Iczer-one Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Earth Child ❯ Girding for Battle ( Chapter 36 )

The Earthchild

 

(An Iczer/Ranma/Sailor Moon Crossover)

 

Written by

Jim Robert Bader

 

Proofread by

Shiva Barnwell

 

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi,

Naoko Takeuchi, Toshihiro Hirano, & Hitoshi Okuda,

with ideas and suggestions by TH Tiger and Johannes Huber)

 

 

 

 

 

Nami Shiina considered her hand carefully then selected her cards and laid them down upon the table.

 

“Straight flush,” she said to her virtual playmates, “King high, read them and weep.”

 

She heard the modulated groaning from her two fellow poker players as they threw their own virtual hands down in disgust, leaving Nami to collect the virtual pot, which was noticeably larger than what either of them had on their sides of the virtual table.

 

“It's not fair!” Kiiro Ijima complained, “Three straight hands in a row! She's got to be cheating!”

 

“Unfortunately the system is cheat-proof, insofar as I've been able to determine,” Kawai Kawaii responded, “And I doubt Nami is a good enough hacker to overmaster the anti-fraud protocols that I've engineered into the matrix. This leaves only one possible answer…the computer loves her more than it does the both of us…”

 

“Excuses make for poor collateral, Ladies,” Nami gloated in a sultry purr that suited her lascivious expression, “You now owe me the literal equivalent of the shirts off your back, and I aim to collect when our shift is finally over.”

 

“You mean you're going to have the two of us running around stark naked?” Kiiro asked.

 

“And doing my errands like the good little house slaves that the both of you now are,” Nami leered, “At least for the duration.”

 

“Two weeks of slave duty,” Kawaii said with a touch of regret, “You really are a ruthless poker player, my friend.”

 

“Next thing you know you'll be wanting us to groom and manicure you,” Kiiro complained, “Maybe even trim that painted yellow bush of yours when it grows back…”

 

“Oh no,” Nami assured them as she made a show of shuffling the Virtual card deck, “That's for next round, and the one after that is where you both get down on your knees and give me your plump little tails for the plucking…”

 

“You know, there are some places where they would call this sexual harassment,” Kawaii noted, then added with a lusty smile of her own, “Of course it would be remiss of us not to pay up in full what we owe you up to date…”

 

“Oh yea,” Kiiro growled, “Payback is definitely coming---WHOAH! Hold up a minute, Partners…I'm getting a reading…”

 

“Same here,” Nami's tone was suddenly all business, “An energy spike…like something big is entering subspace, and very close to my position.”

 

“Mine too,” Kawaii noted, “We had best triangulate the point of entry and relay back to headquarters as instructed. I believe Big Gold is finally making her move, partners…”

 

“Yeah, I copy that,” Kiiro's eyes bulged out as she was the closest of the three of them to the opening gate, “I make a visual confirmation on that movement…and whatever the bitch is planning, it's going to be big this time…real big…”

 

“Hold your position and go to stealth mode,” Nami instructed, “We don't want them to be making us out while we relay to the beacon our findings. And just in case, let's cut down the chatter. Even direct line-of-sight transmissions might be risky this close to the fleet the enemy is sending.”

 

“That is not a fleet I am making out,” Kawaii sounded unusually awed as she studied her own readings, “That is an armada…Geos, Voids, Venomoids, some larger mecha…enough to lay siege to an entire world.”

 

The three Iczelions fell silent as the larger shadow of an awesome Mecha fell across Kiiro's position, and suddenly she was wondering if the temporary shelter she had created was enough of a protection to avoid the notice of this giant, marveling that anything so big would be committed to battle on anything less than an all-out assault on the planet that had given her birth. She silently prayed to the Kami as she hoped that she and her beloved partners would live long enough for Nami to collect on her bet, because from the looks of things the Armageddon fleet was on the move, and they weren't holding anything back this time. She only hoped that their own side would have the means to resist such a horrifying invasion…

 

 

 

 

“Sir!” one of the monitors reported, “Iczelion Corps Unit Alpha is reporting in…contact movement with the enemy, they're relaying telemetry…and we're confirming the movement through subspace beacons. It's huge, Sir…the size of the enemy force…it's just impossible…”

 

“Steady there, Lieutenant,” Cobalt turned to Sepia and said, “Looks like it's happening, and just the way the Commander predicted.”

 

Sepia nodded and spoke directly over the Com-Net, “Central Control to Central Ops, enemy fleet sighted in subspace coordinates One-Nineteen-by-Five-forty-Seven-by-Grid Epsilon-Theta! The force is huge, beyond anything we've ever detected…”

 

At the center of Operations and Planning, Iczer-One looked up and said, “Acknowledged. Have our forces mobilized and ready for immediate launch…and Sub-Commander…I want it---as the Terrans say---five minutes ago.”

 

“And so it begins,” Iczer Two remarked grimly as she called up the holographic display of planet Earth as seen from an aerial vantage, “Big Gold is committing her forces for real this time. No more probing attacks, no more testing of our defenses…”

 

“This is really the big one this time,” Troi said as she stared at their adopted homeworld and briefly contemplated what it would look like if an enemy force were to be unleashed on the lovely blue planet, “Guess I owe you one for this, Two. She's really gone and done it this time.”

 

“You were right in anticipating her attack, Sister,” Iczer One acknowledged, “It would see that everything that we have experienced to date has been merely for show to determine the relative strength and weaknesses of our resources…”

 

“There is no pleasure or pride in being able to think like the enemy,” Iczer Two said grimly, “It is simply what I would have done if I were commanding Big Gold's position, relative to our own. Having the Iczelions posted as scouts was merely a matter of pinning down from what direction she might be sending her assault forces, and it seemed like a golden opportunity to turn the tables on her by finding out the point of their origin.”

 

“And now that we know where that bitch is hiding we can deal her some grief as payback for all the trouble she's caused us,” Troi smacked a fist-to-palm and said grimly, “And after we get done kicking her new toys to hell and gone we can go in there and show that witch how to really mount an invasion.”

 

“One thing at a time, Sisters,” Iczer One urged with a not of caution, “We still do not know at what point the attack will be mounted and where we should position our people to meet them.”

 

“At least this time we will have some advanced warning on that,” Iczer Two replied, “But my guess is that they will ignore the Earth for the moment and aim for our greatest stronghold,” she caused the hologram of Earth to pull back until the moon was included in the picture, at which point the tiny spot that was the C'thuwulf Worldship was denoted with an underlying circle…just seconds before a flash of light revealed the appearance of the enemy assault force.

 

“SUNUVA---They're after the Worldship!” Troi swore in dismay.

 

“Logical,” Iczer One said grimly, “The Worldship is the center of our heritage, culture and resources, and if they should destroy that then we will be cut off from our main base of operations. There are also the stored genetic material of billions of C'thuwulf in there, and if she somehow got ahold of that…”

 

“She could clone herself a virtually limitless army from the raw material of our own people,” Iczer Two concluded, “Monstrously logical…exactly what I would have expected from that Virus.”

 

“Oneechan, we can't let her get away with this!” Troi declared, “Our people will be slaughtered---or worse! And we'll be hopelessly crippled if we lose the Worldship…”

 

“I know,” Iczer One replied, her tone becoming hard with the burden of leadership plain in her expression, “Have all forces converge on this location here…we'll cut them off and eliminate the horde before it has a chance of breaching our defenses. Have the Iczelion Corps mobilized---all available units and reserves, we'll head the assault with our Iczer-Robos and push those monsters back beyond the fringe from whence they came…”

 

“You do that,” Iczer Two replied, “I will not be going with you.”

 

“Huh?” Troi blinked, “You backing down from a fight, Two? I never thought…”

 

“I know,” Iczer Two replied, “And frequently I have despaired of it, but I love you anyway, little sister, even when you annoy me. But this is not a question of backing down…if we commit all of our main forces to a single attack it will leave Gamora base defenseless, and I would not put it past Big Gold to overlook such a tempting target."

 

“You mean a second wave assault force,” Iczer One frowned, “Very logical, if coldly brilliant. But if we divide our forces to meet both threats…”

 

“You will not have to,” Iczer Two replied, “Commit the bulk of our forces to destroying the first group…take no prisoners and leave none of the enemy alive. I have already informed our allies among the Earth governments and Forces that they should prepare for the worst and mobilize their own defensive forces. This is all-out war, my sisters, the kind that we have dreaded all along, but is necessary to the continued survival of both the Human and C'thuwulf races. I will remain here to command our reserve forces, to meet any second assault if it should come, or else to reinforce your position should the anticipated second wave fail to materialize.”

 

“Very well,” Iczer One said grimly, “I leave it in your capable hands, Sister. I'll go join Nagisa in Alpha Unit…Troi, you find your partner and command Theta. Beta Unit…and Gamora base, are in your hands, Two…and safe journey.”

 

“Safe journey to you, Sisters,” Iczer Two half smiled as she watched both of her fellow Iczers teleport away, then she sighed as she leaned her hands against the railing, studying the growing size of the enemy fleet, which boasted some unusual combat Mecha whose purpose would doubtlessly be revealed in very short order.

 

“And so it begins,” Iczer Two said grimly, “And so it will end…in fire. But I swear to you, my sisters, on my love for our people and upon Sayoko…that this will be the final battle.”

 

And with that declaration solemnly averred she vanished from the Ops center, going to her own pre-arranged destination…

 

 

 

 

Sakura hardly blinked this time as she sensed Troi appearing in her room. Instead she just turned her head and said, “What took you?”

 

“Stopped for refreshments along the way, Beautiful,” Troi glanced around at her partner's bedroom and then said, “Um…hate to be the type to teleport and run, but I kinda need you right now…we got another emergency, and it's big this time…”

 

“So what are we waiting for?” Sakura said as she got up from her futon and reached for her combat spatula, “Time's a-wasting.”

 

“Right,” Troi agreed, and the two of them vanished form the room, reappearing moments later as Troi took the command capsule of her Iczer Robo while Sakura found herself once again naked and breathing liquid in the comforting chest-pod with the usual array of tube connecting to her body.

 

“By the way, Sakura-chan,” Troi said as she brought all systems on line and prepared for immediate bay-launch, “Did you work things out with your buddy Muku…?”

 

“I guess,” Sakura said somewhat listlessly, “We…had a talk and came to a…resolution…”

 

“Oh,” Troi said, “One of those. Well…I'd love to hear the details…in fact, if you let me into your mind I'm sure that would save time…”

 

“I just want you to know something,” Sakura replied, “I really think I do understand, now, what you went through all those years ago when you had that breakup with Nagisa.”

 

There was a slight pause before Troi murmured aloud, “That really must have been one hell of a talk you shared…”

 

“It was…educational,” Sakura replied, “So…what are we waiting for? Let's go stomp on some bad guys.”

 

“I hear you, Girlfriend,” Troi acknowledged, “Let's go kick butt on some bad guys…”

 

Meanwhile in another Iczer Robo, Iczer One was taking the lead in organizing her forces, preparing for the critical launch of the major bulk of the C'thuwulf forces while Nagisa monitored less important civilian channels, then reported to her wife, “All sections report in at Yellow status, I-chan. The civilian population is moving to the protective shelters, just like we drilled them. If the war should happen to come here we ought to be ready.”

 

“Thank the Goddess for that,” Iczer One replied, “For the sake of our people I sincerely hope that my sister is wrong, but her military logic is impeccable here, and if there is anything we can rely upon it is the certainly that Big Gold will be pulling out even wicked trick in the book to assure herself of victory.”

 

“If that's the case, then are you sure that Two can handle this alone?” Nagisa asked, “Wouldn't it be better if we assign Rhea-chan to back her up in case there is trouble?”

 

“I've already seen to that, Nagisa-chan,” Iczer One replied, “If the alarms should sound then we can count on our daughter to do her part to defend our people…but I'd rather keep her in reserve for when she's needed rather than deploy her prematurely.”

 

“Prematurely?” Nagisa blinked, “You have got to be kidding me! I-chan, with all the alarms sounding throughout this entire complex…”

 

“I've left specific instructions that Rhea is not to be notified of the alert or even disturbed for the duration,” Iczer One explained, “Only in the case of an actual attack will she be called to duty, but at the moment she has a very important assignment that she's carrying out, one that I would rather see carried to fruition without interruption.”

 

Nagisa blinked as she heard this then frowned, “What kind of assignment?”

 

“An under-the-cover affair,” Iczer One replied with a straight face, “Don't worry, it's nothing we wouldn't be doing if we were in her place.”

 

“You say that and tell me not to worry?” Nagisa replied, but nonetheless she was also smiling, wishing her daughter well in a pursuit far more interesting than any battle…

 

 

 

 

A flash of light heralded Rhea's return to her bedroom, only this time she had Muku along for the ride, the both of them holding hands and leaning close together after a beautiful dance that had left the both of them feeling lighter than air without having to rely on ordinary levitation.

 

“We are here once more in my place,” Rhea needlessly informed her partner, adding with slight emphasis, “…Where we won't be disturbed by overly-curious parents.”

 

“Are you sure about that?” Muku asked, “Really sure? I mean…your parents are nice, but with our running track record…”

 

“Not to worry,” Rhea smiled, “I set the privacy wards the moment I teleported in, and I've just received a mental download from my mother telling me that I am on reserve duty status pending my…resolution of certain matters.”

 

“Resolution, huh?” Muku could not help smiling, “Is that what they're calling it these days, or is it a C'thuwulf thing?”

 

Rhea turned to her with an enchanting smile, “My people are indeed quite casual about such matters, but…we also practice a form of discretion. My mothers both prefer to be left to themselves when they are off-duty and quite frequently invoke the privilege of their offices to escape from the cycle of normal duties. With matters as tense as they have been of late, I believe that we are entitled for some time away from the front lines of battle.”

 

“Yeah…I think so too,” Muku said with a slight tremble in her voice showing that this statement was not as casual as she had intended to make it, “So…nobody's gonna go sounding any alarms or come in here asking nosy questions?”

 

“Not unless we are under an attack,” Rhea replied, pausing before adding, “Muku-chan…I know that things have been rather…hurried of late…and you are right to complain that there hasn't been time for us to more…properly get to know each other…so if you would rather not do this at this time…”

 

Muku's hand on Rhea's cheek brought a halt to the latter's deferral as Muku said, “No…I want to do this…I want us to be closer…even closer than now. But…but I really don't know what I'm supposed to do at this point. I'm…I've never really…I…could you show me?”

 

Rhea's smile had all the warmth of the bond that was intensifying between them, “I would love to show you everything, Muku-chan. And it's very easy to learn…the most natural thing in the world…you will soon see that. Leave everything to me and I will show you how C'thuwulf partners express their love when we are together.”

 

Linking hands together she moved in closer so that their lips could touch once again in a kiss, Rhea's arms moving around to embrace Muku as the latter returned the kiss with an ardor that quickly grew enflamed into a burning hunger. By mutual consent they moved closer to Rhea's bed, and when they fell down on top of it there was no more shyness or hesitation in expressing the motions that had awakened at last between two young girls whose attraction went deeper than any mere “casual” friendship…

 

 

 

 

“…So, let me see if we have this straight,” Neo-Queen Serenity remarked, “You met this girl when she attacked you and kidnapped you into her giant robot, which is now in-part powered by your life energies, which also gives this girl access to your Senshi powers? Am I accurate so far?”

 

“Oh, pretty much, your Majesty,” Nova answered for the two versions of Yui presently feeling tongue-tied and dry-mouthed over the matter of these revelations before her elders and parents, “I know it was wrong of me to do what I did and all that, but I was following orders at the time, and I needed a partner. An Iczer isn't really whole unless she has a partner to bond with, and we've Synchronized, which means that Yui-chan and me are definitely an item.”

 

“An item,” Lady Mars (1) remarked in a level-but-wary tone of voice.

 

“As in…the two of you are now bonded on a spiritual level?” Lady Mars (2) drawled with a deceptive calm in her voice that made both versions of Yui blanch while regarding their twin mothers. (Sweat bullets, sweat bullets, sweat bullets…)

 

“Soul-bonded?” their husband asked with a more openly troubled expression, “You mean you're linked on the psychic level?”

 

“Sure thing, Dad,” Nova replied, “Yui's now a central part of me and I literally can't live without her. I know it may seem weird and kind of sudden, but it's happened and there's nothing to be done about it. We're together for richer or poorer, in sickness and all that, and when one of us gets hurt the other's gonna feel it. Yui's become my whole life now, and I wouldn't have it any other way, if you want the real truth of the matter.”

 

“Forever?” Lady Mercury inquired.

 

“Afraid so,” Nova shrugged, “Once Synchronization takes place there's no known way to reverse it or the break the link. I don't know how or why it happened, but I'm glad that it has since there's no one else quite like her…”

 

“Huh?” both of the Yuis said together.

 

“Ah…well…except maybe for the twin part,” Nova amended, then brightened, “But that just means we can double our chances, double our fun! And if there's more Yui for the loving, that means there's more fun to be had all around, right?”

 

Lord Jove turned to his lady wife and said, “You know, you almost have to admire her enthusiasm.”

 

“I haven't seen anybody that free-spirited since Usagi-chan was in high school,” Lady Venus acknowledged.

 

Neo-Queen Serenity gave her friends and subject-Senshi a mildly withering look before turning back to Nova and saying, “So, effectively you two are the next best thing to being married…but what does Yui-chan have to say about this? Sailor Deimos? Sailor Phobos?”

 

“Ah…?” the two girls so named chorused together with mutually uncertain expressions, turning to her fellow junior Senshi, who were standing together as a group, content with letting her maintain the spotlight in the hope that their parents would soon forget the trifling mention of their sexual escapades with their C'thuwulf “associates…

 

“Hey, how about asking how I feel about it!” Lady Mars (1) complained.

 

“Our daughters are seeing somebody who's even flakier than you!” Lady Mars (2) duly noted.

 

“I'm a little more concerned about this threat she supposedly represents,” Lady Uranus ventured, “She says that she's changed side and is now fights with the Angels, but how do we know…Eh?” she turned as she sensed a change in her companion-wife's demeanor, “Neptune?”

 

“Aunt Michiru?” Princess Rini asked, breaking her own self-imposed silence.

 

“I…” the green-haired Senshi blinked her eyes then swayed on her feet a bit before clutching at her head and crying out, “I can feel it! The wrong! It's in the air! The seas are restless…the dark tide is coming!”

 

“Dark tide?” Lady Mercury inquired.

 

“This doesn't sound good,” Sailor Io murmured to her sister, Sailor Europa, who silently nodded in total agreement.

 

“Mother?” Sailor Triton was asking as she saw Lady Neptune's expression.

 

“What's the matter?” Lady Uranus asked as she reached out to catch and support Lady Neptune, “What are you feeling…?”

 

“I feel it too,” Lady Pluto spoke up, turning to scan the horizons, “A tide of black death sweeping out of the void…it's awful…so evil…”

 

Lady Saturn looked up at her own companion then turned her gaze towards the stars and suddenly her eyes took on a void-like cast that promised the death of galaxies as she said, “A dark tide indeed, sweeping out from the void and threatening a castle of light shimmering in the starry heavens. Life itself is under assault, and if it is not stopped, and soon, it could destroy the earth and all other planets with it…”

 

“I feel it too,” Sailor Chiron noted, “A vast wave of darkness reaching out to engulf the light…”

 

“Hokey smokes!” Nova exclaimed with a gasp, “It's started!”

 

“What's started?” both Yuis asked together.

 

“Big Gold is making her move,” Nova replied, “She's been gathering her forces for quite a while now, and I think I know what kind of stuff she's probably throwing at the C'thuwulf Worldship! We gotta put a stop to this or it could mean the end of everything…”

 

“Now if that doesn't ever sound like a familiar declaration…”

 

“Luna?” Neo-Queen Serenity turned to see a pair of cats come trotting into the throne chamber, “Where were you?”

 

“Out doing research,” the black cat with the moon-shaped crescent on her forehead replied, “We've been monitoring your conversations and Artemis here said that he believed we could find some useful references in the great Crystal library concerning these aliens whom you've encountered.”

 

“And any luck?” Lady Mercury asked.

 

“As a matter of fact, yes,” the white-furred Artemis replied, “Although there's no direct reference to the name C'thuwulf in the archives, there are many passing references to `Our Sisters of the Stars” who live in a space-born culture and whose connections to the ancient Moon Kingdom is explicitly stated. There's even some hints that the people of the Moon Kingdom themselves might have been a long-forgotten colony of an other-worldly culture, in which case we may be more closely related than anyone so far seems to have imagined.”

 

“In a way it makes sense, really,” Luna noted, “our technology is based upon the moon crystals that were found here long by our ancestors ago while these C'thuwulf appear to use some sort of organic-based technology, one so sophisticated that it can even be used to create a life-form as sophisticated as this Nova person whom you've been talking to for the past few hours…and to her credit I must say that she does not come across as sounding like the looniest person whom it has ever been our dubious fortune to encounter.”

 

“Hey, I'm easy,” Nova assured them, pointing skyward, “It's those guys you need to worry about, and some of them are way lots more nasty than I would ever want to be…at least since I decided I like you humans after all on account of Yui-chan…”

 

“That may be so,” Neo-Queen Serenity replied, “But just how great of a threat do they pose to life on the planet Earth?”

 

“Are you kidding?” Nova said, “Just the Venomoids alone could wipe out every living thing on your planet! Look…I gotta go, they're gonna need all the help they can get out there, and my moms' forces'll be stretched pretty thin without me. Yui-chan, will you fight beside me?”

 

“Eh?” the two Yuis seemed surprised at the invitation.

 

“Ah…on second thought,” Nova amended, “I don't want you to get anywhere near those Venomoid guys. I'm immune to their spores, you're not, and if they touch you they can infect you with their…well, never mind…just so you know I'm doing this for you, Yui-chan!”

 

And with that she pixilated and vanished in a golden halo, leaving both Yuis to blink at the space where she had been standing.

 

“What was that all about?” Lady Mars (1) inquired.

 

“Is she going off to fight a war all by herself?” Lady Mars (2) asked of her twin.

 

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Neo-Queen Serenity frowned, “I want to know more about this enemy and what forces they're using to attack the Earth, and I want to know it now, people. Can anyone give us a sense of what we're…”

 

“This Unit may comply.”

 

“What the?” Lord Jove asked as yet another new presence made itself known in the crystal throne room.

 

“What is that?” Lady Venus seconded.

 

“Apologies,” said the hovering robotic form whose orange exterior seemed to gleam awkwardly off of the garishly colored costumes of the Senshi, “This Unit-designate 071 is here to collect this unit's partner. This Unit was unable to cross the barrier surrounding this chamber until Unit designate Iczer Six, code named Nova, effected subspace transfer.”

 

“Hah?” Sailor Deimos asked of the approaching robot.

 

“Who the heck are you?” Sailor Phobos wondered.

 

“This Unit is an Iczelion Unit assigned to subject designate Hibiki Yui,” the robot replied, “Subjects conform to Bioscan readings of assigned unit partner. This explains the unusual pattern configuration detected in Unit Hibiki when this one was created to serve her. This unit has unique properties that make this unit ably suitable for protection of Subject Yui. This Unit will now execute its primary defensive program to serve Units Hibiki upon voice activation command, `Charge Up.'”

 

“Charge up?” Sailor Deimos asked.

 

“What are you talking about any…?” Sailor Phobos continued when the orange robot suddenly flew apart, its various components shimmering as they detached from identical copies of one another, and before anyone could stop them these pieces went flying towards both versions of Yui.

 

“It's after my daughter!” Lady Mars (1) cried, pointing her finger.

 

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Lady Mars (2) declared as she, too, pointed at the flying plates of metal that whirled around and affixed themselves to both Sailors Deimos and Phobos.

 

“WAIT!” Sailor Mercury cried hastily as she urged her friends to withhold hasty action, “I don't think it's trying to harm her!”

 

Sure enough the two versions of Yui momentarily went naked as their Senshi costumes dissolved from their bodies, and then the armored plates affixed themselves to different portions of her skin, only a moment later revealing themselves to be identical versions of the same ultra-tech looking armor, differing only in coloration as one was Red with gold trim and the other was Gold with Red trim. Both Yuis stared down at themselves then exchanged looks with one another with identical incredulous expressions.

 

“Great Mother of the Milky Way,” Lady Uranus murmured.

 

“What in the world is that…thing?” even Lady Pluto seemed amazed at the sight of the two armored Yuis.

 

“Yui-chan?” Ryoga asked of his twin daughters.

 

“I…I'm all right, Dad,” one Yui said with an amazed expression.

 

“The armor…it's speaking to me,” the other Yui said with a wondering expression, “It's telling me what it is…what it can do…it's from the C'thuwulf, and it was created to serve me…”

 

“Serve you?” Lady Mars (2) asked.

 

“What, like that Nova?” Lady Mars (1) chorused.

 

“It's Iczelion armor,” Rini spoke up once again, “Like my friend Nami wears…it makes you almost as powerful as an Iczer…”

 

“Only that's for normal humans,” Sailor Hermes noted, “What effect will it have on a Senshi?”

 

“WHOOOP!” both Yuis cried in chorus as they started to take off into the air, only to vanish in tandem.

 

“YUI-CHAN!” both versions of Lady Mars---plus their husband---cried out together.

 

“This gets stranger by the minute,” Neo-Queen Serenity remarked before turning to Luna and Artemis, “Continue your researches, I want to know everything that you can find out about these C'thuwulf, and I want it yesterday. Mars, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn…some intelligence gathering, please? Tell us exactly where this enemy is and what they are doing at this moment, then Mercury, help them devise a strategy to counter these bad guys.”

 

“Then we're going to war?” Lord Jove inquired.

 

“You got it,” Serenity replied, “I'm contacting Mamoru-chan and telling him to drop whatever he's doing. We'll need King Endymion to fight this enemy at our full power, and since one of our own has been drafted into the battle, the clock is ticking people, so let's get cracking!”

 

“Hai!” all of her subjects chorused together, both young and old Senshi, the united powers of the Planets and their Moons being marshaled for battle against an enemy as deadly as any Youma…

 

 

 

 

“Something wrong, Ranchan?” Ukyo asked of her husband, “You look like you've seen a cat or something.”

 

“Very funny,” Ranma replied, glancing around, “I can't really put my finger on it, but I've been having that really weird feeling…you know, the one where something really bad's about to happen?”

 

“Oh,” his wife looked up from cleaning her grill, “One of those feelings, huh? Guess that means we oughta be having company soon.” And, saying this, she set aside her cleaning tools and reached up to remove her combat spatula from its wall mounting.

 

“Don't know if that's gonna cut it this time, Ucchan,” Ranma said as he slyly regarded his wife.

 

“Maybe not, Sugar,” she responded as she slung her spatula over her shoulder and into its harness, “But I'll feel a lot better about having it with me.”

 

The bell at the front door rang as it slid open, and Ranma started to turn around to say, “Sorry, we're close at the…Oh! It's you, Granny…I didn't see…huh?”

 

Ukyo followed her husband's line of sight and did a double-take…literally…because what she saw following the ancient Matriarch, Cologne, was nothing less than two near-identical versions of Tenma, only one of whom was wearing his school clothes.

 

Yuki Taro arrived last and paused as she removed her footwear and bowed to the Saotomes, saying in a polite tone of voice, “Honored parents of my friend, Tenma, would it be permissible for me to join with you in a family gathering?”

 

“Huh?” Ranma absently responded, “Oh…sure…come in…ah…excuse me, but…aren't you…?”

 

“Taro Yuki,” she replied brightly, “Youngest daughter of a former sparring partner of yours, who might be well annoyed with me for visiting with you, but…I would rather be here with Ten-chan while you discuss with Baba Cologne about his future.”

 

“Say what?” Ranma blinked then turned a questioning look towards Cologne and the two Tenmas.

 

“She's okay, Pop,” one of the Tenmas replied, “You can trust her---ow! What did you do that for?”

 

“I thought I told you not to call him that,” the other Tenma glared, “He ain't your Pop, he's my Pop, you got it?”

 

“Hey, he's as close to a Pop as I've ever had,” the other Tenma glared, “You wanna make something of it?”

 

“Both of you desist in this unseemly conduct,” Cologne said sternly, then smiled as she saw her order was obeyed by both glowering Tenmas, so she turned back to the Saotomes and said, “There have been some unusual happenings in the neighborhood of late, and I thought, perhaps, you should be informed of at least a few of the more significant events. As you may have noticed you presently have one son more than you started out with at the beginning of the week…”

 

“You might say that, Sugar,” Ukyo replied with a patented “This Better Be Good” expression.

 

“The reason for this is simple,” Cologne replied, “An enemy has sought to infiltrate an imposter into your household for the purpose of gaining intelligence…however…the chosen spy has decided to turn against his own creators, and so we have a defector seeking asylum in our midst, one who professes sincere remorse for his actions and wishes to be judged on his own merits rather than on the crimes of his creators.”

 

“Ah…run that by me again?” Ranma asked.

 

“Are you saying one of these…isn't our Tenma?” Ukyo marveled.

 

One Tenma glared at the other, who then sighed, lowered his head and said, “It's me, Mom…I'm the imposter. I replaced your son by duplicating him down to the cellular level, but I'm really a Bioroid, a kind of android, like an Iczer…”

 

“Like Two and Troi?” Ranma replied, then when he saw the young man nod his head he said, “So you took my kid's place and you've been living in our house and everything. So…where have you been the whole time, Son?”

 

“Ah…well…I met a friend, Pop,” the real Tenma replied somewhat uneasily, “And she's been helping me out, but now I'm back and I want my old life back…only this imposter here's been doing stuff while pretending to be me, and we gotta figure out what to do about him and---OW!” he whirled around, “Would you stop doing that?”

 

“Tell your father the rest of the story, Saotome,” Yuki glared before making a point of taking the other Tenma by the arm and saying, “Ten-chan wants to make a new start, and since he's decided to fight for us and tell us what he can about the enemy, I say he deserves a chance in spite of what else has happened.”

 

Ranma blinked, saw the other Tenma looking both confused and uncomfortable, then looked down at his real son and said, “You got a friend like that you ain't been bringing around, Kid?”

 

“Gimme a break, Pop!” Tenma said, “She's just got some weird kind of connection with him is all. My friend's not like that, she's…nice…”

 

“Nice,” Ukyo repeated before glancing up at Ranma, “No question about it, Sugar, you're definitely the father.”

 

“Yeah…and the other one's a pretty good match too,” Ranma turned back to the near-identical Tenmas, “Son…uh…both of you…this is gonna take a bit of time for us to sort through, know what I mean? Your mother and me…well…we know Bioroids are just like regular people, but I think we'd better hear the whole story from the beginning, okay?”

 

“Sure Pop,” one Tenma said, echoed by the other who also said, “Sure Pop, I'll tell it right from the beginning.”

 

“This is gonna take a while,” Ukyo turned to her husband and said, “I hate it when you get those feelings, Sugar. You don't kid around when you talk about weird stuff happening.”

 

“Tell me about it,” Ranma agreed, then he frowned as he saw the Tenma being held by Yuki glance up sharply at the ceiling, “Something wrong, Kid?”

 

“Pop…” that Tenma swallowed, “I don't know how to tell you this…but…they're coming…”

 

 

 

 

“They're coming,” Atros said aloud as she stood atop a tall pole and scanned the air above her head, “I can feel them…their evil. It's time at last to atone for my sins…I only hope that I have the strength to do as you once did, my mother.”

 

She held a fist over her chest as she spoke these words at the left of a soft murmur, almost a prayer in the name of the C'thuwulf Goddess in whom she did not even fully believe, as much a reflex as the result of absorbing memories from her brief contact with Troi, her predecessor and primary parent. She could sense the C'thuwulf rallying their forces to meet the wave of the enemy armada as it loomed large near to the C'thuwulf Worldship, but rather than teleport to join her mother and the Iczelion Corps she remained where she was, resolved to stand firm and face the challenge of the second wave, which she felt certain was to put in its own appearance.

 

Serving as a one-woman reinforcement squad made logical sense to her given that a single Iczer was as good as an armada, but somehow she doubted that Big Gold would pull any punches this time, this being more of a kind of “all-or-nothing” battle. Scorched Earth was the policy of her former master, and---given her newfound appreciation of the planet Earth and its strange inhabitants---Atros felt sickened to think of the devastation that was surely to follow. It was all that she could do to try and put a check to the Venomoid rampages in order to atone for her own misguided part in putting the Earth in such perilous danger.

 

The likely event of her death was certainly a prospect that could not be avoided, but Atros had been dead before, and she much preferred that state to the thought of the walking nightmare she had become when Big Gold had revived her. Being used as a discardable tool by that monster she once foolishly called her “grandmother” was enough to make her violently ill, and Atros wanted nothing so much as to reap bloody vengeance upon Big Gold and her other so-called mother, Neos Gold, for daring to treat her as nothing more than a wind-up doll in their insane dreams of conquest. Being at last freed from the virus that was Gold's presence, she could now well appreciate the irony of her position, but without much actual amusement. She was a weapon of war, nothing more or less than that, and if this was to be her final stand then she would go down fighting defending the world that she had come so close to destroying.

 

She could still remember her previous life vividly from the moment of her creation, when Neos Gold used the stolen Iczerio energy to pattern-clone her from the matrix formed by Troi and Nagisa. For a time she had only believed herself a tool of war and nothing else…but somehow Nagisa had changed her mind on that, had awakened Atros to the truth of her own creation. Atros had tried to carry out the will of Neos Gold, had sought to ignore the call of her own conscience when it prevented her from killing the one she had thought her hated rival…but when Nagisa touched her shoulder…that had changed everything! Being in contact with both Troi and Nagisa at one time had alerted her to the truth of her own nature…for it was in the genetic makeup of the two that Atros had been realized as a single creation. She was not the product of Neos Gold at all…Neos Gold was not her mother…she was a product of the Iczerio, and her true mothers were none other than Iczer Three and Nagisa!

 

From that moment onward Atros had hated Neos Gold with an unreasoning passion that had eventually led to her death at the hands of her real enemy. Atros had slept the sleep of death, having been returned to the Iczerio pattern from whence she had been created, but when she awoke again after many years had passed she was once again employed as a weapon. Her real personality had been suppressed in favor of Gold's own personality profile. Cleared of that disgusting virus she was awakened to her memories of old, and with it came the pain and confusion of knowing that she had been used and abandoned. Her mission would have spelled death to everyone, including herself, if not for the valiant efforts of her mother and…her mother's human partner.

 

She sighed as she thought about this. Other people had sacrificed so much for her benefit, and yet was she truly worth it? Could she justify their losses with her newfound freedom? The word freedom was still so tentative for her, so strange and so confusing, that she could not truly decide if it were a good, bad or only necessary thing. She still had no idea just who and what she was without the Gold Virus within her. She was too much of a tabula rasa, a blank slate upon which to write with far too many gaps in her personality and nature for Atros to feel totally like a whole and fully integrated person.

 

Personality defects, however, did not begin to account for the slight sense of alienation that she was presently feeling between herself and the Iczer upon whose matrix she had been partially patterned. It was not that she found Troi irritating so much as that she was confident of the fact that she did not want to copy her mother or become an extension of her, let alone to be anything like her.

 

After all Troi was frivolous, irreverent, self-absorbed and had truly appalling personal standards and habits. She could sleep with a girl barely of legal age for such behavior and feel relatively little guilt or obligation. Even as a child she would rather play than do serious work, and her whole attitude to life was nothing less than to treat it like a game. She was irresponsible and disrespectful to authority, could engage in willful acts of petty spite and vandalism under the guise of what humans called “practical jokes,” a prankster who delighted in bringing low the pompous and the mighty but not at all above taking cheap shots at those far less deserving.

 

Given their relative personality differences it was unlikely that Atros would have considered Troi a friend beyond mere dreams of her as a playmate, and it was unlikely that they would ever really see eye-to-eye as a proper mother-and-daughter should…but Atros respected her mother as a warrior and would fight well to make her proud of her only daughter. They might not always be the perfect model of mother and daughter relations but they were both Iczers, sworn to defend and protect their chosen people…and besides, they also shared one other thing in common.

 

Nagisa.

 

Atros closed her eyes and conjured up the face and form of her other biological parent, then opened them again and grimly nodded. Nagisa embodied the best of what it meant to be human, and as such she and the people of Earth were worth her protection. Atros had known that fifteen years ago when she had given her life to protect Nagisa, and she would do it again without hesitation…not that her life amounted to much at the present, being as yet unwritten with many blank chapters where a normal person would have a childhood, to say nothing of the last fifteen years of her non-existence…

 

“Hey Sis, you busy at the moment?”

 

Atros blinked then looked up at the hovering Nova, the cherry-haired former Iczer who also shared the distinction of claiming Nagisa for one of her parents.

 

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

 

“Same thing as you,” Nova replied, “I figured Big Gold was gonna throw a party, I figured I'd be there to crash it.”

 

“You're not going to fight for her side?” Atros asked in a deceptively casually tone, not truly trusting this particular member of the Iczer family.

 

“Hey, that hurts!” Nova replied, “You know I won't do that, not when it means Yui-chan winds up a casualty, not to mention the rest of the planet. Hell, how am I supposed to know you won't revert back to being her footsoldier? After all, you're the one who almost blew up the planet.”

 

“A fair point,” Atros replied, “So what purpose do you have for coming to me…Sister?”

 

“I dunno…just wondered if maybe you'd like some company or something,” Nova shrugged, “After all we're gonna be making a heroic stand against impossible odds and all that, so…you wanna hang out until the next wave happens?”

 

Atros considered the point then said, “What about your partner?”

 

“Left her home,” Nova replied, “Don't wanna have her catching no alien bugs or nothing. How about yours?”

 

“Another fair point,” Atros found herself almost smiling, “He is an innocent…I would not wish to involve him…”

 

“GANGWAY---COMING THROUGH!!!” a distinctly male voice called out as an armored form came whizzing past both Iczers, kicking up their hair in his wake as the two of them tracked the erratic flying pattern of the Iczelion missile.

 

“Offhand I'd say he's just got himself involved,” Nova noted dryly, “Think maybe his Iczelion could have given him some flying lessons?”

 

“HELP!” came the Doppler-shifted voice of Ken Tofu as he fought for control over his flight trajectory, “SOMEBODY STOP THIS CRAZY THING…!”

 

“Ken-san!” Atros cried and took off like a shot after the vanishing form of the Blue Iczelion.

 

“Whoah,” Nova grinned, “Look at her go! That must be Luuuve!” she glanced up at the sky and turned her attention to where the pale moon hung in the still-sunlit sky and said, “Just you wait, Yui-chan…I'll prove I'm worthy of loving you, just you wait. Be safe, my love, and leave the fighting to your Iczer...”

 

With that she took off, heading into the sky to prepare herself for the onslaught…

 

 

 

Continued

 

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