Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Two Wallets ❯ Royal Flush ( Chapter 112 )

A Tale of Two Wallets

(An Altered Destiny)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

"Well, here we are," Yumi announced, "Back to the Tendo house for us. Wonder why your grandmom teleported us out on the street instead of in the yard where we'd attract less notice?"

"Who knows?" Atsuko replied, "Grandma never does anything without a good reason, but if you expect me to figure out how she thinks, then you've obviously got another think coming."

"Good point," Comb reluctantly agreed, "It's like trying to figure out the mind of my grandmother, and I don't recommend that to anyone who's half sane."

"I heard that," Cologne grumbled from where she stood near the rear of their assemblage, with the ever-amused Siren close on her heels looking wryly at the Matriarch's comely profile.

"So, this is the Tendo place where you've been staying, Mom?" Ryomi asked, "And where I'll finally get to see my big brother again after all these years?"

"My grandson?" Razor marveled, "I wonder what he's like at this age…I've had so many children that I've lost track of in my wanderings…"

"Yeah, we know, Gramps," Akiko grumbled, "And most of us have been wandering in and out of town like one big happy convention…"

"Strange," Yumi noted as she took point passing through the gates, "There are an awful lot of people in the yard, and since when did they rename this place as a Casino?"

"That Gambler King guy better watch out if he's made too many changes to the property," Atsuko grumbled as they forced their way through the crowds of milling people , "I closed down the illusions and sealed off the side-portals to keep them off-limits to that bozo, but if he's got Mom backing him up even that might not be a safe bet and…hey!"

Comb reacted first to the sudden changes in the environment as they heard the initial sounds of a commotion going on inside the dojo, "What in the name of our ancestors…?"

All at once people started charging out through the doorway to the structure, clearing out so fast that it seemed that they feared a horde of rampaging beasts were on their tail. The patrons of the casino were suddenly thrown into panic and confusion as the sounds of violence intensified, and then all at once they heard what sounded like a tremendous explosion.

Without warning a body came hurtling out through the side of the dojo as if it had been shot out of the muzzle of a cannon. The figure passed through their ranks only to collide with Razor, striking the huge man squarely in the chest, and so great was the force with which this body had been projected that the inertia actually staggered the elder Hibiki back by a good several centimeters. Razor gave a soft grunt, and then the body rolled off of him and landed in a heap on the ground, only partially stunned, to everyone's complete amazement.

"Ow…" groaned a somewhat disheveled Saotome Ranma, feeling along the side of his jaw as if to make certain it was still attached.

"Ranma-san?" Yumi reacted.

"Son-in-law?" remarked Comb with a far more alarmed expression.

"Oh, sorry about that," Razor bent down, "I hope that didn't hurt too much."

"Naw," Ranma shrugged off the blow and got (somewhat unsteadily) back to his feet, "Just caught me by surprise…didn't think that guy could move so fast, and he hits pretty hard for a clown in a white suit."

"Somebody's in there causing trouble for my Ryo-chan?" Atsuko growled, and without pausing to ask for details she charged into the dojo.

"Hey, wait-!" Ranma started to call out when he belatedly realized that several faces among the group surrounding him were less than wholly familiar, "Who…who are you people?"

"No time for that now, Son-in-law," Cologne moved past the confused youth and urged the others to do likewise, but once they entered through the door they came up behind a motionless Atsuko, who had halted in her tracks to take in the sight of the battle raging all across the dojo.

There was the lumbering giant dressed like a human-shaped Ace of Spades taking a broad swing in the direction of Genma, who was dodging back and avoiding the attack while flanked by Soun, who was busily trying to find an opening in the huge man's defenses. Silk and Nodoka were similarly occupied trying to double-team a lady dressed up like a queen, who was effectively fending them off with her Scepter with such nonchalance that they might as well have been dancing. As unusual as it was to see the adults taking a primary role in a fight, it was clear from the onset that neither team of defending Elders was making much progress against their respective opponents.

A man dressed up as a king was similarly making himself busy hammering away at the odd couple formed by Akane and Makoto. The king was radiating bolts of lightning that lashed out at the two girls and was keeping them firmly and decisively on the defensive. Close nearby Ukyo was similarly engaged in an uneven fencing match against another man dressed up as the Jack of Spades, who was himself wielding a longsword with such skill that it might as well have been an epee, and evidently enjoying the match as he seemed to be toying with the cross-gender chef, as though at any moment he might get bored and choose to end the match in such a decisive way that would very likely be to Ukyo's ill favor.

And then there was Kodachi, who presently was doing her own version of an acrobatic dance against a slender figure dressed up like the "Ten" card. The costumed girl was expertly dodging and attacking the gymnast with such supple grace that she seemed nearly to float around the room rather than be bound by gravity or the laws of inertia.

Lastly there was Shampoo, who stood back on the sidelines with Nabiki and several others hovering defensively by her side while the Amazon held up her bonbori maces as if torn between the need to join in the fray or protect these unarmed civilians. Nabiki had a very tense expression on her features as she watched the battle rage, but when she saw Ranma and the others enter the room a look of relief briefly replaced the anxiety that she was manifesting.

"Ranma-kun!" she called out in his direction.

"So, you losers choose to show up just when things are starting to get interesting," a sly voice remarked, causing all heads to turn sideways to observe Cybelle and Tatewaki Kuno standing together as if admiring the fight from a side vantage, "And here I thought you'd be late and miss all the fun…"

"Momma?" Atsuko reacted, "What the hell are you up to here?"

"I'm coordinating the battle for my side, of course," Cybelle replied without turning to glance in her daughter's direction, "Isn't it grand? These Gaijin mercenaries are quite talented, and I expect a good show for the money I'm paying."

"Cybelle?" Razor murmured in faint wonder, though at the moment he was not yet fully inside the dojo nor visible to the Demoness from her vantage.

"Really, Saotome," Tatewaki remarked without glancing at the new arrivals, "Allowing a single punch to connect with you? That's so unlike you. I was anticipating a better performance than that. You really must not be trying very hard to protect your loved ones…"

"Shut up," Ranma growled, "That guy just got lucky! I'll nail him for sure this time!"

With that Ranma went charging into the fracas before anyone could stop him. Nabiki herself watched the youth cross the dojo floor with vengeance clearly in his eyes while the Ace of Spades had managed to grip Genma by one angle and was proceeding to use him like a mop to scrub the floor. Ranma's leap became a flying Dragon-kick, but the big man saw him coming in time to raise Genma up as a shield, and Ranma's foot uselessly struck his father and was harmlessly deflected (well, harmless for everyone except Genma, of course…).

"Airen!" Shampoo cried, turning to Lotion before saying, "Elder, look after Nabiki and others. Shampoo go to help Ranma!"

"As you wish," the old woman responded, "Just remember to be cautious and listen to your instincts."

"Shampoo remember," the Amazon cast a fond glance towards Nabiki and said, "Wait here, Airen, Shampoo protect family."

"But…" Nabiki wanted to say something about taking care of the child that Shampoo carried, but that thought caused the other Nabiki within her to react with surprising emotions of such intensity that it momentarily left the both of them speechless with dread of what might happen in the next few minutes.

"Hey," Ranma called out as he approached the Ace of Spades, who was busy using Genma for a club and pounding his head upon the floor while Soun was busy taking a nap in one corner, "Need any help?"

"Yes!" Genma managed to wheeze out.

"I wasn't talking to you, Old Man," Ranma snorted with indifference.

That actually made the big man dressed like a playing card pause in the act of using Genma as a tent peg. He turned to regard the young man with a sidelong expression that was plain even through the mask that he was wearing. In a rumbling deep voice he said, "Kid…sounds like you've got Old Man issues like me. Much as I'd like to swap notes, I got a job to do, so…"

With ridiculous ease the big man hurled Genma the length of the room. Fortunately for the elder Saotome, a certain Hibiki woman was watching this with a most distressed expression.

"Gemi-chan!" Atsuko cried as she leaped into action, intercepting the husky martial artist before he could collide with a wall, let alone past through it. With an ease that was surprising in so womanly a shape, Atsuko caught the burden of the man in both arms and braced her legs against the floor, breaking his inertia without doing damage to either party.

"Oh my," said a grinning Cybelle, "This is so much more fun to watch in person, I should have ordered up some popcorn…"

"Cybelle!" declared an anxious Razor as he circled around to confront her, staggering the blonde sorceress with the very sight of his presence, "Cybelle…what are you doing?"

"YOU?" the Demoness was clearly taken aback at the sight of the broad-shouldered man obstructing her line of vision, "How did you…?"

The Ace of Spades moved with surprising speed as he threw a punch in Ranma's direction, but unlike his earlier back-handing of the younger Saotome, Ranma avoided the punch this time by turning his body into the blow and gripping the wrist as it passed by his body. Twisting into the punch while drawing the Ace forward on his own momentum, Ranma tripped the larger man up with the spinning motion of his body and sent the costumed-clad Ace tumbling end-over-end into a wall…and subsequently right through it.

"Hah!" Ranma snorted, "Thought you'd nail me the same way twice? What a baka…"

"Ranma," Shampoo said as she came up to join him, "You defeat stupid Playing-Card man already?"

"Was there ever any doubt?" Ranma turned a grin her way, "You know the bigger they are the harder they…"

There was a rumbling in the floor, and all at once the Ace erupted through the boarding, right under Ranma and Shampoo, who were propelled together right through the ceiling.

"The harder they hit, Sucka!" Ace declared in triumph.

"Ranma!" Nabiki cried from where she stood, feeling torn with helplessness at being on the sidelines, a sensation altogether new for her since usually that was where she preferred to be during just such a conflict.

"Never mind that," Razor waved Cybelle's point away dismissively with one hand, then with a sweeping gesture included the whole dojo as he declared, "What's the meaning of all of this? Why are you having these children fight out our battles? What's happened to you that you can enjoy inflicting so much misery and suffering on others…"

"What's happened to me?" Cybelle replied archly, "You ask me that NOW, forty years after you walked out on me to go to the store to buy a box of crackers???"

"Well, I was hungry…" Razor said a bit defensively.

"Is that all you have, ladies?" the Queen of Spades asked as she flashed her scepter at the two ladies trying to double-team her, "I'm not impressed…in fact, I'm downright insulted!"

The Queen's scepter flashed an energy whip around Nodoka's sword-arm, immobilizing her with the electrified current. Silk tried to take advantage of this by attacking the Queen with her silver flute, only to have her thrust be turned to the side as the Queen nimbly deflected with her staff, then side-kicked the Amazon Lore Master in her unprotected middle.

"She's good," Nodoka said as she shrugged off the whip and slowly began to recover from her shocking encounter.

"Too good," Silk agreed as they both fell back into defensive postures, "I can't get a grasp on her aura, and she's too quick with that toy of hers to leave us an opening. Perhaps if we attack at the same time?"

"Certainly worth a try," Nodoka shrugged as she sheathed her sword and assumed a ready stance as if pointed for a quick draw.

Silk began to hum as she spun her flute from one side to the other, her voice almost singing the chant that accompanied the musical sounds her weapon made while in motion as she summoned up her powers. Meanwhile Nodoka's expression became hard and emotionless, the mask of a samurai with eyes sharp and deadly as a blade. As one they attacked, their weapons in near-simultaneous motion as Silk thrust her flute forward in a stabbing gesture, Nodoka's sword clearing its scabbard with a hiss of steel that whipped the air like a spitting cobra…

And with a wave of her scepter the Queen easily turned aside their attacks and sent both women reeling backwards.

"This isn't really any fun any more," the Queen declared as her energy whip crackled and spun about her body, creating a deadly figure-eight that kept both women on the defensive as they attempted to recover their bearings, "I think I'll finish you off and find someone else to play with who might give me more entertaining sport."

Silk and Nodoka flinched as one as she braced themselves, the air crackling as the whip went slashing towards their middles, so fast that it would have easily penetrated their guard but for a second sword slashing the space between them and severing the energy-whip before it could find its mark with either lady.

"Having trouble, ladies?" Comb asked as she stood poised with her straight sword.

"Comb?" Nodoka asked in mild surprise.

"Where have you been?" Silk demanded in tones of friendly banter, "It's not like you to miss all the fun…"

"As a matter of fact I've been looking up an old friend of the family," Comb replied as she flexed her straight sword and held it at the ready, her gaze never leaving her opponent, "I'll spare you the details until later, but first…mind if I cut in on your little dance number?"

"By all means, be our guest," Nodoka replied as she sheathed her sword and came to stand at the right hand of the Amazon healer.

"Plenty for you to have a go at it," Silk added as she stood to the left of Comb, silver flute at the ready.

"How cute," the Queen remarked, "Three friends all in a row…makes my job easier taking you out at the same…URK!"

As the Queen went toppling forward, Cologne stood calmly where poised behind the playing card's backside with her staff pointed at a certain cluster of nerves, and then very casually the former leader of the Joketsuzoku spoke aloud, "You may fancy yourself a queen, but I am a matriarch, and that means I outrank you."

"Hungry?" Cybelle was all but screeching, "You bloody forgetful-minded idiot! You know you can't find your way to anyplace without my spells to held direct and guide you!"

"I know you were always looking out for me," Razor said, "And I wasn't the best husband that you could have asked for…"

"Oh, you think?" Cybelle glared into his eyes with fury blazing in her every inch and demeanor, "And just because you admit it that's supposed to make it all better…?"

Meanwhile a considerable light show was going on in that corner of the dojo presently occupied by the King of Spades and his two sparring partners, both of whom were being hemmed in by lightning flashes that struck all around them. The King was crackling with electrostatic as he prepared to make another discharge, and when Akane tried to rush him she got slammed back into a wall as a sudden gust of wind caught her full in the chest from the outstretched palm of their opponent.

"I command the elements, Peasants," the King remarked as he held his hand outstretched, "You challenge me, you challenge the very heavens themselves. To face the King is face the Whirlwind…"

"So who are you?" asked Makoto, "Jupiter on his mountain?"

"Yeah, you big Blowhard," Akane growled as she regained her bearings, readying herself for another rush.

"Jupiter…or Lord Jove…is my role model and inspiration," the King replied, "Though mortal man may not aspire beyond his lot err he risk the wrath of hubris, still this humble King lords it over other mere mortals through his command of the wind, the storms and the lightning…"

"Storms?" Akane got a gleam in her eyes as she said, "You're all wet! All you've got is a few sparks and some wind tricks!"

"Oh, you think so, do you?" the King seemed amused by the challenge, "Then feast on this, my pretty Geisha flower."

As they watched his outstretched hand it began to cloud over with a haze of mist, which same congealed within seconds into a globe of water, and this projected outward in a spray as hard as any fire hose directly at Akane.

Akane saw the rush of water coming and immediately turned her back, bracing her legs against the floor in time for the impact to stagger her, even as it triggered her curse and caused her wings to sprout like a billowing curtain.

"What are you waiting for?" Akane shouted at Makoto even as the force of the water blast continued to pound her and drive her staggering forward, "Change already!"

"Right," Makoto said, recovering from her surprise even as she drew her pen from concealment.

The King called off his water attack as he saw the change come over his opponent, even as Akane kept her wings spread to afford Makoto the time she needed to work her transformation.

"Interesting," the King remarked, "You can change your outer form, perhaps you are not so common as you appeared…"

Akane slowly turned around, folding her wings to reveal the transformed Makoto, her eyes glaring with fury as she focused on the King and said, "I've got just one question for you…did you just call me a Geisha?"

"Rather unsporting for a king," Makoto remarked, somehow managing to appear taller and more formidable than before for reasons having little to do with her outward transformation, "How about we try this again with the odds more in our favor?"

"In your favor?" the King said, "That is most amusing," and he drew his hand back to summon up the wind, causing it to swirl around his person.

"That won't work with me," Akane warned as she balled a fist and made herself ready, even as Makoto gestured with both hands and began to crackle.

The King unleashed his whirlwind attack, but this time Akane timed her thrust and stretched her wings out only after the gust had struck her. The sudden change in vectors, rather than hurl her back, instead sucked her forward as basic fluid dynamics turned her into a human missile, with her fist aimed for the jawbone of the King, who staggered backwards from the stunning impact.

"Felt that one, did you?" Makoto asked as Akane arched out of the range of her line of fire, "Try this one on for size!"

And with that the built-up charge that she had been storing lanced from her hands like a literal bolt of thunder, catching the King full in the chest and hurtling him backwards the full length of the dojo…

"No," Razor softly replied, "I can never make up for the years we've lost or whatever you've suffered in my absence, and it's clear to me that the path that you are on now is a direct result of my mistakes, but don't take it out on the world, and especially don't take it out on our daughter."

"And what makes you think you know me any more, huh?" Cybelle growled, "Or why I don't blast you where you stand and heap the torments of hell upon your soul, you two-timing bastard?"

"Please?" Razor met her glare with a look of sincerity that was the absolute absence of guile or evasion…

"Nice double-team there," noted Yumi as she approached the odd pair of Makoto and Akane, "If one didn't know better they'd be inclined to think you two were getting friendly."

"Us?" Akane reacted.

"Not a chance," Makoto shared a grin as she and Akane exchanged wary glances.

"That's such a pity, really," Yumi remarked, turning around to glance in a particular direction, "My niece is rather fond of you both, and it upsets her whenever you try and force her to choose between you."

"Ukyo?" Akane blinked.

"Senpai?" Makoto seconded, and as one both heads swerved to follow the path of the older Chef's gaze.

All this time Ukyo had been fighting a pitched battle with her flashy antagonist while being at the distinct disadvantage of having her mind continually waver to the fight that had been going on in the corner. The appearance of Akane's wings, and Makoto's lightning, however, liberated her from this distraction, allowing her to fully concentrate on the Jack of Spades, whose flashing sword had been keeping her on the defensive.

The Jack of Spades was having a grand time of it all, dancing across the floor with such elegant grace that his sword seemed to be no more than an extension of his arm, even as Ukyo kept her giant spatula in motion deflecting the continuous rain of blows that pelted her defenses. In tones that seemed casual, almost lazy, he said, "Excuse me for being presumptuous, but I'm a bit at a loss to decide here if I am fighting a man or a woman?"

"What do you think?" Ukyo grunted as she turned his blade away just centimeters from her face.

Both Akane and Ukyo started to lunge forward when Yumi thrust her own baker's peel into their path and said, "Have a little more faith, you two, and keep an eye on my niece, she's about to surprise you."

"A woman, I think," Jack decided, "And a very handsome one indeed, though by your style of dress it is difficult to determine…"

"I like to keep people guessing," Ukyo reversed the direction of her peel and stabbed with the blade-end at the Jack, who turned the spatula aside with as much ease as he would an epee.

"Really my dear," Jack taunted with a condescending leer as he plied his blade with all the flash and panache of an Errol Flynn movie, "A spatula for a weapon? Truly that is such a cumbersome tool to be employed in the place of true steel, though to give you credit you wield it with more style than most fencers…"

Ukyo had been fighting defensively until now, knowing that her enemy had been merely playing with her for a time to stroke his over-inflated ego while she took his measure, but now her back arched and her sandalwood eyes glared with definite anger. Locking blades with her opponent she brought a momentary pause to the fight, then growled between clenched teeth, "I've got only one thing to say to you, Jackass!"

"That's Jack," the playing-card figure's smile became more pasty as his eyes registered displeasure, "And what, pray tell, is it?"

"You can insult me," Ukyo growled, "You can call me names and insult my gender, but never insult my cooking skills, my martial arts, and ESPECIALLY MY WEAPONS!!!"

So saying Ukyo broke the stalemate by twisting her body to one side, bringing her baker's peel down and around as Jack stepped back to untangle his blade, then sensed an apparent opening and lunged for Ukyo's middle. Akane and Makoto were on the verge of shouting out her name when Ukyo stepped into the thrust, turning it aside at the last minute with the handle of her spatula, then twisting her body around and bringing the flat of the blade around in a full arc that caught Jack just as he was lunging forward and smashed him into the floor with the full force of a giant fly swatter.

Even Yumi had to wince at that before adding the comment, "Now that's what I call laying your cards on the deck…"

Cybelle wavered, then blinked her eyes and said, "Damn you…you don't play fair! That puppy-dog stare of yours worked once a long time ago, but…"

All at once Razor turned his head to the side, his attention, then he lifted one finger and said, "Could you hold on for just a moment? I thought I heard something…?"

"YOU BASTARD!" Atsuko cried from the far end of the room, "HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY GEMI-CHAN?"

"Your Gemi-chan?" Comb remarked from where she stood with a slight turn of her head, "Since when?"

"Oh my," Cybelle blinked, "That does sound somewhat familiar…"

The Ace turned around in time to see a furious female bearing down on him, though the cause for her outrage was a bit obscure as he did not know which party in question for whose welfare she alleged to hold him accountable. What he did see was the murder in her eyes, and being the sort who did not take a threat too lightly he turned to meet this new challenge as Atsuko leaped to the attack, driving forward with a power-house kick that could have shattered a tall tree into so many toothpicks.

He caught the force of that kick against one brawny forearm and turned her foot to one side, then seized Atsuko by the leg and upended her as he might a small, errant child.

"Dunno what your problem is, Bitch," the Ace casually remarked, "But I'm a modern guy open to equal opportunity hard-knocks, and besides, you remind me a little too much of my kid sister."

With that the big man brought Atsuko up and then threw her down into the floor, hard enough to shatter timbers and imbed her below the floorboards.

"Did I forget to mention that me an' my kid-sis don't get along too well?" the Ace noted with mocking satisfaction.

That was when Cybelle felt something happen that she had not directly experienced for the better part of two generations. It was like a flaring of nerves up and down her spine, arms and legs, the pins and needles feeling of a powerful battle aura flaring to life, and then before she had time to take note of it there was a rush of air being displaced as Razor left her side, going from calm to his berserker state with such haste that she felt a delicious thrill of fear briefly crawl over her, a feeling she fought to dismiss as soon as it happened.

All Ace knew-or had time to take note of-was that there was this BIG SCARY DUDE who suddenly manifested at his side, gripping him by one arm with a hand that could put shame to a hydraulic vice grip. Being a Big Scary Dude himself, it was more than a little bit unnerving to find that he could not remove that arm from its imprisonment, nor look the other man in the face as nominally brown eyes had suddenly become tawny gold and altogether unnerving.

"You hurt my At-chan," Razor pronounced with a calm that was entirely too deceptive, "Now I hurt you."

And the Ace of Spades believed this scary dude, one second before the lights went out and the pain began in earnest…

"Hey, come back here!" Cybelle cried out over the sounds of royal carnage, "I'm not through yelling at you yet!"

"Somehow I don't think he can hear you too well over all this noise," a voice sympathetically noted from close nearby.

Cybelle almost jumped as she found herself accompanied by another blonde figure in scanty dress, and it was a mark of her surprise at being approached this way that she gasped, "YOU? But I thought…!"

"That's your problem," Siren smiled, "You think too much and you get wrapped up in the tangle of your thoughts. Me, I prefer to take like as it is and not try to make it be something that it's not…although I will sympathize with you on one thing…it's hard to predict the actions of a lover…or potential lover in my case…"

"Whoah!" Ryomi commented to Aki from where they stood on the sidelines in the fight, "Look at Gramps go at it! He's really ticked off about Mom getting hurt by that loser."

"Nice to know which side of the family tree we get it from," Aki agreed, then tapped her cousin on the arm and said, "Hey, check it out over there! That gymnast girl's getting her ass whipped…and I don't think she likes it either!"

Indeed Kodachi was getting the worst end of her particular encounter, with the Ten of Spades proving a most elusive opponent, and more slippery than greased lightning. As fast as the Black Rose could move she found it impossible to connect with any of her weapons, the other girl reacting as if the younger Kuno sibling were moving in slow motion.

"This is lame," the Ten was espousing as she somehow managed to be standing three inches to the left of Kodachi's outstretched ribbon, "All you do it throw stuff at me, you could try kicking or punching once in a while…"

"That may do for commoners," Kodachi retorted, "But my specialty of Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics requires that one not make direct personal contact with their opponent…"

"Really?" Ten replied, "That's too bad," and suddenly the girl's outline became a blur, and moments later Kodachi was on the floor and hog tied like a Christmas turkey, "'Cause I don't have a problem in that department."

"Kodachi-chan!" Kasumi called out in great distress, seeing her beloved so handily defeated.

"What are you, her one-girl cheering section?" Ten gave the elder Tendo sister a sidelong glance before planting a foot on Kodachi's exposed middle, "Guess I can maybe see the attraction…she is kinda cute like that, and you're not so bad looking yourself, lady. Maybe Mom and Dad'll let me keep the two of you for my playmates. You don't get to make many friends in our business…"

"I think I've seen enough," Aki mused, "How about you, 'Cuz?"

"I was gonna ask you the same thing," Ryomi cracked her knuckles, "Besides, she's only bad guy who's still left standing."

"Right," Aki nodded, "For the honor of the Hibikis?"

"Whatever," Ryomi declared, and the two of them rushed to Kodachi's rescue.

"What do you want, Witch?" Cybelle growled as she raised her hands as if preparing to spell-cast.

"Mage, not witch," Siren corrected, "I don't do Wicca…not that I've got anything against the ceremonial stuff, mind you, and I've danced Sky Clad more than a few times in my travels…"

"Don't bother me with semantics!" Cybelle cried, "What do you want here?"

"Well, I should think that was obvious," Siren smirked, glancing in Cologne's direction, "But don't worry, I'm not here to put a crimp in your plans or anything like that…don't really need to, it seems, since your side is too busy losing to provide much entertainment…"

The Ten of Spades reacted with surprising speed as a pair of Hibikis came rushing in her direction, but as fast as Aki and her cousin moved, when they reached Kodachi's side they found their opponent had somehow managed to be elsewhere.

"What's this?" Ten asked, "New playmates? What fun!"

"You wish, Lady," Ryomi growled as she took up a defensive posture.

"Don't get cocky with us," Aki flashed a fist and said, "Or it's gonna cost you."

"Let me guess," Ten nodded to the still-tied-up Kodachi, "Friend of yours?"

"Nope," Aki replied.

"Never saw her before in my life," agreed Ryomi.

"Oh?" Ten cocked her head to regard them with in a curious manner, "Then you're just looking for a fight? Cool…I can relate to that. Together or separate? Makes no diff to me."

"Whichever works best," Aki shrugged.

"I'm good either way," Ryomi said, "Just don't crowd my action."

"Groovy," Ten smiled from behind her pasty white mask, "Just don't hold back or it won't be fun for me, Girlfriends."

With that Ten moved forward and Aki came at her, thrusting with a fist that could have shattered a head like a rotten gourd, only the playing card figure easily stepped around the punch and almost walked right past her. Ryomi tried to score a punch from the other girl's flanks, but Ten turned to meet it, caught her by the wrist and casually turned it aside as though the move had been choreographed precisely.

"What the…?" Aki reacted.

"What the hell…?" Ryomi said near-simultaneously, right before Ten went from defensive to offensive and punched them both in the guts with near simultaneous punches.

"You were saying?" Cybelle said smugly, only to take note that the rest of the Royal Flush Gang was presently horizontal, "Oh bugger…"

"One exception does not make the rule," Siren pointed out, "And never judge a fight concluded at the onset…that's one of many Amazon sayings that I'm sure you know by rote…"

"How the hell can she move like that?" Ryomi gasped, rubbing her stomach, "I never even saw her move…"

"Yeah, it's freaky," Aki growled, less visibly affected than her cousin, "She's definitely faster than us…"

"You don't know how right you ladies are," Ten replied as she suddenly appeared in the space between them, "I'm fast and I'm pretty, not that you can tell from looking."

Aki and Ryomi reacted simultaneously by trying to strike the girl, who stood in easy arm's reach, but their hands passed harmlessly through the space where she had been as Ten managed somehow to be standing a foot further away from them both, and their own inertia caused their punches to go wild and strike one another.

"Just like in the movies," Ten remarked, "Only I get to do the Keannu Reeves number, like in that movie, The Matrix. Ever see that one, Ladies?"

"About seven or eight times," Ryomi responded, then blinked, "You mean…?"

Aki tried a series of combination punches and kicks, but Ten avoided all of them with as much ease as though she were made of smoke instead of solid flesh. When she counter-attacked, however, her foot was altogether solid and sent Aki spinning into a wall, then tumbling through it."

"Wow," Ryomi replied, "You really do have Super-Speed!"

"Next best thing to being from Krypton," Ten replied, "You really don't have a chance of laying a finger on me, I can see every move you make like it was a mile away, and I can strike like a hurricane while you can't even sting like a bee…"

"Yeah," Ryomi frowned, "Only…you don't look too happy."

"Huh?" Ten seemed momentarily confused, "Happy? What do you…"

"With the Super Speed deal," Ryomi pointed out, "Must make it hard for you to get any challenge out of fighting regular opponents."

"Don't really know," Ten shrugged, "I usually fight superheroes."

"Yeah, but even then it must be awfully easy winning your fights," Ryomi replied, "I can't find too many people who give me much of a workout these days, and I'm stronger than other girls my age…"

"Strong?" Ten sniffed through her mask, "I don't need to be strong with my speed…I could drive a blade of grass through a solid brick wall. Next to me most people are just standing still or sleep walking, and it takes forever having to listen to them just finish a sentence…"

"Gee, that's rough," Ryomi sympathized, "Can't you turn it off when you don't need it?"

"Sometimes," Ten's posture relaxed by a subtle margin, "But ever since Mom and Dad put me through those experiments…it's like my life just turned into one long, drawn out soap opera. When we're not pulling jobs or staging fights I have to find things to do to keep from going crazy! I can read a book in under a minute, or play chess with myself in under ten seconds, or when I'm on the net it seems to take years to download! Do you know what it's like to be able to count the grains of sand as they fall out of an hourglass? Time just doesn't mean the same thing to me any more I'm just not…well…I'm just not…"

"Normal?" Ryomi suggested.

"Yeah," Ten's shoulders sagged, "Not that I ever knew what normal was to begin with, having a couple of supervillains for my parents…"

"Try having a fucked up sense of direction," Ryomi snorted, "You know, I haven't even seen my own house in over ten years!"

"You have a house?" Ten seemed to blink behind her mask, "I never even had that, except when they put me in that foster home while my folks were doing jail time…"

"What is this?" Cybelle growled, "A social gathering? I paid these people to fight, not to loiter around!"

"Try not to be too hard on them," Siren urged, "They had a problem with being seriously outclassed and outnumbered."

"That's no excuse," Cybelle said coldly, "I paid good money for this show, I expected more entertainment value…"

"We're back!" announced Ranma as he and Shampoo came charging into the dojo, "Now where's that Ace guy? I'm gonna crown him!"

"You mean him?" Akane hooked her thumb and indicated the crater that Razor stood poised above, his face suffused with a cold mask of stoical indifference.

"Huh?" Ranma blinked as he took in the big man, then at the battered and bruised form within the pit, "Whoah…"

"Aiyaa," Shampoo exclaimed, "What funny card man do make big man so angry?"

"He touched his little girl without permission," Comb remarked from where she was helping Silk and Nodoka retrieve a somewhat battered and bruised Atsuko, while Genma and Soun stood nearby with apprehensive faces.

"Oh," was all Ranma could say as he arrived at his own conclusions.

"Ranma!" a voice cried out, causing him to turn around in time to be embraced by a much distraught Nabiki, whose arms encompassed both him and Shampoo in a hug of relief as she angrily said, "What kept you two so long? I was starting to worry…"

"Shampoo sorry," her Amazon wife replied, "Ranma and Shampoo wound up in park many blocks away from here, took time getting back, sorry we miss all of the action."

"Yeah," Ranma complained, "Couldn't you have saved a little for us? I mean, that big guy was tough, but I could have taken him in another minute…"

"Sure you could, Saotome," Nabiki gave him a sardonic leer that was altogether intimate and familiar.

Ranma blinked delayed reaction of having come to a startling conclusion, "Nab-chan…are you back…I mean…for real this time?"

"Ah…not quite," Nabiki replied somewhat lamely, "More like I'm in here, only there's two versions of me sharing the same body. The real me's still stuck on that other world, but I'm sort-of Telecommuting…"

"Is no matter," Shampoo said, "Nabiki is still Nabiki, and Nabiki is Shampoo's wife, and she still is marrying Ranma in morning. That all that truly matter."

"Huh?" Ten turned her head upon hearing this, "Did I catch that right? She's her wife, and she's marrying that stud muffin?"

"Hey, don't look at me," Ryomi shrugged, "I just walked in on this from stage left myself…"

"Where is she?" Aki growled as she came rushing back into the dojo, spotting Ten immediately and coming on like a freight train, "I'm gonna pound you for that one, Lady…!"

Before Ryomi could even move a muscle the Card-suited girl left her side and met her cousin in mid-charge, and after a staccato noise like a Popsicle stick running against the spokes of a moving bicycle tire, Aki staggered and fell to the floor, just barely conscious.

"Wow," Ten remarked as she came to rest motion, "She's a tough little thing…I could've taken out Captain America with that many punches."

"Hey, she's a Hibiki," Ryomi shrugged, "We're not exactly normal people."

"Outstanding," Ten remarked, "I think I'm starting to like her…"

"That's it!" Cybelle declared, "I'm demanding a refund just as soon as these clowns get over their naps. I thought for sure they'd keep you busy twice as long as this…"

"Keep us busy?" Siren arched an eyebrow, "What do you mean by that?"

"Uh…never mind," Cybelle glared, "Looks like I'm going to have to take matters in my own hands…but fortunately I did make preparations."

All at once the doors and walls of the dojo shifted to reveal a kind of netting that totally enclosed the entire room from even those portions that had been damaged or destroyed during the fighting.

"Uh oh," Makoto studied the room with wary eyes from the side of Ukyo, whom she and Akane were taking turns fussing over.

"Yeah," Akane agreed, "Uh oh…"

"I don't like the looks of this," Yumi remarked for the benefit of anyone who needed to hear those words spoken aloud.

"This should prove much more entertaining, I think," Cybelle grinned in a way that was altogether unwholesome.

"Cybelle?" Razor threw off the last of his berserker rage, "What are you…?"

"Making sure you don't go anywhere this time…Husband," the Demoness stressed the word with special emphasis, "At least not for a long while."

"But you're trapped here with us too, lady!" Ranma pointed out.

"Au contraire, my dear Nexus," Cybelle replied, "I'm not really here at all…except in spirit."

And with that her holographically projected image faded out from view, leaving the former combatants-including the Royal Flush Gang-to collectively react with alarm as the strobe lights came on and various nasty looking devices popped up out from concealment.

"She had time enough to rig all this in just under a day?" Silk remarked with considerable alarm.

"Indeed," the elder Kuno replied from just outside of the netting, "Mistress Cybelle is nothing if not efficient in her methods."

"Tatewaki?" Kodachi looked up from where Kasumi was finishing unwrapping her, "What do you mean by…?"

"Have no fear, sister dearest," Tatewaki replied, "The traps within this room will not react unless they sense sudden motion, and only some of them are of lethal designation. Normal movement will not set them off, but if any attempt to use force to escape from this room, they will meet with the appropriate level of force to curb such a foolish endeavor."

"Kuno," Ranma growled, "You've really gone over the bend this time!"

"Not at all, Saotome," said an unruffled Tatewaki, "I am not truly the engineer of your plight, I am simply the messenger for my silent partner."

"Some silence," Cologne growled tersely as she studied their current prison with a wary expression.

"Hey!" Ten protested, "What about me and my parents?"

"Sorry," Tatewaki replied, "Business on that end is concluded, so I'm afraid you're now part of the problem and no longer the solution."

"Tachi!" Kodachi called out even as her elder brother turned away from the dojo.

"We will talk later, Sister mine," the older Kuno replied, "Until then be wise and do nothing imprudent."

As Kuno began to take his leave of the garden, Naomi halted him with a taciturn, "That was a very cold display of brotherly concern, Kuno-san. If I had known why you insisted that my daughter and I leave the building I would not have believed it."

"Believe what you will, Nakamura-san," Tatewaki replied without glancing in her direction, "What I do is for a greater purpose, but I shall not burden you with the weight of my full insight."

"You're just like someone else I know who thought he knew all the answers," Kento replied sourly from where he stood guard next to Rachael, "The ends don't justify the means you know…"

"Indeed," Tatewaki replied without turning around, "They do not."

And with that Kuno took his leave of the Tendo estate.

"Brrr," Kento growled, "That guy's a real cold fish…doing something like this to his own sister."

"Mommy?" Rachael looked up at her elders, "Are gonna do something to help them get out of there?"

"I'm not sure what can be done," Naomi glanced back at the dojo, which was now covered entirely in some kind of electrified netting, "I'm just glad that we're not trapped in there with the others."

"Maybe you don't know," Kento handed Rachael over to her mother, "But I've got a pretty good idea what I can do to help out. Think you guys can keep a secret?"

"You have been keeping secrets, Kento-san?" in spite of herself Naomi felt a twinge of amusement, "What a surprise that is…"

"Well, it's not something I normally like to have get around," Kento replied, "But there's a pretty good reason why my uncle wanted me to protect you, Nakamura-san. You see…a few months back some friends of mine from college went with me to this spooky deserted castle in one of the provinces outside Kyoto, and we kinda got mixed up in something out of an old legend…"

"A story that I have no doubt is fascinating in the telling," another voice intruded on their conversation, "But one that can wait long enough for me to ask a question…where can we find the Demon who is threatening my family?"

Naomi turned to see a man and a woman standing in the yard, the woman dressed in some manner of ceremonial garb and holding a hardwood pole arm that had a wicked spoon-shaped spear point on one end, her face set and determined in a very professional, no-nonsense manner. The man, by contrast, was wearing a faded grey-green martial arts gi and had a scholarly look about him in total contrast to the hard-eyed nature of his companion.

"And you are?" Naomi asked.

"Tofu Kachu, the Devil Hunter," Kachu replied, "And this is my husband, Doctor Tofu Ono."

"If you're looking for somebody, they're probably in there," Kento indicated the dojo, "Now excuse me a minute, I need to change into something a little more appropriate for doing battle with live demons."

The husky man stood away from the others, and composed himself while Rachael, her mother and the Tofus looked on in mild confusion. All at once the young man raised his arms and cried aloud, "ARMOR OF HARDROCK, TAO CHI!!!" which heralded a most amazing transformation.

"Oh my," murmured Doctor Tofu as he and the others saw the man's outward clothing dissolve away, to be replaced by something…other.

"My thoughts exactly," Naomi murmured with round eyes, even as Rachael grinned and cried, "Neato…!"

Continued

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