Now this chapter contains two characters I'm proud to have created.
Brunt and Bombard, while having small roles so far, will find
themselves in bigger parts as TRIO progresses.
So, I dog dare ANYONE out there to MST the rest of these "Flashback"
chapters!
Come on! I double dog dare you!
I TRIPLE dog dare you!!
Oh BTW, regular C&C would be nice too. :)
___________________________________
TRIO:
THE DEADLY DUO!
Gohan woke up to a curious sound. At first he wasn't sure if he had
heard it at all. He was about to dismiss it as a sound effect from
his dream, when it came again. Whatever it was it was coming from
outside. It was hard to describe. It sounded like.... no that
wasn't it. It sounded kind of like Rosie O Donald doing an
impersonation of Bruce Lee. "HIEEEYAAA!!!"
"Again, but keep your arm straighter," came Ranma-chans voice and
that was what clued Gohan in on what was happening.
"Hieeyaa!"
Curiosity overtaking him, Gohan got out of bed, put on his clothes
and went to see how Usagis training was going. He peaked out his
window and looked down on the backyard. The light reflecting off the
window blinded his view so he opened it up and floated out until he
was hovering next to the house, from there he had what he felt was
the best "seat" for the proceedings.
Ranma-chan shook her head and said, "Your STILL not keeping your
arms straight enough at the end of the blow."
Usagi whined, "But you said I was getting better!"
"You are... but anybody can FAKE a good looking punch. It's a whole
other story for it to actually work however. Let's try something
else."
Ranma-chan got into a ready Kempo stance and did a simple snap kick.
She smiled at Usagi and said, "Now you try."
Usagi gulped and tried to imitate Ranma's stance but it was a bit
sloppy. (Chivalry denies me the right to say what it was really like.
) She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and then flashed her foot
up and outward. The rest of her body quickly followed and she did a
complete flip and landed on her head. Ranma-chan gasped and asked,
"Are you all right?"
Gohan zipped down and ran to his friends side. Hoping that Usagi
was all right. "Nooooo," she moaned, still on her head and then she
started to cry, "WHHHAAAA!! I'm NEVER going to get this right! I
just know it!"
"You're just tired," Gohan said, "I never would have thought you
would have been able to get up this early anyway."
"I wouldn't have if it hadn't been for HIM... I mean her..." she
indicated Ranma-chan.
"Come to think of it," Gohan said to Ranma-chan, "I never would have
figured you for the early rising type either."
"It's easy," Ranma-chan replied with a smile, "when you have
something to get up for."
"Yeah," Usagi said, "Tormenting me!"
"I'm not tormenting you! YOU said you wanted to learn! Did you
think it was going to be easy?!!"
"You didn't say that you would be like a drill instructor!"
"How else do you expect to learn?!!"
"You COULD try being kinder, you two sex wonder!!!"
"Sheesh! An insult coming from a person who's still on her head!"
Usagi got back up to her feet and was about to start Round Two when
Gohan jumped between them and said as he indicated his watch, "Hey.
Don't you two have jobs to get to."
"EEP!" Usagi yelped, "I'm going to be late!!!!"
Usagi ran off in a cloud of dust and after a hurried change into
more presentable clothes then the sweat shirt and pants she was
wearing, she zoomed down the stairs and out the door for the bus stop
to the city. Ranma-chan walked off muttering, "I KNOW she can do it.
She just needs to be properly motivated.... SOMEHOW."
Ranma-chan got into her uniform and also left for her job. About
two minutes later the phone rang. Gohan picked up, knowing who it
would be, (only one person in the world besides the three of them
knew the number) and said, "Yes?"
He listened intently to the voice on the other side and replied,
"Right. The usual place. I understand. I'm on the way."
A few minutes later, Great Sayaman flew out the upstairs window and
headed off for the city. The house was quiet until two intruders
made their way inside. "Let us make this quick Trunks," Sailor Pluto
said, "we have to get back before Usagi gets to the store."
Trunks nodded in reply and said, "No problem. This shouldn't take
very long."
Sailor Pluto pulled out two silver bands from an interdimentional
pocket and laid them on the kitchen table where they would be easily
seen by even a complete and total idiot. (YOU can insert your own
insult here.) They started to leave when Pluto asked, "Are you not
forgetting something?"
"Opps," Trunks exclaimed and pulled out a note and laid it next to
the mysterious silver bands, "Can't forget the instructions now can
we?" he added sheepishly.
Meanwhile......
The man in shadows waited in the alley patiently for his contact.
He pulled out a cigaret out of his trench coat pocket and using a
lighter, lit it. He puffed lazily, letting the smoke curl around him.
"Hey," a voice above him said, "Don't you know that smoking is bad
for you?"
The man looked up and saw Sayaman standing on top of a water tower,
the sun highlighting him from behind. Sayaman jumped down and did a
flip in mid air. He spun several times and skidded to a halt several
inches in the air before slowly floating down to the ground. He
looked up at the man in shadows and said, "Ta da!"
The man smiled and replied, "I give it an eight."
"EIGHT?? ONLY an eight?"
"Nice entrance... lousy costume."
Sayaman grumbled in response. The man raised a hand and said, "No
time for joking around. We have serious business to discuss."
A few hours later....
The research facility was in full swing. Computers went *beep boop
beep*, scientists traded facts and numbers as they worked on new
inventions, every thing was going as it always did. That was, until
the front door was blown in. In stepped three beings. The first two
were bizzarly dressed human females. They were Warp and Brunt (who
made a brief cameo in chapter 3). Their third companion was a large,
military green robot. It had two large missiles, one each attached
of his shoulders. Four more, smaller ones on each of its wrists, two
more on each side of its waist, a panel on its chest which more then
likely contained even more missiles and a visor like eye. On its
chest was the black circle with the white outline that marked it as a
member of the Eclipse Syndicate. "Okay," the robot said, "Now what?
"
"Don't look at me Bombard," Warp replied, "You two are the new hot
shot lieutenant for the Inner Four. YOU'RE the ones who are supposed
to know what to do."
Brunt sighed in annoyance and adjusted her skin tight black jump
suit and straightened her grey Tuxedo Kamenish face mask. "Come on
you two. We have to get those supplies or else the Eclipse Lord is
going to get mad and I would prefer to NOT have him mad at me, thank
you very much."
"Right," Bombard said as he grabbed a nearby gawking worker and
demanded, "Take us to the uuhhh.... the... uhhh.... ummm... errr..."
Warp growled in annoyance before saying, "The Space Dilation-
Adapters you moron! God, only Blade Bot could recommend a total
idiot like you for lieutenant status!"
"Hey," the robot shot back, "I resemble that remark."
Warp muttered under her breath, "I won't answer that. It's WAY too
easy."
Finally, after several minutes of searching, the three of them
managed to find what they were looking for. It was a bunch of wires
that seemed to be made for fitting around a human form. Warp
chuckled as she thought, "Good. One step closer to repairing the
Time/Space Device and once it's repaired..."
She laughed a laugh that would have put Kodachi to shame and the two
luitenents backed off nervously.
Later at the Eclipse Tower.....
The Eclipse Lord looked at the Space Dilation-Adapters and he slowly
nodded in acceptance. His purple eyes flashed with what could have
been pleasure. "Good," he said softly, "this is very good. We are
now one step closer to completion. You have done your job well"
The two newly christen luitenents wiped the sweat (or in Bombards
case, oil) off their brows and said, "Thank you Eclipse Lord."
The Inner Four politely clapped at the Eclipse Lords prompting and
at his signal the two lieutenants stood and started to leave.
Samaron caught up with Brunt and said, "The master was right. You
have made the Warriors Department proud. I can only hope that you
will continue this quality of success."
"No prob boss," Brunt replied offhandly.
"What was that?!"
"I mean," Brunt performed a respectful bow, "thank you sir."
"Better."
Blade Bot laid a hand on Bombards shoulder and said, "You did well,
but perhaps we should have your intelligence circuit looked at."
"Uhhh," the missile covered robot replied.
"My case in point."
Lujane looked at the lieutenants and said, "Don't congratulate
yourselves yet. You have one more component to recover and you will
go to retrieve it tonight."
That night....
"Ranma, Usagi" Gohan asked when the two of them got home, "do you
have any idea what these things are?"
Gohan showed the two of them the silver bands that he had seen on
the table. They fingered them curiously as Gohan pulled out the note
that had gone with the bands and said, "I also found this and it says.
.."
<Dear Gohan, Ranma and Usagi,
You do not know who we are but we want you to know that we are here
to help you. The two metal bands you will find with this note are to
help you in an emergency situation.
First, Ranma and Gohan, please put on your costumes.>
The two men shrugged and complied. After they were done, they went
back to reading the note.
<Second, put the rings on your pointer finger on your right hand.>
They did.
<Third, press the ring hard.>
They did and the next thing they knew they were in their underwear.
Usagi "eep"ed, turned deep red and turned her back.
<BTW. You may want Usagi to leave the room at this point.>
"NOW it tells us!" Ranma snapped.
<To get your clothes back, press the newly formed gem on the ring,
which is in actuality, your compressed clothes.>
Gohan quickly pressed the green gem on his ring, while Ranma did the
same to his half black, half white one. In a flash, they were back
in their costumes. "You can turn around now," Gohan said to Usagi.
"What happened?" Usagi asked.
"I think this note is getting to that," Gohan said.
<These rings are compression rings. You can use them to store your
costumes and change into your alter egos if you're in a hurry and so
you won't be caught with your pants down (no pun intended). If you
are wearing other clothes at the time, they will trade places with
your costumes in the rings storage space.
Use this gift well.
Signed,
Two Friends>
"Well," Ranma said, "it's nice to know we have somebody watching our
backs."
"We don't have time to waste worrying about this right now," Gohan
said, "we have business."
"Do we have to go out tonight?" Usagi whinnied, "I had a tough day.
The whole store needed dusting and vacuuming, not to mention
polishing and I had to do it all alone while Susan and Troy did
'executive stuff'."
"In other words," Ranma quipped, "They stuck you with the manual
labor while they did the cross word puzzles in the paper and/or
played solitaire."
Usagi smiled at the joke and replied, "Bingo."
"Sorry," Gohan cut in, "but this needs to be done."
Gohan pulled out a large map of the city along with a black felt pen
and began to circle certain facilities. "I've learned through a
source that these science research facility have been robbed in the
past week. Each of them have had only one item stolen but each item
was real high tech. In fact, it might be the kind of stuff that the
Eclipse Syndicate would go after."
At the name of their enemies, Ranma and Usagi got serious or at
least as serious as they could. Usagi transformed into Sailor Moon
and the three of them got down to business. Gohan circled another
factory and said, "According to my source, this is the next research
facility that will most likely be hit."
"Why?" Sailor Moon asked.
"Not sure," Sayaman replied.
"And what is this 'source' of yours?" Yin Yang asked.
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you."
Yin Yang looked at his friend, not sure if he was joking or being
serious.
Later....
"Now remember," Brunt said as she briefed the half dozen men who had
been sent with them, "we must only find the Machile Distortation
Circuit. This is very important to the Eclipse Lord and his
punishments for those who fail him are legendary. So DON'T fail."
The men all knew the price of failier and all muttered their
understanding. "Now that we know the stakes," Brunt said in
satisfaction, "let us precede," Brunt turned to Bombard and motioned
towards the research centers doors, "Bombard, could you please make
our presence known?"
"Right," Bombard said gleefully, "time to make a big BOOM!!!"
Bombard aimed his right hand at the doors and one of his missiles
flew off and exploded against the doors. The doors blew inwards and
the Eclipse Syndicate followers rushed in. "Knock, knock, anybody
home?" Bombard quipped.
The few security guard inside froze in fear and Brunt prompted them
with, "If you leave now, I won't let Bombard have you."
Bombard chuckled malevolently as he said, "And I hope you decide to
stay."
That was too much for the security guards and they ran for their
lives. "Spread out," Brunt ordered to the men, "rip this place apart
if you have to, but find that device!"
Outside, a little ways away and a minute earlier....
Yin Yang yawned as he and the others looked down at the center.
"Are you SURE this is the place?" he asked Sayaman.
Sayaman nodded and replied, "Yes. I'm certain, we just have to wait
a little longer."
Yin Yang sighed and said, "Whatever you say," then he looked at the
siloueted form of Sailor Moon, "You've been awfully quiet. I haven't
heard you complain in almost a minute. Something wrong?"
A snore was his only response. "Oh," he said in understanding.
KA-BOOM!!!
That was enough to wake Sailor Moon up and she exclaimed, "What?
Who? Where?"
"Do you believe me now?" Sayaman said as smoke curled up from the
research center.
"Yeah yeah," Yin Yang grumbled, "let's just get going already."
"Let's move out," Sayaman ordered as he flared his ki and flew off.
"Hey, what's going on?" asked a confused Sailor Moon.
"Never mind," Yin Yang sighed as he grabbed her hand and pulled her
after him, "just move that cute little butt of yours already!"
"'Cute butt'?" Sailor Moon asked, not sure if she had just been
insulted or complimented.
"NEVER MIND!"
"Alright already, yeash!!"
Inside....
"We haven't found anything yet field leader," a grunt said to Brunt.
"Keep looking," she replied.
"If your looking for trouble," somebody said, "then look no farther.
"
Everyone looked towards the doors and saw Great Sayaman, Sailor Moon
and Yin Yang. Sayaman stood in the lead, his hands on his hips and a
cocky grin on his face. Sailor Moon stood a little behind him, her
arms folded across her chest a nervous smile on her face. Yin Yang
was casually leaning against the side of the entrance. "Who the hell
are you?" Brunt asked.
Sayaman grinned and said, "If you are evil, then your in trouble.
If you work for the Eclipse Syndicate, then you're in bigger trouble.
I am Great Sayaman!"
Sailor Moon took over, "I am Sailor Moon, the champion of justice!
I shall right wrongs and triumph over evil.. and that means YOU! In
the name of the moon... I'll punish you!"
Everyone looked at Yin Yang and he said, "I'm Yin Yang and I DON'T
do speeches."
Sayaman concluded with, "Together we are a force no evil can stop.
For we are... THE TRIO!"
"The Trio???" Brunt exclaimed.
"Kind of stunts your chance for membership growth doesn't it?"
Bombard quipped.
"Trust me," Sayaman replied, "the three of us are more then enough
to beat you."
"We'll see about that," Brunt said as she turned to the other
members of the Eclipse Syndicate who were present, "GET THEM!!!"
A large bald man with the black circle with the white outline on his
right hand rushed forward and smashed his fist into Sayamans face,
only to be knocked back and out by a casual backhand from the
uninjured superhero. One of the punks pulled out a gun and fired
three shots at Sayaman. Only to receive the shock of his life as he
caught the bullets and let them drop to the ground.
Yin Yang kicked a man in the jaw and then quickly sent his foot
backwards into the stomach of one who tried to sneak up on him. Then
he leaped upwards and lashed out both of his feet, hitting both men
in the face, sending them crashing down into dreamland. Another one
tried to smash him with a pipe and Yin Yang ducked. Only to get
soaked by the water flying from the water cooler that was shattered
from the missed blow. "Why you!" Yin Yang-chan growled as she
punched the shocked man in the kisser, "Do you know how long it takes
this costume to dry?!!"
No one had attacked Sailor Moon yet because they weren't sure just
what the hell to make of her. Somebody quipped, "I think I'm in love.
"
Another said, "Hey man! Can't you see she's jail bait?
Sailor Moon wasn't sure what that meant but she was pretty sure she
had just been insulted. "Who's Jail Bait?!!" she growled.
She tore her tiara off and... "MOON TIARA ACTION!!!"
The golden discus, to her surprise, before it hit the lead punk,
changed back into a tiara and smashed him in the forehead. Then it
ricoshed off and bonked into another one, and then another, and
another and another, ect. ect. ect.
Sailor Moon looked at the bad guys sprawled out at her feet and when
her tiara returned to her hand she caught it and muttered, "Cool."
Brunt and Bombard blinked (if you can say that a robot can blink) in
surprise and then Brunt muttered, "That didn't go so well now did it?
"
"Oh well," Bombard said as he slammed his right fist into his left
palm, "I always preferred the direct approach anyway!"
The two luitenents nodded and yelled, "HAIL THE ECLIPSE," as they
charged.
Bombard smashed into Sayaman and the two of them crashed through the
wall and out into the night. Brunt charged Sailor Moon and Yin Yang-
chan. The two heros jumped and Brunt went past them and ran right
into (and through) the wall. "Guess that takes care of her," Yin
Yang-chan said.
"Guess again," Brunt said as she stood up, "I've withstood the
horrors of Baksaitenketsu training, did you think a little wall would
take me out?"
"Well," Sailor Moon said, "we kind of hoped...."
Brunt roared as she charged again.
Meanwhile, Bombard delivered a right cross to Sayamans jaw that
staggered the red caped hero and then followed up with a left
uppercut that sent him staggering back. Sayaman looked at his foe
and said, "Okay. You've got a nice sucker punch. If you really want
to hurt me however, you're going to have to MUCH better then that."
"Ohhh," Bombard chuckled, "you are going to be soooo SORRY you said
that!"
Sayaman smiled, "We'll see."
Bombard roared and fired several missiles from his hands. Sayaman
flew out of the way as he thought, "I'm not sure just how
invulnerable I am. It's better if I hold out on finding out as long
as possible."
The missiles exploded on the ground and sent up large yellow puffs
of fire. Bombard yelled, "Hold still," as he fired several more
missiles at his airborne foe. All of them missed.
At that point Brunt was knocked into the yard from a large flying
kick from Yin Yang-chan and the other two heros leaped after her.
Bombard laughed as he said, "Oh lookie here. TARGET PRACTICE!!!!"
The Eclipse Syndicate robot turned and fired a large barrage of
missiles from his hands and the port on his chest opened reveling
more missiles and those fired as well. Needless to say that Yin
Yang-chan and Sailor Moon were caught off guard and were ill prepared
for the barrage that came towards them. All sight was blotted out
from the explosions and all sound faded into a crashing din. When
the smoke cleared Sayaman stood in front of his friends, his costume
scotched and burned, but other wise he seemed pretty much okay. "I,"
he thought to himself, "do NOT want to have to do that again. I
think that just killed my eardrum."
Aloud he turned towards his friend and said, "You two okay?"
Yin Yang-chan and Sailor Moon looked at their friend in shock and
were only able to stutter out, "You... how... wha... but..."
"AAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!" Bombard cried, "You survived my first
barrage but I'd like to see you survive it again!"
Bombard continued his assault with renewed enthusiasm and this time
he made sure his shots were set wider apart and that some would slip
pass the seemingly invincible Sayaman. Sayaman did what he could to
catch some and destroy others with ki balls but he was still was
unable to stop some of the shots from getting past. Yin Yang-chan
and Sailor Moon did their best to dodge the projectiles but the
concussion blasts from the explosions continually knocked them to the
ground. A water main burst and the jetting spray passed through the
flames that burned as a result of some of the blasts, being
superheated in the process. "AUGH!" Yin Yang cried as the hot water
splashed her. (Turning back to a him in the process.)
"Are you all right?" Sailor Moon asked in concern.
"Yeah," Yin Yang said as he stood, "just a little scalded that's all.
I'll live."
Suddenly, he yelled, "Sailor Moon LOOK OUT!!"
Sailor Moon turned just in time to see a rouge missile come flying
at her. She dodged but fell to the ground in the process. She
looked up and saw another missile flying at her with a speed she knew
she couldn't dodge in time.
The next thing she knew, a pair of strong arms lifted her and
carried her to safety. She looked up and for a second she thought
the person was a man in a tuxedo with a black top hat and a white
mask over his face. Yin Yangs crack of, "Be more careful next time
will ya?!" quickly dispelled that illusion.
She shook out her head and saw that it was Yin Yang who had carried
her and she snapped back, "I WAS being careful!!"
"Look," Yin Yang said as he placed her back on her feet, "I'd love
to argue with you right now but we don't have the time."
"I WASN'T arguing!"
Yin Yang just rolled his eyes and prepared to run back but stopped
as Sailor Moon whispered, "Ranma... thank you."
He whispered back, "Well... no prob.... Usagi."
The two of them moved forward to return to the battle.
Bombard stopped his barrage, weapons dangerously close to an
overheat. He looked at the large collums of smoke, certain that
nothing could have survived. "Good work," Brunt said, "I don't think
we'll have to worry about them again."
"WRONG!" Sayaman said as he stepped out of the smoke.
"Wha..." Bombard stammered. Then he recovered and said, "Looks like
you're all alone though. You may have survived but I'm betting your
friends aren't as tough."
"You'd win that bet," Sailor Moon said as she also stepped out of
the smoke.
"We however," Yin Yan said as he too stepped out of the grey clouds,
"are very resourceful."
"I don't feel so good," Bombard groaned as his sensors warned him
not to fire again or risk a short circuit.
Brunt charged yelling, "It doesn't matter! They have nothing
left!"
Sayaman grabbed her fist as it stormed towards his face and said,
"Wrong again."
He then threw the surprised muscle woman into the air. Bombard
looked and saw that his chances of winning were between zero and none,
so he did the only sensible thing.... he hit the teleportation
device on his arm and zipped back to the Eclipse Tower. Brunt, while
in mid air, did the same. Silence reigned over the compound and the
three heros gasped for breath. "That," Sayaman said, "had to be our
toughest battle yet."
"Man," Yin Yang said, "you were at ground zero for that stuff. Your
ears are probably really ringing."
"What?" Sayaman asked with a smile, "I can't hear you. My ears are
ringing."
"I wonder what they were after," Yin Yang mused in a louder voice.
"Who cares," Sailor Moon panted, "I just wanna go back home and get
some rest."
"Sounds like a plan," Sayaman replied with a smile.
The three heros left, none of them noticing the yellow portal that
opened inside the research center or the Scarab Demon which came
through the portal, grabbed a large computer circuit and zipped back
inside, the portal closing behind it.
At Eclipse Tower....
The two luitenents bowed before their master and Eclipse Lord
growled, "How dare you come back here without succeeding!"
"B-b-but master," Bombard stammered, "we got the device."
"NO," Eclipse Lord yelled, "The Scarab retrieved the Machile
Distortation Circuit, you came back empty handed!"
"I know master," Brunt said humbly, "I would crawl into a hole if
there were one to crawl into."
"Then do so," Eclipse Lord ordered.
To the surprise of the luitenents, Eclipse Lord hit the red button
on the side of his throne and two holes opened up underneath the two
luitenents. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!"
the two of them screamed as they fell.
They were caught by two large hands and when they looked up they saw
that they were on a centerfuige of some kind. A platform in the
middle dropped down to the centerfuige and a being in a black cloak
and a hat with the mark of the Eclipse Syndicate was bathed in the
light of a spotlight. "I," the being said as it looked up and
reveled a head with a single eye with a scar on the right side of its
metallic face, "am Punisher. I punish those who fail. Let us begin.
"
(Authors note: I borrowed this guy from NG Knight & 40.)
Punisher pulled a lever and the centerfuige spun round and round.
Brunt and Bombard were spun for their lives and when they were
totally disoriented, it stopped and the hands opened. Brunt fell
down a trap door marked with a picture of a large hand. Bombard fell
down one with electrical bolts on it.
Brunt was spanked severely by the giant hand while Bombard was
thoroughly shocked by large amounts of electricity. They knew that
they would live.... and that they would get revenge on the Trio for
this humiliation.
END OF EPISODE
Next: On Flashbacks: We skip ahead to chaps. 11&12. Where the Trio
and the Inner Four have their first face to face encounter and the
Trio regains some of their old powers. Be there for it!
The Flashman
May The Spirit Preserve You!