Tempo Trigger Chapter 33

Lion's Story: Brother of Mine

By Nanaki

3497 A.D.

Mattheus peered cautiously around the corner of the building he was pressed up against, stealing a glimpse at the center of the city, which had become a raging battlefield. He quickly withdrew his head, fear in his eyes, and turned back to Tess and the group of six guys that had followed them here. "Okay, I'm officially going to wet my pants. Men, wet 'em if you got 'em."

"I already wet my pants sir." One of the "troops" spoke up. "And I wet yours too. Not sure how..."

"If you guys are still able to joke around, then it can't be that bad." Tess said, willing herself to believe it, despite the ferocious roaring and huge explosions that assaulted their ears.

"Seriously Tess, what can we do against those things? If the 'synths aren't damaging them, we don't have a chance."

"They're getting smacked around so much, they don't have a chance to damage them! You could at least go out there and distract them. This isn't just their fight! This involves everyone!" With that, she ran around the corner of the building.

"Damn!" Matt shouted. "Guys, I gotta go now! Follow if you want to!" With that, he charged out onto the battlefield. Looking behind him, he saw that everyone was reluctantly following, albeit with very wide eyes. "Thanks everyone!" He shouted. "Now, we need to distract those things, and only to distract. Use up as little power as possible in your energy bursts!"

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Lion could have sworn he was about to be smashed again, but suddenly, a group of small energy bursts came from the opposite side of the town center, and the two giants turned away. "This is our chance!!" Lion shouted. "We need to do it now!!"

"You're right." Jaguarena landed next to him. "Ty? Let's go!"

"Coming!" He shouted, and was there in a second.

"All right." Lion smiled. "I know I can concentrate this enough so that it'll only hit them. We need to use our bodies to "aim" it, so crouch down, and lean far forward. I should be able to control its vector a little myself from there." Across the battlefield, Lion could see that whoever had suddenly come up and started firing off energy bursts was already retreating into the maze of buildings. The giants looked back and forth, scanning for them. "All right, let's get a move on!" Ty and Jaguarena closed their eyes, and began to glow brightly. "Good. A nice, fast start..." Suddenly, the two giants turned back toward them, and roared, much louder than they ever had before.

"They can feel it! They know what we're trying to do!!" Ty cried out.

"Keep going!" Lion shouted. Two ragged yellow beams shot out of his chest, and began feeding into the other two. A yellow bubble began to form on the ground between them. The giants roared, and began charging across the battlefield as fast as they could. "Speed it up!!" Lion shouted. A flurry of energy blasts erupted on the giants' backs, but they didn't even seem to notice. "I can feel it!" Lion smiled. "Ten more seconds and we'll have it!" He began to count down as the huge beasts rushed at them. "Nine, eight, seven, six..." The beasts reached their location, and drew up short. "Five..." The draconian beast swung its claws down. The ground all around them was torn up, but amazingly, it did not strike them. "Four...!"

"Lion!!" Ty cried out.

"Just hold on Ty! We're almost there!! Three!" The dragon began drawing its claws up again. "Two...!!" Its claws reached their maximum height, then rushed downward again. Lion grimaced. "One...!!!" The claws descended at an angle this time, and Lion didn't see where they went. Then, he heard Ty scream. Looking up, he saw his brother impaled on the dragon's huge claw, his blood spurting everywhere.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Lion's eyes began to glow with energy, rage overcoming his mind.

"Ty, listen to me!!!" Jaguarena hoped he could hear her over the noise both brothers were making. "You can survive this! You can heal yourself!! You just have to concentrate!!" Her heart sank as the dragon's other hand came around, and its huge claws neatly smashed Ty's head and all of his upper body into a bloody pulp. She didn't even notice as the other beast turned and began to walk away. Then, her eyes widened as she felt an energy surge. All the energy Ty had summoned was released from his broken body in the form of a tremendous explosion, and the energy feedback floored her and Lion as well.

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The Soultech president turned on his comm unit, and as he expected, Tarquin's gravelly voice could be heard. "That did it. Tigered is down for the count. You can call them off now."

"Yes, about that..." He smiled as he got set to deliver the news. "I have no idea how to do that."

"What?! But they're going to kill all three of them, and probably destroy the city after that!!"

"Well, I have something in mind to safeguard our dear city..." He turned and gave a thumbs up to Gazuga, who made no response. "But as for our 'synths, I'm afraid their fates are sealed."

"You son of a-!" The president clicked off his comm unit.

"Don't you ever shut up, old man?"

"I would ask the same of you." Gazuga spoke for the first time in a while.

"All right, there's no need to be grouchy about it." The president held up his hands.

"Although the prototypes can't see it, my Weapons ARE taking some bad hits." Gazuga's one eye narrowed. "I'm a bit concerned."

"What? Those 'synths can't actually win, can they?"

"I said I was a BIT concerned. Don't be insulting." Gazuga told him. The president decided it would be best to follow Gazuga's suggestion, and be quiet.

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"Hey, isn't there anything else we can-?"

"No!" Matt shouted as he dragged Tess along by the arm. "They're finished. If we want to survive, we need to get out of here now!" Suddenly, there was a loud thud behind them. Whirling around, they saw the more human-looking beast lumbering after them. They got set to run even faster, but the beast stopped before it got to them. Then, its eyes lit up, and blue beams of energy raced into the center of their group, the force of the blast scattering them all around. The giant gestured, and walls of rock quickly rose up from the ground. They all rolled onto the walls, trying to get to the other side, and away from this thing. They all made it... except for Tess.

She heard Matt curse very loudly from the other side of the still growing wall, and tried to keep from panicking. She scanned around for any sign of cover, and settled for a fairly large pile of rocks. As she was charging toward it, another pair of blue beams impacted into the ground in front of her. A gaping trench opened up, and the ground she was on sank down toward it. She couldn't stop herself before she was hurled in. She fell for a surprisingly long way, and then hit the bottom very hard. She lay there stunned, unable to move.

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Lion stood up, glaring at the huge dragon. While Jaguarena seemed to have succumbed to despair, only rage filled his heart. "YOU'RE GONNA PAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!" He roared up at the towering beast, which seemed to be regarding him with curiousity now. Blazing yellow energy surrounded him once more, if anything, even brighter now. "I'll get you for this!! You won't escape my wrath!!!" He plowed directly into its chest, and planted his fist into the armor as hard as he could. As the impact threw him back a bit, he observed that cracks were radiating out from where his fist had hit. The beast roared with fury. "So, you're not invincible after all!" he declared. He unleashed the energy for his best attack again, but this time, concentrated it into a much narrower beam. He was satisfied to see the blast eat away at the armor, and the explosion pushed the beast back. However, he realized that it would take hours, if not days of this, to actually kill the things. He retreated back to the ground. "Jaguarena, cover me!"

"But...!" She tried to protest, but only succeeded in crying some more.

"Do it! Now!! We can still win!!" She quickly wiped her eyes, and launched herself into the air. Lion focused carefully, and actually began gathering energy, which was a fairly new experience for him. 'Now, if only the other one will wander back over here...' As he was gathering energy, he saw that Jaguarena didn't disappoint. She launched into an incredible series of attacks that far outdid anything she had done before. The dragon roared in distress, and as he had hoped, the humanoid beast lumbered over to aid its comrade. Lion turned his head to the sky. 'Sun, you've never failed me before. Grant me the extra power I need, now. Help my cells put out that extra boost...' He waited a few seconds, and then, he felt it. Even with all the energy he had used up, there was now more power in him than ever before in his life. He doubted that the sun had actually had anything to do with it, but somehow, his cells had increased their energy output. Maybe his lazy, animal based mitochondria were actually pitching in too. He didn't care. What mattered was, he had the power.

"Jaguarena, get out of there now!!!" He roared. Apparently, she had had enough of the fight, because she rocketed skyward before he even finished his order. The two giants ignored her, and he smiled as they realized what was going on within him. "That's right, you bastards. This is for my brother! World Destroyer!!!!" He held his right arm forward, and a power equal to what all three had done before roared out of his arm. This time though, the beam was much more concentrated. The very air vibrated as the beam raced forward. It impacted into the dragon, toasting him, and bounced off and hit the humanoid too. Lion finally let the energy flow stop, and a huge explosion filled the entire city center. When his eyes readjusted after the blast, he saw the two beasts were lying on the ground, growling angrily, but also moaning in pain. 'It didn't kill them...' He realized. 'I've gotta keep trying... but I don't have that much power left...' Suddenly, the ground shook again, and he heard the huge rumble of buildings crashing to the ground behind him. He whirled around, and saw another humanoid giant behind and to the right of him. This one was even bigger than the others, and had sharp edges to its armor that made it even more imposing. It roared ferally, its deep voice shaking the very earth, and started to advance on the other two.

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Tess finally stood up, despite the constant rain of dirt pouring down on her. She struggled to see out of the top of the crevasse she was in, and when she succeeded, she wished she hadn't. A giant foot was descending on the trench, and would surely bury her, if it didn't squash her outright. She tried again not to panick, but failed this time. There was absolutely nothing she could do. There was no way she could climb out in time. 'I never thought it would end like this...' She thought, tears welling up in her eyes.

Then, a split second before the foot completed its descent, something scooped her up out of the pit, and carried her high into the air. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was above even the tallest buildings in Lohkiarn, and the only thing that was keeping her from plummeting to her death was, "Lion!!"

"Of course." He smiled down at her. "What, you thought I was so wrapped up in my own fight that I didn't see what happened to you? No, I couldn't let TWO of the people most important to me die in one day."

She scanned him quickly, and fear returned to her heart at what she saw. Horrible bruises covered his entire body, and he was bleeding from a great many cuts, probably a result of his many forced trips into the rocks. "You look terrible." She told him.

He scanned her bruised, dirt covered self, and responded, "So do y... No, I'd be lying if I said that. You're disheveled, but beautiful as always." Lion found a suitable rooftop, and slowly lowered them onto it. He gently set Tess down, and turned back to watch the action. Then, a broad smile lit up his face as he saw the new giant pick up the dragon, and hurl it into the ground, roaring fiercely all the while. "Well, looks like that new Armageddon beast... isn't."

"I don't think these are the things that caused Armageddon." Tess walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"No? Their energy signature seems the same... What are they then?"

"I think... they might be Weapons." The largest Weapon roared again, and picked up the smaller humanoid one. He raised it above his head, and then brought its back down on his knee, before letting it fall to the ground.

"But, aren't Weapons supposed to protect the planet?" Lion scratched his head.

"I wish we could see the energy signature of that new guy." Tess said. "Because I bet it would be a lot different than the other two. You'll notice that he's beating the crap out of them..."

"Yeah, but..." Lion thought for a minute. "Maybe the Armageddon beast is somehow controlling the other two. Yeah, that makes sense! That's why they carry his energy, and that's why the lead Weapon has shown up to knock some sense into them!" Lion sank to one knee, breathing heavily.

"Are you okay?" Tess asked, concerned.

"Better than okay." Lion smiled. "Every second I'm in the sunlight, I recover more energy, and my strength returns more and more. That's how we were able to keep getting up after they hit us so hard. That's why we didn't run out of power."

"You mean, you're not done yet?"

"No way!" Lion stood up now, smiling. "I'm gonna go help the lead Weapon fight! Wish me luck!"

Tess slowly leaned up, and kissed him on the cheeck. "Good luck." Lion looked at her with an expression that would have been disbelief, if he hadn't been smiling so much. Then, a brilliant yellow glow surrounded him once more, and he blasted off, heading back toward the Weapons. On his way, he saw Jaguarena flying up on a vector that paralleled his. They nodded at each other, and as they neared the lead Weapon, each landed on one of his shoulders. The Weapon seemed oblivious, and continued to pummel his downed subordinates, which weren't overly happy with the treatment they were getting. Lion and Jaguarena both stretched their hands up, and proceeded to blast the two Weapons in anything that looked like a vulnerable spot. They held on to some of the spikes jutting from his shoulders as the large Weapon hefted up the smaller humanoid one, and brought its back down on his knee once again. This time, there was a cracking sound, and most of its armor broke and fell off. The smaller Weapon had evidently had enough, as it began to tunnel its way back into the ground.

The lead Weapon wasn't having any of that, and he yanked it back out, and punched it in the face very hard. He pulled his hand back to do it again, with Lion and Jaguarena acting as shoulder mounted solar cannons all the while, but an unexpected energy burst blasted at the hand that was holding the smaller Weapon up, and he was forced to let go. The Weapon and 'synths looked down at the ground, where the new burst had come from, and saw a mysterious man standing there. He was disguised with both mask and cloak. "Sorry, but you won't be damaging my Weapons any more today." He made a slight gesture, and they both sank into the ground. "You kids are better than I expected though, I'll give you that. Just remember that it was the Crystal Weapon here who saved your ass. Without him, you'd all be dead now." Then, he began sinking into the ground himself. "We'll meet again, Lionello! You can be sure of that!" With that, the ground swallowed him completely.

Lion was about to say something, but the Crystal Weapon roared in fury, and dived down to the ground. Lion and Jaguarena were forced to leave his shoulders as he tunneled furiously after the departed Weapons, vanishing from sight in just a few seconds. "We... We did it." Jaguarena breathed heavily.

"With some help from an unexpected source." Lion smiled for a second, but it quickly disappeared. "And... Ty. I shouldn't have tried to force it out right then."

"You can't blame yourself for that." She put a hand on his shoulder. "If not then, when? We were being beaten so badly, I don't think we could have tried again later. That was the right time. We just weren't fast enough. None of us."

Lion stood up straight, and looked at the sky. "Brother, I swear, we'll find the Armageddon beast that was controlling those Weapons, and we'll kill it, for you." Then, he looked around at the city, which thankfully hadn't suffered that much damage, save where the Crystal Weapon had appeared. "For you, and for everyone on the planet!!"

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"You took from him what no one has the right to take! Now you will know the horror!!" - Son Goku

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