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 Craymel Knight, Shaun Garin! (+ OMAKE!!) ( Chapter 13 )

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

Chapter 14: Magic Soldier, Craymel Knight Shaun Garin



...wait a minute, when I post this up... this fic'll be over 100,000 words!!!!! AAAHHH!!!

There's not much else to be said here, except the fact that this may be the shortest chapter of Trance Trauma second to the prologue. I'm working simply off of about three pages of background provided by Shaun Garin, and I'll try to do my best to weave that into a substory.

However, if that fails, I can always make the Official Ultimanium Nonsense Chapter going on in the background for some cheap thrills. ^_~




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Charmy (VO)

Last time on Trance Trauma, the crew began to settle down as the Argetlahm began its ascent to space. However, for the safety of Goten and Trunks, they were removed from the crew and sent home, a decision made by Gohan and Vegeta. While everyone else oohed over the view from the bridge, I decided to head down into the catacombs and figure out where Ulty was hiding.

Worse came to worse, and Ultimanium's past was revealed, right up to his partnership with Ultramagnus, of all people! Ulty seemed pretty shaken up by the experience of having to retell the situation word for word, and I wouldn'tve blamed him! Anyways, with THAT over with we can finally begin the voyage - hopefully...






*******



< br> "Exiting mesosphere. Beginning final ascent." Minonim reached forward and yanked on a large lever, making the floor beneath the bridge rattle violently. The shake stopped as fast as it had started. Outside the Argetlahm, the blue glow of the mid-atmosphere began to die down, revealing the beginning of space. The interference quickly died down, and stars began to dot the sky. Immediately the crew began rushing to the windows, peering down upon the utopian Earth beneath them.

Takato and Locke were the most googly-eyed out of the group, totally fawning over the display of special effects in front of them. The earth began to face the window as the Argetlahm literally turned on its side, thrusting itself forward into Earth's orbit. Locke grinned as, beneath them, a small desk-sized meteorite was tugged into Earth's gravity field and burst into a red aura as it began to plummet toward the ground.

Eric chuckled. "I remember getting all hyper like that the first time I got hauled into orbit..."

Dante heaved a sigh as he lumbered over to the vast glass plating, standing behind Takato. "...you know, I wouldn't normally find myself saying this, but it actually is quite a sight... I mean, for someone who hasn't even been at 20,000 feet."

Falco kicked back in Ultimanium's chair, resting his light boots on the control panel. "Hell, you'll get sick of it in a couple of days... I tell you, if you haven't been in the air a whole lot throughout your life, you'll know it when you go into space. After a while, you'll forget which way is up."

Cody shrugged. "Look at us! We're pitiful. We had every oppritunity in the world to visit the Argetlahm for the past nine years, and we haven't even BEEN at commercial-aircraft-level for the entire time! I feel disgraced..."

Glenn simply stood with his hands in his pockets, looking upwards at the planet as the Argetlahm tilted upside down. "It reminds me a whole lot of my other trips..."

Locke held his arms above his head, stretching. "Yeah, I kind of wondering... what exactly DID you do as part of that Galaxian air-ground jump trooper thingy?"

Glenn kicked distractingly at the ground. "Ah, we're basically peacekeepers in the Bravo sector of the Milky Way. It's nothing too fancy, just shoot carefully hand-picked targets so other people don't have to."

"Regardless, we're headed somewhere," Raynor interjected. "Somewhere where I don't believe any little bit of military training or what-not is going to help us. Actually, I don't even remember ever hearing about Lylat-Hybrid, seeing any maps or otherwise... actually, I haven't even heard of Exodus system anywhere. Hey, Shaun, what kind of stuff hangs around Exodus?"

"The Van Eltia always sticks around Exodus, and the pirates don't seem to be breaking the tradition," Shaun replied. He sat leant against the window, rubbing residue off the barrel of the Mega Launcher with a facecloth.

"Doesn't it go anywhere else?" Teisel said. "I mean, the way you make it sound, it's pretty boring around those parts."

Balkan stepped forward. "Don't mind me for asking, but Shaun, it seems that you know quite a bit about the Van Eltia, more than I was able to find, anyways. I can TELL clearly that you are a Celestian/Inferian, but how are you tied in with the Van Eltia?"

"I lived aboard it."

Everybody looked at each other. "...LIVED aboard it?"

"Haven't any of you been listening YET?" Shaun lent forward, leaning on the cannon. "The Van Eltia's just a giant cruiser, Eternia's flagship. It's a sacred item to all its inhabitants, though..."

"I'm aware of that," Balkan responded. "But passage to the Van Eltia is only reserved for the greatest of leaders of either Inferia or Celestia... tell me, how did you manage to board it, let alone spend much of your early life there?"

"...I'll start taking this all seriously as soon as I figure out what all these big words are." Rika scoffed. Crono gave Shaun a "you're beat" shrug.



*******



"Alright. You wanna know about Exodus? I can give you everything you need. Exodus system is home to a smaller system, Eternia. Eternia is simply made up of the two planets Inferia and Celestia, kept in an alternating orbit by a giant unidentifiable magnetic field, called the Orbus Barrier. Essentially, Inferia and Celestia live side by side, linked to each other through space travel, and some interesting means of teleportation using the properties of the Orbus Barrier.

Both planets share many of the same legends and stories, mostly based around the forces Nereid, the God of Destruction, and Seyfert, the God of Creation, and the great conflict that occured eons ago between the two. Both sides have slightly differing views on the subject, but they are for the most part consistent.

Inferia and Celestia themselves have been involved in a functional alliance throughout the last couple thousand years, with the import and export of goods from both worlds essential for the survival of each other. Most government projects are usually conducted with the other keeping a close eye on progress. For the most part, this has been beneficial to both sides.

Inferia's society is a relatively low-tech, though functioning, one. Most of their daily lives are centered around the basic elements, which power most of their machines. With the lack of corruption affecting the ecosystem, it is known to be one of the most beautiful places in Exodus and beyond. Inferia itself is based around a constitutional monarchy, which elects a new king every 50 years that rules over the entire world."

Takeru blinked. "One person ruling the entire world?"

"Most outsiders see the system as archaic, though the formula works out surprisingly well. I believe the last revolt occured around 800 years ago.

Celestia, on the other hand, bases its economics and power around the fusion of magic and vast technology, as regulated by a republic democracy. It's a planet of industry, using the forces of that planet's governing Craymel, elemented accordingly..."

Serge rested his head on his hands. "Craymel, Craymel... what's Craymel? I don't know why, it just sounds familiar for some reason..."



********



"The Craymel... the Craymel are classified as minor deities by the populace of Eternia. Old stories say that when evolution was beginning on both worlds, mysterious figures appeared out of the mist, stronger and more intelligent than the others. It was them that kick-started development on Inferia and Celestia, exposing discoveries to them. It was soon theorized that these spirits, the Craymel, were of different elemental alignments. Both worlds had different Craymel that assisted in their development. No one actually noticed the physical form of the Craymel until they were summoned momentarily by Meredy and Keele. You'll hear about them in a couple of minutes. The Craymel exist to this very day."

"So these things are eons old, and still kicking?" Eric asked.

"Uh-huh. The Craymel of Inferia were spread across the basic elements, Fire, Water and Wind, leading to that planet's ecological awareness. Meanwhile, Celestia worked with the planet's governing Craymel, Lightning, Ice, and Earth, to turn it into the megalopolitian giant it is today.

Before the alliances had formed millenia ago, it was believed that a large group of Celestians had invaded Inferia, generally going on a rampage through the planet's major settlements. Several major cities were destroyed before the attacking Celestians retreated. It was later revealed that the Celestians were chasing the assassin of their previous monarch, a sort of double-agent Inferian named Balir. This was the event that eventually forced Celestia to convert to a republic."

"But why were they chasing Balir in the first place?" Gohan questioned.

"They wanted information on Balir's wife's whereabouts. It seemed that Balir's wife, Shizel, held with her the sealed form of Nereid. She was possessed by the god, and, with a mortal form to focus through, he used a form of extremely powerful dark magic in an attempt to overcharge the Orbus Barrier and slam Inferia and Celestia together. A group of adventurers, Reid, Farah, Meredy and Keele, were able to combat Shizel and eventually defeat her, and ancient scriptures with the spells of Seyfert were immediately thrown into action, casting a counterspell on a large ship graveyard near the Orbus Barrier. The spell negated the effects, and fused the wreckage together into a giant countermagnet, known to this day as Seyfert's Nexus.

With everything finally at peace again, time went on. Fifteen years from the heroes' ascension, diplomacy between Inferia and Celestia were at an all-time high. The idea was soon passed around, and approved, that a flagship for both worlds was to be constructed, sort of the last sign that Inferia and Celestia were allied for life. Rather, Celestia made the proposition that the capship used by the adventurers to shuttle them between worlds would be undergo massive renovations and be reoutfitted into a functioning warship. That ship was known as the Van Eltia.

A pirate, Chat, took upon the responsibility of remodeling the great ship. Soon, the Craymel themselves appeared in a physical form for the first time in millenia, offering to reside aboard the Van Eltia to both to further seal the deal and get a wider view on their respective worlds. The Craymel linked themselves to the engine, giving off a small amount of their energy to keep the Van Eltia powered. The presence of the Craymel coupled with the further enhancements made to the ship began to turn it into an unstoppable force. A massive energy cannon was mounted on front, and hundreds upon hundreds of Craymel-powered elemental turrets began to sprout all over the capship. Later it was said that for their actions years before, Meredy and Keele's only son would be the one biologically engineered to fully unlock the Van Eltia's power."

Dante just smirked. "Let me take a wild guess."

Shaun nodded. "Uh huh. I was shipped off immediately to the Van Eltia and kept under tight surveillance, with many of my friends coming as well. I was left to my business, being guarded day and night, while I trained under several of Inferia and Celestia's greatest combat masters in an effort to be commissioned to Royal Knighthood in the meantime. This cannon here..." Shaun tapped the large barrel. "...is from one of my teachers, a gunwarrior named Max. Max was the one who told me about the functioning of the Miacas, and told me to seek them out should I or the Van Eltia run into trouble. Max was like a second father to me. We ate together, we trained together, we blew stuff up together. Soon, I had mastered most of the elemental gun attacks of his and, after, quickly advanced through the lessons of everyone else, including Chat herself. Chat taught me the pirate's ancient defense techniques, the Hammer skills. Soon, going through every single master between both worlds, I could kill with literally anything.

On command, I could fuse with the ship and be blessed with the Craymel's power, turning the ship itself into the giant mech Ark. Ark was undoubtedly the ultimate weapon, having torn apart entire invading capships with a single burst of its multi-Craymel cannon. Realizing the power being unleashed, an additional failsafe was installed against Ark - five special cards would have to be used to transform the ship to Ark. Of course, this now meant that ANYONE could use the Ark, but only for a short time, around ten minutes, before the power would destroy their mind. However, if I were to use the cards, having already been desensitized to Ark, then it would be even more powerful than before."

Slippy scratched his head. "Fruity."

Shaun sulked. "Our little powerhouse wouldn't have enough time in the sun, though... are any of you familar with the old Grappler Pirate Guilds?"

Tron snapped her fingers. "Grappler... grappler.. grappler.. oh... yeah, I remember now, Teisel's ran into 'em a bunch of times. Aren't there supposed to be only a couple of groups of Grapplers remaining? They're supposed to be the longest lasting organized crime group in existance or something."

"They've been going for over a THOUSAND YEARS," Shaun winced. "Each generation gets stronger, faster, and more dangerous. The entire premise behind the Grappler guilds is looting. Not very original, but unlike normal space pirates, they don't go for destroying ships or disabling their systems. They go at ships with Grappler arms, tearing into them and docking right there. This is the start of many dangerous, not to mention the hardest to detect, raids.

As fate would have it, at an outpost near Celestia, the inner ring space forces were testing out a new model of fighter, based entirely on the Grappler style of ships, that would be used for infiltrating larger cruisers and frigates. The Grapplers noticed this ship to be far beyond their firepower, and led a raid on the compound, stealing thirty prototypes of the Celestian grappler-craft, codename Einhander, and issued a threat to the Van Eltia to surrender the great ship or have it taken over. Celestia quickly issued a counterstrike, but the Einhanders were able to weave through Celestia's own intricate defense networks and even the defense grid of the Van Eltia. They docked, unloaded thirty armed pirates, and marched straight to the bridge where Chat was held at gunpoint and threatened unless the defense systems would be deactivated. The attacking force was ambushed by a group of the Van Eltia's guards, and in the chaos Chat locked the Van Eltia's defense systems and escaped the ship. As well, Meredy, Keele and I made our escape. However, we went our own ways. They knew that if I was caught by the Grapplers they could force Ark under their control. As I left to my own Aibird, Meredy gave me the last token of my previous life - my old yo-yo, from when I was five."





---------



Shaun growled as he charged down the expansive hallway, its translucent floors and walls pulsing with their circuits' lights - red. The sign of an emergency. He got up to a run, his long tan pants dragging on the floor as he attempted to escape, carrying the Mega Launcher in both hands. He froze in fear as, around the corner, jumped three gruff men, draped in heavy tungsten armor.

"Stop that little twerp!!"

Shaun winced as he supported the Mega Launcher on his shoulder, the Grapplers advancing on him. Shaun yelled out as he yanked on the trigger, hurling an explosive shell at the group. The projectile impacted with an echoing blast, sending the Grapplers in different directions. At ground zero, the clear floor had a large chunk blasted out of it, and clear liquid leaked out of the circuitry. Shaun cradled the massive cannon back in his arms, and charged down the hall alongside the immobile bodies. Alongside him on the walls were inscribed dozens of other bullet holes, with computer coolant that spurted from one or two of the crevices.

"Psst. Over here."

Shaun glanced around him, nearly jumping out of his boots at the voice. He finally turned and sidestepped into a small storage room. Several small, wheeled shelves stocked with electronics equipment were lined up. The walls around Shaun were simple white-shaded metal, a stark contrast from the futuristic space-age see-through walls of the main halls. Shaun's face straightened as he turned into the corner. Huddled against the wall was a tall, blond man, draped in a long, purple embroidered overcoat with a matching cape. Along his left arm, he grasped a hand cannon similar to Shaun's, though slightly shorter.

"Max!" Shaun scowled.

"Hey, about time I found you. How's the Mega Launcher holding out?"

"Great, so far. The Grapplers are here in full force.. what the hell are we supposed to do?"

"Good, you're safe," Max gasped. "As it stands, Grapplers are pouring in from every entrance. The Van Eltia's defenses are weakened, so there's no telling how much reinforcement those bastards are going to send... Chat managed to get away safely, Meredy and Keele are waiting for us."

"Waiting for us?"

"There's at least 60 heavily-armed Grapplers keeping a tight watch on the bridge. They've got all their officers prowling the place, trying to figure out how to work the Van Eltia. However, Chat locked down the systems, and they should be reactivating in the next ten minutes. The Grapplers'll never figure it out, though. It'll take them a good while to crack the code, so that should give us some time to get a message back to Celestia. First of all... we gotta find a way out of here."

Shaun twitched as a loud bang came at the door. "Any suggestions?"

"Meredy and Keele managed to secure your Aibird, we also managed to scrape up a couple of the non-armed models that we can use. Shaun, we need to get back to Celestia as fast as possible, they'll have a solution!.."


********


"Aibirds are small personal space vehicles developed early on by the Celestians, just to clear things up. Normally built for speed. They seemed to be the choice for joyriders at that point, but there's special high-endurance models built for evac situations involving high-ranking officials. They normally have them tucked away in secret compartments on large offical ships, but you can pick up a basic model just about anywhere in Exodus at this point. The Aibirds that Max spoke about... I had to use one of them to eventually escape the Van Eltia, but I had to hide it as soon as I entered your system, because I knew it wasn't properly registered. The shuttle I came here in... I have mine stored in the back."


********


Shaun growled as another clang erupted from the entrance. He promptly turned around and blew apart the door and its audience. "I'm outta shells. You have any?"

Max frowned. "On my last one."

"What's the fastest way we can take down to the main export hangar?"

"We can cut across the main ventalation chambers and follow the supply line through Sector Gamma. It isn't the safest route in the world, but I can guarantee it'll be the most scenic."

Shaun nodded as Max began a dash towards the collapsed doorframe. "Let's go." He darted out the door in pursuit, but found himself ducking under a hail of gunfire. At least another four Grapplers were sweeping down the hall in the chase. Shaun drug the tallest rack out of the chamber adjacent to him and dumped it on the ground, covering a good portion of the ground ahead of him with various microcomputers, as well as some maintenance instruments that broke with a liberal hail of ball bearings. Shaun pivoted and headed down the hall in a windsprint while the armored thugs behind him stumbled to keep up with him. More shots rang out around him, resulting in him keeling forward in an effort to dodge the hail of lead. Ahead the circuited hall began to turn downwards in a coil-type array. In a display of acrobatics that Max would generally not have approved of, Shaun leapt up and slung the Launcher up and around a pipe hanging from the celing, quickly adjusting his hands to grab the barrel and main compartment of the gun with each hand. Supported by the cannon, Shaun began to quickly grind down the length of pipe, rapidly picking up speed as he slid further down the corkscrew.

As he had done seemingly hundreds of times before to travel around the ship, Shaun quickly detached the gun from the rail and launched himself into an open corridor on the side of the hall, flipping sideways and pressing himself off the wall. Shaun landed on the ground on one knee, bracing himself with one hand while holding the Mega Launcher in the other. He quickly rose to his feet and began running again, clamping the cannon onto his back again before picking up speed. Shaun banked to the right as the hall slowly began twisting to the right, slowing down only to allow the large steel door ahead of him to slide open with an accompanying bleep.

He continued his dash across a catwalk suspended high over a pair of lazily turning fanblades. Further ahead, Max could be seen, watching the fans pivot. "That was slow, Shaun. Even for you."

Shaun sweatdropped. "Could we save the competition until we're in a more.. safer position?"

"What's not safe about the vent shafts?"

Max was interrupted by a sickening crunch to his side. Both him and Shaun shielded themselves as a giant 20-foot long mechanical pincer tore through the wall off in the distance, starting up a howl as air began to be syphoned out of the chamber. The wall crumpled as a pair of machineguns and a larger cannon above them punched through the metal plating, immediately firing. The machinegun fire strafed the catwalk on one side of them, while the cannon blew a massive section of the catwalk out from the other. The metal cage plummeted into the abyss, getting knocked lower into the turbines by the massive fanblades.

"The fact that they're on the SIDE of the Van Eltia!"

"Then let's go! Sector Gamma, you know the way?" Max's voice began to fade as he started running ahead of Shaun.

"Sure do!" Shaun took the right path on a intersection further up, while Max went straight. Shaun dashed down the walkway as another sliding door opened up in front of him. The halls' circuitry began to glow a deeper red as he began to lower in altitude. The hall abruptly stopped at the end, with a long, wide tube crossing perpendicular to it. Shaun strided over to a console nearby, and slapped a large red button on it. Shaun hopped back as the speakerphone next to the panel crackled with life.

"Nice try!"

Shaun looked back up with a frown. A oblong, hovering passenger car docked into the wall with a clank, with four armored Grapplers filing out. They all raised their gauss rifles in formation as Shaun quickly swung his cannon in front of him as he rolled to the side. A hail of gunfire traced him on the ground, with several shells being deflected off the Mega Launcher's barrel. Shaun smashed through the door of the transport maintenance office, quickly getting up and running to the other side of the room. He kicked down another door, and leapt off the five-foot drop into the empty tunnel.

"What the hell?! After him!!"

Shaun scrambled up against the wall. The area around him was inky blackness, which would only have been reasonably lit if the Van Eltia's emergency systems hadn't been enabled by Chat. It was only a matter of time before the Grapplers would come lumbering down the tunnel... if they had a source of light, that is.

"I'm WAITING!! GO!!"

"Uh oh." Shaun mumbled.

"...uh... what the hell..."
"I TOLD you, change your batteries before you go on a raid!"
"What's the problem?"

"...my floodlight's dead."
"...just.. fucking.. DANDY!!"
"Damn it! Isn't your's working?!"

"Yeah!"
"...well... I didn't bring mine."
"Neither did I! You guys are damn useless!! All of you!!"

Shaun sighed as sounds of the Grapplers smacking each other floated across the air. Shaun quickly turned on a light on his watch and began guiding himself further down the tunnel. About ten minutes later, he came across a maintenance vent, which he slid himself down into. He spent the ten minutes after flipping a coin to guide himself through the air vents. Shaun soon kicked off a grate, lowering himself down into the lower halls.

"Sector Delta..." Shaun grunted, brushing himself off. "...just a short run from here." He blinked as Max sprinted by.

"C'mon!!"


********


The exterior of the Van Eltia could been seen rushing by. About five smaller, hornet-like fighters were latched firmly onto the one side of the capship while a pair of smaller one-man ships streaked out of a small opening on the side of the ship, sealing up behind them.

Shaun looked around him, in the Aibird. "Where're Meredy and Keele? They already split?"

"Th' records already show three Aibirds docked off in the past hour. Meredy, Keele, Chat. Looks like we weren't exactly fast enough for their tastes."

"Hang on, I'm picking up a transmission."

"Yeah, me too. It's a private frequency between Inferia and Celestia. Whatever it is, it's pretty damn important. And it's directed right at us." Max could be seen drumming away on the tiny control panel in front of him in the already-crowded cockpit. "...you should be picking it up too.. right about.. now."

Shaun leant down to pick up the scratchy noise radiating from the minispeaker in front of him. Nearby on a small three-inch monitor a blue-haired man could be seen, adjusting his lenses. "...hey, Keele, what's going on? Did you get back to Celestia alright?"

"...yes, that was quite a rush. I'm glad to see that you and Max were able to escape unharmed. The Grapplers seem to have gotten hold of some new type of insertion-ship... it's far more mobile and compact than their earlier models. Anyways... they have the Van Eltia for the time being, and that is that. We've been talking to Chat, and she said that the lockdown coding she used was kept for absolute emergencies such as these. With the resources the Grapplers have at their disposal, it'll take them months to break the encryption. Until then, we need you to follow Max."

"...follow Max? What's going on here?"

"Shaun, you need to listen to me. The Grapplers are as good as trapped on the Van Eltia, but we're having difficulties getting either Inferian or Celestian forces to launch an attack on the Van Eltia! You know full well that the place is sacred ground to all of us, and no one seems to be set on desecrating the ship any more than it has been by the Grapplers. This entire situation is going to have to be forced through the Celestian Republic and kept under observation by the Inferian monarchy, and that's time we don't have!"

Max's voice could be heard crackling through the background. "So what's that mean for us?"

"Max, I need you to escort Shaun to the edge of Eternia, and get him out of Exodus system as fast as you can. Shaun, I managed to talk to the officals and get you 50,000 Gald transferred to your account. Once you leave Exodus, we need you to stay as far away from Eternia as you can, until we get some sort of notification on the standpoint on the Van Eltia issue."

"Wha?" Max grunted. "What's the deal with booting Shaun out of here?"

"At this rate, the Grapplers stand a small chance of breaking the code before we get a solution set in stone. Once the Grapplers manage to hack into the Van Eltia's database, they'll quickly figure out that Shaun's the one that is needed to fully unlock Ark, and with their kind of influence it'll be child's play for them to obtain the five cards. The key to this universe NOT falling apart is to deny the Grapplers of Shaun's power as long as we can."

"...well, I mean, isn't that a bit harsh? Shaun hasn't even seen, or HEARD, of the outside of Exodus, or Eternia, for that matter. Even I haven't!"

"Just go!" Keele shouted. "Get out of there before the Gra... uh oh."

"Uh oh what?" Shaun growled.

"Those ships they're using... they look like hornets or something?"

"Well... yeah."

"Damn it! We got word half an hour ago that a minor spaceport was attacked by the Grapplers an hour before, and seized a fleet of some prototype fighters that we had stored there... Einhanders. They were designed to counter the Grapplers' attempts, so that must've attracted them to the place! But how did the information leak?... listen, that's not the matter right now. The big thing that you should be worrying about right now is the Einhander that's broken off from its docking position... and it's heading straight for y..." Shaun grimaced as the transmission suddenly burst into static. The screen remained a flurry while a deep voice reverberated in the background. "...all right, we have you. Turn those ships around right now before I have to get nasty."

"We're helpless!" Max scowled.

Shaun hopped in his seat as the high-pitched wail of turbolaser fire pierced through the cockpit. "What the hell?!" Shaun turned to a mirror as it contracted from the roof, watching as the Einhander plunged out of the way in a spinning dive. A large, T-shaped fighter traced the Einhander's path perfectly, spraying more shots from the left, right and bottom wings of the bizarre craft.

Another voice rattled through the speaker. "You have to get out of here! Get moving, NOW! I'll cover you!"

Max's head pivoted left and right. "Who in the hell are you?"

"Does it matter?!" Shaun cried. "If we want to get out of here... hopefully, that... ship should be able to guard us long enough... beginning calculations for light-speed jump!"

Max gave one last look behind him. "I hope you're right. Beginning calculations for light-speed jump." Both the Aibirds straightened their flight, flying side by side. This, however, made the misses from the pursuing Einhander that much closer.

"Calculations at 10%." Shaun droned.

Max winced as a large blast of energy whisked by his ship, not even three feet. "...if this is intended to improve my faith..."

A short distance behind them, the Einhander finally straightened itself up behind the two Aibirds, it's back engine nacelles flaring open with a small shower of blue sparks in an effort to keep up with the rapidly accelerating Aibirds. The bulky fighter scorched upwards again, accompanied by another hail of laser fire. The Einhander banked to its left, narrowly dodging the blast. As the fighter tore away from the hornet-like interceptor, its wings folded inwards, essentially turning the craft into a giant flying block of metal. It turned vertically, and began a slow, wide turn back towards the assailing Einhander - and was picking up speed faster than both the interceptor OR the Aibirds.

"40%!" Max shouted through his comm. Shaun nodded. He nearly fell backwards into his seat as large surges of energy flew by him on both sides. "...crap!"

The Einhander began to slowly swerve back and forth, not losing speed, hoping that the mysterious pursuer would take the same manouver and bleed off enough speed to be left in the dust. However, it remained flying straight. As it began to catch up, the wings folded back out again. A squeal erupted from the cockpit, an orb on the top of the T, as a torpedo on the left wing clicked into place. Sensing that its chase would be cut short, the Einhander rushed forth with a stream of its main cannon fire. Both Max and Shaun could see it on each side of their ship, and it slowly beginning to narrow closer to the individual pods.

"80%..." Shaun quickly flipped several dials on the control panel in front of him. "Almost there... just keep him busy a little longer..."

"95%!" Max shouted back.

As the Einhander began to charge up its main cannon, the torpedo was let loose on the other craft, shrieking through the empty space ahead of it and quickly catching up to the Einhander. The interceptor rolled out of the way...

"98%!" Shaun yelled, shortly before the torpedo scorched alongside his ship, passing it. Ahead of him, the bomb itself banked and flew back around the Aibird, effectively hiding it until it came back within sight of the Einhander. By then, it was too late. As the Grappler scrambled to evade the torpedo, the projectile slammed hard into the left-front of the ship, exploding in a giant fireball. The left engine nacelle blasted apart, sending shards of blue-tinted metal off in random directions. The ship quickly fell over to its side before shattering in a shuddering wave of fire.

"100%, all present and accounted for!" Max slammed a lever on his side, causing him to slam back into his seat. Shaun twitched as his partner's ship blinked by him... and acted accordingly. He reached forward and tossed the switch away from him, causing his vision to go white. Shaun's Aibird was long gone.


********


Falco drummed what would have been his fingers against the glass plating. "A B-Wing. You don't see too many of those around anymore. I thought they scrapped that design at least 50 years ago."

"But what was it doing that far away, in Exodus system?" Eric asked.

Shaun shrugged. "I could never figure that part out. I never even managed to pick up the ship's radio comm, so I couldn't even figure out who the pilot was. Just one of life's little mysteries, I guess. Anyways, after that point everything was rather quiet. Me and Max managed to get to the edge of Exodus, and we said our goodbyes. Max returned to Eternia and Celestia, trying to speed up the legislative debate over the Van Eltia. So basically that left me to cruise aimlessly through the nearby galaxies, trying to pass the time. However, after several months I began to lose touch with Celestia. Nothing had been mentioned yet, and Chat was hopping mad in the mindset that nothing WOULD be done. Max told me years ago, during my childhood, about the legend of the Pink Miacas, cat statues that were supposedly scattered by the early worshippers of the Craymel. They possessed the knowledge of the early Craymel, which in laymans' terms means they were essentially different volumes of Craymel magicks. I spent the next several years touring the Outer Rim galaxies, hoping to find some sort of indication of the presence of any Miacas. I was going to make sure to find those abilities, then return and take back the Van Eltia myself.

"I'd made a vow to myself... to get back the Van Eltia, for Celestia's sake, before my 21st birthday. Right at the point I found the Argetlahm, I was just under two months of my deadline. I was hoping that Ultimanium's mercenary band would be able to assist me in learning the location of the Miacas, and the state of the Van Eltia, and so far the Argetlahm's delivered."

Balkan tilted his head. "You mean to tell us that you lived as a nomad for your entire adolescency? I figure these parts to be extremely dangerous, let alone the neighboring galaxies. And 50,000 Gald isn't a lot, either."

"Upon leaving Exodus, I found my Gald to be decreasing fast. As I got further out, the exchange rate began to drop lower and lower. Eventually, I converted whatever I had left and used it to enter an extreme sports olympics competition on Hellena, a planet in Optimus system. As I began to win, I took on more and more games, raising my funds as I neared the Outer Rim systems. However, I didn't want all the fame to slow my journey down, so I just crafted an alter-ego for myself, sort of a helmet to be my appearance."

Crono seemed to pause, thinking. He tapped Raynor on the shoulder. When Raynor turned, Crono quickly gave him several numbers on his fingers.

"...2009... 2009, 2009, what about that sounds so familiar... yeah, that's when they broadcasted the first extreme sports competition on universal television! And I think it WAS from Hellena, too! What title did you go under?"

Shaun shrugged. "Ah, I forget. It was a long time ago. I was overshadowed by some guy calling himself Alex Mann." He gave Gohan and V2 a threatening stare.

Silence.

Shaun hopped up from his chair. "Well, what can I say. It's been a long road here, and I'm headed back right where I'm started. I really want to see what 'improvements' the Grapplers made to the place. And I'll feel more at home beating the crap out of Antimagnus there."

Renamon squinted. "Sounds like fun. Well, for you, anyways."

Takato turned back from the glass plating. "Hey, what time is it, anyways?"

Peppy lifted his jacket sleeve, glancing at his watch. "...it's... 22:00. Hey, Wheel of Fortune's on!"

Dante lifted an eyebrow. "Wheel of Fortune was three hours ago, dumbass. It's Jeopardy now."

"Heeey!" Tron chuckled. "Mr. Badass here watches Jeopardy to unwind?"

"I'm a civilized guy." Dante scoffed.

"Even when he gets disgruntled and turns into a giant freaking demon." V2 replied. "Hey, I don't even think it's Jeopardy right now... if it's Survivor someone is going to die."

Vegeta lifted himself up as a good portion of the crew plodded off the bridge, talking about their recreation plans for tonight. "Well, I imagine you know where I'll be."

Serge tossed his fist out. "I'm up for a good workout."

Heero shrugged. "I gotta touch up the Arwing. Be back in a while."

Shaun watched, blinking, as the entire bridge seemed to vacate around him. The lights around the bridge dimmed slightly. He stood for a second before stretching, and seating himself back down in the captain's chair. Meanwhile...

"Care for some coffee?" Minonim asked. Shaun turned the chair over to the other side of the control panel, where Minonim was changing the filter in a coffee machine stood convieniently on the other side of the control station. Minonim focused his lit eyes on Shaun, waiting for an answer.

"...uh... sure." Shaun reached over and took a mug of coffee as Minonim handed it to him. "...so this is what Ultimanium's life is all about. Working around other people... making a difference... heh, I guess I'll be part of this big dream soon, won't I?"

"As far as I'm concerned," Minonim replied. "Even if it is making fresh brew for breakfast."



And so, the Argetlahm continued to lumber through space. Light after light on the side of the ship dulled out into a black, camoflauging with the space around them. The only evidence that the Argetlahm was still there was the near-silent hum of the brand new Chronoshifters.

The ship was on its path to Destiny...








********

The bridge is completely quiet. All of a sudden, crashes and bangs echo out from across the room, while the main lights flicker on. "THIS IS BULLSHIT!!!"

Minonim slowly raises himself. "...now what?"

"Look at this!" Ultimanium yells. "This chapter was right at 40k! That's pitiful! God, this is starting to really suck, given that I still somehow manage to take several weeks to write!"

"Well, we're going to need more content, then."

"..." Ultimanium stares at Minonim for a second. "...what is wrong with you? More content can wait for another chapter, this is an emergency!" Ultimanium runs up to the main control panel and hits a excessively large glowing red button labelled OMAKE, and everything goes black.


********



"OMAKE!!!" yelled Mel Gibson, as the rest of the Scottish army charged into battle.

The Power Rangers rallied outside of... wherever that diner is.
"It's OMAKE time!!" whoever the hell was the Red Ranger at that time yelled.

"Try yelling OMAKE sometime. It has bite." a street vendor grunted as handed a fat, bald guy a can reading OMAKE. The fat bald guy takes a sip.
"...ouch."

"You can't be told what OMAKE means," Morpheus said to the perplexed Neo. "You have to just look the damn word up."

"Humor me, or humor me not. There is no OMAKE."
Luke sat blinking for a second. "...but what are we doing right now then?"
"You shall pull the weeds from my potato garden," Yoda said. "Otherwise a new one I shall tear you."

*zzzzzt*




Ultimanium seats himself down in front of a window, looking out into space. "...uh, hi. First of all, I really want to apologize for the lack of actual writing I've been able to accomplish this chapter. Which is why I want to make this announcement before you break my shins - next chapter is going to be another extra-long SPECIAL, set in Mute City!" Ultimanium air-guitars for the next two minutes, after which his shins are kicked in.

Ultimanium slumps himself over the chair. "...ow... anyways.... ow... someone get the ambulence ready, I expect a hasty ride once this stupid OMAKE is over. Okay, so now, as promised, you are entering the Official Ultimanium Nonsense sector of the Ultimatum. During the Argetlahm Adventures, actual plot advancement occured every three days. How can we work that into a pop culture cliche? Hmm..."


********





Magnus stepped forward to the hologram projector as it began to light up, showing a map of the Argetlahm. "I will be giving you a series of tasks to accomplish aboard the Argetlahm throughout the day. I've collaberated with our friend Lord Raul here and his weapon business and he's willing to offer discounts and some other... ahem... services for each group that can win these challenges. Everyone game?"

Everyone nodded.

"First dibs on benefits are granted to those who win. Losers will vote one person to throw out of the nearest airlock. Understood? Good. Form your teams, then come to me. That is all."

As people began to leave their seats to discuss, Davis leapt across the room, driving the Ragnarok through Tai's chest. "HAHAH!! YOU HAVE BEEN BACKSTABBED!! YOUR PLOTS END HERE, TAI KAMIYA!! I SHALL TAKE HOME THE MILLION AND MAKE YOU ALL MY SLAVES!!!"

Cloud kicked Tai's bludgeoned corpse. "...well, that's fine and all, but we haven't even made teams yet."

"Oi? Are my ears hearing me right?" Kid scowled. "You were thinking of making a TEAM? What about our secret alliance?!"

"WHAT secret alliance?!?" Cloud screeched.

"Oi! I'll kick your arse so hard..." Kid charged at Cloud, driving her dagger through Cloud's chest, unfortunately Kid accidently impaled herself on Cloud's Rune Tooth in the process. Both bodies jittered like fleas on crack for a good minute, with blood pouring out of their chest wounds, before Kid finally bit it.

Ultimanium blew a whistle. "The competition is over! Kid has won immunity!"

"WHAT THE HELL?!?" Cloud bellowed.

"Well, think about it. She's immune now, 'cause throwing her out the airlock wouldn't do anything!"

"Well, who gets voted off then?" Gohan asked.

"Cody," Magnus continued. "You are the weakest link. Goodbye."

"Why me?!" Cody fumed.

"Because you're small, shrimpy, you haven't even gotten your Murasame yet and I won't need help to knock you out before we cast you out into the abyss of space."

"You can't vote me off!!" Cody screamed. "You didn't even VOTE!!"

"Magnopolis is a monarchy, so I'm the voter! YAY!!" Magnus did a happy-dance for several minutes while Ultimanium and Raul just stared at him funny. "...okay, anyways... I mean, you're the youngest one here, too, so c'mon..."

"GOHAN'S younger than me!!"

"Yeah, but that's SUPER SAIYAN Gohan, the one that can blow up entire galaxies with his pinky."

"That has nothing to do with his age though!!"

"Of course not. But if I say he's younger he'll blow all our heads off because he is THE BOMB AND HE IS SO DAMN COOL UNLIKE THAT FAT RETARD GOKU WHO GETS ALL THE ATTENTION AND HAS SAVED THE WORLD LIKE 879 TIMES WHILE GOHAN DID IT ONCE AND THAT WAS BECAUSE THAT SAME FAT RETARD GOKU IS A LUCKY SON OF A BITCH AND SOMEHOW CANNOT DIE."

Goku blinked. "I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult. Hey, a penny..." Goku bent down in his chair and picked the coin off the floor, barely dodging a Tomahawk missile as it scorched by where his head used to be and blew apart the Fourth Wall.

Magnus lit Cody's hair on fire. "The tribe has spoken." He immediately slapped a salad bowl down on the same spot, extinguishing the flames. Heero and Duo loaded Cody into a stretcher and hopped up the aisle and out of the war room.

"Hut hut hut hut hut..." Heero and Duo grunted.

"That is all," Magnus announced. "Now, be happy you didn't have to let your blood boil in the inky darkness of space and return to your bunks before I find some reason to boot anyone else off the ship."


(Meanwhile, we interview the person that got booted, just like they do in every freaking reality TV show...)

"I don't exactly get the entire point of this stupid little excuse for OMAKE that Ultimanium slapped in here. If he wants me to respect him when he calls me back in nine years, then he's going to have to kick Magnus' ass for me! I mean, c'mon, if I'm dead, that means I can't even BE summoned at that time, THEN who beats down James, huh?!"

"Aw, shut up already, before you destroy the newcomers with..."

"DUO!" Heero called out. "Get down! Incoming plot hole!"

"Huh?" Duo said stupidly, shortly before a disc of darkness flew through the air and hit him, causing him to disintegrate in a puff of smoke.

"...shit, Cody, NOW look what you did!" Heero sighed. "I hope you're happy, you little bastard!"

"HELL yes!!" Cody hopped off the stretcher and skipped merrily to his bunk, whistling.



********



Ultimanium yanks on a large lever, causing the blackness around him to brighten, and the OMAKE button to stick back out. "Well, see? Now, that wasn't that bad."

"Maybe so," Minonim replies. "But you do realize that this tampering with the past caused Duo to be killed and Cody to be sent in his place for Trance Trauma?"

"...FUCK!!"

"The truth hurts, doesn't it." Minonim turns back to fixing his coffee machine. And Duo was never spoken of again.








NEXT TIME, ON TRANCE TRAUMA...

Chapter 15: TRANCE TRAUMA SPECIAL - Competition


Friends and foes alike gather in the vincinity of Mute City, alongside the Argetlahm, preparing for the annual F-Zero Grand Prix... maybe some aquaintances of the Argetlahm might be there as well? The Smash Bros. Fighting Tournament also draws a crowd, but when a mysterious Trance arrives and seizes the competitions in a deathgrip, only the best of the best will be able to fight through the ranks and secure a battle against this threat... and what does this all have to do with Eric and Shaun? And why is Fox eager to jump into action? Find out next time, on Trance Trauma!