Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Slayers Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ cHaOs Energy Times Infinity ❯ Developing Relationships ( Chapter 11 )

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cHaOs Energy Times Infinity
Chapter 11 - Developing Relationships
Crossover Bid For Power/Ranma/Sailor Moon/Slayers/
Project A-Ko/DBZ/Tenchi
by Afroplex - jwessels@cse.unl.edu
http://cse.unl.edu/~jwessels

************ * QUICK WRAP-UP OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED **************

In the universe where the Sailor Scouts reside, five days passed
since the arrival of Washu, Ranma, and C-Ko. After some in-between
battles, the group was on their way to Sakana's place of origin
to save the other kidnapped individuals - and to find out more
of this Diginux character.

In this place where the others were kidnapped, three weeks passed
due to a time difference. They have started to settle into
their new surroundings and discover more about each other. Finally,
many of the major powers of the galaxy are colliding on a world
known as Telleo.

********************************************************** ****

########### TELLEO - HIGH ABOVE CAPITOL ############################

The cold air rushed past Gothax's face, grinning in anticipation.
Ahead, Vegeta was also anxious for the fight. Far below, Ryoko was
playing catchup. She considered teleporting, but the time delay
between her disappearing and reappearing was enough that the two
combatants above would be able to cover enough distance to make
it a waste of her energy.

Chuckling under her breath, Ryoko knew this would be a no holds
barred fight, and she could let loose all of her power. The blue
and yellow ki trails met and the battle began. Ryoko halted her
progress to observe the two and work out some sort of strategy.
From the energy feeling she was picking up in the air, they were
probably stronger than her and blindly going into battle wasn't the
best way to win this fight.

Meanwhile, Gothax and Vegeta were just getting warmed up. Vegeta
was only at half his super saiyjin strength, and his opponent
wasn't backing down. Punches weren't being pulled, but they weren't
being wildly swung. Attacks were quickly put out and recovered
from to keep defense up. Suddenly, Vegeta punched at Gothax's face
in a clearly offensive move to tempt a hit at his now exposed
midsection - which to Vegeta's surprise didn't come. After the
punch went through the afterimage, his senses picked up that
his opponent was behind him but not close enough to attack.

Turning slowly, Vegeta faced the alien. "You could have attacked."

Crossing his arms, Gothax smirked, "Yeah, but what fun would that
be since you would have let me?"

Vegeta put his left arm on his hip and tilted his head back in
a laugh, "Ha ha ha!" His head then went back down in a serious
scowl. "But I won't be so generous from now on. Introductions
should be in order now before we get down to business."

Gothax tapped his fingers in his crossed arms, "Of course. I am
Emperor Gothax of the Golden Empire. My purpose with you is to
destroy you for terrorizing this planet."

Another laugh came from Vegeta. "You call that terrorizing!?"

"Yes."

Spreading his arm to encompass the planet below them, "If you call
the trouble I caused to the planet down there terrorizing..."
Vegeta's aura flared, "then you haven't seen what Vegeta, Prince of
the Saiyjin Race can really do, prepare yourself Gothax."

Power crackled between them as conflicting auras met. Vegeta
began to call on his deep reserves of energy. Blood rushed into
his muscles, bulging and rippling with anticipation under his skin.
Gothax also was powering up, and was hunched over concentrating
to bring out power he hadn't used for so long. Finally, the two
reached their climax and their limbs stretched out and heads arched
back in a yell, sending out a powerful shock wave.

Ryoko held an arm over her eyes to keep from being blinded, "Shit."
At that moment, she felt three more energies flare. One to the
east and another to the south - both rapidly approaching. The
third was directly below, but stayed still.

With their strength fully revealed, the two attacked. Ryoko was
still in midair. Her eyes were wide in amazement as the two
disappeared and reappeared in numerous places above her. Shocks
of power washed past her, further reinforcing the fact in her mind
that her energy wouldn't last for the prolonged period
those two were fighting. The first minute or less she -might-
have been able to trade some blows and keep up, but after that
these two would eat her for breakfast.

Vegeta then paused some distance away from Gothax. They were both
were breathing heavily, and some bruises were evident on their
bodies. Spreading his arms and legs in a spread eagle, Vegeta then
started to concentrate for an attack. Gothax saw this, and put his left
hand up in a knife fist pointed just between his eyes. In this
position, he concentrated and felt the fighting energy congregate
in the limb, sparkling just at the tip of his index finger - ready
to be unleashed at what Vegeta was planning.

Vegeta moved his arms closer together, the power almost bursting
to come out, "FINAL FLASH!"

Gothax sensed the final restraints being lifted by Vegeta and
let loose his own, "SPIRAL SCREW BEAM ATTACK!"

The attacks met halfway between them, and met by a perpendicular
third blue blast from the side. The resulting clash exploded
and surprised Vegeta and Gothax, and they didn't pump anymore
energy into the beam attacks. The two combatants and Ryoko looked
in the direction of the new arrival, and clenched her teeth in
anger. Gothax and Ryoko were especially tensed.

Both muttered her name under their breaths, "Kyah."

Vegeta didn't have a clue who this woman was, "Who are you woman!
How dare you interfere in a fight between men!"

Bending over, with her hands on her hips, Kyah responded to
the prince in a hauty voice, "Oh, and what are you going to do
about it?" Before Vegeta could yell some retort, she turned her
attention to Gothax who resumed a defensive form. "It's been
a while Gothax. How has your conscience been treating you since
you killed my family?"

Gothax tried to keep his cool, but somehow his irritation at
seeing his once fiancé shown through his monotone voice. "I did
what was necessary to stop what you started."

A low growl escaped Kyah's throat, "How dare you. I was late to
the wedding, delayed by one of YOUR," pointing her finger at
Gothax to enphasise the point, "messengers. By the time I was
returning to the wedding, you had killed everyone!"

His eyes narrowed, "Why would I do such a horrible thing. You know
I had nothing to gain, my only objective was peace in the empire."

"To get full power in the galaxy for your own family!"

"They were murdered on that planet by your family that day."

Kyah's eyes flared, "You bastard, how dare you accuse their memories
of such an atrocity. Because of that day I have been seeking
vengeance-"

"I know, I'm not blind to your activities."

Continuing through the interruption, Kyah's voice rose, " and will
rule this galaxy and destroy all that you have built to keep
all slaves under your rule - even if it means killing them to
set them free!" Her aura flared, "NOW DIE!"

A spinning disc was thrown at Gothax, who moved around the area
at a quickening pace. When he had the opportunity, he sent a swarm
of energy shards out to envelope the area Vegeta and Kyah were.
Kyah blocked with a blast into the swarm, absorbing those that
were headed for her. Her concentration on the spinning disc was
lost and it exploded behind Gothax. Vegeta avoided the blasts,
moving between them and approached Gothax, intent on continuing
their fight. One more opponent to fight would just add that
more challenge.

Ryoko was getting impatient, watching two exchange hand to
hand blows for short periods before the free individual attacked
with an energy blast. "Well, I may still only have one of my gems,
but anything I summon should be attracted to the most active -
them."

Closing her eyes, she felt out in the planet around her. With so
many people, life was abundant. But also, where there was life,
there was death. Calling silently to the trapped and tortured
demons of the land, she firmly commanded them to her. White wisps
seeped out from the rubble below, and congregated together to form
one demon. White pale semitransparent skin, with smaller black
wisps washed over. Faces could be made out in the black, and
moaned softly. The demon's shape was a three story monstrocity,
outlining something like an ogre. When it sensed the three fighting
above it, it roared toward them leaving some of the spirits it
was composed of screaming in its wake.

Ryoko quietly moved out of its path to watch the fireworks. She
might lend some remote assistance to help her creation - given she
wouldn't become its new target.

As the demon was about a hundred meters from the main area of
combat, Gothax raised his clenched his hands together above
his head and appeared above Kyah, who was busy with Vegeta. Slamming
them down, he caught her totally by surprise and rocketing down
toward the new arrival. Opening her eyes after recovering from the
initial shock, she tried to slow down before it had her, but
it was too little to late. The demon seeped spirits into her
skin and slowly drained power. Kicking at it was useless as it
had no real form to hit, and the only things that made contact were
what the demon wanted too.

Ryoko was pleased with the results so far. The first two combatants
didn't notice Kyah's distress and were content to fight amongst
themselves. Just as she was about to send out a small energy
powerup to the demon, it was hit by a dark ball of energy. The
demon screamed in pain, and dispersed into the air. Kyah breathed
heavily and looked to her rescue and recognized him as the invader
that took her prisoners.

Komosauro drifted over to Ryoko. "That wasn't very nice you know.
Lucky for her I know how you did that, and how to reverse it."

Before Kyah could seek revenge against Ryoko, her watch
communicator beeped. Lifting it, she pushed a small button on the
side. "What is it Kis? I'm kind of in the middle of a battle here."

Static flickered in and out of the transmission, "We.....attacked by
the silver....... What are....orders?"

"Attack back!"

".....Roger...."

Looking up into the star filled sky, Kyah tried to make out the
ships she had brought, and paled. Bright flashes were seen, and
the specks showing the ships was down to half what she expected.
Spanning the horizon, she saw another fleet, only much larger
than her own, in the same situation. Gothax's mighty hundred
ship Katana fleet less in numbers, but looked to be withdrawing.
A tear escaped her eye, "Kis.... please be ok." Turning toward
Vegeta and Gothax, she roared in defiance, "I won't let your
trickery take my last treasure and love!" With renewed strength,
she went into the fray.

The final power that was felt below them approached, the golden
flare became more distinguished. Komosauro turned away from Ryoko
and descended down to meet with Goku, now in his super saiyjin
form.

"Goku, where is Tenchi? I thought he was with you?"

"He is," Glancing down, "but he can't fly yet."

"Oh. Thanks for coming though. I will probably need your help
to keep this planet in one piece. Vegeta is battling Kyah,
the lady that I rescued you from, and Emperor Gothax."

Goku nodded, "Ah.. that explains why Ryoko is trying to chase
that lady around with that sword. I'll have to learn how she
made that thing, could be useful."

Komosauro only heard the first part, and turned around. Ryoko
was putting forth all her power and was trying to catch Kyah,
trying to avoid getting a fist through her chest. "NO!" Jerking his
head back to Goku, Komosauro's voice was filled with urgency.
"Goku! We have to do something NOW! She can't last long in
their current states."

Gritting his teeth, Goku nodded, "I know, but if I get involved,
Vegeta will probably attack me to finish up that little bout
we started before entering this dimension."

Brows furrowed, Komosauro got an idea, "I got it. It may or may
not work, and even if it does, I'm completely defenseless.
Finally, with so many high powered bodies, my power will drain
in seconds to nothing."

"If it may work, let's do it - I've seen worse."

"As mentioned earlier, I know some of the darker arts. It's how
I got rid of that demon. Now, I'm going to try to control their
body movements. You will need to take advantage of the two or three
seconds I can hold them, and knock them out as hard as you can."

"Ok." Fists clenched, Goku put channeled his power in an all
out attack for speed and strength. He wasn't too concerned with
endurance - after all he believed the attack _would_ work. "Ready."

Komosauro put his fists on his stomach and violently threw them
straight forward at the four combatants, just as Ryoko had gotten
a lucky swipe and the energy sword was inches from Kyah's throat.
"GO!"

Goku's energy flashed behind him, covering over a mile in less than
a second to the fight. His first hit landed on Gothax's lower jaw
in an upper cut. He flashed out of vision again to Vegeta, the next
closest fighter just as the sonic boom hit. Vegeta knew something
was up when his kick didn't swing out, and seeing Goku's feet adequately
answered his question. Goku's attack connected with the right side
of Vegeta's head, and sent him flying at a slight angle to the horizon.
Now two seconds after the strike began, Goku closed in on Kyah. He
had considered taking out Ryoko next, but with that sword so close
to dealing a lethal blow, it may slip that remaining distance if
he hit her wrong. Coming up behind Kyah, Goku was starting to feel
the drag of using too much energy in his last two ultra hits. Pulling
back on her shoulders, his raised knee impacted the back of her head,
fading her into unconsciousness. Ryoko he left, and avoided her swipe
just as Komosauro let go.

To the east, the Shogo approached, with a limp Vegeta in its tractor
beam. As it approached, a laser came from above and impacted its shields.
In space, it would have simply phased energy from the shields. In the
atmosphere, however, the reaction between the two conflicting sources
danced lightening between the hull of the ship and the shields. One
engine flickered out.

Komosauro looked up, and grew ghostly white. "What the hell?"

There were numerous streaks of silver energy raining down. He
had been so engrossed in the battle, the space attack wasn't even
noticed. Looking down at the city, he saw one of the gigantic
three hundred story business building crumble. Closing his eyes,
he felt with the art and the fear of the planet's fifty billion
inhabitants hit. Bile rose in his throat, and he had to quickly
cut the connection to contain it.

A beam streaked down between Ryoko, Goku and Komsosauro.
Goku remembered Tenchi was right below them, "NO! Tenchi!"

The beam neared the surface of the construction area they were working
in the day before. Tenchi was tending to an unconscious Kyah that had
fallen out of the sky. Danger pinged in his head, and the power of
Tenchi-ken rose. Without turning around, he now knew exactly
what was approaching and what was above him. Raising one arm calmly,
he halted the energy stream into an irregular blob above him.

Gothax, having raised higher from Goku's uppercut, was at the level
of his ship. It hadn't been hit, thanks to its cloaking device. He
had felt all of them get hit, and guessed that these new fighters
wasn't there to win, but to stop it. Looking upon the area, his
jaw dropped when a small blob of energy that was hovering above
the ground, changed color and shot into five different directions
upward, each at an equal distance to each other.

Deep in space, the hexagonal ships rained spikes of chaos energy
on the planet, Kyah's three remaining capital ships, and Gothax's
heavily damaged retreating Katana fleet. When it made contact
with matter or energy shields, the space time continum slightly
was scrambled in the area of the blast. When Tenchi's five pronged
attack converged among this concentration of chaos weaponry, the
effects were amplified and condensed into a pinpoint singularity -
a black hole.

Gothax's personal shuttle's and the Shogo's sensors began blaring
red alert sirens immediately. Those that were outside the ships
knew something was terribly wrong when the blasts stopped raining down,
and the atmosphere was violently sucked upward. Punching his ship
downward, he opened the hatch. The air was growing thin, and roaring
past, so vocal communications was impossible. Goku had retrieved
Vegeta after the tractor beam lock was lost, and scrambled into the
two only passenger seats of the craft. Before they were properly
buckled in, Gothax hit the accelerator to escape the area before
black hole increased in power from the extra matter being absorbed.

Down below, Komosauro caught Tenchi before he was sucked into the
void of space. Ryoko was having a difficult time just trying to
move toward the Shogo, and didn't notice Komosauro coming behind her.
Grabbing on to her wrist, her shoulder was dislocated in the shock.
Komosauro felt something give in the grab, but kept his focus on
the ship. Kyah was coming up to the ship from below. She was in
a daze from the hit still, but had gained enough sense to notice
the planet was doomed - seeing the young man tending to her being
sucked up into the air kind of hinted at that too.

On board the Shogo, Jake had put the ship on autopilot to stay as
stationary as possible, and to engage the nuclear thrusters in the
atmosphere if necessary - a little radiation on a doomed planet
wouldn't matter. Instead of manning the cockpit, he was in the
engine room, trying to fix the damaged drive. If they were going
to leave, they needed very ounce of power his baby could give.

When Komosauro entered the hatch, Kyah followed just behind them.
They may be enemies, but weren't crazy enough to fight at a time
like this. She closed the circular hatch and followed down into
the main corridor. Ryoko was on the floor, leaning against the
wall with her good shoulder. Tenchi was trying to tend to her.
Seeing they were all right, Kyah went up to the cockpit and helped
with the controls.

As the ship made a sling shot around the planet, which now didn't
have any atmosphere, Komosauro paled when he felt billions dieing
below him. Those that were on the far side had a few minutes more,
and thousands of ships were lifting off. He also felt sorry for many
of them, as most didn't have the power to escape a raging class two
black hole, with it quickly approaching class three that would
make life within four light years impossible to remain.

Now safely in deep space, Gothax put the ship on cruise for the
other side of the galaxy - toward the second largest empire. Turning
in his seat, he looked at Goku and Vegeta. "Well, looks like we
made it. We're heading toward the Atlantis Empire for help."

Goku was in his get down to business mood, "What happened?"

"I'm not really sure. From what my ship's recorders got, we
were attacked by an unknown fleet of extraordinary power. More than
half of my space forces were destroyed, and only ten ships escaped
the black hole. There at the end, a black hole appeared and
finished the system off." Lowering his voice, "I'm afraid the
losses will be around fifty billion deaths."

Vegeta remained silent at this, Goku sucked in his breath and
looked out the window to the blackness. "Kami help us."

They traveled for several more hours in silence, till Vegeta
spoke up. "Who was that woman that interfered in our fight."

Gothax's grip on the controls tightened slightly, "That was Kyah.
We were to be wed long ago, then she - or someone else - mass
murdered everyone. I had to destroy the remaining attendees
that were about ready to destroy the planet, call in their
stellar forces, and cause intergalactic war."

Goku added his input, "I think she may have been telling the
truth about her being tricked. It could be worth looking into."

Gothax nodded, "That's the other reason I'm going to see the
home world of Atlantis. If anyone knows something, their intelligence
agency is the best that I know of. This new force, or my past,
answers may be found there."

The Shogo was also a safe distance from the black hole, but not
making as good of time. The pull from the extreme gravitational
forces had stretched the armor plating, and some leaks had appeared.
Komosauro was in a space suit outside the ship and was welding the
cracks as best as he could, while Jake continued to work on the
engines. Irregularities in the engine energy conduits were
hinting at possible failure, and if not fixed soon, they would
be stranded.

Kyah was in the cockpit, trying to establish contact with her
fleet. Some communications were picked up with the remainder
of the Katana fleet that had escaped, but so far nothing
had come up. Tenchi walked in at that moment, after insuring
that Ryoko was resting. "Any luck?"

"No. I've been at it for three hours. Nothing." Slumping in the
command chair, "I've lost my love again."

Tenchi didn't know what to say. Sure, he had some tough times
before, but then those that were in trouble Washu or the others
would have a plan to rescue them. Now, the damage may have
been done.

"It was a pretty tight escape. Look what it did to this ship.
The communication equipment on his ship may be damaged or something."

Kyah sat silently, with a blank stare on her face. Tenchi, getting
kind of uncomfortable, decided to change the subject. Putting his
hand behind his neck, "Mind if I ask why Ryoko and I were kidnapped?"

The change of subject was welcomed, but the attitude changed to a
more serious mood. "You were meant to fight against Gothax, the man
that your friend Vegeta was fighting."

"Oh. Where is everyone else?"

"They were split into different groups to do different missions. I'm
starting to think about pulling them back till I find out what is
going on."

"Will you?"

Kyah looked up at the standing youth, "Rather gutsy asking me this
aren't you?"

Tenchi nervously laughed, and again had his hand behind his head,
"Hehe, just trying to have a nice conversation. They are my friends
and I am kind of worried about them."

"Don't worry, they aren't in too much danger. The actual danger I
had planned may not happen now with those ships that appeared."
Looking up at Tenchi, she added, "You have a lover with them?"

Now Tenchi was really nervous, and was waving his hands in front of
him, "Nonono, the girls kind of have grown on me." The plurality of
girls wasn't missed by Kyah.

"Girls? You two timing?" Kyah's temper was starting to return to
normalcy.

Sitting down, Tenchi explained, "It's not like that. Let me explain.
It started back home, my grandpa is priest at this shrine. There, a
legend of a demon..." About an hour later.

Kyah was on the floor heaving in laughter for the last twenty minutes.
She barely was able to control herself before that. Tenchi was so
red-faced during his explanation of some of Washu's experiments that
he wasn't paying attention to his one person audience.

Komosauro ducked his head in, with the space helmet under his arm.
"Did I miss something?" Kyah straightened out quickly and sat back down.

"Na, we were just going over Tenchi's girl troubles."

Komosauro grunted, "Heh, lucky bastard."

Kyah then made a declaration, "I've decided that I've been going about
this the wrong way. Sure, I still want to get even with Gothax,
but I can't take your love from you - no matter how wierd it is.
So, I would like to try and retrieve everyone. They might
also be help in getting back at these new ships."

Komosauro raised his eyebrows, but kept his suspicions to himself
about Kyah's sudden change in direction. "Ok. What are you going
to do about Gothax?"

"I'll deal with the traitor when the time comes."

Tenchi had run back to Ryoko to tell her the good news about them
going to find Ayeka.

"So, where do we go first Kyah? They still at the base I took
Tenchi from?"

"No. They are in three different locations around the galaxy. We'll
head for my homebase however. Perhaps Kis showed up there, and we
can get repairs."

Komosauro nodded, "Agreed. After we find Tenchi's friends, will
be break the news to him that he may be responsible for ending
countless lives. Only with their support he might be able keep
his sanity."

############### FEN SYSTEM - TRAINING ASTEROID #####################

Shilo nearly dropped the glass he was holding. Akane was similarly
disturbed, while Ryoga was just shocked looking at the expressions on
their faces.

"Guys? You're scaring me," Ryoga nervously looked between the two.

Akane was kind of new to her expanded ki powers, and didn't know what
to think. All she could feel was a different types of conflicting
powers building a great distance away. "Shilo, what is that?"

Closing his eyes, the master bowed his head low enough that his wild
black hair covered his facial expression. "It's a battle. Far away,
Gothax and one other power are fighting. They are extremely powerful."

Ryoga was still clueless, "Would someone help explain what is going on?!"

Still with his head bowed in concentration, "There is a battle going
on far away. Akane and I can feel their ki." Silence dominated the
dinner table for several minutes, no one wanting to break Shilo's
concentration. Three other powers reached his senses, Akane in turn
also felt it. "Now, I can feel three more powers. One of them is my
student, Komosauro. The other is Kyah, the same that kidnapped you.
The other I am unaware of. They feel to be fighting."

About five minutes passed, Shilo gasped and stood. Akane and Ryoga
froze, even Ryoga could feel this. It felt as if a great multitude
of ripples were being ripped from the fabric of life force they
were feeling these disturbances.

Shilo gasped out, "Oh my. I fear something tragic has happened.
Only something on the scale of billions being destroyed could feel
like this." Walking to the door, he turned his head to the side,
"Come, we are going to investigate. Both of you are coming with me."

Going to the main briefing area they were introduced to when the
team arrived, Shilo punched the communicator, activating the base's
PA system. "Gart, Fen, Chief, I need you to come to the briefing
room, NOW."

Akane and Ryoga fidgeted in the back of the room, they had never
heard their new sensei get -this- concerned. Not even when Ryoga
was dying after Akane's brief outburst.

A few minutes later, the two officers and the scientist came buffing.
"What is it Shilo?" Fen gasped out.

"I will be leaving with Akane and Ryoga to investigate a disturbance.
I feel that possibly Kyah and other powers fought, and destroyed
a planet in the process."

Fen nodded, "If anyone else was involved, I would decline you taking
those two. But with the queen involved, you'll need all the help
you can get."

Chief spoke up, "You can use the shuttle the group was brought in
with. I made some minor changes to the training room. Now, you can
send medium blasts into the wall and it will take it. I suggest
training on the way there."

Gart added, "Well, if you'll be taking off, and I think this is a
special emergency, we'll activate the contingency plan. The rest
of the fighters will be deployed to perform their mission -
starting a grass roots rebellion."

Nodding, Shilo saluted, and looked to Akane and Ryoga to do the same.
"Thank you. We will be departing now."

Gart called out before they left the briefing room, "May her majesty's
power guide you in your speed."

Under his breath, Shilo whispered, "You have no idea how true that is."

The three entered the hanger. As they took their seats in the black
cockpit, Shilo asked the two a question out of the blue, while flipping
overhead launch switches, "Want to come back here after we are
done?"

Looking at each other, Akane and Ryoga shrugged. Akane answered, "No.
Not really."

Before, the ship was piloted by just the computer controls. Shilo
preferred a more hands on approach, and pulled a flight yoke up through
the floor. Pulling back on the stick, he continued the conversation.
"Ok. What do you want to name the ship? It's just a number, but
since we are kind of getting out of here, she needs a name."

Akane didn't have a clue which name. Remembering the name P-Chan,
she looked over to Ryoga and growled, "Have any ideas, P-Chan?"

Ryoga drew back slightly, and tried to keep the subject from
drifting to himself. "Uh.. how about..." The lost boy kept it
up for another twenty minutes. Akane and Shilo sat in silence,
watching the stars fly by.

Getting a little edgy from the silence, other than the occasional
mumble from Ryoga, Akane walked up beside Shilo. "So where are we
going exactly sensei?"

'I kind of like the sound of that. I've only had one student, Komosauro.
Wouldn't mind another two though.' Leaning over, Shilo activated a screen.
It gave a top down representation of the spiral galaxy they were in.
A little green dot blinked at the far fringes of one of the arms, with
a yellow one farther in halfway through the spiral. Tapping the screen at
the green dot, "This is where we are at." Dragging his finger on the
screen to the yellow one. "And this is a small space colony. Just big
enough to refuel, some shopping for supplies, and where I can get more
pinpoint information on where the battle took place. We'll be there
in about a day, so get some rest. In a few hours the three of us
may do some training to kill the time."

Before, the ship had a three seat cockpit that was open to the passenger
seating. Behind the twenty capacity area, was the training room, then
finally behind that the engine room and personal care facilities. The
air lock was located above, which gave a slight bulge at the top of the
arrowhead shaped craft. At the base asteroid, the passenger area was
reduced to half its size for small fold down bunks, and storage overhead
and in the expanded walls. Here, Ryoga and Akane found themselves on
opposite sides of the walk way, failing miserably to ignore each other
and get some sleep.

Ryoga desperately was thinking of a way to break the ice. 'What do I say?
I have to say something else she'll be mad at me forever. Probably serves
me right though for what I did.'

Akane was also in a similar situation, but a way did surface. Sitting up
and putting her legs over the fold down bunk, "Let's train. We can maybe
talk some there too."

When Akane had sat up, Ryoga drew in a deep breath. When he found she wasn't
going to pound him to death again, he exhaled and breathed normally. When
they were walking toward the modified training room, he then realized that
of all places, he would most likely be pounded in here. Unable to think of
a way out, he hung his head down and accepted his fate. If Akane had looked
around at this point, she would have seen a green aura begin to faze in and
out about her former P-Chan.

Akane's skill and power had grown considerably at the training asteroid -
especially after the gravity room accident. Ryoga knew she could take as much
punishment as he could, and was now stronger than him too. The training room
wasn't too large, being in a space cruiser space was a precious commodity.
It was a rectangle with about a third of the Tendo dojo's volume. Akane
took one of her traditional Anything Goes stances, but this one was a good
balance of defense and offense. Ryoga recognized the deviation from her
usual all offense.

Neither made a move, Akane was being held back by a twinge of guilt from
nearly killing Ryoga once, and Ryoga by not wanting to hurt the girl he cared
about so much.

"What are you waiting for you baka!?" Akane taunted. Ryoga flinched at the
insult that was normally directed at his life rival. "FINE THEN!"

Akane's impatience shown through and she attacked. Ryoga leaped into the air
and when he reached the low ceiling, pushed off toward the other side of the
room. Akane may have better speed and strength, but Ryoga had the experience.

While she was turning around, Ryoga was coming more to grips with the situation.
Here, he was fighting someone he wanting nothing more than to protect. He had
hurt her in a way that no amount of bandages could fix. Yet, he couldn't fight
back still else he would only hurt her more.

When Akane's eyes finally focused back on Ryoga, she now saw a full aura around
Ryoga. It grew even brighter when Ryoga fell to his knees and looked at his
hands. Listening closely, she could here him mutter, "What have I done? I'm no
better than Ranma."

Seeing Ryoga down, was more of a blow to Akane than what a shishi hokodan could
do. Feelings of anger from being tricked, sadness of seeing a friend down,
and... forgiveness?

Shaking her head, Akane ran from the training room and into Shilo's arms. He was
on his way back to the training room to see how they were doing. As soon as the
door to the room closed, Ryoga let out one of his largest depression blasts. It
wasn't directed at one particular target, just out from him. The newly installed
ki absorbers were pushed to their limit, with nearly half of them melting from
transferring so much energy at once to the engine's quantum reactors for later use.

Shilo cradled Akane and mentally felt out for Ryoga. He felt an unconscious
life force behind the door, and wasn't as concerned now for the lost boy. Walking
forward to the bunks, he laid Akane down. After she cried herself to sleep, he
went back and recovered Ryoga to put on the bunks. The boy had expended an
enormous amount of energy at once, but was otherwise physically fine.

Going back to the cockpit, he put some of that expended energy to use to speed
their arrival to the space port. The trip was silent, with only the hum of
the engines to indicate the ship was active. The trip was shortened down to
fifteen hours, giving the two sleeping teens about twelve hours of rest. Ryoga
was up first, and made his way around the ship, looking for the cockpit. By the
time he ran across it, Akane was talking to Shilo, who nodded his head and ended
the conversation.

Ryoga, nervous from what the two may have been talking about, put his hand behind
his head. "Uh... hi guys, er... people. Um..."

"You can call us by our names Ryoga," Akane halfway snapped out.

"Uh right..." Trying to get a grip on himself, Ryoga asked Shilo, "How long to
the space station?"

Shilo grinned, "About a minute away. That little energy burst you gave off
gave us a little speed increase."

Ryoga wasn't sure how to take it, that he had lost control and Shilo didn't mind,
or that his outburst did something good. He was snapped out of the trance by
a voice from the computer, it was the station control.

"Calling unidentified ship in approach from the fourth quadrant. Please
respond."

Looking up at the other two, Shilo asked, "Well, have you decided on a name?"

Akane was blank, but Ryoga came up with something he had been mulling in his
head - something that would mean something to those that knew them and
signify that he will not let what happen between him and Akane.

"How about Jusenkyos Revenge?"

Akane nodded her approval. Shilo keyed the name into the ship's transponder,
and called back to the station. "Sorry about that control. We were having
transponder problems, think we got it fixed now. This is Jusenkyos Revenge,
and we would like to request a docking port for a day to resupply."

"Request approved. You may dock at gate five. Enjoy your stay."

They floated toward the docking platform. An extension came out and latched
onto the top of the ship. Cutting the gravity to the ship, they floated up
and into the extension.

As gravity slowly took hold down the extension, Shilo gave instructions
to Akane and Ryoga. "We'll be staying here for about eight hours or so. Ryoga,
stay with Akane - I don't want you wandering off onto some slave trader's ship.
Akane - don't beat on Ryoga too bad." Pulling out two plastic memory sticks,
he handed them out. "This was the credits that were to be given to you two
for your mission. Use them for whatever you want right now. I'll cover your
expenses while you are with me. I'll transfer funds from my account to them
to make sure you'll always have some emergency funds. There are about 100,000
neys on each. See you later - remember gate five!"

Before the two could protest about being left alone on a strange space station,
Shilo took off and blended into the crowd. Grabbing Ryoga's hand, causing
him to blush, Akane made for the shopping district. "Come on Ryoga. We're
getting something different than these training uniforms."

As the two went from store to store, they realized this was the first time
they were exposed to truely alien culture. Before, it was just training or
being in Kyah's controlled bases. Not all of the citizens were humanoid, and
various boutiques were around to appeal to them. After walking down the
busy modern walkway a ways, Akane finally grew used to the sights. Getting
back down to business, she targeted a women's clothing store - with Ryoga
still in tow. Little did she realize he had passed out halfway through her
dash in the lingerie section.

Feeling that her company wasn't moving, she let go of his hand. She still
didn't know he was out, face down on the floor - even with the thump she
heard when Ryoga impacted. Going through the dresses, Akane found something
she liked. With the nanotechnology, design didn't matter - you simply
reprogrammed it. This dress was shorter than her usual, but not too short
to give enough leg to give others back at Furinken renewed vigor to pursue
her.

Coming out of the changing room, she bent down to Ryoga and pulled him to his
feet. "So, how do I look?"

Ryoga regained his higher levels of thinking, and gazed at the young woman
before him. The dress was currently a dark shade of blue. It was sleeveless,
and flowed over her body just right - not too tight or too loose. Mouth hanging
open, "Wow."

Akane didn't say anything more and grabbed the lost boy before he could get
lost, and had him carry her old training uniform. After paying for the outfit,
they began to walk around.

As they walked down the walkways of the space port, they neglected to notice
their wanderings led into a the less policed zones. Each was lost in their
own thoughts, and it didn't help matters when Ryoga was the one taking
the lead.

Both snapped out of their trance when a sharp blade was put to their backs.
"What a nice dress, brand new even," the thug whispered into Akane's ear.
"Perhaps you would like to share, and maybe a little something extra?"

The two teens knew exactly what was going on. Back at the base, they were
in training for their mission to deal with scum like this for the rebellion.
Now however, they didn't feel like playing the tough diplomat. Akane and
Ryoga fell like releasing some frustrations - violently.

Ducking down, Ryoga swept the feet out from under his skinny opponent. On
one hand, he completed the rotation by grabbed a sign post with the other
hand. Ripping it out, he faced the other dozen members of the gang.
Apparently, they weren't too sharp upstairs. One - they didn't seem to
take note this guy had just ripped a titanium reinforced pole from solid
the solid metal street. Two - he was emanating a strange light around him,
chuckling and walking toward the group while brandishing the twelve foot
metal sign pole like it weighed nothing.

Akane was now on the other side of the group, effectively trapping them.
When the knife was put to her back, her new speed came into effect.
Her leg extended backward in a kick, disarming the attacker and launching
him back into the rest of his goons. Ryoga by this time had most of the
attention of the group, so she quickly ran around them.

As the two moved in on either side, that's when the gang realized
something was wrong.

"How dare you do that to Akane! Ranm-" Ryoga corrected himself. "You!
Prepare to die!"

Ryoga opened gang hunting season with a wide sweep. Two were hit across
the face, and on the return swipe three more were hit. With all that
energy waiting to be released, Ryoga was disappointed to see that in less
than a second he had taken care of his half of the group with ease.
Akane jumped in and did a repeat performance of her high school mornings.
This time however, the hits were much more powerful and several limbs
were broken or dislocated.

Seeing the threat dealt with, Ryoga threw the pole down between the
badly injured, and walked over to Akane. "Are you all right Akane?"

Still with the adrenaline pumping, Akane took the question the wrong way.
"Of course I'm all right! I can take care of myself."

"But, I was just.."

"You think I'm weak! You and Ranma think just alike. Ryoga no baka!"
Her mallet came into existence, and hammered Ryoga into the street.
Somehow, even with her improved strength, the mallet wasn't ever lethal.
It was just extremely painful. Huffing, she walked away from a confused
and emotionally hurt Ryoga.

They still had two hours to kill before they had to report to the Shilo.
Ryoga then got an idea.

"How about we go back to the shopping area? We might be able to find
a weapons store specializing in hand weaponry. I would like to get a
replacement outfit and something to replace my umbrella we left at the
base."

Akane kept silent and changed directions for the shopping district.
Although Ryoga had gotten them lost earlier, the shopping area was in
the center of the disc shaped station. Before reaching the nearest
men's clothing store, a shudder hit the station, causing Akane to lose
her balance. Tumbling into Ryoga, they fell over. Akane found herself
on Ryoga's chest, and felt the strong heartbeat within. Blushing, Akane
started to get up. Ryoga, on the other hand, didn't notice and was
concerned with why everyone was running.

Yellow and red alarms were set off above them, and a voice
came over the PA system. "Attention. The station is under
attack. Please evacuate to the escape pods in an orderly fashion. Follow
the blue lights on the station ceiling." It then went into a recorded
loop, probably to allow the station staff to escape. Picking Akane up,
Ryoga ran with the crowd. As they came to the edge of the station, he
saw everyone getting into the two seat escape pods. Jumping over about
thirty heads, he landed in a pod just as the doors opened to accept
occupants. Its sensors detected the load was reached, and promptly
closed the door. Before the two could get seated, the pod ejected
from the station to allow another to slide into its place. With over
ten thousand to evacuate within a few minutes, speed and automated
efficiency was put over comfort and a few bruises.

Tumbling out into the void, Akane and Ryoga looked out of the small
windows. Silver hexagonal craft were strafing the station, who's
automated defense systems were being overwhelmed. The attackers
were currently ignoring the escape pods for now, but that could
change once the station was slag. No sign of the Shilo with the
the Jusenkos Revenge, either docked or fighting the craft.

Sitting back down, Akane and Ryoga tried to think of something
different. They couldn't do anything to help with the fight outside.
Only a few inches separated their knees, and now they were both in
a situation where they couldn't avoid the other. Nor could they
fight else they would risk causing damage to the walls that separated
them from the cold vacuum of space.

"So, what do you think those ships want?" Akane asked.

"I don't know. Shilo might know who they are."

Silence never seemed so loud.

Ryoga started first this time. "I'm sorry Akane. I wanted to tell you,
but I always had hope to find a cure. I always thought you would
hate a freak like me."

Akane stayed silent, making Ryoga even more desperate. "When you talked
to me, I kept everything deep inside me. I never let others know what
you thought, and my respect for you grew as time went on."

Deep down, something touched Akane, and she her shell cracked slightly.
"I don't hate you." Her head looked to the side, and studied the blank
wall.

Ryoga, who had been keeping his eyes focused on his white knuckles,
looked up at the girl he wanted nothing more in the world to protect.
Her face had a slight flush to it, but the expression was neutral.
When she shifted in her seat, their knees touched briefly.

As the emotional shell cracked, it crumbled even faster like a rock
being removed from the bottom of a sand castle. To the occupants
of this small escape pod, floating from the destruction outside,
the next five minutes felt like an eternity. Thoughts of all the
supposed private discussions she had with P-Chan. All those secrets
Ryoga could have used to manipulate Ranma, her father, sisters, or
even herself. He kept them all a secret. Her mind dwelled on these
scenes, till they shifted to the times when Ryoga stood up for her
when Ranma pursued those other fiancees'. Sure, they look like they
threw themselves on him, but he had to let them do that - he was one of
the best martial artists out there.

A sob escaped, and she lunged forward into Ryoga, crying. "Why didn't
I see it? Why Ryoga? If you trust me so much, why didn't you trust me
enough to tell me?"

Ryoga didn't know what to say, and hung his head in defeat, while
holding the crying Akane in a hug. Before he could say the words,
the pod shuddered, and the hatch opened to the pod. Akane and
Ryoga quickly composed themselves, although Akane was slightly
red eyed. Shilo peeked inside, "Hey you two! I pulled you into
the hold after cloaking. Let's take off for planet Telleo. I have
a feeling these ships that attacked may also have something to do
with the planet blowing up."

Ryoga nodded an affirmative, and stepped out, extending his hand to
help Akane through the hatch. She took it, and held on as they went
out of the air lock to the cockpit.

END CHAPTER 11