Iczer-one Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Earth Child ❯ The Gray and the Hentai ( Chapter 21 )

The Earthchild

 

(An Iczer/Ranma/Sailor Moon Crossover)

 

Written by

Jim Robert Bader

 

Proofread by

Shiva Barnwell

 

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi,

Naoko Takeuchi, Toshihiro Hirano, & Hitoshi Okuda,

with ideas and suggestions by TH Tiger and Johannes Huber)

 

 

 

 

 

“Here we are, Jubaan High School, just as I promised.”

 

Rini nodded in satisfaction and turned to her tall blonde escort and said, “Domo arigato, Nami-san. I appreciate you giving me the lift, I'd hate to wind up having to explain being absent to my teachers, let alone my parents.”

 

“You could always tell them that I kidnapped and ravished you in the privacy of my own demesne,” Nami teased the younger pink-haired girl, “That sort of thing seems to happen on a lot of high school campuses these days.”

 

Rini had to smile at that, “More than you'd ever believe…but this is the first time I've ever thanked a kidnapper for showing me such a great time. Of course my parents would kill me if they found out I lost my innocence with an exotic dancer…”

 

“Ah well…what can I say in my own defense but that you were too irresistibly sweet a morsel for me to pass up?” Nami smiled, “I know I behaved wickedly in stealing your cherry, but I've rarely tasted a finer flavored virgin than you, and I've deflowered quite a few in my time.”

 

“I won't ask for details,” Rini chuckled softly, then paused as she grew more serious and asked, “Is there…any chance I might get to see you again? I'd love to see you dance…”

 

Nami touched the younger girl's chin and said, “And I would love nothing more than to dance for your benefit, my Princess. Consider it a command performance when next I see you…”

 

“Hey Rini, wait up!”

 

The pink-haired Senshi turned to see one of her best friends approaching her and said, “Hello, Naoko…what's up?”

 

“What's up with you?” the curly brown haired girl replied, looking past Rini towards Nami, who stared back with an unreadable expression, “Who's the Amazon, your aunt or something? She looks a little like your mother.”

 

“Really?” Rini mused as she turned back to Nami, “I never noticed---what's wrong?”

 

Nami's eyes were narrowed to the point of slits, and in a single word she spat out, “Venomoid.”

 

“Huh?” Rini looked around, “Where…?”

 

“Right here!” Naoko cried as she lunged forward, having gotten within easy reach of the pink haired Senshi. She tried to grab the Moon Princess by her arm but something flared up in her path at the last second and she was rebounded off an invisible shielding.

 

Naoko went sprawling as Nami wasted no time pointing her bracelet at the other girl, and before the teenager could move she was trapped within a scarlet beam that surrounded her body and caused her to arch her back with a cry that was inhuman.

 

“Stop it!” Rini cried, “What are you doing?”

 

“Watch and see,” Nami replied as her bracelet shifted to a purple colored beam, and then Naoko all at once vomited something up which landed on the ground a meter away, shaped like an acorn of some kind and very nasty looking.

 

Nami narrowed her beam and shot the acorn, which was only just beginning to sprout tendrils, disintegrating the seed before it had time to sprout into something far more menacing. In seconds only ash remained, that and the still body of Naoko, who was by now quite unconscious.

 

Nami killed her beam then said, “She'll be all right,” she reached into the side of her dress and pulled out a capsule of some sort then went over to the fallen girl and injected her with something, “This will neutralize any trace of the Venomoid seed still in her system. That was a close one…another few seconds and your friend would have been lost to you forever.”

 

“W-what do you mean?” Rini asked in a trembling voice, “What was that thing?”

 

“Pure evil,” Nami said as she lifted the girl into her arms without apparent strain or effort, “The Venomoid are an ancient race of Xenomorphic shapeshifters…they spread their seed by infecting living organisms with their deadly spores, which incubate within the body until they are ready to hatch out, in which case they totally overwhelm the host organism and corrupt the DNA into a copy of their own vile essence. Caught in the early stages there is no danger of a relapse, but if I had not acted in time to prevent the transformation…she would have gone forever, with not even a trace of her own pattern worth burying in a coffin.”

 

“Horrible!” Rini put fingers to her mouth, “I've never seen anything this evil…and I thought I'd seen a lot just battling Youma…”

 

“There is a relationship between the Venomoid and your Youma,” Nami said as she began to carry the young girl towards the school building, “Or at least we suspect that they have a common source…by the way, which way to the infirmary? Your friend here is going to need some rest if she is to recover.”

 

“Over this way,” Rini pointed, hurrying to match the long stride of the powerful blonde woman, only to halt as three more students exited the bushes to stand athwart their path.

 

“So you think you've seen terror before, do you?” one of the students asked in a very inhuman voice, “Just wait until you see us in our true forms.”

 

All at once the trio began to shake, their bodies splitting apart as their outer skin was shed like a snake's skin, revealing hideous black and ochre shapes with overly large eyes that filled the space where a human face would be, and each one sporting dark tentacles that seemed ready to ravish young flesh, and not merely for vicarious pleasure.

 

“Damn,” Nami murmured to herself, “I was too late this time…it's my fault…damn you all!”

 

She set Naoko down and straightened up again, never taking her eyes away from the Venomoid menace. The creatures tried to advance on them rapidly, to overwhelm them in a rush, only to be repelled again against the invisible barrier that seemed to surround the tall blonde as it repelled the monsters, leaving both Nami and Rini untouched and well protected.

 

“You are going to be sorry that you did this in front of an Iczelion warrior,” Nami balled her fists, “Black Unit---Charging---!”

 

Before she could finish her words another voice cried out, “JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!” at the same time an almost identical voice cried, “MORNING STAR STRIKE!” and seconds later the Venomoids were struck by twin blasts, one consisting of a concentrated sound wave, the other shaped like an energy mace with projecting points that blasted the hideous creatures and exploded them into fragments.

 

Rini stared round eyed as bits of monster-flesh struck the energy globe surrounding her and Nami and harmlessly slid off. The three creatures lay prone on the ground, badly mauled by the twin attack, even as two new forms leaped into view, both clad in Sailor fuku and sporting a weird glamour about their bodies that prevented positive identification.

 

“Guys?” Rini hesitantly asked upon recognizing the duo.

 

“More friends of yours, I take it?” Nami asked.

 

“Europa!” cried one girl, while her companion echoed, “And Io…we're the Sailor Senshi of Justice! Attack our friends and you face the combined fury of both Jupiter and Venus!”

 

“Thanks for the rescue!” Rini said, “But how did you know…?”

 

“Are you kidding?” the girl on the left asked.

 

“Half of the students in school heard that explosion a minute ago,” said her companion before both girls chorused as one, “And who's your tall friend? She looks a little like Mom…”

 

“Ah…not quite,” Rini knew that it was not an appropriate time for blushing, but she could not help feeling her face warm slightly at the thought that she had made love to a woman old enough to be one of her aunts, “We met last night…kind of a long story behind that…”

 

“Never mind all of that just now,” Nami said somberly, “Be on your guard…the Venomoids are still active, don't allow them to infect you or you will be lost, too, forever.”

 

“What do you mean?” one of the twin girls asked.

 

“Can't you do something to change them back?”

 

Nami shook her head sadly and replied, “No, once a person has been taken over, there is nothing that I can do for them but to put them out of their misery. There is nothing left of the people they were but Venomoid filth, and if left to themselves they'll only wind up infecting more victims until your whole high school…no, the whole city will be taken over by such space trash!”

 

She began to gesture with her braceleted arm when Rini put a hand over her wrist and said, “No…I know of a better way. Allow me to do this.”

 

With that the pink haired Moon Princess reached into some invisible space and held up a jeweled mirror in one hand and intoned the words, “MOON ILLUMINATION MAKEUP!”

 

All at once her body went momentarily nude, then a light shown around her that transformed her outer appearance into something more fairy-like, a fuku-clad Princess whose diadem-shaped tiara spouted hair ornaments that looked a little something like roses. She held her mirror aloft in both hands and spoke in words that oddly resonated over the campus, “MOON HEALING ESCALATION!”

 

At once a light shone down from the mirror to bathe the stirring Venomoids, who cried out in dismay as their forms were engulfed in the shimmering pink illumination. All at once their bodies changed before the eyes of those who could witness the transformation, momentarily gaining a double-image as one part separated from the other, the darker half shredding apart like chaff in the wind, leaving behind the human aspects, who slumped to the ground and lay still thereafter.

 

“You see?” Rini asked as she lowered her mirror, “There is a way to take out Dark Kingdom trash without having to kill anybody.”

 

Nami stared in open amazement, then softly said, “Black…did you see that?”

 

(Saw and recorded, Mistress,) came a voice in her mind, which only she could overhear, (This data could prove invaluable to our efforts to resist Venomoid infiltration…it will be relayed to headquarters for further analysis).

 

“Good,” Nami nodded slowly before taking in the fuku-clad twins and saying, “Sailors Europa and Io, I presume?”

 

“The very same,” one tall girl replied.

 

“Who were you talking to?” her twin also wondered.

 

“My shadow,” Nami smiled before nodding to Rini, “Mind helping me take these others somewhere safe where we can talk? I rather imagine we have much to share in common between us.”

 

“You read my mind,” Rini smiled, turning to the twins, “Guys…you think you can manage with the boys? I'll handle Ryonako.”

 

“You're leaving us the boys?” one of the twin girls asked.

 

“Are you feeling all right?” the other echoed.

 

“Just fine,” Rini replied as she lifted the fallen girl into her arms, even as Nami opted to sling Naoko over one shoulder in a fireman carry in order to keep her left wrist (the one with the bracelet) clear in case it was needed, “It's just that you two are a lot stronger than me, and those guys are heavy.”

 

“It figures,” one twin sniffed.

 

“What are we, pack animals, Princess?” the other girl retorted, but then the twins exchanged smirking looks and easily hefted the two boys (who were quite handsome) over their own shoulders as their group ignored the stares from other students and made their way towards the school nurse's office.

 

Unseen by this odd quartet, however, a figure in black stepped from the shadows and spoke into her wristwatch, “Agent D here…Central, we have a Code Blue Xenomorphic infestation at my location…request dispatching a containment unit for cleansing and sanitizing the infected area…”

 

“Jubaan again?” came the exasperated voice of the creature on dispatch, “What is it about that place that attracts all of the weirdoes?”

 

“Hey, you tell me and you can win a million Centauri Zamoulas,” D turned to her partner and said, “What is it about this place that all the Dark Kingdom Youma and other extra-dimensional riff-raff always choose to show up here?”

 

“Can't really say, Slick,” Agent Q replied, with a shrug, “If I knew that one I'd earn my promotion. What do you say to that one, P?”

 

The comments the other Woman In Black directed were towards a small quadrupedal form hunched down by her ankles, one that wore a surprisingly thoughtful expression on his snout as he replied, “You got me there, toots…magnetic resonance, a strange arrangement of the cosmic lei-lines…you take your pick, all I know is that almost ever would-be world beater and galactic tyrant has been stomping down the gates of this place for the past several decades. I've lost count of the number of wanted A-class criminals in the Galaxy Police files who tried to make a name for themselves in this place and wound up biting it big time…”

 

“Well, it's not really relevant to the situation in hand,” Agent Q said as she reached into her blouse and pulled out her Neuralizer, “First thing's first, we need a media blackout before any cameras show up here with nosy reporters asking about this latest Youma incursion.”

 

“Talk about your never ending thankless tasks,” D grumbled, “We should get overtime for this…it's the third time this week we've had to do this.”

 

“Comes with the turf, Toots,” Agent P sniffed with amusement before sobering again as he added, “I think I'll follow a lead of my own…got a cousin who hangs out at a local Shrine, he might know something about this…if I can find him. Unfortunately the poor sap got himself soul-bonded to a guy who can't find his way to the privy without a Seeing Eye dog.”

 

“Sounds messy,” Agent Q turned to her partner, “Might as well get this done before we get any older, Slick.”

 

“Like you say, comes with the turf, Partner,” Agent D agreed before they went to work dealing with some inconvenient memories from the milling throngs of students…

 

 

 

 

At that precise time, situated in another prefecture…

 

“Here you are, Muku-chan,” Rhea said as she indicated Furinkan High School, “On time, just as I promised.”

 

“Thanks,” Muku smiled back a bit shyly, “I had a great time in your world…I'm sorry if I couldn't stay and…well…gotten the grand tour, or something…”

 

“New Gamora will be waiting for you any time you wish to visit,” Rhea promised, “You have only to ask…it's now as much your home as mine.”

 

“Ah…well…” Muku read the unspoken part of that offer in her companion's green eyes, and she was about to say something to the effect that it sounded…nice…when Rhea surprised her by asking another question.

 

“Muku-chan,” she said a she turned to scan the passing throngs of students (who gave Rhea a passing glance of curiosity, even though the latter was not wearing her usual armor but had adopted clothing similar to that tried on in the dress shop, “What is it like…attending school classes?”

 

“Huh?” Muku blinked, “Don't you know?”

 

Rhea shook her golden head and said, “C'thuwulf do not need formal education…most basic knowledge is downloaded into us when we are incubating and stored away for general access. Any new learning comes from free-flowing discussion seminars that we can attend with our peer groups…I have often interacted in such social circles back home, but most C'thuwulf citizens tend to regard me with a bit of awe, I'm afraid, because I am an Iczer.”

 

“But…you do have a social life back home, right?” Muku asked, “You've got friends you grew up with?”

 

Rhea nodded, “I have friends at home…like Salmon and her sisters, Pink and Trout. But…as I say…I have never been as close to anyone as I am to you, Muku-chan. You are my first and only partner, and besides…”

 

“You're a Bioroid with a lot of super powers, huh?” Muku paused, then added, “And your folks are celebrities…one of your mother's practically the President of your whole people.”

 

Rhea nodded, “A human saying comes to mind…it is lonely at the top. As close to others at home as I may be, they can never entirely divorce from their minds the fact that I am the daughter of the Lady Protector…something closer to a Messiah in the eyes of my people. I wish that I could have more natural relationships, such as you enjoy with your friends at school and in the dojo.”

 

“Ah…well…I'm not sure that I'd call my friends exactly `normal,' but I think I know what you mean. So…you've never attended a high school before?”

 

“No,” Rhea replied, “There is nothing like it in New Gamora…although it is common for young people to apprentice themselves at an early age to study groups and as lab assistants. We tend to mature a bit earlier than you…a process of our skipping the early phases of infancy, where humans learn to crawl, toddle, walk and talk for the first time. We emerge from a generation chamber roughly equivalent to six years old, by your Earth standards…and then we grow naturally from that point onward…”

 

“Sounds like you're missing a lot that way,” Muku murmured, “I don't remember too much about my first six years, but I know a lot of important stuff happened, and I don't think my parents would have missed that for anything.”

 

“Mine either,” Rhea replied, “Of course I lived those years in Virtual space, growing up and forming bonds with my mothers whenever they entered their regeneration chambers during their sleep cycles. We have a vast cybernetic community that thrives when people are inactive in their bodies…our time isn't wasted in the same manner that human sleep appears to do…”

 

“Yeah, well…that's be great if I could do my homework while I was sleeping…” Muku started to say when a shadow fell over her, causing her to look up with a startled, “Nani?”

 

All at once Rhea moved, shoving her out of the way as a heavy object came crashing down upon her, the Bioroid barely having time enough to get her arms up in the way before she was smashed into the pavement by a heavy trash bin that must have weighed a ton at the very least.

 

“Oh, too bad…we only nailed one of you,” a familiar voice called out, surprising Muku, who whirled in time to see Gel and her brother, Godai, standing there a short distance away, looking smug and somehow more sinister than usual.

 

“What did you just do?” Muku cried as fear caused her to be torn between Rhea's plight and the obvious threat posed to her by the Kunos.

 

“Nothing too much,” Godai replied, “Probably didn't even scratch the paint on your little wind-up toy…observe.”

 

“Huh?” Muku asked, only to go round eyed as she saw Rhea stand up, tossing the trash receptacle to the side as though the massive thing weighed no more than a breadbox. Rhea's street clothing was a bit torn and soiled in places, threatening to land her with a case of “indecent exposure,” but there was a look in her eyes that had rarely been there before…raw anger! Bruised and battered through she was, Rhea was otherwise unhurt and quite obviously ready to leap into battle.

 

“That…almost hurt,” Rhea growled, her large eyes almost luminous with outrage, “How dare you attack us when our guard is down you…cowards!”

 

“Tough words for a Tinker Toy who's about to be broken,” Godai smiled as he extended one hand, which was promptly filled with the crimson gleam of a beam saber, “Shall we dance?”

 

“What?” Muku was shocked to see the thing that Godai was gripping, but Rhea calmly spoke to her in sotto-voice, “They are not the Kunos you know…something has transformed them…Gold or Neos, no doubt about it.”

 

“They're not…Gel and Godai?” Muku asked as she, too, fell into a defensive stance.

 

“Wrong,” Gel sneered, “We are Godai and Gel Kuno…but we have been improved into more effective fighting units. No longer do you face a pair of weak and easily distracted humans, Android, but rather a fighting team that will destroy the both of you without working up a sweat.”

 

Her hand lashed forward, only this time Rhea dodged out of the way in time to avoid the energy whip that had been aimed for her body. She landed a few meters closer to Muku and then cried, “Unit Six-Nine---TRANSFORM!”

 

“Charging up, as per your instructions,” a voice responded in Muku's ears.

 

“Wha…?” Muku started to say when all at once the air around her became electrified, and she felt the familiar transformation coming over her as her school uniform vanished, replaced moments later by the plated sections of her Iczelion armor, and then the equally protective sheet that went between the sections of plating.

 

No sooner had she transformed into armored warrior mode but Gel came leaping at her, lashing out with both hands as twin energy lashes sizzled the air and threatened to gouge those sections of her body not protected by armored plating. Muku moved as though this were a typical ribbon attack, only to find the lashes moved more like snakes and hissed about one arm and leg, snaring her as she felt the hot bite of these whips through the otherwise insulated body-suit that she was wearing. She was slammed down to the already cracked sidewalk with force enough to gouge a small crater, but other than this she was surprisingly unhurt, the armor itself taking the worst of the brunt of her impact.

 

Rhea was currently too occupied trading slashes with her beam saber against Godai to come to Muku's assistance, the formerly human male proving surprisingly skilled and adept with his new weapon and testing Rhea's own battle-hardened reflexes to their limits within a matter of seconds.

 

“You dance well, my lady,” Godai cheerfully taunted when their beams locked together in a tight clench, leaving their bodies only inches apart, “But I'll wager you'll dance even more beautifully when you are on the point of my lance.”

 

Rhea found herself stiffening with an unexpected reaction, finding herself close to a male of the human species, which ordinarily would have imbued her with preternatural shyness, but in these circumstances caused her to tense up in actual revulsion. She lost a bit of her edge for a moment, which gave Godai all the leverage he needed to break their clench and them attempt to slice her down the middle.

 

Rhea got her saber in the way in time, but she was off-balance and could not brace herself against the force of his blow, which knocked her sprawling and caused her to lose her grip upon her saber. She got back to her feet, only to find herself weaponless as the boy prepared to charge her directly. Godai grinned as he sensed victory in the offing, only to see Rhea point her hands down as she released an energy discharge that shattered the pavement and sent chunks of asphalt scattering in his direction.

 

Godai paused to deflect these fragments with his saber, but this gave Rhea time enough to spot-teleport to where her own beam saber was resting point-first in the ground. Retrieving her weapon, she whirled about and slashed savagely at Godai's unprotected back, scoring a direct hit against his spinal column, but instead of penetrating the thing met a force screen and was rebounded.

 

“What?” Rhea gasped as she staggered back a couple of paces.

 

“Surprised, my ladyship?” Godai leered, turning about with his beam saber once more at the ready, “Did you think I would be so easy?”

 

“Not really,” Rhea said as she recovered from her surprise, reaching down and producing a second beam saber, then crossing the beams before her as she added, “But it would seem that you are in no position to question my humanity, Cyborg.”

 

“I am more than a mere machine like you, my dear,” Godai nodded sagely, “Come try me if you wish to see the perfection that is my new body.”

 

“I am not a machine,” Rhea replied, “And I am not your dear anything, and as for perfection, there is only one whom I acknowledge that, and that is Muku-chan!”

 

“Ah, there I must concede that you do have a point,” Godai mused, “But not for too much longer if my dear sister has her way, I imagine.”

 

Rhea risked glancing at the parallel fight going on between Gel and Muku, all too aware this time that the Kunos had been prepared to fight them on a level more worthy of a duel of Iczers, which caused her to silently curse herself for the fool that she knew that she was. Obviously leaving the Kunos alone in that park while unconscious and helpless had been a gross tactical error, and now they were all paying the price for her carelessness, courtesy of Gold and her evil facilities whose stolen technology was almost the very equal to that which had given her birth.

 

Almost, however, only counted in thermonuclear exchanges, and though Gel's tricks had now been augmented with deadlier hardware, still Muku's own natural battle prowess was greatly augmented by her Iczelion armor, armor that was partially alive and could feed to Muku some hasty instructions informing her of its capabilities and uses. Muku rapidly learned not to question the gift horse she had been given, finding it almost natural to shift from an energy lance to the armor's powers of levitation, gaining some altitude in order to deflect those energy lashes that might otherwise had cut a normal person into sushi. Muku battled away an energy hoop that struck a statue in passing and sent the former Principle Kuno tumbling to the ground, in the process just barely missing a group of awe-struck Furinkan students.

 

“Hey!” Muku cried out, “Leave the civilians out of this! Your fight's with me, Gel!”

 

“There are no civilians…nor innocents in a war, fool!” Gel retorted, holding up a pair of energy globes that she handed like they were juggler's pins and sending them soaring in two different arcs which converged upon Muku.

 

Muku spun her energy lance and battered the energy globes away, but as she did this her mind was forming an astonishing conclusion that greatly assisted her in the battle. Gel---no matter how over the top her behavior could become at times---would never have consciously or willingly endangered an innocent bystander in one of their battles. There were limits to their challenge matches that even the most determined opponents would observe as a commonly shared principle of Budo, which meant that the Gel in front of her was not the one with whom she routinely sparred…not even mentally…someone else clearly having taken over.

 

This was good for several reasons, not the least of which was Gel's innate tactical brilliance as a martial artist and her ability to form strategies that often tested Muku's natural resources. Whoever was piloting her brain obviously was leaving her higher facilities on automatic pilot, and whoever was in charge was someone a lot nastier and more ruthless, but far less imaginative in her attacks than the purple haired Amazon whom Muku knew---not so much as a friend---as a peer and one-time childhood playmate.

 

Of course there was still enough of Gel Kuno in there for Muku to have some royal satisfaction at an anticipated butt-kicking. No sooner had she deflected the energy balls but then she hurled her lance at the ground in front of Gel, knowing it would have been dodged had she aimed for her foe directly, though her armor was informing her of what would happen when the lance and the ground made forceful contact together.

 

The explosion caught Gel by surprise and kicked her up like a leaf in the wind, tumbling her backwards and momentarily off-balance. Muku wasted no time forming another energy lance while rocketing forward to strike at Gel while the girl was still in-mid-air, only to encounter an energy shield, which deflected her attack to the side.

 

“What?” Muku gasped as she recoiled backwards.

 

Gel landed without effort on her feet then turned to regard Muku with a sneer, “Did you think I would fall that easily? You are about to get a rude surprise, my dear…and one you have long deserved…Muku-dearest.”

 

All at once the air shimmered before Muku's astonished eyes, then the next thing she saw was a fist the size of a small house rocketing towards her. She felt the savage backhand through her armor as the rest of the cyclopean form stepped through the gap in the folds of subspace.

 

Rhea turned to see what had emerged into their world and gasped, “No way!”

 

“Oh yes way,” Godai grinned, “May I present to you our own powerful armor that will spell the doom for you and the C'thuwulf…meet the Blue God of Death himself, Holokhan!”

 

Muku opened her eyes past the spinning stars and pin-wheels in order to take in the sight of a towering form that looked remarkably like ancient feudal samurai armor, only so massive that it seemed to tower like Mount Fuji over the Furinkan campus. Compared to it an Iczer Robo was a mere dwarf, though how anything so big could move, let alone hit so hard, she did not even want to contemplate.

 

“You have got to be freling kidding me!” she gasped, not realizing at the moment that she had just used an entirely unfamiliar curse word, and at the moment not even caring…

 

 

 

 

Troi had thought herself in desperate straights when the unexpected surge of energy bolstered her strength and resilience by a factor of ten, giving her just the power she needed to shrug off the tentacles that were seeing to contain her and move at the last possible second to avoid being disemboweled by a vicious claw-strike by Neos.

 

“Ow,” she winced as she felt the stripes get painted across her unprotected belly, “That smarts, you asshole!”

 

“My apologies,” Neos replied as she launched a series of even more vicious claw attacks, which Troi dodged and deflected with some effort, “Next time I won't miss you, and I'll eat your heart and dine on your liver!”

 

“You've got some seriously disturbed dietary habits, you know that?” Troi said as she switched tactics, letting one claw pass her by so close that she could feel the imaginary wind kicked up by the blades as they came close to shaving off one of her forelocks, turning her body slightly to the side as she lashed out with the back of one fist and drove her hand solidly into the armored chest of the onrushing Neos.

 

The force of her blow was easily conveyed through the layers of armor protecting the virtual internal organs of the imaginary Neos, setting her up for when Troi could drive her knee into the guts of the serpentine creature. Neos staggered backward from the imaginary attack, giving Troi the opening for coming in with a sidewinder-kick that might have cut a lesser Bioroid in half, but for Neos springing back to life and absorbing the blow---and the leg---in the next second.

 

“What?” Troi gasped as she fought to free her foot from the grip of Neos.

 

“Foolish child!” Neos sneered, “In this realm it is the Mind that prevails, not merely the body!”

 

And with that Troi found herself being driven into the ground face-first like the proverbial tent peg. She had just begun to recover from this when Neos threw her back like a whip and slammed her against the ground again, kicking up a virtual storm of dirt and rock at the crater that was thus created. Troi reeled a bit from the double-impact as Neos wrapped her snake-like arms around her body and began squeezing.

 

“Now I'll absorb you into myself and make you a part of my greater perfection!” Neos sneered into her ears, even as Troi found herself sinking into the body of her adversary.

 

“Hey---Leggo!” Troi helplessly thrashed against the monster, feeling her strength begin to be sapped out of her frame and into Neos. Her energy levels were plummeting fast and she lacked the internal power to free herself from containment. In desperation she cast her mind out into the void seeking for energy lines that she might draw strength from to replace her dwindling power…

 

…And felt the raw surge of an emotion inside herself that wholly surprised her, originating as it did from well outside her own system.

 

Troi wasted no time plugging into this new power, letting it surge into her weakening limbs as her body converted the emotion into raw energy, and through the alchemy that was the Iczerio force within her she began to glow with renewed integrity, shrugging off the foreign virus!

 

“I SAID LET GOOO!!!” she snarled, breaking free from Neos and doing a rapid tumble in-mid-air as she summoned up her beam saber-lances, double-slashing in a backward direction before somersaulting into a more upright position.

 

“IMPOSSIBLE!” Neos cried as fracture lines appeared across her body, “There is no way you could do that!”

 

“Surprised myself with that one, Neos,” Troi smiled as a fissure line cracked the mask of her enemy and left exposed the face of the machine that lay behind it. A second later a second fracture line across her middle divided her in twain and them she burst apart into four separate sections and exploded into fragments, leaving nothing more than dust in her passing.

 

“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” Troi sniffed as she turned away from her fallen foe, “NOW COME OUT WHERE I CAN SEE YOU, GOLD! This is between you and me, and I'm not letting you have my daughter!”

 

“FOOLISH ICZER,” another voice taunted from above, “HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING YET ABOUT THE FIELD OF THIS PARTICULAR BATTLE?”

 

“What are you…?” Troi started to say when she felt the snake-like arms go around her once again, Neos holding her firmly in place this time as Troi belatedly got her hands up in time to intercept the scorpion tail that sought to impale her.

 

“Did you think you could destroy me that easily?” Neos taunted, “I am immortal! I will always come back to destroy you!”

 

“HEY, no way!” Troi grunted as she fought against the monster, “You cheated!”

 

“There are no rules for this level of combat,” Neos replied, “Only victory or death are the spoils for each contender!”

 

“Is that a fact?” Troi grimaced, then all at once she surged with energy and fought free of her entanglement, twisting her body as she drove the tip of Neos's tail into her chest, letting the Bioroid have a taste of her own poison while Troi sneered, “Does that mean I get to kill you over and over again? Groovy! I'm game for a repeat match!”

 

Neos's cry was heralded by her own swelling up as the poison exploded her insides and turned her into a paroxysm of agonizing pustules. A second later she mercifully disintegrated, only to reform again some distance away, more wary this time but even more livid for vengeance than ever.

 

“Man, don't you ever try anything else?” Troi sniffed, “How many times are you gonna hit the reset button before you get the message that I outclass you, loser!”

 

“This battle is far from over!” Neos sneered before she began to divide herself into two distinctly different parts, which divided themselves accordingly into two more seconds, and so on until sixteen Neos Golds surrounded Troi on all sides, each leveling a tail drawn back for a stinking.

 

“Man, this is getting so lame!” Troi growled, “Are you deliberately trying to waste my time here?”

 

“DIIIEEE!!!” the ring of Neos cried as sixteen deadly tails came spiking in with energy glowing from the tips of their needles.

 

Troi seemed not to move at all as the tails struck her position, but rather than inject her with their venom they passed harmlessly through her body while Troi herself moved like a blur with hands becoming all but invisible for several seconds. Then she teleported a short distance away and smiled at her own handiwork while the sixteen Neos Golds all struggled to free themselves, finding their tails all jointly tied up into bow-knot.

 

“Perfect!” Troi grinned as she summoned up an energy lance, then she hurled it horizontally as it curved around the ring of Neos then boomeranged back into her outstretched hand. The Neos ring all cried out in dismay and exploded in their collective middle sections, detonating like a ring of firecrackers while Troi made a fist and cried a triumphant, “STRIKE!”

 

“VERY RESOURCEFUL OF YOU, AND QUITE CLEVER,” Gold's voice rang down once again, “BUT I HAVE FAR WORSE IN STORE FOR YOU THAN AN ENDLESS RECYCLING OF THAT DEFECTIVE BY-PRODUCT.”

 

“Yeah?” Troi sneered, “Bring it on! You set them up, I'll take them down, including you, you stupid virus!”

 

“Is that a fact?” a new opponent asked.

 

“Then try your hand against us, we dare you,” a male voice spoke this time as Troi found herself being bracketed by two armored forms who were disturbingly familiar.

 

“Not the Grey twins again!” Troi winced, “Don't you have any original minions to throw at me? This is so Last Season!”

 

“You won't think yourself so lucky when you deal with us for real,” replied Cross, the female cyborg responsible for numerous acts of space piracy and terrorism.

 

“Our counterparts outside will be wrecking their havoc while you are trapped in hear dealing with us,” noted Chaos, her even more sinister twin brother.

 

“Huh?” Troi blinked, “You mean you losers are making a comeback? Hell, you weren't even a match for Nagisa wearing an Iczelion the last time! No way the two of you can be a match for…me…?”

 

“You were saying?” Chaos smiled as his form expanded in size and became more titanic.

 

“Let us see how you deal with us in our transformed state,” Cross mused as she, too, grew to gigantic proportions, “AND LET US ASSURE YOU IN THIS INSTANCE, SIZE REALLY DOES MATTER!”

 

“Nani?” Troi winced, finding her analogy to the adventures of an Earth girl named Alice a little more telling at that moment…

 

 

 

 

Sakura could hardly believe that she was doing this, but floating naked in an egg-shaped cubicle with tubes attached to her skin was beginning to feel much less alien to her than the last time. She was waiting for Sister Grey to finish making the last adjustments to her control panel, though from Sakura's perspective it looked like nothing so much as the pale-haired scientist passing her hands over the empty space above the panel, as it working controls that were invisible to anyone else (either that or she was conducting an invisible orchestra to the accompanying sound of a few bleeps and whistles).

 

“Troi's bio-signs are intensifying,” the blonde Iczer One reported, “As though she were in pitched battle.”

 

“It figures that idiot would treat this as some kind of video game for her benefit,” Iczer Two growled, “It would be just like her to exhaust herself while Gold tests her defenses in order to infiltrate her virus.”

 

“You say that in an angry voice,” Nagisa pointed out, “But you're not fooling anyone, Ni-chan…we all know you're just as worried about her as anyone else here.”

 

“I am worried that our combat efficiency might be greatly diminished if that little idiot doesn't come out of there hale, hearty and uncontaminated,” Iczer Two insisted, “We need all our warriors to be battle ready and proven, and Troi---for all her many faults---is an effective fighting unit…I would be remise if I didn't note that.”

 

“And besides which, she is our sister,” Iczer One pointed out with a softer smile that earned a sheepish glance from her redheaded sibling.

 

“This is not just about family,” Iczer Two stiffly pointed out, “If Gold were to take her over, and maintain control over Atros…they would have between them the combined power to level this whole facility…not that we would permit them to go that far, of course.”

 

“Besides which, you'd miss having her around to snap at and get under your skin,” Nagisa chuckled, “Why not just come out and admit that you like her---in spite of the way you two bicker like sisters, Ni-chan?”

 

“Watch that `chan' business around my partner,” Sayoko bristled, “I still haven't completely forgiven you guys over Nova, and you did seem to be enjoying each other rather a lot last night, and don't think I wasn't watching.”

 

“Ah…” Iczer Two had a suddenly VERY nervous expression as she eyed her official partner.

 

“Yes, I was kind of thinking the same thing myself, as a matter of fact,” Iczer One pretended to sound casual as she smiled, but her crimson eyes were flashing with something other than amusement, “Maybe you two would make good partners after all…”

 

“Hey, wait a minute,” Nagisa protested, “You and Sayoko sure seemed to waste no time getting down to it, so who are you two pointing the finger at anyway?”

 

“Good question,” Sayoko turned to her fellow Iczer-partner and leered, “One that needs settling by an official challenge, don't you agree?”

 

“I couldn't agree more,” Nagisa turned back to Sayoko with a matching leer, “It's a matter of honor, of course…your partner and mine…shall we say, after dinner?”

 

“Why wait that long?” Sayoko countered, “How about we celebrate after Troi whoops Gold's ass and frees YOUR daughter?”

 

“Fine,” Nagisa nodded, “It's a date, then, and may the better partner win.”

 

“Huh?” Iczer Two looked blankly at the pair, then at her equally confounded sister.

 

“What did they just agree to have us do?” One asked with a worried expression.

 

“I don't know,” Two confided as she leaned closer to her older sibling, “But odds are we would be wiser to nod our heads and agree to it unless you feel like sleeping solo in your Iczer Robo for tonight.”

 

“Good point,” One sagely nodded.

 

Sakura was amazed at hearing this dialogue from the Bioroids and their human side-kicks…if she didn't know any better she would have sworn that they sounded like long-term married couples, with the Iczers cast in the roles of hen-pecked husbands. It reminded her rather much of the way her father tended to nod his head and go along with whatever her mother proposed, risking a spatula to the face if he argued, and yet the feeling was so natural here that she found herself warming up to the odd quartet, reckoning that they would not make half-bad in-laws…

 

She stiffened on that thought then self-exclaimed, (WHAT AM I SAYING???).

 

“We're almost ready to initiate a convergence,” Sister Grey announced, “You do realize that where you will find yourself is in a realm of the mind and imagination, where what you believe is real will have substance and value, and if you lower your guard or believe in your own demise it could create a powerful effect to your own body?”

 

“I've got it,” Sakura said, still amazed at being able to talk while submerged in the odd tasting (but not entirely unpleasant) bio-fluid, “Let's get on with it already.”

 

“I just wanted you to be as prepared as I could make you,” Sister Grey replied, “I've taken the time to study the fight being waged between Troi and the Virus…Gold is attempting to distract and wear her down so that she reacts to shadows instead of going to the real source of the problem. In doing so, however, Gold has unwittingly exposed her flank and given me the input I needed to analyze the structure of her encoding. It took this long to break it down to its key constituent components, and that has given me the key to creating an Anti-Virus that could potentially unlock and destroy the program.”

 

“You've created an Anti-Virus for Big Gold?” Iczer One said in amazement.

 

“Unfortunately no,” Grey replied, “Not as such…Gold's original program is far too complex and multi-layered to be neutralized in such a simple manner. If that had not been the case, then we would never have lost control over the World Computer back on C'thuwulf Prime, and our race would not have been exiled. This bug, however, is only a mere fraction of the total Gold program, necessary as the space it occupies in Atros's memory receptors is much too finite to store the whole thing. The Anti-Virus, which I am sending with you, will contain a set of specifically keyed programs designed to unlock and destroy the copy, thus allowing you and Troi to purge the virus altogether from her system. However…you will need the full cooperation of Atros if this is to be ultimately effected…her mind must be unlocked as well before she can reject the influence of her false parent.”

 

“I…think I got all that,” Sakura said nervously, “But…how will I be able to carry it with me?”

 

“I will inject it with you into the matrix,” Grey replied, “It will take the form of an icon or a symbolic object, which you will then transport with you until you find a terminus in which to feed the program into Gold directly. This might mean getting uncomfortably close to her, but you seem to be a resourceful enough young lady, and if you can withstand her tricks and deceptions you might actually stand a fair chance of assisting my daughter…your new partner.”

 

“Ah…temporary partner…I think,” Sakura said tentatively, then relaxed, “Okay…whenever you're ready…”

 

Grey nodded, passed her hand over her console again and said, “Now.”

 

All at once the room seemed to zone out for her, and Sakura felt herself falling backwards into a long, inky pit, only to awaken once again as she instinctively rolled and got her feet underneath her, then landed with a resounding “Thump!” on solid ground…or semi-solid, to judge by the slightly squishy feel of the place.

 

At once Sakura's mind clothed her body in the garb of an okonomiyaki chef, complete with bandoleer of throwing spatulas and her baker's peel resting comfortably across her back. She felt somehow better armed this way than appearing fully naked, and as she turned to look around she found herself inside a gigantic cavern of some sort, oddly reddish colored with a gray, featureless plain that had many craggy indentures as though the ground was oddly indented with all sorts of mini-trenches.

 

“Can you hear me child?” she heard a voice say into her ear, the voice of Sister Grey, she duly noted.

 

“Yeah…I hear you,” Sakura answered, “I'm in some kind of a cave…no sign of Troi yet.”

 

“Just follow your instincts and you should be drawn to her by the connection between you,” Grey replied, “Be ready for anything…and you should be seeing the Anti-Virus appearing beside you…it could be a glowing ball of energy, or any object you choose to interpret it as.”

 

Sakura glanced around and found the ball of energy floating by her without effort. She reached out with a hand to touch it and found it transformed before her eyes into a flat disk, which became an okonomiyaki, marked with a toppings-imprinted letter of kanji.

 

“Got it,” she said, tucking the okonomiyaki inside her shirt for safe keeping, “So, I just have to find this Gold character and feed it to her, right?”

 

“That may be difficult, as such,” Grey remarked, “Gold may not even have a mouth…it all depends on which version of her you encounter.”

 

“Terrific,” Sakura replied, casting her gaze around until she felt a tugging sensation in one direction, and---as she looked that way she saw something…like a golden cord of hazy light…which stretched off into infinity and seemed to center at one end upon her breastbone.

 

“Follow the yellow brick road, huh?” Sakura mused, only to blink her eyes in amazement as the golden line settled down upon the ground and transformed itself into a glittering brick pathway, to which she remarked, “You've got to be freaking kidding!”

 

“What was that?” Grey asked, “Did anything just happen?”

 

“Ah…nothing,” Sakura mused, “So…what I think here has meaning? That's a first. Well…I'm off to see the wizard, and if I see the Wicked Witch of the West, I'll be sure and bop her one for you.”

 

Outside of her chamber Grey turned a puzzled look towards the nervous Iczers and their partners, only to receive a sympathetic look from them in turn that as much as silently said, “Don't look at us, we can't entirely figure out humans either…” a sentiment which they rather noticeably did not choose to air in front of their partners…

 

 

 

Continued

 

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