Many thanks go to my pre-readers, Slacker and Mark
Engelbert, for putting up with my correcting my mistakes and
putting up with my crazy ideas.
Previous chapters can be found at
http://tannim.anifics.com/ and
http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/KasumiandRanma/
That being said, I have to go and hide now.
Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. I didn't do it.
Okay, maybe I did, but it's not my fault...
Ranma's Bane
by Andrew Wilson
Chapter 10: Insurrection
Ranma Saotome, only living master of the Saotome School of
Indiscriminate Grappling, member of the Nightbane race, and
all around trouble-maker for the forces of darkness, was
bored. He was itching for a fight, and there was nothing to
do but wait. They had been waiting since down, and it was
now mid-morning. The parking garage they were waiting in was
empty save the five of them.
Kasumi was passing the time by making sure her weapons were
in top condition. Unlike Ranma's katanas, Kasumi's sai were
made of (relatively) normal metals and had to be sharpened
occasionally. They were also an uncommon variant of the
classic weapon. The pair Kasumi carried had close to a foot
of blade, with a pair of prongs a third that length. The
portion of the blade extending past the prongs was sharpened
to an edge so fine that Ranma often used one to shave (or,
sometimes, Kasumi would use both to shave him while she was
blindfolded as practice). (1)
Zelgadis was simply leaning against a wall, staring off into
space, while Setsuna sat on the ground, meditating. Neither
of the two were taking any notice of what was happening. Of
course, neither of them had to do much to prepare to what
was coming, either.
Ryoga, strangely enough, was sitting calmly, checking over
his collection of odd weapons (including the depleted
uranium umbrella, throwing bandanas, and blade-like belt)
and generally not moving, for fear of getting lost.
"They're coming," Setsuna said without preamble.
Ranma looked toward the entrance, spotting a large truck
moving toward their position. *About time,* Ranma thought.
"Just them?" Kasumi asked.
"If there were more, I would have said so."
"Good enough for me," Zelgadis commented.
The truck stopped a dozen yards away, and out of the cab and
bed climbed ten figures of varying size and build.
"I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up, Burgerface,"
Ranma called.
Burgerface, in his position at the head of the crowd,
chuckled. "We clear?"
"Yes," Kasumi replied. "Our last inspection was ten minutes
ago, and Setsuna has been maintaining constant
surveillance."
Burgerface nodded. "Good. In that case, it's show time."
With that comment, he shed his Facade, transforming into a
gut-wrenching vision of a burn victim. On that cue, a half
dozen others from the crowd also shifted forms, becoming a
menagerie of odd forms.
Ranma exchanged a glance with Kasumi, then shifted as well.
She always hated her Morphus, and spent as little time in it
as possible.
Ryoga, having never seen Ranma's transformed state, stared
at the pseudo-catgirl for a moment, then busted out
laughing. It took several minutes for the laughter to die
down.
"Finished?" Burgerface growled.
"Yeah," Ryoga said, gasping for air. "It's just that Ranma,
who has the biggest fear of-"
"Hey!" Ranma yelled.
"Fear of what?" Burgerface asked.
"Nothing," Ranma replied.
"Cats," Ryoga said, then began chuckling again, this time
joined by everyone else in the area, except Ranma and
Kasumi.
"I am not afrrraid of c-c-c-c-felines!" Ranma asserted,
unsuccessfully.
"We'll worry about that later," Burgerface ordered. "Right
now, we need to focus on the mission. We got the go signal
twenty minutes ago. Our window opens in ten minutes, and we
have to be on the other side by then."
"Right," Zelgadis replied. Along with a human mystic from
Burgerface's group, he cast a spell that opened a small
doorway that appeared to lead into darkness. It was just
barely large enough for some of the members of the group.
"So this is how we cross over?" Setsuna asked. Ranma nodded
in reply.
"Hold on to your ruby slippers, Dorothy," Zelgadis
commented, "because Kansas is going bye-bye."
*******
On the other side of the portals was a corrupted version of
the parking garage, resembling a cave of black stone.
"How do we get out?" Ranma asked. "Therrre's no doorrr."
Burgerface nodded to one of the group members. "Take care of
it, Ash."
Ash, a slim, dark-haired man whose morphus consisted of a
large chainsaw in place of his right hand walked forward and
quickly cut a hole in the nearest wall, making a great deal
of noise in the process. Once the stone plug fell away,
though, it was easy to understand how the noise of a
chainsaw cutting through stone wasn't a problem. Outside,
the sounds of battle were all around. Explosions lit the
sky, shedding some semblance of daylight on the dark land,
while metallic shrieks and human screams echoed among the
buildings.
"Ranma," Burgerface ordered, tossing Kasumi a radio, "head
for the fortress, find a way in. We're going to clear out
some of the heavier pockets of minions around here, then
rendezvous with you at whatever entrance you find. Radio in
when you find it, and we'll be there as soon as we can.
Go!"
Ranma and company wasted no time in rushing toward the black
monolith in the center of the city. Even Setsuna and Ryoga,
who had never been to the Nightlands, quickly got over their
shock, though they still cast occasional glances at the dark
architecture. The group stopped short a block later when a
large group of Hounds came rushing around the corner.
"Show time," Ranma growled, drawing her blades. Her
companions readied their own weapons and prepared to meet
the coming charge.
With the first two Hounds, Ranma concentrated on deflecting
their spears with her swords. Using their momentum to force
the spears to the group, she then used the gained leverage
to kick each Hound in the face, driving both back. As the
two staggered away, a third one charged, and found itself
bisected by Ranma's slash. By that time the first two had
recovered, Ranma was ready to meet them.
Kasumi immediately faded from sight, slipping around the
group to the Hound Masters in command. With brutal
efficiency, each Master received a blade to the base of its
neck, killing them almost instantly. After wishing whatever
souls the things might have possessed peace in the
afterlife, Kasumi moved toward the main pack, lending aid
where she could.
Zelgadis was careful to conserve his power in this fight,
knowing that stronger things were waiting, and he needed to
be prepared. That in mind, he was sticking to swordplay,
which he was rather good at, not using any magic beyond
enhancing his blade. His stone skin also helped deflect the
blades the Hounds were attempting to impale him on.
Normally the blades would not penetrate his weaving sword,
but three to one odds were not something that he was used
to. A grim smile formed on his face as the last Hound fell,
a sword through its chest.
No one seemed to notice what Setsuna was doing. No energy
bolts were flying into the group of Hounds. Instead, they
were all being directed into the air, where the Hunters
(winged, beak-faced variations of Hounds) were swooping in.
Setsuna's mind bolts picked them out of the air, either by a
single, amplified shot to the chest or head, or smaller
shots launched six at a time heading for eyes and wing
joints. Amplifying her abilities was one of the first
things Setsuna discovered about her staff, splitting them
amplified power into equal segments took a little doing.
Either way she did it, there were less Hunters in the air
each passing second.
Ryoga was not having a good month. Over the past four
years, he had begun settling down, getting on with his life
(as much as he could with his sense of direction). Over a
year after leaving Nerima, he had literally stumbled upon a
young woman who was rather... eccentric with her love of
pigs. On the other hand, she though his cursed form was
rather cute, which Ryoga could live with. Working on her
farm was enjoyable, and Ryoga soon found himself falling in
love with the girl.
*This is for you, Akari," he though to himself as his
umbrella tore through Hound armor. No minion of darkness
could stand before his strength, as the Hounds were
discovering the hard way. The metallic faces brought back
haunting memories...
*******
*Why am I doing this?* Ryoga asked himself. *She'll kill
me!*
*Because it's been four years, she deserves an apology.*
*If she let's me live long enough to explain.*
Ryoga had to restrain himself from banging his head against
a nearby wall. It may stop the internal argument, but he
would also lose sight of his destination, which would be
very bad. This was the third time he tried to find the home
where Akane was living. The third time in almost a year.
The other times he would get lost, and eventually find his
way back to Akari's farm, where he would forget the entire
idea for a few months.
This time, upon finding the correct street (a more difficult
task than one might imagine), he kept his eyes locked on the
house. Nothing was going to keep him from finally talking
to Akane, to explain his actions nearly half a decade ago.
Maybe then he would be able to finally settle down, and work
up the courage to ask Akari to marry him.
*Nothing will stop me.*
Of course, 'nothing' did not include the small explosion
consuming the house's door. It also did not include the
dozen black armored figures hauling Akane, Nabiki, and a
woman Ryoga did not know out of the house and black doorway
that suddenly appeared in the middle of the street.
The doorway disappeared, taking the three women with it, and
leaving Ryoga in shock.
*Akane's gone...*
*Akane's been kidnapped...*
*THIS IS ALL RANMA'S FAULT!* The old excuse didn't fit the
situation, but Ryoga was past caring. Akane had always been
put through hell because of Ranma. Akane had always needed
to be rescued because of Ranma's enemies. Akane had been
kidnapped again, that means that Ranma had something to do
with it. Even after four years, the bastard was still
causing hell for dear, sweet Akane.
An old, familiar anger drowned out all of Ryoga's thoughts
as he stormed off.
*Ranma will pay for this.*
*******
But now Ryoga was faced with the creatures responsible. Now
he was given a chance to fight back. All the hate, fear,
frustration, depression, and anger was building up, seeking
a release, seeking a target. With a feral scream he rushed
the towering citadel that his real enemy was hiding in. The
other's tried to keep up, but even Ranma could not keep up
enough speed to catch the berserk Ryoga.
The humanoid embodiment of aggression plowed through the
fortress' defenders, not stopping until he encountered a
wall. The wall was too tall to jump over, and there was no
entrance in sight. An attempt to punch through only
resulted in a bruised hand. Hopelessness entered the
mixture of emotions running through Ryoga's mind, quickly
replaced by rage. He would not be stopped by a mere wall!
It was time to use his ultimate move, the one he had been
saving to kill Ranma with. Gathering the turmoil of
emotions together, he ignited the volatile mixture and
directed the explosion outward.
"SHI SHI HOKODAN!!"
*******
Magog's fortress was based on the Sears tower from the
normal world. Well over a hundred floors tall, it was a
shock to the minions on the upper floors when the first
twenty or so were disintegrated. Most of the Hounds,
Hunters, and other minions in the area were killed in that
blast. The few that remained were easy pickings for the
assault team that had been just barely outside the blast
radius. The other assault team had been trapped in the
lower floors, about to be overrun by Magog's minions when
the explosion happened, granting them a quicker death then
the Nightlords would have provided.
As for the building itself... well, even in the Nightlands
gravity exists.
*******
When Ryoga awoke, he was surrounded by steal beams and
chunks of masonry. Once the haze cleared form his mind, he
began to pound on the nearest wall, trying his best to break
free of the stone prison before his air ran out.
*******
The companions watched in awe as the tower collapsed.
"Damn," Ranma observed, "so that's the attack he was talking
about."
Setsuna was the only one who was not in shock. "With the
amount of negative emotions he was carrying around, I'm not
surprised he could pull that off."
"A psychic bomb?" Zelgadis asked.
Setsuna nodded. "I hope he survived."
Kasumi replaced the transmitter in her belt. "The others
should be here soon, though I doubt they missed the
explosion."
An explosion of debris near the center of the rubble
heralded Ryoga emerging from the pile. Both Ranma and
Kasumi rushed over.
"Are you alright?" Kasumi asked.
Ryoga took a deep breath, then smiled. "Never better. I
just needed to blow off some steam."
Ranma just stared.
"What?"
"'Blow off some steam?'" Ranma's voice was incredulous.
Ryoga shrugged. "Might as well put it to some use. Hey,
what's that?"
Ryoga pointed to a dark shape crawling out of another
section of the rubble. It was the size and shape of a man,
but his appearance was odd. It was dressed in black armor,
and had spikes emerging from his bald head, forming an odd
crown.
"Magog," Kasumi whispered.
"Damn," Ranma spat, "Burgerrrface is prrrobably tied up with
the minions. No way we can take this guy."
"We don't have a choice," Kasumi said, fading from view.
She had completely disappeared when Zelgadis and Setsuna
jogged up.
"What do we do?" Zelgadis asked.
"The only thing we can do," Ranma replied, drawing her
blades and charging.
Magog didn't even take notice of the approaching figures
until the last second, when he slapped Ranma back. "What
pitiful vermin wish to challenge me now?" Oddly enough, the
Nightlord's voice had a slightly whining quality to it,
which was complemented by his buck-toothed grin.
The Nightlord's arm shot out, apparently catching air. With
a ripple, Kasumi's Shroud vanished. "Do you really think
that I would be fooled by cheap tricks?" Magog's cackling
laughter echoed in the streets.
Zelgadis stared in shock as Ranma was once again knocked
back. Unless a miracle happened, he would be dead, along
with three people that he had come to respect.
*Miracles don't happen,* he reminded himself, *they're
earned.*
"Setsuna."
"Yes?"
Zelgadis closed his eyes and began to concentrate. "Cover
me."
"What are you doing?" Setsuna asked as she erected a shield
around the two of them.
"The Sword of Ragnarok." At least, that had been the
original name, until it was corrupted over time.
Magog smiled as he hoisted Kasumi by her neck. "You weak,
pathetic fools."
"Lord of the dreams that terrify," Zelgadis chanted.
"NO!" Ryoga screamed, charging the Nightlord while Ranma
decapitated a Night Prince that had decided to crawl out of
the rubble.
"Sword of cold and darkness..."
Magog maintained a firm grip on Kasumi's neck as he planted
a kick to Ryoga's face, knocking the lost boy down and
trapping him under the Nightlord's boot.
In his peripheral vision, Zelgadis saw Setsuna drive off a
quartet of Hound Masters with mind bolts.
"Free yourself from the heavens' bond..."
Ranma tried to rush Magog, but was knocked back by an energy
bolt.
"Foolish mortal, do you truly believe that one such as you
could hurt me?"
"Become one with my power, one with my body..."
As Setsuna blasted a pair of Hunters, Zelgadis realized that
he wouldn't be able to get to Magog in time to use the
sword.
"Now die," Magog growled, tightening his grip on Kasumi's
throat, "like the vermin you are."
"And let us walk the path of destruction together..."
And then, an idea struck. The spell was at a stopping
point, he could finish it at any time. The black energy had
gathered in his hands, and surrounding him like a dark
corona.
"Ranma," he called, "catch!"
Ranma spun around. "What?"
"Power that can smash even the souls of the gods. RAGNA
BLADE!"
The ball of black energy flew from Zel's hands toward Ranma,
who barely dropped her swords in time to catch it. It was
like trying to hold a lightning bolt, but Ranma refused to
let go. The sword itself was a shaft of blackness, with
lightning crackling around it. From the pommel, a stream of
energy connected the sword to Zelgadis, feeding on his
power.
Ranma turned to face Magog. "Time to die."
Magog didn't even have time to react before his arm was cut
off, dropping Kasumi to the ground. Kasumi gasped for air
as she pulled the severed arm away from her neck.
"How can you wield the power of the Dark, and be
unaffected?" Magog asked in disbelief. "What are you?"
Ranma smiled. "Justice, you son of a bitch!"
Magog attempted to respond, to destroy the Nightbane, to
reform his arm, to escape, to do anything. But he failed as
the Ragna Blade cleaved through his body.
The slice was perfect, neatly bisecting the Nightlord. The
look of disbelief was preserved on Magog's face until the
two halves split, spilling out thick, inky black smoke. The
smoke swirled around his body, which dissolved into the same
smoke. When the last traces were gone, the smoke itself
evaporated into the air.
Zelgadis let the spell go as he dropped to his knees,
panting as though he had sprinted ten miles. Actually, he
didn't even feel that good.
"Thank you," he said, nodding to the figure standing over
him.
Setsuna smiled in return. "Any time. Lucky for us the
minions started running once Magog got sliced, or else we'd
be up in trouble."
"Nice spell, Zel," Ranma said as she, Kasumi, and Ryoga
walked up. "I still can't believe that we beat one of the
Nightlorrrds."
"Don't be to happy about it," Zelgadis said, destroying any
optimism the group had. "Magog was the stupidest, most
arrogant, and incompetent Nightlord of the bunch."
"Zel, couldn't you just be happy that we won?" Ranma asked.
Setsuna answered before Zelgadis had a chance to speak. "He
is, but his paranoia and pessimism won't let him acknowledge
the fact."
"What now?" Ryoga asked once the chuckling died down.
"Now," Zelgadis said, "we meet up with Burgerface and get
out of this hell hole."
Right on cue, the Resistance leader and his team came into
view a block away.
"What happened?" Burgerface called as he jogged up. "Where's
Magog?"
"Dead," Ranma replied.
"Dead? Are you sure?"
Five nods managed to convince him.
"Shit!" The scarred man yelled, then turned to his mystic
companion. "Get us back to Chicago, *now!*"
Kasumi rushed over. "Brian, what's wrong?"
Burgerface pulled a small envelope out of his jacket. "It's
the reason I couldn't make it over here in time. I got this
from my contact with the Spook Squad. They discovered some
plans the mayor had, 'in the event of my death' kind of
orders."
"B-B-B-But," Ranma sputtered, "the mayorrr was an avatarrr
of Magog."
"Exactly. You should have waited for me."
"Idiot!" Zelgadis snarled. "We couldn't wait. Did you
expect us to lay down and die because you weren't here?"
For a moment, Ranma was sure that a fight was inevitable.
She was about to step to Zelgadis' side when Burgerface
calmed himself.
"Sorry. You didn't have any choice, and acted on the
information that you had. We have to get back, though."
Behind him, a dark doorway opened. "Better stay away from
here for a while. If those orders are as bad as I think,
none of the factions are going to be happy with all of you."
Ranma nodded. "We'll find ourrr own way back. Just go."
Burgerface nodded, then tossed Ranma a salute before jumping
though the portal.
"That doesn't make any sense," Kasumi said, watching the
portal close. "If Magog was so sure of himself, why did the
mayor have those plans?"
"Local politics," Setsuna explained. "While the rest of you
were discussing how best to kill the things here, I was
looking at the local papers. The mayor was facing
re-election, and his polls weren't too good, mostly due to
the growing crime problem. If he failed to in a new term,
then his usefulness would be at an end. He wanted to make
himself too valuable for Magog to do away with."
"So what hornet's nest have we opened?"
Ryoga wasn't paying attention to the conversation, the
exchange having passed over his head at about the height of
the building he collapsed. Instead he was studying the city
around him. Ranma described this place as hell, and Ryoga
couldn't disagree with that statement. If this was Ranma's
hell, then in far outweighed the one Ryoga had been though
in the past years. Maybe he should leave hells like this to
Ranma. It would be a fitting penance for what she's done
over the years...
A flicker of movement brought Ryoga's attention snapping
back to the present. There were no enemies in sight, but
something had his danger sense screaming 'trouble!'
"Something wrong, Ryoga?" Kasumi asked.
Conversation stopped as Ryoga continued to slowly turn in a
circle.
"I don't know," he finally replied. "But something... *Look
out!*"
Ryoga pulled out a pair of bandanas and sent them spinning
toward Setsuna, who was just beginning to duck.
The bandana's passed within a hair of Setsuna's shoulder and
produced meaty thunks as they hit an invisible figure. At
the same time, though, the blood-covered head of a spear
erupted from the center of the green-haired woman's chest.
End chapter 10
Notes:
1: Just to settle all the misunderstandings about the type
of Sai Kasumi uses (there's more variations than I care to
count, so I guess I should have clarified which one she used
earlier).