Akira Fan Fiction / 8th Man Fan Fiction / Art Of Fighting Fan Fiction / Digimon Fan Fiction / Fatal Fury Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Street Fighter II Victory Fan Fiction / Transformers Fan Fiction / Mobile Suit Gundam Fan Fiction / Teknoman Fan Fiction ❯ A NEW DESTINY - Book 2: Hate Runs Like Water ❯ Tidings of Joy and Sorrow ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

New Destiny: Part 11

Tidings of Joy and Sorrow


Usual disclaimer: I don't own the characters save for the Stryker Symbiote and the Blue Goblin.




"She's your... fiancée?"

Ranma looked at Cell, who sat beside him on the roof of the Tendo Dojo. "One of them, yes. She's the one my pop wants me to marry more than the others, though."

Cell frowned. "I fail to see the reason for that. She beats you, blames you for things that are 90% not your fault, and calls you a pervert."

"Yeah, I know... yet I also insult her, so I do deserve some of those beatings."

"And she blames you for all the times she gets kidnapped by someone wanting to marry her, yet you still rescue her. Why?"

Ranma gave Cell a long, hard look. "Why do you help the Mega Avengers, since you're supposed to be the Emperor of Darkness?"

Cell turned away, frowned, and swung his tail. "Do NOT misunderstand me, boy! They are my enemies, and killing them is my right alone, especially the Blue Goblin!"

Ranma didn't believe it. He knew that Cell could easily kill all of the Mega Avengers if he wanted to now, especially since Blue, alias Rob, was dying slowly from what had been called "depression sickness." Yet the almost perfect Android had not, yet. "Well, I'll tell you why I save her... I may be in love with her, but I'm not so sure yet."

Cell gave Ranma a puzzled look. "Then why?"

The teenage martial artist sighed. "It's the right thing to do..."

These words echoed in Cell's mind, as he turned his gaze over the city.

<The right thing to do...>


*************************************************** *********************


"Someone..."

Queen Mercury's words snapped Cell out of his memories, bringing him back to the present. Robert had put on his armor again, and had gone off alone to find Davis/Stryker. This had left Robert's wife, the former Sailor Mercury, stricken with deep fear, since the Stryker Symbiote was one of the deadliest foes Robert and the Mega Avengers had ever faced. Now Cell, TK, Kari, and ALF were doing their best to comfort her.

Mercury was still crying, and shaking uncontrollably. Her voice was soft and weak. 'Someone please bring back my husband... alive..."

Kari felt that she could relate to the woman before her. <I'd be in the same position if it was TK out there now... from what Freddie was saying, Stryker sounds almost impossible to be defeated.>

Cell could hear Kari's thoughts clearly, and gave a half smile. <She's what Akane might have been.> His half smile returned to a frown and he placed a hand on TK's shoulder, getting the teen's attention. "Go get your sword, kid," he said. "We're hunting Goblins and Symbiotes tonight."

TK nodded, then moved to kiss Kari on her cheek. "I'll be back," he said before he rushed out the door.

Cell walked to the doorway when Kari's voice stopped him. "You'd better bring him back alive, too," she said. "Davis may be his responsibility, but I will NOT lose TK again after five years of waiting and hoping."

The look Kari got from the Android was serious. ""I have no intention," he said. "Of burying the last of my sons any time soon. I'll gladly die myself before that happens."


*************************************************** *********************


"You know, Rob might kick you around for this."

Cell just smiled as he flew beside TK into the night. "That didn't stop me from helping Ranma out with his fiancées," he replied. "And besides, he's been out of practice somewhat since becoming king. That's why Ami's mostly worried about him being out here, hunting an old enemy."

TK returned his gaze to over the city. "That's all the more reason to find him before Stryker does. Davis maybe a novice fighter compared to the likes of us, but that symbiote can increase his strength and skills, am I right?"

"Not to mention it can stretch itself and at incredible speed. You'll have to keep yourself aware since it doesn't give off ki like us. Try to remember your training under Piccolo."

TK blinked. "How do you know-?"

"I've been keeping tabs on you somewhat after I dealt with my inner demons, so to speak. I'll tell you about it sometime.*"

*And, if you all are good little boys and girls, I'll tell you more about that in a side story. Hey, it worked for Gundam, didn't it?

As they flew on, TK tried to remember one particular training day he had under Piccolo, four years ago...


****************************************************** ******************


TK went down again, for the third time, as something hit him from the side. Piccolo had lead him into a deep forested area for their training, and then vanished. That was when the attacks came.

"Get up," the Namek's voice echoed form all around. "We'll keep going like this until you get it right. Don't rely too much on sensing the ki of your enemy, especially if your enemy has none."

Spitting up some blood, TK pushed himself up with his arms. He blinked a tear out before he got to his knees. By far, Piccolo had been the hardest teacher he had ever studied under, more so than Burter had been. TK was beginning to break.

"Goddammit, TK! Get up! I want my counterattack!"

The boy slowly brought himself to his feet. <C'mon, TK! Ranma wouldn't give up like this. Not without a fight.> He began to draw quiet breaths. <I know what he's doing now... he's extending his arms from a distance to strike at me while hiding his ki. If I quiet myself...>

For a moment, there was nothing but silence.

<Don't anticipate it. Let it happen naturally.>

The silence was broken by a quick hissing sound, as a blur of green and pink headed towards TK. <AH-HA!> With inhuman speed, TK jumped up, avoiding the incoming attack before he charged forward, following the trail made by Piccolo's extended arm. As he moved, he saw another green blur heading for him, but skillfully dodged before spotting Piccolo among the tree branches.

Piccolo got the wind knocked out of him and TK rammed a fist into his stomach, sending him out and down the tree. His arms quickly retracted to their normal length as he landed on his feet, TK doing the same in front of him. "Nice," he whispered with a grin. "BUT DON'T STOP THERE!"

With that, Piccolo threw his right fist deep into the ground, his arm extending as it dug through the soil towards TK. But the boy knew what was happening and jumped up just before the hand broke through to grab his feet. Yet, Piccolo kept his grin as he opened his mouth wide and shot an energy beam out of it.

TK just retaliated by pressing his two fingers to his head, quickly charging them before aiming them at the oncoming beam. "MAKENKOSAPPO!"

Piccolo's grin faded as he saw TK pull off a perfect version of his greatest attack. A blast in the form of a corkscrew shot from the boy's fingers, tore through the energy beam that collided with it, and continued at him. He jumped up, but his one arm was still extended. Before he could retract it fully, the Makenkosappo zoomed in and tore through the arm, severing it.

All action slowed down. Both Piccolo and TK returned to the ground before he took hold of the stub that was his arm and then ripping it off. "You're learning fast," he said. "But you'll have to be faster." Then, he let out a scream before a whole new arm burst out from his right arm socket. "If you ever encountered an Android like 17 or 18, you'd be dead in seconds."

TK wiped some blood from his chin. "But at least I figured out how to counter you."

"Maybe, but I was only using my arms. You'll have to be careful when it comes to projectile attacks like beams or bullets. I hear they're improving the beam weapons of the mobile suits to equal strong ki attacks." He sat down, Indian style. "That's enough for now. Let's mediate before continuing."


************************************************ ************************


Freddie felt helpless, sitting at Tetsuo's bedside. The teen was in a coma, hooked to a life support system that was trying to revive him slowly from the injuries he sustained traveling from limbo. All Freddie could do was sit beside him. <I hate this!>

"I came as soon as I got your message."

Freddie didn't need to look up. "Hello, Rose."

A man wearing a purple leather mask, glasses, and a tan suit stood beside the blind frog, a tan hat with a black stripe in his hands. "Has there been any word?"

"Takeru and Cell have gone out after Robert. But I feel they will need help as well."

Rose shook his head. "Spider-Carnage's human host is still on assignment for me, and I can't recall him. The best way to fight a symbiote is with another symbiote, you and I know that."

"Yes, but..." Then, Freddie got an idea. "Where is the Spider-Carnage symbiote?"

"In storage-." Rose quickly faced Freddie. "You're not thinking-!"

"We need to fight fire with fire, as you said so yourself. Plus, we have no time to wait for your agent or for other symbiote heroes to get here."

"Need I remind you that even you bonded with a symbiote, you would still be blind?

Just then, an unexpected voice made the two silent. "F... Freddie?" They turned to face Tetsuo, trying to sit up with his eyes half open. "That you, Freddie?"

Freddie made his way to his friend's side. "Right here, Tetsuo."

Tetsuo looked at his old friend. He frowned a bit. "Oh man... forgot you were blind..." His hand gently ran across Freddie's pale eyes.

"It is, how you boys always said, no big deal. How do you feel?"

Tetsuo rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Weak, but okay. I had a vision... Stryker's going to change hosts soon. He'll be more powerful when he does."

Rose rubbed his chin. "Well, we know that Rob, Cell, and TK are after him, so... those three would have a better chance of getting possessed. Do you think this is what Stryker had in mind?"

Tetsuo's face was grim. "Not yet... it doesn't know yet that any powers Kris had from the Akira Project were released into that limbo we were held in when Rob killed him. My vision told me that the symbiote will also discover that this Davis is too weak..."

"Which is why it will change hosts," Rose finished the thought aloud. "Dammit! We have to warn those three, and fast!"

None of them realized or sensed that Kari was just outside the door, and had heard every word. Before, when she first saw the symbiote earlier that night, it scared her. The news that it would soon bond with a new, more powerful host terrified her. <Blue would be out. It wants him to suffer first. I think Cell's genetic makeup would make him an unlikely choice, either.> Her eyes widened. <Oh no... TAKERU!>


************************************************* ***********************


<I've missed this badly,> Blue thought, soaring a good distance above the streets. <The wind in my face, the rush of rising above the city... But this isn't the time for rediscovering the freedom of flying! Stryker's out there, somewhere.>

His eyes narrowed. <I'll kill it this time! Even if it means my life as well as its!>

Down in a blackened alley, a sinister and stealthy figure watched as Blue flew by. It frowned. "Damn," it cursed. "He's alone, the fool! I could strike him down easy... if this host wasn't so weak!"

A human face emerged from the shadows. "Forget that freak," he stated. "You said I could rescue Kari from Saotome's clutches with your help!" Before he could speak again, blue goo covered his face: revealing blue jagged teeth and large white eyes.

" Oh shut up! Kari this, Kari that! You're so obsessed with her that it makes me sick! And don't tell me I'm obsessed with killing the Mega Avengers, because they are the ones who betrayed me and killed my original host!" Stryker sighed heavily. <I need to find myself a new host, before this fool drives me up the wall. But who? And how?>

Suddenly, Stryker saw Cell and TK fly back quickly. He got an idea, and proceeded to sneak his way around the buildings. "I'm in the mood for a little... okanomiyaki!"


*********************************************** *************************


Nodoka patted her stomach gently as she came down the stairs of Ukyo's restaurant and home, looking for Genma. <I meant to tell him sooner,> she thought. <But with that kidnapping and TK's battle with Ranma's murderer, I just forgot.>

Genma, in his panda form, was sweeping the now empty restaurant. He hummed a tune as he did; glad it had been a good day. Maybe he could finally ask Ukyo for that raise. He chuckled at this. His payment was room and board for himself and his wife. Just then, he saw Nodoka staring at him. He held up one of his signs. "Hello, wife," it read.

Nodoka smiled warmly. "Husband, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

Genma's heart began to beat a little faster now. Was he in trouble again? He slowly walked towards his wife as she ran her hand softly over her belly. She had been doing it a lot lately, though not as much since Friezor had kidnapped them and several others over a week ago. He held up another sign. "Are you ill, dear?"

Nodoka shook her head. "We're perfectly fine, husband." She took her dumbfounded husband's paw, and placed it against her stomach. A small laugh escaped her mouth as she noticed that Genma's expression was blank. "I'm two months pregnant," she finally said. "With Ranma's little sister.* We're going to have another child."

*Remember that they live in a world where technology is more advanced than our world's. They could tell gender at that stage of pregnancy.

Genma said nothing, but absorbed what his wife had just told him. Another child. They were going to have another child: a girl, in fact. His paw moved around Nodoka as he pulled her into a loving hug. Tears stained his fur: of joy for himself and his wife, and of sorrow for the baby. She would never know her older brother, except through stories of his life.

The panda felt gentle arms encircle him. "He would want us to have another, Genma," he heard his wife's voice tell him. "We'll tell her when she is old enough to understand."

"You should live so long!"

At that moment, Genma felt Nodoka being torn from his embrace most forcefully. He looked and saw a blue being had its extended claws wrapped around her neck, arms, and torso. The panda snarled angrily and leapt to save his mate, but since he had given up martial arts for so long, he found himself helpless as he was pinned back against the wall. In a flash, the freak had shot several blue needles from its skin at Genma, which pinned him most painfully.

Stryker laughed as it still tried to get at him, snarling and roaring. "Behave yourself, or I'll make you into a rug!"

"No one harasses my employees, buster!"

Stryker calmly stuck back his hand and grabbed the attacking chef by her neck. His face quickly, and frighteningly, appeared on the back of his head, smiling at her. His claws were ready to pierce Ukyo's skin and kill her. Nodoka was frozen where she was, scared that any of them, especially her baby, would die that night.

"No one here will die tonight," Stryker sneered at Ukyo. "If you do as I say. Now, I want you to deliver a message for me..."


****************************************************** ******************


The quietness of the city was broken by the shrieking howl of what sounded like a tortured animal. Cell and TK stopped to listen to it. Cell then recognized the howl. "That's Genma in his cursed form!"

Together, they zoomed over to Uyko's place, and gasped. Blue also arrived to see the front door torn off, and a small trail of blood leading inside. They rushed in to see a battered Ukyo nursing a lightly bloodied and weeping panda. TK reached them first. "Ukyo, what happened to Uncle Genma?!"

Ukyo carefully poured some warm water over Genma, making him human again. "Some blue freak show burst in her and tore up the place. He had a message for you, TK."

Just then, TK noticed someone was missing. His hands shook at the realization. "W-where's Aunt Nodoka?"

Genma struggled to stand. "That monster... Stryker... he took her..."

Ukyo gently forced Genma to sit down again. "He said he'll meet you at Furinkan High, alone. You have until midnight... her he'll send her pieces back to you separately."

Blue and Cell looked at TK. He was frozen, except for his trembling hands, which slowly clenched into fists of rage. "I'll get her back," Blue said a she turned to leave, but Cell stopped him.

"You go there now," he said in a deadly calm. "And Nodoka will be killed. Will you add her death to your conscience?"

TK couldn't hear them. Everything was shut out to him. All he could think of was getting his aunt back... and killing Stryker slowly for messing with his family.

"T-Takeru..."

Genma's words snapped TK back to reality. "Yes, uncle?"

"You... you must be careful... Before it came... Nodoka told me... she's with child." The man burst into tears again. "Please bring them back safely... I... I don't know what I'll do if I lose them..."

This is what made TK go Super Human right then and there before he shot out of the building, into the night. He was heading to Furinkan High, and no one, not even Cell, was going to stop him.

Cell could only watch as TK left. <Damn it all to hell! This is getting worse by the moment! Kari's gonna love this.> "Get a hold of the Mansion," he said to no one directly. "This situation has gone extreme."


*************************************************** *********************


Just outside the city, a fierce, icy wind blew as a lone man in a black gi made his way towards the city lights. His eyes burning as he stared straight ahead.

"Tokyo," his dark voice echoed in the night. "It has been so long since I was last here... Since I killed Ryu, and took away the last real challenge I had in this world." His smile widened. "Until Takeru Takaishi came along. Now to put my training of the past years to the test!"


****************************************************** ******************


A tall, German man with dark hair stepped off the jet into the open night air of the Tokyo airport. His cape flapped against the wind caused by other planes taking off and landing, revealing his golden chest plate. He smiled. "It is good to be in the land of the Rising Sun once more."

Picking up his suitcase, he made his way to customs. <I wonder what kind of brawls I'll end up in this time? But, first thing is first. To the Mega Mansion, and visit my old friend Burter...>



TO BE CONTINUED...


Notes: Looks like someone's been out of touch for a while. Who's this man going to see Burter? How will TK be able to save Nodoka and her unborn child? Is Tetsuo's vision coming true about Stryker's new host, and are Kari's fears justified? And when the heck am I gonna stop asking questions to which I already know the answers to?!

Read and review, and stay tuned!