The man was tall and had fiery red hair. His height made his even taller bodyguards look like giants. His hair was slicked back, and he wore a tux, under his long black trenchcoat. "His appearance was a refreshing sight, compared to the other slobs in this dump," Ryoko thought to herself. The three walked toward the front of the room, and took a seat in an open booth. "Time for you to go to work," Trunks said to her, sarcastically. Ryoko smiled. "Let's wait for him to get drunk first, shall we?"
They sat in a dark corner, watching him from a distance. "He's had 4 shots, and a malt-liquor drink. That should be enough. Even I'd be a little shaky after that," Ryoko explained. She now stood up, and handed Trunks her jacket, which was folded, concealing the blaster gun inside it. "Watch my back..." She started to head over to his table. "Wow. He's not as old as I had assumed. I thought he was gonna be an old Roshi-type pervert, but he looks like he's only 35.... Bulma, you're gonna get yours for making me do this.... I swear.."
She turned on her charm as she approached the table. "Is this seat taken?" she asked, sounding as seductive as humanly possible. "Now it will be." Of course, he took the bait and let her sit. "You're new here, I don't recall ever seeing you before." "Oh, how observant! Yes, this is my first time here! It was awfully kind of you to let me accompany you..." She was smiling widely, a good cover-up. She was actually trying to keep herself from gagging. The two continued to talk, Will offered her various drinks in the meantime. He was obviously trying to get her drunk. She didn't fall for it. "So, you're the commander of a large and powerful organization? That's so fascinating." "Please...." Trunks thought as he watched them from afar. He began chugging the rest of his beer.
"It's not easy being the head of such an impressive organization!" He began to explain to her. "Well, I've never seen it around before." "That's because it's...hic! Well hidden deep in the southern forest..." "So that's where it is!" Ryoko thought to herself. "Good! Now that I have the information, I can get the heck out of here!" She began searching for an excuse to leave. "This is becoming too sickening to watch," Trunks muttered. He finished his drink off, got up, and headed for the restroom. "Here's your drink, ma'am," the bartender said to Ryoko, catching her off guard as he handed it to her. "Oh! Thanks...," she muttered, getting up to reach for it. Her backside now faced Will Red, which was mostly her uncovered skin. "Huh..?" He noticed a marking on her upper right shoulder blade.
"Well, if you're going to be wearing that," Bulma added before they left, "Then at least cover your scars." "What? You mean, graft skin over them?" "Yeah, I can cover them temporarily for you..." Obviously, Bulma had missed one.
The jagged scar was enough to change the commander's mind. She turned, unaware of his discovery, and said, "So...where were we? Oh! Will you excuse me for a moment? I just have to go to th..."
-chck- He quickly pulled out a gun, and faced it directly at her head, the barrel lightly leaning against her forehead. "You're not going anywhere."
Meanwhile, one of the bodyguards, who were actually androids, started to head over to the restroom. Trunks was the only person inside at the time. Apparently, they had been watching Ryoko and Trunks too, and had kept a suspicious eye on them since they first walked in. The android that headed over to the restroom now began bolting the door shut. The other android, which was now standing next to his master and Ryoko, had pulled out a gun, and faced it toward the ceiling, firing two shots. Plaster from the ceiling cracked, and started to fall to the ground. Everyone inside began to freak out and panic, screaming and heading toward the exits. It wasn't long before Will, who was still tightly holding his gun up to Ryoko's forehead, and his two android bodyguards were the only ones remaining in the empty room. Trunks had definitely heard that, and ran to the door. He began to push it open, but to his shock, it didn't budge. "What?!" The android that bolted the door shut was now leaning against it, keeping it closed. Trunks then pressed the side of his face against it. The yelling that he had heard before was now gone, and he couldn't hear anything.
Ryoko stood calmly, now glaring at her attacker. "You almost had me fooled.." He began to lightly rest his index finger on the trigger. "I should have guessed... you're a lot different from any other girl that's approached me in this place." "Is that because I made it seem like I was actually interested in your work?" Ryoko snickered. This angered him. "You won't be able to keep that cocky attitude for too long." "Yeah, but it was my scar that gave it away, wasn't it?" she said, realizing why he'd been staring at her strangely before. His hand began clenching the gun even more tightly then before. "Go ahead." Ryoko said. "...shoot me." He glared at her. She didn't move. She didn't even look scared. He began to slowly pull the trigger back.....Bang!
The gunshot echoed throughout the empty room. Ryoko was still standing, her head bent far back from the impact of the shot. "What?!" His voice was a combination of shock and rage. "How can she still be...?" "Ryoko!! Shoot! What the hell's going on?!" Trunks yelled. He was still trapped behind the door. "I'm coming!" He began to back up toward the back of the bathroom, and ran forward at full force, ramming the door down with his shoulder. His hit knocked the android down as well. The other android looked over when he heard the collision, but the commander still continued to stare at Ryoko, holding his gun. She slowly began to bring her head back up, blood dripping from her forehead. But something was different now, she changed. Her hair now stuck up, and shined with a golden-yellow color. She began to stare at him again with her now large, green eyes; his mouth was hanging open and his eyes were wide. Ryoko had transformed into her Super Saiyan form at the instant the shot was made, and was now turning her neck sharply to the left and right, grinning as it cracked.
She reached her hand up to where the bullet was stuck in her forehead. "W-wwhat? N-no! No way!!" She stuck her hand in her head and pulled out the bullet. "You can't!!" Ryoko then held it out in front, looking down at the blood soaked bullet. She then squeezed it tightly in her fist, turning it to dust as skin began filling in the hole in her forehead. "Die, Bitch!!!"
He frantically began shooting at her until he ran out of bullets. Ryoko's speed was so great, it looked as if she hadn't moved an inch, but in reality, she had easily caught every bullet that was shot at her. "Here ya go." She lightly tossed the caught bullets to him. He realized that he wasn't facing an ordinary girl. But for some reason, she now looked familiar in her Super Saiyan form. "Oh! That's it!!" He had secretly been monitoring her fight with Cell in the past, and hadn't recognized her until now. "You! You're the one who destroyed Cell! Now I understand! You must've been the one who stopped my android before...." "Yeah, that's me. He wasn't very strong...beating it was simply child's play. I didn't even have to power up." She stood arrogantly, folding her arms and grinning. They both stood, staring at each other. Trunks had walked closer, and was now standing behind Ryoko. She didn't know, but Will had noticed. All of a sudden, he quickly lifted his arm up, and it began to extend until it reached Trunks' neck, flinging him into the approaching wall. "Hey!!" Ryoko shouted, as she swung her fist. It was easily interrupted by the android bodyguard, who swung his to stop hers. "Ungh...," Ryoko grunted as she added more force to her fist. It didn't move. In an instant, she was hit by an unblockable blow in the gut by the android's leg. It sent her flying across the room, smashing tables and chairs, until finally, her body was crushed when she slammed into the wall.
"Ahhh...aaahhhh!...ugh.... gasp.." Trunks coughed as his air supply became thin. Commander Red was walking toward him, until his robotic arm was back to its original length. He was choking Trunks, and pushing him into the wall, while punching him in the gut with his other arm. "Didn't think I'd be able to defend myself, did you boy?" Trunks couldn't answer that question, even if he had wanted to. He wasn't sure if he was ever going to breathe again as his air supply was now completely cut off. Ryoko's body was embedded in the wall. It started to crack around her, and she finally fell to the floor. She pushed herself to her knees, and saw the android now quickly flying up to her. She teleported, surprising it as it missed her, and reappeared closer to her husband. "Trunks!!" She drew her lightsaber sword, and flew up to him, catching Red off guard as she sliced off his hand, releasing Trunks, who had almost slipped into unconscienceness. He held on to her for support as he coughed, gasping for air. "You ok?" she asked, looking worried. "cough cough....yeah....cough...I'll...be fine..." She now looked back at Will, who was examining his broken arm. "...Well...I'll be... That's impressive!" He said to Ryoko. She still had her sword drawn, and it hummed in the silence. "I've never seen a weapon like that," he thought to himself. "Well, Saiyan! I've enjoyed our meeting!" He turned, and bowed to her. "Huh?! Now wait a minute..." He quickly issued an order to his androids, and started to leave. They flew in to attack the two, while the commander got away. "Dammit!" Ryoko yelled, as she saw him leave, but couldn't do anything. She was too busy blocking punches.
It wasn't long before the two androids were easily destroyed by the Saiyans. "That about does it. I can't believe he got away," Trunks sighed. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter too much," explained Ryoko. "I mean, we didn't come here to beat him, we came to find out where the Red Ribbon HQ was." "Oh yeah! Did you?" "Yep! It wasn't the most self-respecting thing I've ever done, but it worked. At least that's over with." "Yeah. We better get home." It was really late. The two began walking back home to Capsule Corporation. Trunks quietly opened the door while he held Ryoko, who was now resting on his shoulder. They were surprised to run into Bulma, expecting everyone to be fast asleep. It was almost 4:00 in the morning. "I put your kids to sleep a while ago for ya," she whispered to them. "Oh, thanks," Ryoko mumbled, half asleep. "So, how did it go? I was worried...it took you a while." "Well, I've got some good news and bad news," Ryoko said partly laughing. "And..?" "Well, the good news is that I know where the headquarters is. And the bad news....is that he's going to be expecting us." "What? What do you mean? You messed up?" "Hey! No, I didn't. You did! You missed one of my scars and it gave me away." "Really? Oh well." "Don't act like this is no big deal! If I had messed up, I'd have never heard the end of it!" she yelled at Bulma. "Shhh! Ok! Yell at me all you want in the morning! You two only have a few hours left to rest anyway. We'll all get up early, and discuss our plan, ok? Now get some rest."
Ryoko quietly walked in her children's rooms to check on them. Ryan was completely out of it, and Minagi stirred uneasily as she stood at their bedside, smiling proudly. Ryoko then headed to their own room and sat at the end of their bed. Trunks began to change his shirt. "You know those two androids we faced? They weren't very strong." "Hmm...yeah. They only seemed to be slightly stronger than Cell was," she mumbled back to him. "Do you think those were the strongest ones he had?" "....I dunno." She was now lying down. "I'll bet they weren't. It seemed like he knew what he was doing. Maybe he just set his androids loose on us so he could get away. We know that he's expecting us to come now. The strongest ones are probably at the base. What do you think?" He asked Ryoko again, but this time, he got no response. "Ryoko?" He looked back at her, then smiled. She had already fallen asleep.
Next: Chapter 4 - "Always have a Plan B"
Jaz - August, 2003
http://saiyananimeplanet.cjb.net
Naluchik11@Hotmail.com
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