Minagi was now quickly tending to Ryoko's wounds. Her wrists were cut from the chains digging into them. Keeping busy seemed to help keep her from crying. Ryoko stared blankly at her daughter. "What am I going to do? I don't know what happened to her!" Minagi thought as she tried to keep from panicking. When she finished bandaging Ryoko's wrists, she tried to see if she could get any info out of her mother. "How did this happen to you?" She could only gets bits and pieces of answers through Ryoko’s mumbling. "Will Red...injected me with.. some kind of.. disease he made. I don't have any...energy..left. I'm...running out of blood..." Minagi started to freak out. "What?!! What are you talking about?! I don't understand!!" Talking seemed to be draining all of the energy out of Ryoko, and that was all Minagi could get out of her. "Well, anywhere's better than here... let's go." She picked Ryoko up and carried her on her back, her arms hanging over her shoulders. She looked down the hall to see if anyone was coming, then ran. It seemed to be yet another endless hallway. "... We're getting nowhere at this rate.... what was it that she said? Disease..?!" Ryoko's weight shifted as Minagi ran. "...Live..please. I know you can make it... you've bounced back from worse than this before." She began to slow, then came to a stop, tears still streaming down her face. "What am I going to do?!!" She gently laid Ryoko down on the ground. Her eyes were closed. "Mom!! Are you still there?!!" She shook her a bit to wake her up, and her eyes started to open again. "Please!! You have to tell me... what do you want me to do?!!" Ryoko didn't answer. Minagi began to panic. "Stop it!! Calm down and think!!! ... OH!! I got it!!!"
She knelt down and rested her hand on Ryoko's stomach. Her body started to glow as her energy was being sent into her mother's narcotized body. As if she had been underwater for a long time, Ryoko woke to a start, gasping for air. Minagi sighed in relief. "Minagi!!" Ryoko was wide awake now, as she sat up and looked dumbstruck. "Good... I'm..really glad..to see you awake..!!" She seemed to be out of breath; she had just given up a lot of her energy.
................
"I'm so stupid," Ryoko sulked. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have been so foolhardy..." "Wait..what are you talking about? What happened?!" "Will Red... injected me with some kind of stupid fatal disease he made.... "What?!!" "... at the club. If I hadn't been so arrogant and edged him on like that, then he might not've shot me..." "I still don't understand what you're talking about!! Why?!" "He plans on wiping out all of humanity with his virus, and I'm the test run! He's building an army of androids to take over." "...No way!" "Yeah. Thanks for the energy by the way, but it's not going to last long..." "Well, what are we going to do? Isn't there some kind of antidote?" Ryoko tried to think back to what he had said to her, when a sudden thought came to mind. "Minagi! He..he said the disease is contagious!!" "What?!" she yelled in shock, then grit her teeth. "...That's.....that's ok. It's too late now. Listen! Did he say anything about an antidote?" "N..nno... He took a pill though. That's probably..an antidote," she mumbled. "...You shouldn't have helped me... Now you're going to get sick too. Dammit! And you gave me all that energy too!!" Minagi began to get frustrated. "Well, what was I supposed to do?! Leave you hanging there to die?!! No... I would never. You needed that energy a lot more than I did. ....Always help others before you help yourself." "...Minagi.." Ryoko looked over at her daughter and smiled. "..You're such a good girl. I am so proud of you." She returned Ryoko's smile. "He's going to pay for doing this to us. Let's just hope he has more pills. We better get going before you run out of energy again, and that disease starts affecting me! Let's go!!" "Wait a second, Minagi!" "What now?" ".... Will is responsible for the deaths of Tenchi and everyone else 16 years ago." "Are... you serious?!!!" "Yeah. He said so himself...," Ryoko said sternly. "He's just made this war a hell of a lot more personal."
Trunks and Vegeta now stood in a mess of broken machinery and android parts. "That about does it," Vegeta said sounding self-satisfied. "What's wrong?" he asked Trunks, who was stopped dead in his tracks. "I... just got this really weird feeling. I don't think we should stay here any longer. We should go and find the others. They may be in danger...." "Hmm... you worry too much. But fine, if you want to go, let's go then. Nothing else to do here anyway..." "What the hell have you done?!!" Will now stood behind them, and he looked very angry. "Oh, you mean this?" Trunks laughed. "Sorry! I guess we messed the place up a bit..." "Imbeciles!! You will suffer for this!" He quickly called upon a few of his android servants, and sent them upon the two Saiyans. Delighted with this new opportunity to fight, they quickly transformed, and flew off to meet the oncoming androids head on.
....................
"Idiots!!" Will had left the room, and was now storming down an empty corridor. "Ah, well. It matters not. They are about to learn not to take me lightly. And once those two are destroyed, it will only be a matter of time before I can infect the rest with my new disease. Then I can begin the creation of an even more advanced android militia!" Reciting his plans seemed to be cheering him up a lot. "Oh, I should go and check on that test dummy of mine. That girl had better be good and dead by now."
"I'm getting bored," Ryan sighed. "Yeah, me too. Let's get out of here!" Trunks exclaimed. "Wait! We can't...Minagi told us to stay here." "Oh, so now you're listening to her? She also said she'd be back soon, but it's been a long time." "You're right. Maybe something happened to her?" "Well, see? That's why we should go and find out!" "But this place is huge... she could be anywhere. Oh! I got an idea!" "What now?" Trunks asked Ryan, who started typing keys again. "This is a control room! See all the monitors? I'll bet there's cameras wired throughout this entire place! We can use them to look for her without even leaving this room!" "Not bad, Einstein." Trunks laughed. They scanned through multiple images, most of them being empty rooms. Finally, one caught their eyes, but it wasn't Minagi on screen. "That's....!!" They now had a clear view of Vegeta and Trunks, who were fighting against four androids. "Go dad!!" They both shouted, simultaneously.
"This sucks!! I'm already getting tired!" Ryoko grumbled as she and Minagi ran down the hallway. "He could've had a nice, organized, easy to navigate through base, but oh no, it has to be humongous with extra long hallways. Stupid son of a... hey!" She skidded to a halt. They finally reached the end of the hall. "An elevator!! Finally..." Minagi pressed the only button there was, with an arrow facing 'up'. Nothing happened. "Figures," Ryoko growled. "No problem. I'll just do a little recircuitry..." She pulled off the keypad, exposing the inside wires. She started pulling wires, reattaching some, and breaking others, until finally, the elevator opened. They both walked inside. It was a little rundown; the lights flickered on and off and the walls were stripped to the bare metal. "Where do you think it goes?" Minagi asked her mother, who was now resting against the wall and catching her breath. "Well, with our luck, probably nowhere good." She laughed, even though it hurt.
"You... know what?" Trunks yelled over to his father as he quickly ducked from a punch. "What?!" Vegeta yelled back, uppercutting one of the other androids, then kicking the next one that came at him in the face. "These androids... are a lot stronger... than I had thought!!" Trunks yelled back as he swung one into the ground. One was down for good, but the other three kept getting up for more. "Hah! The stronger the better! I thought we weren't gonna get any competition out of them!!" The two Super Saiyans now stood back-to-back, and were both charging up for an energy attack. "HAAA!!!!" They shouted out simultaneously as two massive beams shot out in opposite directions.
"Argh!!! Stupid girl!!" Will stood in anger in Ryoko's now empty cell. "How did she escape?! I'll bet she got help from one of the others. Well, it doesn't matter. She'll still die. In fact, this just makes it even better! She'll spread the disease on to all of her friends!" He grinned as he started walking back out of the room. "And I'll bet I know where she went, too..."
The elevator slowed, then shook as it came to a stop. The doors opened to reveal a surprisingly smaller room. The two walked out, and looked around in amazement. “Things went our way for once! This looks like the laboratory…” Minagi said as she walked further into the room. She was right; there were computers, and tables holding vials of different chemicals. “Let’s look for those pills!” Ryoko exclaimed. They frantically searched through everything, but there was no sign of any kind of antidote. "Damn... he must still be carrying those pills on him. They must be the only ones...." Ryoko sighed, as she held herself up by leaning on a table. "Hey, wait! Wouldn't the formula be in here though? We can probably look it up on one of the computers!" "Hey, you're right!" Ryoko rushed over to what looked to be the main computer unit, and booted it up. "...C'mon.." She was getting impatient as she quickly scanned through all the files. "....Oh no.." She stopped typing. "What's wrong?!" Minagi asked. ".I...can't move my arms.... I think the blood flow was restricted from them. They're numb." "What?! Not now! Oh god... I'll finish this then!" Minagi helped her to the floor. Ryoko sat leaning against the table calmly as she began to regulate her breathing to keep her remaining energy in check. Minagi sat at the computer, and continued searching. "....... There it is! Hemo..halluci...... whatever. Right?" Ryoko nodded. "Ok, good." She looked over the necessary chemicals in the formula, then looked down at Ryoko. "See? Now aren't you glad you let me come?" Ryoko tried to laugh. "...I think... I'll be able to mix up an antidote from what he has in here. It'll be in liquid form though.." She quickly got to work as Ryoko sat calmly and watched from the floor. She was mixing chemicals, and almost spilled them when a jolt of pain suddenly rushed through her body. "..Aaahhhh!..ngh... No... [pant] not now!!" The disease was now starting to affect Minagi, but she kept at her task.
After 20 long minutes, Minagi finally completed the antidote serum. "Well, it's done. I followed the computer exactly, but there's no guarantee it's gonna work. Let's just hope it does." She grabbed a needle, and filled it with the serum. "Oh damn.." Ryoko half laughed. "I hate shots." "That's ok. You won't be getting one."
Will Red now stood in front of the elevator, and was facing the two girls who were sitting on the ground. "You sure have a knack for coming at the worst time!" Ryoko growled. The two were in a really bad position; Ryoko seemed like she'd be unable to hold him off in her state, and Minagi was weak as well. "It's too bad. You got so close..." Will began heading toward the shocked warriors. "Let's get out of here!!!" Minagi grabbed the needle filled with the antidote and Ryoko, and ran. She made it to the end of the room, with nowhere left to go. "...Oh no." Suddenly, the floor opened up from underneath her, and she fell through. "It's Minagi and Ryoko!!!" Trunks yelled as the two hit the floor. Vegeta's energy attack had hit the ceiling, which was their floor, weakening it. When Minagi ran across it, it fell through from her weight. Will was still up in the lab, and he purposely knocked over the vial of the serum Minagi had made, wasting the rest of the antidote. Trunks and Vegeta ran over to them. "Ryoko! Minagi! Are you two ok? What happened?!!" Trunks asked as he picked up Ryoko. She was unconscious. Minagi was hurt from hitting the ground; she moaned as she rubbed her head and grit her teeth. His question seemed to be too difficult to answer at the moment. Vegeta pulled Minagi to her feet, and she pulled out the needle, handing it to Trunks. "Here.... give this to Ryoko." "What..?" "I'll explain later... just do it!" "Ok!!" Will jumped down through the crack in the floor, and landed easily on his feet. He stood staring at the four shocked warriors. "Quickly!!!" Minagi yelled. "Oh..! Right!! Vegeta, keep him entertained!" "No problem... heh." Trunks pulled Minagi to the side, and sat Ryoko down next to her. "So, I just inject this into her?" "..Right," Minagi sighed. She was sweating; the virus was beginning to take its toll and her energy was running low. Trunks knelt down next to the unconscious Ryoko, lifted her arm, and slowly began injecting the yellow-green liquid until there was no more. "There.... it's done." He gently rested her arm down. "Is she going to be alright?" "...Let's hope so," Minagi gasped. "I'll stay down here with Ryoko. You have to go fight him with Vegeta...!!"
"I see you were able to beat my strongest androids." Will stood facing Vegeta; the smoldering parts of the three last androids lay behind him. Vegeta grinned and folded his arms. "It was cake." "Well, I guess if you want something done right...." Will threw down his coat. Both his arms and legs were robotic; he now looked a lot stronger. "...then do it yourself!!!" He leapt at Vegeta; the two began a high-speed fistfight. Trunks quickly flew in as back up.
"Wow!! This is awesome! Look at 'em go!!" Ryan and Chibi Trunks were still in the control room, watching the fight. Minagi was breathing hard as she leaned against the wall. She looked over at Ryoko. Her face was pale. "...[pant]..come..on. Don't tell me my antidote's not gonna work..! [pant] She can't die..." Minagi started to cry. "..not after all of this." She looked up to the heavens and held her hand over her heart. "..Master Yakage... I know you're watching over me. I've tried my hardest..." She bowed her head and closed her eyes. Ryoko's hand twitched. "...Huh..?" Minagi began to open her eyes and look over at her mother as she wiped the tears from her face. The color had returned to Ryoko's body, and she started to move. "...She's ..alive..?!" She slowly opened her eyes, and began rubbing them with her hand. "...Ugh..wh-what?" Ryoko looked over at Minagi, who was smiling. "I'm... I'm alive?!!" "Heh... yeah." Minagi leapt at Ryoko and hugged her; she buried her teary face in her mother's shirt. Ryoko held her tightly. "The antidote.. it worked!!" she exclaimed as she felt her strength returning. Then a sudden thought came to mind. "Wait!! You need it too!! Where's the rest..?!" "Will wasted it...," Minagi answered. "WHAT?!! But there was only enough left in that needle for one!!! If you don't... you're gonna... oh no." Ryoko began to panic. "No... I can't. I won't let you die." She stood up. "Think!!" Minagi collapsed against the wall. "THINK!!!" "OH!! I almost forgot!!"
Will had been more than a challenge for the two Saiyans, and was easily holding his own. Vegeta quickly swung at him, and he dodged, but the double-team was working his agility. Caught off guard, the Commander was kicked in the back by Trunks, and flew across the room. He was suddenly rammed out of the air by Ryoko. As soon as they landed, she got up, and punched him, leaving an indention from her knuckles in his face. Before he could even gasp for air, she kicked him in the ribs, then knocked him to the ground. With his back faced down, Ryoko sat on him and held his arms down with her feet so he couldn't move. "...You!!! You're still alive...?! How?!!" he squeaked. She looked down and grinned at him, then began to search his clothes until finally, she found what she was looking for. Ryoko pulled a clear-orange container out of his pants pocket, then stepped down on him as she pushed herself to her feet.
"Ryoko!!!" Trunks shouted, surprised and happy to see his wife in good health. "Hi!!" she answered, turning to see him. She ran over to him, and jumped into his arms. "I'm so glad to see that you're ok..." he sighed as he held her tightly and ran his fingers through her hair. She leaned in closer to him as she stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him. Then she quickly pulled back, and held out the container. "Sorry...that's gonna have to wait. First thing's first." She tried to turn the top off, but it wouldn't open. "Uh.. Ryoko? That container's childproof. You have to push down while you open it." "!!...I knew that!!" She gave him a look of, 'make me look stupid, why don'cha?' But her look quickly turned to gratitude as she opened the container, and poured a couple pills into her hand. "Here. Take this." She handed one to Trunks. "You too!!" she shouted to Vegeta as she threw one to him. They both popped the pills in their mouths and swallowed as Ryoko walked up to her sick daughter and knelt down next to her. "Minagi? Can you hear me?! I'm gonna need you to take this.." She opened her mouth, and stuck the pill inside. "..Now swallow.....good girl." She held her head, and wiped her remaining tears. "...You're going to be ok now. You've done such a good job. Just hold on..."
"I wonder what's happening...?" Ryan thought, his eyes glued on the screen. "Hey Ryan," Trunks asked, getting his attention. "Yeah?" "Well, I was wondering, didn't we all come here to destroy this place?" "Hey yeah, that's right!" "So, maybe there's something we can do from here..." He began looking over all the controls. "Hey! I'll bet this button self-destructs the whole place!" Ryan laughed. "Are you kidding?! Not even close!" He pointed to a big red button. "I happen to know for a fact that that particular button is this one!" He pushed it down, and a loud alarm instantly sounded. "...Oops." "Nice going, brainiac! Let's go before we get in trouble!!" "Good idea!!" The two quickly ran out of the room.
"Huh..?!" The loud alarm caught the attention of the four Saiyans. Will began slowly pulling himself to his feet; his lip was bleeding and he had a black eye. "Self destruct activated! 5 minutes to detonation." "Oh, great...," Ryoko sighed as she stood up. "Five minutes?!" Trunks yelled. "That's barely enough time to get out of here!!" "Well then, let's get going!!" Vegeta yelled at the two. Ryoko looked down at Minagi, who was finally beginning to snap out of her drowsiness. "Trunks...." "Yeah Ryoko?" ".....I want you to carry Minagi and leave with Vegeta. Quickly find Ryan and Trunks, and get out of here." He stood and wondered why she hadn't mentioned herself. "... But Ryoko... you.." She turned to look at him, and smiled. "I'll be fine. My place is here now. I have to finish what I started." She then looked over at Will, who was glaring at her. "...This is personal." He could tell she was serious about this, and somehow, he understood. "..Alright...Ryoko." He ran over to Minagi, picked her up, and then shouted to Vegeta, "Let's go now!!" They quickly headed toward the exit. Trunks turned as they left, to look back at Ryoko one last time. "Don't die, Ryoko!!! I love you!!" Trunks shouted back to her. She grinned. "I love you too, Trunks!!" She shouted back as he ran out of sight.
Ryoko now stood facing Will Red once again. "So, I guess it's just the two of us alone again," he said to her. She glared at him. "I guess so." Trunks and Vegeta were sprinting down the main hallway, and they almost ran into Ryan and Chibi Trunks, who came running from the left passage. "There you two are!!" Trunks exclaimed. "Hurry, let's go!!" "Wait, where's my mom?" Ryan asked him. "...She's.. coming. We have to go now! Don't worry, she'll be fine." He grabbed his son's arm, Vegeta grabbed little Trunks', and they all took flight, racing through the long hall.
"4 Minutes until detonation," the computer alarm warned. Ryoko felt a sick happiness come over her. She can finally take revenge on the one who so rightly deserved it. She had been screwed over for the last time; first Will tried to steal from her, then he injected her with a fatal disease just to test it, and then she found out that he was responsible for the deaths of those she had cared about the most. It was too much to take. But now, her energy was back, and it swelled inside of her until it erupted with a brilliant flash of light. The golden aura surrounded her body, which was now filled with a dangerous power as she stood firm in her Super Saiyan form. She looked evil as she glared at him; her green eyes clung to his every movement. "3 Minutes until detonation." Ryoko looked as if she was stuck in that position, so Will decided to make the first move. He ran up to hit her, which was a stupid move. He was stopped almost effortlessly by Ryoko's fist, which was in his gut. "..Aaaugh..!!" She moved faster than he could see. "Die..." Her fist opened, and a powerful ki blast shot right through him, creating a large hole in his middle. He gasped, and fell to the floor. "2 Minutes until detonation." She continued to glare down hatefully at him until her anger came to a boil. "Idiot!!! I hate you!!" She begun pounding his immobilized body, and then grabbed him by the neck. "I'm going to enjoy killing you," she growled. "I ought to rip your heart out." He looked up at her in fear. She stared down at him, but her evil glare slowly began changing to that of contempt as she suddenly noticed how afraid he looked. She let go of his neck, and slowly backed up. "...What the hell am I doing?! I've turned into a monster!" she said, in self-disgust. "I can't lower myself to his level. But still.... he deserves it. After all that he's done to me... to my family!! What else can I do?!!" He was dying as he lay on the ground. "This is so out of character!! Since when did I, the most wanted space pirate in the universe, become righteous?!" She was fighting a battle within herself. "Alright. Heh... I guess hanging around all those do-goods has turned me soft. That's alright." She sighed, and smiled. "1 Minute until detonation!" "I might as well put you out of your misery," she said staring down at Will. The whole building was crumbling around her; large chunks of metal and cement fell from the ceiling and walls.
Trunks who was carrying Minagi, as well as Ryan, Vegeta, and Chibi Trunks all flew out of the building just in time. When they got at a far enough distance, they stopped, and stepped down on the ground. Minagi was just about back to normal, and Trunks set her down so she could stand. They all stood silently, staring at the base. Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and in a massive explosion of light, the Red Ribbon Headquarters had been destroyed.
"Mom!!!" Ryan screamed out. "N-no...sh-she c-can't be...," Minagi began to stutter, choking back tears. The two took off, flying back to the demolished base. Chibi Trunks looked up at Vegeta, and then at Mirai Trunks, paused for a second, then quickly took off too, Trunks and Vegeta right behind him. When Ryan and Minagi reached the site, all that remained was smoldering rubble and ash. Minagi fell to her knees, and dug her hands into the mess. "..Oh mom...why didn't you just come with us?" Ryan frantically began digging through it. Trunks hung his head at the sight of their pain. Ryan gave up, and sat down, hiding his face in-between his knees. Some of the rubble next to him suddenly started to shift. "...Huh..?" He lifted his head up, and looked. It stopped moving, then all of a sudden a robotic arm shot out from the ashes, freaking him out. He got up, and started to back away, but another arm shot out of the rubble too. This one was human. "It's!! Is it..?!!" The rubble began quickly shifting again, and Ryoko's head suddenly emerged from the ashes, followed by the rest of her body. "Ugh.." She wiped the dirt out of her face as she panted, catching her breath. Her whole body was now free from the smoldering grave. She was grasping a robotic arm. "Much better!! Being buried alive is definitely not fun!! Huh..? Hey you guys!!" She looked over to her children, who were completely stunned as they stood staring at her. "...What's wrong?"
"MOM!! You're alive!!!" Ryan ran over to her, jumping into her arms and knocking her over. "H-hey Kiddo!! Not so tight, huh? I hurt all over!" She laughed. He continued to squeeze her with all his strength. "...M-mom...I..I can't... believe it.." Minagi was still in shock. "Well, are you just going to stand there?!" Ryoko asked, laughing. Minagi's eyes widened, then she snapped out of it, and ran full speed at the two, wrapping her arms tightly around both Ryoko and Ryan. They were both so happy to see her, it didn't seem like they were ever going to let go. But they did, and Ryoko pulled herself to her feet. She rested her hands on both their heads, and smiled. "I am so proud of you two." She then looked over at her husband who stood, relieved to see her alive. "I'm sorry to scare you like that, Trunks." She walked up to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. He looked at her and laughed. Her face was all cut up and dirty, but her smile made that easy to ignore. "...That’s ok, as long as you’re alright. It's all over now." He held her; her head rested on his shoulder as he ran his fingers through her hair. "...Shall we continue?" Ryoko asked, grinning as she looked up at him. He laughed at her question, then held her close and kissed her.
"Yuck...," Chibi Trunks moaned as he turned from sight of the mushy scene. Minagi laughed at his disgust, then turned and smiled. "Looks like things are back to normal!" she exclaimed. "Yeah... looks like it," Vegeta sighed. "Hey Romeo and Juliet! We'd like to go home now!!" The two stopped, looked into each other's eyes, then looked over at him. "Yes, your majesty..." Ryoko said sarcastically. She let Trunks go, and he noticed that she was still holding a robotic arm. "What's that?" he asked her. "..Huh? Oh, this?!" she asked holding it up. "...That's the last of Will Red, commander of the Red Ribbon Army," Ryoko sighed, looking down at it. "...You know, he did a horrible thing to me. But now that I got him back, I don't feel as good about it as I thought I would. It's funny...." She seemed to be lost in her thoughts as she continued to stare down at the metal piece. "...Trunks?" She looked up at him, suddenly catching his attention. "...Yeah?" "He took so much from me, but you know what? He also gave me a lot. If that didn't happen, I wouldn't be here now. I wouldn't have you, I wouldn't have Minagi, or Ryan... I wouldn't know my past... heck, I don't think I would've had much of a future!" He looked down and thought about that. She was right. He smiled, and put his arm around her. "..Then I thank him for that." She looked down at the arm one last time, then threw it down into the rubble. "Rest in peace.... Commander Will Red."
Next: Chapter 7 - "Aftermath and Celebration"
Jaz - August, 2003
http://saiyananimeplanet.cjb.net
Naluchik11@Hotmail.com
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