Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Project I: Zero Ranma ❯ Through the Darkness, Part 2 ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Ranma opened his eyes to find again that the ceiling he was staring at for the
past time was still the same. He groaned as he tried to sit up.

"Good morning," said the red haired kid beside him.

"Hell. ugh." Ranma moaned.

"It's okay. Your ribs need a few more mending before you can assume your
heroics."

Ranma couldn't reply. It was the same face for his stay there. "Who are you," he
had to ask.

"I'm Washu! The greatest scientist in the known galaxy!" she said. And two
drones that looked almost like her appeared in each of her shoulders, saying
'Washu's the greatest!'

If Ranma wasn't injured, he would've laughed about it, but since his sides were
cracked up a bit, he just slid down the bed. "How long was I out?"

"Since we found you, three days," Washu said.

Ranma just nodded.

"Ranma, I'm repairing your armor," Washu said. "It's been damaged quite a bit.
It would take me some time to repair it."

Ranma just nodded again.

"And your mother is coming this afternoon, or so your grandfather said," Washu
said.

Ranma groaned.

-Omega X Present-

-Project: Zero Ranma-

-Chapter 6: Through the Darkness, Part 2-

Nodoka and Ukyou went down the train station, each having a weird expression.
Nodoka, ever since Ranma's disappearance, constantly worried about it. And the
news that her father sent her was like an Angel delivering the news of it's stop
to create the Fourth Impact [Evangelion-2 storyline.].

Ukyou worried less about Ranma because she knew that her 'Ranchan' was a tough
guy. He displayed confidence and even style the way he walked. Ranma was no
pushover, and she knew that he could take care of himself.

Both walked towards the Masaki shrine.

=Another Shrine=

Usagi was doing something that even her close friends thought was weird. She was
thinking. She read no Manga, she read no book, she didn't even argue with Rei in
the six days that passed.

School cancelled after Pluto's devastating attack, and after Zero's
disappearance, Pluto or any other Outers, didn't appear anymore. The police were
all over the place, find 'those Sailor Sushis' as they called them, to pay for
the highest property damage in their history.

Makoto and Minako kept quiet. It was almost like they became dumb, and that any
word out of them would either be a grunt or a groan.

Rei acted normally. She began to argue with Usagi once in a while about Zero.
She argued that maybe Pluto and the Outers had a good reason to kill the armored
clad.

Ami argued as well, saying that what Pluto did was unbelievable and was
wondering whether Pluto's action were justified.

"I. don't know," Usagi said. "One, I trust Pluto. She knows what will happen in
the future. and yet."

=Setsuna's home=

Michiru and Haruka were still in bandages. After Zero's attack which hit them
hard, even Hotaru's healing powers didn't do much help. It was an unnatural
wound [since the Rakuhouha was a cybernetic attack] and it was left upon Hotaru
to buy stuff for the house.

The three of them shielded the truth from Hotaru. All they said was they fought
the armored clad that was evil, and a threat to the world in the future. What
they always fail to mention was that any threat to the future, whether evil or
not, must be eliminated.

=Later on, Masaki's household=

"Ugh. Ow! Mom. let go!" Ranma whined as Nodoka gave her son a bear hug.

"YOU! DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" cried Nodoka, crying in Ranma's shoulders.

Ranma was a bit devastated and overwhelmed by the emotion his mother was
displaying. When her mom let go, Ukyou wanted to hug as well, but settled for a
gentle hug in the neck.

"What happened?" asked Nodoka.

Ranma went speechless for a second. What was he going to say to her mother? He
was the armored clad, Zero? And that he fought with three women?

"He was injured when he fought a gang who threatened Sasami," Nodoka's father
suddenly appeared from view.

"Sasami, father?" asked Nodoka. "Who's Sasami?"

Sasami came in view. The whole family planned the whole thing, hiding Ranma's
identity.

"Wow, my son is so manly!" Nodoka declared.

"Yes," Katsuhito said. "You have soft spots on manly men."

Ayeka and Ryoko giggled a bit, but quickly recovered when Tenchi gave them a
patronizing look.

"Hello, auntie," said Tenchi.

"Oh, you are a handsome lad. Looks like my father never lied about you." Nodoka
said.

Tenchi blushed a bit, but as quickly as Ryoko and Ayeka recovered, he stood with
a smile in his face. "Um, are you staying?"

Ranma just sat in the corner. His body was still in pain. The greatest scientist
in the known galaxy as the kid introduced herself said that it might take a
while. Still he wished his healing would hurry up. He could barely stand up.

Nodoka agreed in staying with them. Ukyou wouldn't leave Ranma anyway, so they
agreed on taking dinner there.

Sasami and Nodoka would cook, but since because of the added guests, Sasami
would go to the market and buy food. Ranma accompanied her and Ukyou followed
suit.

"So, how long have you known cousin Ranma?" asked Sasami.

Ukyou just smiled. "Well, only a few weeks ago. See, he was presumed dead when
Auntie adopted me."

"You're Ranma's sister?" asked Sasami in surprise.

"Well, yeah, sugar. If that is how you say it."

"Are you guys talking about me?" asked a voice behind them.

"No," both said.

"Good, because It think I heard that I was presumed dead," Ranma said. "And I'm
quite alive."

They all laughed.

"Anyway, Tenchi-nissan is not really my brother, but he treats me like a
sister." Sasami said.

Ranma and Ukyou smiled. "Good for you Sasami," said Ranma.

"Yeah, really good." Ukyou declared. "Well, it was really good that Ranma helped
you," Ukyou said, talking about the cover upped story of Ranma helping Sasami
against a gang of thugs.

"Yeah, really lucky." Sasami paused. "What are they doing?" she said, pointing
at the group of people.

Ranma was tall enough to see what was going on. It was a gang of boys, and they
were kicking a girl.

Ranma reacted without thinking, jumping up in the air, and gave two swift kicks
to the male in front of the girl.

"HEY!" said one of the boys. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

"To get to her, you have to get to me," Ranma said.

Hotaru watched in awe as Ranma faced a group of almost 6 people.

"Well, you want it! CHARGE!" one of them said. It was the one that Ranma kicked,
and it seems like he was the leader of the group. And as he shouted, everyone
came in.

Ranma hid his injury very well as he dodged, kicked, punch some of them
unconscious. (This guys have no training. They are just bullies!) Ranma thought
as he back flipped, knocking the last one. He took a deep breath and turned
around to the girl. She was sort of pretty, a bit foreign looking with shoulder
cut black hair. "You okay?" he asked.

Hotaru just nodded as he looked at her savior. "Yes. t-thank you."

Ranma just smiled. "So, why are they after you?"

Hotaru's face fell. Would she dare explain her powers to him? Will he turn on
her too?

Ranma correctly read the face. "Oh, forget it. If you don't want to tell, then
don't."

"Sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be," Ranma replied. "Uh, are you going somewhere?"

"Yes. In the market."

"Cool. We are going as well." Ranma said.

" 'We' ?" Hotaru asked.

"Yeah," Ranma replied, turning around. "Hey guys! Come!"

"Is she okay?" asked Sasami.

"Is she hurt?" asked Ukyou.

"She's okay," Ranma said. "Anyway, I'm Ranma, this is my sister Ukyou, and this
is my cousin, Sasami."

"I'm Hotaru."

The four walked towards the market, and Sasami talked to Hotaru most of the way.
Buying what they needed, the four walked back together. Unbeknownst to them, it
was the last trip that Ranma might have.

=Along the random streets of Juuban=

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!" Mars shouted at the new monster. It was huge, it had blue
armor and had brown skin, and it had fangs of ice. And to make it worse, it was
impervious to Mars' attack.

It shrugged off the attack and continued to walk slowly to them.

"Damn it," Mars shouted. "Why can't I damage it?"

Mercury scanned it in the computer. "It's armor is creating a cold wave around
it. It is more or less like the ice attack Zero did to that enemy we had in the
park before."

Jupiter and Venus tried and failed to slow down it's progress. The chain turned
to ice and the electric ball just deflected of the armor.

Sailor Moon was panicking already. All the monsters they fought so far were too
strong for them. Only Zero seemed to find a way to dispose them.

And speaking of the devil, Ranma, Sasami, Ukyou and Hotaru finally appeared in
view.

Ranma's eyes narrowed as he saw those girls fighting the monster. And those
girls had the same uniform as the other three, which attacked him four days ago.
He didn't want to join the fray. He didn't want to get involve.

Hotaru almost dropped her stuff when she saw her friends in trouble. She
desperately wanted to transform. (but, not in front of these people.) she
thought.

Finally, the monster stopped it's rampage. It blew up cold air and seemed to
form a huge icicle and he blew more cold air until it grew large.

The Sailor Senshi tried their best to attack the monster while it was blowing up
an ice, but all it did was anger it.

The ice fell down and impacted the street, smashed to thousands of pieces, but
those pieces were going towards the Sailor Senshi and they were sharp as knives.
The Sailor Senshi screamed in pain as the ice struck their body. Not only it
stabbed them painfully, but some were able to penetrate their magical clothes
and they started to bleed.

"Damn it." Ranma shouted as he saw blood. Innocent blood, red blood, flowing.
Flowing because he wouldn't do anything. (I have no choice!) he thought, as he
glowed gray.

=Washu's laboratory=

Washu wasted in no time in fixing the 'interesting' piece of armor that lay
before her table. The data she received were so interesting to her. When she
took a brake, she noticed something weird. The gold orb in the chest area was
glowing and before Washu could do anything, it vanished.

(Ranma!) she thought.

=Back to the streets=

Ranma didn't care anymore if there were two people behind him. The monster
started walking again to the fallen girls.

Uykou and Hotaru's eyes went wide as Ranma was bathed in gray light, and when it
resided, he wore a black armor which showed a few signs of cracks.

(My brother. is Zero?) asked Ukyou to herself, shocked to think anymore.

(The evil which Setsuna mama described. Is it him? How can it be?) Hotaru
thought. (An evil person wouldn't help anyone.)

Sasami just tapped Ranam in the back. "Be careful, cousin Ranma," she said.

"I will," Ranma replied. "I'll teleport straight towards the corner there," he
said, pointing at the street. "After the fight. Meet you there."

The monster let out a roar of laughter. "Weak, stupid! Is this what you guys can
do?"

The Inner Senhsi tried to stand up. They all groaned in pain.

"Say good bye!" it said to them, drawing in breath to use it again.

"No you don't!!!" Ranma shouted as he landed right in front of the monster,
slashing it from the back.

Venus and Jupiter gasped. It was Zero and he was still alive.

The monster groaned as he shook his head. "YOU!" and it dashed towards him.

Ranma almost couldn't dodge as the ice maverick he fought before surprised him.
(He wasn't this fast before.) he thought. Then, he attacked. "RYUENJIN!" he said
as he jumped up, blade on fire, and completely missing the target. (Nani?!)

The monster simply back stepped the attack, with his hands balled to a fist and
punched Ranma as he landed. Ranma almost screamed as he felt his ribs braking
again, his muscles straining as he flew towards the wall, where he made a deep
impression.

(Damn it. He's faster than before.) Ranma thought. The Maverick dashed again
towards Ranma to give him another punch. But Ranma was ready for it. He waited
for last possible moment and ducked the punch, and he unleashed a spur of the
moment attack.

"SHO-RYUEN-KEN!" he shouted as he drove his blade now bathed in fire again to
the Mavericks ice fangs, and jumped straight up in the sky, fire dancing around
Ranma as he twisted in the air, and dragging his enemy up.

It screamed in pain as the Maverick itself cought fire, and slowly, glowed white
and even before Ranma landed, the Maverick exploded in the air.

Ranma landed with one knee on the ground. The last attack drained him a lot and
his injuries weren't helping. He took deep breaths.

"You okay?" asked a person behind him. It was Mercury.

"Get. away." Ranma replied coldly.

The five of them flinched. "But. you need help." Moon replied.

"I wouldn't be like this if it weren't for your friends." Ranma declared again
in a cold voice. "Get out."

All of them froze. Finally, Mercury spoke. "We. we're sorry about that one. We
never intended to."

Ranma stood up and faced them. (She's serious,) Ranma thought, looking at her in
the eye.

"And. thanks for helping us." Mercury said.

Ranma stood there for a moment, and smiled. "You're welcome. See you." And he
teleported out and as the gray beam which Ranma turned to when he teleports out
was intercepted however when Pluto appeared in the sky and attacked.

"DEAD SCREAM!"

A blinding flash of light was emitted when the gray beam hit the magical attack
of Pluto and Ranma screamed in pain as he fell down again.

"NO!" the Inner Senshi shouted.

Ranma had no time to listen though as Neptune was in front of him with her
mirror out. "AQUA MIRROR REFLECTOR!!!" And Ranma, for the second time in his
life, felt the armor bend inwards, and the pain was overwhelming. He HAD to
counter it.

"RAIJINGEKI!" Ranma shouted as he took the Saber from his back and made a wild
electric stab towards the mirror.

Neptune smiled as her tactic worked. She jumped up when she saw Ranma grab for
his sword and Pluto took care of the rest as she appeared right where Neptune
was supposed to be standing and blocked the wild stab easily, deflected it with
her staff, and used Ranma's momentum to send the sword upwards.

Ranma lost his grip on the sword and time seemed to stop as he watched
helplessly as Uranus came to view and slashed the hilt of the R-Saber with her
own sword. She destroyed it with no difficulty at all.

Pluto smiled as she disarmed Zero. Now he was defenseless. She took her staff
and pointed it to Zero's chest. "Dead Scream!"

Ranma shouted, pain so intense that his armor in the chest and shoulder area
shattered as he flew a few steps back. And he saw it glint in the sun. The
golden orb, which was situated in his armor, was flying across his eyes.
Ignoring the pain of his chest, he grabbed it and held it safely in his closed
fist as he fell down to one knee.

Sasami shrieked in shock. "Cousin RANMA!" she said, and ran towards him. Ukyou
did the same as she left Hotaru alone.

(W-why?) Hotaru thought. (why is mama fighting someone who helped us?)

Uranus landed in front of Ranma to finish it. The front armor is gone, and he
wouldn't survive a direct hit. "World Shaking!" she said, but before she could
unleash her attack, a beam came down on her, and a shadowed man pushed her a bit
to the left. It laughed and turned to a beam again, and teleported out.

The attack, which it was supposed to be for Ranma, came towards the running
girls Ukyou and Sasami. Ranma's eyes widened as he saw them and without
thinking, he jumped towards them, and grabbed them in mid-air, and rolled them
away to safety.

"Cousin." Sasami began.

"Stay down," he said, and stood up and turned around, and Sasami's face suddenly
was bathed with specks of blood.

Ranma felt a prick in his chest, and saw Uranus, who had her sword deep in his
chest. His eyes traveled from the sword to the wielder of it. She showed no
emotion in her face, yet her eyes showed satisfaction.

The Inner Senshi were shocked to see Uranus stab Zero, and the other end of the
sword is sticking out of his back.

Uranus removed her sword, and Ranma's eyes began to close. He fell down on his
knees and stood there kneeling a moment, his hand still clutched the gold orb.
He fell forward.

Suddenly, in a blink of an eye, two other beams came down towards Ranma. One was
red and one was blue.

"Ranma!" the red figured shouted as he knelt down towards the fallen figure.

"Zero, is he okay?" asked the blue armored figure.

"I. don't know, X," the red figure replied.

It was the two friends of Ranma. form the future.

/--------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ -\

The future and past timeline collides. But, too many questions go unanswered.

Is Ranma dead? Who is the dark figure that attacked Uranus? Why is Zero and X
here? What happened to Ranma before going to the past?

NEXT: Through the Darkness Part 3

\--------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ -/