I appologise for the use for "Shine" in this, it sounds alot cooler than
saying "Die"....
I finally was able to tear myself from Civ2, so I'm gonna continue
with Ranma: Dark Empire.
I think there's two more parts left.
Oh well...
_____________________________________________________________________________
Ranma: Dark Empire
Part 4: The hole in the spiders Web
By
Geoff Walker
------------
Kuno kneeled in the center of the blackened room. Only a shimmering
field cast any light.
"All mighty Shogun, I heed your call." Kuno say.
"KUNO. YOU HAVE LET THE BAIT ESCAPE." Booms a voice that is not
male, not female.
"But we have Tendo Akane."
"THAT IS TRUE, BUT THE CAPTURE OF HIBIKI IS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN
SAOTOME'S DEATH."
"But...."
"NO!!!!" The whole ship shakes with the booming answer.
In the bridge, Nabiki grabs hold of a convenient rail.
"What was that!?" she yells.
"Well, we have to recapture Akari then?" Kuno asked.
"NO, WE WILL BE ABLE TO COMPLETE BOTH, FOR HIBIKI HAS MET UP WITH
SAOTOME, AND I BELIEVE THAT THEY WILL GO TO ARRAKIS TO RESCUE TENDO."
"Hmmmm, I have the prefect plan, My lord Shogun."
"KUNO! REMEMBER WHO I AM, AND WHAT I HOLD!."
The shimmering light disappears.
Kuno stands up, and leaves the room.
On another world, Ranma, Ryoga, Titus, Akari, and Ukyo, sit in a
dusty inn around a table, various drinks sit on the table in front of them.
"So, how are we going to rescue Akane." asked Ukyo, breaking the
silence.
"We don't." said Titus.
"What?" said Ryoga.
"That's what the want us to do. That why they moved her to Arrakis."
Titus said.
"So, she's bait." said Ryoga.
"That's what they always called me." Akari said. She had already
begun to improve. Her skin had some color in it, and her eyes were bright
and really cute.
"But we can't just leave her to them! They'll kill her!" Ukyo
exclaimed.
Ranma stands up. "I don't care what can happen, I'm going."
"Ranma, I'll go with you." said Ukyo.
"I will to, it's the least I can do." said Ryoga.
"Ryoga, Ukyo, I can't express..." Ranma says.
Ukyo places her hand on Ranma shoulder. "We know how you feel." Ukyo
looks over to Titus. "And you?"
"It's crazy you know. Arrakis is possibly the most heavily defended
base in the empire, more so than the Throne world. The only way that you guys
will come back is if I come along. Oh well, looks like I'll have to." Titus
smiles and stands up.
"All right! Empire! Look out here we come!" says Ukyo.
"But, you don't have a ship." said Akari.
"D'oh!" said the other three.
"Ah, wait...hold on a second." Titus runs out of the building.
"What's he doing?" asked Ukyo.
The noise of a suspensor lift system filled the air, and the others
run out. They see Titus's ship floating above them.
"Well, it seems that that device I installed worked." said Titus,
smugly.
"Let me guess, more alien technology." said Ranma.
"Damn right." said Titus. "Akari, we'll take you to the fleet, you'll
be safe there."
"But..." she started to say.
"No, you're not as combat ready as the rest of us, and you haven't
fully recovered from your experience. You are going to go to the fleet."
Titus said, in a steely tone.
"Do it, please." said Ryoga.
"I'll do it for you." said Akari.
"Well, lets go." said Titus, and his ship set down, and they climbed
in.
On Arrakis, Kuno sits in the office of the commandant general of the
Black Lotus Corps. He sits on a over stuffed chair, opposite to the desk
of the General.
"So, General, how is the plan unfolding?" asked Kuno.
"Good, the fields have been installed, and Tendo has been placed in
the proper place." the General smiles, overly pleased with himself.
"Do not underestimate Saotome, General. He may not be brilliant, but
he seems to have incredible luck, and don't forget, Hibiki will be with him."
said Kuno.
"Do not worry about Hibiki."
"Do you have something that we don't know of? You don't have one of
those Battle Aura vampires, do you?"
"No, have you heard of Kalogenic's?"
"It's the genetic process, where you create a life from out of
completely new material?"
"That's it," the General pushes a button on his desk. A door slides
open. A very pretty girl with red hair, and very thigh outfit, that seems to
be simply a smaller version of the Imperial uniform. "This is A-ko. She's
the first of the Ko's."
"I'm assuming that Ko stands for Kalogenic Organism?".
"Yes. Say hello to the Imperial Prince, A-ko."
"Hello, my lord." A-ko bends on her knee."
"Very good, but, how can this deal with Hibiki?"
"My lord, watch." A-ko picks up a large piece of metal, and bends it
into a very complex shape.
"Ah, very good." Kuno smiled hugely.
"Oh one more thing, we have some one you may find interesting." said
the general.
"Oh, yes, who's that." Kuno says.
"The space pirate Shampoo. We captured her recently."
"Oh yes? Is she scheduled to be executed?"
"Most definitely...you could do it if you wish."
"Oh yes, I wish." both men begin to laugh evil.
"There it is, Arrakis, the biggest dustball in the know universe."
said Titus just after his ship left hyperspace.
"It's just one color." said Ukyo, looking out the front.
"It's because there is not a one body of water out there. The sky
isn't even blue. Kind of a red color actually." said Titus.
"How fascinating." said Ukyo.
"Where are we going to land?" asked Ryoga.
"I don't know. Hmmm, that's odd...oh shit.." said Titus, looking at
a scanner.
"What is it?" asked Ryoga. He craned his neck to see the scanner
that Titus was looking at.
"The 'Kuno's Triumph' is in orbit...and it's coming towards...oh
no, they've launched CAF's..." said Titus.
Suddenly, the ship is rocked by warning shots from the CAFs. Titus
threw the ship into a complex series of maneuvers to avoid the fighters.
To bad he didn't see the squadron coming up from the planet. They
stuck the underside of the hull. Titus lost control, and the ship plunged
into the atmosphere. Titus struggled with the controls, and brings the ship
to a relatively soft landing, if you can call a 150 Km/h crash soft.
"Argh!" said Ranma, rubbing his head.
"Good thing my AAA is still good." Titus joked.
Ukyo smacked him in the head.
"You idiot! We could of been killed!" she yelled.
"We weren't." said Ryoga.
Ukyo hit him.
"I think it would be best if we were to get out of here. I think the
Imperials would soon come out into the desert." said Titus.
Within a few hours, they had gathered all that they could carry,
and we slowly approaching the Shield Wall.
Now, the Shield Wall was a massive cliff face, that surrounds the
Black Lotus Corps main base. There was only one way to get inside.
Climb.
"You mean we have to climb that thing?" yelled Ukyo loudly.
"I though you knew." Titus said, innocently.
Ukyo send him flying with the flat of her spatula.
"Well, let's get started." said Ranma, grimly. He began to climb up.
Ryoga followed, and Titus next.
"Great." Ukyo said, and began to climb too.
About 3 hours later, they had arrived at the bottom of the other side
of the Shield Wall. The found the bases perimeter completely unguarded.
"This is creepy, shouldn't there be guards or something." asked
Ukyo.
"It has me worried too." said Titus.
The party moved through the dusty plane that the base sat. They
approached a door that looked fairly minor.
"I think I'll take door number 1." said Titus. He walks over to the
door and opens it.
The hall is small, and fairly well lit. They enter the hall and began
to walk down it.
"This place is rather vacant." said Ryoga.
"I know, I would think that this place would be abuzz with activity.
This is the headquarters of the Imperial intelligence service." Titus says.
Ranma laughs.
"Heh...I get it...well, we must keep moving." said Titus.
They plodded through the gray, sterile halls. Never seeing or
hearing a soul. Eventually they came of a control center.
"Ok, this is really really weird, there should be guards here."
said Titus.
"It doesn't matter. Akane is in the cell Omega-seven. That just down
the hall." Ranma begin to walk down the hall. The rest fell in behind him.
He opened the door.
The room was gray. A three stepped pit stood before them, and Akane
lay, asleep, on a cot.
Ranma began to cry, and leapt into the pit where Akane was. The others
follow, but slower.
"Ranma!" Akane says, as she wakes up.
"Akane!" The embrace.
"Oh, you...oh...I can..." Akane says between sobs.
"Akane, don't worry...lets go..." said Ranma.
"Ryoga, Ukyo, and..." Akane looks at Titus.
"Titus Zedar."
"Oh, thank you all...now, I want to go home." Akane says.
"What ever you say." said Ranma.
"Oh Akane, its so great to see you again." Ukyo says.
"Akane." Ryoga looks at her, unable to say anything else.
"We best go." said Titus. He took hold of the side of the pit, and
pushed him self up.
Suddenly he's thrown back, and he strikes the floor with a loud
thump.
"What's that!" Ukyo says.
"It's a one way force field." says Kuno's voice from above.
"Kuno." said Ranma, through clenched teeth.
"It's nice you remembered my name, Pig tailed girl."
"What? Who are you talking about." Ranma says.
"This." a torrent of cold water falls upon the group, promptly
transforming Ranma and Ryoga into their cursed forms.
"Erink!" P-chan squeaks angrily.
"P-chan! How'd you get here!" Akane exclaims.
Ukyo and Ranma fall over. Titus looks at them questionably.
"What?" said Akane.
"Isn't that touching." said Kuno. He appears at the edge, along with
a large number of the dark blue armored Dread Troopers. The troopers leveled
their weapons at the group. "But that is no matter, you will die."
"Kuno....now, your not gonna kill me are you?" Ranma gives Kuno that
cutie-pie look.
"That is not going to effect me."
"Oh great."
"Hmmm, I've heard of this. This is the Curse of the planet Jusenkyo,
isn't it?" asked Titus.
"So?" Ranma looked at Titus.
"Well, I believe that it is reversed by hot water." A pot of hot
water appears in the air and Titus takes it in his hand.
"Now, that's a handy trick."
"Don't ask how it's done...I don't even know, I will something, and
it happens."
"What are you doing down there? Aren't you going to grovel for your
lives?" asked Kuno. He couldn't see down into the pit, due to the angle and
shadows.
Titus poured the water over P-chan first, who turns into Ryoga in
Akane arms. Akane drops him instantly.
"Where'd P-chan go....ah!" Akane adverts her eyes from Ryoga's naked
form.
Ryoga quickly pulls on his clothes.
"What's going on down there?" Kuno asked to all that could here.
"Ryoga, do you think you could teleport yourself out of the fields?"
asked Titus.
"Are you nuts? I can't do that!" yelled Ryoga.
"Oh, come now, yes you can...just try...." Titus said.
"I can't!"
"You must be very wise, for you know that something is impossible,
before you try it."
"Oh all right." Ryoga closes his eyes, and a blue field surrounds him
and he is gone.
He reappears above the fields.
"Holy shit!" exclaimed one of the Dread Troopers.
"Whoa!" Ryoga said, then he saw the troopers. He looked at them for
a second. "Shine!" and with that Ryoga through out blue bolts that exploded
the Dread Troopers as they struck them.
The Dread Troopers, panicking, tripped over each other in a desperate
attempt to escape.
"Stand your...ah!" Kuno screams as Ryoga appears before him.
Ryoga gives him a solid punch right in the nose, and sends him flying
through the wall.
"What was that!" said Ryoga. "It...it felt like something came over
me."
"Hey, Ryoga!" Ranma yelled up. "Can you find a way to turn off the
fields?"
"What? Oh.." Ryoga notices a panel along the wall. He pushes one of
the buttons, and there is a flash of light over the pit.
"I think that did it." said Titus. A few minutes later, Titus, Ranma
and Akane appeared at the edge of the pit.
"Well, I think we should be getting out of here." said Titus.
"Sure thing." said Ranma.
With that, they started out.
Kuno sheds the piece of wall that was on top of him. A large gash
across his forehead bleeds profusely.
"Arrrrgh! Raaaaaaannnnnnnmmmmmmmaaaaa! It has been 8 years since you
last foiled me....but, this will not go unpunished, So I declare!" Kuno
screams in frustration.
*End*
Whoo boy, that took a while to finish.
Oh well.
There two more parts, that of the battle between the rebel fleet, and
the revelation of the mysterious Shogun.
Until then, may Torak not steal your orbs, Cthulhu not call and
Washuu not come at you with the Nurses outfit and the Rubber gloves.
Geoffrey Ryan Walker ==========
The Tyrant Pax ||
The Tyrant's hold ||
Http://www.accent.net ========
/walker/INDEX.html ||
"I've lived to long ||
for it to end." ==========