Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Polarity ❯ Strong Forces ( Chapter 4 )

Ranma was a little pissed, and the distraction of a horde of creatures attacking the marketplace near the high school was not helping his temperament.

 

The creatures were about a head shorter than his girl form, brown, leathery, and scrambling all over the place. Two or three would trash a store, and each would grab a worker or customer, using a clawed hand to cover their face and draw ki from their bodies. Then they would jump away and repeat the process in the next establishment.

 

To Ranma's senses it was similar to an attack by Ms. Hinako, or the old letch, but instead of converting the ki for their own use, the creatures seemed to only store it. His eyes tracked the creatures rapidly and counted an even dozen and more victims by the second.

 

But that wasn't what was really pissing him off.

 

He had just found out, through a few coincidences and a slip of the tongue that Akane of all people had been conspiring with their parents to get him to apologize.

 

On the surface he didn't really mind, and he knew that when she was angry with him she could find out all sorts of little ways to make his life hell. But for her to actually work with his idiot father…

 

No, if Genma Saotome was helping then he would have been crowing to him about it, how even Akane was coming around to the Father's point of view. It all came back to the fact that Akane was mad at him, and after the fight at the school she must have seen Genma scold him. She had used that to her advantage to get him to treat her better without any effort on her part.

 

She played him.

 

Ranma turned away from Akane, who was watching the commotion in the arcade with wide eyes and locked on to something that he could actually take his anger out on.

 

It was a bad day to be a servant of Dark forces in Nerima.

 

 

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 4

Strong Forces

 

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

 

 

It was a good day to be a servant of Dark forces in Juuban.

 

The portal had surprised the local merchants, and the creatures that swarmed through were of a different type then seen by most people before. Where monsters that had attacked before were typically female in shape and vaguely humanoid, these were male, short, leathery, and not at all pleasant to look at.

 

On top of that, even though the attacks seemed random and ruthless, the little demons were smart. No one person was being targeted, and the horde was doing a good job of corralling the humans so that none of them were able to get away. In addition, any person that tried to fight off the attack was swarmed by up to five of the beasts.

 

It hadn't taken long for the district's sailor suited defenders of love and justice to be alerted to the chaos so close by, and led by Mercury's computer the five Inner Senshi and four Outer Senshi landed in the middle of the congregation of small demonic forms.

 

“The shopping arcade is a place for peaceful…”

 

Sailor Moon's speech was cut off as three of the creatures leapt into the air, jumping straight for her. The blond stumbled back, her arms pin wheeling, but before they impacted the creatures were intercepted by bolts of fire and lightning, and the last was sliced in half by an overhand sword strike.

 

“It doesn't look like they're in a talking mood, Princess,” Uranus said as she brought her blade back around.

 

Moon nodded, her long ponytails jumping up and down with her head, “Maybe we should just blast them then, I guess.”

 

Mars moved to stand guard on Moon's left and brought her fingers together, “Good call, Dumpling Head. We better…”

 

She stopped as suddenly the horde of monsters fell back, taking cover behind benches and in doorways. For a moment the Senshi paused at this unexpected behavior, and then the creatures hands began to glow.

 

“Incoming!”

 

At Venus' cry the Senshi dove for whatever cover they could find as shots of fire started blazing through them. Mercury was caught flat footed, and only Sailor Saturn's quick use of her Silence Wall power saved her from a hail of blasts. Jupiter reached out from behind a delivery truck and grabbed the hem of her friend's skirt, pulling her to cover.

 

“You ok?” the tall brunette asked Mercury.

 

The blue haired girl was flat on the ground, but the uncomfortable change in position did not stop the genius girl Senshi as she activated the visor that was connected to her computer that she had retrieved from Pluto before the fight started.

 

“These creatures are acting different then any we've faced before.”

 

Pluto took position near Sailor Moon, spinning her staff and knocking away blasts that came near. She yelled over the explosions, “They are too organized! Someone must be controlling them directly!”

 

Mercury nodded to the eldest of the Senshi and looked around, allowing her visor to scan the entire area, ducking as a near miss grazed the side of the truck.

 

Suddenly her arm shot out, pointing into the air above the bulk of the enemy force.

 

“There!”

 

“Very good,” a voice said from thin air, “It is good to see that this world's guardians have some perception.” A figure faded into view, a woman in a loose hooded red robe that was split to show her bare legs. She held a staff of twisted wood in one hand and the other was covered in a gold gauntlet. Her face was shrouded by the hood, but glowing white eyes could be seen in the shadows of the garment.

 

“Now,” the newcomer said as the creatures ceased their attack, “let us see how you handle a true mage.”

 

She raised her gilded hand, and a bolt of blue lightning shot out.

 

**********

 

Ranma had found the monsters attacking Nerima to be tougher then they looked, but were too slow to really concentrate any fire on him. And fire they had, as blasts trailed after him as he darted from opponent to opponent.

 

He would bounce in front of one and deliver a hard strike, knocking the smaller brown creature down, and then delivering a quick chop to the head to make sure that they would stay down for the time being. Any counter was avoided, and he could tell that the attacks were well coordinated, but his experience dodging groups of rivals that were far more skilled then these creatures allowed him a great deal of leeway.

 

The problem was that he could not tackle the entire group fast enough. For every one he engaged, two were attacking innocent bystanders, and two were attempting to revive their fallen comrades. The rest were shooting strange energy balls at him.

 

Charging his battle aura, Ranma charged two more foes, but before he could strike them he saw Akane out of the corner of his eye attempting to down one of the creatures with a hard punch. Ranma knew the girl had more then enough power to do the job, but her speed left her open.

 

The small creature ducked Akane's haymaker and lashed a clawed hand at her, striking the Tendo girl's face. Wisps of energy began flowing into the creature, and Akane's struggling started failing.

 

In a flash, Ranma was there with a ki charged knife hand to the monster's arm, jarring it loose from Akane. Acting rapidly he scooped the girl up and pumped as much ki as he could into his legs, jumping high into the air.

 

“What are you doing,” Akane yelled at him, “let go of me!”

 

“Gotta get you clear first,” Ranma grunted as they reached the apex of his jump. “Those things are too fast for you.”

 

Akane scowled, “I can take care of myself! I don't need your help!”

 

“Be serious, Akane,” Ranma growled as he alighted on top of a nearby building. “These things aren't just attacking people. They move like soldiers.” He put Akane down and pointed down into the chaos below, “They move in squads, give each other cover fire, and have an objective.”

 

Akane looked at him oddly, “What are you talking about? You're no soldier, so how do you know all that?”

 

“One of the last stops that Pops and me made before we went over to China was to stop at the American military base in Okinawa. I managed to get some training with the Marines there. Good grapplers, good fighters. Tough as Ryoga and twice as nasty in a fight. Those things down there are moving just like them.”

 

Akane blinked as she tried to absorb this, but before she could reply Ranma had already jumped back down and was re-engaging the monsters.

 

Moving with purpose, Ranma abandoned his rapid strikes from one monster to another and instead moved from cover to cover, trying to avoid detection as he moved back among the invaders. The creatures had returned to gathering their dark harvest after seeing him flee, and he used that to his advantage. His new plan may not have been honorable, but he realized that this was no duel, lives were on the line against a military force, and it was his duty as a martial artist to defend those that could not defend themselves.

 

One of the creatures on the perimeter of the battleground was suddenly pulled into an alley, and a hard thud was heard that sounded much like a head being rammed into a brick wall.

 

One monster suddenly had a trash can slammed over his head by a red and black blur and felt the impacts of a hundred punches in less then a second.

 

A third creature was entering a bookstore when he was suddenly hit from behind by a large blue ki sphere that slammed him into the still closed door.

 

Another invader was reaching to grab a paralyzed human, but stopped suddenly when he was hit over the head by a cement park bench.

 

An invader was helping one of his comrades that had fallen during the first engagement when he stepped in a loop of rope that immediately snapped taught and slammed him into a steel lamppost.

 

“Five up, five down,” Ranma whispered to himself as he hustled to hide behind a fruit stand close to the center of the battleground. “Hidden Leaf my ass.”

 

“Impressive,” called out a deep baritone voice, “You are skilled at both hand to hand and guerrilla warfare. But do you have the skill and courage to face one such as I?”

 

Ranma peeked out from behind the stand as saw that the invaders had fallen back, moving away from his position. In front of the group stood a much larger man, or at least what Ranma assumed was a man.

 

Covered in blood red armor from head to toe, accentuated in gold trim and spikes, this new opponent easily towered over the other creatures. He rested the tip of a four foot long broadsword on the ground and rested his hands on top of the pommel. His unadorned helmet had only three horizontal slits on it, and they glowed a pale white.

 

And he was looking right at Ranma.

 

“Oh crap.”

 

**********

 

Another eldritch bolt slammed into the ground, singeing the boot heels of Sailor Moon as she randomly dodged around the destroyed street. For her it was more of the same since she had first become Sailor Moon, but for her enemy in this fight it was a little disconcerting.

 

The sailor skirted defender of love and justice seemed to be untouchable.

 

The other Senshi were defending themselves as well after the initial onslaught. Uranus had taken a blast in the chest when Neptune was attacked, and the Outer Senshi were now hidden behind Saturn's Silence Wall along with Mercury who was tending to the wounded warrior. Venus was diving from broken bench to fire hydrant to tree, trying to get a clear shot at the floating spell caster from behind. Mars and Jupiter had double teamed their opponent from the front, hoping to distract her and give Sailor Moon time to bring out the big guns.

 

Nothing really seemed to help, however as bolts of raw power struck out from the mage's golden gauntlet time and time again, blasting cover, scorching asphalt, and keeping the Senshi from gaining any ground.

 

“We need to regroup,” called out Mars as she spun away from an exploding trash can.

 

Suddenly the barrage stopped.

 

“Then I shall let you,” said the hovering spell caster as she lowered her hand.

 

Mars blinked and looked in wonder as the hooded witch drifted to the ground and seemed to wait. She slowly edged back to the rest of her teammates, keeping an eye on their opponent as the other Senshi gathered.

 

“What's going on,” she whispered to the others, “is she making fun of us or something?”

 

“No,” Pluto answered. “She knows she has the advantage over us at the moment. It may seem overconfident, but she truly thinks that this battle was hers from the beginning.”

 

Sailor Moon knelt down next to Mercury and looked over Uranus, “How is she?”

 

The warrior Senshi grunted, “I'm fine. Just let me get up and I'll finish off that witch, no problem.”

 

“She has a burn on her abdomen,” said Mercury, “and the electrical discharge may have impaired her equilibrium. She'll heal in a few hours with our powers, but right now she won't be able to fight.”

 

“Don't be ridiculous. I'm only a little winded.” The sandy blond attempted to stand, but as soon as she attempted to bend at the waist her hand shot to her midsection and she winced, falling back.

 

“I swear,” Neptune huffed as Uranus' head landed back in her lap, “you are far too macho for your own good. Are you sure you aren't a little boy instead of a woman?”

 

Uranus smiled and managed to get out, “Maybe you can check later to make sure.”

 

Neptune lightly bopped her on the head, and a blushing Mercury coughed out, “She'll be fine.”

 

Moon nodded and stood, a look of determination crossing her face. She began walking towards their enemy, but Mars moved to intercept her.

 

“What are you doing? We need to stick together and come up with a plan to overpower this witch.”

 

Moon spoke softly, “I know. I'll be right back.” Then she brushed past her friend and stood out in the middle of the deserted street, eyes fixed on the hooded enchantress.

 

“Why are you doing this,” she called out, “why are you hurting these innocent people?”

 

“I see no innocent people here,” the mage answered in a silky voice. “All I see is food.”

 

Moon was confused and spoke again, “But these are good people, working, shopping, living, and playing. They are not food, but precious life.”

 

“Oh yes, they are precious life. And that is why we have come. You shine in the night like beacons to us, and our hunger grows. Our Master felt your light, and craves it so. He sent us to consume your world as we have done before, for it is only in the extinguishing of light that the darkness can grow.” As the sorceress spoke her voice gained an almost erotic quality as she expressed her delight at the idea of devouring light.

 

Sailor Moon shuddered inn horror and asked in a small voice, “Who…What are you?”

 

The witch rolled her head back and gave a long laugh, “I am…Famine.”

 

**********

 

“War,” Answered the armored behemoth as Ranma stood before him, “and you are?”

 

“I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Indiscriminate Grappling. Now that that's settled why don't you just back off and leave these people alone.”

 

The armored warrior slowly shook his head and his voice echoed across the street, “No. I am disappointed in you. You seem to understand my ways well, but now you show ignorance. The ways of War do not allow for retreat when I have such an advantage over my foe.”

 

“Fine,” answered Ranma, “but let's move this somewhere where nobody will get hurt.”

 

Again War shook his head, “You still do not understand. My goal is not only to challenge strong fighters, but to destroy and consume all the world. That is the nature of war, to destroy.” With that the red hued knight raised his large sword and let it fall again to strike the ground. A flash of power erupted from the point of impact and sent a shockwave out towards Ranma.

 

The young martial artist jumped high into the air and grumbled, “Dammit, another Ryoga. Don't I get a break from reckless loonies? No, of course not.” Flipping in mid air, Ranma tucked in tight and began his descent at War, foot extended in a kick. The warrior readied his sword and slashed upwards, but struck only air.

 

The knight looked around to try and spot the youth, but before he could find him, Ranma's voice came from behind him.

 

“I just can't let you go nuts like this, you know.”

 

War turned his head and looked down the length of his sword that had swung behind him on the backswing to find Ranma crouching on the flat of the blade near the tip. Before the warrior could react, Ranma pushed off the sword with his hands and lashed out with a hard kick to the knight's head. The kick landed hard, and Ranma jumped away, dropping into a defensive stance between War and the few civilians that were still mobile.

 

“You don't get past me,” The young Saotome declared confidently.

 

The knight righted himself and brought his sword around into an offensive stance, “Impressive, but futile. No mortal skill can stop me. And all your efforts do is to drag out the inevitable destruction of your foolish self.”

 

Ranma smirked, “I doubt that, you Kuno wannabe.”

 

War shook his head, “Now you learn the difference between skill and power.” With that the red knight pulled his sword around almost faster then Ranma could track and unleashed a massive wave of power. Ranma was about to dodge to avoid it, but there were still people behind him trying to get away. In less then a heartbeat Ranma changed his plan and rooted his feet into the ground.

 

He drew deeply upon himself and pulled every shred of confidence forward, using it to drive his ki as high as he could. His aura flashed blue, and he cupped his hands outward.

 

“MOUKO TAKABISHA!!!”

 

A sphere of swirling ki blasted out from Ranma and impacted with War's destructive wave. For a moment the two power sources struggled against each other, each seeking to overpower the other. Then in an explosion of light and sound the wave destroyed Ranma's attack and shot forward, slamming into the stunned martial artist.

 

Ranma was knocked back with considerable force and skidded along the ground, bottom first for twenty feet before he came to a rest, gasping for air. His hands went to his chest, and he instantly knew that at least three of his ribs were cracked.

 

He saw from his prone position that Akane was still watching from her rooftop, hands clasped over her mouth in shock. He didn't let his eyes linger there, and looked further down the road and saw that the street was now clear. He had bought enough time for people to get away.

 

Groaning, he attempted to roll onto his knees, but as he did he was ceased with a fit of coughing. He covered his mouth, and when the fit was done he looked down and saw blood on his hand.

 

“Now you see, young warrior,” the knight's voice came from behind him. “You may be skilled, but you will never be able to overcome my power as long as you throw yourself into my attacks.”

 

Ranma gasped out, “No fair. You were aiming at those people. I couldn't dodge or they'd have been killed. What kind of monster are you?”

 

Ranma turned and saw War approach him, sword moving upwards for one final strike.

 

“The kind that wins.”

 

**********

 

The battle had resumed, but there was a difference. After Famine's declaration, Sailor Moon had grown more determined. The callus way the sorceress had dismissed the innocent people she was harming had offended the Moon Princess greatly, and it showed in the hard look in the girl's eyes.

 

Mercury stayed with Uranus, gathering more data with her computer as Neptune stood guard over them. Pluto and Saturn flanked the princess, moving to block or deflect as many of the bolts as they could as the Princess focused her resolve inward.

 

Mars, Venus and Jupiter charged forward, Venus giving cover fire while Mars threw dozens of spirit wards drawn out of her glove and Jupiter barreling in to battle with her hand to hand skills.

 

The assault was difficult, to be sure, but their magically enhanced reflexes gave them just enough leeway to avoid most of the strikes, and as lightning rained down among them they struck.

 

Under Sailor Venus' cover, Sailor Mars sprinted in and jumped high into the air. With a quick flip of the wrist and a split second of concentration a ward in her hand stiffened, and she slapped it on Famine's forehead as she passed overhead, her Senshi boosted agility allowing her to dart out of the way as Sailor Jupiter charged in behind her to unload a massive uppercut that knocked back the dark witch, and with a spin kick the warrior of lightning and wood knocked Famine's staff away. The tall brunette then rolled to one side as she felt a massive magical charge from behind.

 

“Dead Scream,” Sailor Pluto whispered as she launched a sphere of temporal instability that impacted solidly with Famine.

 

The sorceress stumbled back, but her gilded hand reached up and pulled the spirit ward off her forehead, “I see that you are not like that other one. The Master will need to know the power of the Senshi here on Earth.” With that she reached out, and her staff flew back into her hand, and she let go of the ward.

 

As the paper started to flutter to the ground a rose shot out and struck it, pinning it to her chest. The dark witch winced in surprise and looked up to see her new attacker. A young man clad in a tuxedo, mask, top hat, and cape stood atop a lamp post arm outstretched after a throw.

 

“You underestimate us all,” Tuxedo Mask stated calmly. “Your battle is not yet over. Sailor Moon!”

 

Moon was already winding up, her enchanted baton like kaleidoscope glowing with power as she dropped to one knee and pushed it towards Famine.

 

“MOON GORGEOUS MEDITATION!”

 

Famine managed to bring her armored hand up to block the concentrated blast of prismatic light that crashed into her, but it did little as the gold appendage began to disintegrate. Drawing what power she could, the witch forced a spell through, and as the last of her hand vaporized she teleported away, robes smoking from the shear energy.

 

Sailor Moon let out a breath and collapsed to her knees. In a flash Tuxedo Mask was behind her, allowing her to rest against him, “It's over…”

 

“No,” Sailor Pluto said sadly, “This may only be the beginning.”

 

**********

 

Ranma ignored the pain and rolled to one side as the blade came down. The pigtailed martial artist gathered himself and continued to roll until he came to the edge of the road where a fire hydrant stopped him rolling further.

 

Ranma saw this and muttered, “Oh, this can't be good…”

 

He kicked up and tumbled away again as War came in with a horizontal slash that would have removed Ranma's torso from his legs, and instead took off the top of the hydrant, spraying the area in cold water.

 

Ranma gasped as the change washed over him and almost had to bite his lip to hold back the pain as his ribs made themselves home in his female form's smaller frame.

 

She muttered a low curse under her breath and let her left arm wind under her breasts to cover and hold the wound. She was now positive that one of her ribs was on the verge of breaking. She needed this to end now. Ranma took up a one handed stance and readied herself to resume the battle.

 

To her surprise she saw that War had taken several steps back, his sword in a low guard position.

 

She then heard a whisper from the red knight, “You…it can't be…”

 

The warrior then stood straight and saluted her with his massive blade, “This has become most interesting. I yield the field to you for now, but this draw will not last. Next time we meet I shall have my master's permission to finish this. For now, farewell.”

 

With that the knight faded from view.

 

Ranma held her stance until she was sure War was gone, then muttered as she fell to her knees, “What the hell was that about?”

 

The redhead's body then caught up with her, and Ranma collapsed to the ground, awareness swallowed by darkness.

 

 

To be continued…

 

 

Endnote: Sorry about the delay folks, I have no excuse but to say that choreographing a huge fight in two places is a little hard for me. Putting that aside for the moment, next time Pluto makes her trip to Nerima and finds out that things can actually be worse then she thought. Until next time, Quando Omni Flunkus Moritai.