Ranma 1/100th
Vol 1: A Date That Will Live in Infamy
Chapter 5 (Conclusion)
Credits:
Produced by: Horde O' Hentai Productions, Literature Division
Darren Demaine: Chairman of the Horde, President for Life
(Chance of parole in 20 years)
Lee (Grey Wolf): Pun Minister, Guy We Rub for Luck
Rob (Barbarian): P.U. Officer, Breath Weapon Specialist
Craig (Dr. Ruminahui): Minister of Foreign Affairs
(Until we caught him at it)
Series Concept: Darren Demaine
Written by: Darren Demaine (Hair stylist: Dragonball Z;
Member Design Team: Poison 1;
Employer of Yotsuya)
Story Assistance: Rob (Barbarian)
Author Copying: Well...actually, I'm copying from everyone who's
even written anything; but for the most part, I'm stealing from
Takahashi Rumiko-no-megamisama
What has gone before: In our last episode, Princess Yukino chose
Ranma to become her husband; something that didn't sit too well
with the other girls. While attempting to reach the palace, the
girls became separated in the maze-garden that surrounds the
palace. Inside, Ranma and the guys tried to steal the Dragon's
Tooth, but were thwarted by the bodyguard Kaitei. Shocked that
Ranma was only using her to get to the Tooth, Yukino hypnotized the
guys and sent them off to stop the approaching girls...using any
force necessary. (Haven't you just wet yourself with excitement?
I know I have.)
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The scene opens to a large, empty room. Light is cast from an
unidentified source; a cheerless, white illumination that radiates
no warmth and only highlights the emptiness of the room. There are
only two features present in the otherwise bare, sombre chamber.
One of the items is a pool of unnaturally still water. The
other is a tall figure that stands before the basin. Other than
the height, not much can be determined about the entity, as a long,
dark purple robe covers it from head to floor; dark shadows seem to
hover about the face, masking any features.
The purple clad figure stares in the pool, seeming to watch
images that play across the water's surface. "Excellent," the
entity speaks, in a voice that is neither male nor female, happy
nor sad. "All the pawns are now in place..." With a slow,
methodic gesture, the figure raises one arm; the robe long enough
to cover the hand, so only a limb of purple cloth can be seen.
Pointing it towards the pool, it speaks again, "Now, only one final
thing remains to be done..."
KNOCK! KNOCK!
The large figure in purple starts suddenly...it drops the arm
and turns to face one of the four blank walls in the room. The
sound of knocking is repeated. Any expression on the form hidden
by the shadows, the robed figure moves across the floor in a
gliding motion, no noise emanating from its movement. Reaching the
wall, it pauses, seeming to focus its will. Silently, the
marble-like wall swings aside revealing a desolate sun-baked plain
outside...and a smaller figure standing at the open portal.
"Sumimasen," the smaller person says, bowing slightly. This
figure is dressed in a very pale purple cloak, with a deep blue and
red trim tunic/pants combination underneath. Light brown hair
frames a youthful looking, blue-eyed face. Small marks dot the
skin beneath each eye, and a vertical stripe is present between the
eyebrows. Plastered on the figure's mouth is a stupid grin.
"My name's Darken, and I wonder if you could give me
directions? I was trying to teleport directly to Yukino-sama's
palace, but I think I took a wrong dimensional turn-off somewhere."
While talking, the smaller figure pulls out and unfolds a map. "I
need the quickest way back to the 1/100th reality, and I was
wondering if you know where the nearest dimensional gate is?"
For someone with no visible eyes, the large, purple robed
figure does a pretty good impression of the 'squeechy' blinking
noise. After a moment of this, the entity in purple seems to
recover itself. While Darken smiles goffily at it, the figure
raises an arm and points at him; with a loud KA-BLAM! the large
thing in purple force-blasts Darken out of the doorway.
As the kami sails away into the sky, the wall/door swings
silently shut. "I don't believe this," the figure in purple says,
finally showing some emotion. "How am I suppose to destroy a
universe if I keep getting interrupted?"
* [now back to our show] *
Pogoing her way through the maze, Cologne was making good
time. Every so often, she would encounter more guards, but all of
them were at least 70 years too young to play with her.
Finally, she slowed her pogoing down. Before her, she could
feel the presence of something cold...A winter's draft that
signalled the presence of an evil entity ahead...Setting herself,
she advanced slowly, eventually entering a large, empty circular
court; empty, except for the small, evilly chuckling figure in the
middle.
"So," the diabolical-looking figure said in a low, threatening
voice. "It is finally time we settled this once and for all."
Pogoing to a halt, Cologne looked down at the evil before her.
"Yes, it is time Happi, once and for all, to determine which of us
is the best."
Once more chuckling, Happosai's pupilless eyes began to glow a
vicious red. By steps, his body expanded as he projected his
battle-aura. The old woman dropped down from her staff to stand on
her own feet. Surrounded by her own glowing aura of ki, Cologne
also grew in size; until there were two, 90 feet tall, shrunken old
people in the court.
"Too often have you interfered with me," Happosai threatened,
as he took a gigantic step forwards.
"You have been a thorn in my side since I was 16," Cologne
replied; her eyes narrowed as she considered her opponent.
Happosai grinned vilely, then with a sudden yell, charged
forwards...Cologne stepped back in the face of his assault, and
threw her arm wide, as if drawing back a fist...
From her outstretched arm, a sixty-foot bra fluttered away
from the fight.
Instantly, Happosai's giant battle-aura disappeared, and an
18-inch old pervert bounced off towards the giant undergarment.
"SWEETO!!"
The ninety-foot Cologne used the far end of her 270-foot staff
to whack Happosai into the ground repeatedly.
That done, she sunk back to her regular height and pogoed over
to the crater her attacks had made in the floor. At the bottom of
the crater, a very battered Happosai with eyes a whorl was
muttering, "S...s-s-swee-to-"
Cologne bopped him once more across the back of the head, and
he suddenly came back to himself. Jumping up next to the old gal,
he smiled; "Ah, thank you! It seems as if Yukino-chan's hypnosis
can't overcome strong emotions, like the ones we keep close to our
hearts!" Saying so, he pulled a bra from an inner breast pocket.
"Yes," Cologne agreed, "It also seems as if unconsciousness
cancels the effects as well. There may be a way to defeat the
princess yet." Hearing about the lovely princess, Happosai
sniffled into the brassiere.
"That naughty Yukino-chan! Being so mean to one who could
give her the love and affection she so desperately needs!"
Suddenly, he looked up and around; "Where are the other girls! I
must rescue them!" Tears began to form in his eyes. "The thought
of the poor, defenceless darlings wandering around in this evil
place is too much for the kind heart of an old man to bear!
Shampoo-chan! Akane-chan! Ukyou-chan! Let me protect you!"
As the perverted master began to hop around, Cologne looked
thoughtful. "Hmm...unconsciousness will cancel any attempt the
princess makes to control his mind." She looked up at the bouncing
hentai, then shrugged; "Better safe then sorry."
Using her staff, Cologne beat him into unconsciousness,
paused, then clobbered him some more; just to make sure.
* * *
Travelling at a slow walk, Kasumi often paused to smell the
flowers and examine the other plants around her. "Ah, such a
lovely fragrance," she said, gently holding one bright yellow and
red flower. "I must remember to ask Yukino-san if I can have some
seeds from her garden. These would look lovely around the house."
Nearby, two figures watched her approach. Tendo Soun and
Saotome Genma, their eyes showing no pupils, stared intently at the
intruder. "Yukino-sama directs that we stop all invaders! We
strike as one!" Genma said. Soun nodded and moved off to one
side, the sounds of the small brook nearby blocking all noise of
their movement.
Kasumi stopped once again to observe a small hummingbird suck
nectar from inside the lips of a silvery petalled flower. Smiling
sweetly, she enjoyed the peaceful and gentle moment.
On the wall above her, Genma was using the Saotome patented
cling-to-ceiling-praying-enemy-don't-look-up refined cling-to-wall
technique, to get on the other side of this invader, so that he and
Tendo-kun could encircle their opponent. Finally in position,
Genma dropped to the floor noiselessly; he could see Soun on the
other side; both of them still unnoticed by this foolish invader
who dared to contest the will of Yukino-sama!
Starting to build up speed, both began padding towards the
girl, eventually working their way into a full sprint. As they got
nearer, both suddenly threw themselves into the air and levelled
kicks at the intruder. Kasumi stood there, unaware as the deadly
attackers arched towards her head...
She looked down; "Oh! I've never seen a flower like that!"
She kneeled down to take a closer look.
BA-BOMPH!
Directly above her, Soun and Genma had managed to
cross-counterkick each other's face; their legs in the space just
recently vacated by Kasumi's head. Groaning slightly, both men
fell to the ground.
The Tendo girl looked up, surprised to see the two fathers
lying on either side of her. "Otosan, Ojisama...where did you come
from?" After a moment of looking surprised, she smiled. "How nice
that I finally found you. Did you enjoy your stay with
Yukino-san?"
A moment later, both fathers jumped to their feet and stood
together to block any further advance by Kasumi.
"Hear now the words of Princess Yukino!" Soun shouted, his
fists cocked into a fighting stance; beside him, Genma mirrored his
pattern. "Know that I speak as but a tool of her will! And you,
invader, shall not pass!"
Kasumi looked at the two men before her, paused, then
replied..."If you say so, Otosan."
Both men looked slightly surprised. "Er...you mean you're not
going any further?" Genma asked.
"If our host doesn't want us right now, it would be rude to
impose on her," Kasumi explained. The two fathers looked at each
other, then fell into a huddle.
"She's not going any further-"
"But we're suppose to stop her-"
"Yukino-sama didn't give instructions for this-"
"I still think we should fight her-"
"I think it's unnecessary-"
"There's only one way to settle this-"
"Quite right-"
The men quickly faced each other, nodded once, cocked their
fists, leaned back, then threw them towards one another...
"HA!" Genma shouted, "Paper wraps stone! We fight her!"
Nodding grimly, Soun turned to face his daughter and started to
charge in towards her, his mind locked into a fighting mode.
Racing towards the young woman before them, each drew back his
fist, and threw it towards her smiling face...
However well planned the attack and skilled the practitioners,
the actual execution of the assault was thwarted somewhat by
Genma's stomach choosing that exact moment to rumble like Giant
Robo after its warrantee expired.
In the rather anti-climatic silence that followed, Genma
coloured, then softly muttered, "That's right; we skipped lunch."
"Oh; I have some buns left over from the batch I made for
those nice soldiers," Kasumi said, taking two out of her apron
pocket. "Would you like them?"
Hypnotic suggestion fought against years of well-trained and
practiced gluttony; it was a short battle. With eager looks on
their brain-numb faces, the two fathers quickly fell to the floor
and took the buns from Kasumi and started eating.
His taste-buds singing with delight, Soun's eyes began to
tear. "How, how could I even think of attacking my own daughter?!
Hitting my own flesh and blood, my eldest child, some one I raised
from girlhood, my...my...my one and only cook in the family!! I
can never be forgiven, can I, Saotome-kun?"
Genma, too busy eating, didn't bother with a reply. Kasumi
however, leaned in and placed a slim hand on her crying father's
shoulder. "There, there Otosan, don't cry...If it's too spicy, I'm
sure I can make another one."
Soun looked up into his daughter's face; the pupilless of his
eyes fading in and out as emotions washed though him. Finally, the
control over him was shattered and his regular eye colour returned;
along with a flood of tears. "Oh, Kasumi!! How like your Okasan
you are!!!"
Finally free, his emotions vented their full fury; a veritable
river of tears flew from his eyes, travelling a good four feet to
either side of his face. One of the gushers splashed over the
still spell-bound Genma.
A wet panda shook its head like it was waking up, then
finished its bun and held up a sign, {Any more, Kasumi-san?}
* * *
At a leisurely pace, Nabiki wandered through the maze; it
wasn't very difficult to figure out the pattern, and the guards all
fled at the sight of her shuffling a deck of cards.
Watching a large plant that looked like a cross between a
ten-foot tall dandelion and a Venus-flytrap try and eat a gardener,
Nabiki let possibilities cross her mind. <Kodachi would probably
pay a considerable amount for that plant's seed. And if I could
actually arrange transportation for her to visit this garden, she's
really be willing to part with some cash.>
A small grin that did nothing to brighten her face made an
appearance; <And I'm sure I can find others who would pay if she
were to receive only a one-way trip.>
As her mind wandered over such happy thoughts, the soft sounds
of deep masculine chuckling began to echo through the corridor.
Nabiki stopped, sighed, and with a bored expression, looked at her
watch.
"As the water that flows uphill, so too will any who try and
pass the sentinel of the 'Blue Thunder,' Kuno Tatewaki, 17 years
old, find the path before them difficult."
As he finished speaking and stepped out from another corridor
to block her way, Nabiki pressed another button on her watch and
looked at the results. "Something positive came out of all this
after all," she muttered, sounding impressed; "your introductions
are shorter."
Softly snorting, the blank-eyed Kuno held his bokken out
before him. "Know this well, Tendo Nabiki; I stand here as an
eternal guardian for the great Yukino-sama. Only those who I say
shall pass, and to those who I do not say they shall pass, they
shall fall before me as test results after substitute teaching."
Peering closely at him, Nabiki gave Kuno an intense look.
"Kuno-chan...are you telling me that Yukino-kun has actually
hypnotized you to defend this passage against all comers? That no
one will pass you? Even at the cost of your own life? That you'd
fight even me?" His head held high and proud, Kuno nodded before
the amazed girl.
"Kuno-chan," she began; sounding a little in awe of him. "I
never realized...Seeing this...I have to admit; I never could have
thought this of you. This is incredible; do you realize the
significance of what you've just said?"
As Kuno stood there, defiantly proud, Nabiki continued, "It
means...I mean, I now have to admit...you actually might have a
mind to hypnotize after all."
No amount of mental control could keep Kuno from
face-faulting. He lay there in the pinkie-forefinger-thumb
extension for a moment; recovering, he snapped back to his post as
Nabiki leaned against a wall. "This is such a shock...I feel
faint." Saying so, she reached into one of her jeans' pockets and
produced a number of small, glossy paper-like squares. Waving
them, she wafted cool air over her face.
Watching her closely, Kuno caught glimpses of red from some of
the photos, from others, a pale yellow could be seen. "Tendo
Nabiki," the eternal guardian of the passage asked, "What are
those?"
Nabiki stopped fanning herself and looked down at the items in
her hands. "Oh, these? Just some pics of the pony-tailed girl;
some are Akane working out in her gi. Don't know why I'm carrying
them...Although," she began, turning them away from Kuno's face so
she could study them; "this is a good shot of Akane's
flexibility...and I really couldn't let that sweet red-headed girl
see this picture...too embarrassing for the poor dear."
As Nabiki continued to catalogue her photos in an offhand
manner, Kuno stood tall and defiant; beads of sweet rolled freely
down his face, his muscles all locked into a fierce internal
struggle. A struggle that quickly reached a conclusion after
Nabiki muttered in a loud voice, "Oh my! What kind of girl does
she think she is anyway?! I know red-heads are fiery, but this is
just TOO much!"
Dropping his sword, Kuno leapt towards Nabiki; before his
mouth had even finished opening to pled his request, she had her
hand extended, palm upraised, and said, "set of five for 2000 yen."
In a smooth, easy motion that suggested familiarity with the
action, Kuno slapped the money into her open palm and took the
photos from her other hand. While Kuno drooled over the pics,
Nabiki pocketed the money and leaned in to look at Kuno's face.
His eyes, despite being drawn to the scenes presented before
them, were still without pupil; shrugging, Nabiki walked over to
his sword and picked it up. She looked at the blade for a moment,
once again shrugging disinterestedly; then grabbed it tightly by
the wrong end and whacked Kuno across the back of his head with the
handle.
A hollow, echoing ring sounded as Kuno's face hit the
pavement. Nabiki turned him over and pried open one eye; it was
the normal colour. Nodding satisfactorily, Nabiki dropped the
bokken and sat down. Looking over at the prone figure, she
couldn't help but shake her head and smile, softly; then she
reached into her pocket and began to count her bills. After a
moment, she looked over at the unconscious Kuno, still softly
smiling; "I do hope he wakes up soon...he's 500 yen short."
* * *
Deep in another part of the maze, another of the new guardians
Yukino had sent was attacking his victim.
Or rather, he was stalking his victim.
More to the point, he was tracking his victim.
OK, OK; in actual fact, he was busy LOOKING for his victim.
Rubbing one hand along the back of his head, Ryoga kept
turning this way and that; searching for his opponent. Four teams
of defeated guards had seen her pass and had pointed him in the
right direction, but he didn't seem able to make up any ground on
the target.
Truth be told, Ryoga had unknowingly circled back and asked
the same group four times.
"Enough of this!" he shouted finally, having run across the
group for the fifth time. "Just point me in the direction of the
palace; that's where she's going!" One of the guards pointed;
Ryoga turned and started to stalk off.
One of the other guards grabbed Ryoga's shoulder and turned
him to face the direction the finger was pointing. Finally
satisfied, Ryoga walked up to the indicated wall, drew in a deep
breath and set himself.
"BAKUSAITENKITSU!!"
Throwing his finger into the wall, he had the opposite effect
of that Dutch kid with the dike. As a section of the wall
exploded, Ryoga marched through and did the same to the next wall,
and the next, and the next.
Progress, if you could call it that, was finally being made.
* * *
As stealthfully as a cat, Shampoo stalked through the maze.
The Chinese girl moved with purpose and control as she padded
between the large plant-covered walls. All who had met her so far
had fallen to her skill and determination; she would not be stopped
in her quest.
High above her, standing on the ledge of one of the many
raised aqueducts that fed the garden, a solitary figure waited.
Chuckling softly to himself, Mousse watched with interest as the
invader moved beneath him.
In actuality, all he could see was a faint blur of moving
colour, but he knew it was his opponent. With a gentle hop, he
fell over the side of the aqueduct and started to descend on the
intruder. Fifty feet from the ground, he let out his battle-cry
and fired off a whole darn lot of those sharp pointy things that
his mother had warned him not to play with.
Shampoo looked up, surprised. Only her phenomenal reflexes
saved her; she twisted to one side and flipped out of the way of
the assault. Landing after his weapons, Mousse looked over as the
girl faced him.
"Mousse?" she said, surprised; after a moment, she waved her
hand at him in a shooing gesture, dismissing him. "Oh, it only
you. Out of way; Shampoo take no delay in getting Ranma."
Laughing heartily, Mousse firmly placed himself in front of
her. "I have been given the charge to defend this passage against
you; in order to pass, you must fight me."
"Oh, that all," Shampoo said, still dismissing him; Mousse
smirked.
"That's all; but you should know this: for the first time
ever, I will not hold back as I fight you. Finally, you will taste
the true power I can release in my-"
Shampoo kicked him in the face as he rambled on. "Fine," she
said, crouching low, "If Mousse want fight Shampoo, Shampoo could
use warm up." Leaping high, she flipped over his head and reached
her arms behind her back. When she landed, maces were held
battle-ready in her hands.
Mousse recovered and pulled out a large sabre, he began his
charge at the girl. Shampoo met his rush with a double thrust of
her weapons, knocking the blade aside and forcing her other mace
towards his face. Ducking, Mousse let the mace pass by, then
launched another multi-weapons attack at the lavender-haired
warrior, forcing her on the defensive.
Shocked that Mousse could manage to upset her attack pattern,
Shampoo staggered for a second, then retaliated with the whole of
her fury. Although her attacks were cat-quick, Mousse kept ducking
the assaults; she had the impression he was playing a game of cat
and Mousse with her. Never had she seen him fight so well; tricks
that had worked on him before, multiple times, were now
ineffective. All her attacks were being met or defeated; slowly,
Shampoo was loosing ground.
<This not possible!> she thought. <Mousse not ever defeat
Shampoo!> Anger working against her now, she abandoned all
rational attack patterns and threw herself into a headlong charge
at him. Again Mousse ducked the jabs, this time raising a knee
into the girl's abdomen as he came up. Gasping in shock, Shampoo
dropped her maces and fell heavily to the ground. Grimacing, she
flipped over onto her back to continue the fight, only to see
Mousse holding a spear, its razor point aimed at her neck.
"At last, you now know the truth...I could always beat you.
Let that be your last thought as I carry out Yukino-sama's wish!"
With those words, Mousse raised the spear high, preparing to plunge
it into her throat.
Looking up at him, Shampoo gazed into his lifeless, alien
eyes, her own orbs shimmering. "Mousse..." she said quietly, with
emotion straining every word. "You no can do this...This
Shampoo...you know Shampoo. You never hurt Shampoo
before...Ever..."
Above her, the hands that held the spear shook ever so
slightly. Staring down at the girl beneath him, all his willpower
rose to fight the alien control that wrapped his mind in bonds of
slavery. Against the subtle whisper of domination, his will staged
its own fight. "Shampoo...my...love...I...can not...hurt..."
The blankness in his eyes flared, and Mousse threw his head
back and screamed at the internal conflict. Shampoo acted upon
this distraction; her hand reached out and grabbed the handle of
her nearest mace. Although she was flat on her back, she threw it
upwards with all her strength.
Sensing movement beneath him, Mousse leaned to one side,
allowing the mace to fly by his head. His eyes snapped open;
danger gave his implanted suggestion strength, and he tightened his
grip on the spear then drove it downwards with a snarl on his face.
Once the mace left her fingers, Shampoo had already been in
motion, kicking her legs up, she flipped into a hand-stand and
sprang away just as the spear plunged deep into the concrete where
her slim neck had been a scant second ago. Pulling the deadly
weapon from the ground, Mousse aimed and drew his arm back to throw
the spear.
High above him, the mace continued its travels; reaching high,
it finally crashed into the bottom of one of the up-raised
aqueducts. Driven by all of Shampoo's strength, it broke through
the stonework and punctured a huge hole.
Hearing the crash above him, Mousse paused for a second before
throwing his spear. Turning his face skyward, all he could see was
a blur of blue; then a torrential downpour of water crashed over
him.
Landing heavily on her feet, Shampoo slid to her knees, for
some reason more exhausted and shaken from the fight then she'd
ever been before. A second later, a wet duck ran out of the water;
it looked over at Shampoo and seemed to realize that it had been
trying to kill her.
His own river of tears matching the volume of water from the
busted aqueduct, Mousse flapped over to his beloved and buried his
face in her lap. Shampoo hugged him gently and stroked his
feathers as he cried. "There, there, Mousse; it all over now.
Shampoo not hurt." After a moment, she picked up the still crying
duck and rose to her feet. "Evil princess pay for what she put
Mousse through."
As she began to walk forwards again, Shampoo looked at the
duck in her arms with an curious expression. "Mousse know, Shampoo
actually worry you really drive spear into her." The duck rose his
head and faced her, rapidly shaking his head, quacking in the
negative; he could never, ever hurt his beloved Shampoo!
Shampoo grinned suddenly. "That good you not beat Shampoo;
otherwise Shampoo have to marry you! Mousse imagine anything more
stupid?!"
A horizontal bolt of lightning shot through Mousse's head as
he realized how close he'd come to his dream. A horrified quack
that stretched on until it slowly faded issued from his throat.
Shampoo still carried him in her arms, the duck's head hanging
limply by the neck as the full impact of what he'd failed to do
staggered his mind.
So caught up in his own internal ego collapse, he failed to
notice that Shampoo kept taking sidelong glances at him as she
continued on.
* * *
"Somewhere around here is the right path," Ukyou muttered as
she looked from one seemingly identical passageway to another. She
brushed her hair away from her face with a hand, "If only there
was some way to tell these apart."
As if in response, there came a loud explosion behind her;
turning, she saw a column of smoke rise from one of the parallel
passages. Getting under some cover, she had just made herself
unnoticeable when one of the walls of her specific passageway
cracked, buckled, and exploded.
Through the damage, Ryoga stomped into view. Not seeing her,
he proceeded on to the next wall and exploded that.
Ukyou grinned, <Arigato, Ryoga; cutting a straight line for me
to get to Ran-chan. Must remember to cook him something nice in
return.> Stealthfully, she began to follow him; it wasn't too
hard, after all, the sound of his exploding pin-hole attack drown
out any sound she made.
Eventually, after much travelling, Ryoga demolished the final
wall...
And stood facing a bunch of defeated guards.
Ukyou looked, saw his previous use of Bakusaitenkitsu on the
opposite wall, and promptly slid to the floor as Ryoga looked
around, confused.
Rising up behind him, Ukyou clobbered him once with her
kick-ass spatula. "How can you get turned around while travelling
a straight line?!?"
Turning to face her, Ryoga looked even more confused. "Where
did you come from?" Then his mission reasserted itself in his
mind; "Ha! I have you now, you foolish woman! I will prevent you
from getting any closer to the palace of the great-"
She hit him with her spatula again. "All I have to do is
follow you around and I'll never get to the palace!" Ryoga peeled
his face from the metal and started to attack Ukyou.
Leaping out of the way, the okonomiyaki master threw several
small spatula-shirikens at him; Ryoga counted with several
bandanna-shirikens. The equal number of projectiles thrown by each
party crashed into their opposites; bandanna-wrapped spatulas fell
to the earth between the two fighters.
Again charging with her kick-ass spatula, Ukyou tried to pull
an okonomiyaki flip on Ryoga, but he stepped out of the way in
time. Stomping his foot down hard, Ryoga trapped the blade of
Ukyou's spatula to the floor. Swinging his arm down with all his
strength behind it, he snapped the blade free from the handle.
Stunned, Ukyou staggered backwards for a moment, Ryoga charged
towards her, throwing punches. Using the long handle like a bo
staff, Ukyou deflected the incoming strikes. Finally seeing an
opening, she spun the handle around the thrust the broken end at
Ryoga.
Sidestepping the lunge, Ryoga grabbed one end of the handle
and used the muscles in his arms to lift Ukyou clear off the floor.
As she looked down at him in surprise, he snapped the handle over
and set Ukyou flipping into a wall.
She bruised her shoulder when she hit, and landed heavily.
Grimacing slightly, she saw Ryoga heading her way. <Damn, he's
strong!> She thought, rubbing her shoulder. <Can't fight him,
have to hide!> Getting to her feet, she sprinted away; ducking
down once to grab the blade from her broken spatula.
Ryoga gave chase, following her around several corners and
down more passageways. Finally however, as Ryoga rounded one
corner, she was no where in sight. Sliding to a halt, Ryoga
listened for a moment; no sounds of running could be heard, so he
figured that she must be hiding somewhere in the small shrubbery
filled chamber they'd ended up in. Looking around, he saw that
there were plenty of places that Ukyou could conceal herself in.
For a moment, he wondered what to do; then he smacked his fist into
his open hand, and walked into the middle of the room. For a
second, he composed himself.
"FULL SHI SHI HOKODAN!!"
A massive pillar of energy shot up from Ryoga; for a second
after the pillar vanished, a bright globe of energy could be seen
in the sky above him. Then, his head rolled loosely forwards, and
the massive ki blast slammed into the ground around him.
The impact left a huge crater in the garden, and the tremors
shook Ukyou from her hiding place and deposited her at the edge of
the pit. Staring at the girl, Ryoga smirked and cracked his
knuckles, "You will dodge me no longer, Ukyou...no one escapes the
wrath of Hibiki Ryoga."
Desperate to come up with anything before he clobbered her,
Ukyou snapped out, "Oh yeah? Then how come you still haven't
beaten Ran-chan?"
Ryoga snarled, "That's coming! Ranma keeps running from our
fights!! One of these days, I'm going to finish him!!"
"Yeah right," Ukyou snapped back. "You keep saying that, but
you don't do anything to change it! With an attitude like that,
there's no way you're going to get Akane-chan!"
"WHAT?!" Ryoga shouted, incensed. "For that, you shall
suffer!!" Striding right up to her, he set himself and again
shouted, "FULL SHI SHI HOKODAN!!" The energy pillar shot from him
and formed the globe high above his head.
That was what Ukyou had been waiting for. She pointed behind
Ryoga, shouting, "Look! There's Akane-chan!"
"Where?!" said Ryoga instantly, turning his head and craning
around to look. At that moment, the globe began to descend. Ukyou
jumped backwards with all her might, and with a Frisbee-toss threw
her spatula's blade towards the on-coming blast.
The blade got caught by the descending ki and was driven
earthwards, right onto Ryoga's head.
Ukyou landed just outside of the blast, and was spared the
power of the attack. After the pyrotechnics of the assault wore
off, she looked down to see Ryoga, his face driven into the bottom
of the crater with a metal spatula blade firmly implanted into the
back of his skull.
Ukyou slid down the crater, flipped Ryoga over and cradled him
in her arms. She had to peel the metal away from his head, and
looked down at him as he slowly groaned. Finally, he opened his
eyes; they seemed to be recovered from the hypnosis.
"Ryoga, are you OK?" she asked, ready to clobber him with the
spatula again.
"Ohhh...yeah, I'm fine," he shook his head as he got back to
his feet. Looking at her, he grimaced and rubbed the back of his
head, "That was a dirty trick."
She smiled, "Oh Ryoga, I've seen you fight before; there was
no way a girl like myself could defeat you. You're so strong,
skilled, determined, and unyielding," Ryoga's chest expanded with
pride as she continued her list. "After all," she finished,
smiling. "you're ALMOST a match for Ran-chan!"
Ryoga's chest and ego both deflated.
Not seeing this, Ukyou grabbed his hand; "Come on, let's get
out of here and find that palace."
"Glad I found you," Ryoga muttered after a moment. "This maze
was really giving me a hard time." He blushed slightly, "I think I
got lost." Ukyou suddenly stopped; surprised, Ryoga halted beside
her.
"What's wrong."
Looking faintly embarrassed, Ukyou glanced at him out of the
corners of her eyes. "Uh...Ryoga...you remember the fact that I
was trying to flee from you?"
"Yes."
"Well...I didn't bother to pay attention to where I was
going."
"Which means?" he asked, slightly unnerved.
She blushed, "I'm lost too."
* * *
Akane casually disposed of another group of guards; they
having about the same skill in combat as Furinkan's club captains.
Tossing the last guy over her shoulder, she heard him crash to the
ground, groan, and decide that staying there would probably be the
wisest choice.
Wiping sweat from her brow, she made started to continue on
when she felt something on her front. Looking down, she noticed
that the rose she'd clipped to her blouse had come loose during the
fight. Stopping, she paused to reattach the flower, wondering
again why she bothered with it.
<It's not like Ranma really bought this for me; I mean, I'm
the one who paid for it. Why don't I just admit that he's an
insensitive jerk and be done with it?>
A few steps later and Akane's mind unwillingly called up what
was really bugging her. <Ranma said he's engaged to that
princess...He didn't say it was a mistake, like he says the rest of
his engagements are...even ours...It's probably got something to do
that getting that Dragon's Tooth back; but...but what if it
doesn't? I mean, Ranma wouldn't. Would he?>
Unnerved, angry, and although she would never admit it, more
than a little concerned, Akane started to pick up her pace; another
figure jumped in front of her, and she absentmindedly put a fist
into his face.
Or at least she tried to.
Her incoming punch was sidestepped, and Akane, expecting to
connect, staggered as she met no resistance. While off balance,
something hit her in the back; stunned, she fell to the ground with
the air knocked out of her.
Gasping in surprise, she twisted around and rose to her feet,
an angry expression on her face as she looked at her attacker; then
she took a step back, just as stunned as a second ago.
"Ranma?"
He was standing before her, his head held up, glaring at her
with grim amusement. As she stared into his face, she could see
that the greyish-blue of his irises covered the whole of his eyes.
For a second, she was worried about whatever had happened to him to
cause this. Then she remembered their last conversation.
"Ranma, you jerk! Can't you even keep from chasing women when
your cure's finally in sight?!" Saying so, Akane moved forwards
and slapped him across the face.
Ranma caught her arm before she could catch his other cheek.
Grinning wickedly, he twisted her arm, forcing a cry of pain from
her. With a heave, he shoved her back, and she stared at him,
cradling her smarting arm.
"Ranma? What are you doing?!"
"Just so you know, Akane; I've been ordered to stop you from
leaving this place, alive," he spoke with a tone of almost
enjoyment in his voice. "That is what I get for trying to trick
Yukino-sama." As he talked, he raised his fists and settled
himself into a fighting position.
Akane, her arm still stinging, nervously got ready for combat.
"What do you mean trying to trick her? Are you telling me that
your engagement to her was just a joke?"
"Of course," he said, taking a threatening step towards her;
Akane backed up a little. "The whole thing was an attempt to get
my hands on that Dragon's Tooth." He shrugged, "My punishment is
to stop you once and for all." He advanced another step.
"What do you mean?" She asked, not liking the way he was
smiling.
"For the first time, I'm not going to hold back as I fight
you. You'll finally see what I really can do."
Deciding that there was no way she could match Ranma's speed
and skill, Akane suddenly sprang forwards, trying to get a hit in
before he could retaliate.
Despite her move, Ranma still dodged her punch and swung his
own fist in. Dropping her free arm down, she blocked the blow, but
at the cost of jarring her already hurt arm. Whimpering slightly,
she backed off; Ranma kept advancing, launching more attacks, none
of them as yet unblockable, but all of them succeeded in weakening
her.
Ranma suddenly stopped his barrage and stood there before her,
laughing. "You certainly are pathetic Akane! You might act like a
guy, but you sure fight like a girl." He was obviously playing
with her, giving her a chance to take some shots. Angry, she fumed
for a moment at his barb. But then, his words sparked a memory:
'that hypnosis trick only works on human MALES.'
<Well,> she thought to herself, grinning, <Ranma certainly
gives me a loophole I can use.> Faking an attack at him, he let
Ranma flip backwards from her strike, then she turned and ran back
the way she had come. Surprised, Ranma landed and started to run
after her.
Reaching the last set of guards she had toasted, she scooped
up on of their helmets. As Ranma launched a jump-kick at her, she
threw herself to one side; Ranma's kick shattered the ground where
he'd hit, and Akane rolled to the side of a small brook.
Running the helmet through the water, she filled it and rose
to face Ranma, the water-filled container held behind her back.
Smiling grimly, she motioned him forwards. "Come on, baka; let's
finish this."
Cracking his knuckles, Ranma advanced on her, a confident
smirk on his face. "You've had this beating coming to you for a
long time Akane. There's more then enough reason I'd willingly
beat you without Yukino-sama's orders; you've much to answer for."
"I have to answer for?! If you weren't such a jerk, I
wouldn't need to hit you! You're the one who's always chasing after
others girls!"
"I'm not chasing after them! They come to me!!" Anger got the
better of mind control for a second. "I couldn't care less about
them! The only reason I pay them any attention is because it's
nice to see someone who can act like a girl once and awhile!" He
turned aside for a moment, arrogantly.
"Ranma no baka!!" Partially to cancel the mind control, and
mostly just to cream him, Akane hurtled the helmet of water at him.
Powered by the force of a woman scorned, the helmet flew straight
and sure; the metal of the cap caught Ranma square in the face,
dropping him to the floor with a CLANG. As he fell back, the
helmet flipped over and the water splashed out.
However, for perhaps the first time in his life, Ranma didn't
act as a water magnet. Akane watched, stunned, as the helmet
rolled to the side and dumped the water beside Ranma, rather then
on him. Ranma rolled back to his feet, still male, and with a big
bruise on his forehead.
Glaring at her, Ranma moved forwards, resuming his attack.
Akane twisted to one side and tried to knock him into the brook,
but he jumped above her kick and shoved her backwards. Staggering,
she tried to fight back, but Ranma kept overpowering her attempts.
Slowly, Akane was forced further and further away from the water.
"Enough of this," Ranma grunted; he suddenly drove forwards
and slipped past her defenses. He ran his fist into her stomach,
hard. Hunching over, Akane grabbed her midsection and fell to the
ground, the hard stone of a wall against her back.
While Akane lay there gasping, Ranma loomed over her. On his
face, a curious set of emotions, elation and concern, fought each
other for space.
"Your last warning Akane. Back off now, or I'll...I'll..."
His voice trailing off, Ranma shook his head and seemed to shudder
a moment. Finally he whispered, "I'll...kill you."
"Ranma," she whispered back, tasting blood on her lip. She
looked up at him, unable to believe what she was hearing, what she
had felt him do to her. "This isn't you. You can't mean that...
fight it... "
"I...I...can't," for a moment, his features collapsed, showing
the struggle he was waging inside. "So long as she keeps...
control over me...I can't... fight it..."
That said, Akane lay there for a moment, aching all over.
Then, she gently put one hand to the rose on her blouse. Looking
up at him, she pulled it from her shirt and held onto it.
Grimacing, she worked to her feet, leaning on the wall for support.
"If that's the case," she said, trying to control herself,
"Then I'm going to her; I won't let anything stop me."
Ranma looked up at her, clearly in an internal struggle.
"Akane...run..." he grunted out, his whole body trembling.
"Get...away..."
Pushing herself off the wall, she took one step towards him.
"Ranma, I'm going on. Stop-," her voice faltered for a second.
"Stop me...if you have to; but I...I can't let Yukino do this."
Hearing this affront to Yukino's orders, Ranma's fist began to
clench and draw back. His willpower tried to prevent this, but
all he could manage was to ask in a straining voice,
"A-Akane...w-why...are...you-"
"Because you're my fiancee Ranma," she said quietly,
forcefully; her face a mixture of anger and fear, but held at bay
by a core of determination. Her lower lip quivered. "My fiancee.
I'll never, *ever* let anyone take you away."
Ranma howled and threw his fist forwards.
The rose fell to the ground at the sound of cracking bone.
* * *
In the throne room, Princess Yukino and Kaitei were observing
the progress of one of the members of the rescue force.
On the Zentron-like viewing-screen, the two were watching how
well Darken was managing to penetrate the defenses of the
maze-garden.
"You know," Kaitei said in a conversational tone, "for a total
twit, he's not doing too bad of a job."
On the screen above, four little SD Darkens were being chased
by four, not so SD, God Soldiers.
One hand absentmindedly running over the locked case holding
the Dragon's Tooth, Yukino seemed to be thinking.
"If that's the case," she replied, after a moment's thought,
"then I think we should make things more interesting for him." She
took another pause, then suddenly nodded.
"Do we have a confirmed lock on him?"
"Yes, my princess."
"Good," she smiled. "Active the orbital defense lasers."
* * *
Ranma stood locked into position, his chest heaving, his fist
frozen in its position of a thrown punch. With great effort, he
pulled his fist back and stood there, staring straight ahead;
ignoring the throbbing in his hand from the force of the impact.
Akane looked back into his eyes, not moving. Behind her, the
wall just to one side of her head was cratered and spider-webbed
from the force of Ranma's punch. Looking at him, she could see
herself reflected in the black of his pupils.
"Ranma..."
He held her gaze for a moment, then dropped his head. Very
quietly, almost ashamed, he whispered, "Why didn't you leave?
I...I almost..."
"But you didn't," she finished. Ranma still looked at the
floor; after a moment, he slowly kneeled down and picked up her
rose. Staring at it illumated a foggy memory.
"You dropped the flower I bought you," he said as he returned
to his feet and held it out to her.
She took it back and smiled slightly. "You still owe me for
this." After a moment, he returned her soft smile.
Very gently, Ranma leaned in towards her; Akane turned her
face upwards. He put his hands to her shoulders and softly held
her as her hands rested against his chest. Their eyes closed and
they each took a deep, quiet breath as they came close...
Five impossibly bright beams of light streaked down from the
sky and hit another section of the maze-garden at that exact
instant.
The explosion, thunder-clap, and wind storm knocked them off
their feet. When they finally could stand again, they could see a
far off section of the maze burning.
Ranma coughed uncomfortably; the moment shot to all hell.
"Come on, we still have to get that Tooth."
* * *
"Reports coming in now, Yukino-sama," Kaitei said as he
scanned a smaller view-screen. "Even if he has a really compact
brain, I don't think he could've survived."
"Good," the princess replied. The main screen before her
showed a scene of devastation and destruction. Only now, minutes
after the attack, was the air clearing enough for her to see what
had been the result. "I think it's time to check on how our other
guests are faring with their welcoming committees. Start to scan
for the others-"
The crashing open of the door at the far end of the hall
interrupted her instructions. Surprised, both her and Kaitei
turned to face the two intruders that entered the throne room.
"You!" the bodyguard shouted, seeing the man who had insulted
his princess before him; with the person he was assigned to stop no
less!
"That's right," Ranma replied. "We have unfinished business.
You prevented me from getting that Dragon's Tooth once before, but
now we'll settle this once and for all!"
Kaitei stepped away from the throne, "So long as you threaten
the wishes of Yukino-sama, I will always stop you!"
Ranma was about to motion Akane to get behind one of the
hall's pillars for protection, when he noticed that she was nowhere
in sight. Turning his gaze back to the bodyguard, he flicked back
his pony-tail and started forward. The two fighters met in the
middle of the room and began to trade blows.
For some time, Ranma and Kaitei fought an almost even battle.
Careful to keep track of where his pony-tail was, Ranma defeated
any repeat of the bodyguard's previous strategy. Kaitei was
tougher and stronger, but Ranma was faster and more skilled.
Yukino watched this fight for a moment; then, she descended
from her throne. Standing a few meters from her platform, she
looked at the fight with apprehension. Unnerved, she didn't want
the fight to go on...<It must be the presence of that horrible
Ranma person,> she thought. For some reason, she winced when
Kaitei took a hit to the ribs.
"Enough of this!" she shouted. Closing her eyes to
concentrate her will, she snapped them open again, the demonic red
of her spell-casting lighting up her face.
In the combat, Ranma's eyes suddenly lost all focus; his
motions slowed, and he staggered to a halt. Kaitei stopped and
grinned; he took a few steps back and started to rush forward to
build up momentum for the strike on his helpless foe.
Watching this, Yukino smiled grimly as the moment of the
strike came close...Suddenly pain shot through her left arm. With
a cry, her head was pulled back by an arm around her neck; loosing
concentration, her spell fizzled.
His senses coming back to him, Ranma blinked once and saw
Kaitei swinging his fist in. At the last second, Ranma ducked and
the fist sailed over his head. Not expecting any defense, Kaitei
was left off-balance and wide open. Looking down in surprise, he
saw Ranma grin wickedly, then drive his fist upwards.
The blow caught the bodyguard under the chin; enough force
present to lift Kaitei completely off his feet. The moment Kaitei
left the ground, Ranma spun into a round-house kick and caught him
while he was still in the air. Unable to do anything, Kaitei was
thrown into a pillar.
Straining against the pain, Yukino looked behind her; a
short-haired girl with incredible strength was holding her in an
incapacitator hold. "What are you doing?!" she screamed at the
younger girl.
Akane just smiled grimly. "Don't you know...you shouldn't
butt into a fight between men."
Ranma looked over at the girls with surprise, then grinned and
nodded thanks to Akane. He couldn't do any more as Kaitei,
although injured, got up from his impact with the pillar.
"A nice try," he muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"But not enough to finish me. For that, you'll have to do
something special."
"Don't worry," Ranma smirked. "I have just the trick to deal
with you."
The two fighters closed again and Kaitei began to throw
several punches. Ducking beneath the strikes, Ranma drew his fist
back.
"HIRYU-SHOTEN-HA!!"
Throwing his punch forward, Ranma's ki energy burst forth.
Kaitei saw the upraising storm, and threw himself in the direction
the blast was heading. Travelling with the twister, he somewhat
lessened the impact. However, he still was carried into the air;
Ranma waited until the cyclone was at full strength, then leapt up
into the eye of the storm.
With great effort, Kaitei managed to swim into the centre of
the winds. Although bruised and battered by the flying dragon, he
still snarled defiantly at Ranma. "I'm not beaten yet!"
"We'll see!" Ranma replied. He held his hands apart and began
to glow with focusing ki energy. Seeing this, Kaitei grinned
suddenly; holding his own arms in a X pattern over his chest, he
began to summon his own ki.
Throwing his arms before him Ranma shouted, "Moukou
Takabisha!!" An energy beam leapt from his hands.
"Waku Hebi Taoshite!!" Kaitei countered, his own ki forming an
aura to protect him. The beam smacked into his 'springing snake
knock down' and knocked him backwards. Driven by this force, the
bubble of ki that carried Kaitei ripped through the side of the
twister and out into the room.
Kaitei flipped around and landed with his legs pressed against
the wall he was pushed against. A second later the tiger blast
faded into nothingness. <A really short blast compared to last
time,> Kaitei thought; then his coiled spring exploded into action
as he thrust his body away from the wall. Like a bullet, he shot
back towards the hole in the twister.
It was then that he saw it.
The hole his forced-out ki had ripped in the side of the
cyclone was allowing the energy of the flying dragon to be vented.
No longer held in the tight contains of the twister, the winds and
ki-energy were travelling the path of least resistance, out the
available exit.
Straight towards him.
Before he could summon another waku hebi taoshite, the whole
force of the flying dragon crashed into him. No longer dispersed
as a twister, but concentrated like a beam, the blast slammed into
Kaitei with terrible force. It completely countered his forward
momentum and he could barely keep his defenses from collapsing as
the blast battered him. Straining to look into the blast, Kaitei's
eyes opened wide as he saw Ranma speeding towards him. Dragged
along with the energies leaving the cyclone, Ranma flew with the
force, rather then against it. Ranma closed on a collision course
with him; through the howling wind, Kaitei managed to hear,
"-Amaguriken!"
Kaitei saw a blur of wind driven fists, then all went black.
* * *
The blast from the flying dragon dissipated quickly without
the twister to contain it. Akane looked up to see Ranma grab the
unconscious Kaitei and flip down to the ground safely. Yukino
looked blank as she saw her bodyguard defeated; Akane felt her go
limp in her grip, and she relaxed her hold. The princess fell to
her knees and just sat there, looking at her champion with tears on
her cheeks.
Akane gave her another glance, then turned to Ranma as he, not
ungently, placed the bodyguard on the floor. He looked up at her
and nodded; then he glanced beyond her and grinned. She turned to
see him facing the casket that held the Dragon's Tooth.
A few seconds later, the sound of voices came from the hall
outside the throne room.
"Good thing we stopped at the kitchens, eh Saotome-kun?"
BAP! "Wake up Happi, we're here."
"No Mousse, that not throne room. Sign say 'broom-closet.'"
"Get back here Ryoga! Everybody else went right, how could
you go left?"
"Oh good, we're in time; Kuno-chan, open the door please."
The door at the far end of the hall opened and the rest of
Team Ranma entered the throne room, looking at the devastation
caused by the hiryu-shoten-ha with amazement. Then they noticed
that the ones who had stood between them and the Dragon's Tooth
were in no shape to fight.
"Good work, my boy!" Genma shouted as he slapped Ranma across
the back. "At last, I won't be a panda anymore!!"
Yukino looked up at the invaders who had entered her throne
room. Weeping softly, she whispered, "Could this get any worse?"
The wall behind the gang exploded.
Striding in through the rubble, a figure enveloped in a
crackling aura of energy and carrying a beam sabre entered the
room. For some reason, his clothes were slightly singed.
"YUKINO-SAMA!! I, DARKEN, WILL NOW RECOVER THE PROPERTY THAT
YOU TOOK FROM ME!! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RESIST, FOR I HAVE THE FULL
POWERS POSSESSED BY A KAMI--"
"Brevet third class, limited license; probational," everyone
said at the same instant.
Darken cringed. Then he took a good look around; seeing
everyone present and the throne room a mess, he scratched the back
of his head; his aura of power faded away on the breeze.
"Uh...looks like I'm a little late...Did I miss anything?"
"Nothing of importance," Ranma huffed. "Now let's get that
dragon thing and finally get cured." Turning back towards the
throne and the case, he was stunned to see an extremely battered
and bruised Kaitei before him. Standing with great difficulty, the
bodyguard blocked his passage.
"Y-you will [gasp] not...not touch it...Yukino-sama...has said
so..." Clearly exhausted, he fell to his knees.
"Look," Ranma began, "I don't want to hurt you any more, so
why don't you just-"
From nowhere, Yukino slid in from the side and bopped Ranma
out of the way. Staring down at her bodyguard, she had a look of
deep concern on her face. "Kaitei...you'd actually continue to
fight for me...after what happened to you?"
Bowing his head, Kaitei spoke softly, "You even need to ask?
All I have, all that I am, all that I could be...they are your's
to command." Exhaustion and emotional strain overpowering him, he
continued, " I am your's...because...I...I...love you."
The princess looked down at him, tears began to loom in her
eyes. Slowly, she dropped to her knees before him. "Why didn't
you tell me this before?"
His face still downcast, Kaitei began, "It wasn't my place..."
Tears began to flow down the princess' cheeks. "You foolish
commoner, you," she replied softly, affectionately. Gently, Yukino
lifted a hand to his chin and made him raise his head to face her.
Taking a moment to observe them, Darken walked up to the two
figures kneeling on the floor. A look of soft compassion and
gentle wisdom was present on his features; accented by a small,
gentle smile. "Yukino-san...Do you see that your desire for what
you wanted blinded you to the truth before your eyes. There was
the love you sought right before you; however, because you let
yourself lose sight of what you truly desired, you let the chance
go, and almost lost the opportunity that was presented."
As the kami's noble words reached other ears, the reactions
were surprisingly similar. Genma and Soun held onto each other as
they cried at the beautiful words, Kasumi wiped a tear from her
eye, Cologne nodded with the wisdom, then bopped Happosai to keep
him from trying to feel Yukino up. Shampoo leaned on Mousse's
shoulder, a soft look on her face, peace radiating from Mousse's
features. Nabiki, her arms crossed over her chest, leaned against
Kuno-chan; she had a small, heartfelt smile on her lips, and Kuno
looked like he wanted to spring into poetry; he didn't however, so
everyone was happy. Ryoga and Ukyou both looked at the floor, both
blushing and sniffling at the tender words; their eyes caught, and
they both blushed some more and turned back to the floor.
Ranma and Akane both looked at each other for a long moment,
then turned away to look at anything else; however, each moved a
small step towards the other. The fingers of their respective
hands gently brushed the other's.
Now holding Kaitei to her, Yukino rested her head against his
for a moment, then looked up at the kami before her.
"Darken-sama...you knew this would happen, didn't you?"
"Huh?!" Darken replied, losing all trace of the noble and wise
sentiment he'd possessed a second ago; now looking completely
dumbfounded at her suggestion.
"This whole thing, from my mistaken wish up to this point, was
your plan to have me realize that I loved Kaitei; isn't it?"
"I...we...ah...oh...um....yeah...Yeah; that's the ticket. I
mean; [cough] of course!" Darken swiftly changed to a pillar of
self assured determination and pride. "I had this whole thing
mapped out from the beginning! Everything was part of a carefully
and subtly arranged master plan! Each of you played your role
according to the cosmic scheme of things; a plan that could only be
undertaken by someone so astonishing as myself. Don't feel bad at
having me direct your lives from behind the scenes; it's what I'm
suppose to do. After all, I am a kami." He finished, looking
unspeakably egotistical.
"Brevet third class, limited; probational," everyone,
including Yukino and Kaitei responded. Darken cringed.
"Uh...yeah; right. Anyway...I'll just get that Tooth so I can
finish the spell for these people," Darken said as he walked past
Yukino and Kaitei, who were still holding each other. Reaching the
glass case, he summoned up an energy sabre and slashed the ornate
lock off the case. Yukino sighed happily, then suddenly looked up
at Darken in horror.
"WAIT!! Darken-sama, first disarm the-"
As she was taking, Darken looked over his shoulder at her; as
he did that, his hand lifted the top of the case.
BOOM!!
Everyone covered their faces as a huge explosion rocked the
chamber. When the dust and wind from the blast finally settled
down, Yukino quietly finished, "-trap."
As the gang looked on in horror, two shapes could be seen when
the smoke had cleared. One was a horizontal, slightly curved,
white ivory spike; the other was a vertical pillar of black soot.
The pillar of soot let out a small "ouch", then fell to the floor.
The force of the impact shook the white ivory spike a bit...and it
disintegrated into dust.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Came from
several throats at once. Ranma leapt towards the blackened kami
and beat out the rest of the gang for his neck by about 1/2 second.
Shaking him roughly, Ranma shouted into his face, "What have you
done?!?"
Coming back to himself, Darken looked over at the remains of
the Dragon's Tooth.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The kami managed to look even more distressed at the loss of the
tooth then the cursed people were. "Not again!?! That's the last
one we had! Man, the Yaggdrasil sysop is going to cream me for
this!" He clawed his fingers into his hair roughly. "I just can't
believe this is the third tooth I've lost this month alone!!"
"NANI?!?!?"
[roll end credits with an annoying catchy theme song.]
[epilogue]
Night over Tokyo. The sounds of the bustling metropolis were
dampened somewhat by the darkness. In the peaceful quiet of the
dark blue sky, Tendo Akane stood on the balcony at her house.
Dressed in her night clothes, she was looking up at the stars,
letting her mind wander free. In one of her hands, she carried a
small, red rose.
Opening the door leading out, Ranma-chan walked out onto the
small balcony. Closing the door so they didn't have to listen to
the sounds of Darken trying to deal with a stomach full of Akane's
cooking (the gang having voted that he deserved the ultimate
punishment), she walked to the rail. Like Akane, she too was in
her night clothes.
For long minutes, neither of them spoke, nor looked at each
other. Akane continued to gently spin the rose stem in her hand,
while Ranma looked out over the rooftops. Finally, Ranma-chan
cleared her throat and looked over at the girl beside her.
"Um...Akane?"
"Yes, Ranma?"
"Well...I'd...I'd like to know...are you doing anything
tomorrow?"
[fin]
__________________________________________
Author's Notes:
Well, what do you think? All in all, I'm pretty happy with
it; got a little slow in Chapter 4, but not too bad. What I think,
however, is not as important as how you people feel about it. I'll
have the address where I can be reached later on in the notes; as
this is my first non-lemon fic, I'd appreciate some feed-back on
the job I did. If people like it, I'm probably going to continue
the series. I sort of see this like an OVA series, a set of
continuous short stories (1 to 10 chapters depending) rather then
an on-going centralized story. As you can probably see from my
writing, I'm a hopeless romantic (emphasis on the hopeless part).
While I stated that I would be copying from everyone, I feel I
should give some credit for some of my shameless rip-offs:
In Chapter 1, the dinner date was based partially on an
episode of 'Lois and Clark, the New Adventures of Superman.'
Originally, I'd planned Darken to show up in the park with Happosai
so that Ranma and Akane never got to their date, but seeing the
hell and fun the L&C gang had with a dinner date, I just had to do
it.
The idea for Ranma getting drunk and using the line 'you're my
fiancee. I'll never *ever* let anyone take you away,' in Chapter 2
came from an episode of 'Ranma University: Daigakusei no Ranma.' I
don't remember the exact one, but in it, Ranma gets tanked fighting
someone who has drunken Kung Fu. I saw a drunk Ranma as a golden
opportunity; isn't there some Latin phrase, 'there is truth in
wine?'
The unhappy camper at the beginning of this chapter is Purple
Robe from John Bile's 'Ranma: Elseworlds' fan-fic. The dreaded
Saotome patented cling-to-ceiling-praying-enemy-don't-look-up
technique was directly lifted from 'Ranma 1/2 Life's Dulse
Moments,' written by fellow Canadian Leslie Mills. (By the way,
personally, I feel 'Dulse' to be the most evil fan-fic I have ever
seen. Leslie, I want more.)
For these people I stole from: in my defense, I can only say
that I follow the Ben Dunn school of Parodying: steal first, worry
about legalities later.
A special note about a character in this: If you remember back
to Chapter 3, I said that Darken was based on the kami from AA!
Megamisama! Well, that's not all he was based on. I made Darken
for three reasons. 1) I needed someone to move the story along, 2)
I needed someone I could abuse without any qualms, and 3) I wanted
to write myself into my own fic.
That's right, Darken is in fact, me. While I admit I don't
have as flashy a wardrobe as he does, I don't have the marks on my
face, and I don't throw energy spheres (at least to my knowledge),
the physical description is of me. Besides, who other then myself
could I possibly abuse so much? If you need more proof, just run
my first name, 'Darren' through a spell-checker and see what comes
out.
Despite (or because of) that fact, Darken is available for
weddings, bar mitzvahs, and appearances in other fan-fics. If you
want him for a cameo, no problem; I steal from other fan-fics, I
expect others to steal from me as well. If you want to write a
story with him doing something major, just drop me a line saying
what will happen to him. I really don't care what abuse he'll
suffer, I'll most likely let you use him.
From here we go on to the works in progress from the sick
minds of the Horde O' Hentai:
Rob is currently involved wracking his brains for a set of
rather...unique...lemons. (note: if his ideas have given me pause;
be afraid, be very afraid.) Lee is planning to write the next
installment of Ranma 1/100th, and is also working up some as-yet
unknown story. Craig is producing his Tenchi Muyou lemon series:
'The Price One Pays,' and drafting an Appleseed regular story.
As for my (not so) humble self: Well, after Lee finishes his
run on 1/100th, I've got the next story sort of planned out. The
whole Horde is sort of working together on an original anime-like
ongoing story that I'm going to type out. And of course, I'm
continuing to write the flagship of the Horde: the Ranma .05 lemon
series.
Once again, I'd appreciate some feed back on the job I did on
this fan-fic. I can be contacted at the general mail box for the
Horde that doubles as Grey Wolf's regular mail address:
[greywolf@ffarm.ampr.ab.ca]
Hoped you enjoyed the story.
Darren 'Darken' Demaine: Chairman of the Horde, President for
Life
(Chance of Parole in 20 years)
"Men are like floor tiles: if you lay them right the first time,
you can walk on them forever."
- seen on a T-shirt.
??
--
greywolf@ffarm.ampr.ab.ca
greywolf@worldgate.com
Ferret Farm BBs Service