Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Shots in the Dark ❯ PCPIBLS 4 ( Chapter 4 )
[ 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: 5 | Words: 7.2K | Visits: 2.1K | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 10.06.2014 | Pages: 5 | Words: 7.2K | Visits: 2.1K | 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.
Rant: Time off is good, production of fics goes faster. As this marks the fifth chapter see the post-story rant for the references used so far. C’mon people, GUESS! I mean it. Also, beware of massive scene-jumping. This chapter goes crazy and if you blink yer gonna miss something, kinda like Battlestar Galactica.
Phenomenal Cosmic Powers, Itty-Bitty Living Space Arc One Part Four
By: (Driver) Jim Ohki
“The scrolls are complete,” came from Peorth, her voice flat. She was on the fence as far as this Master Chaos business went. On the one hand she remembered him from so long ago, a free spirit that was uncontrollable while at the same time flew in the face of Order. There were many that had attempted to either control Chaos himself and/or his realm cum domain that failed miserably, usually resulting in a dimension exploding rather spectacularly. On the other, she was with him now. ‘Bell . . .’
“Good,” stated the Almighty, his hands clasped in front of His face and elbows resting on His desk. The lighting was just right to hide His good eye, while the patch looked ever so sinister peering over His interlaced fingers. “What is the status of the Weapons?”
“Weapons One and Two are in position, Weapon Three is nearly complete,” she reported. “Weapons Four through Seventeen are eighty percent and lower in their construction phases.”
“Excellent,” He replied, “Time to barrier failure?”
“Primary barriers on Chaos’ Universe show imminent failure to Multiverse Components 134565466413.55431, 43678752654345.34532, and 23465735463145.35676.” Peorth hesitated before continuing with the report. “Something is wrong however. Sub-node 43678752654345.34532 has been suffering from dimensional quakes and two time resets. This Component is highly unstable and if it were to merge with Chaos’ Universe could trigger the release of Those That Came Before.”
Letting loose a grunt of dissatisfaction, He leaned back in His chair to think. That particular Component was the one He wanted to avoid the most. However a merger could give Him an advantage in this conflict if it truly did break the seal covering the Alpha Prime Point of Existence.
“Time resets are confirmed,” Peorth suddenly spoke up, her many holo-screens going haywire and bringing Him out of His thoughts. “Chousin Component confirmed, sub-node 43678752654345.34532 barrier is breached; merger in progress.”
“Time-frame?”
“Restoration at fifteen percent complete. Reunification at five percent. Time remaining to abort operation, two weeks.”
(Ranma-verse)
“Make a deal with the devil, she says,” rumbled Haruka. She along with the others had dropped their transformations seeing as in how utterly useless the disguise fields had become. It was amazing how inept their ‘leader’ was, and having made said deal any respect the Outer had for the Princess had left the planet.
“Why the hell am I still alive?” demanded Setsuna to the world at large for the umpteenth time, a patch covering what used to be her right eye. The battle wounds were horrific, and one part of her psyche was stumped as to how mentioned Princess could leave her so disfigured.
“We need to focus,” tried to placate Michiru, running interference on the different moods around her. She was about as stalwart as Pluto when it came to Crystal Tokyo, so she was putting her energies into getting something plotted in that general direction.
“Why are we being held here?” wondered Usagi, her mind-set having returned to Child Mode. She had thought that after healing Setsuna, and then having to sign a contract with her own blood –literally, Hild had produced a needle and poked her index finger- she had figured that just like the manga since the ‘bad guy’ had gotten what they wanted they’d be free to go.
BOO! WRONG!
“Would you four kindly shut the hell up?!” roared the guard, having heard enough ramblings from this corner of the impromptu prison block. It had been a request and a favor from Ranma that the Demons were the jail-keepers, which at first aggravated them before they were educated on his reasoning.
What better way to make sure the contract was upheld than personal supervision? Plus their powers were better suited for pain if a prisoner tried to escape than the Divine, to which the Demonic swelled with pride.
Finally, something that they could outdo those Goodie-Two Shoes in without looking like the bad guy.
What they were missing was that the original Chaos had made the sides this way, long before the Sealing. He had intended for the Divine to be like peacekeepers, moderating events of significance and brokering deals that kept all sides happy while the Demonic were the enforcers and if the situation called for it, the destroyers. Some had random thoughts about the Valkyries and why such a ‘violent’ group would be under the jurisdiction of Good.
The Almighty hadn’t foreseen losing control of the Enforcers when He sealed Chaos, as the hierarchy had been Chaos, Himself then Hild. He had attempted to assume command only to find their source Nidhogg locked out; His codes to that system were useless as Hild had taken over the Demonic both as a way to maintain the fragmenting Balance and to get even for forcing her into sealing Chaos.
“Can we go now?” timidly tried Usagi while the guard was in range, repeating a cycle that had been going on for the better part of a week. The accommodations weren’t as drab and dreary as one might think, nor where they opulent to the point of catering to the prisoners like a spa. She just wanted out, certain that her family –and Mamoru- missed her while she missed the next volume of her favorite manga.
“Usagi, just stop,” deadpanned Michiru, having had enough of the Princess’ behavior. “They’re not going to let us out of here and constantly asking isn’t earning us any brownie points.”
“Yeah Your Highness, shut up,” grumbled Haruka, thoroughly annoyed and miffed at their ‘great’ and ‘fearless’ leader.
“We must obtain our original goal, even without the others,” Setsuna offered instead of demanding to know why she was still alive. She’d been literally asking the same question for a week to the point that even the guards were thinking there might be some brain damage leaving her locked in a loop.
“No can do lady,” informed the guard. “Now that you’re back with us and not stuck on your own life being spared, you should know that any attempts to create Crystal Tokyo with result in the four of you forfeiting your souls for all eternity; tormented on the ninth level of Hell. Your Princess signed a contract stating as much with her own blood.”
“. . .,” she returned the volley to the guard, failing miserably to make her point known before turning her head to look in the direction of Usagi’s cell. Bad enough it was caddie-corner from her own, but it was also off to the right where she had no vision.
“YOU. DID. WHAT?!”
Topside from the prison and Demon barracks a much different scene was taking place. Apparently the Chaos energy in the area felt that life had become entirely too serious of late and managed to lash out through the one being that could use it.
“This isn’t funny,” drawled Nabiki as she floated upside down, now dressed like a clown that worked at a casino. She wasn’t the only one to get the Circus-Circus treatment as Kasumi passed her by, floating horizontal to the floor. Behind her in a lion suit came Ukyo as Shampoo cracked a whip at her hind end like a ringmaster.
“It’s not my fault!” exclaimed Ranma, several sweatdrops adorning his head. He had no idea what had happened to cause this latest bout with insanity and was panicking as more than a few hooded gazes turned in his direction.
“Then what caused this?” demanded Hild, gesturing to the Furinkan boys school uniform her clothing had spontaneously changed into, constricting her breathing as a wrap had appeared around her rather large breasts.
“Make it stop!” cried Skuld as the useless children’s toys continued their dance around her, doing nothing but going around in circles and making the most awful noises.
“Whazzat? ‘anma darlink, c’mere!” slurred Belldandy, having gotten smashed beyond belief on not just regular cola. Oh no, Coke took at least a six pack to send her this far into drunken bliss. A single can of the more potent Mountain Dew, however, was like mixing pure potassium and water. She would explode soon enough, hopefully when the scene was somewhere else.
“ZZZzzz,” offered Urd as Enka music blared from the television, somebody having been halfway through channel surfing just before the mayhem began causing them to stop then flee before being affected by the madness.
“I don’t know!” Ranma continued his defense and argument even in the face of a Spider Monkey-fied Soun and a wall climbing Koala-fied Panda-fied Genma using his body for a jungle gym.
“Make it stop!” screamed the youngest Norn, hands over her ears and eyes closed as tight as they would go.
TONG
Ranma was now two dimensional, his body wavy just before it teleported itself out of the house. The random chaos stopped at that moment; those that were in flight crashing to the ground. The toys surrounding Skuld ran out of battery power, the marathon Enka-fest ended, Hild’s clothing returned to normal resulting in excessive jiggling. The Spider-Monkey returned to the original shape of Soun, while Genma simply returned to the girth of a Panda much to his disappointment.
Across Tokyo, having taken refuge at an Aunt’s house, Sayuri was about to step on a scale dressed in nothing but the towel wrapped around her body after getting out of the furo.
“How could I have gained so much weight?” she asked nobody in particular after reading the display.
“Sorry, that would be me,” replied Ranma, not quite enjoying having her standing on his face. His voice had a metallic quality to it, like he was inside a dumpster.
“HENTAI!” she screamed, backing up towards the sink which was full of water. She barely had time to turn around when said water turned into a geyser, admitting Skuld into the scene. The pair collided, sending the towel-clad girl to the floor out like a light.
“Not this again,” grumbled the Goddess of the Future, breaking out the anti-chaos spray she always carried in case of emergencies like this.
FWUMP
“That should fix things,” she said after spraying him in the face, returning him to the third dimension.
“Ow,” came from the floor, reminding the pair that they weren’t alone and needed to make a quick exit.
Upon his return to the Tendo Dojo did the chaos start up again. This time the elder sisters Tendo were dressed in the boys uniform, Hild was in a tiger-suit being chased around by ringmaster Urd, Ukyo wound up in a bunny costume while Shampoo ended up in the buff.
“Ah yes they call her the streak!” yelled Belldandy –still recovering from Mountain Dew- as the Amazon ran for cover, trying for some decorum of modesty in the house full of people. If Ranma was alone, she’d have no problem ‘streaking’ right up to him.
“The hell is going on?” demanded said Saotome, noting that the fathers had bailed out on the situation lest they spontaneously turned into odd animals. Seeing a Koala with Panda fur was more than enough for one lifetime, let alone a Spider-Monkey that could use a naginata properly.
“Where’s Akane?” wondered Skuld, looking for the youngest Tendo to give her the prosthetic she’d made. That and she had a theory she had to test.
“Right here,” answered the girl in question, wandering back into the living room. When the first bout of insanity had broken out she was nowhere to be found, not telling anybody that she had to use the facilities for the simple reason that she wanted to do so on her own.
As soon as she reappeared, the madness stopped. Clothes returned to normal, whips disappeared, the fathers reappeared and the quiet Nodoka’s head stopped rotating clockwise after fifty or so revolutions. This also confirmed the theory that Skuld had.
“This can’t be good,” gravely intoned said Goddess before setting to work in attaching the prosthetic.
(Primary Reality)
“Is the distraction ready?” asked Kami-sama, head again propped onto his interlaced fingers.
“Yes sir,” replied Peorth, growing ever so tired of seeing the pose of the Almighty. Bad enough that He was going to alter one of the universes in such a manner that when the expected merger happened a radically different future would spring up in place of what was already there.
“Excellent,” he said. “Gather ten legions of Valkyries from the rear guard multiverses and distract Chaos. The merger will happen soon and it is imperative that our work is not detected.”
Taking that as the dismissal she had been looking for to get away from the creepy look, she went to comply with the order.
The Second Battle of Nerima would be a bloodbath, hopefully putting an end to Chaos and those around him . . .
(Ranma-verse)
Four levels up from Moon and the Outers were the Defectors. Their ‘allegiance’ had yet to be proven and as such they were being held in a common area. This level was nicer than the one where Pluto was trying to hatch a new plot to berth Crystal Tokyo, having more space available for the five girls to wander around. Over in one corner was a television opposite a window that had a mural of a green pasture behind it. There was sun light in the holding area, coming in from several skylights.
Any who’ve ever been in a place such as this know the name of it. The girls even shared a common bedroom, extra large with many bunks available for use.
Yes, they were in the drunk tank.
“Wonderful,” grumbled Rei at the treatment they were receiving. If she only know what was happening topside she’d be grateful to be in the tank at the moment.
“It’s not so bad,” said Minako, having maneuvered a table into a beam of sunlight, using it as a tanning bed. “Ranma-sama did say he’d come talk to us after handling the mess Setsuna created.”
Indeed what a mess it was. Mousse had effectively killed himself when he took the Dead Scream head on, going out in a martial artist’s blaze of glory by protecting those that couldn’t do it themselves. Last she had seen, Dark Holy Bell had repaired what damage she could; the only piece still missing being the destroyed left wing.
“He’ll come to us soon enough,” chimed in Makoto as she too tanned herself under the sunlight. “At least we’re close enough to the surface to get sunlight. One of the guards told me that the others are four levels below us, in a dark and dingy end of the west block.”
“. . .,” added Hotaru, taking the opportunity to just relax. She was busy with the television, surfing the channels looking for something of interest to watch. Off to her right, Ami had commandeered a couch and a coffee table to do homework of all things.
Ami is Ami, no doubt about it.
The relative peace and quiet wouldn’t last forever, they knew, as demonstrated by the entire complex being rocked by a massive explosion. Ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights rained down, their mounts broken sending dust particulates and glass flying everywhere.
Topside things had gone from the general Chaos variety of humor to a fight for survival. The outer shield had collapsed under the opening volley, signaling the beginning of the Second Battle of Nerima.
Ranma charged into the fray, meeting the enemy head on and promptly sending bodies flying in every direction. It came as no surprise that the JSDF were frozen again as those opposed to Chaos pushed their advance in towards the mostly complete fortress.
A fortress that had weapons designed by Skuld. Said weapons were barely visible within their positions, until they opened up on the unsuspecting army below.
Dark Seraphim reveled in the mayhem, continuously raining death upon the enemy. Platoons worth of archers tried to bring him down but failed miserably as he adjusted his flight path accordingly.
Happosai also reveled in brutal combat. His short stature allowed him to move around virtually undetected until he attacked. Even with those of the Almighty that were aware of his presence on the lookout, he could sneak around with relative ease before breaking their formations with strategically placed Happo-darikens.
Hild cut foot-loose and fancy free in the latest engagement of Fate versus Chaos. Few dared to oppose her, the power she wielded easily clearing entire regiments worth of warriors out. She was looking for her opponent in the form of Stoic-Almighty, knowing that this attack wasn’t one made out of desperation. He was trying to move pieces of the game into position without notice and to do so he had to launch a preemptive attack on Ranma.
What worried her the most was that virtually everybody around him were fair game, a tactic that made her frown deeply. The Almighty was turning this from a battle to contain the Balance Keeper into the first stages of Ragnarok. The only reason she could think of for Him to do so was that He had grown severely discontent with those that had free will and was initiating a plan to reset the multiverses as a whole.
After all, He could easily reappear before selected humans to get them into Believing. He’d done so already over the ages; from ten to two thousand years ago He’d gathered strength from those that executed His word and will.
The archers had fallen back when the artillery embedded within the fortress opened up, only to resurface with modernized weapons of their own. The infiltrator had weakened the outer shield but had to hide before being able to sabotage the inner shield or the summons that was keeping Dark Seraphim present. Behind them came several platoons worth of Demons from human-sized to literal tanks to five story tall destroying machines.
“Get them up here!” roared Ranma at a group of Demons that were ‘protecting’ him, sending them into the underground labyrinth that was housed the Senshi. Just as they disappeared into the entrance one of the five story tall, slow walking Demons reached the outer barrier then self-destructed taking the outer shield down.
Winged Demons, grotesque rotting flesh with the tops of their heads cut off, flew overhead dropping their equivalent of bombs on the battle uncaring if they hit their own so long that they hit a target. Several phisogue ‘tanks’ set their back ends down to brace themselves before firing gigantic blasts at the fortress and inner shield.
Inside the Tendo house, the noncombatants were clustered around each other. Those that had a marginal chance at success were on the outer perimeter, guarding Kasumi and Nabiki. The fathers, Nodoka, Ukyo and Shampoo had stayed in the house to protect the elder sisters Tendo after being barked at by Ranma.
He was still upset that they’d been left unguarded the first time they’d been attacked and had been rather forceful in his request for them to be guarded.
Akane was another matter altogether. As soon as the attack had begun she’d been one of the first to leap to their feet before memories of the last time she’d tangled with them came to the front of her mind. She had run off, insisting that she could take care of herself while at the same time looking for a good place to hide. Having taken refuge under the house, in a cramped corner that wasn’t easily accessible she wondered not for the first time if Ranma was worth it.
Dark Holy Bell had determination written all over her face, her eyes shining bright as her soul screamed for vengeance. Being hampered by the loss of her left wing she knew she had to come up with a new strategy herself. The opportunity presented itself in the most unlikely way when the house came under attack.
The infiltrator, one God Saturn of many, had quietly laid the foundation for this assault. Weapons, seals, mandelas, and medical supplies had been hidden with great care so as not to be found. With the battle raging outside the fortress walls he saw the opportunity to carry out one of the mission objectives given by the Almighty in his universe before being sent here.
Kill Chaos’ allies, family, friends and lovers. They all must be terminated; those were the orders. There wouldn’t be a second chance at this as any success would anger the reborn Chaos, as it was hoped amongst those that wanted him gone permanently, into doing something rash.
He had little trouble ending the existence of the old men and katana bearing woman, each caught completely unawares when he struck. The bulkier of the two men had been the first victim, trapped within a gravity-modification mandela that wouldn’t stop until the life had literally been crushed out of his body. Next came the moustache man, falling into a pillbox that had the floor lined with razor sharp spikes. The woman had attempted to mount a defense, drawing the katana and fighting him. This alerted the other two fighters to the attack, bringing an end to the surprise.
God-Saturn had performed a parry-slash-parry-sword lock-slide-thrust maneuver, the end of which found its target in the form of her heart. The young women double teamed him, ridiculously large spatula and maces blurring with their attack. He found himself on the defensive for the first time in this battle, the amount of noise they were making alerting those within the house to his presence.
This is where Dark Holy Bell made her choice; the results of which could very well end her existence.
Seeing that Ukyo and Shampoo were tiring rather quickly in their efforts to continuously double-team a God, she quickly moved out the door under magic power. Flight was out of the question entirely, however the loss of the wing had opened other avenues to her.
What was left of the system was reading her as a Fallen now; a One Winged Angel. This allowed her to summon forth one of the most feared weapons in the known multiverse.
Every single combatant shuddered in fear as the remnants of the Nerima Surround Sound System came to life blaring ‘Advent: One Winged Angel’. Ranma caught the reference that something was happening at home that required his immediate attention; he knew of a single being matching that description. Retreating to the Tendo Dojo he took note of the Defectors taking on the Demonic enemy with relative success; their mana taps working for them in a battle such as this.
God-Saturn managed to get away from the two that were attacking him to go directly after the sole Angel in the house. The bond between Angel and Human was a unique one: kill one and the other dies, their soul barrier ruptured. He knew he had the advantage even as she lifted her arms above her head, like she was holding a sword to counter his overhead attack.
‘Please, let this work . . .’ thought the Angel and her host.
CLANG!
For the briefest of moments, he was confused as to why his sword had stopped in mid air, effectively blocked by nothing but air. Ignoring the background music, he pushed off just as a six-foot long katana materialized from the ether. He also had to roll left as Ranma reappeared from the front lines, moving him out of range to attack his primary target.
“The hell? Mom? Pop?”
DOOM
Belldandy was being a field medic again, until a feeling of the above word came over her senses. Without thinking her left hand reached up to her left ear while her right arm pointed straight out from her body to the side. She wasn’t alone as Urd imitated her pose in reverse, her arms opposite that of her sister. Looking around the battlefield revealed Gods, Goddesses, Valkyries and Demons imitating two of the three Norns.
As they removed their power limiters.
(Primary Reality)
“Who gave Saturn those instructions?” demanded Stoic-Almighty to the room full of Himself. The Second Battle was not going to His desires, and the recent turn of events did not bode well for the war effort. There was a vibe traveling throughout the multiverse that hadn’t been felt since Those That Came Before made a similar error.
Chaos was angry. Pure, unadulterated, and unchecked rage flowed from him like water over Niagara Falls. One of the Aspects had made a tremendous tactical error, one that if not corrected when the first merger happened would indeed result in the Seal covering the Alpha Prime Point of Existence being annihilated.
Those That Came Before would also side with Chaos, as they had a bigger beef with Order and Disorder than him. They also knew better than to go against the Maintainer of the Balance, the last vestige of The Abyss; the one being that could permanently erase them from all of reality.
“They must die!” roared Warrior-Almighty, battleaxe raised in the air. This also gave away just who had tried the infiltrator cum subterfuge tactic.
“Fool!” came from Angry-Almighty. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Chaos is going to go on a rampage now, on top of his allies removing their bloody power limiters! You have doomed no less that ninety-five realities to extinction!”
“Leave us,” monotonously said Stoic, His gaze locked on the war-monger. There was no going back however, with the system down any of the mortals that perished were lost to the ether for eternity. The rest of the Aspects were going to have to deal with the fallout of this blunder while trying to come to a consensus on a punishment.
(Abandoned Yggdrasil Control Room, Primary Reality)
The monitors were all showing snow and static as every available body had been shifted towards the war effort. Thusly nobody was around to hear the computerized voice make a progress report.
“RESTORATION AT SEVENTY-TWO PERCENT.”
(Ranma-verse)
Ranma wasted no time trying to figure out what was going on, instead seeing a God that shouldn’t be there with a bloodied sword. He could tell that his parents were dead, from the soup that resembled Genma to the unmoving form of Nodoka with a puncture wound over her heart. He had no idea where Soun was, but judging by the reactions from the elder sisters he’d suffered a similar fate.
Launching into battle unarmed was one of the many things that fell into the bad idea category when dealing with live steel such as Saturn’s. Dark Holy Bell was holding the longest katana he’d ever seen, grip towards him. Upon grasping it, the Angel floated back indoors to guard the sisters, taking Ukyo and Shampoo with her.
The smoke from the battle raging around the fortress seemed to get darker, along with a sudden increase of clouds effectively blocking out the sunlight. The background music was still going, and matched the mood Ranma was in. The sword glowed with a midnight black aura, bending to the will of its wielder.
A jet black wing burst forth from his right shoulder blade area, sending feathers flying about in all directions just as said background music chorused.
“Sephiroth! Sephiroth!”
God-Saturn found his defenses under immediate assault from the insane reach the sword gave Ranma, or rather the being he had become. It was unclear whom was in charge of the body now as it was known that the Saotome Heir preferred hand to hand over weapons.
From inside the house, those watching only saw blurs and sparks as the pair danced the deadly dance. They feared for Ranma, unsure of what he had become and knowing that he only had enough weapons training so that he could disarm an opponent. Ranma appeared for a few seconds, an intense look of concentration on his face. Just before going back into motion, they could swear that he was holding two katanas and moving three times faster.
(Meanwhile)
A hole opened in the wall of the fortress, admitting Demonic forces into the inner sanctum. They had to fight tooth and nail for every inch they took. This actually served as a distraction to get the Hellhounds in undetected; once they were in did they go forth and hunt for prey.
The Demonic version of a pit-bull dog vanished into the shadows, following the scent left behind by their ‘dinner’.
Back at the Tendo’s, the battle between Ranma and God-Saturn hadn’t progressed much. Both were able to attack and counterattack at virtually the same moment, preventing any blows from landing. Saturn was reasonably certain that Ranma was still in charge of the body, even though his eyes had taken on a cat-slit look and his attacks –if they’d connected- would have been instantly lethal. He was pushed to the limits of his speed with the twin Masamune swords singing through the air.
While the one on one fight took place inside the fortress, the battle outside was taking a toll on both sides.
The Defectors, once known as the Senshi, were exhausted yet couldn’t stop. The enemy just kept coming, no matter how many Demonic Weapons they killed. It had taken a team effort to kill two of the ‘tanks’ that had been bombarding the inner shield.
Several times they had been regulated to anti-air support, an area that the defenders were completely lacking in. This attack had caught them by surprise and completely unawares. No thought had been given to Demon Soldiers being allowed into the Mortal Plane, something which could only be authorized by three individuals.
Hild, Lucifer or Mammon.
Father and son were still butting heads over the last escapade in which Mammon had nearly succeeded in getting out of Hell, keeping them out of the current conflict. The Aspects knew better than to use the armies of Lucifer Morningstar, after all it was part of their arrangement.
Free rent for him, the realm for her. Lu was much happier with the arrangement as it dealt with far less paperwork.
Of course, he’d tried to take over once. Hild had squashed that rebellion rather messily, forever barring him or his descendants from escaping her grasp.
(As a side note a massive back-story between Hild and Lucifer is indeed there, to be told later. There are many things that those that haven’t looked hard enough don’t know about.)
It took those Divine around the fortress a moment to catch on that if the Aerial Soldiers were present then they needed to be on the lookout for the Foot Soldiers and Hellhounds.
Power washed over the battlefield as those that were removing their limiters finished the required rituals before they rejoined the battle in progress.
“EXPLOSIVE PHOTO-ELECTROSHOCK BLAST!” roared Urd as she charged head first into the fray, taking on one of the five-story tall Destroyers. Slow and ungainly they may be, these Weapons were persistent and would not stop until either the target or itself was destroyed. They could also take substantial amounts of damage, as their internal workings were buried inside of a five foot thick exoskeleton comprised of calcium, potassium, iron and compressed nickel.
It was built in Hell after all, heat compression in such a monstrosity comes with the territory.
Skuld sat within the control center for the fortress defenses, in a room that only she could access. It was a temporary measure, one that made sense as the cameras pointed inward had revealed their own traitor in their midst. She hadn’t had the time to properly design a database for those that were fighting for Chaos, instead being busy with so many other projects and on occasion finding herself trapped in the general chaos and mayhem whenever Ranma got bored.
Hild was disappointed that her adversary had failed to arrive, and thus took her emotions out on the enemy. Several times the bigger Demons would attempt to gang-attack her, however they had no coordination to their methods and were easily disposed of.
“Wind Arrow!” was issued forth from Belldandy, Holy Bell letting the attack fly. Mana and phisogue shields attempted to stop the attack and many felt one final emotion as it kept on going. The target was one of the Demon Tanks, which took the wind magic straight down the ‘barrel’. The Weapon exploded rather spectacularly, taking three platoons worth of Divine and Demonic out.
“We’re being overrun!” screamed the Senshi of Saturn, having sought shelter behind some rubble. The other Defectors were slowly falling back, being overwhelmed by the sheer number of attackers.
Within the fortress, the battle between Ranma and God-Saturn was still going strong. Having grown rather tired of said battle, Ranma was in the process of ending it. He had no idea where the ‘instructions’ came from; they could have come from either the Bug or a memory fragment nor did he particularly care.
“Chaos Wave.”
Leaping back for room to maneuver, he created another mandela of epic proportions. Upon activation, mana spilled forth into the reality at an insane rate before folding back upon itself. Saturn tried to flee as Ranma channeled the power through the swords, using them as a focus and a method of aiming the pure power.
Those that fought on the side of Chaos immediately broke off their engagements and sought shelter, dampening their power as much as possible. The fighters of Order thought the act was one of cowardice and pushed their sudden advantage before a massive chaos mushroom cloud erupted from the center of the fortress. Suddenly turning tail to flee themselves, the forces of Order were utterly annihilated by the wall of power that descended upon them like an avalanche. Since part of the attack was focused, if not overkill, it punched through two Destroyers before smashing into a formation of Tanks, the explosive backlash sending dust and debris everywhere.
Then the shaking started . . .
(Primary Reality, Abandoned Control Room)
“RESTORATION AT NINETY-FIVE PERCENT.”
(Almighty’s Office)
“Dimensional quake in progress; reality barrier failure imminent,” reported Peorth as she observed the level of destruction that Chaos was unleashing. It scared her that such a being had ever existed in the first place, let alone was alive and kicking in the modern age.
“Initial transport of the Scrolls and Weapons on my order,” calmly stated Stoic-Almighty, waiting for the massive reality quake that was sure to come.
“Standing by.”
The first sign of the awaited quake was His tea cup vibrating on His desk. The plants began to sway in random directions, the curtains that decorated the Jumbotron sized window started to dance and the snow-globes He kept for general amusement were all . . . snow . . . globing or whatever it is.
“Transport,” He ordered at last, feeling the backlash of Chaos energy masking everything else. The target reality was mere seconds away from snapping into alignment with Chaos’ Universe. He should have known better than to rely on Chaos Energy as a shield for it corrupted the transport spell sending the objects somewhere else.
“Transport failure!” yelled Peorth as several screens sparked then died from the strain of the reality quake. “Power output is off the scale, she cannae take more ‘o this Capt’n!”
“Well shit,” stoically said Stoic-Almighty, shoulders drooping in the classic ‘hand caught in cookie jar’ look.
“DAMN IT, BOY!” a feminine voice echoed across the Heavenly plane, making Stoic sweat-drop before attempting to find a place to hide.
“M-m-mother!”
Peorth sweat-dropped before fleeing herself. She’d never heard of His Mother, and from the sounds of it she didn’t want to meet her.
Order Zero, Chaos Two.
(Ranma-verse)
“Holy,” gasped out Nabiki as she toured the devastation with those that resided at the Tendo Dojo. It was a surreal experience to be walking around Nerima as wreckage smoked and a few fires burned. The air was ripe with death and decay even with a strong wind coming in off of the Bay.
Something was wrong with the scene as a whole, however. The shaking had been extra intense if the fires in Tokyo itself were any indication. All varieties of alarm were attempting to override the screaming public, demonstrating how far the chaos of the situation went. What little bits they could get on either radio or television hinted at a world-wide earthquake, measuring no less than an eight on the Richter Scale.
In the meantime, Ranma was staring off into space. His senses were trying to tell him something important as his ki pulse was being bounced back. He’d been reasonably certain that there was originally no life out there amongst the stars, now it felt like the galaxy was full to the point of overflowing.
Not to mention the immense power he sensed on the island of Honshu, three hundred forty some-odd miles southwest of Tokyo. Part of him recognized the power while the rest of his psyche was terrified by it. Not that he’d admit to being terrified ,no sir.
He grumbled to himself, taking note of what needed to be done now. More burials, more heartache, more repairs. It was always more of something that needed his attention these days.
“Life goes on without you here, so adjust or just collapse,” he thought, firming his resolve to get this madness under control.
The Order wanted a fight? Well, He’d get one now . . .
TBC
Aah, time off equals faster fic production. A&A fans be patient, writing this is giving me ideas on how to write an emotional fic so please bear with me. Sorry if this didn’t make too much sense in places, it just came out that way and after staring at it for hours on end I can find no way to fix it.
The references:
(Title)
“Phenomenal Cosmic Powers, Itty-Bitty Living Space!” – Genie to Aladdin in movie of same name.
(Arc One Part One)
“Prepare your troops for a surface attack.” – Darth Vader to General Maximillian Veers, Star Wars Episode Five: The Empire Strikes Back.
Ride of the Valkyries: From the movie Apocalypse Now.
The Imperial March: See reference above.
(Arc One Part Two)
“Fate? There is no fate but what we make.” – John Connor to Sarah, Terminator.
“He is here.” – Darth Vader to Grand Moff Tarkin, Star Wars Episode Four: A New Hope.
“And at the time, she had wanted it to forever dominate her destiny . . .” – spin on the speech Yoda gave Luke, Star Wars.
“The Incarnate has made a critical error and the time for our attack has come” – spin on the speech Mon Mothma gave to Rebel Alliance fleet, Star Wars Episode Six: Return of the Jedi.
“Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!” – originally Shakespeare, adapted to battle by General Chang, Star Trek Six: The Undiscovered Country.
“Death is only the beginning.” – High Priest Imotep, The Mummy.
“If I gave you the truth would it keep you alive?
Though I’m closer to wrong I’m no further from right.” – opening lyrics, Truth by Seether.
(Arc One Part Three)
“Finish him!” “Fatality, Perfect K.O.” – Mortal Kombat.
“It’s stranger than fiction, how you’ve decayed.
It must be so lonely lost within your ways.”
And
“Is this what you wanted to be, alone standing by yourself?
Is this all you wanted to be, or was that a cry for help?” – opening lyrics to Stranger Than Fiction by Five Finger Death Punch.
References made in this part are up for guessing, as I’m not telling.
One last thing. The ‘340-odd miles from Tokyo’ bit is courtesy of Google Earth. I looked up a piece to the next Arc and used the measuring tool.
All done now.
Ja!
Finished in Denver, CO
Rant: Time off is good, production of fics goes faster. As this marks the fifth chapter see the post-story rant for the references used so far. C’mon people, GUESS! I mean it. Also, beware of massive scene-jumping. This chapter goes crazy and if you blink yer gonna miss something, kinda like Battlestar Galactica.
Phenomenal Cosmic Powers, Itty-Bitty Living Space Arc One Part Four
By: (Driver) Jim Ohki
“The scrolls are complete,” came from Peorth, her voice flat. She was on the fence as far as this Master Chaos business went. On the one hand she remembered him from so long ago, a free spirit that was uncontrollable while at the same time flew in the face of Order. There were many that had attempted to either control Chaos himself and/or his realm cum domain that failed miserably, usually resulting in a dimension exploding rather spectacularly. On the other, she was with him now. ‘Bell . . .’
“Good,” stated the Almighty, his hands clasped in front of His face and elbows resting on His desk. The lighting was just right to hide His good eye, while the patch looked ever so sinister peering over His interlaced fingers. “What is the status of the Weapons?”
“Weapons One and Two are in position, Weapon Three is nearly complete,” she reported. “Weapons Four through Seventeen are eighty percent and lower in their construction phases.”
“Excellent,” He replied, “Time to barrier failure?”
“Primary barriers on Chaos’ Universe show imminent failure to Multiverse Components 134565466413.55431, 43678752654345.34532, and 23465735463145.35676.” Peorth hesitated before continuing with the report. “Something is wrong however. Sub-node 43678752654345.34532 has been suffering from dimensional quakes and two time resets. This Component is highly unstable and if it were to merge with Chaos’ Universe could trigger the release of Those That Came Before.”
Letting loose a grunt of dissatisfaction, He leaned back in His chair to think. That particular Component was the one He wanted to avoid the most. However a merger could give Him an advantage in this conflict if it truly did break the seal covering the Alpha Prime Point of Existence.
“Time resets are confirmed,” Peorth suddenly spoke up, her many holo-screens going haywire and bringing Him out of His thoughts. “Chousin Component confirmed, sub-node 43678752654345.34532 barrier is breached; merger in progress.”
“Time-frame?”
“Restoration at fifteen percent complete. Reunification at five percent. Time remaining to abort operation, two weeks.”
(Ranma-verse)
“Make a deal with the devil, she says,” rumbled Haruka. She along with the others had dropped their transformations seeing as in how utterly useless the disguise fields had become. It was amazing how inept their ‘leader’ was, and having made said deal any respect the Outer had for the Princess had left the planet.
“Why the hell am I still alive?” demanded Setsuna to the world at large for the umpteenth time, a patch covering what used to be her right eye. The battle wounds were horrific, and one part of her psyche was stumped as to how mentioned Princess could leave her so disfigured.
“We need to focus,” tried to placate Michiru, running interference on the different moods around her. She was about as stalwart as Pluto when it came to Crystal Tokyo, so she was putting her energies into getting something plotted in that general direction.
“Why are we being held here?” wondered Usagi, her mind-set having returned to Child Mode. She had thought that after healing Setsuna, and then having to sign a contract with her own blood –literally, Hild had produced a needle and poked her index finger- she had figured that just like the manga since the ‘bad guy’ had gotten what they wanted they’d be free to go.
BOO! WRONG!
“Would you four kindly shut the hell up?!” roared the guard, having heard enough ramblings from this corner of the impromptu prison block. It had been a request and a favor from Ranma that the Demons were the jail-keepers, which at first aggravated them before they were educated on his reasoning.
What better way to make sure the contract was upheld than personal supervision? Plus their powers were better suited for pain if a prisoner tried to escape than the Divine, to which the Demonic swelled with pride.
Finally, something that they could outdo those Goodie-Two Shoes in without looking like the bad guy.
What they were missing was that the original Chaos had made the sides this way, long before the Sealing. He had intended for the Divine to be like peacekeepers, moderating events of significance and brokering deals that kept all sides happy while the Demonic were the enforcers and if the situation called for it, the destroyers. Some had random thoughts about the Valkyries and why such a ‘violent’ group would be under the jurisdiction of Good.
The Almighty hadn’t foreseen losing control of the Enforcers when He sealed Chaos, as the hierarchy had been Chaos, Himself then Hild. He had attempted to assume command only to find their source Nidhogg locked out; His codes to that system were useless as Hild had taken over the Demonic both as a way to maintain the fragmenting Balance and to get even for forcing her into sealing Chaos.
“Can we go now?” timidly tried Usagi while the guard was in range, repeating a cycle that had been going on for the better part of a week. The accommodations weren’t as drab and dreary as one might think, nor where they opulent to the point of catering to the prisoners like a spa. She just wanted out, certain that her family –and Mamoru- missed her while she missed the next volume of her favorite manga.
“Usagi, just stop,” deadpanned Michiru, having had enough of the Princess’ behavior. “They’re not going to let us out of here and constantly asking isn’t earning us any brownie points.”
“Yeah Your Highness, shut up,” grumbled Haruka, thoroughly annoyed and miffed at their ‘great’ and ‘fearless’ leader.
“We must obtain our original goal, even without the others,” Setsuna offered instead of demanding to know why she was still alive. She’d been literally asking the same question for a week to the point that even the guards were thinking there might be some brain damage leaving her locked in a loop.
“No can do lady,” informed the guard. “Now that you’re back with us and not stuck on your own life being spared, you should know that any attempts to create Crystal Tokyo with result in the four of you forfeiting your souls for all eternity; tormented on the ninth level of Hell. Your Princess signed a contract stating as much with her own blood.”
“. . .,” she returned the volley to the guard, failing miserably to make her point known before turning her head to look in the direction of Usagi’s cell. Bad enough it was caddie-corner from her own, but it was also off to the right where she had no vision.
“YOU. DID. WHAT?!”
Topside from the prison and Demon barracks a much different scene was taking place. Apparently the Chaos energy in the area felt that life had become entirely too serious of late and managed to lash out through the one being that could use it.
“This isn’t funny,” drawled Nabiki as she floated upside down, now dressed like a clown that worked at a casino. She wasn’t the only one to get the Circus-Circus treatment as Kasumi passed her by, floating horizontal to the floor. Behind her in a lion suit came Ukyo as Shampoo cracked a whip at her hind end like a ringmaster.
“It’s not my fault!” exclaimed Ranma, several sweatdrops adorning his head. He had no idea what had happened to cause this latest bout with insanity and was panicking as more than a few hooded gazes turned in his direction.
“Then what caused this?” demanded Hild, gesturing to the Furinkan boys school uniform her clothing had spontaneously changed into, constricting her breathing as a wrap had appeared around her rather large breasts.
“Make it stop!” cried Skuld as the useless children’s toys continued their dance around her, doing nothing but going around in circles and making the most awful noises.
“Whazzat? ‘anma darlink, c’mere!” slurred Belldandy, having gotten smashed beyond belief on not just regular cola. Oh no, Coke took at least a six pack to send her this far into drunken bliss. A single can of the more potent Mountain Dew, however, was like mixing pure potassium and water. She would explode soon enough, hopefully when the scene was somewhere else.
“ZZZzzz,” offered Urd as Enka music blared from the television, somebody having been halfway through channel surfing just before the mayhem began causing them to stop then flee before being affected by the madness.
“I don’t know!” Ranma continued his defense and argument even in the face of a Spider Monkey-fied Soun and a wall climbing Koala-fied Panda-fied Genma using his body for a jungle gym.
“Make it stop!” screamed the youngest Norn, hands over her ears and eyes closed as tight as they would go.
TONG
Ranma was now two dimensional, his body wavy just before it teleported itself out of the house. The random chaos stopped at that moment; those that were in flight crashing to the ground. The toys surrounding Skuld ran out of battery power, the marathon Enka-fest ended, Hild’s clothing returned to normal resulting in excessive jiggling. The Spider-Monkey returned to the original shape of Soun, while Genma simply returned to the girth of a Panda much to his disappointment.
Across Tokyo, having taken refuge at an Aunt’s house, Sayuri was about to step on a scale dressed in nothing but the towel wrapped around her body after getting out of the furo.
“How could I have gained so much weight?” she asked nobody in particular after reading the display.
“Sorry, that would be me,” replied Ranma, not quite enjoying having her standing on his face. His voice had a metallic quality to it, like he was inside a dumpster.
“HENTAI!” she screamed, backing up towards the sink which was full of water. She barely had time to turn around when said water turned into a geyser, admitting Skuld into the scene. The pair collided, sending the towel-clad girl to the floor out like a light.
“Not this again,” grumbled the Goddess of the Future, breaking out the anti-chaos spray she always carried in case of emergencies like this.
FWUMP
“That should fix things,” she said after spraying him in the face, returning him to the third dimension.
“Ow,” came from the floor, reminding the pair that they weren’t alone and needed to make a quick exit.
Upon his return to the Tendo Dojo did the chaos start up again. This time the elder sisters Tendo were dressed in the boys uniform, Hild was in a tiger-suit being chased around by ringmaster Urd, Ukyo wound up in a bunny costume while Shampoo ended up in the buff.
“Ah yes they call her the streak!” yelled Belldandy –still recovering from Mountain Dew- as the Amazon ran for cover, trying for some decorum of modesty in the house full of people. If Ranma was alone, she’d have no problem ‘streaking’ right up to him.
“The hell is going on?” demanded said Saotome, noting that the fathers had bailed out on the situation lest they spontaneously turned into odd animals. Seeing a Koala with Panda fur was more than enough for one lifetime, let alone a Spider-Monkey that could use a naginata properly.
“Where’s Akane?” wondered Skuld, looking for the youngest Tendo to give her the prosthetic she’d made. That and she had a theory she had to test.
“Right here,” answered the girl in question, wandering back into the living room. When the first bout of insanity had broken out she was nowhere to be found, not telling anybody that she had to use the facilities for the simple reason that she wanted to do so on her own.
As soon as she reappeared, the madness stopped. Clothes returned to normal, whips disappeared, the fathers reappeared and the quiet Nodoka’s head stopped rotating clockwise after fifty or so revolutions. This also confirmed the theory that Skuld had.
“This can’t be good,” gravely intoned said Goddess before setting to work in attaching the prosthetic.
(Primary Reality)
“Is the distraction ready?” asked Kami-sama, head again propped onto his interlaced fingers.
“Yes sir,” replied Peorth, growing ever so tired of seeing the pose of the Almighty. Bad enough that He was going to alter one of the universes in such a manner that when the expected merger happened a radically different future would spring up in place of what was already there.
“Excellent,” he said. “Gather ten legions of Valkyries from the rear guard multiverses and distract Chaos. The merger will happen soon and it is imperative that our work is not detected.”
Taking that as the dismissal she had been looking for to get away from the creepy look, she went to comply with the order.
The Second Battle of Nerima would be a bloodbath, hopefully putting an end to Chaos and those around him . . .
(Ranma-verse)
Four levels up from Moon and the Outers were the Defectors. Their ‘allegiance’ had yet to be proven and as such they were being held in a common area. This level was nicer than the one where Pluto was trying to hatch a new plot to berth Crystal Tokyo, having more space available for the five girls to wander around. Over in one corner was a television opposite a window that had a mural of a green pasture behind it. There was sun light in the holding area, coming in from several skylights.
Any who’ve ever been in a place such as this know the name of it. The girls even shared a common bedroom, extra large with many bunks available for use.
Yes, they were in the drunk tank.
“Wonderful,” grumbled Rei at the treatment they were receiving. If she only know what was happening topside she’d be grateful to be in the tank at the moment.
“It’s not so bad,” said Minako, having maneuvered a table into a beam of sunlight, using it as a tanning bed. “Ranma-sama did say he’d come talk to us after handling the mess Setsuna created.”
Indeed what a mess it was. Mousse had effectively killed himself when he took the Dead Scream head on, going out in a martial artist’s blaze of glory by protecting those that couldn’t do it themselves. Last she had seen, Dark Holy Bell had repaired what damage she could; the only piece still missing being the destroyed left wing.
“He’ll come to us soon enough,” chimed in Makoto as she too tanned herself under the sunlight. “At least we’re close enough to the surface to get sunlight. One of the guards told me that the others are four levels below us, in a dark and dingy end of the west block.”
“. . .,” added Hotaru, taking the opportunity to just relax. She was busy with the television, surfing the channels looking for something of interest to watch. Off to her right, Ami had commandeered a couch and a coffee table to do homework of all things.
Ami is Ami, no doubt about it.
The relative peace and quiet wouldn’t last forever, they knew, as demonstrated by the entire complex being rocked by a massive explosion. Ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights rained down, their mounts broken sending dust particulates and glass flying everywhere.
Topside things had gone from the general Chaos variety of humor to a fight for survival. The outer shield had collapsed under the opening volley, signaling the beginning of the Second Battle of Nerima.
Ranma charged into the fray, meeting the enemy head on and promptly sending bodies flying in every direction. It came as no surprise that the JSDF were frozen again as those opposed to Chaos pushed their advance in towards the mostly complete fortress.
A fortress that had weapons designed by Skuld. Said weapons were barely visible within their positions, until they opened up on the unsuspecting army below.
Dark Seraphim reveled in the mayhem, continuously raining death upon the enemy. Platoons worth of archers tried to bring him down but failed miserably as he adjusted his flight path accordingly.
Happosai also reveled in brutal combat. His short stature allowed him to move around virtually undetected until he attacked. Even with those of the Almighty that were aware of his presence on the lookout, he could sneak around with relative ease before breaking their formations with strategically placed Happo-darikens.
Hild cut foot-loose and fancy free in the latest engagement of Fate versus Chaos. Few dared to oppose her, the power she wielded easily clearing entire regiments worth of warriors out. She was looking for her opponent in the form of Stoic-Almighty, knowing that this attack wasn’t one made out of desperation. He was trying to move pieces of the game into position without notice and to do so he had to launch a preemptive attack on Ranma.
What worried her the most was that virtually everybody around him were fair game, a tactic that made her frown deeply. The Almighty was turning this from a battle to contain the Balance Keeper into the first stages of Ragnarok. The only reason she could think of for Him to do so was that He had grown severely discontent with those that had free will and was initiating a plan to reset the multiverses as a whole.
After all, He could easily reappear before selected humans to get them into Believing. He’d done so already over the ages; from ten to two thousand years ago He’d gathered strength from those that executed His word and will.
The archers had fallen back when the artillery embedded within the fortress opened up, only to resurface with modernized weapons of their own. The infiltrator had weakened the outer shield but had to hide before being able to sabotage the inner shield or the summons that was keeping Dark Seraphim present. Behind them came several platoons worth of Demons from human-sized to literal tanks to five story tall destroying machines.
“Get them up here!” roared Ranma at a group of Demons that were ‘protecting’ him, sending them into the underground labyrinth that was housed the Senshi. Just as they disappeared into the entrance one of the five story tall, slow walking Demons reached the outer barrier then self-destructed taking the outer shield down.
Winged Demons, grotesque rotting flesh with the tops of their heads cut off, flew overhead dropping their equivalent of bombs on the battle uncaring if they hit their own so long that they hit a target. Several phisogue ‘tanks’ set their back ends down to brace themselves before firing gigantic blasts at the fortress and inner shield.
Inside the Tendo house, the noncombatants were clustered around each other. Those that had a marginal chance at success were on the outer perimeter, guarding Kasumi and Nabiki. The fathers, Nodoka, Ukyo and Shampoo had stayed in the house to protect the elder sisters Tendo after being barked at by Ranma.
He was still upset that they’d been left unguarded the first time they’d been attacked and had been rather forceful in his request for them to be guarded.
Akane was another matter altogether. As soon as the attack had begun she’d been one of the first to leap to their feet before memories of the last time she’d tangled with them came to the front of her mind. She had run off, insisting that she could take care of herself while at the same time looking for a good place to hide. Having taken refuge under the house, in a cramped corner that wasn’t easily accessible she wondered not for the first time if Ranma was worth it.
Dark Holy Bell had determination written all over her face, her eyes shining bright as her soul screamed for vengeance. Being hampered by the loss of her left wing she knew she had to come up with a new strategy herself. The opportunity presented itself in the most unlikely way when the house came under attack.
The infiltrator, one God Saturn of many, had quietly laid the foundation for this assault. Weapons, seals, mandelas, and medical supplies had been hidden with great care so as not to be found. With the battle raging outside the fortress walls he saw the opportunity to carry out one of the mission objectives given by the Almighty in his universe before being sent here.
Kill Chaos’ allies, family, friends and lovers. They all must be terminated; those were the orders. There wouldn’t be a second chance at this as any success would anger the reborn Chaos, as it was hoped amongst those that wanted him gone permanently, into doing something rash.
He had little trouble ending the existence of the old men and katana bearing woman, each caught completely unawares when he struck. The bulkier of the two men had been the first victim, trapped within a gravity-modification mandela that wouldn’t stop until the life had literally been crushed out of his body. Next came the moustache man, falling into a pillbox that had the floor lined with razor sharp spikes. The woman had attempted to mount a defense, drawing the katana and fighting him. This alerted the other two fighters to the attack, bringing an end to the surprise.
God-Saturn had performed a parry-slash-parry-sword lock-slide-thrust maneuver, the end of which found its target in the form of her heart. The young women double teamed him, ridiculously large spatula and maces blurring with their attack. He found himself on the defensive for the first time in this battle, the amount of noise they were making alerting those within the house to his presence.
This is where Dark Holy Bell made her choice; the results of which could very well end her existence.
Seeing that Ukyo and Shampoo were tiring rather quickly in their efforts to continuously double-team a God, she quickly moved out the door under magic power. Flight was out of the question entirely, however the loss of the wing had opened other avenues to her.
What was left of the system was reading her as a Fallen now; a One Winged Angel. This allowed her to summon forth one of the most feared weapons in the known multiverse.
Every single combatant shuddered in fear as the remnants of the Nerima Surround Sound System came to life blaring ‘Advent: One Winged Angel’. Ranma caught the reference that something was happening at home that required his immediate attention; he knew of a single being matching that description. Retreating to the Tendo Dojo he took note of the Defectors taking on the Demonic enemy with relative success; their mana taps working for them in a battle such as this.
God-Saturn managed to get away from the two that were attacking him to go directly after the sole Angel in the house. The bond between Angel and Human was a unique one: kill one and the other dies, their soul barrier ruptured. He knew he had the advantage even as she lifted her arms above her head, like she was holding a sword to counter his overhead attack.
‘Please, let this work . . .’ thought the Angel and her host.
CLANG!
For the briefest of moments, he was confused as to why his sword had stopped in mid air, effectively blocked by nothing but air. Ignoring the background music, he pushed off just as a six-foot long katana materialized from the ether. He also had to roll left as Ranma reappeared from the front lines, moving him out of range to attack his primary target.
“The hell? Mom? Pop?”
DOOM
Belldandy was being a field medic again, until a feeling of the above word came over her senses. Without thinking her left hand reached up to her left ear while her right arm pointed straight out from her body to the side. She wasn’t alone as Urd imitated her pose in reverse, her arms opposite that of her sister. Looking around the battlefield revealed Gods, Goddesses, Valkyries and Demons imitating two of the three Norns.
As they removed their power limiters.
(Primary Reality)
“Who gave Saturn those instructions?” demanded Stoic-Almighty to the room full of Himself. The Second Battle was not going to His desires, and the recent turn of events did not bode well for the war effort. There was a vibe traveling throughout the multiverse that hadn’t been felt since Those That Came Before made a similar error.
Chaos was angry. Pure, unadulterated, and unchecked rage flowed from him like water over Niagara Falls. One of the Aspects had made a tremendous tactical error, one that if not corrected when the first merger happened would indeed result in the Seal covering the Alpha Prime Point of Existence being annihilated.
Those That Came Before would also side with Chaos, as they had a bigger beef with Order and Disorder than him. They also knew better than to go against the Maintainer of the Balance, the last vestige of The Abyss; the one being that could permanently erase them from all of reality.
“They must die!” roared Warrior-Almighty, battleaxe raised in the air. This also gave away just who had tried the infiltrator cum subterfuge tactic.
“Fool!” came from Angry-Almighty. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Chaos is going to go on a rampage now, on top of his allies removing their bloody power limiters! You have doomed no less that ninety-five realities to extinction!”
“Leave us,” monotonously said Stoic, His gaze locked on the war-monger. There was no going back however, with the system down any of the mortals that perished were lost to the ether for eternity. The rest of the Aspects were going to have to deal with the fallout of this blunder while trying to come to a consensus on a punishment.
(Abandoned Yggdrasil Control Room, Primary Reality)
The monitors were all showing snow and static as every available body had been shifted towards the war effort. Thusly nobody was around to hear the computerized voice make a progress report.
“RESTORATION AT SEVENTY-TWO PERCENT.”
(Ranma-verse)
Ranma wasted no time trying to figure out what was going on, instead seeing a God that shouldn’t be there with a bloodied sword. He could tell that his parents were dead, from the soup that resembled Genma to the unmoving form of Nodoka with a puncture wound over her heart. He had no idea where Soun was, but judging by the reactions from the elder sisters he’d suffered a similar fate.
Launching into battle unarmed was one of the many things that fell into the bad idea category when dealing with live steel such as Saturn’s. Dark Holy Bell was holding the longest katana he’d ever seen, grip towards him. Upon grasping it, the Angel floated back indoors to guard the sisters, taking Ukyo and Shampoo with her.
The smoke from the battle raging around the fortress seemed to get darker, along with a sudden increase of clouds effectively blocking out the sunlight. The background music was still going, and matched the mood Ranma was in. The sword glowed with a midnight black aura, bending to the will of its wielder.
A jet black wing burst forth from his right shoulder blade area, sending feathers flying about in all directions just as said background music chorused.
“Sephiroth! Sephiroth!”
God-Saturn found his defenses under immediate assault from the insane reach the sword gave Ranma, or rather the being he had become. It was unclear whom was in charge of the body now as it was known that the Saotome Heir preferred hand to hand over weapons.
From inside the house, those watching only saw blurs and sparks as the pair danced the deadly dance. They feared for Ranma, unsure of what he had become and knowing that he only had enough weapons training so that he could disarm an opponent. Ranma appeared for a few seconds, an intense look of concentration on his face. Just before going back into motion, they could swear that he was holding two katanas and moving three times faster.
(Meanwhile)
A hole opened in the wall of the fortress, admitting Demonic forces into the inner sanctum. They had to fight tooth and nail for every inch they took. This actually served as a distraction to get the Hellhounds in undetected; once they were in did they go forth and hunt for prey.
The Demonic version of a pit-bull dog vanished into the shadows, following the scent left behind by their ‘dinner’.
Back at the Tendo’s, the battle between Ranma and God-Saturn hadn’t progressed much. Both were able to attack and counterattack at virtually the same moment, preventing any blows from landing. Saturn was reasonably certain that Ranma was still in charge of the body, even though his eyes had taken on a cat-slit look and his attacks –if they’d connected- would have been instantly lethal. He was pushed to the limits of his speed with the twin Masamune swords singing through the air.
While the one on one fight took place inside the fortress, the battle outside was taking a toll on both sides.
The Defectors, once known as the Senshi, were exhausted yet couldn’t stop. The enemy just kept coming, no matter how many Demonic Weapons they killed. It had taken a team effort to kill two of the ‘tanks’ that had been bombarding the inner shield.
Several times they had been regulated to anti-air support, an area that the defenders were completely lacking in. This attack had caught them by surprise and completely unawares. No thought had been given to Demon Soldiers being allowed into the Mortal Plane, something which could only be authorized by three individuals.
Hild, Lucifer or Mammon.
Father and son were still butting heads over the last escapade in which Mammon had nearly succeeded in getting out of Hell, keeping them out of the current conflict. The Aspects knew better than to use the armies of Lucifer Morningstar, after all it was part of their arrangement.
Free rent for him, the realm for her. Lu was much happier with the arrangement as it dealt with far less paperwork.
Of course, he’d tried to take over once. Hild had squashed that rebellion rather messily, forever barring him or his descendants from escaping her grasp.
(As a side note a massive back-story between Hild and Lucifer is indeed there, to be told later. There are many things that those that haven’t looked hard enough don’t know about.)
It took those Divine around the fortress a moment to catch on that if the Aerial Soldiers were present then they needed to be on the lookout for the Foot Soldiers and Hellhounds.
Power washed over the battlefield as those that were removing their limiters finished the required rituals before they rejoined the battle in progress.
“EXPLOSIVE PHOTO-ELECTROSHOCK BLAST!” roared Urd as she charged head first into the fray, taking on one of the five-story tall Destroyers. Slow and ungainly they may be, these Weapons were persistent and would not stop until either the target or itself was destroyed. They could also take substantial amounts of damage, as their internal workings were buried inside of a five foot thick exoskeleton comprised of calcium, potassium, iron and compressed nickel.
It was built in Hell after all, heat compression in such a monstrosity comes with the territory.
Skuld sat within the control center for the fortress defenses, in a room that only she could access. It was a temporary measure, one that made sense as the cameras pointed inward had revealed their own traitor in their midst. She hadn’t had the time to properly design a database for those that were fighting for Chaos, instead being busy with so many other projects and on occasion finding herself trapped in the general chaos and mayhem whenever Ranma got bored.
Hild was disappointed that her adversary had failed to arrive, and thus took her emotions out on the enemy. Several times the bigger Demons would attempt to gang-attack her, however they had no coordination to their methods and were easily disposed of.
“Wind Arrow!” was issued forth from Belldandy, Holy Bell letting the attack fly. Mana and phisogue shields attempted to stop the attack and many felt one final emotion as it kept on going. The target was one of the Demon Tanks, which took the wind magic straight down the ‘barrel’. The Weapon exploded rather spectacularly, taking three platoons worth of Divine and Demonic out.
“We’re being overrun!” screamed the Senshi of Saturn, having sought shelter behind some rubble. The other Defectors were slowly falling back, being overwhelmed by the sheer number of attackers.
Within the fortress, the battle between Ranma and God-Saturn was still going strong. Having grown rather tired of said battle, Ranma was in the process of ending it. He had no idea where the ‘instructions’ came from; they could have come from either the Bug or a memory fragment nor did he particularly care.
“Chaos Wave.”
Leaping back for room to maneuver, he created another mandela of epic proportions. Upon activation, mana spilled forth into the reality at an insane rate before folding back upon itself. Saturn tried to flee as Ranma channeled the power through the swords, using them as a focus and a method of aiming the pure power.
Those that fought on the side of Chaos immediately broke off their engagements and sought shelter, dampening their power as much as possible. The fighters of Order thought the act was one of cowardice and pushed their sudden advantage before a massive chaos mushroom cloud erupted from the center of the fortress. Suddenly turning tail to flee themselves, the forces of Order were utterly annihilated by the wall of power that descended upon them like an avalanche. Since part of the attack was focused, if not overkill, it punched through two Destroyers before smashing into a formation of Tanks, the explosive backlash sending dust and debris everywhere.
Then the shaking started . . .
(Primary Reality, Abandoned Control Room)
“RESTORATION AT NINETY-FIVE PERCENT.”
(Almighty’s Office)
“Dimensional quake in progress; reality barrier failure imminent,” reported Peorth as she observed the level of destruction that Chaos was unleashing. It scared her that such a being had ever existed in the first place, let alone was alive and kicking in the modern age.
“Initial transport of the Scrolls and Weapons on my order,” calmly stated Stoic-Almighty, waiting for the massive reality quake that was sure to come.
“Standing by.”
The first sign of the awaited quake was His tea cup vibrating on His desk. The plants began to sway in random directions, the curtains that decorated the Jumbotron sized window started to dance and the snow-globes He kept for general amusement were all . . . snow . . . globing or whatever it is.
“Transport,” He ordered at last, feeling the backlash of Chaos energy masking everything else. The target reality was mere seconds away from snapping into alignment with Chaos’ Universe. He should have known better than to rely on Chaos Energy as a shield for it corrupted the transport spell sending the objects somewhere else.
“Transport failure!” yelled Peorth as several screens sparked then died from the strain of the reality quake. “Power output is off the scale, she cannae take more ‘o this Capt’n!”
“Well shit,” stoically said Stoic-Almighty, shoulders drooping in the classic ‘hand caught in cookie jar’ look.
“DAMN IT, BOY!” a feminine voice echoed across the Heavenly plane, making Stoic sweat-drop before attempting to find a place to hide.
“M-m-mother!”
Peorth sweat-dropped before fleeing herself. She’d never heard of His Mother, and from the sounds of it she didn’t want to meet her.
Order Zero, Chaos Two.
(Ranma-verse)
“Holy,” gasped out Nabiki as she toured the devastation with those that resided at the Tendo Dojo. It was a surreal experience to be walking around Nerima as wreckage smoked and a few fires burned. The air was ripe with death and decay even with a strong wind coming in off of the Bay.
Something was wrong with the scene as a whole, however. The shaking had been extra intense if the fires in Tokyo itself were any indication. All varieties of alarm were attempting to override the screaming public, demonstrating how far the chaos of the situation went. What little bits they could get on either radio or television hinted at a world-wide earthquake, measuring no less than an eight on the Richter Scale.
In the meantime, Ranma was staring off into space. His senses were trying to tell him something important as his ki pulse was being bounced back. He’d been reasonably certain that there was originally no life out there amongst the stars, now it felt like the galaxy was full to the point of overflowing.
Not to mention the immense power he sensed on the island of Honshu, three hundred forty some-odd miles southwest of Tokyo. Part of him recognized the power while the rest of his psyche was terrified by it. Not that he’d admit to being terrified ,no sir.
He grumbled to himself, taking note of what needed to be done now. More burials, more heartache, more repairs. It was always more of something that needed his attention these days.
“Life goes on without you here, so adjust or just collapse,” he thought, firming his resolve to get this madness under control.
The Order wanted a fight? Well, He’d get one now . . .
TBC
Aah, time off equals faster fic production. A&A fans be patient, writing this is giving me ideas on how to write an emotional fic so please bear with me. Sorry if this didn’t make too much sense in places, it just came out that way and after staring at it for hours on end I can find no way to fix it.
The references:
(Title)
“Phenomenal Cosmic Powers, Itty-Bitty Living Space!” – Genie to Aladdin in movie of same name.
(Arc One Part One)
“Prepare your troops for a surface attack.” – Darth Vader to General Maximillian Veers, Star Wars Episode Five: The Empire Strikes Back.
Ride of the Valkyries: From the movie Apocalypse Now.
The Imperial March: See reference above.
(Arc One Part Two)
“Fate? There is no fate but what we make.” – John Connor to Sarah, Terminator.
“He is here.” – Darth Vader to Grand Moff Tarkin, Star Wars Episode Four: A New Hope.
“And at the time, she had wanted it to forever dominate her destiny . . .” – spin on the speech Yoda gave Luke, Star Wars.
“The Incarnate has made a critical error and the time for our attack has come” – spin on the speech Mon Mothma gave to Rebel Alliance fleet, Star Wars Episode Six: Return of the Jedi.
“Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!” – originally Shakespeare, adapted to battle by General Chang, Star Trek Six: The Undiscovered Country.
“Death is only the beginning.” – High Priest Imotep, The Mummy.
“If I gave you the truth would it keep you alive?
Though I’m closer to wrong I’m no further from right.” – opening lyrics, Truth by Seether.
(Arc One Part Three)
“Finish him!” “Fatality, Perfect K.O.” – Mortal Kombat.
“It’s stranger than fiction, how you’ve decayed.
It must be so lonely lost within your ways.”
And
“Is this what you wanted to be, alone standing by yourself?
Is this all you wanted to be, or was that a cry for help?” – opening lyrics to Stranger Than Fiction by Five Finger Death Punch.
References made in this part are up for guessing, as I’m not telling.
One last thing. The ‘340-odd miles from Tokyo’ bit is courtesy of Google Earth. I looked up a piece to the next Arc and used the measuring tool.
All done now.
Ja!
Finished in Denver, CO