Iczer-one Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Earth Child ❯ Spatula of Vengeance ( Chapter 39 )

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)

 

 

 

 

 

Sakura gave a savage cry as she slashed out with her Iczer Robo's giant spatula and swatted away a cloud full of enemy troops, smashing them with such great force that many of the Voids and Geos spontaneously exploded as their power cells detonated upon impact. The flames of their demise caught many of the Venomoids by surprise and burned them to fiery cinders as the humongously ponderous baker's peel slashed again and again in a deadly arc that wove through their ranks like a scythe blade, scattering many other of their number like blown leaves in all directions.

 

The forces of Big Gold rallied to counter-attack as the Venomoids linked their bodies into a whipping coil that sought to snare and wind around the giant spatula, but Iczer Delta's hide flared and shot a wave of purifying flames down its iron length and reduced these parasites to their constituent atoms. In angry retaliation the giant mecha lifted an arm and revealed powerful energy cannons built into its length, and with a sweeping brush of flame sent more Bioroids and enemy mecha to the biological scrap heap, leaving the rest of their number swarming around in disorganized confusion.

 

“YOU FOOLS!” cried a Bioroid servant of Gold code-named Fire, “You're letting her slaughter you! Form up in ranks and destroy that mecha! Death to the Iczers! Death to all C'thuwulf and Humans!”

 

“What's her problem?” Troi wondered aloud, “You're doing good there, Honey, but I think this might be a good time to pull back and regroup with the rest of our forces...”

 

“No!” Sakura declared decisively, “I know what I'm doing...let's keep this up a big longer so we get these monsters good and angry!”

 

“Angry?” Troi blinked in reply, “You mean...really stir up the hornet's next? Heck, I could do that! Here, let's pool resources and I'll show you how we Iczers do it...”

 

With that she mentally linked with her partner and gave Sakura a full range of options for how to effectively use their giant mecha to good effect, at which point Iczer Delta let loose with a whip-shot of fire-bursts that lanced though the enemy forces and rent further damage to their numbers, at which point Fire lost her temper and cried, “THAT”S IT! THOSE TWO ARE DEAD! CONCENTRATE ALL FIRE TO EXTERMINATING THAT ICZER!”

 

“What are they doing?” Nagisa asked, “Shouldn't we move in their and support them?”

 

“Negative,” Iczer One replied, “Iczer Delta is taking the heat off of our forces. We're just beginning to get our ranks back into a semblance of order, and we've taken some heavy hits to our Iczelion forces. Besides, I want to take more time to study the tactics Troi's partner is using...there is something familiar about that pattern...”

 

“Protector,” Iczelion Corps Wing Commander Amber called in over their personal com-net, “Is this wise? All by herself your sister and her Iczer Robo will be overwhelmed by that large a force of enemy forces...”

 

“Not necessarily, Commander,” Iczer One replied, staring at the wave upon wave of Geos and Voids hurling savage energy blasts at the retreating Iczer Delta, even as swarms of Venomoids tried to mill about and attack it like a buzzing tide of hornets, “Hold your people in position...wait for my command before anyone takes action.”

 

“Understood,” Amber replied, frowning slightly as she added, “What is she doing? It's like they're chasing her in a giant circle...”

 

“A circle?” Nagisa blinked.

 

“No...not a circle,” Iczer One gave a start as she finally recognized the pattern, “It's a spiral! Wing Commander, have our forces stand by to unleash their combined firepower on my command! Form a parabolic semi-circle, maximum dispersion!”

 

“Acknowledged, Protector,” Amber grimly nodded, “All wings form up...you heard the lady! Heat your burners up, we're about to scorch some Venomoid Gold trash!”

 

“You fools, catch her!” Fire commanded as her forces failed again and again to close in upon the elusive Iczer-Robo, “I don't care how big it is, we outnumber them by the tens of thousands! Destroy that Iczer and the rest will be easy prey!”

 

“That's what you think, lady!” Troi called back in her best taunting tone of voice, “Okay, Honey-Pie, they're pissed! Whatever you've got planned, better get down too it soon!”

 

“Don't worry,” Sakura said with a tone that dripped like ice with an edge that was as chilling as hoarfrost, “I know exactly what I'm doing...this is one of my pop's favorite maneuvers.”

 

“Huh?” Troi reacted with a start, “Outer hull temperature dropping...you're shutting down exterior defense screens...creating a localized reverse cold field...what...?”

 

“Watch and learn,” Sakura replied, “We're almost near the center of the circle.”

 

Troi blinked again, then she gave a start, “You've got to be kidding me! You don't mean...?”

 

“NOW!” Fire shouted, “YOU ALMOST HAVE HER CONTAINED, YOU FOOLS! DON'T LET HER ESCAPE! STRIKE NOW AND FINISH HER! SHE HAS NO WHERE ELSE TO RUN!”

 

“I don't need anywhere to run,” Sakura remarked with deceptive calm in her voice, “You Bastards are history! HIIIRRRYYYUU---!!!”

 

“Here it comes!” Iczer One cried, “EVERYONE---BRACE FOR IT!”

 

“---SHOOOTEEEENNNN---!!!” Sakura stretched the word out even as Troi sensed her intentions and felt their Iczer Robo ball a fist while reaching the point at the very center, and all at once she threw that fist forward and cried, “HHHHAAAAAA!!!”

 

All at once the very air exploded all around them, a force not unlike a massive shockwave radiating out from the center as that massive fist swung skyward, creating an instant hurricane that caught everything within a hundred meters radius and tossed it about in a furious explosion of sound and energy that looked like a mushroom cloud forming from the position where Iczer Alpha and the Iczelions hovered in waiting. For a moment everything around Iczer Delta was obscured by the formation of a funnel-shaped torrent that tossed Geos and Voids about like specks of dust within its spiral, the Venomoids finding themselves sucked into the center with no chance of escape as everything went skyward into a concentrated mass of living and Biosculpted matter.

 

“NO!” Fire cried as she found herself drawn into the vortex with the rest of her forces, and immediately she reinforced her defensive shields as she was drawn into the eye of the swirling madness.

 

Even from where they watched in dismay the Iczelions felt the fury of those winds and had to fight to maintain their formation. Even as they reformed their ranks the call came out from their supreme leader, “ALL UNITS---OPEN FIRE! LET THEM HAVE EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT, WARRIORS OF THE C'THUWULF AND TERRA!!!”

 

“You heard the Protector!” Amber barked, “BURN THEM!!!”

 

With that the Iczelions let loose with a firestorm of concentrated energy bursts, picking targets at random and shooting blindly into the spiral itself, the enemy massed to tightly together that they could hardly avoid hitting something, even as Iczer Alpha summoned a fireball of concentrated Iczerio force, Iczer One calling to Nagisa, “Give me all you have, darling! We're taking them out!”

 

“FULL POWER!” Nagisa cried, releasing her pent up fury and outrage at all the evil these creature represented, the lives lost to their foul embrace and the horrible creature that had created them as an expression of her own evil.

 

The ball of force flew from Iczer Alpha's massive hands and detonated at the very center of the spiral, exploding it with a force unimaginable and disrupting the spiral itself, even as the Iczelions continued to pour it on at any speck or particle they saw moving around the edges.

 

After another minute or two, Wing Commander Amber called out, “Cease fire! Hold up and wait for it, Ladies! Let's see what's left of the enemy before we use up any more Bio-energy!”

 

“A wise move, Commander,” Iczer One remarked as she felt slightly winced and mildly exhausted by her own exertions, “What about you, Darling?”

 

“I'm all right,” Nagisa panted, “Just a little winded...that sure took a lot out of the both of us...but...what about Troi?”

 

Iczer One waited until the waves of plasma and falling ash cleared enough for a towering form to be discerned at the very center of the holocaust. Everyone else held their breath and waited, prepared to renew their onslaught if the enemy forces proved intact enough to continue to prove to be a problem...

 

To their collective amazement only Troi's Iczer Robo remained standing, unscathed and unbowed. There was not a single living thing to be discerned in the space all around her, not even dust remaining upon the scorched earth near the epicenter, the entire battlefield being swept clean of enemy forces.

 

“I'm not even picking up bacteria,” Nagisa reported as she her own survey using Iczer Alpha's powerful sensors, “No trace of Venomoid DNA, not even Void or Geo matter...not in the area, and no where near to Troi's position.”

 

“I think we got them,” Amber remarked in a disquieted tone of voice, sound both awed and appalled at the thoroughness with which their own forces had done their bloody work.

 

“And Troi?” Iczer One spoke up, “Are you well, Sister?”

 

“Oh, yeah,” Troi replied in tones that demonstrated just how impressed she was to have survived such a maelstrom unscathed, “You did it, Honey...you whipped their tails but good.”

 

“Never underestimate a Saotome,” Sakura said with grim resolve, “The moment you do is when we come back hitting the hardest.”

 

“Yeah...so I noticed,” Troi said dryly, “Do me a favor, huh, and remind me never to get you angry.”

 

“We took them all out with just one fireburst?” asked one of the Unit Commanders reporting in a tone that seemed to reflect the general consensus of mingled relief and dismay at their own achievement.

 

“Apparently,” Amber replied, “What are you new orders, Protector?”

 

“Casualties first,” Iczer One steeled herself, “How badly were we hit before the end there?”

 

Amber referred to her Iczelion Unit then reported back, “Bad enough...seventeen casualties...nine fatalities, eight Iczelions hit bad enough to need immediate hospitalization.”

 

“That leaves seventy-nine Iczelions fully functional and ready for action,” Nagisa calculated, “With a little rest and a month of R&R we ought to be ready for anything...at least...if that's the worst that Big Gold has to throw against us.”

 

“As much as I would like to give everyone here a well-deserved vacation,” Iczer One replied, “We still have about as many as these enemy forces remaining who didn't come over into the containment field, and for all we know those monsters are still laying siege to the Worldship. That means we have to break out of here and get back to normal space.”

 

“That won't be easy,” Nagisa cautioned, “If Big Gold is using field generators, then we may be trapped on this side until someone on the other side either turns them off or destroys them.”

 

“Tough call,” Troi remarked, “And while we're stuck here Big Gold is probably wrecking havoc on the earth, to say nothing of what she'll be doing to our people.”

 

“If only we had something to hit,” Amber complained, “With as much Bio-energy as we have remaining in our reserves, if we could focus it on one point of the field...”

 

“It would have to be a pretty precise hit in just the right place to send a feedback wave that could take out those generators,” Nagisa cautioned.

 

“A precise hit, huh?” Sakura stared around then smiled, “How about a spatula in the right place? I'm detecting an energy pattern...and I think I know just how to do it.”

 

“Honey,” Troi said, “You just pulled one major miracle for the day, don't exhaust yourself trying to impress us with another.”

 

“I'm not staying here while more of those monsters threaten my family and planet,” Sakura growled, “Are you with me?”

 

“Hey, you know I'd walk through fire for you, Honey-cakes,” Troi replied, “But are you sure you're up to it?”

 

“Just watch me,” Sakura replied as she mentally imagined herself holding her baker's peel in both hands, relaxing as her senses expanded outward like with the Bakusai Tenketsu technique, even as the Iczer Robo she was linked to copied the gesture, magnifying the power of her senses to where there was no distinction between them where the human ended and the giant living mecha began.

 

“What is she doing?” Amber asked in awed wonder at the Terran girl who was partnered with an Iczer.

 

“Wait and see, Commander,” Iczer One smiled softly, “One miracle to order is about to be delivered.”

 

“But can she really pull it off?” Nagisa asked, “For all we know that barrier could be Saotome-proof...”

 

“Nothing is Saotome-proof!” Sakura calmly declared, sensing the moment on hand as she saw the swirling patterns of energy concentrate at a point where her own Dragon Spiral Punch had caused a weakening in the field, and with her target pin-pointed she lifted her hands on high as Iczer Delta copied the gesture with the massive spatula in hands, and then she brought it forward in one dramatic gesture, bringing all she had to the shatter-point with a loud declaration, “BAKUSAI TENKETSU---!”

 

 

 

 

Neos Gold was not having a good day, and had anyone been fool enough to ask her about that she would have blasted them into cinders. The tide of battle had not gone the way that she had planned, nor were her forces faring as well as she would have boasted had she anticipated the stiff resistance that her Voids, Venomoids and Geos were encountering at the hands of those merely human pilots manning those primitive-looking craft rising up from the lunar surface.

 

Even before the Eagle and Hawk wings of Moonbase Alpha closed the range between the lunar surface and the C'thuwulf Worldship they were already launching long-range missile-fire that dispersed in a wide pattern and began exploding within range of the outward edge of Neos's forces. The warheads, armed neutron warheads whose effect could be felt for miles in all directions, doing damage to everything organic with which the concentrated neutrons came in contact, a diabolically vicious weapon to be employed against organically-based matter, especially in light of the damage already caused by lunar-based Pulse Cannon fire, clearing the way far ahead of the Human attackers as they drove in like a wedge aimed straight at the heart of Neos Gold and her forces. Moving at close to a hundred thousand kilometers an hour and flown with perfect precision and control of their inertia, the human-commanded ships began raking their targets with impunity, their energy bursts ripping a very large hole through the outer rim of the Gold Armada and throwing the Venomoids into further confusion.

 

But Neos was far from without resources of her own and ordered her Geos to erect a force barrier that blunted the attack and caused several ships in the first wave to break off their attack, having to blast their way back out from the rim as Voids converged on the valiant fighters and began returning fire with even less restraint and mercy. At this point the singular weakness of the Terran-produced hybrid craft was made apparent as they were far less maneuverable than the Voids as they had to contend with the vectoring forces of momentum and inertia.

 

“Gold Leader, I've been hit---!” came the choked cry of his wingman as Colonel Foster winced and tried to hold the rest of his line together, pounding furiously at anything that came within attack radius of his Eagle.

 

“Wedge, we lost Biggs,” came the cry from somewhere off his port nasal, even as Foster became aware of how many of his ships were falling prey to the Voids while he kept his eye out for those Venomoid monsters.

 

“Stay on target, Lucas!” Foster called out to the lesser Wing Commander, “Alpha Base, we are taking hits out here! Almost to the outer edge of the attack force, need more suppressing fire in sector Thirty-Three-Six-Alpha...”

 

“Eagle Wing, you are nearly clear of the center,” came Commander Koenig's reply, “Hawks and Eagles clear the area...we're going to let them have both barrels this time.”

 

“What the heck does that mean?” asked another of Foster's pilots.

 

“It means we'll catch hell if we lag around here too much longer,” Foster replied, “Yajin, get your Hawks clear of the fire-zone...it's about to get hotter.”

 

“Don't need to tell me that twice, Colonel-san,” responded a distinctly male Japanese voice, “If I know my former Captain, these guys won't even know what hit them.”

 

“RUN, YOU COWARDS, RUN!” Neos snarled as she watched the humans break off their attack and limp clear of her forces with their tails between their proverbial legs, “But I won't let you escape! Every one of you is dead! I will personally see to it that you---WHAT IS THAT?”

 

It had belatedly occurred to her that one star on the virtual horizon had suddenly grown a lot brighter than the others, and then with a jolt she recognized the energy wave that was swelling like a solar flare and about to strike home upon her very position...

 

 

 

 

“Dead on target, Captain,” Lieutenant Avocado reported, “I'll bet even Neos felt that one down to her roots.”

 

“Let's just hope we took some of the heat off our own forces,” Candy replied with a grim smile, “Though I'd be less than honest if I didn't confess that I'd pay good money to see her face when she realizes that we've just joined the battle.”

 

“Just like old times,” Rob mused, “And with our rebuilt Queen Fuji it's time we paid some much-deserved payback.”

 

“Captain,” one of the technicians at the Helm looked up with a look of surprise, “We're picking up signs of a contact point off to the starboard bow...distance one-one-one-seven-six, almost right on top of the enemy position!”

 

“Reinforcements?” Candy asked.

 

“No,” the Helm officer replied, her face breaking out with a wide grin, “Iczers!”

 

“Well, what do you know,” Rob mused, “There is a God after all...”

 

“Yes, and she's probably part C'thuwulf,” Candy mused with irreverent humor...

 

 

 

 

Neos recoiled from the blast that swept through her forces like a blowtorch through ice, unable to believe that the humans could have mounted such a weapon against the horde that she commanded. Her own personal defense screens had held up against the flare of plasma that had burned lesser Voids to cinders, but as scorched as she felt along the edges she was less deterred than wrathful, more determined than ever to crush these miserable humans under heel.

 

“So...they've dared to arm these humans with toys this powerful, have they?” Neos glared, “But such a force must drain their reserves considerably, which means that they should easily fall prey to a massed counter-offensive. On my command, all units converge and---!”

 

“Neos-sama!” a pitiful voice croaked out, causing Neos to turn and see a body tumbling through the void, and with a jolt she recognized the half-singed form as belonging to the Bioroid named Fire.

 

“What?” Neos was not normally inclined to be concerned about the welfare of even a soldier under her command, but the sight of this damaged unit caused her to blanch beneath her mask and say, “What has happened to you? What has become of your forces?”

 

“All gone,” Fire replied as she tumbled helplessly near to Neos's position, “I'm the last...I alone survived...barely...”

 

“What are you talking about?” Neos demanded, “You cannot have failed! You had them contained and outnumbered! How could you be defeated?”

 

Fire did not answer, having already moved too far past Neos to spare even telepathic contact, but all at once her body shimmered and she vanished from empty space, and Neos somehow sensed that she had not done so under her own power. She was still trying to make sense of it all when she felt the electrostatic tension in the space surrounding her increase tenfold. In dismay she turned to see the very fabric of the void itself shatter like glass before her eyes, and several field generators spontaneously exploding.

 

Through the resulting hole that appeared before her eyes the sight of the Iczers pouring forth was about the final straw for Neos. Dismay and disbelief made her hesitate a few moments longer before she realized the game was up and the cause was hopeless. With Iczers One and Three arriving with a fully functioning wing of the Iczelion Corps to support them there was little that her disarrayed forces could do but die as the Iczers selected targets and immediately started firing at everything in their path. Voids and Venomoids died swiftly all around her as Geos were helpless to erect sufficient force to repel the onslaught, and with the handwriting writ large on the proverbial wall Neos took the course of least discretion and teleported the hell away from there, leaving her servants to face the brunt of C'thuwulf and human wrath as the Armada of Big Gold was soon reduced to charred DNA fragments...

 

 

 

 

Fire opened her tired eyes, wondering if she were dreaming as the final embers of her life began to sputter and flicker out. In amazement she found herself looking up into her own reflection, a face staring down at her with great sorrow and compassion.

 

“Who...?” she gasped.

 

“Don't try to talk,” her counterpart replied, “Save your strength...you're among friends now.”

 

Despite her weakness Fire felt her lips curl up in a weak sneer of condescension, “Friends...I have no friends...I had them once...but they...all died...”

 

“No they didn't,” her counterpart tried to reassure her, “See? Your friends are all here. You don't have to be alone anymore...”

 

Fire saw the starlight sparkling in the eyes and upon the cheeks of her counterpart and said, “Tears...I wept so many...once...long ago...”

 

“How did this happen to you?” a familiar voice asked her.

 

Fire found her eyes moving almost against her will to see a ghost looming over her, a hauntingly familiar face that brought her to tears as she had never hoped to ever again to see this side of the grave.

 

“U-Usagi-chan...?” she asked weakly, “It...can't be you...”

 

“It's me,” the blonde beauty replied with tears in her own eyes, “I'm here, Rei-chan...you don't need to be alone anymore.”

 

“I'm glad...” Fire felt her body shudder as her artificially recreated body began to shut down and she closed her eyes saying, “I...ve...missed you...riceball...head...”

 

And then a final shudder, and with a last sighing breath she sagged in the arms of Lady Mars, and moments later her body dissolved into radiant light and was dispersed into randomized particles, leaving the observant Senshi to stare in solemn respect of her passing.

 

No one ventured to speak for several lingering moments, but then Lady Pluto remarked, “She...just gave up...she's returned to the stars and planets from which we all were born.”

 

“Who was she really?” Lady Uranus asked.

 

“A poor, lost soul trapped up by events beyond her understanding,” Lady Neptune replied, “Her world's counterpart of Mars, obviously conscripted into a war as a soldier to the very evil we are facing.”

 

“They did that to her,” Lady Jupiter balled her fists in outrage, “The Stars only know what they did to the rest of us...”

 

“It's like watching our Mars leaving us,” Lady Venus remarked.

 

“Exactly what would have been had the world she come from been the world that we live in,” Lady Mercury reasoned.

 

Lady Mars looked up to see the expression of Neo-Queen Usagi, and what sadness and outrage she felt seemed to pale to insignificance compared to the emotions which she read in the face of her radiant sovereign. Usagi turned away with grief hardening to holy rage as she said somberly, “The one who did this to her...she is our enemy. I cannot forgive such evil...and who knows how many others she has victimized? This has to end now...and by all that is holy, we will bring an end to this evil.”

 

She held up the moon-scepter that was the symbol of her power, the means by which she had sensed and summoned the dying Rei to the Crystal Palace. As she gazed upon her scepter the light of the Imperium Silver Crystal began pulsing on her pendant, and with the cleansing light of renewed determination she cast her gaze into the heavens, and her loyal Senshi fell into line, linking hands in a circle around their queen while calling upon the Planet Power that was their sacred birthright...

 

 

 

 

Sir Violet stared in wonder and disbelief, feeling a religious moment sweeping through her as she watched victory being snatched from the jaws of certain defeat. The reappearance of the Iczers and Iczelions was like a benediction from the Goddess, and the realization that self-destruction was no longer necessary made her regret her lack of faith and willingness to once again surrender before despair and uncertainty. In gratitude she turned her face to the Cosmos and said, “Thank you, Great Mother, your daughters give you homage for this gift of life which you have once again bestowed upon us.”

 

“Mother of us all!” Sister Emerald spoke up from her com-station, “We are being hailed...there is someone who wishes to speak with us directly.”

 

“By all means,” Sir Violet nodded, “Let us greet our victorious sisters.”

 

“It's not the Protector, Holy Mother,” Emerald replied, giving Sir Violet a curious look as she added, “She says that her name is...Neo-Queen Serenity?”

 

“Eh?” Sir Violet asked, then looked up to see a face appearing in mid-air whose beauty could well be inspired by the Goddess. There was a holy radiance surrounding her that befit her name as the ageless visage implied a loving heart and a gentle temper. There was a crown around her head...and unless Sir Violet was imagining things, this woman appeared to have...wings...like the living embodiment of what humans would call an Angel.

 

“Am I speaking with the leader of the race known as C'thuwulf?” the golden-haired lovely inquired.

 

“I am Sir Violet,” she replied, “Mother of us all and spiritual leader of the C'thuwulf. An who are you?”

 

“You may call me Serenity,” the beauty replied, “But my friends know me as Usagi.”

 

“You friends call you...Rabbit?” Sir Violet asked in mild confusion.

 

“My friends...sometimes call me a lot of other things besides that, true,” the woman gave a lopsided smile, “But I suppose `Moon Bunny' is the least of those. We need to talk, you and I, about our past...and about our future.”

 

“Certainly,” Sir Violet agreed, intrigued by the woman and whatever divine power she embodied, “We are in the midst of a crisis, though...”

 

“Yes, so I have been made to believe,” the blonde replied, “Bear with me, then. As a gesture of good faith, I wish to give a demonstration of my intent towards future friendship.”

 

“Holy Mother!” Sister Maroon reported from her own monitoring position, “We are detecting an energy surge coming from the surface of the moon...”

 

“An energy surge?” Emerald replied, “From what sector?”

 

“It's not coming from the human base,” Maroon replied, her expression incredulous, “It's coming from the sector known as Mare Azure...the Blue Area of the Moon!”

 

“What?” Sir Violet exclaimed, having some vague idea of just how significant a revelation this could be, even as she saw a tactical display of the moon where the energy pulse had been located...rising up to form a radiant silver light that lanced out from the surface of the lunar body and arced past the Worldship on an unerring course aimed straight at planet Earth itself, arching towards the Terran motherworld with the unerring aim of a speeding comet...

 

 

 

 

Yui---both versions of her---cried out in mutual fury as one twin flexed her armored muscles and caused a fiery aura to surround her body, burning the plant vines grasping her to cinders in the space of a mere second. The other Yui did the same to the carbonized shell surrounding her, expanding the air so rapidly that it was a snap to shatter her graphite casing so that she could breathe clean air once again (albeit faintly tinged with the scent of ozone).

 

The force they used to liberate themselves channeled itself into the ice-encased Nova, whose armor started pulsing and revived the Bioroid from the near-hybernative state that she had fallen into. With a cry of her own she flexed her arms and shattered the ice-block, freeing herself with a few sharp kicks that dislodged the fragments that had pinned her legs to the tarmac.

 

“Impressive,” said Vine, “I didn't think you would have the strength to do that...”

 

“...You might yet prove more interesting as a foe than I had expected,” noted Carbon.

 

“Not that it will affect the outcome in the slightest,” further noted Ice.

 

“You guys are so dead!” Nova growled as she shook off the last shiver of cold that was affecting her systems.

 

“That remains to be seen,” Jetstream coolly observed, “You have yet to face our full might...”

 

“So?” one Yui asked.

 

“You haven't even begun to taste ours!” the other Yui boasted.

 

More vines sprang up from the ground at a gesture from the Bioroid that bore that name, but the twin Yuis were quick this time to employ the combat potential of their Iczelion armor to magnify their own Senshi abilities as flame attacks fried those plants before they could close upon their targets.

 

Nova was quick to retaliate, but her attempt to close upon the enemy quartet ran head-on up against a barrier composed entirely of carbon graphite particles that hardened into a wall that even her fist found difficult to penetrate. Rather than be discouraged, however, Nova summoned up her beam sabers and slashed her way through the partition, only to run head-on into a hurricane-force blast summoned up by Jetstream, which caught and threw her backward, even as Ice hurled a shower of deadly icicles with force enough to do real damage if Nova had not proven quick enough in teleporting out of the way.

 

“No fair, you Creeps!” Nova declared as she appeared directly behind the trio that had been holding her at bay, but again her beam saber-attack was blunted by a wall of ice that flared up in her path, leaving Nova to exclaim, “Three against one! That ain't very sporting!”

 

“What do you care?” Carbon asked as she caused a wave of carbon particles to coil about and wrap its mass about Nova's body, pinning her arms to her sides as those particles hardened up to a consistency far stronger than iron, “Before you turned traitor you never cared about being sporting.”

 

Nova's struggles to free herself sent an empathic shockwave through both versions of Yui. They turned without questioning the impulse and rocketed to her aid, only to be met by another shower of hailstones conjured up by Ice and Jetstream, but even this deadly shower did not deter them as the two Yuis reacted instinctively and triggered a special attachment built into their distinctive Iczelion armor.

 

Twin umbrellas deployed and unfolded to meet and deflect the shower of bullets threatening to halt them in their tracks, and with consummate skill they whirled their unorthodox weapons to clear the path ahead of them, not even deterred by the wind resistance afforded by their whirling surfaces.

 

But before they could close on the quartet the one named Vine sprang yet another surprise, causing the ground itself to rise up at a gesture. Both Yuis halted in mid-flight with matching looks of dismay as before their very eyes a gaping maw appeared, shaped vaguely like an enormous flower but with jaws brimming with thorns that gave them the appearance of wicked teeth. Their very momentum worked against them as they sought to avoid this trap, but it was too late as the plant moved with a speed far greater than ordinary vegetation, closing upon them while releasing a cloud of spores upon its victims.

 

“LEAVE HER ALONE!” Nova cried as she fought for breath and to free her arms from their constraint, “Yui belongs to me! You can't have her!”

 

“I think differently,” Ice replied, freezing the air around Nova's head and effectively gagging her, “Your friend is plant food, and you are so much obsolete scrap---eh?”

 

To their surprise the ice began to crack, and the carbon fibers binding the Bioroid started to bulge outward as the cherry-haired Nova exerted unbelievable pressure in an attempt at freeing herself from her makeshift prison.

 

“I---WON'T---LET---YOU---HARM---MY---YUI!!!” Nova snarled as she tossed her head and freed herself entirely of the ice.

 

“She has that much power?” Vine asked in dismay.

 

“Incredible,” Jetstream remarked, “You would almost think that she was about to free herself from your grip, Carbon.”

 

“No way,” the ebony haired and armored woman snarled, “Let's see how she likes it when I condense those fibers to their crystalline state, then we'll know if she can crack her way out of Diamond...”

 

All at once Vine cried out in pain as she recoiled from the feedback of her plant-monster, which even then had burst into flames from within, disgorging the forms of the twin Yuis, who were once again wielding their beam-sabers.

 

“Nice try, Assholes!” one Yui exclaimed, “But you little gas trick didn't work!”

 

“Our armor filters out your spores,” the other Yui added, “We just needed to catch a breather so we could give your weed a case of terminal indigestion!”

 

“Yui-chan?” Nova said with a weak smile of approval, “Way to go...Honey...”

 

“Oh silence,” Carbon grit her teeth and made a fist, “You have only seconds to live anyway, and though you may be artificial, you're a carbon-based life-form, just like any human, and once I crush your futile resistance I'll reduce you to your constituent atoms.”

 

“Oh shut the hell up, will you!” one Yui extended her umbrella again and caused it to whirl at great speed, and all at once a number of ofudo strips began whirling out to pelt the black-armored woman, forcing Carbon to lose her concentration long enough for Nova to burst loose from her containment.

 

Ice threw up another barrier and Jetstream scattered the remaining ofudo, but the harm had been done and the Iczer was free to teleport to the side of the two Yuis. Vine recovered her bearings and glared hatefully up at the trio, her eyes blazing with wrath as she declared, “FOR THAT YOU WILL SUFFER LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN SUFFERING! NO MERCY FOR YOU, HUMANS, NO MERCY!”

 

“Sheesh,” one Yui remarked, “Who writes their dialogue? I haven't heard anything that corny this side of a Bandai show!”

 

“Are you still in one piece?” the other Yui asked of Nova, though the tone she used was meant to convey less concern than was plain in her expression.

 

“Yeah...I'm all right...just kind of cracked a few ribs there, nothing I can't handle,” Nova rather weakly boasted, seeming pail and unsteady as she tried to remain airborne, “But what about you guys? For a few seconds there I thought you were gonna be smothered!”

 

“Well, we did kind of have a few rough moments there in the beginning,” the other Yui admitted.

 

“But somebody kept yelling so loud that we couldn't get any sleep if we'd wanted to let go,” the other Yui revealed, turning back to the quartet of evil, “So...what's the plan here? How do we take these mega-creeps?”

 

“You're asking me?” Nova smiled a bit weakly, “Damn...if I only had my Iczer Robo...” all at once her eyes went wide, “That's it! I can feel it! Get ready for it, Guys, I'm summoning it up now!”

 

“WHAT?” both Yuis declared in alarm, But...!”

 

Nova crossed her arms before her chest then threw her arms wide and cried, “ICZER DELOS GAMMA---COME FORTH!”

 

And then the air was split as a tremendous crack of thunder, heralding a sudden void that appeared in the sky over their heads...and then out from the void stepped a massively armored form that loomed large over everything. The twin Yuis gaped in mute dismay at seeing the thing once again, their memories still fresh to the ordeal that they had endured the last time the giant robot had been on the loose in Nerima.

 

No sooner did it appear then Nova triggered the recall function and was absorbed into the towering construct, at which point both of the Yuis gave a yelp as they were absorbed into the other partner of the Bioroid whom they reluctantly acknowledged was their partner.

 

A moment later one Yui awoke to find herself floating inside the massive fishbowl that was the chest capsule while the other found herself in a very different place, sitting across Nova's lap and totally stark naked!

 

“What the...?” this Yui gasped as Nova opened her eyes, gave a start, then grinned wide as she found the woman she loved was near to hand...in fact, so near at hand that she just had to touch her to make sure she was not hallucinating.

 

“Yui-chan!” she declared in delight as she hugged her partner to her, “Oooh...I like this a lot! I get to have you both ways now, isn't that terrific?”

 

“Hey, let go!” Yui pleaded as Nova's hands automatically started to feel her up, “This is no time for---hey, quit that! Don't do---OOOOOOOHHHH---that!”

 

“Huh?” the other Yui glanced upward with a cross expression, “Hey, what are you guys doing up there? I...OOOOHHH!” she similarly reacted as the Iczer Robo interpreted her statement as an inquiry and mentally linked her up to the activities presently going on in the upper cockpit.

 

Vine studied the exterior of the Delos Gamma then remarked, “Impressive...but size is not everything.”

 

“Quite true,” Carbon agreed, “It is what you do with it that counts.”

 

“Why do they just stand there without attacking us?” Ice wondered aloud.

 

“Perhaps that Nova is more badly damaged than she let on just now,” Jetstream mused, “Perhaps this tactic is more bluff than a serious challenge...”

 

“You wish you---OUCH---OHH_OOOHH_OOOHH!” Nova gasped as she ceased fondling the Yui on her lap, causing the girl she had been presently molesting to turn a concerned look in her direction.

 

“Are you all right?” both Yuis asked.

 

“Heh...think maybe I'm a little more busted up inside than I thought,” Nova winced with a weak smile upon her features, “Sorry, Honey-bunch, but I guess this will have to wait until after we're done teaching those creeps a lesson...”

 

“What's wrong with her?” the Yui in the chest capsule asked her counterpart, who could hear her as plainly as if they were standing right next to one another thanks to the relay-network incorporated into the very structure of the Iczer-Robo.

 

That Yui so addressed gently ran her hands over Nova's body, pressing lightly against those parts less well armored than other portions, and then she pronounced, “She cracked a few ribs all right, and one of them is severely fractured. There's some swelling that suggests internal bleeding...she's hurt pretty bad, and I think she needs a doctor...”

 

“No doctors,” Nova said faintly, “Just get me to a regenerator and I'll be as fine as ever...”

 

“How the heck do we do that?” the Yui in the chest capsule asked.

 

“Easy, Doll-face,” Nova replied, “You're in a regenerator right now...just open up your mind with me and I'll effect an instant spot transfer.”

 

“Ah...okay,” that Yui agreed, “But I...”

 

There was a flash of electricity, and all at once one Yui found herself sitting on the lap of the other, both naked and with tubes attached to the skin of the one who was sitting in the control seat.

 

“Ahhh...” Nova sighed as she breathed in the life-giving fluid of her chest unit, “This is soooo much better. You all right up there, Yui-chan?”

 

“Ah---Fine!” both Yuis chorused together before the one sitting down looked up at the other and said, “Do you mind?”

 

“Mind?” the other Yui asked, “There's no room to move in here! Where the heck do you expect me to go?”

 

“Here, let me make it a little easier for you guys, Yui-chans,” Nova sighed, mentally instructing her Iczer-Robo to flood the upper cockpit with more bio-amniotic fluid.

 

Yuis One and Two yelped in surprised, but then a curious thing happened as the cockpit filled, and without warning one Yui flowed into the other to form a single person. In seconds a single Yui occupied the space formerly shared by the two of them, leaving Nova to stare in wonder through the control circuits of her Mecha as she absorbed and reflected on this fact, then said aloud, “You guys do that often?”

 

“Ah...every time we get splashed with hot water...or...whatever this is,” Yui replied as she paused before breathing in the life-giving bioamniotic fluid, amazed as always that she could have the stuff in her lungs and still effectively talk like normal.

 

“So...warm water makes you come together,” Nova said, pausing to open her mind before her eyes went wide and she asked, “And cold water separates you into two identical copies?”

 

“I'm afraid so,” Yui replied, “Been that way all my life. I inherited it as a curse from my mother...”

 

“A curse?” Nova said skeptically, “You call a thing like that a curse? Like hell it is! This is great! Two of you for the price of one! All you do is add water and---instant Yui-chan in stereo! YEEE---HAH???”

 

All at once their Iczer Robo rocked on its heals as something massive struck it from the outside, causing both Yui and Nova to simultaneously blink their eyes before looking out from their capsules and seeing the massive thing that was pounding on the giant Mecha's body.

 

“You've gotta be kidding me!” Nova declared as she looked upon the ebony-dark form of a giant composed entirely of what her sensors informed her were graphite fibers.

 

“That's not all,” Yui said as she turned to see what looked like a virtual tree swinging its massive branches at them with fists shaped like wooden hammers.

 

“I don't believe this!” Nova complained as she saw a third giant take form, this one looking like an enormous snowman with a face that was as solid as a glacier, “These guys are really starting to annoy me, you know that?"

 

“Tell me about it,” Yui frowned, “Any objections to kicking their collective butts...partner?”

 

Nova felt a thrill of delight upon hearing that term being applied to her and said, “None whatsoever, Yui-chan...let's kick `em where it don't shine and clean those creeps off our boot heels!”

 

“Great formula...only...one problem,” Yui belatedly remarked.

 

“And what's that?” Nova asked.

 

“How the heck do you steer this crazy thing!” Yui wailed, staring in dismay at the bewildering array of controls that comprised her unit's cockpit.

 

“Ah...” Nova was just about to answer that when she sensed something happening in the sky above their heads and said, “What they? A pinpoint gate here? What the heck is Grandma---I mean---Big Gold planning this time...?”

 

A second later a massive aerial explosion rendered the question partially academic...

 

 

 

 

Ken blanched as he saw the other giant mecha looming large over them, but he managed to control his tone of voice as he said, “Ah...Atros-chan...you do know how to pilot one of these things, right?”

 

“Of course,” Atros responded, overcoming her own surprise as she swiftly checked all systems to insure that she and Unit Sigma were at full fighting trim and ready for action.

 

Ken continued feeling disquieted as he saw a huge length of ruby-red light flare up from the hands of the enemy mecha, forming a blade roughly fifty meters long and shaped somewhat like a katana, “Ah...Beautiful? Whatever you're gonna do, I suggest you do it now!”

 

“I'm ready,” Atros declared with remarkable calm, feeling the flow between her and Iczer Sigma as if the two of them were extensions of one body, “Bring it on, Kuno-san, Iczer Sigma stands ready to greet you.”

 

“We will see about that!” the voice of Godai Kuno echoed within their respective control cabins, and then without warning he raised the blade and started to slash down, only to have one hand of Iczer Sigma reach out to intercept it while the other formed a fist and shot forward while a stiletto-like blade projected from its forearm.

 

The thrust at the enemy mecha's chest was easily brushed aside as the other mecha turned sideways and freed one arm from the grip of Iczer-Sigma so that the other hand could move to block her. The rival mecha then completed its turn by bringing its elbow in for a smashing blow aimed at Iczer Sigma's head, but Atros sensed it coming in time to duck out of the way and move beyond the reach of the downward slash that swiftly followed. The two giant robots moved apart to take better stock of one another, and Ken had the distinct impression of two ancient Samurai fighters squaring off like in a Kurusawa movie.

 

Iczer Sigma next extended a hand and at once a cobalt blue light filled the space within its hand, stretching out to form a shimmering blue beam whose indigo coloration reminded Ken very much of a Bunsen burner that had been properly adjusted for maximum efficiency in converting methane into chemical heat power. Despite the cool feeling it manifested, he could sense the enormous destructive potential of this blade as their mecha squared off to assume a fighting stance rivaling that of the other. The flow of their Bio-energy field the space all around them, and both mecha remained motionless for a time as they gathered up their energies and prepared to engage in all-out kenjuitsu warfare.

 

The two enemy mecha moved at once, their blades slicing out and meeting part-way in a series of lightning strikes that caught and reposted each others lethal strikes without either one inflicting apparent damage. Even as they struck Ken could feel the pressure gathering around both Iczer Robos as waves of force collided and invisibly countered one another, the sheer effect of this sending waves of tremendous potency radiating out in all directions, and had they been in normal space they surely would have destroyed a good chunk of Nerima without hardly noticing it had happened.

 

Unseen by any of them, however, a small group of human figures took shelter amid the pseudo-rocks of the bleak and barren landscape, looking on from partial concealment as she covered their faces to withstand the forces that were unleashed by the two massive robots.

 

“What the heck is going on here?” Ranma asked as he peered through slitted eyes at the titanic battle being waged before them.

 

“It's like I told you, Pop!” one of a seeming identical pair of Tenmas responded, “It's an Iczer battle...one of them's the good guys, the other's the bad guys...”

 

“And the one in the enemy unit is being piloted by my brother and sister!” Perm realized in dismay, not even bothering to ask how she could have sensed such a thing or have been this certain.

 

“So...my great-great grandchildren are being used as biological components in a massive weapons system, eh?” Cologne remarked with a faintly unreadable expression.

 

“Sure looks like it from where I'm standing, Sugar!” Ukyo had to raise her voice to be heard over the maelstrom, “But who's piloting the other mecha?”

 

“Whoever they are,” Yuki Taro remarked, “It looks almost like they're losing!”

 

Indeed Ken had his own opinions on that matter as Atros swung her blade hard against Godai's only to see the forearm of the enemy's Robot suddenly uncoil to reveal inky black ribbons that reached out to ensnare them.

 

“What?” Atros reacted with dismay.

 

“HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!” came the haughty reply of Perm Kuno, “You weren't expecting such an attack from me? I'm almost hurt...just as you will be!”

 

“NO!” Atros cried as the enemy mecha freed its blade and came slashing down at her with the ribbons effectively preventing her from getting her guard up in time to meet it.

 

Ken did not even know what he was doing as some part of his mind reached out and triggered the arm stilettos once again, but the net effect of their jutting free was to rip through a portion of the ribbon holding them captive, slicing it cleanly to free themselves as Atros whirled about in time to deflect the blow that would have finished their fight forever.

 

“WHAT???” Godai's voice exclaimed, “But how did you...?”

 

“Trade secret, Sword-boy!” Ken replied to cover up his own confusion on that matter.

 

“Ken-san...you did that?” Atros remarked in a tone of wonder.

 

“Hey, that's us Tofus and Tendos in a nutshell, Beautiful,” he quipped to hide his reactions behind mere bravado, “We always rise to meet the occasion.”

 

“You don't say,” Atros mused as she busied herself with reposting a few more strikes aimed at them by an increasingly frustrated Godai, “Then perhaps we should test this theory after this is all over...”

 

“Huh?” Ken asked, “What do you...?”

 

“After the fight is over,” Atros replied with a disturbingly arched tone to her melodious voice, “It's a secret...”

 

“Well,” said Tenma---the authentic one---, “Guess that settles who the good guy is here. It's always gotta be the guy who's struggling just to keep even...and besides, the other guy's fighting dirty.”

 

“They are at that, Son,” Ranma grimly noted as he had more than a little experience in that department on his own, “Besides, I've seen those moves before, and I'm pretty sure it's Ken Tofu in that other robot, and the bad guy definitely fights like a Kuno.”

 

“Well, at least that settles who's who in all this,” Ukyo remarked pragmatically, “Only question is...do either of those two know who all it was that just dropped the big one on Nerima...and where the heck is Sakura?”

 

“Very good questions,” Cologne nodded, “Which begs the further question...what is going on back in the city while we are getting this ringside view of the action here?”

 

No one ventured to answer that point even while---elsewhere in time and space---someone else was venturing the same question...

 

 

 

 

“What the heck happened here?” Muku asked, staring around at the Command Complex of Gamora base and seeing everyone sitting or standing at their posts looking like statues.

 

“Temporal freeze,” came the automatic answer in her ears, “What you are seeing is a moment of time distilled and captured in a state of fugue that is being stretched a nearly infinite distance.”

 

“Huh?” Muku replied, “Mind explaining that in Japanese?”

 

“He means that everyone and everything is somehow trapped within a massive field that has frozen time to a single instant, Muku-chan,” Rhea answered as she carefully made her way around the complex, “My best guess is that Big Gold used some sort of Chronal device to immobilize everyone...but for what purpose I am at a loss to account.”

 

“That's what I thought he said,” Muku replied as she stared at Sub-Commander Sepia's paralyzed expression of surprise and confusion, “Are they still alive?”

 

“Oh yes,” Rhea replied, “Alive and unharmed, at least for the moment.”

 

“For the moment...and how long is that?” Muku wondered as she glanced down at the Iczelion armor that she was wearing, then tested out her theory by putting her hand through an equipment panel and watching herself pass unharmed through the atop of the console.

 

“That is the question,” Rhea replied, “Were the both of us not trans-phased into an intermediate state we might be affected by the time-freeze. Somehow the Isolation field separated us from the effect of whatever weapon has been used here, but everywhere throughout Gamora complex---and by this I should also include the human city of Tokyo above us---it is as if everything were somehow being preserved in a block of solid amber. Even the particles of air around us are frozen to a state that would prove awkward for us if we were to attempt to move through them unprotected.”

 

“Then how can we still both be breathing?” Muku wondered.

 

“Your Iczelion armor is providing you with all that you require, Muku-chan,” Rhea answered, “While I do not need to breathe oxygen in the same manner as you. I can recycle internally whatever oxygen I require to maintain my systems...it's the same principle by which an Iczer can travel through the hostile environment of hard vacuum. And phasing as we are is a useful trick when moving at great speeds through whatever environment we encounter...”

 

“So you can survive without air, huh?” Muku remarked, “It figures. I'll bet you're like greased lightning underwater too...”

 

“I am,” Rhea arched an eyebrow, “Why do you ask?”

 

“Well...my mom has this little problem with swimming,” Muku shrugged, “I swim great, just like Dad, but Mom sinks like an anchor...never could figure out why that is. Negative buoyancy, I guess...”

 

“Everyone has something that they are good at...and something at which they are awful,” Rhea reasoned.

 

“With my mom it's cooking and swimming,” Muku replied, “Funny thing...she's great at skating above frozen water, but under it, she's a lead weight. Weird huh?”

 

“I suppose it might seem that way in a certain light,” Rhea replied, “But that's not really relevant to the matter at hand, is it?”

 

“Yeah, dunno why it seemed like mentioning right now, Honey,” Muku replied, “Guess what I mean to say is that everybody's got an Achilles heal about something, right?”

 

“Ah...I understand the reference,” Rhea said with faint humor, “Greek mythology, as you might have guessed, fascinated me when I was younger. The strong, heroic individual who is invulnerable in all ways but one is a theme very recurrent throughout the whole literature of heroes...”

 

“Uh oh,” Muku glanced down as she saw a light flash on her wrist, “Er...is that something important?”

 

Before Rhea could speak her Iczelion armor reported, “Detecting motion in the space directly above this point, Mistress. A large energy signature outside of the defense barrier, which is currently offline.”

 

“Offline?” Rhea glanced in alarm at Muku's armor, “The barrier is down?”

 

“This Unit means that the barrier is inoperative under present circumstances,” the Iczelion clarified.

 

“Of course!” Rhea exclaimed, “That was shy she did it! Big Gold knew that the defense screen surrounding New Gamora could not be breached by conventional means...but...then that would imply...”

 

“That we're under attack?” Muku asked, for once leaping to the correct conclusion.

 

“Quickly, we must go there at once to meet the danger!” Rhea declared, and without pausing to relay her instructions she teleported away from the command center, Muku's Iczelion armor following suit without needing to be prompted.

 

Muku blinked her eyes, surprised at the sudden transition from artificial to natural lighting, even as she stared in dismay at a huge object slowly descending towards Tokyo, large and dangerous looking, which prompted her to ask, “What is that?”

 

“Trouble,” Rhea replied, even knowing as she said this that she was understating the case by a factor of ten to the Nth power.

 

Death was descending towards the city of Nerima, and Hell would surely follow after unless they did something fast...but what that would be she had no more idea than Muku, only that they had to meet this challenge together, and as there was no one else whom Rhea would rather fight beside than her beloved partner, she readied her resources to meet the latest threat from Big Gold in the manner of a true Iczer...

 

 

 

Continued

 

Comments/Criticisms/Temporal Fugue 101: shadowmane@msn.com