computers in this manner, these things overheat virtually instantaneously," Xaeros hummed. "We ARE dealing with supercomputers, here. We get these machines to analyze the brain waves of... gods, I'm getting ahead of myself here. Come, there is much more to this compound than appears." Xaeros again lead the movement, as the entire group made their way down a snaking corridor leading downwards. The temperature remained around zero Celsius the entire trip.

"This guy's a loony." Tron pouted.

"YOU think so." Armadillomon sighed.

Everybody came out onto a wide catwalk, suspended about twenty feet above another smaller chamber, with large, box-like computers reaching up to the celing around them. Dials and needles across the surface twitched wildly.

"These computers might look primitive..." Xaeros moaned. "...but these are completely rebuilt with the most powerful parts the Unity could afford. This is the actual backup storage for the Trance readings. Further on there is another chamber, for the actual current readings. We also use that chamber in the creation of Trances."

Crono lifted an eyebrow.

Xaeros turned back, frowning. "Oh, wouldn't YOU love to know. Come along, there is much more that needs to be learned..." Xaeros reached over to a near wall, turning another crank that made a gate next to him slide open slowly. Beyond it, a faint purple glow could be seen. "The floors the next couple flights down are where the major Trance processes take place. It is a hazardous place. I suggest you all don't come down here."

Eric nodded. "Fair enough. Me, Glenn, and that... other chick.. we'll go." Tron blinked, edging closer to the opening as Xaeros, Eric and Glenn ducked out of the hallway. She rolled her eyes as a bulky, white-gloved hand latched onto her shoulder.

"Tron, ARE YOU INSANE?!" Teisel screeched.

"Cut the act, Teisel," Tron scoffed. "We're still headed back to the shore, I just wanna see exactly what these guys are talking about, the 'Trances' and all."

"You heard what he said, Tron!" Teisel cried. "There's no telling what could be down there!"

Tron sighed, reaching up with a metal-plated hand and tossing Teisel's hand away. Teisel stared at Tron's arm in shock.

"What's the deal?" Tron glanced down at her hand. While her other had a short sleeve further up the arm, this one had a long, heavy black-silver glove, with buttons down the side of the arm, and various green and blue wires sticking out from the top and replanting themselves further down. "I'm not gonna get in too much pain with this thing on. I can crush a boulder with this thing." Tron chuckled lowly as she clenched her fist, allowing a soft hiss of working hydralics to escape. Teisel just sat, his eye twitching as Tron dashed off into the sidepassage.

Dante sat up. "Anyone mind if I head down too? I wouldn't mind checking this out."

Ultimanium shrugged. "Knock yourself out."

Fox and Peppy sat in the background. Peppy slowly rolled his eyes over. "Um, Fox, should we really be taking part in this? And what about Slippy?"

"I'm interested in this as well.." Fox grunted. "If this guy can very well CREATE monsters like that, then it would be best to investigate. As for Slippy, I already talked to ROB, the Great Fox's already detatched from the Argetlahm and headed ahead of it. Slippy's escape pod was already scooped up, so he should be aboard the Great Fox."

Shaun felt himself stopping as he started to edge toward the door, behind Dante. "... they have things under control, Shaun, they do.. just sit tight.."




********



Dante, Eric, Tron, Glenn, and Xaeros all found themselves on a small lift, that unlocked itself with a click and began lowering itself down. As the platform began to head deep, the walls began to show more signs of development, with the lower levels' barriers pulsing with blue-tinted circuitry.

"Some place you've got here," Eric chuckled.

"Ah, it's not much of a spectacle," Xaeros coughed. "At least anywhere outside of the computer core. Right in the center of the computer we have an anti-dimensional field set up, so the third dimension cannot affect my men when they first Trance."

The elevator clicked to a halt, which soon followed by the monontonous hum of hydralic-assisted doors as they shifted open. The group marched out onto a wide catwalk, suspended over the floor of a spherical room. Its walls' circuitry beated with a purple light. Everybody made their way across the long catwalk to a large, cylindrical chamber at the center of the room.

"I haven't seen anything like this.." Dante's pace seemed to slow as he entered the room.

Eric blinked. "Hey, Prospector, what's with the... huh?!" As Eric shouted, a giant flash filled the room. When the light cleared, the group found themselves in a giant white space. The air around them took on a distinct cold crispness, but remained blank.

"What the.." Tron looked around.

"We've entered the anti-dimensional field," Xaeros said. "Here, both everything and nothing is possible. Using the J, I was able to make many of the same discoveries Ultimanium did and was able to craft this place. The entire principle behind anti-dimensional fields is, literally, taking your home with you. Using the destructive forces involved in dimensionjumping, it is possible to virtually rip a giant part of any certain dimension out of continuity and paste it anywhere else. Right now we are standing in a heavily-modified section of sixth-dimensional space."

Glenn shrugged. "What's THAT supposed to mean?"

Xaeros pivoted toward the group. "Technically, we aren't in the third dimension anymore. All the 6D forces are acting on us, so time has begun taking effect on your very being and reality editation is now possible, at least within this constraint."

Eric glanced around. "Well, this kind of sucks. How the hell are you supposed to make a Trance out of this?"

Xaeros looked up. "Computer, access the J. Execute program trancesetup.exe."

A loud, electronic thrum echoed through the space, making everyone jump. Looking back up to Xaeros, they could see, in his hand, a sphere with alternating white-black layers. "THIS is how you Trance. Trances are created entirely through the fusion of each of a person's extradimensional life forces, which you should know is six if you're an Argetlahm member. The J is simply used as a catalyst, warping each dimension's entity's Ki over each other to violently smash their power levels and physical structure together. The reaction is often quite explosive, more along the lines of universal-destruction-explosive, that's why we have the anti-dimensional field in place, to absorb the energy output."

Tron grimaced. "Are you kidding?! If you were to screw up ONCE the dimensional structure would be blown apart!"

"As well, the process can be triggered by other Trances without use of the machinery. The very power wielded by them can cause the collision of dimensions on the point, or person, of their choosing."

Eric blinked. "Are you saying that Trances can jump dimensions on their own?"

"Well, most of them don't really have control over the ability, but we were looking into domesticating it."

Dante rubbed his chin. "Still, sounds kind of disasterous..."

Xaeros' eyes dimmed. "Indeed, the technology is still highly unstable, but it can be absolutely devastating in the right hands. Unfortunately, Antimagnus' hands are working just fine. You might not know it by looking at him, but Antimagnus is the sixth-dimensional incarnation of Magnus. He is part of the same person as Magnus and Ultramagnus."

Eric's eyes went wide. "You're kidding!"

"I'm afraid not."

"But you said that Antimagnus was a Trance," Eric mumbled, scratching the back of his head. "When he Trances, what kind of an effect would that have on Magnus? And how the hell does he Trance in the first place if Ultramagnus is flat-out dead? Don't you need all six dimensional figures to Trance?"

Xaeros shook his head. "As for your first inquiry, whenever Antimagnus now Trances, he leeches Ki straight from Magnus himself, so that would drop his power level to near nothing. As for Antimagnus actually Trancing.." Xaeros paused. "..you don't particularly have to have all your dimensional forms alive to Trance, but missing a link would make your total power level far less than someone who could Trance fully. Still, how Antimagnus can maintain such a powerful Trance even though he's missing one of his 'links' is beyond me."

"What's with the actual Trance process...?" Glenn sighed. "This might kind of sound off-topic, but how do you actually choose who to Trance? Isn't there some kind of 'quirk' that you have to possess to hit that kind of power level?"

Xaeros shrugged. "We draw straws."

Everybody else facefaulted.

Dante blinked. "What the hell are you trying to say, that ANYONE possessing a Trance could turn into a THING like THAT?"

"Well, not really. A powerful Trance form would take years upon years to perfect. However, as far as actual candidate selection goes, we don't really have a process. We were originally planning on running the entire Unity through a process such as this."

Everybody looked at each other.

Tron sighed. "What did I tell you, he's wacko."

Glenn attempted to speak, but was cut off by Xaeros. "After Trancing, a person must grow accustomed to the extremely high power level. At this point they fall into a temporary coma, while they soak up the excess Ki. Absorbing the Ki would normally take centuries, however, since the energy in question has the same 'signature' as the Trancer, it only takes a matter of days. The person awakes from the coma, with no negative lifesigns at all, and has near-full possession of the Trance's power."

"That must've been what happened to Ultimanium," Eric grumbled. "but if Antimagnus knew that Ultimanium would simply wake a while later, why did he make James and Din Trance him, so he could come back later and fight him?"

Xaeros shrugged. "Error in judgement. I presume he was just thinking that Ultimanium might've not been able to handle the power."

"Seriously, though, we were wondering how you chose the Trance candidates..."

Xaeros tilted his head. "Okay, perhaps it is a bit more complicated than drawing straws, but not much. Given that you are adequately educated in the functioning of the dimensions, you should know that all higher-dimensional lifeforms need their lower levels to exist."

Eric shrugged. "Uh huh, so?"

"Extensive research has identified a much easier method of keeping track of something like this... one gene in the medula oblonga near the back of the brain modifies itself to reflect on the state of the person's lower-dimensional figures. Given that the lower-dimensional figures in question are in some sense part of those higher-D forms, this is logical. It's sort of nature's way of keeping watch on the dimensions, keeping a DNA record of a person's multidimensional physical exploits. Whether it's death, injury, sexual output, whatever - it's all marked down on that gene."

Tron rubbed her chin. "So, if you can check all of this through a simple gene.. don't you keep records of the readings of all the people that Trance?"

"I've only told you three times."

"Did you actually confirm that Antimagnus HAD all his dimensional forms when he was imbued with Trance?"

Glenn shoved inbetween Xaeros and Tron. "Whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on. Tron, are you actually insisting that Antimagnus might still have his fifth-dimensional form? That Ultramagnus might be.. alive?"

"I have a hard time believing that someone could have that kind of power level and NOT have their 5D form," Tron scoffed. "Where do you keep the database in this place? I want to look for myself."

Xaeros straightened. "I am absolutely sure that Antimagnus was missing his fifth-dimensional form, solely on the fact that Ultramagnus is dead. ...however, he DID Trance without my consent and supervision, so I haven't had a chance to check the readings..."

"What the hell is this?" Dante scowled. "You actually believe this chick?"

"If you were the big heroes you guys insisted you were, you would get the facts." Tron shot.

Eric, Dante and Glenn all stared at each other.

"The actual data storage is at the bottom of the facility. It's about a 20-minute trek, if we hurry." Xaeros said. "Do you all wish to look into the database?"

"I'm guessing we don't have a choice." Dante mumbled, glancing over to the impatient Bonne.




********




Fox and Peppy sat, leaning themselves against what remained of a mess hall in the open flats of Gaia's Isle. They were both in the process of polishing two objects that appeared like large, lensed tubes. Fox looked up from his point to see the three Arwings parked off in the distance, with a large burn mark on the ground where the fourth ship would have been placed.

Heero slipped out from behind a building. "They look awfully advanced for fighters... are those class-B blasters?"

Fox held up his tube. "Sure are. They cost Corneria a fortune, but they use practically zero power and they're some of the most powerful in the entire military."

"Are you some kind of special forces unit?"

Peppy nodded. "Best of the best. Well, at least by Corneria popular opinion..."

Heero faced away, running his hand along one of the blue plates on the left Arwing. "How much training you need to operate one of these things?"

"Four years, aeronautical college education and ground school. And upwards of 200 hours of airtime." Fox murmured.

"Anything else?"

Peppy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, they got some stupid credit-system in place in the actual Cornerian forces... in plain English, people can jump between elements as they please... the engineers said that the mobile suit division for Corneria would be the second-best qualified for flying their spacecraft... it's all a bunch of crap if you ask me, though."

Heero frowned. "...really. Anyways, mind if I take a look? I'm a certified.."

"No!" Fox and Peppy chorused.

"Keep it down you guys, I'm trying to fit this i.. god DAMN it!!" Slippy leapt out into the open in a well-cheoreographed dance of rage, throwing wrenches in both hands to the ground. "If you guys keep SCREAMING I'll never get this thing fixed!"

"Face the music," Fox sang, tilting his head back. "Your Arwing's toast."

"Slippy," Peppy sighed. "you have neither of the wings, the G-Diffuser's torn to shreds, the entire left side of the cockpit is missing and the stereo doesn't tune in to any good stations anymore. Just forget about it."

Slippy stamped the ground again. "But if I don't fly, I feel useless!"

"That would be me talking," Fox mumbled. "Admit it, you're the only person aboard the Great Fox with enough work ethic to actually repair the Arwings whenever they're banged up. Trust me, you'll have your hands full for a while."

Everybody's heads creaked to the right as a loud hiss erupted from the cockpit of the farthest Arwing. The darkened plate glass lifted up quickly, with Falco poking his head out. "Do you people mind? I'm trying to sleep here."

"Oh, it's just Slippy bitching."

"I AM NOT BITCHING!!"

Falco scratched his head. "What's the big deal? I'd give a hell of a lot to skip out on missions."

Slippy turned. "So you'd lend..."

"No!" Fox, Peppy and Falco shouted in unison.

Heero shrugged. "So why don't you just have him running the Great Fox totally for you guys?"

"No!" Fox, Peppy and Falco all turned and screamed at Heero.

"Slippy, just use the spare Arwing and quit your bitching." Falco muttered.

"I SAID, I AM NOT BI.. spare Arwing?"

"The one that Pepper gave us after the Venom incidient, in case we wanted to 'draft' someone, doofus!" Falco growled. "GOD! I can't BELIEVE you people!" Falco lowered his head again, scowling out obscenities to himself as the glass plating clicked shut.

Fox and Peppy exchanged stares. "We have a spare?"

"No!" Slippy screeched. He stopped his triumphant advance when he noticed no one else had said anything. "...do we?"

"Ah, I remember now," Peppy sighed. "The one in the cargo hold we haven't even TOUCHED for three years."

"No!" Slippy scowled.

"Is redundancy an 'in' thing nowdays?" Heero coughed.

Slippy seemed to shrink. "Everytime I THINK about that thing, I think about getting in it and flying. And when I'm in it and flying, I always have this weird feeling that the entire thing's going to collapse on me! It just feels like a disaster of engineering!"

Fox shrugged. "Hey, you're not alone."

Peppy nodded. "Blue Marine."*

"GO TO HELL!" Slippy bellowed.

Heero glanced between the seething Slippy and the remainder of the group, still happily polishing away their blaster lenses. ".. hey, I'm uselessness incarnate over here as far as combat is concerned... if you aren't going to be doing anything with that Arwing, maybe I could use it?"

"Falco wanted it to be a present for a 'friend' of his, some chick called Katt," Fox said, not looking from his blaster. "He probably forgot about it months ago. Chances are if he noticed it now he pawn it before any of us could blink. None of the rest of us want it, so go ahead and give it a whirl. I'll tell ROB to give you access."

Heero nodded, a smile beginning to crack. "I'll try to make a good impression."



********



"Holy crap, how much further does this tunnel go?"

Xaeros let out a rusted groan. "Will someone tell Tron to shut up?"

Tron held her arms folded in front of her, taking up the rear in the line. "Seriously, though, how far down does this place go? We've been heading straight down for ages!"

"The bottom bunkers can withstand a Kamehameha from the surface, if that answers your question." Xaeros huffed.

Everybody else groaned.

"Well, we've already headed down that far. It should only be a short distance from here..." as everybody marched on, the walls seemed to take more of a dull grey appearance, a vast contrast from the pulsing-computer walls of the corridors above them. Xaeros led the walk down through a parkade-like substructure before coming up to a single metal door. Xaeros gently grasped the doorknob and twisted it, throwing the door open. Inside was a small line of server computers, with one smaller console seated on a desk. "Ladies and Gentlemen, everything you wanted to know about Trance but were too confused to ask."

Dante immediately leant himself against the nearest wall, while Xaeros seated himself down in front of the computer. "So, what exactly are we supposed to do with Antimagnus' readings?"

Xaeros kept quiet, instead punching several keys on the interface with his bulky, plated fingers. "Just reading up on his dimensional status. You may be up against something far worse than a Master Trance, you may be dealing with Ultramagnus to the next degree."

Eric knelt down. "So this is basically telling us whether we're automatically screwed?"

"In a primitive sense, yes."

Xaeros' head bobbed as he pressed the enter key. Bizarre instructions and coding scrolled down the screen. The entire group gathered around the computer as Xaeros quickly scanned through the writing.

"...hmm? ... this isn't right.. this isn't right at all.. wait.."

Glenn stood up. "Well, what's going on?"

".. I'm not entirely sure." Xaeros' chair rolled slowly back from the computer. "Antimagnus indeed left his genetic imprint in the Trance server... but there is nothing right with what the system displays it as.. look closer.." Xaeros pressed a key, making the display zoom in on a small circular molecule structure. "...the information in the gene says that Antimagnus does, in fact, possess a fifth-dimensional form.. but.. this is impossible!"

Tron seemed fairly unimpressed. "..what?"

"The fifth-dimensional information is CLEARLY not his own! This sure as hell isn't Ultramagnus here... this has to be someone else's Tra.. damn it!" everybody quickly backed away as Xaeros slammed his fists against the desk, nearly splitting the hardwood in half. "Antimagnus is a god damned Fusion Trance!!"

Eric slunked forward. "...Fusion Trance?"

Xaero's head sunk. "It was an experimental process we had in R&D for a while before we began Trancing our soldiers... it was designed to offer the ability of Trance to those who were missing certain dimensional figures... we had martyrs of the Unity that were willing to sacrifice their own dimensional stability to seal up the missing links in the structure of those that wished to Trance. We literally ripped the martyr's dimensional figure out of continuity that the Trancee lacked and pasted it into place in its subject. This would last as long as the Trancee remained in Trance, then the dimension structure would attempt to heal itself by returning the dimensional figures to their proper place. It worked for the most part... but it remained in the archives while Antimagnus infiltrated the Unity! And now that it's in his hands.. he's more powerful than I could ever have imagined!"

Dante nudged his foot out, kicking up a small cloud of dirt. "So exactly what are we supposed to do if this Antimagnus is a 'Fusion Trance'?"

"My course of action would be to get you all Tranced as fast as possible so you can stand up to this threat."

Eric shook his head. "Nuh uh. We all saw what happened to both Ulty and Takato the first time they Tranced..."

Xaeros gave out a small cough. His armor lit up in a flash of light as it warped out of control, eventually fading out back into Balkan's usual leathered clothing. At that point, he was able to turn around and stare straight onto Eric with disturbingly cold eyes. "Boy, you have no IDEA how powerful a Trance is in these hands. You and Ultimanium's little band have to get over your little fear of this ability. It will be the only way you will be able to stand up to Antimagnus and survive." Balkan remained silent as the chair swiveled around, returning to the computer. "I have the resources to imbue one more Fusion Trance. You sound like just the right candidate."

"We're all afraid of the effects of the Trance..." Glenn mumbled.




---------


Takato slumped his hand against the ground, struggling to keep himself up. His hands padded the ground, searching for something. "...I... d-d-d-d-d-don'tttt.. neeeed the power-r-r-r-r-r-r... I know exac-c-c-c-ctly what I wanna... ugh..." Takato plunged facefirst into the deep dirt ahead of him, his hand movements slowing to a crawl.

"Takato!!" Takeru cried.

"Crap... well, maybe Shaun here isn't Tranced, but, regardless, your little friend here is ready to suffer the full brunt of Trance's effects. He isn't particularly desensitized to the power level, so his head'll probably explode in about a minute if he can't discharge that power."


---------




"...hell, even I'M afraid." Glenn finished. He flinched as he spat out the last word.

"Come now, this occurs only to the uninitiated," Balkan sighed. "Being a Trance myself, I can sense your power.. Eric Power, you had to go through countless battles to obtain SSJ4, and to get this far, to reach the Argetlahm. Any normal person wouldn't have been able to do this... but you are sufficient enough to handle the Trance, as was Ultimanium."

Eric bowed his head. "..I guess you're right."

Dante and Tron both glanced back up, blinking. Eric was stopped as Glenn latched onto his shoulders. "What the hell are you thinking? You're going to take a risk like THAT to match up with Antimagnus? Besides, look at yourself, you're stooping to his level, the dimensions get a little less stable every time..."

"I'm RISING to his level!" Eric spat. "Look, ever since that we've been running into the Trances, they've nearly gotten us each and every single time! We're never going to get rid of Antimagnus if we attack his front every single time! We've got to set our sights higher, and beat him at his own game! We've got to turn ourselves into Trance fighting machines if we ever want to set things right!"

Dante lowered his head, shrouding it in darkness as he chuckled. "Hey, you have to admit, he's got a point there. You guys weren't exactly star performers taking care of Millenial out there..."

Glenn rubbed a bruise on his elbow. "...well, still... do you know what you're getting yourself into?"

"Not really," Eric scoffed. "But there's not much of a choice... we're all going to have to get used to this if we want to get Antimagnus."

Balkan stood up from his chair. "So it is decided?"

Eric straightened himself, gesturing towards the door. "Ready as I'm ever gonna be."

Balkan nodded. "Alright then. Follow me."



********


Fox felt himself jolt, making him drop his shined blaster in the dirt. He scowled to himself as he scooped the piece of machinery out of the mud, its surface already covered with a think layer of gunk. "Aw, crap, I just spent the last two hours on this thing...! What the hell was that just now?"

Peppy's ears perked up. Off in the distance an echoing roar could be made out. "Sound barrier's been busted. We were on the receiving end of a sonic boom."

"Wait a minute..." Fox grumbled to himself. He reached down and tapped a small button on his wristwatch, causing a halve of the screen to split off and show a display of the main console of the Great Fox. ROB's face filled the screen as usual. "...did you happen to get a scan on the ship that just buzzed us?"

"Affirmative. The backup Arwing has just hit terminal velocity, all systems functional. No system or external malfunctions have occured since liftoff."

Fox looked up uneasily as the Arwing off in the distance performed a loop, pulling up only to skim just over thirty feet off the ground. A small upkick of mud was generated. "...really." Almost immediately, Fox felt himself lurch as the fighter banked suddenly and came on a collision course with the other parked Arwings. However, the ship lurched to a halt a good distance away, and the canopy slid open as Heero slid out of the Arwing. He tossed the small-sized receiver helm linked to the cockpit back into the opening before turning to the group.

"Am I in?"

Fox and Peppy glared at each other, shrugging. Fox felt his vest droop as a mechanical arm tugged on it. Glanced down, he found what looked like a sentinet Lego man yanking on his jacket. "...uh.. who the hell are you?"

The little robot bobbed its head, swinging its arms back and forth. "We're the mechanical geniuses on call 24/7! Miss Tron asked us to look around the island for anyone that might be needing any assistance with their mechanics! There's quite a few people that crashed on this island, you know!"

Heero blinked. "..a Servbot?"

Fox glanced back up. "A whatschmaza?"

"That really IS her," Heero sighed. "You guys probably wouldn't have known it on your way into the Terran galaxy, but we've got our own selection of space pirates. You see that weird chick with the black hair, short pink skirt?"

Peppy nodded.

"Tron Bonne, ringleader of a bunch of minor trespasses at scattered poitns throughout the local space. Nothing too serious, but enough to get them noticed. Treasury robberies, vandalism, stuff of the sort. Her family backs her up. The only real reason she's known is for her partners in training, the Servbots. The Bonnes constructed forty of these Servbots to do dirty work for the Bonnes, the project headed up by Tron herself. Though they're most often used for dirty work behind lines, they supposedly have some of the most advanced artificial intelligence created."

Fox rested his head on one of his palms. "...really."



********



Eric clenched his fists as he walked out into the open space of the chamber, its surroundings suddenly plunging into an abyss of white around him as the antidimensional field activated. Balkan appeared out of thin air behind him, walking forward. "...are you ready?"

"...Balkan," Eric finally spoke. "If I go through with this I'll undoubtedly wind up in a coma like Ultimanium did and Takato avoided. Is there any indication of how long I'll be conked out?"

Balkan's eyes glinted. "Antimagnus didn't count on it, but I've worked around it." His hand rose, with a large needle wedged inbetween his fingers. "With the right... 'mental conditioning', we'll be able to cut down the recovery time to mere hours. However, you're going to have to trust me... this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you."

Eric would have come up with a witty remark at the time, but it's rather hard to do so when you have a spike of metal drilled straight through your head.

Eric screamed for a short few milliseconds. The noise hadn't even left his lips before he was standing still, wondering exactly what the hell he was screaming at. Balkan had removed the needle already. "...what the..."

"I gave you some industrial-strength depressant," Balkan said. "It'll keep your Ki emissions down to a bare minimum while we conduct the Trance. Throughout the remainder of the procedure, you will do as you are told, regardless of how strange it may sound. We wouldn't want a needle like that 'missing' its mark, now, would we?"

Eric laughed nervously. "...well..."

Balkan tossed his head back. "Computer, activate the J, start up trancesetup.exe." he commanded. A large beam of purple light tore down from the celing and encased Eric, the barrier stretching off into infinity in both directions vertically. Eric felt his heart begin to race, when off in the distance... formed another Eric. First a line, than a flat, 2D figure, than a larger SSJ form of himself, and finally a Saiyan with black hair, seething red eyes, and the Saiyan's long monkey tail drooping down from his rear.**

"Meet your extradimensional figures." Balkan droned.

"...what the hell..." Eric's eyes widened as he looked between the four figures, all returning the stare. "...these.. are me?"

"I think you should be able to identify them," Balkan responded. "Line, first dimension, flat, second dimension, SSJ, fourth dimension, and the highest SSJ the sixth dimension."

"Third dimension?"

"You, you moron." Balkan said flatly.

Eric grinned weakly. "...my bad. Hey... where's my fifth dimensional form?"

Balkan turned back to the group, with mock surprise. "...oh, hey, what's this? Eric doesn't HAVE a fifth-dimensional form! Boy, your fifth-dimensional form was killed during its seperate trip to the Argetlahm in search of the Power. Remember, all these events are happening seperately in each dimension. As a Trance, when I first scanned you I KNEW you were missing your 5D form, that's why I chose you for the Fusion Trance."

"That's all fine, bu... AUGH!!" Eric bellowed in shock as a purple beam of energy crackled out of the artificial sky and struck him dead on, sending him reeling back and eventually falling flat on his back.

"Eric Power, you are a Trance."

Eric blinked, grasping himself as he quickly pushed himself to his feet. "What.. that's it? I don't feel any sort of power increase..."

"For the last freaking time, you are a FUSION Trance. In order to activate your powers, you will have to fuse with an entity of similar power level." Balkan tossed Eric a small pager-sized console, which he caught. "This is a small mental stimulator. Latch it onto your head and switch it on when you want to Trance. Think about the person you want to Trance with and the device will trigger it. And one more thing..."

"Wow! Cool..." Eric reached over and switched the device on, sticking it to his head. Balkan's eyes went wide.

"Damn it! Not now!"



********
TRANCE...
********


Eric threw his arms out as purple energy bolted up the left half of his body. In a blur, unknown forces hurled Eric straight at Balkan, the normal half of his body merging in a strange rippling display with Balkan. Balkan sighed as his skin began to fragment, showing properties of Eric's as it began to split off.

"Eric!... Fusion Trance!!"
"...Balkan, Fusion Trance... this once, and never again..."

The shards of light forced themselves off of the newly created figure with a shatter, exposing Eric, though with greyed hair, one half of his body loosely armored in a pitch-black metal plate, the other bare-chested and in loose gi pants. In the arm opposite the armor, the Trance held a white-one-side, black-the-other four-foot axeblade at the end of a long pole. The Trance gripped the weapon just below the gigantic blade.



********
The Fusion Trance of Eric and Balkan! Combining the greatest darkness and greatest motive, the ultimate axe Messerschmidt's Reaver has been crafted! While Balkan's passiveness forges the defenses of the Trance, Eric heads forward to wield the weapon with no mercy! The attack Great Divide will leave anything in pieces!
********


GIMLI - Fusion Trance (Earth/Darkness)




Gimli twisted the giant axe around in the air, with accompanying swishes. "Not too shabby."

"As I was GOING to say," Gimli groaned. "You always have to make sure you clear your mind before attempting a Fusion Trance. Any fleeting memories of a person, and, bam - if they're anywheres near you, they'll get dragged into the mix and you'll get the wrong combination for the situation." Gimli paused. "...can we turn back now?"

"Hell no!" Gimli giggled, leaping around and swinging the massive axe in different directions, before making one giant leap and slamming the sharp edge of the blade into the ground. "...okay, I'm done."

Gimli glowed flare-white for a short moment before splitting apart down the middle and reforming themselves back into Eric and Balkan. Balkan looked down, dusting himself off. "That is all I have to show you. One thing to keep in mind with Fusion Trances is that while the same people can Fuse, the end result is different depending on who initiates the Trance."

"...huh? That's it?" Eric glared as Balkan as he began to walk off into the distance. "What about everyone else? How are they supposed to Trance?"

Balkan turned. "You know how Millenial's 'influence' was spreading during the storm?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Well, you could just say that the storm closest to Gaia's Isle was contaminated. Don't tell anyone I said this, mostly because they have already expressed quite freely that they don't WANT to Trance, but everyone in Millenial's presence has already technically soaked up a small portion of his Trance energy. Put blankly, your entire crew, those who AREN'T Trances, are now as we speak partially Tranced. However, it will take the right chain of events to push them all the way."

"...really."

Balkan paused for a short second before looking back to Eric. "This is the last thing I'll tell you, I'm obviously boring you all out of your minds. To defeat Antimagnus, you will most likely have to Trance at some given point. Let it come freely, and it will aid you when you need it the most. Resist it... and it will resist you."




********




The Argetlahm lied on the moist soil in one of the vast valleys of the island, where several dozen small figures, the crew, could be seen wading through the mud. Balkan took up the rear.

"You understand our situation now?" Balkan sighed. "No matter what, you people may not be able to avoid Trancing..."

"Then we'll avoid it UNTIL we can't." Ultimanium shot back. He looked up the side of the cruiser, spotting the Great Fox as it lumbered through the air alongside the ship, as it latched with a loud clunk on the secondary hangar opening.

"Interstellar travel..." Takato chuckled. "Kind of makes you wonder what everyone else would say, huh buddy?"

"Where's the Stell?" Guilmon frowned.

"Say, do you guys mind if we go with you?" Tron mumbled.

Everybody paused.

"Do we ever manage to think of a reason to NOT let anyone come?" Raynor muttered.

**We see everything firsthand, and we're the first ones to report it! We'll be celebrities!** Tron grimaced.




********



A good portion of the passengers who hadn't returned to their bunks marched onwards toward the bridge, where Minonim had righted himself up (and in accordance gave Ultimanium a disgruntled stare) and was right at work monitoring the various comm channels on one half of the bridge control panel.

"This is quite the ship you have here... what year model is this?" Balkan bent down, examining the translucent floor plating.

"Something old." Fox got a stare from the others. "...what?"

"It IS pretty old," Ultimanium tapped several small buttons on the far left surface. "We got it upgraded twice, Magnus did it himself four years ago and we just got new parts before we departed for Gaia's Isle." He turned back to Minonim. "Hey, did we get any transmissions?"

"Did we ever!" Minonim tossed his thin arms up in a mock scoff. "Everybody seems to have gotten the message about who 'got rid' of Millenial, because we're getting thank yous from all over Magnopolis! I had to clue them in that Millenial wasn't truly gone... and that got me even MORE feedback! At least a dozen private government agencies are offering to sponsor our trip to the Van Eltia!"

Teisel grinned. "Money money money."

"We're making one last stop in Magnopolis, then," Shaun said. "We're heading in to fully stock the Argetlahm for a deep-space voyage."

Peppy tugged his collar. "Um.. peoples, we've been talking all the time since Millenial about heading out to the Van Eltia, but we've never actually made plans about getting there... you know, he left hours before us and he's a high-and-mighty Trance, chances are he'd be faster than us, and he has a head start! Even the specs on the Chronoshifters show that we're still slower than most of the Magnopolitan ships!"

Eric smiled uneasily. "...um, Shaun, where exactly IS the Van Eltia?"

Shaun folded his arms, watching out the window as the Argetlahm slowly began to lift off the ground. "...Exodus System."

Fox blinked. "EXODUS system?! Are you insane? That's galaxies away! It'd take you YEARS using Chronoshifters! Can Millenial beat us there? Balkan, how fast could Antimagnus be going?"

"He is moving faster than Chronoshifters, I know that at least."

"Well, how are we supposed to get there faster then?" Dante asked. "Our engines can't cut it... can't we get an upgrade for that?"

"Not in the time we have." Cody replied.

Everybody sat in silence for a short moment.

Slippy grinned. "Guys, are you totally forgetting how we got here?"

Falco growled at Slippy. "Well, as a matter of fact..." he instantly shrunk. "...well... yeah."

Everybody else sweatdropped.

"The Lylat System is about three-quarters the distance from here as it is from here to Exodus," Slippy spoke. "You gettin' the picture?"

Fox snapped his fingers. "That's it! We'll have to use it!"

"Use what?" Locke asked.

"Everybody, let's head to the war room," Fox said. "Ulty, you still have your projector set up?"

"Sure do."

"Great. Slippy, upload the Great Fox's nav charts to the Argetlahm, we need some visual aids."



********



Everybody waited patiently in the soft, dust-covered seats of the war room while Fox and Slippy darted around onstage, disconnecting large wires from the base of the projector. "Okay, that should be about it." Fox reached up and turned on the projector, using buttons on the base of the contraption to scroll through various menus. Finally, Fox centered the display on a celestial map, similar to the charts already installed in the Argetlahm.

Ultimanium folded his arms. "Go on."

The display blinked out again, lighting up with what appeared to be a circle divided down the middle horizontally. A large circle sat at the very center, a smaller one just to the right of it, and an even smaller one in constant orbit around the circle.

Fox nodded. "This is our system. Or both of them."

Eric tilted his head. "BOTH of them?"

"There's a giant asteroid belt right down the middle here, on the line," Slippy drew his fingers along the dividing line. "Many people don't make the cross at anywhere but the middle, so we regard each half as a seperate system - Lylat, and Hybrid. The asteroid field is most commonly referred to as the Lylat-Hybrid Dateline."

"At one point in the field..." Fox pointed to the smaller circle to the right. "...there's a wormhole. Corneria has military beacons set up there, sort of a sanctuary... that merchant and interuniversal-military ships use to leave the system undetected. It's sort of a back-door exit. The actual wormhole is known as the Cannon - it's a compression in space-time that can launch any ship across space in mere seconds, with no negative effects to the passengers or cargo."

Ultimanium nodded. "So that's our ticket. Still, tell me more about Lylat-Hybrid."

Slippy grinned. "For anyone else who wants to leave or exit the system, they have to wait a full Exit Revolution - the time it takes for our exterior spaceport... here..." Slippy pointed to the revolving dot. "...to get around to their system. THAT'S called Station Square. However, they tightened up security a bit since some whacko calling himself Eggman let loose a monster called Chaos on the place. There's not much I can tell you about that."

Raynor rubbed his chin. "Well, Lylat's where Corneria is and it's where your forces operate, but what about Hybrid? What's that like?"

"Hybrid is only about 50% mapped," Fox replied. "Because so few people go there, it's a haven for space pirates, which drops the population even more. It's made up of several other planets, many of which don't have space-travel facilities in place yet. I think so far they've documented a couple planets... Mobius, Popstar and Spira."

"...that's... great," V2 murmured. "But what's the deal with the BIG dot?"

Both Fox and Slippy turned to the display.


"THAT... is Mute City."


V2 blinked. "...Mute City?"

"THAT... is the offical port between Lylat and Hybrid," Fox sighed. "The largest city in both systems, capping off at about two billion. We go there a lot on business. An insane amount of traffic gets pushed through there each day, over double that of Station Square. As well, it's the Lylat-Hybrid capitol of the Lylat-Hybrid Competition Council..."

Shaun straightened up in his seat.

"...they have a bunch of weird competitions that go on there, mostly exclusive to Mute City." Slippy finished.

Shaun rolled his fist. "Liiiiiike..."

"The FIRST one is a sort of racing league that they have going on in and around Mute City, as well as several artificial moons. It's racing in compact G-Diffuser vehicles, like standard Indy racing on speed. Actual velocities hang around 900 klicks, and it's not unusual for the tracks to twist in any conceivable direction. Upside down, vertical, whatever - the speeds support the vehicle. Peppy here's really into that, he modified his Arwing and installed collision shielding to take it into a couple qualifying laps. The entire shebang is called the F-Zero Grand Prix."

Everybody looked over to Peppy, who returned a weak grin.

"And the OTHER thing... THIS is truly whacked out. It's a melee fighting competition, on several predesigned arenas scattered around the city, and on several of the abeforementioned moons."

Gohan smirked. "What's the catch?"

"The entire premise is behind the machinery they use," Slippy responded. "However, since it's based on that machinery, it has a power level limit of 200."

"...damn."

Takato leant forward. "Go on."

"...how it works... you get yourself a shield belt... and a Kinetic Magnifier Belt..."

"Kinetic Magnifier?"

Slippy frowned. He put up a fist, flicked it with his other hand, and threw his clenched hand away with force.

"...ohhhhhh. So?"

"These people.. they put the shield generator on their chest, the Kinetic belt on the front, and a battery beneath the generator, linked to both. How it works is as you beat at the shield generator, it begins to get damaged. And when the power can't go to the shield generator..."

Takato nodded. "You begin to fly."

"Yep. Ring Out, you're gone. Fox and Falco are in that, they're pretty high in the standings as far as I've seen.*** Anyways, it happens to be the most heavily populated event at Mute City, and it's the new brainchild of its income. It's the partnership of the kinetics and the shielding that give it its name, and the intensity of the matches."



Fox nodded toward a confused Takato.


"Super.. Smash.. Bros."




Tron glanced back over to the group. "So what's the deal then, are we stopping at Mute City before heading to the Cannon?"

"If we start here and don't stop anywhere else..." Slippy counted on his fingers. "...the boosters on this ship'll take approximately six days to reach Lylat-mapped space... we'll probably have to stop either at Corneria or Mute City to restock our current supplies, Mute City if we want maximum efficiency."

"...yeah. I mean..." Ultimanium paused. "...on second thought, we really shouldn't head back to Magnopolis at this point..."

"Why not?" V2 said. "I mean, the place is in shambles, and..."

"They wouldn't be ABLE to restock us." Cody finished. Crono rolled his eyes, slumping himself down onto the control panel.

"It's not that..." Ultimanium murmured. "It's the fact..."

"I'M here." Balkan groaned.

"What's the big deal?" Locke pouted.

Balkan shook his head. "Asides from the fact that every single resident of Magnopolis wants to tear my head off personally, let alone the world, billion-dollar bounties are on my hide, and the factor that Magnus would tear me a new one, not much. And if the crew of the Argetlahm was seen to be siding with me, you would have literally the world against you. Ultimanium, if you seriously wish to work with me, you must conceal our alliance until we leave Terran space."

Dante shrugged. "He's got a point there."

"...when did you get here?" Ultimanium asked. "Who are you?"

"Dante Sparda, your new... ah, forget it. Just a..." air quote. "..spectator. If you people don't mind, I'd like to make myself useful and hitch a ride too. This is a one time offer."

Ultimanium looked over Dante. "Do you have any special..."

Dante ripped the Murasame from Cody's hands and drove it through his own chest, letting the blood sheet down his overcoat and undershirt. He glanced back up and tossed his hands up, leaving the blade embedded deep in his chest. "Alright, how many of you can do this? Huh?"

Takato twitched. "Doesn't that kind of sting?..."****

Everybody else shrugged.


Fox glanced around. "Well, I see we've got our little posse together. So, tell me, what time were you guys thinking of heading for Lylat?"

"We can head it right now if that's your fancy." Eric said monotonously.

Minonim blinked, reaching forward and latching onto a joystick. "Onwards it is, then... everybody... onwards to Lylat..."



"And onwards to Antimagnus."







********


Now!!!! For those little annoying asterik-comments...



* - As any true-blue Star Fox master will tell you, the Blue Marine was used by the Star Fox team to investigate a bio-weapon being mutated on the sea floor of the aquatic planet Aquas during Star Fox 64. The Blue Marine was a full-out combat submarine used for the situation. It was co-engineered by Slippy, however, which was enough to make any pilot steer clear of the thing thereafter. (My little theory on how the Blue Marine got one mission while the Landmaster Tank got two. I'm sure you agree with me.)

** - Black hair, red eyes, and a questionably-regrown Saiyan tail are all symptoms of true SSJ4, as demonstrated in Dragon Ball GT. If you ask me, though, it's STILL retarded as far as SSJ goes.

*** - Fox and Falco are both playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee. And they rock. ^_^'

**** - For anyone out there who HASN'T played Devil May Cry... don't worry, the guy's been impaled enough already as to be desensitized to it. Seriously. o_<


********





NEXT TIME ON TRANCE TRAUMA....

Chapter 13: Dimension's End - Ultimanium, the First Jumper?!




In this next cha... hey, you know what? I'm not even going to tell you. Why? Because I have a really crappy tendency to totally turn things upside down from the plan I establish at the end of each chapter for the next. Like LAST chapter... "Where's the anticlimatic fight scene?"

Well, now you know.

Next chapter's comin' soon, though. Same time, same station. Later.