Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2, Tekkaman Blade and Vandread belong to someone else.

*This songfic takes place several days after Chapter 6 part 4 of the Second Stage, as Slade begins his training of the new Tekkamen.

Danger Zone originally sung by Kenny Loggins and used in the movie Top Gun.

< >: Thoughts

<< >>: Song lyrics

DANGER ZONE

Slade led the trio of former Dread pilots-turned-Tekkamen toward the Main Hanger's airlock. As the Nirvana continued on its journey back to its home system, the enemy attacks had become less frequent as of late, though everyone had been expecting the opposite to happen, as they neared the planets of Mejele and Tarak. There were the occasional squadrons of Cube Fighters and one or two Seed Ships, but not much more. The Dread squadrons were able to handle them, even though Meia, Jura, and Dita were no longer among them. Of course, they did not know that the enemy, the Harvesters, no longer existed, but had been replaced by something far more deadly. They would learn of them eventually.

The three pilots had become somewhat saddened over the fact that they could no longer fly in Dreads. There were no spare Dread fighters for them to use and their Paksis-enhanced ones had been reformatted into their new armor. What was left over from the wreckage of their ships had been collected by Parfat's salvage teams, and were probably being used as spare parts for the remaining Dreads and Vanguards.

However, becoming a Tekkaman had its perks. They were faster, stronger and each packed enough firepower to bring down a cruiser on her own. There was no need for spacesuits and the armor was more durable than the hull of a Dread. Naturally, for every benefit, there was a drawback. Chief among the downsides was the hyper-metabolic rate of each girl's body. As expected, like Slade, the girls were restricted to three meals a day and the rest of their high-energy requirements to be supplemented by Tarak nutrient pills. Although they didn't care for the taste of those things, they had to comply or the Nirvana's food stores would be exhausted long before they reached home.

There were other problems as the three began to deal with their new abilities. It took quite an effort to control their enhanced strength in everyday life, especially for Dita. She had wrecked nearly half her room, just from getting out of bed this morning. As for Jura and Meia, they also found themselves to be far too powerful to be around normal people. The Sick Bay had been receiving more patients, that had accidental injuries from physical encounters with the blonde and the blue-haired girls. Simple things like pats of the back, handshakes and handling equipment proved to be hazardous. This made the other pirates very edgy and several had started to avoid them. This was another reason why the three females were not allowed to pilot Dreads. The controls would crumble in their hands.

Slade had recognized these problems, as he too had difficulty in controlling his powers around others, when he first became a Tekkaman. He had been a walking disaster area, and he knew that Jura, Dita and Meia would have to be trained in both combat and everyday life, in order to keep the others from getting hurt.

As the Nirvana was nearing an asteroid belt, he saw this as an excellent opportunity to put the girls through their paces. He had already instructed them on the basics of maneuvering through space by means of their armor's thrusters. Meia was a natural and Jura was starting to get the hang of it. Dita... well, she was learning. Now was the time to show them some advanced maneuvers and to test their limits, as well as see if they had any other abilities that could be useful in battle.

As they entered the airlock, Slade made his Tekkacrystal appear and addressed the others.

"Okay, we're nearing that asteroid belt, so you'd better get ready."

The three nodded as they made their own crystals appear. It had taken some time, but they all learned how to hide their possessions when not in use. As Slade was about to transform, Dita put forth a question.

"Mr. Alien?"

Slade sighed as he turned to her. After all this time, she was STILL calling him 'Mr. Alien.' Couldn't she at least call him by his Tekkaman name Slade? Heck, he'd even settle for D-Boy.

"What is it, Dita? And stop calling me Mr. Alien! I'm Slade, remember?"

"What's my Tekkaman name?"

"Huh?"

"What's my Tekkaman name?" Dita repeated. "I mean, we've met Tekkaman Saber, Phantom, Lance, Rapier, and Axe. Since we're Tekkamen now, shouldn't we have names too?"

"What difference does it make?" Slade said with a bit irritation.

However, Dita's question got Jura to thinking. "Hmmm, you know that's not a bad idea. We should all have Tekkaman names too! I mean, you've got one, Slade. I want one!"

"I don't believe this." He looked over to Meia, who simply shrugged her shoulders.

"It doesn't really matter to me, though having a Call-Sign might not be bad. Since we aren't part of the Dreads any more... why not?"

"Come on Mr. Alien!" Dita urged. "Give us our new Tekkaman names!"

Slade sighed again while shaking his head. Finally, he got an idea as he gazed upon their crystals and noted their colors. He pointed to each one. "Fine then. From now on, you'll be called... Sapphire... Diamond... and Ruby."

All three girls smiled at his choices as they gazed down at their crystals.

<Hmmm, Tekkaman Ruby... I like it!> Jura thought.

<Yay! I'm Tekkaman Sapphire!> Dita smiled with glee.

<Tekkaman Diamond... that'll work.> Meia nodded.

"Okay, now that we've got that out of the way, are you all ready to go?"

The females nodded as they held their crystals aloft and said with Slade...

"TEKSETTER!"

----------

Four streaks of light flashed forward out of the Nirvana and headed toward the huge field of rock, metals, ice and debris. As each was encased in his or her armor, the bridge of the Nirvana watched in fascination as they became like fireflies darting in space.

<<Revvin' up your engine, listen to her howlin' roar!>>

The Tekkamen took up a diamond formation with Slade in the lead, Jura and Meia behind him on both sides, and Dita bringing up the rear. She had trouble keeping up and was still unsteady in flight as they accelerated toward the first group of asteroids.

<<Metal under tension, beggin' you to touch and go!>>

The group made a series of tight turns and swerves, as they maneuvered through tight spaces that were too small for even the Vanguards to squeeze through. Even Tekkaman Sapphire managed to avoid a collision, though she veered off-course by swerving to the right, while the others went left.

<<Highway to the Danger Zone!>>

Dita saw that she was heading toward a huge mass of rock and braced for impact, when something wrapped about her waist and pulled her out of the dive. She narrowly missed the chunk of rock and was put on the right direction back toward the group.

<<Ride into the Danger Zone!>>

Sapphire apologized for her near-disaster as Slade reeled in his energy cable and motioned for her to follow. They all headed toward another swarm of smaller ice chunks.

<<Headin' into twilight, spreadin' out her wings tonight!>>

At this point, Slade took out his Tekkalance and signaled to the others to follow suit. Ruby held out her Tek Sword, Diamond took out her Tek Spear and Sapphire was ready with her Boomerang-Bow.

<<She's got you jumpin' off the deck, and shovin' into overdrive!>>

This time, without trying to evade, Slade slashed away and cut several of the masses to pieces. Jura used both her blade and buckler to deflect incoming fragments. Meai dodged what she could, and used the haft of her spear to protect her from any object that flew toward her. As for Dita... well, she still needed to work on her aim. A few times, her energy arrows nearly clipped her comrades, but they did hit her targets.

<<Highway to the Danger Zone!>>

Both Ruby and Diamond chided Sapphire to watch where she was aiming. Dita bowed down her head in shame, but Slade gave her a reassuring wave as he led them toward the most densely crowded area of the asteroid field. He then signaled Dita to follow him while having Jura and Meia fall back.

<<I'll take you right into the Danger Zone!>>

Tekkaman Slade shifted to his Tekka-Battle Mode and streaked past the rocks like a human, emerald comet, obliterating them in his wake. Sapphire focused on her own body and sure enough, her armor shifted into its own Battle Mode as she was enveloped in a corona of blue-white light. The two raced in synchronized patterns as the others watched in awe.

Diamond and Ruby began wishing they could also become like them as they continued to tail them. They were so entranced by D-Boy and Dita's extreme maneuvers that they didn't notice an oncoming swarm of meteoroids, until they were almost bombarded by them. Acting on instinct, Meia began firing her energy darts, while Jura raised her buckler to defend. The onslaught of debris continued and Meia knew that she couldn't shoot them all down. Evasive action had to be taken and before she knew it, her own armor shifted into a more aerodynamic form. The epaulets became like miniature wings, and fins appeared on her calves, as she raced forward with a burst of unbelievable acceleration. She even overtook Slade and Dita, rocketing forward and leaving them in her vapor trails.

<<You'll never say hello to you...>>

Jura's configuration also changed as the blisters on her armor suddenly detached themselves and floated about her in a circular pattern. She found herself well defended, as the miniature versions of her old Tekkadread projectors deflected every piece of debris with force fields.

<<Until you get it on the red line overload!>>

All four Tekkamen came together near the center of the asteroid field, as they shifted back to their normal forms. Understandably, they were astonished at their newfound abilities.

<<You'll never know what you can do, until you get it up as high as you can go!>>

Salde noticed that his comrades were getting tired, since they were not as used to being in Tekkaman form for so long. Their endurance would have to be built up in later training sessions as he motioned for them to head back to the Nirvana. The four flashed across the star-studded heavens as they made their return toward their ship. That was when they saw... it.

<<Out along the edges, always where I burn to be!>>

This asteroid was huge! It was even bigger than the ice ball that nearly collided with the Nirvana. And it was tumbling straight toward them.

<<Further on the edge, the hotter the intensity!>>

Slade immediately opened up his Voltekker units and prepared to fire. He knew that his blast was not strong enough to destroy it, but maybe he could deflect it. He considered shifting to Blastor Mode, but then...

<<Highway to the Danger Zone!>>

With unconscious thoughts, Dita's shoulder units also raised and began charging up. Jura's gauntlets revealed energy collecting units as her field projectors scattered about in front of her. Energy crisscrossed between her arms as they were condensed. Meia's wingblades glowed as they too began focusing energy.

<No way!> Slade thought as he readied to fire.

<<Gonna take you right into the Danger Zone!>>

The asteroid was almost upon them as they let loose with their ultimate weapons.

<<HIGHWAY TO THE DANGER ZONE!>>

"VOLTEKKER!" Slade cried out.

"VOLTEKKER... BLASTER!" Dita shouted.

"VOLTEKKER... SCATTER!" Jura called out.

"VOLTEKKER... CUTTER!" Meia announced.

Slade's beam was overtaken and engulfed by Dita's. The combined blast hit the asteroid dead center, causing it to slow down and begin to beak apart. Jura's beam was intercepted by her projectors and redirected into several smaller beams. Each shot impacted with the outer areas of the huge mass, holing it like Swiss cheese. As for Meia, her attack came out in two crescent waves of energy. They cut like giant knives and sliced the rest of the asteroid, leaving nothing but tiny pieces of debris.

The four floated in awe at what had just happened. Then they continued on back toward the Nirvana.

<<Right into the Danger Zone!>>

(Music repeats and fades away as the four reenter the air lock.)

----------

"That was totally awesome!" Sapphire said as she and her comrades prepared to transform back.

"I've got to admit, that was pretty good." Slade admitted as he changed back into his human form. A moment later, he turned around and his nose gushed out a fountain of blood as he fainted dead away.

"Slade, what's wrong?" Meia asked, then noticed that it was little drafty. Then she and the others looked down at themselves.

"Whoops! I guess the next thing he's got to teach us, is how to keep our clothes intact." Jura smirked as she gazed down at the unconscious Tekkaman.

End