Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers) Fan Fiction ❯ Nabiki 1/2 (A Very Scary Thought) ❯ The Dark Pack ( Chapter 121 )

Nabiki 1/2

(A Very Scary Thought)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

Based Upon the Altered Destinies Storyline

Inspired by the works of such fans as

Wade Tritshler

Richard Lawson

James Jones

And Many Others

Standard Disclaimer: This is inspired by the work of Takahashi Rumiko and is not my original creation. All characters belong to her. This is only a fanfictional work, and is not intended to compromise the rights of the original owners, distributors and publishers of the Ranma series. I have no money to spare and would very much appreciate if no one tries to sue me.

"And so it begins."

"How's that again, Boss?" Raptor turned towards Dimitri.

"Nothing to concern you, Clod," Dimitri sniffed, "I was merely savoring the irony of these events. A great many old debts have been cancelled in the raid on yonder officer structure, and I was just musing that events are prone to take on a life of their own from this point onward."

"This is sure to stir up the old hornet's nest among the Vampire blood clans if what you mean, my lord," Morgan reflected as she, too, surveyed the carnage of the office building from the safe vantage of another building less than a quarter mile away, "Those that won't be at each others throats by morning will be looking to blame you for your part in bringing this about. That and our new ally…"

"Is of no consequence at this point," Dimitri said succinctly, "Our ally has taken casualties himself in these dealings and that, too, is much to our advantage. Some of his best operatives are now being tagged and bagged by those coroners of the metropolitan police, and it will take some leverage on his part to cover up the trail…which also means covering up for our trail since the ghouls that I loaned him have not reported in for the past hour."

"Meaning they've been dusted," said Jumaji, the Hougan Voodoo master, "Two full score of Goya vampires…wasted in a single excursion."

"It does not matter," Dimitri insisted, "They can always be replaced, and I have many more servants ready to strike when the time is ripe. What matters is the larger objective…and in this regard I do hope you all know well enough to play your part in these affairs?"

Anakaris had trouble working his mouth as he spoke, "The Dead shall be ready when you command it, Dread Lord. I will personally lead the assault and we will take the Blood Queen alive, as you have directed."

"Be mindful, she is more powerful than a normal vampire," Dimitri cautioned, "A hundred Goya would be helpless to resist her full fury, and she does not come alone…each of her remaining allies is a force to be reckoned with. I am counting on your Zevumbre army to run a distraction for us, Raptor, so that the real assault can be made before our enemies are any the wiser."

"Got it, Mate," Raptor said, "I'll bring me boyos along and have a little jam session. Them pansies won't know what hit 'em."

"Good," Dimitri said before turning to the last remaining member of their party, "It all depends upon you, Darkwulf, do not fail me at this critical time when the hour of need approaches."

The horrific beast-shape eyed the Vampire lord malevolently and said, "Don't worry. I'll know what to do when the time is upon us."

"All very well and good," Dimitri turned and said, "Morgan…you will also lead the attack from the air. Our enemies are a diverse lot, and powerful in their own right, but you should have little difficulty providing them with sufficient pause to allow Jumaji to make off with our main objective."

"Oh, no worries on that score, my dark Prince," Morgan turned a sultry look his way, "Have I ever failed to please you when it comes to making my presence felt?"

The male members of the Dark Pack all repressed a collective shudder, mostly caused by the air of smoldering sensuality that the Succubus Queen projected, which impacted on even the most moribund male member so that even a petrified "tool" (as belonged to Anakaris) went wooden from the impact.

Dimitri just scowled at the flirtatious behavior of the green haired Queen of the Demon Realm to which they both held allegiance, his own masculinity being pricked like a needle by the wanton excess that Morgan displayed, knowing full well she was doing it just to get a rise out of him, knowing full well that his dignity demanded that he not shown evidence of how much he wanted to bend her over his lap and…

All at once sharp pains shot through his skull and caused Dimitri to moan as an overwhelming sense of guilt and contrition sought to overmaster his ego. For a moment he felt deep remorse for his own deeds and was appalled at the depths of depravity which he was contemplating in the next several hours, and the waves of compassion for his victims almost caused him to weep like a soul crying for redemption. The sensation was but momentary, yet it plagued like a scar across his chest and made him realize that the source of his vexation was growing stronger, not weaker.

"My lord?" Morgan's voice betrayed alarm, and at once she abandoned the role of the strumpet to rush to Dimitri's side as though to offer her support and desire to succor him from his troubles.

"I am well, damn you," Dimitri snarled, "But that harlot is annoying me beyond all reasonable toleration! We must find her immediately before her damnable virtue drives me insane! Any sign of her at all? Have any spies reported catching a whiff of her chaste perfume contaminating the breeze? Even a sniff, the least hint that she might be contained with the others at the Tendo compound…?"

"Uh…funny you should mention it, Boss," Raptor said a bit meekly, "One O' me mates thought he caught sight O' a strange white bird winging it over to that Doctor's clinic that we've got staked out, but…well…he kinda lost it after that…"

"A white bird?" Dimitri asked sharply, "You are certain?"

"Well, certain enough," the Zombie King reported, "Only…there's something else I think you oughta look into, Boss…me boyo's caught sight O' that new Slayer in town and…"

All at once there was a loud explosion in the distance, and Dimitri turned to catch sight of a cloud of smoke rising up from the edge of the suburbs, to which he said, "What is that?"

"Er…that's what I was talking about," Raptor answered, "The Slayer's embroiled in some kinda cat-fight with another Sheila who sounds…kind of familiar from her description. They're mixing it up right now, and from what I hear tell, their rumble's escalating faster than a Muslim/Hindu cultural exchange rally."

"Indeed?" Dimitri said, "I must witness this for myself to judge how potent this new Slayer might be. We will investigate immediately."

The Dark Pack acknowledged the implied command of their leader and in their own distinctive ways each took off in the direction of the rumble, Dimitri shifting to winged bat-like form while Morgan paced him, and Raptor dissolved into a swirl of bones while Anakaris simply melted into the shadows.

Jumaji used his powers to create a gate, leaving only Darkwulf behind to sniff the breeze then comment to himself, "Something familiar in the neighborhood…almost like cousin Talbain's blown back into town. I must pay my respects to him later by ripping his throat out."

With that declaration in mind the dark-furred Were loped off into the night, vaulting from one rooftop to another, leaving in his wake an equally shadowy figure to comment from some distance further downwind:

"Figures, it's like I've always said, never send a Vamp to do a Were's job…"

John Talbain waited until the Dark Pack was far enough away before emerging from the shadows before nodding to himself and taking off in a slightly different direction, drawn by another scent entirely than the sweat and blood of battle. This scent had a newness about it that was altogether different from what he was used to, and that intrigued him to no end as it contrasted with the foulness of Dimitri and his Dark Pack and promised a hint of a brighter and far more glorious future…

Nabiki felt her pulse racing as she charged herself up for another power burst, twisting her body in mid-air as she vaulted long and far from the place where Natsume had last attacked before landing in a neat two-point tumble…only to hit an unseen patch of ice at the last instant, which sent her tumbling into a wall, which momentarily dispersed her concentration.

"You are good, my Warrior Sister," Natsume complimented, "And your control of your power is first rate, but then again, so is mine, and I'm just as good as you are at strategy and field tactics."

"Heh, point taken," Nabiki said as she got up from the ruins of the wall that she had just demolished, "But I'm still the better tactician, Nat-chan, and as strong as you've become you're still not my equal when it comes to the range and variety of your attacks."

"I may have fewer techniques in my arsenal than you," Natsume retorted, "But I control them to a degree that even you must rate unbeatable!"

With that the ponytailed Natsume unleashed yet another attack upon Nabiki, who summoned up her unspent power and prepared to meet the rush head-on with her own brand of martial arts fury.

And off to the sides watching the whole affair Ranma and the others looked on with mingled expressions of dismay and disbelief, even as the waves of Ki power went rolling past them to shake the streets themselves with the echoes of their exchanges.

"Oh man…this is not good," Ranma said, "Nabi's always had it over Natsume in terms of speed and power, but at the rate they keep going…"

"I hear you, Kid," Frank agreed, "You're wife's not half bad, but if they keep upping the power level on this fracas they could get into some mighty iffy power zones where control won't be that specific. Aside from the damage they might do to each other, the real estate looks like it's about to take a heck of a beating."

"Nevertheless the match must continue," Donovan quietly insisted, "The Slayer must learn to test and measure her power, and if your wife is the strongest in her family, then their natural rivalry should bring out what is best in both women."

"You keep saying that, Big Guy," Keiko snapped, "But what if things go too far? What if Nabiki gets taxed far enough to affect her condition? Did you ever think about that, Mister Macho hot-stuff spiritualist?"

Nabiki unleashed her Haddo-Fist attack, and the entire area directly before her was engulfed in the fury of pure elemental life energy, power enough to melt an entire tank or reduce an army into rubble. The wave alone that this attack kicked up was enough to blow over signs from a hundred yards away, and it kicked up a wind that caused everyone's hair to flow like streamers even while blinking their eyes to prevent stray debris from causing blindness.

Unfortunately Natsume had sensed this attack with time enough to vault over the wave, and while in mid-air she performed another wind attack that kicked up a wave of hoarfrost, which same pelted Nabiki from the rear and threw off her concentration.

"Her…condition?" Tatewaki reacted, "What mean you by that, Arigami-san?"

"Nabiki," Ranma murmured softly, "Is having our baby."

"What?" Kurumi reacted.

"You're serious?" Mousse asked, "But her curse…"

"TOO SLOW, NEECHAN!" Natsume declared as she whipped around behind Nabiki and took a shot with her rug-beater, connecting with a blow to the back of her head that staggered Nabiki.

"Ouch," Keiko winced, "That's gonna hurt when she tries to turn her neck…"

"We found a way of getting around her curse," Ranma explained, "Madam Lao cast a water spell that froze her temporarily in female form, but by the end of six months it could revert back to her normal condition."

"Revert?" Donovan asked, "You don't much about the way curses work, youth. You cannot turn them on and off like a switch. You can defer them, rechannel their energies, even delay them for a time, but the energy will go where it will, and that is what your Madam Lao did for your wife. Altered her curse for a time so that instead of becoming a man it takes on other forms more subtle, less transparent."

"What are you talking about?" Kurumi asked, "What alteration? What did that Lao person do to Oneechan?"

"I get it now," Keiko exclaimed, "It make perfect sense. Lao's power is over water, and like water itself she must understand ways of altering its course, diverting it like a river…"

"Yes, that does make perfect sense," Tatewaki observed, "A river must run its channels no matter where you divert it…"

"But what the hell does that mean?" Mousse asked, "The power of a Jusenkyo curse… rechannelled?"

"Redirected," Keiko explained, "In female form Nabiki fights with the speed and power of a demon, but as Kaneda she doubles her strength and mass but loses some of her speed…but in a hybrid form with the body of a woman and the strength of a man…"

Nabiki suddenly rounded on Natsume, who had believed her sister was beginning to slow, and with a savage spinning kick knocked the novice Slayer with a spinning kick that was backed with the power of her Ki, which sent Natsume sailing for a hundred meters down the block before tumbling into the trunk of a tree, which she split in half with the force of her body.

"Natsume!" Tatewaki called out.

"I knew it!" Ranma hissed, "I knew that there was something different about the way Nab-chan was fighting. She's way more powerful than when the two of us took Lao on…"

"Yeah," Keiko agreed, "That's how I figure it, Bro. Fighting against Natsume has caused Nabiki to tap into her own increased Ki power, and that means she's fighting with the strength of Kaneda in her own natural body, including her Ki attacks, which are similarly bolstered."

"The strength and power of a man…in the body of a woman," Mousse averred, "The ideal of the Amazon nation…"

"But…she's still pregnant, right?" Kurumi asked, "Won't that impact on her ability to fight?"

"Eventually, yes," Donovan replied, "But I think this fight will be ended long before that becomes a serious issue."

Natsume sprang back into action, whipping her rub-beater around to produce a horizontal cyclone, one that whipped out at Nabiki much too fast to be avoided, but Nabiki came back roaring again, summoning the power of the Hiryu Shoten Ha to reverse propel her at her opponent with such speed that even Natsume was taken aback at the speed and savagery of the attack. But Natsume swiftly recovered to drive Nabiki aside with another wind attack of her own in reverse spiral to the one she used before, thus depriving the Hiryu Shoten Ha of the energy it needed.

"Maybe you think so," Ranma said, raising an arm and forming a look of determination, "But I'm not about to risk it, not for some stupid ass fight that ought to be settled by talking it out, not beating each other senseless."

All at once he felt Frank's overlarge hand on his shoulder and looked up at the towering man-monster, who smiled back at him in a comradely fashion.

"Easy kid, I'm with you on this, but if we're going to talk them out of this, it's gonna take coordinated action on both our parts. Are you with me?"

"Hai," Ranma agreed at once.

"We'll do it together," Frank assured him, "But it's gonna take timing and teamwork 'cause we got Feminine Pride issues that need to be settled."

"Ain't that the truth?" Keiko agreed soberly, "You can smell the Estrogen in the air in this battle. Natsume's always envied Nabiki for being the better fighter…"

"You're wrong," Kurumi spoke out, "It's not envy that Oneechan feels for Nabiki, it's admiration. She doesn't hate our sister, she wants to fight with her to get strong…to be stronger one day even than Nabiki."

"Kurumi is correct!" Natsume declared as she and Nabiki took a pause in their battle to get their mutual wind back, "I am fighting to improve myself, and in spite of these strange enhancements you are still holding your own against me. I don't want to win because of some magical spell, but if fighting with you can give me better control over my new power…"

"Fine with me," Nabiki shot back, "I'm only just warming up to this match, and I wouldn't want it to end before I'd gotten a taste of my own new limits."

"Then so be it, Sister mine!" Natsume declared as she brandished her rug-beater, "You are the standard that I set when I seek to achieve excellence, and by fighting with you I will become stronger, as strong as is within my nature to become!"

"I'm beginning to agree with Arigami-san," Mousse remarked, "They're even talking like Amazons…I'm practically nostalgic."

Kurumi just glared at the man who was (technically) her husband by Amazon law but turned back to see the fight escalating as Natsume and Nabiki poured on the juice and once more were fighting in real earnest.

And not far away several dark forms took shape on an adjoining rooftop, Dimitri and his Dark Pack looking on as they witnessed the battle of the sisters which was progressing once again to an entirely new level.

"That…that is the one named Tendo Nabiki," Dimitri declared as he saw one of the combatants hurl a Ki-bolt at the other.

"You mean the Sheila who cleaned your clocks last time, Mate?" Raptor asked, only to feel the wrath of the vampire's elbow on the top of his head, driving the Zombie King into the roof with a groan of dismay, "Wh-what did I say now…?"

"That is the woman who defeated you in battle?" Morgan said in more than casual interest, "How interesting…she has unusual control over her internal power…for a mortal."

"Control…but only a little understanding of the forces that they wield," Jumaji observed, "The Slayer is too new at her role, too unfamiliar with her own potential to tap into more than a mere two percent of the gift that she has been bequeathed to her by the Powers."

"The Slayer is of marginal interest to me," Dimitri said, "Tendo Nabiki does interest me, and not just because of the slight inconvenience she caused me with an unexpected attack the last time. If I can absorb her power then mine would become even greater than ever. But still…it is her older sister whom I am primarily after…"

"No sign of her, Dread Lord," Darkwulf noted, "But look, Donovan and Stein are witnessing the battle…"

"Ah yes, my old friends," Dimitri smiled in a way that even the werewolf found intimidating, "How nice of them to drop in to bear witness to my inevitable triumph. No doubt they too seek the eldest of the Tendo siblings, but clearly they do not yet have her in their possession. Perhaps they have attached themselves to the family in the hopes that they will lead them to our quarry…"

"Dread Lord," Anakaris pointed out, "I feel a disturbance in the C'thon…the force-lines of the dragon are being drawn upon and redirected to this point…"

"Eh?" Dimitri said, "What could be causing that? Are these fighters that powerful that they can alter the very way in which the blood of the earth flows through this region?"

All at once Nabiki made another flying leap and got behind Natsume, kicking off with a spinning back-kick that caused the very ground beneath her feet to crack and shatter, large chunks of asphalt being kicked up as she drew upon her more advanced training to bolster her new attack against Natsume.

"Shadowskills, my sister?" Natsume smiled as she recovered from that kick, landing a good fifteen meters from where she had been standing, "I've been wondering when you would get around to using that…"

"Seems appropriate," Nabiki smiled, "You're asking for a real ass-kicking, Sister, and now you're gonna get it!"

"Then do your best, Neechan!" Natsume cried as the both of them came rushing together, each drawing upon their reserves of power to unleash powerful waves that threatened to tear yet more chunks of the street into so much broken asphalt.

All at once a wave of flames rose up to separate the two combatants before they had fully unleashed the full measure of their pent up energies, and with a gasp Nabiki drew back, recognizing the fire attack as having only one possible source. She turned with a start and stared at the young man controlling the flames along his upraised right arm and gasped out, "Ranma-kun?"

"Saotome-san?" Natsume was equally non-plussed to find herself contained by a wall of congealing water, the streamers of which trailed off from Ranma's other upraised arm as her brother-in-law held both Fire and Water attacks at once, encircling them both with counterpoising Dragons.

"Enough!" Ranma declared forcefully, "You guys break it up right now! This battle is pointless, and all you're doing is wrecking the neighborhood when we're supposed to be looking for Kasumi!"

"Ranma…what are you doing?" Nabiki demanded, "This is supposed to be my fight, and I won't have even you go butting in…"

"Even when the cost of the property damage threatens to go through the roof?" Ranma relaxed his flames then pointed with his arm at the collateral damage the two sisters had inflicted.

Nabiki traced his gesture and was appalled, "We…did all of that?"

Staring at the wrecked cars, broken asphalt, chewed up sidewalks and streets full of huge ruts and potholes that a truck would balk at crossing. All the way down the street they could see broken walls and shattered windows, overturned trees and toppled phone poles and the usual sort of damage one might see if Ryoga had cut loose on a rage fit. Just seeing the amount of structural havoc that had been wrecked caused dollar signs to appear behind Nabiki's eyes, and she fell to her knees just thinking how much it would cost to pay for all this carnage.

"Oh my," Natsume said, "I had no idea that we were this…out of control…"

"Well, now you know," said Ranma, "Now would you kindly stop fighting with my wife so we can talk this out like family? This is all started because you're both worried about Kasumi, and I'm worried about Oneechan just as much as the both of you, and so are Tatewaki and the others."

"Ranma speaks true, my love," Tatewaki said, "This battle may satisfy other needs that you have to test your new limits and prove which of you is the strongest, but this is not a time when we can afford to indulge such personal objectives. There is an enemy out there who deserves our attention far more than this, so please…end the violence now. I could not bare to watch further if either you or your sister were to be injured by this constant escalating."

"Tachi-sama," Natsume breathed before her continence hardened and she slung her rug-beater across her back, "Very well, the battle is postponed until another time, but my resolve remains firm. Kasumi is clearly not the sister we once knew and is a menace who must be dealt with. I do not relish the idea, it is hateful to my very nature, but for the sake of everyone who lives in Nerima, especially you, my sister…"

"Me?" Nabiki asked.

"Who do you think Kasumi will be coming for next if not you?" Natsume asked, "We all know of her unnatural desire for your male half, and if that appetite has been swelled with Vampirism, then it is only a matter of time before she seeks your neck in order to sate her inhuman appetite. She is a vampire and I…I am now a Slayer of vampires, and I must do my fated duty…"

Natsume started to turn away when she found her path blocked by a wall of leather-clad muscle.

"Not so fast, young lady," Frank said, "You're in no position to go casting judgements on anybody, and while you may be hot stuff in a fight you're a complete novice as a vampire hunter, so stop and listen to what we have to say…"

"With all due respect to you, Doctor Steinberg-san," Natsume said when she suddenly lunged forward and punched the big man in the stomach, "I will not be lectured to! I…what…?"

Frank grunted a bit but was no more than mildly staggered by the blow. Moving with a speed that even put her own to shame, the big man moved and suddenly had Natsume gripped in both of his arms, held immobile and unable to get the leverage she needed to release herself as he picked her off her feet and held her at shoulder level.

"Nice try, Kid!" Frank snarled, "But you're a hundred years too young to take me on, and as tough as you are, you're up against the original Monster!"

"Oneechan!" Kurumi suddenly surged forward and hurled a kick at the big man, but Frank saw this coming as well and turned his head to the side, whipped around and did a head-butt that caught the younger girl in the stomach and staggered her in mid-flight.

"Sorry to have to do that to you, Kid," Frank said as Kurumi fell to the ground clutching at her stomach, "But you need to take it easy, and I'm not about to do anything bad to your sister."

"How nice that you have my best interests at heart," Natsume snarled, when she brought her own head back with sudden force and broke free of Frank's embrace, whipped around in a somersault flip that brought her foot around in a kick that staggered the tall man and further served to free her.

"A hundred years, Old Man?" Natsume said as she alighted on her feet once again, "Not even close to that by my reckoning!"

"Huh, not too shabby," Frank remarked as he started to straighten up, only to find himself being wrapped in heavy chains that whipped around him from seeming no where, "WHAA-AT?"

"Sir, I would ask that you not abuse my Airen," Mousse politely insisted, "I realize that you are only doing what you feel you must, but…"

"Bad career move, Kid," Frank somberly glared at the Chinese youth, and all at once he balled his fists and grit his teeth, and all at once a blue-white light began to surround his massive frame, traveling down the length of the chains to their wielder and causing Mousse to cry out and jerk like a fish on a live wire. The tension on the chains slackened off and Frank slipped them off easily while Mousse fell to his knees, smoldering a bit around the edges.

"Rule number one, never attack me with anything metal," Frank informed the stunned teenagers, "My body is supercharged with Bio-electricity, every cell in my body is infused with micro-electrostatic discharges that keeps me alive and fills me with raw elemental power. I'm a Flesh Golem, created by a weird fusion of science and magic, and I suck electricity in like it was mother's milk. My father was a mad scientist and my mother was a thundercloud and for two hundred years I've been the meanest, toughest son of a bitch that you'll ever meet this side of the grave, so keep out of my way, and I won't have to hurt either you or your wife. And you, young lady," he turned back to Natsume, "One or two lucky punches ain't a battle. I ain't about to cut loose with you at full power, but don't push me. I'm working for your benefit, but I don't like to have my good nature taken advantage of, do you copy?"

"I…think that I follow you, Sir," Natsume replied, "But I still must ask why I should withhold the merciful coup that I quite firmly believe will free my sister from an unnatural life of vampirism?"

"What your sister has become is something more than you suspect," Donovan spoke up, "Frank is right to caution you not to rush to any premature judgements. It may be that there is more at work here than you could possibly suspect...and you, old friend...have you been living in the cities for so long that your senses have been that badly dimmed, or did your know that we have an audience standing over yonder watching and listening in to our every word?"

"What?" Frank turned to glance off to the side and caught a set of shadowy forms in the distance, then hissed the word, "Dimitri!"

"Eh?" Keiko and the others whirled to follow the line of his stare, "That bastard is here already?"

Nabiki and the others all turned to see the renegade Vampire Lord and his Dark Pack standing in the dim light of the moon, Dimitri himself smiling as he saw their non-plussed expressions, to which he said, "So, you finally have deigned to acknowledge our presence, old friend. A most entertaining display, a pity you chose to break it up when it was just becoming all the more entertaining."

"Dimitri," Nabiki hissed, balling her fists as she rose to her feet and stood at the ready.

"My lord, aren't you going to introduce the rest of us to your new friends?" Morgan asked.

"Of course, where are my manners?" Dimitri smiled and waved a hand at his companions, "May I present to you the exiled Queen of the Demon Realm, Morgan Anslat, my allies and associates, Raptor-whom I believe you already know-Anakaris, Jumaji and Darkwulf. My colleagues…may I introduce you to the Saotome-Tendo clan, with whom we may all soon become better acquainted."

"The Dark Pack," Frank balled his fists, "This…isn't good…"

"These guys are as tough as Dimitri?" Ranma asked.

"No," Donovan replied, "He is the strongest of those present, save for Morgan. The others are not to be taken for granted, however, for each is a deadly Darkstalker and a proven killer."

"Oh yeah, this is definitely not good," Keiko said.

"Can you feel it? The darkness of their auras…" Tatewaki remarked as he drew his bokken and held it at the ready, "They are consummately…evil…"

"Evil is as evil does," Mousse remarked as he got back to his own feet, shaking off the effects of his shocking rebuttal.

"So what are we going to do it they attack us?" Kurumi asked.

"What do you think, Neechan," Natsume said as she stood at the ready, "Defend ourselves, and inevitably triumph!"

"Feeling overconfident are we, my dear Slayer?" Dimitri smiled, "It is true that you show some slight potential, but you face the greatest of the Dark Powers of the Demon realms before you now. Do you think that you can triumph even with the aid of the Homunculus and the Damphyr?"

"Well, that all depends," Nabiki snarled, "How bad do you want me to kick your butt this time, Asshole? I won't just knock you into a tomb this time, I'll bury you for what you did to my Kasumi!"

"Easy there, Nab-chan," Ranma said as he came to stand beside her, "You ain't in this alone, you know, and if anybody tries mixing it up with you then they'll have to go through me first," and as he brandished his fist he once again summoned his flames to light up the space around them.

"That boy," Morgan remarked, "He commands the elements of fire and water…"

"Yes," Dimitri agreed, "There is power within him, but he is still something of a novice."

"Novice, huh?" Ranma smiled grimly, "Just keep talking like that and you'll see what I'm really made from."

"Kid's got spunk," Raptor mused, "Not much in brains, but a lotta guts."

"Yes," Anakaris said slowly, "And we will be pleased to spill them over the ground if he speaks with such insolence to Lord Dimitri."

"Interesting," Jumaji said, "I sense something in the aura of that boy that suggests he has the potential to be a powerful wizard…"

"Pity he's not going to live long enough to get the chance," Darkwulf snarled while baring his claws.

"Yes…a great pity," Dimitri smiled, "I believe that I will personally absorb that potential and add it to my arsenal. Do not slay him too swiftly, but do not underestimate him or the others with them either."

"Don't worry," Nabiki said, "We won't."

"But it's obvious that they clearly have to come at us in a one-to-one encounter," Keiko smiled with the anticipation of a coming battle.

"Idiots," Anita softly murmured, sensing the inevitability of the coming altercation.

"Stay sharp, Kids, and be on your guard," Frank cautioned, "These aren't amateurs you're facing, and they're about a thousand times as tough as your average opponent."

"And utterly ruthless," Donovan warned them, "They are worse than killers of the body, they are soul killers as well. They will steal your life essence and leave your bodies as spent and desiccated husks."

"Are you trying to warn us or frighten us, Priest?" Natsume smiled confidently as she readied her favorite weapon.

"Oneechan," Kurumi said softly, then she took a position of resolve and said, "I'm with you all the way…just like always."

"I guess that means I'm in it for the fight," Mousse remarked, standing ready to lend his own assistance to his Airen.

"We're in the thick of it, then," Frank softly averred, standing ready, "But with any luck we may all survive this."

"Hey, anything's possible, right Big Guy?" Keiko quipped with a cocky grin.

"Possible, not probable," Donovan replied, "But if we stand together we have an edge that may well help us to triumph."

"Go on believing that, my misguided half-breed brother," Dimitri snarled as he began to summon up his own dark power, "I'll never know why our mutual father ever liked you best, you betrayer of your own dark blood!"

"NANI?" Ranma and Nabiki chorused together, but there was no time for further questions as the battle was joined the next instant later…

Continued

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