Earthchild25 The Earthchild (An Iczer/Ranma/Sailor Moon/Tenchi Crossover) by Jim Robert Bader (Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi, Toshihiro Hirano, Naoko Takeuchi, Hitoshi Okuda, TH Tiger and Johannes Huber, along with many Others) Chapter Twenty-Five. (HENTAI ALERT...there is a Lemony section included near the end of this chapter...so remember...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!) (HEH!) Fiber had made yet another astonishing revelation when she decided to test her young ward's burgeoning skills with a little "practice match" between them...the revelation being that---when it came to fighting against children---she was not only out of her league but badly overmatched! Bad enough years ago to lose out to a six-year-old Iczer Three, but now the boy she had helped train was giving her a run for her money, and quite effectively using her own techniques against her! "Hah, you call that an attack?" Tenma asked, grinning from ear-to-ear, "Try this on for size!" At once several figures appeared in the space surrounding Fiber, wooden and puppet-like but with clearly lifelike detail, given that their forms were those of full-sized action figures from the various television programs which Tenma enjoyed watching in his home dimension. Some were big, powerful and brutish in plastic armor that had the hardness of steel, while others wore even more outlandish costumes and tended to behave in a totally over-the-top manner. "Nice work," Fiber said, "Fine detail...but still fragile as porcelain," and to emphasize her point she sent a shockwave spreading out from her position, which disrupted the colorful figures into the nothingness from which they had been shaped. Fiber nodded and said, "You must learn to ground them more solidly in your beliefs if you want to use them as weapons..." "Oh, I knew that already," Tenma smiled in a manner that suggested he had been ready for her counter-maneuver, which in turn made Fiber worry. "Eh, what?" Fiber asked as she sensed an attack only instants before it happened. A net fell over her as one figure proved resistant to her shockwave, catching Fiber totally by surprise as the net proved resistant even to her own powers. "Well now," cooed a feminine voice that came from the figure of Netra, one of the seemingly endless cadre of oddly-named villains that the boy could draw from his boundless imagination, "What a fine kettle of fish this is, Matie!" Fiber refrained from voicing her complaint about the boy's imagination being just borderline adolescent, though obviously he was still at the stage when he did not really understand what a woman was, or what made them so distinctly different from the male sex. How else to explain the rather slender female figure in revealing pirate gear that was presently assaulting her in such a humiliating manner. It could almost make one wish to have a few words with the producers of such a melodrama. "Better," Fiber reluctantly approved as she struggled to free herself from the net, "But your puppets are only as strong as you make them..." and with that her claws slashed through her netting, even as her Threads wound their way around her ridiculously attired assailant, wrapping her up and all but dislocating the puppet's joints, or would have if her opponent had been really alive and a human. "Ah, that's not nice," Tenma complained. "Nice doesn't win points in a battle," Fiber retorted, "Find a way of making your puppets much stronger if you want them to give me a good battle." "All right," Tenma replied, getting into the spirit of the thing with such enthusiasm that Fiber had to smile, even though she knew the boy had not yet begun to tap into the true depths of his resources, "How's this?" All at once a male form took shape before Fiber's astonished eyes, tall and powerfully built with a handsome face that had an almost cartoonish exaggeration to his features. Fiber found herself looking up and up at the fellow in question, to which she quipped the logical query, "Who are you?" "Me?" the handsome guy said in a surprisingly light tone of voice, hooking a thumb at himself, "My name is Goku and I'm a Saiyajin from Earth." "A...Saiyajin?" Fiber said nervously, "You mean...you're one of that incredibly violent race of super-strong genetically engineered warriors who hire themselves out as mercenaries for robbing and pillaging inhabited worlds before selling them to the highest bidder?" "Oh no," the handsome man replied, "I'm not with those guys...my father was a Saiyajin warrior, but I was raised on Earth and I just like to train and practice..." "Train and practice?" Fiber replied. "Yeah," he assured her, "I like a good fight against strong opponents, but I don't want to hurt anyone, and I always fight to protect the Earth..." "A Saiyajin warrior...who doesn't want to maim, destroy and kill people?" Fiber turned and looked quizzically at Tenma, "Where did you ever find this guy?" "On a TV show I liked to watch a couple of years back," Tenma replied, "I saw a live action version of it in a movie, which is how I knew how to make him look real, not like the Anime version, which is kinda exaggerated..." "A TV show about a peace loving Saiyajin?" Fiber shuddered slightly, "Where do you humans get these strange notions? Tenma-chan...Saiyajin are an incredibly violent race of mercenary warriors who have plundered scores of worlds on the periphery of civilized space. The idea that one of them might spend his life in peaceful training, like your father..." "Not too believable, huh?" Tenma frowned, then concentrated a moment and said, "Will he do better?" Fiber sensed another puppet was taking form, but when she turned around she saw a much shorter man with a more compact body, his hair almost standing vertical upward, his angry scowl informing her at once that THIS was a more conventional Saiyajin, the kind who would just as soon blast an enemy to atoms as look at them funny. "What are you looking at, Woman?" this short, wired fellow snarled. "Ah...nothing," Fiber hastily replied, knowing full well that she could defeat a real Saiyajin in battle, but that it would be no simple or easy matter. "Are you calling me nothing?" he snarled, "I'll have you know that I'm the Prince of all Saiyajins..." "Aw, lay off her, Vegita," the other male puppet said affably, "She doesn't mean you any harm." "Oh yeah?" the shorter man declared, "Well, why don't I take it up with you then? You want to fight?" "Sure, why not?" the taller man agreed, "I could use the exercise." All at once the two puppets starting going at it together, trading blows that were both powerful and well coordinated while Tenma concentrated on giving them the semblance of genuine combatants. "Not bad," Fiber arched an eyebrow as she watched the fight move off and go into higher levels of combat, trading blows that she could actually feel vibrate the very air around them, "You're making them seem more realistic with increasing practice." "That's the idea," Tenma replied, "Did you know that Pop thinks the fighting on their show is mostly fake? He says it's little better than fancy wrestler moves with a lot of special effects to make up for the bad acting." "And of course your father knows better," Fiber mused. "He's the best there is," Tenma replied, "Which is why I'm using moves more like what he uses whenever Uncle Ryoga comes to pay us a visit." "I see," Fiber smiled, then brought her hand up beside Tenma's face and snapped her fingers. "Huh?" the boy was startled, and all at once his puppets ceased to move, freezing in place as though someone had pressed the "stop" button. "Learn to concentrate better," Fiber remarked, "Ideal conditions are rarely found on the field of battle, so you can't let yourself be distracted...it will cause your puppets to cease operation." "Oh," Tenma replied, "How do you make them work even when you get distracted?" "Learn to invest in them a portion of self-awareness in your puppets so that they can function independently for a few moments, at least," Fiber replied, "But instill safeguards to keep then from running amok...I will show you how, but we will do it in stages." "All right," Tenma smiled, "Y'know...when you talk like that, you sound a lot like Pop...I mean...when he's in his girl half that is..." "It must be very confusing for you," Fiber mused, "Having a father who is also part mother." "Well, it never seemed confusing to me when I was little," Tenma rubbed behind the back of his head, "But when I was old enough to know how it was for other kids my age...having parents who don't switch bodies all the time...I guess I had to think a lot about that..." "I really must meet this father of yours sometime," Fiber mused, "After you finish training to the point where I am satisfied that you can defend yourself against Big Gold and her minions." "You keep saying that," Tenma frowned, "But is she really like, this bad lady who's behind all of the problems we've been having lately?" "Big Gold...is an Avatar," Fiber replied with a sigh, "The living storehouse of a computer intelligence that once ran the homeworld of the C'thuwulf people, but who was taken over by a malevolent force and turned into an Incarnation of ultimate evil. She is served by the Venomoids, a race of parasites who infect innocent people and turn them into hideous creatures. She may even have been created by those very parasites...I am really not too certain about the details, save that they are hostile to all life and seek universal domination, and if they infect you with one of their seeds, you had better hope for death or find a way to purge them from your bodies, because if they take you over, the person whom you are will be gone forever." "That gross!" Tenma made a face, "Who wants to become some yucko monster?" "Who indeed," Fiber patted the boy on the head, feeling oddly tender as she considered how protective she now was towards this half-developed human, "And that is why I will show you how to avoid getting infected by their evil...and I will show you the face of our enemies...especially Neos," she growled out the word as though it left a very bad taste in her mouth, "She's one whom I especially would like to see served up by one of your surprises." "I'll train harder, Sensei," Tenma replied, "I'll make you proud of me, you'll see!" Fiber's smile became especially tender, "I already am, Ten-chan, but pride alone won't win you any battles. You must be strong, and your puppets even stronger, and when we are ready...let Gold beware of you, my pupil!" She grinned in satisfaction, reckoning that she was not the only one who would do well never to underestimate the resourcefulness of children... Muku stared at the proffered okonomiyaki with a very dubious expression, able to tell at a glance that it was not only good tasting but absolutely mouth-watering scrumptious. She turned a puzzled look up to Sakura and said, "Um...thanks...but...what's the occasion?" "No reason," Sakura smiled, "Can't a friend offer you a meal just for the sake of our friendship?" "Well...yes...but still..." Muku paused, wondering why Sakura was smiling at her in such a shy and hesitant manner. "Consider it an apology of sorts, then," Sakura amended, "I haven't been entirely fair with you lately...I guess we've all been under a lot of stress with all that craziness of the last week...and I wasn't very understanding of what you were going through, Muku-chan." "Oh, that's okay," Muku replied with a demurring gesture, "I can hardly expect you to understand what it feels like to get grabbed up into the belly of a giant robot and made to fight against all kinds of alien craziness. I mean, that's not the sort of thing that happens every day to normal people, right?' "Ah...I suppose," Sakura replied with a slightly strained expression. "Anyway," Muku glanced down at her okonomiyaki, which was still very warm to the touch but smelled delicious, "I'm really glad to have the chance to talk with you like this. I've been feeling very bad about how you and the others got involved in that mess around the dojo, and later on when we were attacked at the mall and wound up in New Gamora, I'd heard you'd been involved in some kind of mess yourself...um...y'know, I never did get the details on how you wound up at that Onsen with me, Yumi and Rini..." "Well...that's really not too important right now, is it?" Sakura asked in a manner that was a little too hopeful. "I guess not," Muku replied, "I'm just sorry you got involved. I mean...you're my best friend, and with these bad guys willing to destroy just about anyone who gets too close to me and Rhea...I was afraid you'd resent me for that. It's not like I asked to get you involved...but I do feel kind of responsible about it..." "Actually...I'm kind of responsible for my own involvement," Sakura admitted, "And I don't resent you, Muku-chan. You are my friend and I...know that you would never deliberately try to hurt me." "Thanks for saying that," Muku smiled, "You really are the best, Sakura-chan, in everything I mean. I've always appreciated the way you train with me and help me with my schoolwork, and I know we haven't had much time for socializing while we've been under attack, but I've missed being with you. I mean, I've always known you would stand by me and support me in a crisis, and frankly, I could use a sympathetic ear right now. I mean...Yumi tries, but, well...you know how irritating she can be when she wants to be helpful..." "Tell me about it," Sakura sniffed, "Ah...well...I suppose I could lend an ear or two...if it's really been that bad for you, what with being grabbed up and all..." "Yeah, but you know something," Muku replied, "In a way it's been really very...interesting, know what I mean? Like finding out that there's a place like New Gamora that's almost under our feet with all that technology and some very interesting people. Rhea-chan showed me a world I never even knew existed before...and I...I guess there's been a lot of good stuff to go with the bad. Those C'thuwulf seem very nice...for aliens, that is..." "You think so?" Sakura sniffed, "Doesn't it bother you that they're all kind of...you know?" "Ah...well...I'd be lying if I didn't admit that part makes me a little nervous," Muku sheepishly admitted, "But I'm starting to think...it really isn't so weird when you think about it. I mean...there are no men in their culture, right? So naturally they only date other women, and with their ability to reproduce themselves artificially, they don't have any reasons not to, right?" "Ah...I guess that makes a kind of sense," Sakura said with a dubious expression. "I guess...what really matters is what's in a person's heart, not just the condition of their bodies, right?" Muku glanced down again and felt herself begin to blush, "That's why I'm not as shocked anymore when I think about how Rhea acts when she's around me...you know...with those big eyes of hers, and that lost puppy expression..." "Her again," Sakura frowned a bit more harshly than she'd intended. Muku picked up on some of that irritation and hastily pleaded, "Please don't be cross with her...it's really not her fault either. I know she's at the center of everything that's happened lately, but she really means well, and I know she doesn't intend to hurt anyone. Well...anyone who isn't a bad guy..." It was Sakura's turn to look down as she unselfconsciously wrung her hands together, "She's also trying to make you into something that I...don't think you fully understand yet, Muku-chan. She wants you to be her...partner..." "She is my partner," Muku replied, surprising Sakura enough that the other girl looked up at her with a surprised expression, "I want to be with her...or at least, I wouldn't mind continuing to fight alongside her...but I don't want to give up on my other friends, like you, Yumi, Yui and Rini..." Sakura frowned again, then grumbled as she stared off to the side, "Oh yes...that's us all right, the frigging Three Musketeers, plus one or two on the sideline..." "More like six of us if you count Perm," Muku pointed out with a lopsided smile, "But you're special, Sakura-chan...you've been my friend for as long as I can remember. I really wouldn't enjoy life very much if you weren't around to share that part of my life, and not just as a sparring partner." Sakura turned a hesitant look back towards Muku, then swallowed as she tried to gather up her courage and began to say, "Muku-chan...I've...come to realize something myself over the last few days...you see...for a while now I've been...been..." she faltered, seeing Muku's wide-eyed, inquisitive stare. "Yes?" Muku asked. "I..." Sakura froze on the next word, realizing what a huge step it would be to openly state her commitment. "Sakura-chan?" Muku asked, "Are you all right?" "I..." Sakura tried again, finding it hard to even visualize the word, let alone to say it. The very next moment a beeping noise interrupted their conversation, starting both Muku and Sakura as they turned to look at the tree under which they had been sharing lunch together. A moment later they heard Yumi's voice cursing softly before she touched her wrist communicator and said, Yeah?" Instantly they heard Rini's frantic voice call out, "Yumi-chan---we've got big trouble! Yui's been kidnapped, and I think it's by those monsters from the other dimension!" "What?" Yumi exclaimed, "How do you know that?" "I had this really weird feeling a short time ago, so I did a quick head count and determined that Yui was the only one of us not accounted for, except you, and I knew you weren't in any danger." "Gee thanks," Yumi replied, "Why would anybody want to kidnap Yui? Are they crazy or suicidal?" "I don't know," Rini replied, "It only just happened a short..." "AHA!" cried Sakura as she sprang to her feet and rounded the tree to find Yumi hiding behind it on the opposite side, "Caught you!" "Uh-oh," Yui winced, "Ah...Rini? Mind if I call you back? I've got a thing going on here..." "Never mind," Rini said, "I'm Senshi Teleporting to your location, just as soon as Karma and the twins get out from their classes. We've gotta combine our strengths right now, and if you know where Sakura and Muku-chan are, you'd better go find them!" "That...won't be a problem," Yumi noted dryly, seeing the deadly glare that Sakura was giving her, and the non-plussed expression on Muku's features, "Talk to you soon...I hope." "You were spying on us?" Muku asked just as soon as Yumi broke off her connection. "Ah...yeah...well," Yumi winced, "When I saw you and Sakura-chan were headed off for a private Powwow, I naturally thought I'd tag along and see what was up with you two..." Sakura looked like she was one step away from going for her spatulas as she grit her teeth and said, "It wasn't any of your business.." "Oh yeah...Best Friends?" Yumi pouted, "What did you expect me to do, wait to hear the aftermath and come pick up the pieces? As if you two wouldn't botch it without someone like me around to play chaperone..." "Chaperone?" Muku blinked, "What are you talking about...?" "Nothing would have happened," Sakura assured her, "I just wanted to...talk with Muku...IN PRIVATE for a bit, when you and that pager of yours had to go and interrupt us!" "Oh yeah, I could see you were making great progress," Yumi snorted, then made a placating gesture, "Never mind that now...the point is that Yui's gone missing...and while I don't pretend that sort of thing doesn't happen with her every day, in light of all the troubles we've been having, not to mention what's been happening with the Kunos..." "Yes, exactly," said another voice as Perm dropped lightly out of the branches of the tree, "With my sister and Oneesan both victims of the monsters, it is understandable that any one of us might also wind up becoming a victim of their foul machinations." "You were listening in too?" Muku asked with a blandly astonished expression. "Not just her," said Rhea, who popped in to the effect of a pixilated outline, becoming manifest at the side of Muku, much to Sakura's intense frustration, "I heard the word as well...a brief signature manifesting in the Jubaan district...I fear there has been another abduction, but I cannot say in what condition Yui-san is at the moment." "Hey, she's a Senshi, like me," Yumi replied, "We're a lot harder to get rid of than your average person..." "I know," Sakura replied with a very sour expression. "Do you think it is another of those monsters that did it?" Muku asked, then amended, "Or...another enemy Iczer?" "I cannot say at the moment," Rhea replied, "But the possibility is frightening. I'm sorry...we've had people watching over you and your friend...Iczelions and...other allies...but somehow the enemy was able to slip past our defenses." "I'd say you're doing a bang-up job of helping out," Sakura growled sourly. "Hey, that's not exactly a fair thing to say," Yumi chided before turning back to Rhea, "I'm sure your people did everything they could, but these guys are just like Youma, and they've got no sense of time, place or propriety, or else they'd never try to lay a finger on a handful like Yui. They could have gone for a soft and cushy target, but NOOOO...they had to go for the hard-ass in our little group..." "Unlike you, eh?" Sakura said in slightly less ruffled tones, having finally managed to get a grip over her anger. "Oh, I'm a softie all right," Yumi grinned, "You should try my ass out sometime if you'd like to see for yourself. Come on, Sakura, lighten up! You can do your sweet talking another time, but this is an emergency...we have to find and rescue Yui..." "Don't you mean rescue her abductors from her wrath?" Perm asked rather blandly. "Yeah, whatever," Yumi waved the point aside, then turned to Muku and said, "Are you gonna eat that or not? No sense facing a crisis on an empty stomach." "Um...of course," Muku replied, and at once began biting down on her okonomiyaki, which had sufficiently cooled to be just right on her palate. Sakura watched her friend eat with a somewhat forlorn expression, but then she heard a voice in her own mind say, "(Too bad, kid...I was rooting for you this time, and I mean it.)" The young chef kept her face rigidly impassive, but mentally she thought, "(Don't tell me you were eavesdropping on us too?)" "(Like I could keep you out if I wanted?)" Troi mentally replied, "(Uh-uh, Sugar...it doesn't work that way, and you know it.)" "(What do you want with me?)" Sakura scowled, glancing at the branches of the tree as if expecting to see someone else lurking among the branches. "(Like I told you before,)" Troi replied, "(I want to help you...honest! You think I like hearing angry or depressed thoughts in my head buzzing like static? I'd like it MUCH better if you were happy, Sakura-chan.)" "Eh?" Sakura said aloud, feeling Yumi's hand insistently tug on the sleeve of her uniform. "I wanted to know if you'll come with us to help in the search," Yumi replied, "I know you and Yui don't exactly get along, but even you can't wish something this bad on her and live with yourself in the morning, right?" "Ah...right," Sakura replied, then hastily amended, "I mean...I think I'll stay here and explain things to the teachers...uh...where is Muku-chan?" she glanced around in surprise. "Took off with Rhea-chan a second ago," Yumi blinked, "Weren't you watching?" "Took off...with Rhea," Sakura repeated with a faintly disappointed expression." "Whoah...guess you really are out of it," Yumi said with obvious sympathy, "Sorry if I spoiled your little confession speech, I know how much you wanted to tell Muku that you care about her...as more than just a friend. But you've gotta know by now that with Rhea in the picture..." "Isn't there something else you can do to go bug somebody?" Sakura growled in warning. "Uh...yeah," Yumi verbally back-pedaled, "I've gotta go meet Rini and the others when they arrive, so...will you be ready to help if we need you?" "I'll be ready," Sakura nodded grimly. "Uh...right," Yumi turned away and grumbled, "Try and help somebody out sometimes and they bite your head off over nothing..." Perm lingered a moment as Yumi started to walk off in a chosen direction, looking Sakura frankly in the eyes and saying, "You know she means well...and it ill serves you to take your frustrations out on her for your inability to speak your mind openly, Saotome." "Look who's talking," Sakura gave the purple haired girl a warning glare, which Perm ignored as she turned away with a somewhat thoughtful expression. "Well," Troi said aloud after the others had gone a sufficient distance, manifesting in the air while levitating above ground level, "That could have gone more smoothly." "Why don't you get lost?" Sakura retorted. "Can't," Troi replied, "I'm not a Hibiki. Besides which, I have that Geopositioning thing down to an artform...helps a lot with not teleporting into a rock or a tree. By the way, feel free to snap at me all you want...I know I deserve it for eavesdropping." "I thought you said you couldn't tune me out," Sakura replied, stoically ignoring the floating blonde haired woman hovering around beside her. "Well, it's not exactly like I'm even making an effort," Troi rolled over onto her back and leaned her head against both hands while she hovered around eye- level, "The truth is...I can't stop thinking about you, wondering where you are, what you're doing...and then I open myself to the question and...I know exactly where you are and what you're doing. I can't keep you out of my thoughts, and I wouldn't want to if I could..." "Well, try harder!" Sakura flared in anger. "I know you're mad at me, and you have every right to be," Troi replied, circling around the younger girl, "I brought you into this because I found you attractive, only now we're kind-of stuck on each other, and it really is all my fault, though...I did try to warn you." "You call that a warning?" Sakura asked with a stony expression. "Funny thing is," Troi replied in a lilt to her expression, "I've often wondered what it would be like to have a full-fledged partner...not a hand-me-down from my Big Sis...and I've often wondered what kind of girl I'd be partnered with...and now that I've finally met you, I think I couldn't have picked better if I scanned the whole planet. Well...actually, I have scanned the whole planet, but the thing is...I wouldn't change a thing about you if I could...you're perfect for me in all the ways that matter..." "Perfect?" Sakura bristled, "You used me like a battery in that first battle...and when I helped you out with Atros..." "I know," Troi replied, "And she's been doing fine ever since you helped me debug her. I've been trying to give you more time to get used to what happened when we matched resonances, but now things are starting to close in on us again and time's becoming a premium..." "So you've come back to tell me that I'm still a part of the war-effort and should get used to the idea?" Sakura huffed. "Hey, it's not all about you, Beautiful, even if you've just moved to the top of my priority list," Troi assured her, "Truth to tell, I'm just getting used to the idea of being connected with you...it's really strange being this aware of someone else, other than Nagisa. Even what I had with her doesn't compare to this feeling I'm getting with you since our Synchronization...it's like falling in love for the first time..." "I don't want to hear about it," Sakura snorted, "And for the tenth time, WE ARE NOT MARRIED!" "Hey, I know there's been no formal ceremony or anything like that," Troi replied, "But the truth is that what we have is very much close to being a marriage...a marriage of mind, spirit and body. I know you don't want to hear about this, and I can hardly blame you for being angry and resentful about getting roped into a thing like this, and I sure as hell didn't want to go dragging you into my sphere of influence..." "A little late for that, don't you think?" Sakura replied, "And would you stop doing that already?" "Doing what?" Troi rolled over on her side and rested her elbow on empty air, her face against her hand, just exactly as if she were laying on an invisible sofa, "Am I doing something to annoy you...other than butt in on your private misery-fest?" "You know exactly what I mean!" Sakura flared, pointing an accusing finger at the Bioroid, "That!" "Hmm?" Troi blinked, then belatedly got the point, "Oh...you mean the part about flying...got it..." and at once she touched her feet solidly down again on Terra Firma, "Sorry...old habit. When you can levitate and resist the pull of gravity like I can, it just feels more liberating then standing around feeling like a cradle robber." Sakura folded her arms and just fumed, "You could have warned me that this would happen before you abducted me into that robot..." "How could I warn you?" Troi asked, "I didn't know it could happen like it did...I've never even heard of somebody changing their Bio-signature to match frequencies like that. It caught me just as much by surprise as you when we Synchronized together, but now that it's happened and you really are my partner..." "Don't you mean WIFE?" Sakura growled out the word with particular resentment. "Okay, maybe that would be a poor choice of words right now," Troi sighed, "But that's what you feel like to me...my wife. I've never had one of those before...it's a whole new experience for me...of course, I suppose, given your family's history, you could more likely call me your fiancée..." "I already have a fiancée...remember?" Sakura growled. "How could I forget?" it was Troi's turn to sniff, "That guy, Penpen, who your parents agreed you should shack up with..." "His name is Ken," Troi said pointedly. "Whatever," Troi replied, "Honestly, the guy has a camera fetish, and I can tell he likes to take compromising pictures of you when you're not looking, and then he charges you rates for him NOT to distribute them around to your fellow class mates...what is that, the teenaged equivalent of dunking your pony tail in his inkwell, or something like that?" "Something like that," Sakura said in slightly more mollified tones, "Actually...I think he just does that to get my attention..." "Does it work?" Troi asked. "Usually," Sakura growled, though her ire was no longer expressed in Troi's direction. "I know he must get on your nerves a lot, making all those betting pools and getting students to bet their week's allowance on one thing or another," Troi continued, "But I can also tell you care a lot more about him than you normally let on, so...if that's the way you feel about him, then I won't even try to get between you and Lenny..." "Ken," Sakura corrected again, but this time her mouth quirked slightly and she fought against the urge to smile at the word-play. "Right," Troi continued, "So...how did that work again...you winding up engaged to a trouble maker like Benny?" "Ken," Sakura found she could not help smiling this time, "It goes back to the time of our grandparents...my grandfather and his had this deal to unite the families through marrying my father to one of Uncle Soun's daughters, only it turns out that grandpa had another agreement to have my dad marry my mother. There was a lot of confusion about that in the old days, and nobody seems willing to give me a straight answer, but I think the agreement was to have dad marry Muku-chan's mother, if you can believe that. These days they can hardly look at each other without trading insults..." "Yeah, that does sound kind of far-fetched," Troi agreed. "Well, anyway...the way I hear it," Sakura resumed, "When mom met dad they kind- of started to see each other on the side...mainly because they were friends going back to when they were six years old, which is almost as long as I've known Muku. Her mom met her dad during a skating match, and they didn't exactly hit it off right away, but over time when he started chasing her, Muku's mom started to find herself being really attracted to him, which is why she agreed to call off the engagement with my father. It caused a real scandal at the time, I think, something about an agreement grandpa made with grandmother, but in the end my folks had to promise to consider honoring the agreement to marry a Tendo by having me get engaged to whatever member of the opposite gender was produced in the next generation. This was before I was even conceived, and it just so happened to turn out that I was a girl and Ken was the only male grandchild produced by three sisters. Since our folks tend to be pretty conventional minded about such things, they engaged me to Ken instead of Blaze or Muku..." "Blaze," Troi replied, "That's Muku's cousin by her Aunt Kasumi, right?" "That's her all right," Sakura nodded, "Haven't seen her around for a while though...her father tends to move around a lot when he's not home taking care of the family business. Sometimes he goes on training missions, just like me and Pop, and when Blaze comes back she sometimes looks me up to challenge me...and next to Muku herself, she's a pretty tough fighter. We sometimes like to joke that if she'd been a guy she'd have wound up my boyfriend..." "Does she know about the way you feel about Muku?" Troi asked softly. "I...don't think so," Sakura replied dubiously, "Of course we also liked to joke about what life would be like if I'd inherited my father's curse the way Yui inherited her curse from her mother. I've often wondered about that too...what it would be like if I turned into a guy, just like Dad turns into a girl with a dash of cold water. Of course I'm pretty obviously a girl, so maybe the curse thing only works if both parents have curses, or something like that..." "Well, just for the record, I like you the way you are," Troi replied, "And I'd feel pretty weird if you did have your father's curse. Not that I've got anything against guys, I mean...well...I even once had a boyfriend of my own, did you know that?" "No," Sakura said in surprise, "You...a boyfriend?" "Sure thing," Troi nodded, "We met fifteen years ago when I was still just a kid, and he was a lot older...like about thirteen years older than I looked. He was nineteen, I was six, and he treated me like I was a kid, but later on, after I grew out a bit, we met again and he started to see me in a whole new light...about five years ago I approached him and we started seeing each other...kind of like an experiment we both decided to undertake together." "An experiment?" Sakura arched an eyebrow. "In cross-biological relations," Troi explained, "I wanted to see if it was even possible for me to like a guy that way...and I was pretty brazen when I seduced him. I mean...he was handsome, I was young and inexperienced and we had a lot of fun together, plus he sort-of had a crush on Nagisa, which you can pretty much guess left the guy feeling emotionally very fragile..." "So what happened?" Sakura asked in genuine curiosity. "It didn't quite work out," Troi shrugged, "But we both had a great time and agreed to remain friends and all that. In bed he was so very kind and attentive, and I had a lot of fun, but...well...something just didn't click right for me, and while I tried to make him know how much I was appreciating his efforts, he kind of sensed that it wasn't going where he wanted it to be. It was about that time that I decided that I really was gay, but I wasn't Anthropophobic like my sisters. I could enjoy being with a man, I just couldn't go the full distance. It takes a woman to make me experience the big O in Orgasm, but I've never stopped trying to find a guy who could prove the exception...at least until now when I've found you." "But I'm not a guy," Sakura pointed out. "I know," Troi smiled, "Which makes you perfect for me. I'm sorry if that's inconvenient..." "You don't understand," Sakura glanced away, "My engagement to Ken is a matter of family honor...I can't let anything get in the way of it, no matter who else I...get involved with." "But do you actually like the guy?" Troi asked, then smiled, "You don't have to answer...I can feel that you do, a lot more than you let on...a lot more than you even like to admit to yourself, though you can feel free to deny it." Sakura made an exasperated noise and turned an angry glare back at the Bioroid, "Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have somebody reading my thoughts and telling me what I think without my permission?" "So, are you saying that I'm right?" Troi folded her arms and just looked back at her human companion with a knowing expression, "Besides, it's not like I have any choice about it either...you're broadcasting your thoughts and feelings so loud that I couldn't shut you out if I had both hands over my ears...and you have to admit, my ears are pretty sharp, eh?" "Pointed like an Elf, you mean," Sakura said in an attempt to be stern, but her mouth quirked slightly as she studied the disarming expression of the large-eyed Troi, who was being uber-charming. "You got something against elves?" Troi smirked, "Frankly, there are C'thuwulf who think you humans are weird because you put up with guys and think it's natural to partner with them, but I guess it's all a matter of perspective. The point is...I don't have any choice right now about partnering with you...after that stunt you pulled with me in Neural Space, you're in a fine position to protest that you didn't know what you were getting involved in. Now you're a part of me, joined in mind and spirit almost at the hip, and like it or not, you'll have to put up with having me around in your life." "For how long?" Sakura asked. "I dunno," Troi replied, "The rest of our lives, or until I get a new partner. C'mon, synchronization doesn't happen every day...I was designed to genetically bond with a human who matched a certain mental, physical and spiritual profile, only you somehow adjusted yours to bond with me. Maybe there's somebody else out there who is a perfect match, somebody who was supposed to be my partner...but after fifteen years of waiting you come along and...well...I've got no complaints. The problem for you is that...we can't exactly get a divorce for this thing...we're linked together, and it wasn't like my designers thought about having me get out of this thing...it was meant to last forever." "Forever?" Sakura asked with a faintly appalled expression. "Or until one of us dies, I guess," Troi inclined her head, "What's the matter, are you tired of me already?" Sakura sobered again and said, "Well...maybe so...maybe not...but you have to know something...if I break off my engagement to Ken it's going to produce an even worse scandal than the last time...Sugar." "I know that," Troi replied, "Which is why I wanted to tell you that I'm willing to be flexible here. I won't impose myself on you, Sakura-chan, and I don't want to make a total mess of your life. I want you to be happy, and if that means letting you marry Denny and giving him little chefs to play with..." "Ken," Sakura insisted, only this time her smile was back, "Do you mean that? Would you actually be willing to step aside and let me keep my original engagement?" "Who says I have to step aside?" Troi smiled, "How does Kenny feel about Threesomes?" Sakura blinked before gasping, "Are you serious?" "Hey, you know any red-blooded human male who wouldn't want to be sandwiched between a pair of hot-looking Fems like us?" Troi said with a leering expression, "C'mon, the guy would have to be out of his freling mind not to take up such a two-for-one deal! Besides, I've been with enough guys to know just what it takes to make them happy...I could even give you a few pointers, especially when it comes to giving blow-jobs." Sakura just looked at the silver-haired Bioroid and said simply, "You're not kidding." "Would I lie to you?" Troi said with a patently innocent expression, lifting three fingers for emphasis, "Scouts honor...although I have to say that I'd look awfully funny wearing one of those fukus..." Sakura found herself chuckling before she could even stifle the impulse, then she shook her head and said, "What am I going to do with you?" "Would you like some suggestions?" Troi moved closer to the other girl and put her arms around Sakura's waist, "I could make you a list of things that you could do with me, and it's up to you how many of them you'd like me to try on you..." "You actually make that sound tempting," Sakura admitted, allowing her own arms to slip around the "older" girl's waist, assured that most of her fellow students had already returned to the main school building. Of course the sound of a snapping camera shutter caused them both to turn their heads in time to see Ken smiling back at them with his tell-tale incriminating vid-camera in hand, a knowing smirk in his expression. "Frankly, ladies, I'm very flattered," he said, "I had no idea you went that way, Sakura-chan, but if you're actually considering including me in this little tete-a-tete of yours, perhaps we can negotiate...after I circulate this picture around at my Website. Bye now!" With that the boy turned around and started to run flat-out for the school building. Sakura and Troi remained where they were, arms still wrapped around each other while their eyes tracked the fleeing boy's movements. "My, that boy's got some good legs on him," Troi noted in passing, "Want me to break them?" Sakura actually considered the point, then sighed, "Maybe not...he's still my iinazuke." "Well, suppose he was to have an accident in---say---the next few minutes?" Troi asked, "It doesn't have to be fatal, just painful enough that he doesn't have the strength to use a camera." "Now that I might go along with," Sakura said as she let go of the Bioroid and went reaching for her spatula, "Provided I'm the one who does the pounding, Sugar!" "We could make it a race," Troi smiled, "I'll even teleport you to where he is so you can have first crack." "Deal," Sakura grinned, and together the two of them vanished from the schoolyard, translocating ahead to a more advanced position inside the main building... Yui blinked her eyes and wondered what that peculiar taste was in her mouth...like liquid, but almost broth-like, as though she were floating inside of a giant can of soup mix. It felt exactly like being in one of those C'thuwulf restorative chambers, and---just like before---she found that she could breathe naturally in the peculiar substance, even make sounds quite normally, though the first words she spoke had a curiously unreal quality to her own hearing. "Where...am I?" "Ah," a voice spoke into her ears, vibrating slightly as an effect of her aqueous environment, "Awake at last are we? Good! Grandmother says we need you for the little party we're about to throw for your friends." "Who are you?" Yui glanced around and saw only the opaque interior surface of a rounded, egg-shaped chamber in which she was presently trapped...her arms and legs strapped in by some sort of plastic bracing with miniature tubes attached to the surface areas of her otherwise bare skin. "I'm the pilot on this flight, Honeybunch," came the immediate reply, "You can call me Nova." "Nova?" Yui bristled, "You're that pink-haired bitch who attacked us at the dojo!" "Ah, you remember? Now nice!" Nova chuckled, "Since we're linked together now, it's good that we be on a first-named basis, don't you think?" "Let me out of here!" Yui struggled vainly against the harness that trapped her arms and legs, "I'll show you what I think of as nice!" "You mean like talking to your girlfriend, taking long walks on the beach, holding hands, that sort of thing?" Nova replied, "Let me see if this is what you're thinking..." "Huh?" Yui gasped as images suddenly filled her mind, of Muku Dori talking to her and smiling at her in a friendly kind of way. Yui felt her heart skip a beat as she imagined seeing Muku's casual smile become more shy and suggestive...then she felt a hand grasping her hand, the sense of walking side- by-side along a sunset beach with the water lapping at their feet...and Yui somehow not splitting into a pair but remaining perfectly normal...and all too aware of the presence of Muku beside her..." "Or maybe you'd like something a little more intimate than this, huh?" Nova asked again, and suddenly the mental imagery changed into something far more intensely erotic, of being massaged all over her body with hands that knew their business, finding intimate spaces on and in Yui's body that aroused a strong reaction, causing Yui to gasp as her real body writhed and responded to the touch of those hands...hands very much like Trout, only now belonging to a hungrily smiling Muku!" "Oh yeah, I can tell that's definitely your bag!" Nova remarked, her voice oddly quavering as if she were also becoming aroused by the image, "So, let's ratchet it up a notch, shall we?" Yui arched her back as she remembered the intense love-session that she had enjoyed with Trout, feeling her body respond as if hands and lips were playing over her skin, but now it was Muku's hands, Muku's face and Muku's soft lips which were driving her over the edge of distraction! Yui's arousal was complete as she imagined Muku's face buried in the space between Yui's thighs, and feeling of that tongue sliding into her moistened snatch and going berserk down there, which took Yui beyond conscious awareness to an intense explosion that caused her mind to momentarily go white. "MMMMM....Oh yeah!" Nova cooed, "Shake it, girlfriend! I'll bet you've got a really tasty snatch down there...bet you can taste yourself now, eh?" Yui realized that she could indeed taste a hint of her own juices in the fluids that she was breathing, half-realizing that she had just ejaculated her own cum into the life pod, which was not circulating it out quite as fast as it would ordinary waste matter. The flow of her own juices only furthered her arousal, and rather than expending her lust it expanded on her desire as she imagined herself kissing Muku Dori all over, her tongue sliding down to engorge each generous breast, then going further south to take care of the main business, lapping up Muku Dori's own juices. Nova grew excited as she experienced these new emotions, sensations and feelings unlike anything that she had ever known before since the time of her creation. Yui was unaware of the resonating converter located inside her life pod, which was absorbing her bio-energies as fast as the girl could discharge her excess...energies that were then converted to match the Bio-resonance pattern of Nova's own rhythms, which gave her a charge as she linked in with this now-fully aroused and highly suggestible human. It had indeed been a lightning stroke of genius for Big Gold to figure out that human emotions were the reason why the Iczers and their Partners kept winning all their battles. All that was needed was to find a human whose strong life force readings were matched by an equally strong emotional pattern, and when one of her target's companions proved to fit these requirements, it had been a simple enough matter for Nova to abduct her into the program. And what a find she had made! This Yui Hibiki had an incredibly strong life- energy reading with vitality signs that vastly exceeded human normalcy, not to mention a toughness and resilience to her frame that made her a perfect test subject for Gold's current theory. With the application of a few psychotropic stimulants to the life-pod's aqueous Biofluids, the girl's already low resistance to suggestion was virtually annulled, leaving her mind open to the slightest suggestion that Nova could make to her...especially given how the resonator allowed Nova free and easy access to the girl's memories and emotional centers. By plucking out choice memories and replaying them in a selective manner she was able to manipulate this Yui quite easily in order to provoke the type of strong responses that were needed. And what a charge it was feeling this girl emote! Nova felt her own energy levels swell to previously unheard of levels, her body reaching peak performance and efficiency within seconds, forcing her to "bleed off" her excess into the storage reserves of her new Iczer Robo. With a battery source as potent as this Yui she had all the power that she would need to crush her enemies completely...but the unexpected side-effect of feeling this girl's arousal register within her own body gave Nova an even bigger charge than any thoughts of wanton mayhem and destruction! "OOOHHHYEEEESSS!!!" Nova cried, her voice matching that of Yui as they climaxed together on a particularly intense bit of mental stimulation, only now it seemed to Nova as if she were the one making out with this other girl, responding in kind to Yui's sexually charged overtures by imagining herself as the girl to whom this Hibiki girl was so passionately screwing! It was the first-ever orgasm that Nova had ever experienced in her young life, and it was so indescribably arousing that she marveled that she had never known such things before! Why hadn't Big Gold informed her that humans could experience such wonderful sensations? No wonder the original designers of the Iczers had gone to such loving detail to genetically sculpt their bodies into such a close resemblance of the human model? And to think, until now, Nova had always thought those capacities were useless and redundant... "NOVA," a voice cut in on her reverie, "ARE YOU FUNCTIONING WITHIN SAFE PARAMETERS?" "Whoops!" Nova sobered abruptly, "Sorry about that...kinda got carried away there for a second..." "DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE DISTRACTED BY THESE NEW SENSATIONS WHICH YOU SEEM TO BE EXPERIENCING," Big Gold replied, "IF THEY DISTRACT YOU FROM YOUR MISSION, YOU ARE TO DISENGAGE YOURSELF FROM THE LINK-UP." Nova felt a surge of panic at that...break her link to this human? When they only just getting to the good parts? Nonetheless she realized that she could not voice such sentiments aloud to her creator, so instead she replied, "Understood, Grandmother...I will manage myself, and I won't forget my mission." "THEN INITIATE THE SECOND STAGE OF THIS EXPERIMENT," Big Gold replied, "ALLOW YOUR NEW PARTNER TO EXPERIENCE SOMETHING ELSE, WHICH SHOULD GET HER MOTIVATED TO THE APPROPRIATE MINDSET." "Oh...sure...ahem," Nova awkwardly called up the program filters, then altered the scene inside of Yui's protective shell to call up images that had been recorded by the use of remote sensors, "Hate to wake you up, Cutie...but while you're waiting for me to powder my nose...why don't take in some in-flight movies?" Yui blinked her eyes, coming out of her somewhat aroused state in order to see images appearing in the space around her...images of Muku Dori...in the company of Rhea...cradling Rhea in her arms and even talking with her in a very intimate manner. The emotional response this produced was like the shifting of gears in a supercharged racer. Jealousy, resentment, rage and an unthinking desire to lash out at the target of her anger filled her being and the resonator, charging the Iczer Robo itself with a new kind of power reading, which same Nova registered like a shock to her system, causing her to say, "Whoah! What a rush!" "NOW YOU ARE READY TO INITIATE THE THIRD STAGE OF THIS PROGRAM," Big Gold said in obvious satisfaction, "READY TO BEGIN THE OPERATION?" "You bet, Grandmother!" Nova declared, feeling the urge to do battle rising up in her like her new companion's berserker temper, "Ready to emerge from subspace and initiate the attack now!" "GOOD," Big Gold chuckled malevolently, "THEN LET THE GAMES BEGIN!" And with that the eyes of a massive Iczer Robo flared to life, an ominous portent of many things that were soon to follow... Continued. Comments/Criticisms/Rampaging Lemons: shadowmane@ridgenet.net The countdown begins once more for Rhea and Muku as they face down a newly supercharged enemy Mecha, but will Yui's rage prove enough to turn the tide of battle for Nova, and if so, what will become of our heroines and their allies? Stay tuned for, "Rage of the Hibikis," or "I have a Crush on You!" Be there! X -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: http://millennium.fortunecity.com/firemansam/457/jimbader.html All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works.