"WHAT?!! Anri, are you sure?!"
"Positive, Sylvie! Largo's sent Priss-san, Nene-san and Linna-san after Moroboshi-sama and his group!"
A shiver ran through Sylvie as her eidetic memory called up the image of a woman in her very late teens, possessing soft brown hair and eyes the shade of burned chestnuts. Priscilla S. Asagiri, known to all her friends simply as "Priss." Lead singer of one of Megatokyo's more "political" retrothrash bands, the Replicants. Also the Blue Knight Sabre, the "tank" of the four-woman mercenary/vigilante team which had become the most well-known symbol of the growing resistance against Genom and the other "powers that be" in that particular universe.
Unlike what was depicted in the Bubblegum Crisis OVA series, Sylvie had never encountered Priss; she and her sister 33-S's had been taken away from Genaros mere days before their fateful escape attempt would have happened. However, when all of the Sexaroids were moved into this pocket dimension by Moroboshi Ataru, he took the time to explain to Sylvie and Anri what might have happened to them had they tried to carry out their original plans and what would have been the tragic results.
Then when the Cylons -- and Largo -- came to this place...
"Wait! Wasn't Sylia-san released?" Sylvie demanded.
Anri snorted. "Of course not! Do you really think Largo would want to let her out?"
"What's her status?"
"Like the others in suspension right now; programmed with Ataru-sama's bio-data." A wicked smile crossed Anri's face. "Since he's a boomer himself, Largo doesn't have the ability to imprint his own bio-data on Sylia-san since he doesn't have bio-data."
Sylvie considered that for a moment, then sighed. "Show me where everyone is right now."
Anri turned to the console, tapping controls to throw up a graphic of one section of the vast base. "Here's where Priss-san and the others are now," she announced, pointing to one icon. "Here's where Moroboshi-sama and Saotome-sama are. By the looks of it, they've broken away from the others in their party." She indicated another icon, then a third. "Here's where Sylia-san is."
Sylvie hummed. "If only Priss and the others can be delayed..."
"Should I let Sylia-san out?" Anri asked.
The lavender-haired cyberdroid considered that, then nodded. "Do it. Have her go straight to Moroboshi-sama." She reached up to give her green-haired sister a squeeze on the shoulder. "With her faceplate open."
Anri nodded. "Hai!"
"It does not go well for us."
"Who summoned those other ships?" Largo wondered as he and Miroku stared at a graphic of the growing battle in orbit.
"Unknown," the blonde humanoid Cylon replied. "I do not believe that we targetted any of the females aboard the Galactica or the Pegasus; that was not part of the overall plan. And while Moroboshi did know of the more attractive females on the Enterprise and the Defiant, we would not have moved directly against the Federation until we won the Borg Collective to our cause."
A thoughtful hum escaped the boomer "messiah." "Can you summon additional basestars?"
"Three more are preparing to deploy to this location as we speak," Miroku replied as a curious reading from the storage chambers came to her. What was this? Sylvie and Anri were releasing her from cryostorage? Why...?
Glancing briefly at Largo, Miroku paused as she considered the matter, then she sent a mental command to the central monitor unit to cut out all readings from Sylia Stingray's suspension unit to this chamber. While Sylia indeed was the daughter of the man whose knowledge and wisdom had created boomers in the first place, Largo's pathological obsession for the leader of the Knight Sabres -- an echo of the memories of the man who had seen Largo created, Brian J. Mason -- would destroy him in the long run. While Miroku herself had enjoyed her own fling with Gaius Baltar, she kept that particular "relationship" in proper perspective. Largo hadn't learned how to do that. If he was to truly become the ruler of all of his kind, he had to dismiss all weak feelings for humans. And that included Sylia Stingray.
Now...
In his private chambers, Moroboshi Ataru relaxed as he stared at the image of the raging battle in orbit. There were now two Colonial battlestars here, sending fighters against his allies' lone basestar. And now there were three Federation starships where there had just been one, they automatically joining with the Colonials against the Cylons. How damned typical! Do any of those high-and-mighty...
"Ani-kun."
He jolted, then spun around to see someone gazing directly into his eyes. "Who...?!"
A finely-crafted Celtic cross appeared before Ataru's eyes, the light flashing from its polished surface blinding him for a second. That was enough to allow Kurusugawa Serika to blow some fine dust into his face. Breathing that in, he gasped as his whole body suddenly locked up, then he collapsed in his chair, a deep snore escaping him. "Perfect," Chikage declared before waving her cape.
In the blink of the eye, the two sorceresses and their target vanished...
Many levels below...
"Hey, Ran-chan, wait up!"
"Airen, where are you going?!"
Ranma slowed down, turning to gaze on his fiancees. Akane was still bleeding from the nose and lips thanks to the buttstroke she received thanks to Ataru's Range Hunter. Kodachi was still crying, her cheek still red from the slap Ranma gave her. Ukyou was busy trying to help Akane get back to her feet. Shampoo was somewhat torn between helping her rival and going off with Ranma. Not only was his recent assertion about her and the others being "would-be" fiancees -- not that Shampoo recognized the violent tomboy, the spatula-welding chef or ESPECIALLY the whacko gymnast as proper "rivals" for her Airen's affections -- quite disturbing, there was also this Haruka girl to worry about.
Taking a deep breath, he glared at them. "The sooner we find the heart of this operation and shut it down, the better. We don't have time to wait on you people. If you can, catch up. If you can't, try to stay hidden from Cylon patrols. We'll try to get this mess all fixed up as soon as we can!" He turned to his companions. "Haruka-san, Ataru-san, let's go!"
"Hai!" Ataru and Haruka replied.
"Ran-chan!!" Ukyou screamed out as the three raced off...
...then all four fiancees wailed as a nearby wall exploded over them, pelting them with dust and shattered concrete. Ranma, Ataru and Haruka spun around in time to see three armoured figures emerge from the smoke close to Kodachi. "The Knight Sabres?!!" Ataru screamed.
Hearing his voice, the three women spun around. "There he is!! Get him!!" Priss bellowed, then levelled her railgun on Ataru.
Ranma grabbed Haruka and yanked her clear as Ataru dropped down just as Priss' railgun bolts zipped right over his head. A sonic grenade sailed at the Sabres, detonating at Yamazaki Linna's feet. The shock of the explosion threw the green Sabre into Nene Romanova, sending both sprawling. Realizing that the attacking women were interested in him for some reason, Ataru stared at his sister and Ranma. "Stay with Ranma-san, Haruka-chan!! I'll lead these girls away from you guys!!" he barked before taking off down the hallway.
"Come back here, you creep!!" Priss bellowed before triggering her booster jets.
Ranma and Haruka ducked clear as the blue Sabre raced off after Ataru, then the former spun on the recovering Linna and Nene. "MOUKO TAKAIBISHA!!!!" he screamed out, sending a concentrated chi blast into the two armoured women.
"Anigimi-sama!!!" Haruka screamed out as she raced off after her brother and Priss.
"Haruka-san, wait!!" Ranma called out as he moved to follow.
Shampoo grabbed him by the legs, tripping him up. "You stay put, Airen!! I won't let you..."
The flat of Ukyou's spatula smashed into the warrior-maiden's head, knocking her out. Ranma kicked her clear of his legs, then rolled back to his feet. Seeing that he was moving to run off after Haruka, Ukyou drew out one of her throwing spatulas. "You stay put, Ra-...!"
Ranma spun on her, chi blazing in his hands. "MOUKO TAKAIBISHA!!!!"
THAT bolt slammed into Ukyou's stomach, sending her flying against a wall close to where Nene and Linna had fallen. As the chef collapsed to the ground with a pained moan, Ranma shook his head. "And I thought the tomboy was bad?!" he snarled before racing off.
Ukyou quaked, painfully reaching out to her fiance before unconsciousness finally seized her. "Ran-chan..."
"This is just NOT my damned day!"
Ataru peeked around the corner, noting the shadow growing on the wall about ten metres away. Priss' armoured footfalls echoed loud and clear in this place, which made avoiding her all the more easier for a man who had much experience dealing with flying Oni infantry, not to mention an overamourous so-called "wife" and all her moron followers. Problem was, what could he possibly do at this time? It was clearly obvious that Priss, not to mention Linna and Nene, were under the possession of whoever or whatever it was that was truly running the show in this place. He had no real idea if the bullets in the Range Hunter could penetrate Priss' armour; while he would prefer NOT to use the rifle against the possessed Knight Sabre, he had to accept the fact that shooting her down might be the only option before him now...
Ataru tensed on hearing more booster jets, then he blinked on hearing Priss call out, "Sylia, what are you doing here?!"
Silence responded save for the sounds of jets pushing someone's armour towards his position. Peeking around the corner, he blinked on seeing Sylia Stingray jet his way. Unlike the other Sabres, their leader was now moving on Ataru with her faceplate rotated up, the movement gently shuffling the raven hair covering her face. Seeing something that was simply not normal for Megatokyo's resident hardsuit vigilante/mercenary group, Ataru lowered his rifle as he took a tentative step away from cover. "Sylia-san..."
Hearing his voice, Sylia perked as her eyes turned towards him, then a bright smile crossed her face as she lowered herself to the floor. As Ataru watched, the Sabres' leader reached up to pull her helmet off -- then tossing it aside, she raced at him, arms wide. "ATARU-SAMA!!!" she screamed out as she flew right into him, knocking him off his feet as her lips slammed into his!
Watching this, Priss' mind nearly overloaded as her gun hand rose on target. "Sylia, what the HELL are you...?!!"
"MOUKO TAKAIBISHA!!!!"
The chi bolt slammed into Priss' back, sending her flying head-first into a wall as Ranma and Haruka jogged up. Both stopped on seeing Sylia embracing Haruka's brother, then Ranma cupped his hands to fire off another blast. "Ataru, duck!!!" he called out.
"Wait!!!"
Silence fell as Sylia pulled herself away from a dazed Ataru, then she jogged over to Priss' side. Kneeling, she reached over to flick off her teammate's helmet, then she boosted the dazed singer to her feet. Ranma and Haruka remained frozen in place as Sylia fireman-carried Priss over to Ataru. Dropping Priss into a standing position before Ataru, Sylia pressed the former's face into the latter. Once skin contact was made, Priss' eyes snapped open, they going wide for a second before a delighted squeal escaped her.
"ATARU-SAMA!!!" she sobbed as she threw her arms around him, she moving to give him her own passionate lip-to-lip greeting.
By then, Ranma and Haruka had recovered enough to come up to join them. "Um, excuse me, Stingray-san, but..." Ataru's sister began.
Sylia stared at her. "All of us have been specially reprogrammed to acknowledge Ataru-sama as our lord and master upon physically touching him," she explained as very interesting sounds began to emit from Priss.
Sweatdrops flowed down their hair. "Ranma-sama, should we fetch Yamazaki-san and Romanova-san?" Haruka wondered.
"Might be a good idea," Ranma breathed out as...
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(Posted Tue, 24 Feb 2004 06:01)
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