X-Men Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Obsidian ❯ Part 2: ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Disclaimer: The characters from Ranma, X-Men and Lone Wolf belong to their creators respectively. None of them belong to me.

Date: 120110.

Synopsis:

At the closing of the Age of Night, Agarash, Demon Lord of Darkness encapsulated his remaining powers in seven crystals (forever to be known as Doomstones) and three runes in obsidian that his legacy might live on even as he was being defeated in the war with the Elder Magi. What if he had sealed the powers of the three runes into a certain pigtailed martial artist?

O B S I D I A N

Part 2:

The Japanese Criminal Bureau of Investigation ...

"A little more of this ... There ... we have it," a man in lab gear spoke before pushing the final slide into the box.

"So what was the cause, Tanaka-san?" the off-duty inspector asked before coming to a stop at the body.

"Same like before ... haemorraging of the brain ... Blood vessels bursting in the brain due to a sudden spike in blood pressure releasing all the blood simultaneously ... which should account for the bleed-over of the blood coming through the pores in the skin, the eye sockets and the nose ... and the mouth ... There are no external signs of physical trauma or finger prints whatsoever on the victim's body ... ".

"This is the third case this week already ... All three victims dying in the same manner with the same expression on their faces ... like they had seen a ghost ... very little signs of a struggle. Headquarters is already pressing us for answers ..." the C.B.I. inspector answered.

"So we're after a serial murderer?" Kaede, a detective in the room asked.

"A good chance. Whoever is doing this is a pro ... no external injuries whatsoever ... the only thing they have in common is ... all of them are mobsters at one time or other," Koushiro another detective in the criminal squad answered.

A woman stepped into the room.

"Detective Takahashi, welcome to the group. Anything new?" C.B.I. inspector greeted her.

"Just this. Whoever these mobsters were, they were all at some point or other involved in the sex trade," the detective amswered.

"Sex trade? Pimping?" Kaede suggested.

"Yes. Pimping," Takahashi confirmed.

"Might be someone bearing a grudge against the pimps running the sex trade," the forensics investigator pointed out.

"Got me. Vigilantes. Could also be the work of rivals," Kaede added.

"Although this case is most strange. I've never seen anyone being killed in such a manner. Whatever weapon the killer was using would prove most interesting to find out," the forensics investigater concluded.

"In that case I say we check out all the nightspots. See if we can find some clues as to the identity of the killer," the C.B.I. inspector said.

The sound of a handphone ringing filled the room. The C.B.I. inspector fished out his handphone and listened to it.

"Okay we'll be right there. Don't touch anything," he said.

"There's been another death, similar to this one at the Imperial Nightclub, downtown. Let's go."

Suddenly the loud noice of a siren wailed throughout the station.

“What’;s going on, now?” Kaede asked.

“There’s another anti-mutant riot at Takeru road that leads to the entrance of the Nerima Ward,” a voice announced through the speaker in the room.

“This is highly inconveniencing. We’ll go check out the nightclub while you guys take care of the riot,” the C.B.I. inspector suggested to the S.W.A.T team leader.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go in men!” the S.W.A.T. team leader ordered..

Without wasting any more time, the police detectives quickly made their way to their vehicles with the S.W.A.T. team members not far behind.

It had taken time but Kasumi was finally able to find a way out of the building she was held in with several captives. She had planned her way out carefully ... first through the kitchen, disguised as one of the maids and then a passing guard forced her to ditch the maid costume for a chef costume. Without wasting anytime, she had quickly added a few extra ingredients into the food that the guards and the guests were consuming. They left for the restrooms in a hurry. While the guards were busy emptying their loads in their restrooms, Kasumi, disguised as one of the chefs exited the door to the building. Much to her dismay, the area around the building was fenced up and the gates locked together strongly. Still, she could not give up when freedom was very much close at hand.

Quickly she made her way to the gate and began scaling it in her chef costume.

Kasumi was no slouch when it came to physical labour but a sudden burst of vigorous activity was just too much such as that of scaling a thirty-foot-high fence.

Her hands struggled to reach the top of the fence but it infuriatingly remained out of reach.

Once again, she reached out with her hands towards the fence, hoping against hope to grab it ... Come on ... she thought. Her hands swung wildly at the target. The edge of the chain-link fence was so close that she could even feel the metal ...

The fence which lay tantalizingly out of reach began to bend and weave as though being tugged and dragged by some unknown force. Not faraway, the four-wheel sedan began to slide over the grass in the direction of the Tendo girl ...

There was a sudden pull like that of metal being twisted and the four wheel sedan was being thrown towards the chain-link fence at tremendous force. The fence buckled under the weight though it did not fall.

'Come on! Everybody must have heard that!' Kasumi shrieked inwardly in horror.

The chain-link fence began to undulate and lower itself as though pulled by some unseen force. It did not come down altogether but it was low enough for Kasumi to climb over it. Quickly, she made her way, her foot one after the other as carefully across the sharp edges of the metal fence. She was just about over when a loud voice sounded over the twisted fence.

"Hey you! What are you doing over there?!!" the shout came from the building she had just left.

Without wasting anymore time, the eldest Tendo sister leaped over the metal grill of the last edge of the fence and ran away as fast as she could.

Angry voices sounded in the background as she quickly made way through the open field towards the highway.

Japan was a heavily populated area. There was very little of the country that remained free from development displaying all the natural flora and fauna in all its beauty. Kasumi ran hoping to catch a passerby soon.

'Come on,' she thought desperately.

'This area can't be completely deserted,' she reasoned inwardly as she was about erupt into a full-blown panic. Sure enough, she could hear the passing sounds of motor vehicles on the road.

'If only I could make it to the road,' she thought in desperation.

The sounds of footsteps trudging through the woods and barking dogs in the distance echoed like the sound of doom behind her.

Her dress torn somewhat, she emerged to stop a passing car by the road.

The driver simply sped down the road without noticing her. The sounds of barking dogs and echoing footsteps were getting closer. In desperation, the eldest Tendo sister threw herself into the middle of the road while trying to stop a vehicle in front of her. The driver tried to stop the speeding vehicle but was moving too quickly to do so. Her life flashing in front of her eyes, Kasumi threw her arms in front of her in a seemingly futile gesture to protect herself. Much to everyone's disbelief, the car came to an immediate stop and not a moment too soon. The driver leaped out of the car in a fury shouting at the eldest Tendo sister.

"Are you crazy or something?" the car driver that turned out to be a man just about yelled at her.

"Please ... you got to help me. I need to get back home," Kasumi begged the driver.

The driver looked like he was about to say something when he saw the glint of light behind the eldest Tendo sister.

"Forgive me. I cannot help you," he said before taking off on foot, his car forgotten by the roadside.

The eldest Tendo sister whined in despair before making a run to stop another vehicle.

None of the drivers stopped this time.

"Give it up, girl! No one is going to help you!" a voice called out from the shadows of the woods.

It was the voice of the man who had acquired her.

"You can either come with us quietly and we can forget the whole thing happened or we can do things the hard way," warned the man who was clad in a leather vest jacket and pitch-black sunglasses.

Not knowing what to do the eldest Tendo sister began to cry.

"I really do not want to hurt a nice girl like you," he added.

Three more man in black jackets and camouflage pants emerged from the woods.

"The sooner you accept your new life, the better it would be for everyone concerned," the man stepped on the road towards the runaway Tendo sister.

A car came to a stop by the side of the road and the door opened. A beautiful woman with braided hair in a traditional kimono stepped out of the car clutching a sheathed katana in her hands.

"What's going on, here?" she asked the group fearlessly.

“Nothing that concerns you. Internal family problems,” the man answered as he and his friends adopted a more threatening pose.

“What’s going on here?” the woman asked Kasumi.

"My sister and me are just having a slight argument. She sort of ran away from home and I'm here to take her back," the man spoke before the eldest Tendo sister could say anything.

"Is that true?" the woman asked the Tendo sister.

"He's lying ... They kidnapped me about a month ago and I only managed to escape just now," Kasumi cried out in despair to the mysterious lady that had seemingly appeared out of the blue to help her.

“You got to forgive my sister. She’s a great actress, always playing the innocent damsel in distress. You can ask my friends here if you don’t believe me,” the man who appeared to be the leader took off his sunglasses and two more men stepped from the nearby woods.

If they hoped to frighten the woman into leaving the eldest Tendo sister to her fate, they were sorely disappointed. The woman showed no sign of fear, however, and waited for the eldest Tendo sister to give her answer.

“No! That’s not true! My name is Kasumi Tendo! I was really being held prisoner against my will by these men. They were trying to turn me into a sex slave,” the eldest Tendo sister prayed fervently that the woman would somehow believe her.

“Kasumi Tendo, huh? Who’s your mother?” the beautiful woman asked again.

“Kimiko Tendo,” Kasumi answered.

“Kimiko Tendo ... Come let’s go to the police station and sort it out together,” she said with a gentle smile on her face.

Upon hearing her words, the man made a signal to his subordinates to seize and subdue both women. Much to their horror and surprise, a katana sliced downwards at blinding speed, separating one of the men’s hands from the rest of his body. He screamed as he clutched the bleeding stump of what used to be his hand. At this move, the rest of the men gave up any sort of pretense that they had and simply assaulted the woman together. In a blinding display of sword skill and light, the woman cut through the attacking men like she was cutting wheat. In a matter of seconds, the fight was over with the men bleeding and dying all over the ground.

“You will regret this lady. We will not forgive this action,” the leader of the men said as he was left holding the bleeding stump of what used to be his left leg.

The woman simply ignored him and turned to Kasumi.

“Come with me. I have better things to do than entertaining trash like this ...” the woman implored the eldest Tendo sister gently.

“We will get you for this, you hear me?!! My father will have you skinned alive and your pain will be the stuff of legends,” the man shrieked in anger at her.

“Tell me how your mother is. I have not spoken to her in a long time,” the woman said, while they headed for her car.

“My mother died in a road accident,” the eldest Tendo sister answered.

“Sorry to hear that,” she said.

Was that a tone of grief in the woman’s voice?

“Come we must go ... “ she said and the loud sound of gunshots rang from the woods.

“No!” Kasumi screamed and the bullets came to a halt in midair in front of the mysterious woman.

With another gesture from her wrist, the bullets sped back towards their points of origin in the woods. There were a couple of screams and the sound of bodies hitting the ground could be heard.

“She’s one of THEM! MUTIE SCUM! I’m not being paid enough to take on one of these creatures. I’m out of here!” shouted one of the men groaning in pain on the ground as he studied the eldest Tendo sister’s display of power in fear.

With a strength no one believed he could muster, he got up to his feet and left the place as quickly as he could on his limping feet.

“I’m out of here too!” the second man ran off clutching what remained of his weapon arm.

One by one they got up and made a run for their lives.

The mysterious woman turned in surprise to look at Kasumi.

“Come ... we will talk on the way home to my house. I am sure you have quite a lot of stories to tell me,” the woman answered.

“Forgive me for asking but you speak about my mother earlier on like you knew her or something,” the eldest Tendo suggested as they got into the car.

“Kimiko Tendo is a very close childhood friend of mine. We lost touch with each other after we got married. I am Nodoka Saotome, Kasumi,” she answered as she started the car.

Acting on a hunch, the eldest Tendo sister asked the woman, “Saotome? Are you related in anyway to Genma and Ranma Saotome?”

Slamming on the brakes causing the car to lurch suddenly, the woman answered, “Yes ... Genma is my husband and Ranma is my son. I have not seen them in over ten years.”

Her voice became urgent. “Have you seen either of them? Please tell me. I don’t even know if they’re dead or alive,” the woman begged Kasumi.

“They’re both staying at the Tendo Dojo with us, Auntie Nodoka,” the eldest Tendo sister answered.

“If that’s the case, we will take you to the Tendo Dojo tomorrow morning. In the meantime you can stay at my place tonight. Please just one night so I can remember my old friend,” she added.

Kasumi could not find it in her heart to refuse the woman who had saved her from a life of sexual slavery. She quickly agreed to stay the night.

The next morning, they both got into the car to send her back home. The trip was uneventful and Kasumi could hardly wait to tell her family and Ranma the good news. There appeared to be a massive traffic jam in front of them. Nodoka simply shook her head at the morning traffic when a group of men in various forms of wardrobe ranging from simple T-shirts and collar wear holding baseball bats began to approach her vehicle.

“Auntie look ... outside,” Kasumi voiced her concern.

“Calm down. I will deal with this,” Nodoka answered.

Once they reached her vehicle, they began smashing the windscreen and car windows with their baseball bats.

Kasumi screamed as she shielded her face from the breaking glass.. Without any futher hesitation, Nodoka stepped on the reverse gear, the car to lurch backwards suddenly and hitting the car behind her coincidentally. She turned the wheel stepped on the accelerator causing the men to leap out of the way of the vehicle or risked being crushed.

Seeing there was no way out with cars all around them in the traffic jam, Nodoka chose to exit her vehicle, her sheathed katana ready in her hand.

“May I know what this is about before we start cutting each other up?” the elder Saotome woman asked fearlessly.

“You see lady, we got a problem here. As you can see, the road’s completely full and we don’t have place for mutant lovers like you,” the man smiled sinisterly.

“Is that so?” Nodoka asked, her katana ready at a moment’s notice.

“I’m quite sure. So why don’t you leave with your mutant scum while we take your car as compensation for our trouble?” one of the men asked.

“How about I cut the flesh from your bones? How does that sound?” Nodoka asked, her eyes at the ready.

The man laughed loudly, “You can try lady!”.

“Get her boys!” he shouted and as one they raised their baseball bats to attack the elder Saotome.

Nodoka like before in her previous fight, was a whirlwind of action, her blade cutting through her opponents with little difficulty. Limbs were flying all over the place and cries of pain could be heard along the road. Most of the nearby drivers had left in a hurry upon seeing the ensuing violence.

The sound of clapping hands could be heard from behind her.

“Not bad. Not bad at all!” the voice of a man scorned in derision at the scene of violence before him.

“What do you want?” the elder Saotome asked him without turning around after sheathing her blade.

“Your sword work is to be commended. If I had an army of men like you, we would long have been able to take out the mutie scum!” he added in a disgusted tone of voice.

‘Auntie. I’m sorry auntie for causing you all this trouble,’ Kasumi thought sadly as she quickly hid herself below the car door.

“Come now lady. Just handover the mutie to us and there wouldn’t be anymore trouble between us,” the troublemaker implied.

“I will hand her over ...” Nodoka started and Kasumi trembled in fear.

“Over my dead body,” she added grimly.

“That can be arranged. Ready men ... fire!” the leader shouted and the men began cutting loose with the rocks they had collected in their hands.

Nodoka parried the thrown projectiles as best as she could but her skills were not adequite at deflecting all of them. Some got through and they hurt badly, forcing the elderly woman one one knee. Another rock struck her ... as she tried to get back up to her feet. She stumbled in another direction as a rock hammered into her ribs ... and fell forward as yet another rock struck her from the back.

“Auntie,” Kasumi screamed at the sight and ran forward to catch the woman as she fell to ground with blood pouring out of her wounds..

The rest of the men drew closer with more rocks in their hands when suddenly ... there was darkness and something intercepted all of their projectiles, catching all of them in a blur of movement to pile them on the ground beside them.

“Kasumi, are you alright?” a familiar voice called out with concern.

“Ranma! Those men ... they’re monsters! They pelted rocks at ... at ...” Kasumi was unable to finish her words.

“Ranma ... is that you?” the woman lying on the ground in a pool of blood asked.

“Yes ... “ he answered.

“You ... are .... so .... grown .... up! Such ... a fine young man! ” she smiled weakly at him.

“She’s Nodoka Saotome ... your mother, Ranma,” Kasumi added.

“Mother, is that you? Pops told me that you were dead!” he answered in disbelief.

“Here ... take ... a ... look ... this .... painting ... you .... left .... me,” she said.

Her hand drew out a picture of a hand print on a faded page of paper for Ranma to see.

‘It can’t be .... that was the old palm print that I made before going on the training trip,’ Ranma thought in disbelief.

“I ... hold ... your ... oath .... fulfilled .... you ... make ... me ... proud ... my ... son ..." Nodoka struggled, as she breathed her last.

"No ... No ... Mother ... no! Don't do this to me!" Ranma frantically tried all kinds of ways to resuscitate the woman he just discovered to be his long-lost mother but her body remained lifeless.

"No! We have only met! There were so many things I wanted to tell you!" he cried out as tears began to pool in his eyes.

Beside him the elder Tendo sister sobbed silently.

"Ranma ... the crowd is growing restless ... I think we should go ..." Kasumi pleaded with the Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist sadly.

But the Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist did not appear to be listening. His attention was on the lifeless body of his mother in his arms. The crowd had begun to close in once again.

"Ranma ... please," Kasumi begged the Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist to pay heed to his surroundings.

The dark surface of the moon even further into the afternoon sky to block out the sun. Kasumi looked up as the sky as more of the sun was covered by the body of the moon. The eclipse was almost complete. Cradling the lifeless body of his mother up in his hands, the Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist turned to face the unruly crowd that had slain his mother and had been about to kill the eldest Tendo sister.

"Which one of you did it? Which one of you killed my mother?" his eyes studied the faces of the crowd icily.

As if in answer, one angry vigilante threw a rock at Ranma. With a detached air, the Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist plucked the rock out of its trajectory coolly with his hand before returning it back to the thrower with unbelievable strength.

SPLAT!

Down he went ... without a sound. The rock had struck the face of the angry vigilante with terrific force ... shattering the skull completely as it caved in to accomodate the powerful blow. Not faraway, crows and ravens began to caw incessantly at the carnage. Kasumi drew her breath involuntarily.

It was becoming clear that the Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist was no longer pulling his punches.

Not understanding the danger they were in, the foolish crowd started pelting more of the rocks at Ranma and Kasumi.

Cries of "DIE MUTIE SCUM!" could be heard along the street.

The Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist simply dealt with the thrown projectiles like he did before ... pulling them out of the air with his hands like they were nothing to him ... and returning them back at the throwers with interest. Vigilante after vigilante began to drop to the ground like dominoes, their skulls smashed in from the powerful throws.

Perhaps it was the cold forbidding presence of the Soultaker or the recent actions of the Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist or even a combination of both. Whatever the case was, no one would really ever know the answer for sure but for once ... the arrogant and self-righteous mob of anti-mutant vigilantes that had been proudly dragging out their helpless mutant victims from their homes and disposing of them in whatever way they saw fit like the Spanish Inquisition during the Dark Ages was for once silent.

"Good. Got your attention, I see," Ranma smiled thinly.

"I shall ask you all once more .... before I start tearing you apart ... which one of you killed my mother?" he asked coldly.

As if sensing something was wrong, some of the smarter ones in the crowd began to leave ... quietly.

Not stopping there, the Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist picked up some more stones from the ground and began to throw them at the crowd randomly. Cires and screams of horror began to fill the air as some of the frontline vigilantes, having lost their nerve, began to make a break for it.

"Don't go just yet! Let's throw some more rocks at each other! It's so much fun!" the Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist laughed at the fleeing crowd as rock after rock began leaving his hands, taking the crowd down like dominoes.

The hunters had become the hunted.

Kasumi began to look in a little fear at the Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist whose conscience had decided to go on leave. Correction, make that extended leave. His eyes had turned into that same eerie shade of black colour the first time she saw it in the Tendo home.

"Come on. You were brave enough to kill my mother in public. Don't run away. Let's play some more rock-throwing. What's there to be afraid of? Don't you want to kill some more mutant scum?" the angry tone of voice turned mocking.

He's snapped, the eldest Tendo sister thought with growing horror as she began to take a step back from Ranma. Paying no heed to Kasumi's actions, Ranma brought his palms together to form a ki ball ... except that this ki ball was not its usual comforting blue but black ... a disturbing black, Kasumi noted with a little fear.

"See this nice ball of energy covering my hands? I'm a mutant too," Ranma shouted as he raised his hands that were covered with black energy for all to see.

"STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW, MUTANT!" a voice from a loud hailer roared.

"Oh ... another anti-mutant vigilante ..." Ranma grinned and threw a beam of black energy at the speaker in the police officer's hand, vapourizing it completely.

"TAKE HIM DOWN! TAKE HIM DOWN!"

That was the last thing many of them would see too. Beams of black energy began to leave his hands hitting the running anti-mutant vigilantes with uncanny accuracy, turning them to dust as they did so.

It was all bright and beautiful all around her. Feeling strong and refreshed, she opened her eyes to catch sight of a beautiful woman clothed in radiant light shining as bright as the sun. Strangely enough the light did not seem to harm her eyes in anyway despite the intensity of the brightness radiating from the woman.

“I’m dead right?” the woman asked uncertainly as the beautiful woman standing before her seemed to evoke a feeling of majesty and .... divinity from her.

The brighness radiating from the woman seemed to reinvogorate the formerly dead woman to stand before the radiant figure of light.

“You were but I brought you back,” the radiant figure of light answered.

“Amaterasu?” Nodoka quickly got down to her knees.

“Close but not quite. I am the Goddess Ishir, Nodoka and you are in the Plane of Light where the forces of good reigned supreme,” the radiant figure of light answered.

TBC

Zorkaan the Soultaker - Chief Liutenant of Agarash the Damned. A non-corporeal entity of vast psychic abilities and dark shadow that feeds off souls, Zorkaan was imprisoned on Magnamund following the destruction of the Rune.

Vaag - The multi-terrain units of Agarash the Damned. A flying spawn of Agarashi with bat wings. It is the most ruthless and deadly of all Agarashi.

Vorka - The ground pounders of Agarash the Damned. A fighting breed of Agarashi that became extinct after the demise of Agarash. These lizard-like creatures move with sinister grace. They have scaly bodies and sharp eyes. They are excellent hunters, having a keen sense of smell. They run like ravenous wolves and fight as hard as any knight.

Agarash the Damned - Demon Lord of Darkness and the most powerful servant of Naar. Agarash, or Agarash the Damned, is a creature of incredible evil power who was sent by the dark God Naar to Magnamund to defeat Nyxator, whom his servants had tried to kill for two millennia. Agarash build a vast city called Naaros and aided by his three magic runes and his Claw of Naar, was able to conquer all of southern Magnamund.

Naar - King of the Darkness.

Ishir - Queen of Light.