Sword of Darkness Part 11

by Mac

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THIS IS THE ANTI-DISCLAIMER!
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We're picking up right where the last fic left off:  

"Yes, actually, that's part of why I'm here."  

I didn't tell him that I had come to protect him, as I figured that the lecture was more 
important right now.  

"Ash," I continued, "it doesn't matter whether or not that was the real Misty.  If you can't love 
her because of it--that's one thing--but refusing to come to her aid was another.  She feels the 
same things as Misty did, or any other person, for that matter.  You knew better than that."  

"What's it matter?  Mewtwo just wanted me to try and help her anyway." Ash retorted.  

"WRONG.  You know better than that.  Even if Mewtwo had anticipated his mistake, this is what he 
would have wanted."  

"You're right." he said.  With that, he began sobbing uncontrollably.  I put my arms around the 
child.  It pained me to realize that he was, after all, merely a child.  

I spent the next several minutes watching the sun setting over the watery horizon as Ash slowly 
calmed down, trying to steel himself.  When he did calm down, he sat beside me and looked at his 
feet.  

"I don't want to fight anymore.  I know I have to fight for Misty, and for everyone else, even 
Misty's c... clone.  But I don't know if I can."  

"Ash, you do have a responsibility, and a need, to fight, but you're in no condition for it right
 now."  

Ash paused for another minute.  Without his gentle sobbing, there was only the sound of the surf,
 which I'm sure registered clearly in his mind, despite, or because of, his pain.  

"Mac," Ash spoke up, "have you ever loved someone?"  

"No," I lied, holding back my own tears.  

"Then I guess you wouldn't understand, huh?"  

"Ash, either way, this is something you have to sort out for yourself."  

"OK."  

I stood and watched the setting sun as I realized just how much pain I was feeling for Ash.  One 
tear escaped my eye as I reached an emotional plane between extreme emotion and complete peace of 
mind.  Everything seemed very clear.  It was a state that I was very familiar with, but this time
 something was different.  

Suddenly, for no logical reason, I screamed.  I screamed out of emotion with every ounce of 
energy in my body.  Normally, such a scream would drain a person of their energy, but my power 
level was rising.  I continued to scream, not thinking about why, until my power had reached a 
plateau that was near my peak level.  My hair stood on end and my muscles were pumped as I 
realized that there was no longer any sound, not even from the surf.  Ash watched on, wondering 
what was happening, but, strangly, not worrying.  

I realized that the three Jurian ships that now belonged to Ray, Shane, and myself were near the
 planet.  I also realized what I was now able to do because of it.  

"SUPER FORM!!"  

I had found the same form that Frag had been using and that the rest of us had been preparing 
for.  I felt the hair grow down to my shoulders, and my skin stretch as my muscles expanded.  My 
power level had skyrocketed so high that I stopped monitoring it and took a moment to examine 
myself.  My hair was riding a fine line between lying down and standing completely on end, and, 
as opposed to my usually muscular but slim form, my muscles were clearly visible through even my 
lab coat.  

As a test, I mustered what I now saw as a very small amount of energy and shot it between the 
shore and horizon.  As far as I could see, which was far beyond my normal sight, the water was 
blown out of the sea bed and rained back down.  

I placed one foot back, and one hand forward.  In a flash of light, my figure slimmed back down 
by some degree, and I was left in a suit of white, form fitting armor that somewhat resembled a 
samurai's armor.  To my skin, it felt like silk, but it was quite hard.  Upon further tactile 
inspection, it's properties appeared to be reminiscent of "saiyan" armor.  I was somewhat 
relieved to find that my muscles had slimmed somewhat, but realized that it was a moot point, as 
I was now completely relaxed.  Upon exertion I would end up with the same physique.  

With that, I returned to my normal form in another flash of light.  Ash continued to watch but 
remained silent.  

I began to speak, but was cut of by the sensing of an enormous power.  I looked torward the 
horizon, and I sensed what the power was.  It had just entered the dimension a moment after I had 
returned to normal, and it had a pattern like something from a Dragon Ball dimension.  In a split
 second, it was recognizable as Vejiita.  

Vejiita was beside me in a moment.  Wearing "sayain" armor, he was in his normal form, and filled
 with hate.  I couldn't see a bit of good in his mind at all.  I chose to speak first.  

"You're not the average villian, are you?" I asked.  

"What a delightful way to begin a conversation," he retorted. "I understand your meaning.  I'll 
be forward:  I'm a clone.  Don't worry, I won't be subject to an identity crisis like that child 
was.  I'm quite happy with the improvements Mewtwo has given me.  I don't think that you will be,
 though."  

"What do you want?"  

"What I want isn't what matters right now.  You see, Mewtwo wishes your deaths, but he would like
 to be present for that event.  As well, he wishes to study you to some extent.  There is a 
proposition that he thinks would suit you and your friends."  

"And what would that be?"  

"A tournament.  It need only be one on one.  The four of you from earth alpha dimension will 
participate.  Those of you who make it through will be granted the opportunity to see Mewtwo."  

"What's in it for us?" I asked.  I had a feeling that whatever it was wouldn't be much.  

"If you refuse the offer, then the only way that you will see Mewtwo will be much less pleasant, 
I assure you."  

Not accounting for dirty play, which was unlikely, I realized that it probably would be the most 
pleasant option, as well as a sure bet.  It was highly unlikely that any of us could lose to 
anyone but Mewtwo himself.  

"It sounds like a decent way to present Mewtwo with our business cards,"  I said.  

"Good.  Then I hope you don't mind me leaving you with mine."  

Vejiita raised his power slightly and took no time before launching a flurry of punches and kicks
 at me.  I had no problem blocking all of them, so he was prompted to jump back and attempt a chi 
attack.  

I deflected the attack easily.  He gathered energy and tried again, but it was deflected in the 
same manner.  He was still in his first form, but I had yet to break a sweat.  This obviously 
enraged him, but he was unwilling to go any farther.  He would have been even worse off if he had 
known that I had no help from my new form, which he knew nothing about.  

"You will be my opponent!  I will see to that!" he shouted.  "I will ensure that you never even 
experience the shame of not meeting with Mewtwo!  The fight will be in the Red Circle!  You will 
know when!"  

With that he sped away.  I didn't care to where.  I knew that I wouldn't see him until the 
tournament, where I knew that he would prove to be a much more formidible opponent, with his 
Super Saiyan forms.  I had no idea where the "Red Circle" was, but I knew that it wouldn't take 
much searching.  

The ships were getting closer.  I could see them as specks in the sky now, each slowly 
approaching its owner.  Now was the time to return to the others.  

"Ash, it's time to go."  

"O...  OK."  

I grabbed Ash and flew at top speed to Ray and Shane, who were sensed easily enough.  I couldn't 
sense Frag anywhere.  

When I stopped, Ash looked up and nodded at me before running off to wash the tears from his face 
before anyone noticed.  Ray, Shane and I all walked torward each other.  

"Guys, have you seen Frag anywhere?"  I asked.  

"No," said Ray.  "Not since he left."  

"Well, I have some big news.  Guess who I saw."  

Brick Boy came out of nowhere and hit Shane in the back of the head before he could react.  

"Vejiita." I continued.  

"WHAT?" screamed the two man collective.  

"I tell you what, it's a long story, why don't I give it too you in the most efficient manner?"  

The most efficient manner was a telepathic technique.  I guessed correctly that both of them knew 
the technique that Goku taught, and I relayed the recent events.  

"Woah" was the response.  

"The tournament's no big, but uhm.." stuttered Shane.  

"Oh, this?" I stated, and began to raise my power level.  With a bit of effort, I changed forms 
in a chi flame, going through both manifestations for effect.  

That was met with another demonstration of the Keanu Reeves acting technique.  

"I haven't tried to find all of the abilities of this new form, but I think I can access Vortex 
power."  I formed a few tiny pockets of Vortex energy that collapsed into tiny, inactive portals,
 and formed a blade of Vortex energy.  I then dispersed them and tesseracted behind Ray and 
Shane, forcing them to turn around.  The last technique was nothing new, but I did it to show 
off.  

Now their faces no longer held awe, but anger.  

"How did you do that?" demanded Shane.  

"I don't know..." I didn't attempt to be consoling, I merely explained.   "I've always played 
around with vortex energy.  Now it seems easy, and I think that I can do it in my normal form 
now.  It's not like I'm made out of vortex energy.  Ray is the chosen one, not me.  I can just... 
 use it somehow.  You probably can, too."  

I began to turn around to get a few steps of distance before I continued my argument, since I 
didn't like the air that was forming, but something stopped me.  

I halted in my tracks and screamed (again) as YABHJ(Yet Another Blue Haired Juraian) stood 3cm 
from my face (again).  In front of me stood a beautiful woman dressed in formal Juraian garb.  

"Hello.  I am Kyuusai.  I am your tree and ship."  

Behind me, Ray was faced with a similar predicament.

"Hello.  I am Kousei.  I am your tree and ship."  

Ray and I looked at Shane, who was facing...  a guy.  

"Hello.  I am Hogo.  I am your tree and ship."  

Kyuusai spoke again.  

"We'll be arriving shortly.  Please prepare for us.  Bye!"  

With that, they disappeared.  

With *that*, a cry of "CRAP!!!!!" rang through the air.  

Ray and I looked at Shane, who was furious.  

"Great!!  Two beautiful women are now symbiotically attached for life to...  to who?"  He pointed 
to Ray.  "The guy who pretends to have never heard of sex, and..."  he pointed to me.  "The guy 
who HASN'T heard of sex!!  And what do *I* get??"  

Shane pulled out a chocolate bar and began to munch.  He started to speak again, but was 
distracted by the legs of Terra, who was passing in the distance.  Terra smiled and waved at me,
 something that she had seemed averted to doing before, but I thought nothing of it.  

Between the anger, joke cracking, chocolate, and libido, Shane was in zombie-mode.  Ray and I 
focused our attention to each other.  

"I want to know what's up with that new form of yours," said Ray, his spite obvious.  

"Nothing is up with it..." I began, but I was cut off.  Both Ray and I looked up to see Shane 
clothed in a printed coat with fur lining, sunglasses, a plumed hat, and gold headed cane, his 
power level on the rise.  

"What the..." Ray and I both began, but we were cut off again.  

"Hey," Shane addressed me.  He seemed...  different.  "Since you can already use vortex power, 
you can go ahead and have this."  He handed me a badge.  I noted that it was a full status 
guardian badge before I stuffed it in my pocket.  

"Just introduce me to that fine lady over there." he continued.  

"Ah...  Shane?"  

Hogo appeared at Shane's side, dressed similarly, and acting completely out of character for 
anything Juraian.  

"That IS one sweet chick.  Dang, man, you got it all goin' on."  

"Are you going to introduce us or not?" Shane asked, now a bit miffed.  

Before I could answer, Brick Boy clobbered him again.  Hogo disappeared, and the normal Shane 
rose rubbing his head.  

"What happened?" he asked slowly.  

"I...  don't...  know..." was the best thing I could muster.  

"What I want to know is what happened to Hogo.  I didn't think that the symbiotism worked that 
way." said Ray.  

All of us were treated to a flash of light as Tsunami appeared before us.  

"IT DOESN'T!!!" she screamed, distraught.  No one had ever heard of Tsunami being distraught.  
"It was only that advanced form that perverted Hogo!"  

"In more ways than one," said Ray.  

"Woah, you mean I went super-human?" asked Shane.  

"NO!!" replied Tsunami.  "You're not powerful enough or ANYTHING enough to do it!!  It was just 
the extreme emotions that you were dealing with that allowed one part of you, your....  libido... 
to manifest in that 'super-human' form as some sort of...  of..."

"Pimp?" offered Ray.

"PIMP!!!" screamed Tsunami.  

"Cool!" said Shane.  

"SHUTUP!!" continued Tsunami.  "Once your work here is done, if you come anywhere near Jurai 
without Hogo, I'LL HAVE YOU DRAWN AND QUARTERED!!"  

Tsunami then dissappeared just as she had come.  

"Butthole." said Shane.  

Ray and I just sighed.  

"I'm going to take a nap," said Shane, as he walked off to find a bed.  

Ray turned around to see me again, and assumed the same angry attitude as before.  

"I'll be somewhere," he said as he stomped off.  

I was left by myself for a moment, until Ash walked up.  

"Mac?"  

"Come on, Ash.  I need to go explain things to everyone else.  Then we'll talk."  

"Alright."  

As we exited the scene, I realized that I had no idea what was going to happen next.  

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That's it kids!  A story such as this can only bring the words "NOW WHAT??"  Well, I don't know. 
 Tune in next time with one of our other authors to find out!
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