Tempo Trigger Chapter 32
Lion's Story: Weapon Invasion
By Nanaki
3497 A.D.
"THE alien?" Lion was taken aback. "You mean... you mean... THE alien?!"
"Yes." Leopardano nodded simply. "The reason we exist."
"We'd still exist without him!" Lion folded his arms. "We just wouldn't be 'synths."
"No, that's not true at all, I'm afraid." Jaguarena spoke up just as Leopardano was opening his mouth.
"How do you figure that?" Lion glared at her.
"Well, first off, a lot of the original 'synths probably wouldn't have gotten together if they were just normal people. That's probably true for Ocello's ancestors, from what I know. Second, even if the family line did continue, different members probably would have had kids at different times, and we wouldn't be here right now."
"Well, we might've been born earlier or later..." Lion suggested.
"No, someone else would have been born later. Do you realize how lucky any of us are to be here? The egg half of the combination changes every month, and that's the stable side of the equation by far. Only the one egg and one sperm that made us would have resulted in us. Even with the same egg, any other sperm cell and it would have been someone else. It's a one in a million chance that any of us are here at all, and if you take away the 'synth factor, we're toast."
"If you say so." Lion frowned. "But I think you've got sperm on the brain, Jaguarena."
"Not since last..." She trailed off as she caught Leopardano's angry expression. "I mean, how rude. The point is, we owe our existence to the fact that we're 'synths, and we're 'synths because of that angry looking blip on the screen right there."
"Hence, it's the reason we exist." Leopardano finished. "Thank you Jaguarena, for that explanation which told me way more than I wanted to know."
"No problem." She smiled sweetly at him.
"Are you sure this is the real thing?" Lion peered intently at the planet.
"Well, not one hundred percent, no." Leopardano pushed a few buttons on the projector console. Another energy signature appeared below the first one. "But this energy signature here is the one that we think was detected on Armageddon. Look how similar it is to this new one."
"They're just about the same, all right." Lion frowned.
"Whoah, look at this!" Tigered gestured excitedly at the globe. They all looked up, and observed that the red glow now appeared much farther to the north.
"It's nearing the surface." Leopardano growled. Suddenly, a light lit up on the console. He pressed a button, and Tarquin's gravely old voice could be heard throughout the room.
"You see it?"
"Yes sir, indeed we do."
"You know, despite the severity of the situation, I can't help but laugh at how quickly all those people who were afraid of another Taurus changed their minds."
"I bet." Ty laughed. "Don't worry sir. We're all ready to kick some ass here!"
"I'm glad to hear it!" Tarquin laughed as well. "Anyway, the reason I've called is that we have an estimated time of arrival now." Everything went silent for a moment as the blip in the globe moved up another couple of inches. "At the rate it's currently going, it'll be here in about two hours."
"Two hours?" Lion demanded. "You couldn't give us more time than that?!"
"I know it's a big surprise to all of you, but it's not exactly like you aren't equipped to deal with the situation. Now, the official orders are as follows: the kids will be deployed first, with Leopardano lending assistance only if necessary."
"What?!" Leopardano jumped to his feet. "What idiot decided that?! I should be the first one out there!! The kids should only go if I fail!!"
"I can understand your desire to protect them..." Tarquin sighed. "But let's face it, they are more powerful than you. If things get really rough, they can level everything in sight with their world destroying beam, though I hope it won't come to that." Leopardano sank back down, shaking his head. "Okay guys, if it shows up inside the city, which it probably will, try to drive it out as soon as possible to minimize casualties. That is your top priority. Only focus on actually killing it once you get outside the giant stairs. Jaguarena, you'll lead. If it becomes necessary to use the world destroyer, since Lion is the "reactor" for it, then he will become leader by default. Any questions?"
"Sir..." Lion frowned, trying to think of how to phrase his question. "Do you really think that we have the power to kill this thing?"
There was a moment's silence. "Well, we don't know now do we? We've never actually had a chance to test these powers out against it. But I know if you guys can't do it, there's sure as hell no one else who can."
Just then, the projector beeped. The red glow had moved up, yet again. Now though, another energy signature appeared in the status display. "What the hell does that mean?" Lion demanded.
"Um... It appears that there are two of them." Tarquin nervously responded.
"Two?!" Leopardano put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't freak out on me. You guys can do this. Now let's get ready to go!"
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The Soultech president downed a shot of whiskey as he gazed out his window. He thought he felt the building sway beneath him, and turned to the masked man beside him, a questioning look on his face. "Yeah, I suppose you can start to feel the vibrations now." Gazuga nodded.
"Well, only seventeen years instead of eighteen. I suppose I should be impressed." He turned back to the window.
"Hey, the kids didn't rampage in the meantime did they? I don't want to hear any complaints in that department. Transporting these suckers through time isn't the easiest thing on the planet."
"Now, these things are basically invincible, right?"
"They should be."
"Then why did you need my assurance of Soultech backup?"
"Just in case our little 'synths turn out to be "invincible" too."
"Hmm... and how much damage are they going to cause the city? I don't want a lot of casualties here." Gazuga didn't answer for a moment.
"It would be in your best interests to evacuate while you still can." He finally said.
"But-" He started to protest, but he heard the door to his office whoosh open. He whirled around to see Tess walking into the room. He tensed, and looked back at Gazuga, only to find that he was nowhere to be seen.
"Father, what's going on? Are the rumors I've been hearing true? Lion and the other 'synths are really going to fight the Armageddon beast?"
"Beasts, actually." He corrected her. Her eyes widened. "At present, it appears that there are two of them quickly burrowing up to the surface. And yes, the 'synths have already been deployed."
"So why isn't Soultech springing into action as well?"
"This isn't Soultech's job." He turned back to the window.
"What are you talking about? The fate of the planet is at stake here! It's everyone's job!!"
"They only reason the 'synths exist is to combat that thing. We will see how they do first. If they fail, and only if they fail, Soultech will be deployed. Not before then."
Tess gave him a very odd glance, wondering just what was going through the old coot's head. 'I have to do something to help... But what? Matt can help! He and his friends may not be 'synths, but they've still got power...' She quickly turned and left the room.
"Ah, my dear daughter." The president smiled. "Soultech will be deployed only if they succeed."
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Lion stood in the very center of the city, looking at the technical readout his palm computer was giving him. He could feel the ground shaking beneath his feet. "Only a couple thousand feet to go..."
"So, do we have a plan?" Tigered asked casually. Lion didn't know how he could be so calm. He had never thought he'd actually have to use his 'synth powers for what they'd been designed for. Maybe Ty had...
"Well, until we drive them out of the city, we all attack from the same side." Jaguarena told him. "After that, just nuke 'em anyway you can."
"Do you think we'll need to use the world destroyer?" Ty asked.
"I hope not, short stuff." She sighed, looking at the ground. "But it's good to know we can do it, all the same."
"Will you stop with the "short stuff?" He complained. "I'm almost as tall as you are now."
"I'll tell you what. If you manage to kill one of these things before I do, then I'll go easy on you from now on."
'I hope we can kill them at all...' Lion started, then kicked himself mentally. 'We're the most powerful beings on this planet! Of course we can kill them!' The shaking of the ground suddenly seemed to increase exponentially.
"Five hundred feet to go!" Jaguarena shouted. "And they're directly below us! Get ready to fly!" They all hunched down, ready to take off at a moment's notice. "Three hundred feet... Two hundred feet...! One hundred feet...!" Suddenly, huge cracks appeared all around them, widening at a truly alarming rate. "Take off!" the ground below them fell into what had just become a gaping pit. Then, two objects filled up the pit, and more of the ground around them erupted as they burst out of the hole. The three prototypes instinctively flew backwards, away from the giants that had just appeared. They were both over 300 feet tall, and both looked very imposing. One looked like a huge dragon. It was a dark orange in color, and sported some claws that had to be forty feet long each. The other was humanoid in form, and sort of a neutral grey color. It had absolutely huge muscles, and a rock-like armor covered much of it. But the face was not human at all. It was otherworldly, with no nose, and angry, glowing, blue eyes.
"This is not good!!" Lion shouted.
"That's not what I need to hear Lion!!" Jaguarena shouted at him. "Get on their left now! We'll keep it simple for the first attack!" The three 'synths blasted through the air, then suddenly came to a halt when they were on the giants' left side. The giants themselves were still glancing back and forth. "Ready guys?!" She asked, then continued without waiting for a response. "Energy blast!!!" All three brought both of their hands up, and six huge beams of yellow energy rushed at their enemies, resulting in a gigantic midair explosion. When the yellow glow faded, they could plainly see...
"No effect?!" Lion's jaw dropped.
"Not exactly. They seem pissed off at us now." Tigered observed.
"That was so helpful Ty." Jaguarena groaned, before turning back to their adversaries, who had now turned toward them, and indeed looked very unfriendly. "Do it again! Now!!" Again, six beams of energy rushed forward, again resulting in a huge explosion. Again, there was no visible effect."
"Our energy isn't working!" Ty shouted. "We need to break through their armor first! I say we go for the physical attack!"
"No!" Jaguarena shouted at him. "We just need to concen-" She was cut off as a huge fist came out of the residue of the explosion, and carried her along with it for a ways. When the fist finally stopped, she kept flying, to go smashing through the wall of the building behind them.
Lion and Ty looked at each other for a second. "Physical it is!!" They shouted at the same time. Blazing yellow light surrounded them, and they both flew full speed into the humanoid giant, then began pummeling it with their fists. "No one does that to our sister!!" The giant didn't exactly take this treatment lying down though, and they both had to quickly fly out of the way of its swinging fists. Then, they quickly reversed their vector as a huge blast of fire came from the draconian giant's direction. Lion was caught on the end of one of the humanoid's swinging fists, and before he could even grunt from the impact, found himself crashing through a window of one of the surrounding buildings. He coughed up blood, and could actually feel the internal bleeding. "H-heal!" He choked out. After a moment of struggling to concentrate, his pummeled insides quickly mended themselves. "Well," he wiped the blood off of his mouth. "I can tell this isn't going to be a pretty fight."
Through the broken window, he saw Jaguarena blazing back into the action. She fired a very precise beam of energy at the spot he and Ty had been pummeling just before. Lion couldn't see anything change, but the beast roared loudly, so it obviously hadn't liked it. Lion resumed a fighting stance, and his body was again engulfed by yellow flames. He burst out of the window, aiming at the draconian giant this time. Hopefully, he would be able to keep it from aiding its comrade. He smashed into its shoulder at a breakneck speed, nearly breaking his own neck in the process. "Destroy our planet huh?!" He demanded of the thing. It pulled its head back and roared, very loudly. "I don't think so!!" Lion thought he shouted, but he still couldn't actually hear anything after that roar. He pulled back a bit, and aimed a huge blast of energy at the space where he had impacted. It was very hard to tell, but he thought he saw a few cracks appear in the armor. Then, his world spun as one of the huge claws smashed into his back. He was hurled through the air, to land hard on the now jagged ground.
A fraction of a second later, Ty joined him, also having been bashed a good one. "We're not doing so good!" Lion yelled at him.
"How about actually saying something helpful?!" Ty asked as he stood back up.
"Fine. Let's get back in there and mix it up!" Once again they rocketed forward, leaving blazing trails in the air. Ty was immediately taken out by the rapidly flying form of Jaguarena. Putting on his fiercest expression, Lion flew right up in front of the humanoid giant's face, hopefully, if he wanted to hit Lion, he'd also have to hit himself. "Well, you're pretty slap happy, aren't you?" Lion backed up just a bit, his hands starting to glow brighter than the rest of him. "Let's see how you like my strongest attack! If you're still standing after this..." Lion blasted him at very close range. The gigantic yellow beam that came from his hands was three times as large as all of their previous beams combined. "..I'm screwed." He finished quietly.
Even before the explosion finished dissipating, Lion could see a giant fist rocketing out of it, toward him. However, it seemed to stop in midair, and then quickly draw away from him. Looking down, Lion saw that Ty and Jaguarena had slammed into the thing's midsection, and actually manage to push it back. But they had to retreat as a blast of dragonfire washed over its midsection, apparently doing no damage to the giant. Then, the two 'synths were nailed with a huge, whipping, draconic tail, and hurled into the ground so fast they made craters as they landed. Enraged, Lion threw himself at the dragon, landing blow after blow on its chest, only to be smashed into the ground by one of the claws. "Well, I think we can rule out driving them out of the city." Jaguarena breathed heavily.
"I vote that we go straight for the world destroyer." Lion said. "I'm tired of getting the crap beat out of me."
Jaguarena gasped. "We can't really use that here! We'd blow up the city and everyone in it!"
"Hey, I've had seventeen years to improve this bastard." Lion smiled. "Trust me on this one." Then, they had to quickly scatter out of the way as a huge foot descended on their location.
"Lion, maybe you're- Augh!" Ty was cut off as a huge fist pounded him back into the pavement.
"Come on!" Lion shouted at Jaguarena. "Let's do it while we're all still alive!" Then, he too succumbed to the rapidly swinging fists.
Jaguarena grimaced for a second, then looked down at where he lay. "Lion... Maybe you're right. Let's blast them while we still can."
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"I know the odds are against me, but if there's a way to win, I'm gonna find it!!" - Son Goku
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