Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Shots in the Dark ❯ PCPIBLS 3 ( Chapter 3 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Jim Ohki 
Non Anime: Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 10.06.2014 | Pages: 4 | Words: 7.5K | Visits: 622 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 10.06.2014 | Pages: 4 | Words: 7.5K | Visits: 622 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: I make no claims at ownership of any copyrighted characters, places or events used herein. The only thing I make a claim to is this fic, which originated in my head and any original characters created by me herein. The following was made for public consumption at zero profit, and is not for sale except to the owning companies. Yes, I dream big.
No rant here, even though some questions have been raised that make me think.
Phenomenal Cosmic Powers, Itty-Bitty Living Space Arc One Part Three
By: (Driver) Jim Ohki
“What?” again wondered a dumbfounded Ranma as the proclamations of love where issued. He’d noticed that it was difficult for those that had been injured to move in his direction to offer support, which earned them a frown for their efforts. Ukyo –mostly- and Shampoo –not as much- were fretting about scaring so moving about and straining the wounds was a bad idea in his mind. He did note that Akane was still silent even though Skuld was in the process of performing her ‘magic’ and creating a mechanical prosthetic that, when finished, would be almost impossible to tell from real flesh and bone.
“Go away,” she grumbled at his approach, her voice devoid of any emotion and her gaze flat. The battle was nothing like she’d ever experienced and had no desire to do so ever again. It had put much into perspective for the youngest Tendo, from how precious life actually is if Shampoo’s reaction to the death of Cologne was any indicator to how truthfully lacking she was in the Art. She had leapt head-first into the fray, her ‘I’m a martial artist too!’ drawing the attention of several Valkyries. The warrior Gods and Goddesses had toyed with her, allowing her to think that even with her strength and supposed invincibility she stood a chance. Then they got serious, and smashed her into the ground. She’d flailed about, trying to hit something when one of them –she wasn’t sure who- sliced the lower part of her right arm off before bludgeoning the back of her head with the handle of their sword. That was the last thing beyond pain that she remembered, and it bothered her.
“RANMA!” roared Demon-Head Soun at seeing his youngest suffering, “HOW DARE YOU . . .”
“Don’t even start Bi-Pedal Fountain Man,” grumbled Ukyo, shifting her fiancé behind her. “Who was in charge of her training?”
With that the Tendo Patriarch Waterworks Plant went into overdrive, threatening to flood the lower level of the house. Mostly he was ignored, once he was manhandled outside to water the yard.
“Look Akane,” tried Ranma after sitting down next to her and avoiding the torrent of water, “I’m sorry about this whole mess. I failed you again, failed to keep you safe.”
“Damn it Ranma, I’m a martial artist too!” she sobbed, using her left hand to slap him in the face. “If only you . . . somebody . . . would take me seriously! I don’t need protection from anyone or anything!”
“Yer old man fumbled yer training, y’know?” he stated, before pointing at her oldest sister. “Kasumi has a better defense than you do, not that anybody would dare attack her without fear of bringing the entire district down on their head. You want to know why I never fought back? Because yer defense is sorely lacking. Observe.” Turning to the eldest Tendo daughter, he barked at her like she was a student. “Tai Chi, all of the forms you know. Start slow and increase speed accordingly.”
Those that weren’t in the know were surprised when Kasumi complied, immediately dancing around the living room with grace and power. They were further amazed when Ranma played the part of the untrained thug, being blocked at every attempt to thwart her posture. As she went faster, so did he to demonstrate that when applied properly even the soft Tai Art became an impenetrable wall. Then he upped the ante further, really getting into the light spar that had erupted when Kasumi applied some Anything Goes to it.
Ranma was surprised when after a block, she twisted her arms to grab his before beginning an Aikido-style throw. She further surprised him by instead of letting go and sending him flying, she completed the arc and slammed him into the floor shoulders first, his chin touching his chest.
“Finish him!” taunted Nabiki from her spot on the floor, seeing that Ranma was now frozen in that posture with his legs standing straight up as his eyes looked up Kasumi’s dress.
There was a flutter of cloth, the movement having masked a ripping noise, that signified a clone in movement. This clone, named Belldandy in her much shorter skirt as compared to Kasumi, obliged the command by kicking Ranma in the gut, laying his body flat on the floor before trapping his head between her thighs.
“FATALITY! PERFECT K.O.!” came the judgment from Nabiki, having noticed a pair of sky blue panties that had been snagged by a wayward floorboard and thus removed from their owner.
The ‘knockout’ lasted for all of two seconds before his appendages went wild in several directions at once in an effort to free himself. Belldandy herself was frozen as her brain was registering skin-to-skin contact in an area that was off-limits to unauthorized users, along with his breathing whenever he exhaled.
The Bug, unnoticed, had vacated its spot again to watch the carnage just before his head became one with the floor. ‘She’ didn’t mind being the last of her kind since the assimilation had taken place. She was left due to being the First Bug, the one that housed the memories of the original Chaos; memories that he wasn’t ready for.
Hild reached in with the intent of extracting Ranma while allowing Belldandy to remain in her current position. This backfired when a flailing right arm socked her in the face, twisting her body to the left only to be kicked in the rump. The kick had little power, however the shock of the maneuver was enough to propel her across the room to make a nice head-sized hole in the wall. On her way passed a shell-shocked Urd, the Great Demoness had reached out to find a handhold and managed to get a fistful of hair. Letting out a squawk of indignation at the rough treatment as she tumbled backwards, her left leg shot upwards to kick Skuld in the chest and one of her magic pills sailed in the direction of a freed –and slack-jawed- Ranma. As the youngest of the Norn sisters went flying, Noble Scarlet tried to apply flight control but her tiny wings had no lifting power resulting in the pair sailing out the front door and into the Soun sprinkler system. The wrap that made her lower body had snagged the table in her passing, sending it airborne yet again. This time Light Holy Bell and World of Elegance avoided the surprisingly heavy piece of furniture. The Angel of Urd crashed headlong into Dark Seraphim, her black hair, wing and body pattern acting like camouflage while the Angel of Belldandy crashed headlong into her counterpart. The three Angels and single Fallen went down in a tumble of arms, wings, wraps and one pair of legs. Feathers exploded outwards like a pillow fed to a solid steel fan set on high, causing Nodoka to sneeze which resulted in her losing her grip on the sheath of her katana. The weapon took off like a bullet, aimed tip first at the posterior of a Panda-fied Genma. He was too busy stuffing his face with bamboo to notice the approach of the sheathed katana until it bulls-eyed the target. Going airborne himself at the attack to his rear, what would have been yet another ‘PANDA DOWN!’ –or quite possibly a ‘HEY!’- sign was instead unintelligible gibberish. When his head impacted the ceiling, he fumbled the sign which followed the path of the Goddess of the Future to nail Soun in the groin in a physics-defying display.
While he yelled about joining his departed wife in soprano, those that had not yet been affected by the recent bout of chaos laid themselves flat on the floor.
All that Ranma could do was laugh nervously –and blushing madly-, thankful that those that were injured in the battle hadn’t been drawn into the madness. Then he swallowed . . .
(Abandoned compound, Nerima outer perimeter)
The Senshi felt the need for airtime . . . wait, gotta restart that.
The Senshi had taken refuge in one of the many now abandoned houses in the outskirts of the district, between the new fortress that was under construction at a mad pace and the outer shield which was keeping the military out. It had been difficult at best to lose the medics that had followed them around, no doubt under orders to report their position. Having sealed the house they occupied, and wondering just who lived in a house this large so full of booby-traps, excessively large quantities of pineapples and a giant alligator, six of the nine Senshi turned to glare at their leader. Moon had wandered back into Nerima, surprising the military when the shield let her in. The extra large tuna that was attached to her head may have had something to do with it, however said tuna was vaporized as she passed through the magical construct that was preventing any escape so nobody could attempt to use it.
The group was down two members, Mercury and Saturn having gone to the fortress in an effort to determine numbers, supplies, fortifications, weaknesses, entry points and if an opportunity presented itself termination of their primary target. They were also tasked with scouting the surrounding area, insuring that all of the civilians had been evacuated from the district.
“Well at least we’re all here,” weakly laughed Usagi, her right hand scratching the back of her head sheepishly.
“Like that does us any good,” grumbled Rei, both taking a potshot at their ‘fearless’ leader and reminding said leader that escape was impossible for the moment. She had voiced her opinion that if their target were to be terminated, the shield should disappear as it reeked of his ki.
Heh, pitiful Senshi-humans! They know nothing!
“Knock it off,” demanded Setsuna, waving her Garnet Staff around like a pointer. “We need the intel that Ami and Hotaru have gone off to get before deciding anything and fighting amongst ourselves will only give our location away.”
While their ‘meeting’ went nowhere in a hurry, the two that were scouting the lay of the land were having difficulty doing so. They’d almost been caught several times by either those that were participating in the construction of the fortress, roaming sentries or the medics of the JSDF that were confirming the area cleared out. What they could see of inside the construct confused them as the local fauna had a growth spurt; everything was a rich shade of whatever its respective color was from the leaves in the trees to the varieties of flowers. The standing water they could see was crystal clear, apparently clean and fresh. It confused the pair as something like this could only happen one of two ways.
Either somebody on the inside was sprucing the place up or the planet itself was rejoicing. For the second to occur something of great magnitude had to have happened to make Earth herself demonstrate her joy and the thought that the planet itself was siding with their target made them uneasy. This wasn’t supposed to happen until the thaw following the Great Freeze. If there was ‘competition’ for a bastion of humanity this place was taking shape as the front runner.
Without killing off the majority of the same humanity.
Looking at each other, the pair came to a silent conclusion. This was the path they wanted; this was the path of least resistance and greatest returns without harm coming to too many beings. They had primarily held out of the massive battle that had destroyed much of the inner district of Nerima, preferring to observe the reaction of the factions after Hotaru had gotten away from the mob of demons.
Dissention in the ranks of the Senshi had been running strong for a while now, after the first time they had met Ranma Saotome. Pluto was doing her best to keep her hooks in the noses of the others; a couple of the Inners and Saturn minus Moon were coming to realize that the ‘ideal’ of Crystal Tokyo had corrupted the Mistress of Time. Uranus and Neptune were lost causes as they’d been around the oldest Senshi to the point of following her blindly. Mars and Jupiter were still leaning towards the teachings of Setsuna, however for once they were keeping an open mind and not making wild leaps of logic. Venus was in league with Mercury and Saturn to the point that if a chance presented itself she’d defect to Ranma’s cause.
What Moon had no idea of when she ordered this scouting mission –nor did she notice the ease in which she had volunteers- she was sending those that didn’t want ninety-eight percent of the population to die in a disaster that they could prevent straight into his sphere of influence. There was spectacular evidence that the planet herself was choosing sides and said evidence cemented the decision that the pair had made.
Retreating back to the mansion, uncaring if they picked up a tail this time around, they set their plan in motion.
The Senshi as a whole were over, caput, finished, done, insert favorite descriptor here.
(Tendo’s)
“Hmmm?” wondered Urd as she noticed one of those that had stayed as a perimeter guard waving her outside. Mentally she was taking stock of the magic spells in pill form she never traveled without and was constantly coming up one short. Taking in the report from the Valkyrie, she took off in the direction indicated with several other Gods and Goddesses.
Ranma, not knowing he’d swallowed the missing pill, was stumped as to what to do now. Three words were suddenly burning to be released, three words that he dared not utter lest he was one hundred percent certain he meant them. The Bug, again nestled in his hair, was busy telling him about the uses Chaos energy had as well as proper techniques on how to use it. He saw the mass exodus but put it out of his mind as whatever it was apparently didn’t deserve his attention. He was uncomfortable with the role he suddenly found himself thrust into, and the sheer number of females flocking around him was triggering his danger sense. He just knew that sooner or later another free-for-all would break out amongst his fiancées, regardless of previous injuries that were being mended whenever Belldandy woke up.
It was slow work for her, having so many wounds to heal. Some of them she could do nothing about such as Mousse, Kuno, and Akane’s arm. Her heart went out to the three, although Kuno had his servant fluttering about him now. Sasuke had reported that Coo-coo . . . um, Kocho Kuno had fled the district with the civilians, unawares of the fate of his children. Tatewaki had scoffed, proclaiming rather loudly that it was typical behavior for his father to run away when the situation got hot.
“ . . . suffer some side-effects if you should ever be affected by a Divine spell,” said the Bug, bringing Ranma back to the here and now. Belldandy had changed her clothes from the dark-brown skirt-suit she’d been wearing for one that was red and had a tan trimmed in red overcoat that almost reached the floor after the incident, to which he now had to talk to two of them about undergarments and making him say hello to kitties.
“Just what kind of side-effects?” he sent back mentally, taking this style of conversation as a challenge. It was difficult for him to maintain the level of concentration needed for a clear ‘signal’ to be received by the recipient.
“For instance, if one were to use an amplification spell on you,” she stated, her own internal warning system going off, “instead of the desired effect of say, a hundred times it would be more like a hundred thousand. The intended effect would also be corrupted, creating something completely different from whatever the original spell was.”
“Whoa,” he gawked out loud, spooking those that had no idea he was in a conversation; that his concentration had been broken. Many interests were piqued now that he’d spoken out loud, and a freshly-healed Nabiki was the first to put her interest to voice.
“What’s so amazing?” she wondered while mentally asking herself if he’d gone a little deeper into Insanity-ville. The old Ice Queen persona was trying to come back to the surface however the new, subservient side was firmly entrenched. She’d made her choice and by all that was Ranma she was going to stick with it.
“Oh, not much,” he sheepishly replied while his right hand scratched the back of his head. “My . . . companion,” he pointed at the space above his head for emphasis, “was just telling me that being hit with a magic spell now would be a Bad Thing.”
The others could hear the capital letters in the last two words and they all nodded in agreement with no small amount of stupefaction. The residents of Nerima were weirded out by this Master Chaos business the ‘guests’ were throwing out at random and were suddenly treated to a new variety when he spoke again.
“How could I not see it before?” he wondered in awe, using his left index finger to gently lift Nabiki’s face upwards towards his own by her chin. “Yer beautiful. Nabiki, I love you.”
WHAM!!
The noise wasn’t the expected face vault, however. Instead, the three little words that he’d fought tooth and nail had surfaced and the results were most interesting. Nabiki passed out from the force of the words slamming into her heart, going down in a heap with swirly eyes and ‘I Love You’ clouds floating around her head. Her cheeks had a blush that threatened to ignite the floorboards her face now rested on.
“Oh my,” chimed in Kasumi, before finding Ranma giving her face a similar treatment, being so gentle in getting her to look him in the eyes. She was almost instantly lost in those blue orbs, the love and compassion pouring forth like a river.
“I love you.”
WHAM!!
Down she goes, victim number two. Hearing a grunt of dissatisfaction, he went to correct his error with Ukyo. Within moments she was off in lala land as number three. Shampoo made a noise –she’d deny it was a whimper- that earned her a fate like the others.
Ranma was on a roll now, mowing down the women in the house with ease. Akane, Belldandy, Skuld, and Hild weren’t left out. Whatever had caused this was unimportant to his mind while his passenger was sweating bullets. The Bug now knew why her senses were going berserk and she wished she could’ve seen this one coming. Even his mother fell victim to the “I Love You” attack before Sprinkler Soun tried an old tactic to snap the boy out of these bouts of insanity.
Now it was the men’s turn to suffer as Ranma-chan unleashed a barrage of the new attack, inducing unconsciousness with such ease that she was suddenly left alone in the house. Deciding to see what would happen if she tried this with Urd whenever she got back, she went into the kitchen to get some hot water before wandering outdoors to see if it affected the Valkyries.
(Abandoned Mansion-formerly Kuno Estate)
“Damn it!” roared Uranus as she dodged another mana attack. She was mad that Mercury and Saturn had been so careless as to lead those opposed to the cause of Crystal Tokyo straight to their hiding place. Something was wrong however as the mentioned Senshi had already surrendered to the enemy, taking Venus, Mars and Jupiter with them.
“MOON TIARA ACTION!” came the attack phrase from yonder maiden, throwing it like a Frisbee at anything that moved. She hadn’t noticed the ease with which her ‘guard’ had given up the fight, instead focusing on the fact that they had been captured at all and was trying her hardest to free them.
“Dead Scream,” came from Pluto, only to watch as her attack was absorbed by a mana shield. The answer to the attack was devastating, destroying a good portion of the property they’d claimed as their own.
“Depth Charge Descent!” proclaimed Urd, thoroughly annoyed that the rest of the Senshi wouldn’t see reason and surrender like their compatriots had. Wondering if perhaps they were possessed, she fell back behind friendly lines to charge an upper echelon attack.
“We’re not going to give in!” challenged Neptune, having retrieved a sword form a fallen enemy. While not her own weapon, she was proficient in its use and was proving to be a difficult opponent to any that dared to fight her. Even with the reduced numbers they made the classic Senshi mistake of clustering together for a massive attack and that proved to be their undoing.
“EXPLOSIVE PHOTO-ELECTROSHOCK BLAST!”
DOOOOOOOM
KRAK-BOOM!
Urd unleashed the level two attack in the Depth Charge tree, leveling what was left of the old Kuno estate with a gigantic lightning bolt. This effectively ended the battle as the mana attack overwhelmed any defense that the battling Senshi could muster, knocking them –and some of the Valkyries that weren’t prepared- out.
“Let’s go,” she barked at the captives, using some of her power to levitate and float them along. The others were collected by those that were capable while reinforcements arrived from within the fortress to collect the wounded and fallen. Looking about the ruins of a legacy –one that would be cheered for much later- her visage turned dark. “This is only the beginning.”
Upon her return to the inner fortress, having made certain that the Senshi as a whole couldn’t see anything between the perimeter wall and the Tendo Dojo, Urd was surprised to find the female populace of said house floating around on cloud nine while the males were cowering in a corner. Something of significance had happened while she had taken the fight to the suited Warriors of Love and Justice. As Ranma approached her, she also took note of several of the female Valkyries imitating the natives, except for literally floating around in a daze.
“Urd! Great timing!” he cheerfully exclaimed, ignoring the Senshi for the moment. He had something he wanted to try with her even though his exuberance had put her on alert for anything.
“I love you!”
WHAM!!
“Success!” he crowed, jumping around in joy and generally ignoring the glares that were coming from the Senshi that were awake. The other residents had ignored his outburst, the super-amplification having more effects than it was ever intended to. Having tested the latest weapon in his arsenal, not paying particular attention to the consequences, his joyous attitude turned to stone.
“That was mean,” growled Venus from her bubble, not knowing how she was going to get out of it now.
“Sure it was,” came the sarcastic response from Ranma, arms now crossed over his chest. He wasn’t pleased in the least to see this particular group again, even if they were literally helpless. “What do you want this time?”
“We have something to tell you,” said a timid Mercury, fidgeting as much as she could in the limited space her bubble allowed her.
(Primary Reality)
“Well that went smoothly,” Stoic-Almighty said to nobody in particular. His forces had been defeated in more ways than one as Chaos had been reborn. To add to the mess was the defection of an Aspect of Hild, taking their daughter slash multiverse cornerstone with her. While there were indeed many Urd’s throughout the multiverse, the one that He had guarded for millennia was the original. Just like Himself and Hild, she’d been broken down into different Aspects to stabilize the then recently formed multiverse. As time went on her role became less and less the actual Balance and more of a Cork.
It was why He tolerated her shenanigans. If any other God or Goddess behaved as Urd did they’d find themselves tossed out of Heaven so fast their head would spin. Her Hybrid nature was more than in conflict with each other, it partially focused Chaos energy which was why things could go crazy around her. Sometimes she instigated an event, sometimes she had no say in said event. He could easily tell one way or the other but knew he had little choice in the matter Himself.
The one time He’d tried to control her and her outbursts had destroyed several pieces of the multiverse, wiping them completely out of existence. He could have restarted them, however by the time the planes they were on stabilized too much time had passed in the event of Reunification. Each of the universes had specific events that marked time and evolution so that in the event that they were brought back together they could mesh with relative ease.
So here He sat, brooding the time away. Those that were loyal to the cause were reformulating the attack plan, taking note of what weaknesses the new Chaos had. Those around him, from family to friends to lovers, were all deemed targets for destruction. Not only for allowing such a being like Chaos to exist but to show the reborn deity that he was indeed vulnerable.
He also had dissention in the ranks of those that had stayed behind; those that wanted Chaos gone for all eternity. There were so many ideal’s on how to deal with the situation that they were coming into conflict. Everybody wanted to do it their way and nobody else’s. He had a couple of long-term plans in the works, like the fake scrolls Peorth was busy manufacturing. It was simple for Him to send the scrolls back in time ten years, after His Weapons were in place for the attack.
Feh, mortals. No matter what plane they resided on they caused nothing but trouble. Their free will was going to be His undoing, allowing Chaos to roam free and wreak havoc upon the multiverse.
There was also the problem of Reunification to take into account. A third universe was in the process of merging with the two that had already done so, one that He wanted nothing to do with.
After all, He desired to avoid the wrath of His Mother . . .
(Tendo’s)
“You plan to do what with humanity?” demanded Ranma while the others within the Tendo walls listened intently. Sailor Mercury had been educating him on their long term plans and goals, including what efforts and methods they’d utilized to this point.
“But Pluto said . . .,” weakly tried Moon, nearing the point of openly bawling at the cold shoulder she was receiving. Her mind was going around in circles more so than usual at the betrayal of her Inner Guard. In all truth she didn’t know half of what the Senshi of Time had planned, instead following her around and doing her bidding.
“The Moon Kingdom must be resurrected,” deadpanned said Senshi, like she was talking to a five year old. “For there to be any future whatsoever we must be the ones to lead The Remnant into the future. Think about it: no wars, no hunger, nothing but peace.”
“Yeah and there goes the last of humanity,” barked Hild, arms crossed under her breasts. “Without strife, without desire, without drive humans as a whole will die out. Period.”
“That can’t be!” roared Uranus as she tried to free herself yet again from her imprisonment. “Those that are left after the Great Freeze will rejoice in never having to worry about survival again!”
“Who let you decide that I wonder,” Ranma spat, glaring at Pluto. “Sounds like rubbish to me. There is no such thing as fate, only those that force their will upon others. Not a chance, so long that I live. I will not allow so many to die just so you can live in yer fantasy world.”
“Neither will we,” came the chorus of voices from behind him, and a few from in front of him. This surprised everybody as Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn firmed their resolve. They’d found the out they’d wanted from the Cataclysm that would lead to Crystal Tokyo and were leaping to take advantage of it.
“Be silent!” ordered Moon, her mind finally going into adult mode. Everything that she’d known was in conflict with what was presented right in front of her . . . and under too. Earth was making a loud statement as the ground around those that were refusing to give up on such an ugly future had turned brown. The grass was dead, the very air around them seemed stale.
“Oh, take a long walk off an event horizon,” grumbled Mercury, enjoying the almost pure sunlight that was streaming in through the clouds. Around her and those that had defected Life was in full bloom. The grass was so soft and green. The air was fresh, and there was a slight breeze keeping the scene perfect.
“You will regret this,” announced Pluto to everybody that was against her and her dreams of a perfect utopia. “Each and every one of you will suffer greatly for betraying Crystal Tokyo and humanity!”
“Feh. Bring it on,” came the response from Ranma while he made a gesture at Urd. The Goddess of the Past looked at him like he was insane but obliged his silent request to let the oldest Senshi out of her bubble.
Not wasting any time, he leapt in on the attack. Following the methodology of not calling out attacks, she had no time to mount a defense against the Kashu Tenshin Amaguriken. He applied the speed boost to his legs, effectively turning his body into a blur. She took several hits before getting a Dead Scream to detonate relatively close to her person, driving him back to avoid damage. Taking a slight breather as her kamikaze maneuver had inflicted some more bruises on her body, she studied his movements looking for an opportunity to counterattack.
Said opportunity came from an unexpected source when Kuno stumbled into the battle. Thinking that he’d make a great target to put Ranma off balance she launched her trademark attack at the blinded swordsman from close range. She knew that neither had the reflexes to avoid the attack; immediately following it was another Dead Scream aimed at Ukyo.
The pair of temporal flux balls detonated, sending dirt and debris into the air. When the light faded and the breeze removed the dust did the extent of the damage become known.
Mousse, using his superior hearing from a lifetime of bad eyesight, had pushed all of his ki into his arms as a way to propel himself in front of Kuno. The only way he knew it was him was the stumbling only somebody who’d had vision then suddenly lost it could produce. When he felt incredible pain did he know that his gamble had paid off before blessed darkness overcame him.
Near the front door Ukyo had started to roll out of the way before remembering what was behind her. While she didn’t have much love for Nabiki and Akane, there was no way that she’d let the house of Kasumi be destroyed. A mana shield materialized around the house too late to stop the attack from near point blank range. Having closed her eyes she missed the shadow that fell over her as Dark Holy Bell took the attack head on. Her left wing was destroyed in the process while her body took severe damage.
As hard as the Angel tried, some of the damage translated to Nabiki. Thankfully for her she lost consciousness immediately without feeling the pain, even though her mouth was open in a silent scream.
“You will die for that,” growled Ranma as his battle aura flared to maximum intensity. “Once I can overlook, but twice now you have attacked those that cannot defend themselves and placed even more in danger.”
Vacuum blades flew forth to which she danced around some while others connected. The damage dealt by them was extreme, depleting her armor in a quick order. The pure ki was even bypassing the magical construct, dealing her person great wounds. Her armor could barely keep up with the injuries she was receiving let alone putting any effort into dampening the blows.
“Like time I am eternal,” she said after jumping away from his line of fire in an effort to allow her armor time to repair her wounds and itself. The look in her eyes showed that she truly believed those words, having survived for millennia –even if most of that time was in stasis- she felt that Time was at her whim.
Wrong thing to think about with the Norns present. There was a reason why Urd had a great dislike and distrust of Sailor Pluto, being that the Silver Millennium fell under her sphere of influence. She was privy to everything that had happened in that time, from the arrival of the Predecessors to the colonization of the other planets to the discovery of life on Earth to the creation of the Kingdom. Every little tidbit was in her knowledge base, from beginning to end. The End was an event that she shuddered at in remembrance. It was a folly on the part of Pluto that had led to the corruption of Beryl by way of Metallia.
The Senshi of Time had been dabbling in the multiverse matrix and had summoned forth the Demonic Beast from a different plane. The Doctrine issued forth from Serenity had worked in her favor as she couldn’t admit to doing so without also admitting that there was a disaster on the horizon that wasn’t natural. So instead of using her free will to override the Doctrine and admit making a blunder of Biblical proportions, she had stayed silent on the whole affair.
Until the attack on the Kingdom was over.
Just before she was locked in stasis, a self-imposed idea once she’d learned of those that were sent forward in time, she’d written everything down in a hardcopy before hiding it in storage.
Half-way through her imprisonment the storage complex had been destroyed by a meteor, forever losing the warning that Pluto had left for herself. She was also supposed to awaken at this point in time, to allow her mind to absorb new information and generally give it a workout to keep insanity at bay.
The body may be in hibernation but the mind is always active, even if forced into REM mode.
The cryo-pod she was in had a malfunction and thusly didn’t allow her to awaken at the appointed time. Her REM turned from memories of the past to dreams of the future and thusly Crystal Tokyo was born.
“Hiryu Shoten Ha: Kijin Raishu Dan Revised!” brought Urd back from her trip down memory lane as Ranma went for the kill. It was a sight to behold as a tornado comprised of vacuum blades utterly decimated Sailor Pluto, first by lifting her high into the sky before bombarding her from all directions. She had time to scream before the attack cut out, letting her fall to the ground.
Upon crashing down into yet another, brand new crater did the others approach to look in to see the damage. Extensive it was as her armor was completely destroyed, leaving her nude. Not that anybody would take notice of this for the open wounds that went from head to toe. There was a slash that went from the lower right side of her jaw coming up her cheek before passing through where the eye would be before continuing up into her hair. Her chest was crisscrossed at several angles, each wound deep. Her arms and legs fared no better, being mutilated to the point of being completely useless.
“Is this what you wanted to be, alone standing by yourself?” Ranma spat at the dying form and her companions. “Is this all you wanted to be, or was that a cry for help?”
“It’s stranger than fiction how you’ve decayed,” added Urd. “It must be so lonely lost within your ways.”
“Let me tell you something,” he continued, ignoring the groaning coming from the crater. “You’re born alone; you die alone. The rest is yours to fill the gap. Your plot of world domination ends now.”
“Let me help her!” bawled Moon, having shifted into full Serenity mode. Everything going on around her was pure madness of late and she had no experience with such emotional trauma.
“Why, so she can come back for more?” he deadpanned, looking her square in the eyes. “I hear that you’re supposed to be the leader yet you have no control of your group. All she cares about is this precious utopia that if formed would guarantee the end of civilization as we know it.”
“We surrender!” she cried, flailing her limbs in an effort to pop the bubble she was in. “Please, we’ll do anything you want! Let me help her!”
“No,” answered Hild, the look in her eyes hard. “Not a good enough reason. Words are cheap, a contract is forever.”
“I’ll make a deal with the devil if you just let me help her!” screamed Serenity much to the amazement and amusement of the others. She had no idea who she was talking to . . .
“Really now?” wondered the Demon Queen, left index finger tapping her chin in thought. “Okay, we’ll let you out to heal your precious Time Mage if, and only if, you place your own life on the line if she so much as farts wrong. For all eternity. All of you foolish enough to still want this Crystal Tokyo. That’s the deal.”
“And just who do you think you are?” snidely asked Uranus, her eyes narrowed in anger and disbelief. She’d heard rumors that Nerima had a weird factor that outranked Juuban but seeing it in action was its own experience.
“Allow me to show you,” she replied, before her form began to shift.
Those watching suddenly found other things to look at, not wanting their dreams to be filled with images of Hild’s Demon. Her beautiful features completely changed into a tough, leathery hide colored blood red. Her eyes sunk within her skull, however instead of having empty sockets two pieces of superheated brimstone filled them, wisps of flame licking upwards. Growing from her tailbone was a six foot long tail, the ‘arrowhead’ tip and assorted spines razor sharp. Her feet went from the dainty, feminine variety to three toed ‘dinosaur’ paws with hands to match. Her height went from five foot six to seven four, while her hair turned charcoal black. Missing were the horns that denominated the lower devils; as the Boss she had no need of that identifier. The pure aura of evil she was now putting off took care of that nicely, complete with undertones of killing intent.
“Proof enough?” boomed her voice, closer to baritone and containing none of her usual sex appeal. She sniffed the air before making a disgusted noise. “I know this form is scary, but do try to maintain control of yourselves.”
“Youma!” incorrectly guessed Neptune, now flailing about like her lover. Escape was now the priority however as this one was several thousand times stronger than Mistress Nine, Wiseman and Pharaoh 90 combined.
“Yes,” timidly said Serenity, her eyes downcast. She’d seen enough proof to haunt her dreams for the remainder of her days. “Let me help Pluto and you’ll get your contract.”
“Excellent,” came from the monstrous form before shrinking back into her preferred body. A wave of her left hand later found said contract in her hand while her right dispelled the bubble holding the leader of the Senshi unceremoniously dumping her on the ground. “Don’t even think of trying to escape. My legions are simply hiding to avoid conflict with the Divine and would gladly tear this planet apart to find you. Your disguises are useless to beings like me, seeing as in how this contract will affect your ‘normal’ selves. The majority of it has already been put into effect, all that remains is your blood signature.”
“Don’t sign it!” encouraged Uranus, her eyes wide in fear. Setsuna was a complete bear to attempt to control, having her life on the life if the Senshi of Time did something stupid only added to the aggravation factor. “Escape with Pluto while you can!”
“No,” came the reply from Serenity, her own resolve firmed. “She’s right, as the Princess reborn I have to take responsibility for the actions of those under my leadership. I have to start somewhere.”
“Keep Pluto alive, heal her body but leave a reminder as to why dictating the fate of all is a bad thing,” Ranma entered the conversation, eyes devoid of emotion. He felt no compassion or regret for said Senshi buried in the ground after her actions. Just allowing her to live was as far as he was willing to go at the moment, until he got his anger under control.
An apology would go a long way. Not that he’d hold his breath for it, he was still waiting for his father to apologize for the way he treated him.
Princess Serenity set to task, healing all of the wounds except for one. The scar that traveled up her face and the destroyed eye . . .
TBC
O_O! A stopping point at last. Okay, I’m getting my laptop fixed tomorrow so it’ll slow down my writing a bit. Unlike some people I could name *cough Lord Rance cough* I mean it’ll be completely ready to go tomorrow night.
As for the darker feel this fic is taking, well I have a beef with ‘fate’ at the moment. Perhaps that’ll change if I hit the lottery. Until then, be on the lookout for more like this. Yes, there will be funny chapters, but to develop plot I have to write it like this.
Bah, enough after-fic rant.
Ja!
Finished in Denver, CO
No rant here, even though some questions have been raised that make me think.
Phenomenal Cosmic Powers, Itty-Bitty Living Space Arc One Part Three
By: (Driver) Jim Ohki
“What?” again wondered a dumbfounded Ranma as the proclamations of love where issued. He’d noticed that it was difficult for those that had been injured to move in his direction to offer support, which earned them a frown for their efforts. Ukyo –mostly- and Shampoo –not as much- were fretting about scaring so moving about and straining the wounds was a bad idea in his mind. He did note that Akane was still silent even though Skuld was in the process of performing her ‘magic’ and creating a mechanical prosthetic that, when finished, would be almost impossible to tell from real flesh and bone.
“Go away,” she grumbled at his approach, her voice devoid of any emotion and her gaze flat. The battle was nothing like she’d ever experienced and had no desire to do so ever again. It had put much into perspective for the youngest Tendo, from how precious life actually is if Shampoo’s reaction to the death of Cologne was any indicator to how truthfully lacking she was in the Art. She had leapt head-first into the fray, her ‘I’m a martial artist too!’ drawing the attention of several Valkyries. The warrior Gods and Goddesses had toyed with her, allowing her to think that even with her strength and supposed invincibility she stood a chance. Then they got serious, and smashed her into the ground. She’d flailed about, trying to hit something when one of them –she wasn’t sure who- sliced the lower part of her right arm off before bludgeoning the back of her head with the handle of their sword. That was the last thing beyond pain that she remembered, and it bothered her.
“RANMA!” roared Demon-Head Soun at seeing his youngest suffering, “HOW DARE YOU . . .”
“Don’t even start Bi-Pedal Fountain Man,” grumbled Ukyo, shifting her fiancé behind her. “Who was in charge of her training?”
With that the Tendo Patriarch Waterworks Plant went into overdrive, threatening to flood the lower level of the house. Mostly he was ignored, once he was manhandled outside to water the yard.
“Look Akane,” tried Ranma after sitting down next to her and avoiding the torrent of water, “I’m sorry about this whole mess. I failed you again, failed to keep you safe.”
“Damn it Ranma, I’m a martial artist too!” she sobbed, using her left hand to slap him in the face. “If only you . . . somebody . . . would take me seriously! I don’t need protection from anyone or anything!”
“Yer old man fumbled yer training, y’know?” he stated, before pointing at her oldest sister. “Kasumi has a better defense than you do, not that anybody would dare attack her without fear of bringing the entire district down on their head. You want to know why I never fought back? Because yer defense is sorely lacking. Observe.” Turning to the eldest Tendo daughter, he barked at her like she was a student. “Tai Chi, all of the forms you know. Start slow and increase speed accordingly.”
Those that weren’t in the know were surprised when Kasumi complied, immediately dancing around the living room with grace and power. They were further amazed when Ranma played the part of the untrained thug, being blocked at every attempt to thwart her posture. As she went faster, so did he to demonstrate that when applied properly even the soft Tai Art became an impenetrable wall. Then he upped the ante further, really getting into the light spar that had erupted when Kasumi applied some Anything Goes to it.
Ranma was surprised when after a block, she twisted her arms to grab his before beginning an Aikido-style throw. She further surprised him by instead of letting go and sending him flying, she completed the arc and slammed him into the floor shoulders first, his chin touching his chest.
“Finish him!” taunted Nabiki from her spot on the floor, seeing that Ranma was now frozen in that posture with his legs standing straight up as his eyes looked up Kasumi’s dress.
There was a flutter of cloth, the movement having masked a ripping noise, that signified a clone in movement. This clone, named Belldandy in her much shorter skirt as compared to Kasumi, obliged the command by kicking Ranma in the gut, laying his body flat on the floor before trapping his head between her thighs.
“FATALITY! PERFECT K.O.!” came the judgment from Nabiki, having noticed a pair of sky blue panties that had been snagged by a wayward floorboard and thus removed from their owner.
The ‘knockout’ lasted for all of two seconds before his appendages went wild in several directions at once in an effort to free himself. Belldandy herself was frozen as her brain was registering skin-to-skin contact in an area that was off-limits to unauthorized users, along with his breathing whenever he exhaled.
The Bug, unnoticed, had vacated its spot again to watch the carnage just before his head became one with the floor. ‘She’ didn’t mind being the last of her kind since the assimilation had taken place. She was left due to being the First Bug, the one that housed the memories of the original Chaos; memories that he wasn’t ready for.
Hild reached in with the intent of extracting Ranma while allowing Belldandy to remain in her current position. This backfired when a flailing right arm socked her in the face, twisting her body to the left only to be kicked in the rump. The kick had little power, however the shock of the maneuver was enough to propel her across the room to make a nice head-sized hole in the wall. On her way passed a shell-shocked Urd, the Great Demoness had reached out to find a handhold and managed to get a fistful of hair. Letting out a squawk of indignation at the rough treatment as she tumbled backwards, her left leg shot upwards to kick Skuld in the chest and one of her magic pills sailed in the direction of a freed –and slack-jawed- Ranma. As the youngest of the Norn sisters went flying, Noble Scarlet tried to apply flight control but her tiny wings had no lifting power resulting in the pair sailing out the front door and into the Soun sprinkler system. The wrap that made her lower body had snagged the table in her passing, sending it airborne yet again. This time Light Holy Bell and World of Elegance avoided the surprisingly heavy piece of furniture. The Angel of Urd crashed headlong into Dark Seraphim, her black hair, wing and body pattern acting like camouflage while the Angel of Belldandy crashed headlong into her counterpart. The three Angels and single Fallen went down in a tumble of arms, wings, wraps and one pair of legs. Feathers exploded outwards like a pillow fed to a solid steel fan set on high, causing Nodoka to sneeze which resulted in her losing her grip on the sheath of her katana. The weapon took off like a bullet, aimed tip first at the posterior of a Panda-fied Genma. He was too busy stuffing his face with bamboo to notice the approach of the sheathed katana until it bulls-eyed the target. Going airborne himself at the attack to his rear, what would have been yet another ‘PANDA DOWN!’ –or quite possibly a ‘HEY!’- sign was instead unintelligible gibberish. When his head impacted the ceiling, he fumbled the sign which followed the path of the Goddess of the Future to nail Soun in the groin in a physics-defying display.
While he yelled about joining his departed wife in soprano, those that had not yet been affected by the recent bout of chaos laid themselves flat on the floor.
All that Ranma could do was laugh nervously –and blushing madly-, thankful that those that were injured in the battle hadn’t been drawn into the madness. Then he swallowed . . .
(Abandoned compound, Nerima outer perimeter)
The Senshi felt the need for airtime . . . wait, gotta restart that.
The Senshi had taken refuge in one of the many now abandoned houses in the outskirts of the district, between the new fortress that was under construction at a mad pace and the outer shield which was keeping the military out. It had been difficult at best to lose the medics that had followed them around, no doubt under orders to report their position. Having sealed the house they occupied, and wondering just who lived in a house this large so full of booby-traps, excessively large quantities of pineapples and a giant alligator, six of the nine Senshi turned to glare at their leader. Moon had wandered back into Nerima, surprising the military when the shield let her in. The extra large tuna that was attached to her head may have had something to do with it, however said tuna was vaporized as she passed through the magical construct that was preventing any escape so nobody could attempt to use it.
The group was down two members, Mercury and Saturn having gone to the fortress in an effort to determine numbers, supplies, fortifications, weaknesses, entry points and if an opportunity presented itself termination of their primary target. They were also tasked with scouting the surrounding area, insuring that all of the civilians had been evacuated from the district.
“Well at least we’re all here,” weakly laughed Usagi, her right hand scratching the back of her head sheepishly.
“Like that does us any good,” grumbled Rei, both taking a potshot at their ‘fearless’ leader and reminding said leader that escape was impossible for the moment. She had voiced her opinion that if their target were to be terminated, the shield should disappear as it reeked of his ki.
Heh, pitiful Senshi-humans! They know nothing!
“Knock it off,” demanded Setsuna, waving her Garnet Staff around like a pointer. “We need the intel that Ami and Hotaru have gone off to get before deciding anything and fighting amongst ourselves will only give our location away.”
While their ‘meeting’ went nowhere in a hurry, the two that were scouting the lay of the land were having difficulty doing so. They’d almost been caught several times by either those that were participating in the construction of the fortress, roaming sentries or the medics of the JSDF that were confirming the area cleared out. What they could see of inside the construct confused them as the local fauna had a growth spurt; everything was a rich shade of whatever its respective color was from the leaves in the trees to the varieties of flowers. The standing water they could see was crystal clear, apparently clean and fresh. It confused the pair as something like this could only happen one of two ways.
Either somebody on the inside was sprucing the place up or the planet itself was rejoicing. For the second to occur something of great magnitude had to have happened to make Earth herself demonstrate her joy and the thought that the planet itself was siding with their target made them uneasy. This wasn’t supposed to happen until the thaw following the Great Freeze. If there was ‘competition’ for a bastion of humanity this place was taking shape as the front runner.
Without killing off the majority of the same humanity.
Looking at each other, the pair came to a silent conclusion. This was the path they wanted; this was the path of least resistance and greatest returns without harm coming to too many beings. They had primarily held out of the massive battle that had destroyed much of the inner district of Nerima, preferring to observe the reaction of the factions after Hotaru had gotten away from the mob of demons.
Dissention in the ranks of the Senshi had been running strong for a while now, after the first time they had met Ranma Saotome. Pluto was doing her best to keep her hooks in the noses of the others; a couple of the Inners and Saturn minus Moon were coming to realize that the ‘ideal’ of Crystal Tokyo had corrupted the Mistress of Time. Uranus and Neptune were lost causes as they’d been around the oldest Senshi to the point of following her blindly. Mars and Jupiter were still leaning towards the teachings of Setsuna, however for once they were keeping an open mind and not making wild leaps of logic. Venus was in league with Mercury and Saturn to the point that if a chance presented itself she’d defect to Ranma’s cause.
What Moon had no idea of when she ordered this scouting mission –nor did she notice the ease in which she had volunteers- she was sending those that didn’t want ninety-eight percent of the population to die in a disaster that they could prevent straight into his sphere of influence. There was spectacular evidence that the planet herself was choosing sides and said evidence cemented the decision that the pair had made.
Retreating back to the mansion, uncaring if they picked up a tail this time around, they set their plan in motion.
The Senshi as a whole were over, caput, finished, done, insert favorite descriptor here.
(Tendo’s)
“Hmmm?” wondered Urd as she noticed one of those that had stayed as a perimeter guard waving her outside. Mentally she was taking stock of the magic spells in pill form she never traveled without and was constantly coming up one short. Taking in the report from the Valkyrie, she took off in the direction indicated with several other Gods and Goddesses.
Ranma, not knowing he’d swallowed the missing pill, was stumped as to what to do now. Three words were suddenly burning to be released, three words that he dared not utter lest he was one hundred percent certain he meant them. The Bug, again nestled in his hair, was busy telling him about the uses Chaos energy had as well as proper techniques on how to use it. He saw the mass exodus but put it out of his mind as whatever it was apparently didn’t deserve his attention. He was uncomfortable with the role he suddenly found himself thrust into, and the sheer number of females flocking around him was triggering his danger sense. He just knew that sooner or later another free-for-all would break out amongst his fiancées, regardless of previous injuries that were being mended whenever Belldandy woke up.
It was slow work for her, having so many wounds to heal. Some of them she could do nothing about such as Mousse, Kuno, and Akane’s arm. Her heart went out to the three, although Kuno had his servant fluttering about him now. Sasuke had reported that Coo-coo . . . um, Kocho Kuno had fled the district with the civilians, unawares of the fate of his children. Tatewaki had scoffed, proclaiming rather loudly that it was typical behavior for his father to run away when the situation got hot.
“ . . . suffer some side-effects if you should ever be affected by a Divine spell,” said the Bug, bringing Ranma back to the here and now. Belldandy had changed her clothes from the dark-brown skirt-suit she’d been wearing for one that was red and had a tan trimmed in red overcoat that almost reached the floor after the incident, to which he now had to talk to two of them about undergarments and making him say hello to kitties.
“Just what kind of side-effects?” he sent back mentally, taking this style of conversation as a challenge. It was difficult for him to maintain the level of concentration needed for a clear ‘signal’ to be received by the recipient.
“For instance, if one were to use an amplification spell on you,” she stated, her own internal warning system going off, “instead of the desired effect of say, a hundred times it would be more like a hundred thousand. The intended effect would also be corrupted, creating something completely different from whatever the original spell was.”
“Whoa,” he gawked out loud, spooking those that had no idea he was in a conversation; that his concentration had been broken. Many interests were piqued now that he’d spoken out loud, and a freshly-healed Nabiki was the first to put her interest to voice.
“What’s so amazing?” she wondered while mentally asking herself if he’d gone a little deeper into Insanity-ville. The old Ice Queen persona was trying to come back to the surface however the new, subservient side was firmly entrenched. She’d made her choice and by all that was Ranma she was going to stick with it.
“Oh, not much,” he sheepishly replied while his right hand scratched the back of his head. “My . . . companion,” he pointed at the space above his head for emphasis, “was just telling me that being hit with a magic spell now would be a Bad Thing.”
The others could hear the capital letters in the last two words and they all nodded in agreement with no small amount of stupefaction. The residents of Nerima were weirded out by this Master Chaos business the ‘guests’ were throwing out at random and were suddenly treated to a new variety when he spoke again.
“How could I not see it before?” he wondered in awe, using his left index finger to gently lift Nabiki’s face upwards towards his own by her chin. “Yer beautiful. Nabiki, I love you.”
WHAM!!
The noise wasn’t the expected face vault, however. Instead, the three little words that he’d fought tooth and nail had surfaced and the results were most interesting. Nabiki passed out from the force of the words slamming into her heart, going down in a heap with swirly eyes and ‘I Love You’ clouds floating around her head. Her cheeks had a blush that threatened to ignite the floorboards her face now rested on.
“Oh my,” chimed in Kasumi, before finding Ranma giving her face a similar treatment, being so gentle in getting her to look him in the eyes. She was almost instantly lost in those blue orbs, the love and compassion pouring forth like a river.
“I love you.”
WHAM!!
Down she goes, victim number two. Hearing a grunt of dissatisfaction, he went to correct his error with Ukyo. Within moments she was off in lala land as number three. Shampoo made a noise –she’d deny it was a whimper- that earned her a fate like the others.
Ranma was on a roll now, mowing down the women in the house with ease. Akane, Belldandy, Skuld, and Hild weren’t left out. Whatever had caused this was unimportant to his mind while his passenger was sweating bullets. The Bug now knew why her senses were going berserk and she wished she could’ve seen this one coming. Even his mother fell victim to the “I Love You” attack before Sprinkler Soun tried an old tactic to snap the boy out of these bouts of insanity.
Now it was the men’s turn to suffer as Ranma-chan unleashed a barrage of the new attack, inducing unconsciousness with such ease that she was suddenly left alone in the house. Deciding to see what would happen if she tried this with Urd whenever she got back, she went into the kitchen to get some hot water before wandering outdoors to see if it affected the Valkyries.
(Abandoned Mansion-formerly Kuno Estate)
“Damn it!” roared Uranus as she dodged another mana attack. She was mad that Mercury and Saturn had been so careless as to lead those opposed to the cause of Crystal Tokyo straight to their hiding place. Something was wrong however as the mentioned Senshi had already surrendered to the enemy, taking Venus, Mars and Jupiter with them.
“MOON TIARA ACTION!” came the attack phrase from yonder maiden, throwing it like a Frisbee at anything that moved. She hadn’t noticed the ease with which her ‘guard’ had given up the fight, instead focusing on the fact that they had been captured at all and was trying her hardest to free them.
“Dead Scream,” came from Pluto, only to watch as her attack was absorbed by a mana shield. The answer to the attack was devastating, destroying a good portion of the property they’d claimed as their own.
“Depth Charge Descent!” proclaimed Urd, thoroughly annoyed that the rest of the Senshi wouldn’t see reason and surrender like their compatriots had. Wondering if perhaps they were possessed, she fell back behind friendly lines to charge an upper echelon attack.
“We’re not going to give in!” challenged Neptune, having retrieved a sword form a fallen enemy. While not her own weapon, she was proficient in its use and was proving to be a difficult opponent to any that dared to fight her. Even with the reduced numbers they made the classic Senshi mistake of clustering together for a massive attack and that proved to be their undoing.
“EXPLOSIVE PHOTO-ELECTROSHOCK BLAST!”
DOOOOOOOM
KRAK-BOOM!
Urd unleashed the level two attack in the Depth Charge tree, leveling what was left of the old Kuno estate with a gigantic lightning bolt. This effectively ended the battle as the mana attack overwhelmed any defense that the battling Senshi could muster, knocking them –and some of the Valkyries that weren’t prepared- out.
“Let’s go,” she barked at the captives, using some of her power to levitate and float them along. The others were collected by those that were capable while reinforcements arrived from within the fortress to collect the wounded and fallen. Looking about the ruins of a legacy –one that would be cheered for much later- her visage turned dark. “This is only the beginning.”
Upon her return to the inner fortress, having made certain that the Senshi as a whole couldn’t see anything between the perimeter wall and the Tendo Dojo, Urd was surprised to find the female populace of said house floating around on cloud nine while the males were cowering in a corner. Something of significance had happened while she had taken the fight to the suited Warriors of Love and Justice. As Ranma approached her, she also took note of several of the female Valkyries imitating the natives, except for literally floating around in a daze.
“Urd! Great timing!” he cheerfully exclaimed, ignoring the Senshi for the moment. He had something he wanted to try with her even though his exuberance had put her on alert for anything.
“I love you!”
WHAM!!
“Success!” he crowed, jumping around in joy and generally ignoring the glares that were coming from the Senshi that were awake. The other residents had ignored his outburst, the super-amplification having more effects than it was ever intended to. Having tested the latest weapon in his arsenal, not paying particular attention to the consequences, his joyous attitude turned to stone.
“That was mean,” growled Venus from her bubble, not knowing how she was going to get out of it now.
“Sure it was,” came the sarcastic response from Ranma, arms now crossed over his chest. He wasn’t pleased in the least to see this particular group again, even if they were literally helpless. “What do you want this time?”
“We have something to tell you,” said a timid Mercury, fidgeting as much as she could in the limited space her bubble allowed her.
(Primary Reality)
“Well that went smoothly,” Stoic-Almighty said to nobody in particular. His forces had been defeated in more ways than one as Chaos had been reborn. To add to the mess was the defection of an Aspect of Hild, taking their daughter slash multiverse cornerstone with her. While there were indeed many Urd’s throughout the multiverse, the one that He had guarded for millennia was the original. Just like Himself and Hild, she’d been broken down into different Aspects to stabilize the then recently formed multiverse. As time went on her role became less and less the actual Balance and more of a Cork.
It was why He tolerated her shenanigans. If any other God or Goddess behaved as Urd did they’d find themselves tossed out of Heaven so fast their head would spin. Her Hybrid nature was more than in conflict with each other, it partially focused Chaos energy which was why things could go crazy around her. Sometimes she instigated an event, sometimes she had no say in said event. He could easily tell one way or the other but knew he had little choice in the matter Himself.
The one time He’d tried to control her and her outbursts had destroyed several pieces of the multiverse, wiping them completely out of existence. He could have restarted them, however by the time the planes they were on stabilized too much time had passed in the event of Reunification. Each of the universes had specific events that marked time and evolution so that in the event that they were brought back together they could mesh with relative ease.
So here He sat, brooding the time away. Those that were loyal to the cause were reformulating the attack plan, taking note of what weaknesses the new Chaos had. Those around him, from family to friends to lovers, were all deemed targets for destruction. Not only for allowing such a being like Chaos to exist but to show the reborn deity that he was indeed vulnerable.
He also had dissention in the ranks of those that had stayed behind; those that wanted Chaos gone for all eternity. There were so many ideal’s on how to deal with the situation that they were coming into conflict. Everybody wanted to do it their way and nobody else’s. He had a couple of long-term plans in the works, like the fake scrolls Peorth was busy manufacturing. It was simple for Him to send the scrolls back in time ten years, after His Weapons were in place for the attack.
Feh, mortals. No matter what plane they resided on they caused nothing but trouble. Their free will was going to be His undoing, allowing Chaos to roam free and wreak havoc upon the multiverse.
There was also the problem of Reunification to take into account. A third universe was in the process of merging with the two that had already done so, one that He wanted nothing to do with.
After all, He desired to avoid the wrath of His Mother . . .
(Tendo’s)
“You plan to do what with humanity?” demanded Ranma while the others within the Tendo walls listened intently. Sailor Mercury had been educating him on their long term plans and goals, including what efforts and methods they’d utilized to this point.
“But Pluto said . . .,” weakly tried Moon, nearing the point of openly bawling at the cold shoulder she was receiving. Her mind was going around in circles more so than usual at the betrayal of her Inner Guard. In all truth she didn’t know half of what the Senshi of Time had planned, instead following her around and doing her bidding.
“The Moon Kingdom must be resurrected,” deadpanned said Senshi, like she was talking to a five year old. “For there to be any future whatsoever we must be the ones to lead The Remnant into the future. Think about it: no wars, no hunger, nothing but peace.”
“Yeah and there goes the last of humanity,” barked Hild, arms crossed under her breasts. “Without strife, without desire, without drive humans as a whole will die out. Period.”
“That can’t be!” roared Uranus as she tried to free herself yet again from her imprisonment. “Those that are left after the Great Freeze will rejoice in never having to worry about survival again!”
“Who let you decide that I wonder,” Ranma spat, glaring at Pluto. “Sounds like rubbish to me. There is no such thing as fate, only those that force their will upon others. Not a chance, so long that I live. I will not allow so many to die just so you can live in yer fantasy world.”
“Neither will we,” came the chorus of voices from behind him, and a few from in front of him. This surprised everybody as Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn firmed their resolve. They’d found the out they’d wanted from the Cataclysm that would lead to Crystal Tokyo and were leaping to take advantage of it.
“Be silent!” ordered Moon, her mind finally going into adult mode. Everything that she’d known was in conflict with what was presented right in front of her . . . and under too. Earth was making a loud statement as the ground around those that were refusing to give up on such an ugly future had turned brown. The grass was dead, the very air around them seemed stale.
“Oh, take a long walk off an event horizon,” grumbled Mercury, enjoying the almost pure sunlight that was streaming in through the clouds. Around her and those that had defected Life was in full bloom. The grass was so soft and green. The air was fresh, and there was a slight breeze keeping the scene perfect.
“You will regret this,” announced Pluto to everybody that was against her and her dreams of a perfect utopia. “Each and every one of you will suffer greatly for betraying Crystal Tokyo and humanity!”
“Feh. Bring it on,” came the response from Ranma while he made a gesture at Urd. The Goddess of the Past looked at him like he was insane but obliged his silent request to let the oldest Senshi out of her bubble.
Not wasting any time, he leapt in on the attack. Following the methodology of not calling out attacks, she had no time to mount a defense against the Kashu Tenshin Amaguriken. He applied the speed boost to his legs, effectively turning his body into a blur. She took several hits before getting a Dead Scream to detonate relatively close to her person, driving him back to avoid damage. Taking a slight breather as her kamikaze maneuver had inflicted some more bruises on her body, she studied his movements looking for an opportunity to counterattack.
Said opportunity came from an unexpected source when Kuno stumbled into the battle. Thinking that he’d make a great target to put Ranma off balance she launched her trademark attack at the blinded swordsman from close range. She knew that neither had the reflexes to avoid the attack; immediately following it was another Dead Scream aimed at Ukyo.
The pair of temporal flux balls detonated, sending dirt and debris into the air. When the light faded and the breeze removed the dust did the extent of the damage become known.
Mousse, using his superior hearing from a lifetime of bad eyesight, had pushed all of his ki into his arms as a way to propel himself in front of Kuno. The only way he knew it was him was the stumbling only somebody who’d had vision then suddenly lost it could produce. When he felt incredible pain did he know that his gamble had paid off before blessed darkness overcame him.
Near the front door Ukyo had started to roll out of the way before remembering what was behind her. While she didn’t have much love for Nabiki and Akane, there was no way that she’d let the house of Kasumi be destroyed. A mana shield materialized around the house too late to stop the attack from near point blank range. Having closed her eyes she missed the shadow that fell over her as Dark Holy Bell took the attack head on. Her left wing was destroyed in the process while her body took severe damage.
As hard as the Angel tried, some of the damage translated to Nabiki. Thankfully for her she lost consciousness immediately without feeling the pain, even though her mouth was open in a silent scream.
“You will die for that,” growled Ranma as his battle aura flared to maximum intensity. “Once I can overlook, but twice now you have attacked those that cannot defend themselves and placed even more in danger.”
Vacuum blades flew forth to which she danced around some while others connected. The damage dealt by them was extreme, depleting her armor in a quick order. The pure ki was even bypassing the magical construct, dealing her person great wounds. Her armor could barely keep up with the injuries she was receiving let alone putting any effort into dampening the blows.
“Like time I am eternal,” she said after jumping away from his line of fire in an effort to allow her armor time to repair her wounds and itself. The look in her eyes showed that she truly believed those words, having survived for millennia –even if most of that time was in stasis- she felt that Time was at her whim.
Wrong thing to think about with the Norns present. There was a reason why Urd had a great dislike and distrust of Sailor Pluto, being that the Silver Millennium fell under her sphere of influence. She was privy to everything that had happened in that time, from the arrival of the Predecessors to the colonization of the other planets to the discovery of life on Earth to the creation of the Kingdom. Every little tidbit was in her knowledge base, from beginning to end. The End was an event that she shuddered at in remembrance. It was a folly on the part of Pluto that had led to the corruption of Beryl by way of Metallia.
The Senshi of Time had been dabbling in the multiverse matrix and had summoned forth the Demonic Beast from a different plane. The Doctrine issued forth from Serenity had worked in her favor as she couldn’t admit to doing so without also admitting that there was a disaster on the horizon that wasn’t natural. So instead of using her free will to override the Doctrine and admit making a blunder of Biblical proportions, she had stayed silent on the whole affair.
Until the attack on the Kingdom was over.
Just before she was locked in stasis, a self-imposed idea once she’d learned of those that were sent forward in time, she’d written everything down in a hardcopy before hiding it in storage.
Half-way through her imprisonment the storage complex had been destroyed by a meteor, forever losing the warning that Pluto had left for herself. She was also supposed to awaken at this point in time, to allow her mind to absorb new information and generally give it a workout to keep insanity at bay.
The body may be in hibernation but the mind is always active, even if forced into REM mode.
The cryo-pod she was in had a malfunction and thusly didn’t allow her to awaken at the appointed time. Her REM turned from memories of the past to dreams of the future and thusly Crystal Tokyo was born.
“Hiryu Shoten Ha: Kijin Raishu Dan Revised!” brought Urd back from her trip down memory lane as Ranma went for the kill. It was a sight to behold as a tornado comprised of vacuum blades utterly decimated Sailor Pluto, first by lifting her high into the sky before bombarding her from all directions. She had time to scream before the attack cut out, letting her fall to the ground.
Upon crashing down into yet another, brand new crater did the others approach to look in to see the damage. Extensive it was as her armor was completely destroyed, leaving her nude. Not that anybody would take notice of this for the open wounds that went from head to toe. There was a slash that went from the lower right side of her jaw coming up her cheek before passing through where the eye would be before continuing up into her hair. Her chest was crisscrossed at several angles, each wound deep. Her arms and legs fared no better, being mutilated to the point of being completely useless.
“Is this what you wanted to be, alone standing by yourself?” Ranma spat at the dying form and her companions. “Is this all you wanted to be, or was that a cry for help?”
“It’s stranger than fiction how you’ve decayed,” added Urd. “It must be so lonely lost within your ways.”
“Let me tell you something,” he continued, ignoring the groaning coming from the crater. “You’re born alone; you die alone. The rest is yours to fill the gap. Your plot of world domination ends now.”
“Let me help her!” bawled Moon, having shifted into full Serenity mode. Everything going on around her was pure madness of late and she had no experience with such emotional trauma.
“Why, so she can come back for more?” he deadpanned, looking her square in the eyes. “I hear that you’re supposed to be the leader yet you have no control of your group. All she cares about is this precious utopia that if formed would guarantee the end of civilization as we know it.”
“We surrender!” she cried, flailing her limbs in an effort to pop the bubble she was in. “Please, we’ll do anything you want! Let me help her!”
“No,” answered Hild, the look in her eyes hard. “Not a good enough reason. Words are cheap, a contract is forever.”
“I’ll make a deal with the devil if you just let me help her!” screamed Serenity much to the amazement and amusement of the others. She had no idea who she was talking to . . .
“Really now?” wondered the Demon Queen, left index finger tapping her chin in thought. “Okay, we’ll let you out to heal your precious Time Mage if, and only if, you place your own life on the line if she so much as farts wrong. For all eternity. All of you foolish enough to still want this Crystal Tokyo. That’s the deal.”
“And just who do you think you are?” snidely asked Uranus, her eyes narrowed in anger and disbelief. She’d heard rumors that Nerima had a weird factor that outranked Juuban but seeing it in action was its own experience.
“Allow me to show you,” she replied, before her form began to shift.
Those watching suddenly found other things to look at, not wanting their dreams to be filled with images of Hild’s Demon. Her beautiful features completely changed into a tough, leathery hide colored blood red. Her eyes sunk within her skull, however instead of having empty sockets two pieces of superheated brimstone filled them, wisps of flame licking upwards. Growing from her tailbone was a six foot long tail, the ‘arrowhead’ tip and assorted spines razor sharp. Her feet went from the dainty, feminine variety to three toed ‘dinosaur’ paws with hands to match. Her height went from five foot six to seven four, while her hair turned charcoal black. Missing were the horns that denominated the lower devils; as the Boss she had no need of that identifier. The pure aura of evil she was now putting off took care of that nicely, complete with undertones of killing intent.
“Proof enough?” boomed her voice, closer to baritone and containing none of her usual sex appeal. She sniffed the air before making a disgusted noise. “I know this form is scary, but do try to maintain control of yourselves.”
“Youma!” incorrectly guessed Neptune, now flailing about like her lover. Escape was now the priority however as this one was several thousand times stronger than Mistress Nine, Wiseman and Pharaoh 90 combined.
“Yes,” timidly said Serenity, her eyes downcast. She’d seen enough proof to haunt her dreams for the remainder of her days. “Let me help Pluto and you’ll get your contract.”
“Excellent,” came from the monstrous form before shrinking back into her preferred body. A wave of her left hand later found said contract in her hand while her right dispelled the bubble holding the leader of the Senshi unceremoniously dumping her on the ground. “Don’t even think of trying to escape. My legions are simply hiding to avoid conflict with the Divine and would gladly tear this planet apart to find you. Your disguises are useless to beings like me, seeing as in how this contract will affect your ‘normal’ selves. The majority of it has already been put into effect, all that remains is your blood signature.”
“Don’t sign it!” encouraged Uranus, her eyes wide in fear. Setsuna was a complete bear to attempt to control, having her life on the life if the Senshi of Time did something stupid only added to the aggravation factor. “Escape with Pluto while you can!”
“No,” came the reply from Serenity, her own resolve firmed. “She’s right, as the Princess reborn I have to take responsibility for the actions of those under my leadership. I have to start somewhere.”
“Keep Pluto alive, heal her body but leave a reminder as to why dictating the fate of all is a bad thing,” Ranma entered the conversation, eyes devoid of emotion. He felt no compassion or regret for said Senshi buried in the ground after her actions. Just allowing her to live was as far as he was willing to go at the moment, until he got his anger under control.
An apology would go a long way. Not that he’d hold his breath for it, he was still waiting for his father to apologize for the way he treated him.
Princess Serenity set to task, healing all of the wounds except for one. The scar that traveled up her face and the destroyed eye . . .
TBC
O_O! A stopping point at last. Okay, I’m getting my laptop fixed tomorrow so it’ll slow down my writing a bit. Unlike some people I could name *cough Lord Rance cough* I mean it’ll be completely ready to go tomorrow night.
As for the darker feel this fic is taking, well I have a beef with ‘fate’ at the moment. Perhaps that’ll change if I hit the lottery. Until then, be on the lookout for more like this. Yes, there will be funny chapters, but to develop plot I have to write it like this.
Bah, enough after-fic rant.
Ja!
Finished in Denver, CO