Okay, folks. Yours truly has started contributing to the "Ranma 2096"
storyline. Chris has managed to prod me (using various household
devices in ways that probably invalidated the warranty.) to post the
following story... Enjoy.
---Erin 2.5
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Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 14:58:10 +0000
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From: Christopher Willmore <4cw6@qlink.queensu.ca>
Subject: [R2096] Envoy (Not by me)
X-Attachments: C:\ANIME\R2096\CURRENT\envoy.txt;
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I know you've all been on the edge of your seats for Sable's next
appearance... :)
This story is by Erin Mills, my co-author on 'The Great Anime Crossover
from Hell!!!', and the person who suggested Sable in the first place.
-CW
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Tokyo is burning. The fire mirrors the flame I feel within, and the
stench of soot and smoke and human flesh fills my nostrils. It is a
glorious smell; the smell of victory, of triumph over enemies purified.
The heat consumes them, reducing them to to innocuous piles of dust. I
am that heat, and the heat is me - we work as a unit towards the final
Cleansing - all who stand before me fall as I swing my blade.
My goal is clear. I will not be deterred. My orders remain the same...
*This is not good...*
I charge forward through the mass of people. A woman looks at me,
pleading for mercy, asking me why. For a fleeting moment, I am
confused... Her eyes are watering, her mouth drawn open as she
nervously runs her hands through her matted hair, begging, holding up
her soot-caked, sweaty hands to show me that there is no weapon
there, trembling...
*This could be worse than what we allowed that Joketsuzoku woman
to do.*
*You know it was necessary. He has unfinished business.*
*Gentlemen, may I remind you both that we are now concerned with a
different young man?*
Then I remember my orders. She is the enemy, and the enemy is to be
annihilated. One of my throwing spatulas is enough to silence her. She
will entreat no longer.
Now, for the rest of them. I march steadily forwards, scanning
the area, squinting past the corpses of those whom I've already dealt
with, until I see-
Another figure, at the end of the street.
I slow in my approach.
A female, silhouetted against the flames of the burning building
behind her. The shadows are too deep to see her face, but her shape, her
'feel'... She is somehow... Familiar.
She steps closer, then closer still.
I am transfixed. I reach for my throwing, then my combat
spatula, but my limbs will not respond - all my energy is absorbed by a
different task.
I must see her face. This I know, stronger than any orders I may
have to carry out, and my body accepts the primacy of this objective.
As I watch, her countenance brightens somewhat, but before her
features are distinguishable, she is joined by three others. Another
female, this one with short hair, a male with a pigtail and another male in
a cloak.
They, too, are familiar.
The first woman is close enough so that she is almost out of the
shadows. The light shines upon her chin, teasing my petrified form with
the promise of a revlation... It dances for a moment on her lip, then rises
to her nose, and when it reaches the level of her eyes...
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/
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| \ | \ /\ | | /\ /\ | \ / /\
| \ | \ . | \ | |. / \_/ \ | \ \ / \
| __ \ | _ \ | | | | | | | _ \ /\ \/ /
| | \ \ | | \ \ .| | | |.| | | | \ \ / \ \ /
| | / / | |__\ | | | \| | | |\ /| |.| |__\ |/ /\ \/
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| |/ / .| ___ |.| |.| |.| |.| | | | | ___ /\ \/ /
| |\ \ | | .| |.| |.| |.| |.| |.| |.| | ./ |\ /
| | \ \ .| | | |.| |..\ |.| |.| |.| | | | /| | \
|_|. \__\ |_|. .|_|.|_|...\/..|_|.|_|.|_|.|_|. \|_| \
/\ \ /
Written by Christopher 'Ratiko' Willmore. / \ \ /
4cw6@qlink.queensu.ca / / \/
Based on a story by Rumiko Takahashi and /
Developed by C. Michael Schumacher / /
[Kensu: cschumac@waun.tdsnet.com], \ /
with the aid of Animax Enterprises \/(Logo:Armakuni)
[formerly TAAC].
==============================================================================
ENVOY
==============================================================================
Yet another offering from
The Anything-Goes School of Indiscriminate Fanfic Writing
A "Ranma 2096" Side Story by Erin Mills
Edited by Christopher Willmore
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Ranma 2096 characters and situations used with permission
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"We're on a mission from God."
---Dan Aykroyd, "The Blues Brothers"
"There's the scarlet thread of murder running through
the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel
it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it."
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 'A Study in Scarlet'
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<Somewhere in Tokyo, 2096>
Sable sat up in his bed with a start. The dream again. The dream that
had plagued his sleep every night for the past year.
"Always that woman," Sable thought as he lay back down. "I always
nearly see her face, and then I... Wake up." Flashes of the reverie came
back to him.
He frowned as he struggled to remember. It was so... Difficult...
But he was sure, they weren't- they-
"No... Not exactly the same...The other three figures. Those were...
New."
Which meant that his imbalance was increasing. He'd mentioned it to
the Executress, and she had been concerned, as might be expected,
especially when the neural depressors did nothing to eliminate the
visions, but had tolerated it when she found that it was identical each
night - only a doubling of his psychiatric examinations had been ordered.
If it was CHANGING...
It just wouldn't do... Sakuin would be disappointed if she knew; to
have dreams was crime enough. To have them vary was failure.
Stones don't dream.
Sable took the metal helmet next to his bed and plugged it into the
computer terminal that had been installed there for the purpose, then
slipped it over his head.
He closed his eyes and concentrated, gathering all his inner
strength and focusing on destroying whatever phantoms might be
roaming in his consciousness. One by one, he located them, and felled
them - questions about the meaning, fleeting memories of what he'd
seen, all these were cleaved by his mental avatar, leaving his mindscape
as empty as possible before flipping the switch.
The neural depressor hummed into liveliness, and SE-1B-YL
dropped into a regulated, dreamless sleep.
*Damn! I was sure it would work this time.*
*We can't keep this up. We don't have the time. I figure it will be only a
few more months before he goes the way of his mother.*
*Hmmm....*
*What is it, Mittsuko?*
*I think it is time to implement our last option.*
*You can't be serious.*
*I am. As you said, Futatsu, we're running out of time. And she
IS our best bet. She, too, has unfinished business.*
*And what about the other three? Who knows how she'll react when
she meets up with them... Especially the Wanderer.*
*She has become a very bitter woman, Hitotsu. I don't believe they'll
be a problem. As for the Wanderer, I think he'll stay out of her way if he's
sufficently...warned.*
*And Skeride?*
*Had better watch her step. Out option still harbors a VERY large
grudge against the Assassin. I don't think that Skeride will be a
problem...*
Ryouga walked along the streets. Back in Tokyo again, only this time it
was different. He hadn't just STUMBLED onto the city, he'd been DRAWN
here.
At every crossroad, every turning point over the last few days,
he'd felt a spiritual tug, forcing him into a set path. There had never been
any doubt as to the direction he needed to travel. And now, that guiding
force was gone.
He had reached his destination.
Who or what it was that'd caused it, he didn't know, but whatever it was
wanted him here. Tonight.
He looked around, staring at the dimly-lit and shadowed shapes. The
area looked oddly familiar...
He didn't know why. Deity knew Tokyo had changed a lot in the
years since his death.
Then, the moon vanished behind the clouds, and the answers to his
questions were made painfully clear.
The streetlamps all went went out at once, and Ryouga's own ki
now provided the only illumination. Until...
A tug again, but of a different kind... This one was more familiar,
more like the beacon he'd steered by for more than half-a-dozen
decades...
Another ki prescence.
<A ghost?>
The feeling grew.
<Too large... There'd have to be ten... No... Twenty of them...
More like... A place...> thought the Wanderer. <But that's ridiculous.
This isn't a graveyard, and who ever heard any other place having this
kind of k-->
His train of thought was abruptly halted as a huge blue column of
spiritual fire burst from the clouds and struck the sidewalk in front of him,
sending the ghost flying. Ryouga sat up and watched as the ki-flame
shifted and pulsed, and finally forming an image of a two-storey building.
An old building, not like the new aerodynamic skyscrapers or geodesic
domes. It had plain, white-washed walls, a sliding door in the front off to
one side and a large window next to it. Hanging above the entrance
was a large canopy. Upon it, in unnaturally-glowing letters, were two
words that Ryouga knew well:
Ucchan's Okonomiyaki.
At the same time, Childra Jansen and Tendo Akane were walking
across the quad at the University of Tokyo.
"So, you're telling me that *Ranma* put on a dress and tried to screw
up your date with Ryouga?"
"Yup," said Akane, cheerful for once, remembering the time. "Things
got even more confused when Ukyou accidentally swiped the wig off
his head. Ryouga was not thrilled to find that the 'other woman' was
Ranma."
Childra laughed. "I wish I'd been around to see that." She suddenly
noticed that the ghost had gone very quiet.
"Is something wrong, lass?"
Akane jumped, startled out of her reverie.
"What?" she asked. "Oh, no. I was just remembering Ryouga and
Ukyou. Neither of them deserved to go through what they did. Especially
Ukyou."
"It must have been hard."
"Yes," Akane said, swallowing. "I hope she's found peace at last. I
was there when Ryouga died. I saw him go... Through the tunnel, I mean,
but I wish I'd been there for Ukyou, even in spirit."
"I don't think you could've done it any other way, child."
"You know what I mean." Jansen nodded. "No one should have to
die alone."
Childra was about to say something, when a blaze of blue light
appeared in the sky. Both girls' attentions were drawn to it.
"What IS that?" asked Akane.
"I don't know," Childra said, beginning to run toward the light. "But if I
had to venture a guess, I'd say somebody just blew into town!"
Ryouga stood transfixed, staring at the ki-based replica of the old
restaurant. What to do? Go in? Stay out here? And the more important
question: If this was Ucchan's, who was its proprietor?
The question was answered a few moments later when the door
opened, and Kuonji Ukyou stepped out.
She looked somewhat different than the last time he saw her. She,
too, had reversed her age to her mid-teens, and was dressed in a
variant of her usual outfit. The tunic was now black with white trim. The
bandolier was in its usual place. Ukyou's hair bow, however, was not.
Her long brown hair hung freely, and around her throat was a new
accessory - a delicate white scarf.
There was also something else Ryouga noticed. The carefree look
she had in her teens was gone, replaced by a bitter, cynical expression.
It was the look of one who has seen too much grief and pain in her life;
the look of someone who has, quite literally, seen Hell.
When her eyes landed on the person who stood before her, hatred
was added to her emotional pantheon.
"Ukyou?" Ryouga gasped. A cynical grin crossed her face.
"Well, well, if it isn't my *darling* husband," she spat. "Still the
champion of the living-impaired?"
"How--? Why--?"
"Don't strain yourself, sugar. I'm not here for you. I'm on a mission."
"Mission?" confusion crossed Ryouga's face.
"I'm here to keep our son from doing something stupid."
"Kioku? He's a grandfather. What could he possibly--"
Ukyou shook her head. "Same old Ryouga, all brawn and no brain.
We have another son."
"Another son? But we never...I mean, since you--er--"
"Went crazy? Don't worry, you can say it. But I'm quite sane now,
thank you. And you're right, we didn't. But the fact remains that we have
another son, and he is quite possibly the biggest threat Tokyo has at the
moment."
Ryouga blinked. "How?"
She shook her head again. "I can't tell you. I'm not allowed. Just stay
out of my way, Ryouga, and you won't get hurt."
Ryouga stared at his former spouse. "You show up out of nowhere
after nearly 75 years, tell me we have another son and then expect me
to forget this happened and stay out of your way? Sorry, I can't oblige."
He stepped forward, intending to get some answers. Ukyou's eyes
turned to pure red slits and a bolt of green ki energy shot from the aura
around her and thrust him back to his original location.
"I warned you," she said coldly. "I have a job to do and no time to
answer questions. Just go about your business and pretend this meeting
never took place."
"You ARE my business!" Ryouga yelled. "I CARED about you!"
"HA! You cared about me?! Then where were you when I needed
you? Where were you those nights I needed someone to talk to, to tell me
that everything was going to be all right?! Where were you on some
days became so bad I could barely keep the shop open? Where were
you when I lost the store? When I felt reality slipping away from me?
Where were you when the only recourse to me left was to make all of
Nerima feel the pain that I felt?! Where were you those days in the
sanatorium when everyone would come to pity the poor lunatic girl?!
Where were you then, you son of a bitch?!?
"Where were you the day that I died? When the pain in my chest
became so great that my heart exploded? Where were you when all of
our descendants decided to sponge me from their memories? Where
were you three years ago when I had a chance to make everything right,
and Gosunkugi Skeride did THIS to me?!"
She ripped the scarf from her throat, revealing an angry red scar that
pulsed with a light all its own. A red line of pain against a green
background of hatred. Ukyou let Ryouga get a good look at it, then
replaced the piece of cloth.
Ryouga swallowed awkwardly. <She's right. I had the chance to take
care of Skeride and I didn't. Now, because of this, she hates me. Maybe
if I had been there...>
"LISTEN TO ME, GOD DAMN IT!" Ukyou's angered voice snapped him
back to attention.
"I've spent the last three years in limbo thanks to her, because no one
was there to help me. Now, once again, I have a chance to put my soul
to rest, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let anyone or anything stand in
my way. I don't want to hurt you, Ryouga, but I've been given enough
power to do what I have to do and to protect myself from Skeride. I'm
more than a match for you. So if you'll just stay out of my way, we'll both
be much happier."
The wall of ki dissipated and Ryouga found himself able to move again.
He saw the restaurant begin to fade as Ukyou walked away from him.
"Wait!" he called. Ukyou stopped in mid stride
"I have nothing further to say to you." she said, without turning.
"Isn't there anything I can do to help?"
Ukyou slowly turned her face towards him. Her expression was
blank, and she spoke with deliberation. "No. I have a job to do and I'll do it
myself. Goodbye, Ryouga."
She turned once again and walked off into the night.
Ryouga stared after her, concerned...
and VERY frightened.
Childra and Akane rounded the corner. The blue light had been joined
by a green one a few moments ago and now both were fading.
As they turned, Akane's jaw dropped. Vanishing into the darkness
was Ucchan's, back after being demolished so many years ago. And
two figures, both clearly ghosts, conversing. She couldn't make any
major details out on the woman, but the man conformed to all the
descriptions of the Wanderer. The hood of his cape was down, but his
back was to them. It wasn't only the sights which shocked her, but the
words as well...
"Isn't there anything I can do to help?"
"No. I have a job to do and I'll do it myself. Goodbye, Ryouga. "
Akane's senses reeled. < Ryouga? The voices, they couldn't be...>
But her own non-corporeal ears confirmed they were.
Further confirmation occured when the Wanderer turned around and
the ghost and the human found themselves face to face with Hibiki
Ryouga.
Ryouga's eyes widened. He hurredly pulled the hood of his cape back
up and leaped to the top of the streetlight. From there, he jumped up to
the rooftops. Then he was gone.
Akane felt her legs begin to give way. She sat down on the
pavement. Childra sat down next to her and tried to assess what she
had seen.
The phrase she uttered a few moments later summed it neatly up...
"Oh, shit."
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THE END...?
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Interfector beluam Ecclesia Ryougis.
Custos tabula nomina Franka Ecclesia Azusis.
C.A.S.K.E.T. | http://qlink.queensu.ca/~4cw6/
4cw6@qlink.queensu.ca
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