Okay, I'm posting this for Libby, who's currently not on the ML.  All mail
and stuff should go to her at aduetofpigtails@fcmail.com or
mihoshi@eudoramail.com. If worst comes to, just send it to me, and I'll
forward it to her.
Ja ne,
Rob
===
A Duet of Pigtails
By Libby Thomas

Based on the characters and storylines of Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi and
Magic Knight Rayearth by CLAMP
Additional: Gegege no Kitaro and The Legends of Yokai by Shigeru Mizuki.
Fujikyu Highland is owned by the Fujikyu Group.

Part Four:
Mit Brennender Sorge

So far the day had gone well.  A little after Hikaru had left, Satoru had
called to let them know that he would not be able to go shopping for
Hikaru's gift with them; Ranma and Ukyo had left about an hour ago.  A
little while after that, both Tatewaki and Satoru had called to explain that
they would be delayed, or in Satoru's case, further delayed.  As Ranma's
10:00 self-defense for women course came in, Hibiki had focused on the
situation at hand; namely teaching housewives who took the self-defense
course for fear of the slightly increasing crime in Tokyo.

Now, as the last of the students exited the dojo, Ryoga wiped an errant bead
of sweat of his brow in relative peace.  Ranma's students were a vast change
from the lifestyle that he was accustomed to on the Unryu farm.  He could
see why Ranma preferred a life of teaching rather than making tons of money
in tournaments.  This life was simpler, more satisfying.  It was a world
that perhaps Ryoga might consider as a sideline to the farm.  ((After all,))
he thought, ((I don't think there are many dojos in the Five Lakes area, and
no one wants to travel all the way to Tachikawa for training.  I think I'll
have to ask Akari her opinion on this one.))

As he picked up a broom, he heard a voice calling to him.  "Hail, friend
Hibiki," a calm voice said in Shakespearean tones.

Without looking up, Ryoga continued to sweep and answered, "Hiya, Tatewaki.
How goes it?"

Kuno Tatewaki looked at his old friend and gave an appreciative nod for a
man who'd once been a bitter rival.  "It goes well, for is it not that we
should train for this day the students of my brother-in-law Ranma and his
dear wife, the beloved Pigtailed girl?"  At the moment, he stood in a
business suit, carrying a bag that contained, undoubtedly, his kendo
clothing.  He offered to train Hikaru's classes for the day while Ranma and
Ukyo attended to their part of the plan.

"Um...yeah.  Sure," he said blandly, while inwardly groaning, ((He still
doesn't get it.))  After all these years, Tatewaki had finally found the
identity of the woman he thought to be the legendary pigtailed girl--namely,
Hikaru.  While it was a relative comfort to Ranma, it was bizarre for
Hikaru, when first dating Ranma, to wonder why his sister's fianc�e was
paying so much attention to her.  Add to the outbreaks of fights between
Ranma and Tatewaki over her, and things were rough for a few weeks--the only
period that Ranma and Hikaru had difficulties in their flourishing
relationship.  Nabiki had finally sat Hikaru down one night and explained
the whole mess, clearing things up for the redhead.  Since then, Hikaru had
put up with it with charm and grace, and Tatewaki accepted that Ranma truly
did have the heart of the pigtailed girl.  Adding to his verbage, he asked,
"What do you plan to do today with the class?"

"Oh, that's quite simple, Ryoga," another voice commented, as Shidou Satoru
entered into the room.  "My students will be here in about ten minutes.  I
thought that it would be interesting to have my sister's students spar
against mine for training purposes, topped off with a match between me and
Tatewaki."  Turning to Tatewaki, he commented, "Sorry I had to change it to
this afternoon, but I had to tend to a few other last-minute things before I
could arrive."

"Never a problem that shall be," Tatewaki coolly replied, "for it is I that
am late as well.  I had a trifle of a business meeting that went well over
the allotted time frame, so it is fortunate that both of us were tardy to
our endeavors, correct?"

Ryoga chuckled at that one; since the two kendo masters had met at the
Saotome wedding, they shared a friendship/rivalry that was very much the
equal to that of he and Ranma.  "Ah...I think I may have to stick around to
watch that one.  But first, I think I could use a shower.  I've been working
up a sweat all day, and Kasumi might use some help."  With that, he stepped
into the house.

Once in, he passed by the television on the way to the downstairs guestroom.
Sure enough, perched in front of the TV, watching her nephew and niece as
they slept, was Kasumi.  The eldest Tendo daughter had never changed, and
though she now lived with her husband Tofu, this was still very much her
home and for the most part he couldn't picture the house without her.
Sitting there on a pillow with her nephew and niece at her side and her son
Hiro on her lap as they watched some sort of monster movie, she apparently
belonged, ever a part of this house as much as anything else.   Noticing
him, she whispered, "Oh, hello, Ryoga.  The babies, as you can see, are
asleep, and Hiro-chan and I are watching one of those monster movies."  With
a strange, wistful tone in her voice, she said, "It reminds me of the old
days, for some reason."

Ryoga didn't know how to answer that, so he added, "Tatewaki and Satoru have
arrived, and'll be starting their classes in a few minutes.  I came in to
see if you needed a hand with anything."

"Oh, that's very sweet of you!" she said, her smile as sweet as sunny as
ever.  "But I hadn't planned on working on anything until an hour from now,
when Ranma and Ukyo get home."  Nodding her head towards her child, she
added, "Besides, Hiro wanted to me to watch terebi with him, and I love
spending time with my son."

Ryoga stared a little more intently at the screen.  "Nnn..._Musabetsu Sentai
Bushiranger_.  I used to watch that when I was his age.
I see he's got class."  Ryoga bent down to sit with the pair, when without
warning, the screen changed to a Fuji TV Special Report.  The report showed
the aftermath of a horrific, mindless massacre that had occurred at an
amusement park an hour ago.  It really didn't catch the attention of either,
until the words "Fujikyu Highland" were uttered by the anchorwoman, then
confirmed as the video switched to an on-camera scene of the carnage.  As
the pair watched in shock, the park looked absolutely destroyed, and there
were still monsters running around, some apparently in combat with people
who could defend themselves.  The video cameras showed the grounds, awash in
a red, which could only be one thing.

So stunned were they by the grisly display, Kasumi blurted an expletive,
despite her intentions not to curse in front of children: "Oh, my."  She
then turned her eyes instinctively towards the sleeping children, then
towards Ryoga.  Those eyes, once used to anything that had happened in this
household, had been taken down a few pegs by the death of just about every
member of her family.  Those eyes, looking at Ryoga's, now registered an
immediate fear of what the television had just portended.

Without a second to spare, Ryoga leapt to his feet and scrambled in to the
dojo.  As the two classes of kendo students were there, watching Tatewaki
and Satoru demonstrate combat maneuvers (this was a demonstration, and not
the promised match), it looked a little too real for Ryoga.  Screaming out
"Bunretsu!" to the teachers, he foolheartedly leapt into the center of the
pair, snapping each combatant's bokken with a pinpoint Bakusai Tenkestu.

"What is the meaning of this, Hibiki?" an annoyed Tatewaki snarled.

"Stow it, Tatewaki," Ryoga replied.  "Both of you, get in the house, now."
Then, in a calmer, more restrained voice, he said, "Nabiki and Hikaru may be
in trouble.  Something bad just happened at the park they were at."

~*~

In another part of Tokyo, Ranma looked nervously at Ukyo.  "So, do you think
she'll like it?"

"Ranchan, she'll like anything you get for her," Ukyo assured him.  "She'll
especially like this.  Haven't you been saying that she's wanted one of
these for her very own for a while now?"

"Yeah, but it is a little more expensive than the regular one."  Ranma
looked up from the car, trying to put up with the sticker shock.  "I mean, I
know Hikaru's been wanting a car for a while now, and I know she wants this
particular one, but considering that I have to pay 80 thousand yen more for
this one than the other...I just don't understand, Ucchan."  He stopped
looking at the car, then turned to her.  "I'm paying 80 thousand just for a
name and transmission difference, Ucchan."

"It's a girl thing, Ranchan," Ukyo replied.  "You'd have to be a girl to
understand.  A REAL girl," she added in a playful tone.  "Honestly, If I was
your wife--" To her credit, she did not sigh as she said that, "--I would be
touched that you even went this far."

"Yeah, I s'pose," he admitted, "but then again, Hikaru is, y'know, special."
Ranma and Ukyo continued to look around in the Mazda showroom, continuing to
look at the car that fit Hikaru's bill.  Since their honeymoon in Hawaii
years back, Hikaru had fallen in love with the type of the type of car
they'd rented, the Mazda Roadster.  Normally, that would be easy enough, but
there were complications involved--not a surprise, when dealing with the
Saotome family.  The type that Hikaru had been hinting at wasn't exactly the
ROADSTER, but the MIATA, the faster, more powerful American version with the
funny name (the name SOUNDED Japanese, but the dealer had told him that the
name was actually German for "gift").  What made it worse was that the color
that she wanted it in (cherry red) was only available on the American
models.  Fortunately, they had recently imported some models for specialty
purchases, and one happened to be in that red she so wanted.  UNfortunately,
this drove the price of the car up, from an already straining 2.4 million
yen to a staggering 3.2 million.  And unlike what they'd heard about
American dealerships, there was no price haggling here in Japan.

For the most part, the dealership was empty.  The majority of the sales
clerks were sitting around in the rest area, watching something on the
terebi.  ((I wasn't aware that there was a basho going on,)) he thought.
((Maybe the Giants are playing.))  Turning his attention back to Ukyo, he
commented, "Well, it is for my wife, and I do love her, so I guess that it
would be for the best."

"You betcha, Ranchan," Ukyo piped in.  "'Sides, with the kids, it'll be
easier for her to get around in the long run with a car.  While tolls may be
more expensive than a JR pass, it'll make up in the long run.  Besides, you
want your children to be safe, right?"  Ranma merely nodded his agreement.

As they stared at the car long enough, one of the dealers, a slick elderly
man, came back to talk to them.  "So, have you and your wife settled upon
this fancy little number?"

"Oh, she's not my wife," Ranma replied out of habit as Ukyo rolled her eyes
out of HER habit of hearing that, "just my best friend.  She's just here to
help my choose a car for my wife's birthday."

"That's obviously sweet of you, miss," the dealer replied, his eyes
twinkling in professional smoothness.  "Such devotion to your friend is to
be commended."

((You have NO idea how devoted I am to my Ranchan,)) she thought, though she
instead voiced, "I guess.  Hikaru seems to prefer your Miata models to the
Roadster model, so I guess that's the one you're getting her, Ranma?"

"Yeah," he replied, his mind made up.  "It is for her, and I do want to make
her happy.  I just can't wait to see the look on her face when she and
Nabiki get home from Fujikyu tonight and--"

The dealer's face blanched.  "Y-y-you wouldn't happen to mean Fujikyu
Highland, would you, sir?"

Ranma's innate sense of danger kicked in.  Eyes narrowing dangerously, he
bit his words.  "Yes, yes I do.  Why?"  Although he hadn't seen it, Ukyo
sensed upon his change in attitude and knew, from experience, that the world
had just gone hellishly wrong.

The man, now somber, said, "You'd best come with me, sir.  I believe I have
something to show you that you may not like."  Ranma's discomfort went
higher as the man pointed to the lounge area, where the dealers were all
looking at the terebi.

A second later, the showroom split into a cacophony of rage as Ranma
screamed out a cry of anguish.  Watching him as he raced towards the exit of
the showroom, Ukyo watched her friend in despair, thinking, ((Not again,
please, not again.  Sweet kami in the earth, don't let this happen to him
again....))  Knowing that her friend needed her more than ever, Ukyo bolted
outside, hoping to catch up with Ranma before he went out of control.

~*~

The first thing that Saotome Hikaru noticed as she landed was the mindless
slaughter going on.  There were dozens of creatures of the ancient legends
of Yokai bouncing around, and all of them were killing dozens of people.  A
few minutes ago, this had been nothing more than a happy, jolly amusement
park.  Now, this was a graveyard, a killing field.

The second thing she noticed, was the pain that blasted up her legs as she
impacted on the ground.  ((That's what I get for being out of shape,)) she
mentally snarled.  She heard a scream, and looked towards her left.  About
five meters from her, over by the Angler ride, was an unidentifiable
monster, terrorizing a pair of schoolgirls.  The beast swatted his hand at
the nearest one, decapitating her, and splashing her blood on the remaining
girl, who froze in terror and shock.  Knowing that she was the only one who
save that poor child, Hikaru put the pain to the back of her mind and
charged.

As she raced forward, she thought about the pluses and minuses of the
situation.  The minuses were that she was out of shape, and since her Pillar
magic didn't operate on Earth, she couldn't call upon her armor and sword.
The pluses were that being out of shape for Saotome Hikaru simply meant that
she was in good enough shape to practice martial arts, just not at the
blackbelt-plus level that she was used to; additionally, she still had her
fire magic.

And she certainly still knew how to use that.  Screaming, "HONO NO YA!" she
loosed her firebeam, the massive gout of flame knocking the furry creature
away from the remaining girl.  As she reached the girl, she moved her body
in between her and her charge, yelling, "GET OUT OF HERE!  YOU CAN'T DO
ANYTHING MORE FOR YOUR FRIEND!  SAVE YOURSELF!"  As the terrified girl took
the clue and bounded up the steps, Hikaru snarled at the creature, "It's
just you and me, buddy-boy.  Let's dance!  HI NO YA!"  Her sniper arrow
blasted forth, slamming into the creature's shoulder and knocking him for a
loop.  Taking advantage of that distraction, she raced towards him, leapt
up, and delivered a reverse slice kick to the creature's face, breaking off
one of his massive fangs.

The creature recovered quickly, however, and swiped at the young woman, but
she danced out of the way.  Ignoring the pain as she moved at an angle that
would not have normally elicited complaints from her body, she resorted to a
variation of one of her kendo moves.  Crying out, "Hyakujikoryuken!" she
moved forward and launched a high-speed palm strike attack, her hands
glowing with the flame of her pyromancy.  Each spot she connected with
scorched fur and skin, and made the beast roar in anguish.  As the creature
finally backed up, she finished off her move, a rising backhand that knocked
the creature flat on its ass.

As Hikaru alighted on the ground, the creature bounded towards her, and she
barely managed to avoid its teeth.  The beast then lashed out with a paw,
and nearly managed to tangle one of its massive claws in her braid.  As a
result, she landed off-kilter, and the monster was able to backpaw her back,
sending her flying back a few feet, to crash up against a soda machine.

As the creature charged in, Hikaru saw that she had no other way to take it
down.  A few years back, she wailed against every life she'd ever taken in
the course of her duties.  A dozen years later, she still felt the internal
anguish, but sheathed it in a confidence and inner strength that was
reminiscent of her husband's.  Pulling her hands back, she summoned a sphere
of flame into them.  The ball changed from a fiery red to a strobing,
pulsating crimson.  As soon as the creature got close enough, she bellowed,
"TAKE THIS, YOU BASTARD! AKAI INAZUMA!"

The blast of plasma that she released from her hands was the Scarlet
Lighting, her most damaging spell.  The slash of force slammed into the
creature, and with a roaring clap of thunder, the creature burst apart like
a melon, body parts and such casting to the four winds.  Hikaru, thinking
quickly, held out her hands and muttered, "Hotarubi Reikizhoheki!"  As the
splash of dark blood splashed harmlessly against her light shield, all
Hikaru could see was a wash of blood...another, though very necessary, life
she'd have to take.  A "monster-san," as Fuu so often referred to them, was
no longer a part of this world.

((Fuu, I'm so sorry.  I was wrong.  I was so, so wrong.  Your signal wasn't
a plea for help, it was a warning to me, and I ignored it.))  Hikaru then
shelved her sorrow; there would be plenty of time for brooding after she'd
taken down her would-be assassins.  As the blood cleared away, she
dissipated her shield, and idly noted she stood in a fairly deep puddle of
crimson.  Sitting in front of her was the charred, smoking remnants of the
creature, filling the air with its stink of deep grilled flesh and burnt
hair.  The entire front section of the body had been blown away, and there
was a massive hole that could be seen through the chest of the creature
where the blast of lightning had made its exit wound.  The blast had also
tore deep into the Angler's external dome, leaving molten steel where the
bolt of plasma had drilled through.

Faced with the sight, initial adrenaline drop, and the nauseous stench
around her, Hikaru turned and threw up.  Still feeling woozy, she turned and
heard a roar.  Suddenly bursting from the Angler's dome as if the metal were
nothing more than tinfoil and tissue paper, was the Kraken-like animatronic
beast that was the "villain" of that ride.  As it stood, its beak was
bloody, and in two of its tentacles, it held the corpse of a person that it
had just been munching on.  Throwing its carrion away, the denizen of the
deep stared at Hikaru with a mindless, animal demonism that was somehow more
than the simple fury of a shark.

Hikaru returned that baleful stare, sure and confident as a Saotome, as a
Shidou.  With a sloppy grin, a mannerism that she'd picked up from Ranma,
she looked back at the Kraken and drawled, "Oooh...ika.  I could use a
little seafood."  She then dropped her smile, adopting a determined look and
motioned towards the behemoth before her.  "You think you can take me?
Let's see you try."

As the Kraken leapt from its perch down to ground level, Hikaru charged up
her power.  The smell of carrion was still in the air, and she was about to
add a new, rubbery scent to the grisly aroma already pervasive.

~*~

Just as Shiki was about to bolt away from the table, a huge, wet stinking
monster exploded out from the Marina ride in front of them, looking at the
pair with baleful eyes.  It was dark green and slimy, with a hard shell
covering and a body that was reminiscent of the creature in the old movie
_The Creature from the Black Lagoon_.  It focused on Shiki instantly, and
sucked in a mighty breath.  As it sucked in, a small sphere of light
converged just in front of its maw.  Michael, knowing instinctively that
there was no time, leapt forward and tackled her just as the creature shot
its head forward and breathed.

The ball of energy erupted into an eruption of energy, boring through the
place that the pair had been just a second before.  The beam cored the
building, vaporizing a couple of innocents in its wake and causing a grease
fire to erupt in the kitchen.  That, combined with a few other things,
caused the entire backside of the building to shatter in a fiery
conflagration as people who'd hid in the building for safety began to flee
for their lives.

Getting back to his feet, Michael wasted no time attacking what was
clearly--though inexplicably--a Gyodai-gappa, a heavily mutated form of the
kappa that had featured in that anime series from when he was
younger--_Mermaid Forest_.  Fortunately, he was an expert on it because of
Theresa's fondness for Stephen King-style horror; she took the time to learn
Japanese from him just so she could read the classic horror tales of Mizuki
Shigeru.  He knew its traditional strengths and weaknesses, and was surely
bent on exploiting them.

Bounding into the air, he brought his hands towards himself, then thrust
them at the kappa.  The result was a hailstorm of knives that blasted out
from his hands like so much grapeshot from a cannon.  The blades impacted,
slashing away at some parts of the creature, some bouncing harmlessly off
its shell, but having the objective of backing him away from the immediate
vicinity of Shiki.  As the freak of nature staggered back, Michael snapped
his fingers and brought out the item that would surely take the creature
down.

As the .45 bullets ripped away from his Magnum, each armor-piercing round
boring into the creature and leaving considerably larger exit holes, he
looked to his side to note that Shiki had not recovered.  ((Poor thing;
she's in shock.))  Not every person in this world had the strength of will
to fight things like this; he'd even met some "combat-hardened warriors" who
paled when the real thing dropped in their laps.  Well, Michael had to
protect this girl, and the only way to do that was to pull the trigger...

...and watch as the last round in the clip bored into the kappa's brain,
leaving a trace of red in between its eyes.

"Shiki!" Michael shouted as he pulled her to her feet.  "Get out of here!"
In a smooth motion, he emptied the clip and slapped a new one into it,
pulled back the slide, chambering a fresh round.  "Leave, before you're in
any more danger!"

"No!" she retorted.  "I can fight!  My mom taught me some martial arts as I
grew up, and I'm very good at it.  I'm not leaving your side!"

Before he could answer, the floor exploded beneath them, knocking Shiki back
to the floor and Michael over the corpse of the kappa, into the water.  As
she stood back up and looked at what had just knocked her on her ass, she
looked up...and up...and up, straight into the face of a nightmare.  As her
eyes widened in surprise, she blurted, "You-you-can't be real!"

Before her stood the Japanese version of the Greek Gorgon, the Kiyohime, and
it stared at her with eyes of pure hatred.  With the body of a snake and the
upper portion of a woman, its body was entirely covered in scales, though
the scales in the human portion were at least the golden brown skin of an
Japanese girl.  Girl, however was nothing that could describe that hag-like
face, the fangs, the reptilian eyes, that meter-long tongue, or the oni's
horns that were at the top of the creature's skull.

The creature reared back to strike, even as Shiki composed herself, dropping
into a low combat stance.  Giving it her fiercest glare, she snorted,
"C'mon, ugly!  They don't call me 'The Fist of Kawagishi High' for nothing!
Do your worst!"  However, as the Kiyohime was about to attack, it screamed
in pain as though something had attacked it.  It whipped around, turning to
face an opponent.  As it turned, Shiki noticed that its back was covered in
a series of shuriken that seemed to have come out of nowhere.

"Michael?" she called out, grateful that he had saved her.  ((Yep,)) she
thought, couldn't have timed it better.  ((We're DEFINITELY made for each
other.))  It was to her surprise, then, that she heard a raucous series of
quacks as a white duck took to the air, heading in the opposite direction,
almost as it was trying to lead the Kiyohime away from her.  However, there
were no complaints, because the thing decided to follow the bird.

"TASUKETE!"

The scream caught Shiki's attention as the Kiyohime inexplicably chased that
duck that came out of nowhere.  The scream came from over by the carousel,
and Shiki noticed, with horror, that a bunch of strange creatures were
advancing on the carousel, bearing down on their victims--none other than
two of her friends, and one of them injured!  Calling out, "I'm coming,
Michiko!" she bolted towards them, concentrating.  Those things were fast,
and Shiki only had a limited amount of time left to save her friends.  As
she bolted on, she said a whispered prayer of thanks to the innocent duck
that inadvertently saved her, and a hope that Michael and she would survive,
so she could be with him again...
...not to mention ask where the hell he'd gotten such a powerful handgun in
a country where they were clearly illegal.

~*~

"Kuu," Nabiki said, as she put her in what appeared to be an undamaged
portion of the Souvenir shop, "you'll be safe here.  Akama, I want you to
stay here and protect Hououji-san and the other woman, understand?  I have
to go help your mother."

"Hai, Aunt Nabiki," the young boy said, as he climbed into the dark room
with the other two women.

As Nabiki shut the door, she heard Kuu's whisper for Nabiki to remain safe,
all the while trying to prevent that high school girl from going into
hysterics.  As she bolted from the nearly demolished building so no one
would see where she came from, she mentally snarled, ((Someone's going to
have to explain this.  Hikaru's a goddess, there are tons of mythical beasts
running around turning this place into a killing zone, and here I am,
rushing into the middle of thi--))  Her words were cut off in mid-stride as
she tripped over a body.  Quickly gnashing her teeth to bite off the relapse
of pain that flared from earlier, she kippuped back to her feet, and did a
quick look-around to ensure that she was not under attack.  Only then did
she look at the obstacle she tripped over.

With dread, Nabiki noted that it was the remains of the woman who'd they'd
been in the _Kitaro_ ride with, earlier.  Her face and a good portion of her
front had been ripped away, and it looked as though someone had chewed off
one of her arms.  Not a person familiar with such sights, Nabiki turned and
threw up lunch.  As she did, she heard an unearthly voice waft towards her,
the whisper of leaves tumbling over gravestones: "Ahhh...fresh meat.  And
how long I have hungered for such."

Something triggered the danger instinct in Nabiki and she cart-wheeled out
of the way, as a blast of sharp wooden spears lanced through the space where
she'd been a second ago.  She turned and faced a monstrous creature,
potentially worse than the one she faced earlier.  It was a semi-solid ghost
with demonic eyes, a hideous leer, and black teeth that was currently
chewing on a head.  A second later, Nabiki inwardly flinched as she realized
it was the head of the young boy.  Something in the back of her mind, from
the darkest recesses of her childhood memories, gave the ghoul a name:
Kubikajiri.

The Kubikajiri looked at her with its sinister eyes, and spoke, "Are you
ready to give yourself up as carrion, girl?"

Nabiki narrowed her eyes as she snarled, "Only one of us is walking away
from this, demon.  I'm the one with feet.  Get a clue."  As she
concentrated, the flicker of a crimson aura came around her...then guttered
out just as quickly.  She'd yet to learn how to use ki-strikes--it was
apparent that the Tendo family was not that great with ki attacks--and if
she survived this, she was going to make sure that her little brother was
going to teach her.  However, now was not the time to have to worry about
that.

Screaming the banshee wail of the undead, the spirit raced towards Nabiki.
As it approached her, she ducked under the bloody claws of its hand, and
rolled away.  Springing back to her feet, she took the advantage and slugged
the thing in the back of the head, feeling a squishy sensation as her fist
connected with the back of its pate.  As the thing lashed out with its tail,
she leapt back and dropped back into a combat stance once again, only
pausing in it long enough to regain her balance before moving into attack.


The creature merely pointed at her, and from its finger blasted a shaft of
wood, a spear that aimed straight for her heart.  Instinct took over Nabiki,
and she quickly bent over backwards, just managing to duck under the shaft
in time--

--but then screamed in anguish as the Kubukajiri sank its teeth into her
shoulder blade.  She threw a punch in its face, and it backed off, but not
without having drawn some blood and spitting out cloth and flesh.  She
managed to leap back a few meters or so, but nowhere near what she was used
to as clearing distance.  In the interim, the creature licked its lips,
rasping, "Ah, yes--such sweet flesh.  You'll be glad to know that when I bit
you, my teeth injected a toxin in your veins.  You'll be paralyzed in a
second, and I'll have the honor of eating your brains from your skull as I
rip out your eyes so you can watch."  It moved slowly, sure of its intent
and eager in its next meal.

Nabiki felt her veins turning to ice, her body not moving, not responding,
even as the creature slowly approached her, as leisurely as a cat playing
with its food.  ((I could use some help now,)) she thought, ((some chance of
surviving!))  In her mind, she railed.  ((Tatewaki!  Ranma!  Hikaru!
Somebody, help!  TASUKETE!))  She failed to complete her next thought as a
clawed hand slapped her back viciously, raking her cheeks and spilling her
blood even as she was knocked back a few feet into a nearby trash can,
knocking it over.

As she stood there, trying to use every bit of her flagging strength to
move, the oddest thing popped into her head, something that Ranma had once
said to Akane, during the days she trained before her fatal encounter with
Shampoo.  ((Akane, you can't do ki attacks because you never focus.  You're
always so angry, you never search for your inner sense.  You never take the
time to look.  If you do one thing in your life, look at what fuels you.))
Those words rung in her ears now, as though it were a mystic talisman:
((look at what fuels you.))  So, taking a chance, she ignored the creature
slowly bearing down on her and focused.

She began to focus, closing her eyes, going deeper within, searching for her
inner self, what truly was at the core of her being. Within her mind's eye,
it was as though she were walking through a deep forest, hearing faint
music, seeing faint light.

She thought about it for a second.  ((I always wanted to be successful, to
make a bundle of cash, to be rich and famous.))  Those were the goals that
any person wanted, but why were they so important to Nabiki?  As though a
symphony of light and sound erupted around her, she was hit with the
revelation, something that she knew in a sense, a truth that she'd practiced
for years, though she never quite admitted it.

A tingling sensation began to alight throughout every cell in her soul,
turning it into a bonfire of light.  And in that bonfire was the Truth, the
Maxim.  ((I've wanted money, so I could take care of my family--so the
medicine that we couldn't afford for my mother would never happen again.  So
the years we lived in near-poverty would never happen again.  But even now
that I have money, it's not the cash that's important.  It's the love.  It's
the love that my husband and I share.  It's the love that Kasumi and Ranma
have for me, and I for them.  It's the love for my nephews and niece.))
Angels sang in her ear, a joyful chorus, and she felt giddy with a power
that she'd never felt before. ((Ranma was right...he was right all along,
and his attacks have proved it.  His and Ryoga's.  We all KNEW, yet we never
REALIZED.))

Her eyes snapped open.  She stared at the creature, just mere centimeters
from her face, slavering like a man about to taste the world's finest meal.
She smiled, and whispered, "Thank you, little brother."  She then glared at
the creature, then brought her hands back as a dark pink sphere of energy
coalesced in her hands.

"You are mine," the Kubikajiri whispered in orgasmic delight as it opened
its mouth far wider than the norm, as though it planned to swallow her head
whole.

"I don't think so," she whispered, her voice as dry as a tomb, as unsettling
a hiss as his own.  Then, her voice rose to thunder as she thrust her hands
forward and roared, "TENKA ATSURYOKUHA!"

 The world exploded in a blast of ki.

~*~

>From her perch above, Citroen watched, directing the battle, examining the
situation with a clinical eye.  Most of the spirits that she'd summoned
apparently were of the bloodthirsty type--not what she'd planned for, but
that was life.  However, one of her little surprises that she'd brought with
her from Cephiro had yet to infest a nearby life form.  One already had, and
had subsequently been destroyed by the Pillar.  Unfortunately, Citroen had
not seen that, and thus missed who the identity of the Pillar was.  However,
she'd narrowed it down to three: the small redhead with the attitude that
was currently fighting the Kraken, the brunette who blew apart the ghoul, or
the girl currently racing towards the carousel and fighting the creatures
along the way.  She knew the Pillar was female, and those were the only
three females fighting, the remainder of the combatants being men.

She decided to sit there and wait.  Sooner or later, one of them would use
the powers of the Pillar, and that would expose her.  Once that was the
case, then Citroen herself could either attack, or she could notion her
little familiar towards attacking, assuming that it infested a body.  It
would be perfect; the Pillar would die, and the Vanden Plaz would once again
have its foothold back on Earth.  Hopefully, there were still descendants of
the followers of the Leader, and so they would rally them.

All in good time, however.  There were more important things at hand...like
killing a goddess.  And a second later she noted that her second familiar
had infested a creature after all, and was in combat with the Pillar--the
redhead.  The Pillar confirmed her identity a second later, when the goddess
used a fire spell in a method that Citroen had never seen before.  Certain
of her victory, the sorceress called the power into her hands, and blasted
massive lighting bolt down on her opponent.  It would not fail, and death
would rain down from above, like the owl swooping down on the mouse.

The goddess was as good as dead.

~*~

Shiki knew that she had little time left to save her friends.  Strange
creatures, a bizarre cross between a bird and an alligator, scuttled their
way towards the carousel, and Michiko, who was holding a bloody and
whimpering Mariko.  Both looked seriously injured, and in almost in shock as
the Itsumaden began to come closer and closer to the pair, their feathered
jaws snapping, their sharp teeth showing, their reptilian eyes cold and
unthinking.  As Shiki approached, the nearest three turned with an extremely
fast gait and pounced towards her.  While their bodies were not ideal for
flight, their winged forearms, similar to that of a flying squirrel, allowed
them to gain extra distance. The raptors opened their jaws, ready to eat.

Shiki began to glow with a light green energy and called out, "Gurenken!"
Her hands blurred into a flurry of motion as she executed a rapid-punch
attack that scattered the Istumaden to the four winds.  Then, still having
to catch the attention of the others racing towards her friends, she
shouted, "Unsanmushodama!"  There was a blast of green energy from her palms
that quickly disappeared into nothing...
...only to detonate right in the center of the creatures, blasting them away
like a stick of dynamite thrown into a pond of barracuda.

Michiko looked up through her tears and fright, saw that although the
Istumaden were still advancing on them but then had to turn away as an
unexpected explosion of light threw the monsters away as though they were
rag dolls.  When she turned her eyes back to the scene, she saw Shiki
charging in, as strong as brave as ever.  Despite her generally soft
demeanor and quiet nature, Shiki's mother, the owner of a Chinese martial
arts dojo in Tokyo, taught the girl how to be a martial arts monolith.
Shiki always commented that she was probably the best martial artist in the
Japanese high school system, and probably all of Japan.  "Shiki!  Help!" the
girl screamed, her voice belting out a desperate cry of panic and all
encompassing fear.

Unfortunately, Michiko caught the attention of the next group of Itsumaden.
Worse, although many of the creatures had been removed by Shiki, the others
continued to approach the girl, jaws ready to rip the life out of the pair,
even as they might already have with Mariko.  A scream of "Dokyogyaku!" in
the distance, alerted Michiko that her friend would be arriving shortly, but
would shortly mean the same thing as in time?  Already the creatures were
advancing, and it didn't appear that they were going to give up their
pursuit any time soon.  In short, things were looking bad...
...and it didn't improve any as Shiki abruptly changed plans and ran towards
the back of the carousel, apparently either in retreat, or more likely
seeking some assistance of some kind.  In any event, it was the wrong thing
to do as the Istumaden that were stalking her retrained on the two helpless
girls, now apparently consigned to their deaths...
...only to see Shiki run around the other side of the carousel, shouting,
"Michiko-chan!  Hold on to something!  Do it!  NOW!"

Michiko screamed out, "But if I do, Mariko will die!"

With what was probably the last of her strength, Mariko painfully looked up
and said, "Please...do it, Michiko.  I don't want you to...die, too."

Before Michiko could answer, Shiki shouted, "Neither of you are going to
die, but only if you hold onto something!  Crawl into the carousel and hang
onto one of the horses!  NOW!!!!!!"  With that, Shiki began to murmur
something in Chinese, as a soft emerald halo of light began to envelop her.
"Hope I remember what my mom taught me about this trick...."

With no time left, Michiko pulled Mariko out of the range of the snapping
jaws of the Itsumaden, crawling up alongside one of the horses and grabbed
on for dear life.  The Itsumaden, noting the rise in the elevation, tensed
their powerful back legs, ready to spring up to the carousel and feast on
the girls.

Thirty of the half-bird, half-alligator mutations leapt.

Their mistake.

The leap was exactly what Shiki had been waiting for.  Focusing all of her
concentration on the creatures, she roared out, "Time for you guys to REALLY
HURT!  Nijirono School of Martial Arts Ultimate Mystery Attack!  HIRYU--"

...a breeze began to coalesce as it built within less than a second into a
dust devil, then filled with angry verdant energy...

"--SHOTEN--"

...tendrils of energy in the building cyclic gale slammed into the
Itsumaden, who were rendered helpless as the energy either bored right
through them or blasted them into so much feathers and gore...

"--HA!"  Shiki stood, her fist in the air, controlling the Dragon Ascension
Wave, an ultimate attack so powerful, it was limited only to her family and
her family alone--no one else could hope to master it, much less use it at
will.  It was Shiki's hope that someday she would be able to be powerful
enough to not only use it at will, but to refine it to the point where she
could just summon the force, and not have to prime it by running in circles.
But, she admitted, she had an awful lot to learn still about the Art, and
though she was the best, there was always something she could stand to
learn.

As the creatures were tossed about in the whirlwind like nothing more than
extravagant toys, Shiki broke her concentration and raced towards her
friends, hoping that they would be alright.  If they weren't, every monster
than that reared its head at the moment would have to face the mighty fury
of the Fist of Kawagishi High.

~*~

((I'm either really out of shape,)) Hikaru mentally moaned, ((or this
thing's tougher than I expected.))  So far, the Kraken had taken a dozen of
her shots, and was still standing.  True, it had burn marks and carbon
scoring all over it, and even one of its tentacles had been vaporized by an
Akai Inazuma blast, but it still stood.  Hikaru reflected on this as she
bolted at full speed towards the Fujiyama rollercoaster, hoping to hell that
she'd think of something to do to the thing before it did something to her.

She looked at her options.  The thing was huge, about the size of an oil
tank.  She was throwing as many shots as she could without worrying about
harm coming to what few innocent bystanders there were, and if she cut loose
with some of her better attacks, there was a good chance that someone was
going to get really hurt--as it was, she'd limited her Akai Inazuma attacks
to as much as she could.  However, it was looking as if she was going to
have to go all out and use some of the most powerful spells she had.  But
that presented problems, and that would have to be dealt with.

Using the advantage of space, she raced up a set of stairs, darted into the
food court building on the farthest end, over by the Moon Shot
rollercoaster, then while inside the building, bolted like a rabbit for the
far side of the building, went down the stairs, and double-backed toward the
first floor exit.  Noting idly that her trick had momentarily bought her
time, she continued on her path, hoping to reach Fujiyama.  If she were able
to get to the top of the coaster, she might be able to rain multiple fire
spells down on the monsters, picking them off one by one as easily as--

Her thoughts were cut off as the floor exploded underneath her.  Propelled
into the air with minimal preparation, she could only turn to minimize the
impact as she painfully slammed into the metal fence that covered the
perimeter of the rollercoaster's range.  As flesh and cloth met metal and
paint, the air was knocked out of her lungs, and she whimpered in pain as
she landed in a clump on the hard pavement.  Pulling herself back to her
feet and ignoring the scimitars of pain that were lancing up and down her
body, she wondered how it could get any worse than fighting an enemy that
didn't know when to quit.

To her side, she heard multiple howls.  As she turned, she noted a bunch of
indescribable, inhuman things shuffling for her.  She didn't study myths and
legends when she was younger, but they looked like something that would have
easily been immigrants from the Forest of Silence or the Lovers' Cave that
Ranma had once told her about.  They were primal evil, and worse, they were
coming her way.  Her only fortune at this point was that the Kraken had not
been able to operate in confined quarters, and would have to slowly lumber
around the building that she had raced through in order to make it to what
she thought was the safety of Fujiyama.

Without warning, the creatures stopped.  With an instinct for danger that
had stayed somewhat sharp despite the years, Hikaru leapt to the side as a
powerful blast of lightning turned the space she was into so much heated
concrete and slagged metal. Knowing that multiple opponents were in the
area, and more than she'd dealt with in a number of years, she didn't let go
of her defenses for a second.  Once, she and Umi had faced down several
dozen monsters over a decade past.  If anything, time had taught Saotome
Hikaru a few new tricks and a nastier disposition from years of association
with her husband.

((Umi....))  Hikaru shook off her memories, and fast.  Now was not the time
to get maudlin about someone she still hadn't resolved her feelings for, and
to do that now would probably be a bad thing.  Snarling, "Looks like I'm
gonna hafta get a little tough," she thrust her hands forward and released a
Shimbinotama.  The fireball blasted forward, slamming into the body of one
of the creatures and shattering it like it was so much glass.  Not letting
up, she called up a second one, hoping that she would be able to take out
enough to clear a pathway to the entrance of the amusement park.  After all,
they were all lumbering towards her, waves of them that stood between her
and the path to the inside of the rollercoaster.  She had to get through, or
there would be no chance, no chance at all.

Her concentration was further interrupted by the peal of laughter that came
from above, as sharp and staggering as a bell ringing out a death knell.  A
voice from above rang out, "This is your twilight hour, Pillar, your finest
moment!  You will die in a blaze of glory!"

((Well, that voice spoke in Cephiran,)) Hikaru thought glumly.  ((I guess
that confirms where the problem's coming from.))  Without looking up, Hikaru
screamed back, "I don't know who you are, but if you think I will easily
fall, then you are sorely mistaken!  I am Saotome Hikaru, a master of
Anything Goes and my family's school of Kendo.  I am the Fire Knight, the
Knight Commander, and the Pillar of Cephiro!  If you think you have any
chance of beating me, YOU'RE SADLY MISTAKEN!"

Time to prove it, she realized.  Whispering to herself, "Ranma, I love you,"
she then called up her fire aura, but did not charge up a projectile,
instead readying for hand-to-hand combat.  "C'mon, boys," she seethed to the
monsters that opposed her.  "I've beaten better than you, and I'm not losing
to a bunch of second-rate beasts such as yourselves."  As if runners
released from a gate, they swarmed in on the young woman en masse.

Like a wolf on the hunt, Saotome Hikaru swung into action.  Leaping towards
the nearest two ghouls, she grabbed a head each and slammed them together,
crushing the two heads as though they were melons.  Not bothering to wait
for them to fall to the floor, she sidestepped and engaged a third, throwing
an elbow to its chest, then bringing her hand up in a backhand smash, and
completing it with an uppercut.  Three were taken out of the issue, but
three were a minimal number when one was dealing with a menagerie of inhuman
beasts and undead creatures.

Despite the ferocity of her attack, the creatures decided to move towards
her en masse.  She bolted forward, a blur of red, black and blue launching
out against her foes.  Unabated in her fear, she moved onto a pair of
molding, half-deteriorated skeletons.  One of the bone brothers came close t
o impaling her with a sharpened bone spur.  However, she dropped into a
crouch, then executed her flying backfist, taking the thing out.  Not
wanting to lose her momentary advantage, she grasped the skull and threw it
at the second cadaver she'd fought.  The skull moved like a bullet, hitting
the osseous framework square in the chest and blasting it apart as though it
were no more than a 3D jigsaw puzzle.

The next creature--a Heike ghost--moved in quickly for the kill, but Hikaru
was much faster.  She spun as he struck, feeling as the metal blade tore
through the back of her shirt and drawing blood.  Leaning forward, she hit
the floor and rolled away before he could recover for a second strike.  As
he pulled back, she raced forward.  As the Heike thrust, she caught the
shaft in mid-stride, ripped it from his hands, then used it on him as a bo
staff.  Still swinging the staff, she used it on her next three opponents
before breaking it upon the rock-hard pate of a fourth, a yamagami.
Although the golem-like creature was merely stunned, she flung the remains
at him as a distraction, and as he ducked, she executed a footsweep,
knocking him in the air for a second long enough to execute a vicious flurry
of high-speed kicks that pulverized him before she charged up her
roundhouse, setting him ablaze with a vicious swipe to the jaw.

As Hikaru dropped back into a defensive position, she took a second to
relax.  At the moment, she was holding her own, having defeated several of
the monsters without sword or serious martial arts exertion, but they kept
on coming, and frankly, things weren't looking too good.  Her body, now
being taxed to its current limits, screamed for her to take a furo and a
nap--the longer, the better.  While she was still in very good shape,
pregnancy had taken its toll on her, and she hadn't expected to exert
herself this hard this soon.  Worst of all she was taking on numbers far
greater than the power that she was willing to expend at the moment.  No
matter what, the prognosis for Hikaru did not look too optimistic.

((No time for that now,)) the redhead berated herself as she took a breath
of air and crouched low, tensing her body and readying to spring.  ((I can't
allow anything to cloud my thinking, or I'll die, and my family could be
next.))  She looked at the location where she was aiming for, and with a
literal leap of faith, made a long-distance jump that would have been her
chance to make it away from the growing horde bent on killing her, her only
hope to catch her breath long enough to regain some kind of offensive.

That hope was lost when a piercing whistle rent the air, as if signaling
incoming objects.  Without warning, a machine gun effect of small black ki
spheres tore into the air, catching her in a crossfire that she hadn't
expected.  A series of the dark orbs ripped the ledge she was aiming for
apart, giving her no chance to complete her jump.  With her escape route cut
off, all she could do was ricochet of the wall, and hope for a decent
landing with minimal pain.  She hit the ground hard, but managed to stay on
her feet and turned to face the second wave.

In the lead of the second wave were ten amorphous, barely homonid shapes
that were as inky black as night, save for glowing red eyes that burned like
the stars of hell.  Something primal triggered in Hikaru, and she didn't
even take the time to announce her attack, instead opting to incinerate all
ten with a massive burst of her Hono no Ya firebeam.  Unfortunately, her
safety turned to become a ruse, as four more of the beings leapt at her,
their arms turning into solid spears, maws appearing on their featureless
heads with sharp teeth ready to gnash the flesh of the living creature that
dared to oppose them.  Knowing she had no other choice to oppose them,
Hikaru waited until they were in striking position, then shouted out, "Hono
Maryoku Dankyaku!" as she began to execute the Ring of Fire Slash Kick
attack.

If it were it only so easy.

"Don't forget me!" the voice from above rang out as another slash of deep cr
imson slammed down hard onto the pavement, taking out a much larger chunk of
the floor.  Both Hikaru and a quartet of the monsters that she'd been
fighting had been tossed aside by the blast.  Hikaru picked herself off the
ground, and noted that all four of her opponents had been turned into so
much goo.  Hikaru noted that the creatures of hell were standing off again,
reassessing their attack plan, so she chanced a look at her new attacker.
She looked up, and saw a woman who looked like a native of Cephiro, but
without the kind demeanor that was instinctive of the native citizenry.
"Excellent work, Pillar," the woman called down.  "I see you are a master of
more than just the mystic arts.  Is that karate that you were using, or some
other form of Oriental fighting?"

"Why don't you come down here and find out?" Hikaru snarled back in
Cephiran, using the language for the first time in years and in the back of
her mind surprised that it came back to her so easily.

"My, my, what a temper.  It's bound to get you in trouble if you're not
careful," the woman said.   Looking at her creation, she called out, "Take
care of her, my pets!  Kill the Pillar!"

The response that Hikaru heard was the sound of a mosquito buzzing followed
by the sound of a muffled firecracker.  A split second later, the rapport of
a rifle went off.  A meter or so in front of her, one of the shadowy
creatures teetered and fell, its head now featuring a gaping entry wound
caused by a bullet.  Another few microseconds went by before three more were
felled in the same manner.  A voice called out in Japanese, "Looks like you
could use some help," and then everything went into the deafening sound of
an automatic rifle screaming at full bore, releasing multiple rounds into
the small army of creatures below.  As Hikaru followed the path of a tracer
round back to its source, she noticed a man dressed in a black T-shirt,
jeans, and loafers, carrying a military-style automatic rifle.  Calling out
to Hikaru he cheerfully responded, "Now, don't go anywhere.  I'll be down in
a second, miss."   With that, he leapt into the air, still firing the rifle
in a sweeping pattern, the metal slugs raining down on the creatures,
tearing them apart like a buzzsaw that had just snapped its support.

~*~

Michael looked back at the still, slightly stinking corpse of the Kiyohime,
lying there with several puncture marks in her body, the result of multiple
rounds fired into her.  Not that far away, a burst pipe steamed as hot water
came out of it, a lucky break that had allowed him to change back and retake
the offensive from the monster at the cost of her life.  As Michael took to
the air again to land beside Saotome Hikaru, he came to a threefold
conclusion: one, he couldn't kill Saotome Ranma.  Mousse had been a blind,
idiotic fool bent on revenge against a man whose wife was merely defending
himself from a "_Fatal Attraction_"-esque spurned would-be lover.  Michael
Tseng, however, was a man who believed in his ideals, and in the end, murder
was not one of them, especially since it was unfounded.  Mousse died the day
that he accepted Donovan's offer of a new life and identity.  Michael had no
intention of resurrecting such a pathetic soul.

The other fact, he now realized, was that Murphy's Law, that grand
controller of the universe, had blessed the Saotome household once more.
This Hikaru woman was a dead ringer for Ranma's female half, until you
stared into those sienna eyes of hers; until you listened to her voice.
This person was born a woman, had always been one.  The chances of their
being another redhead in the Tendo dojo had been played, and Michael had
ended up hunting the wrong person.  Said person was now in dire straits, and
he now felt honor-bound to help Ranma's wife out of her spot, lest these
things kill her.

Which brought up reason number three: why would someone send an army of
undead after what apparently what was nothing more than a fair martial
artist?  Michael remembered that while the battles between their small group
of "friends" had lasted roughly for four years, no one had ever got to the
point to raise the dead to kill one of them.  True, there had been
Gosunkugi, but he was useless anyway.  But this was different, and it not
only repulsed him but also felt it was pretty dishonorable to let creatures
do your killing for you.

So, he did the only thing he could: broke out the Kalashinkov Bizon-2
autorifle he borrowed from Martin, and let the rounds fly.  Even in mid-air
he was basically turning them into so much sushi, a dilapidated mess of gore
and bone that spread in larger pools of ichor and blood, he knew that this
mess was not only not anywhere near over, but that the redhead would have to
end it.  As he alighted upon the ground, he got his first real good look at
the current wife of Saotome Ranma.

As Michael stared, there was only one thought that entered his mind:
Angelic.  True, she was a dead ringer for Ranma's cursed form, but where
Ranma's cuteness had an undertone of sexiness to it, this woman's had the
tone of something else, something not immediately describable.  In a sense,
it was like trying to describe an angel or a kami--how would one describe a
moment of perfect beauty?  Additionally, there was an ageless quality in her
sienna eyes, as though the secrets of a universe were locked in those
reddish-brown jewels of hers.

Then she spoke.  Looking at him, she ventured, "You okay?"

Michael snapped out of his reverie.  "Yes, why?"

She took her eyes off him, refocused them on the army of the undead that had
begun to regroup.  "You've been staring at me long enough that I thought
something was wrong."

Michael hit the trigger again, and was rewarded with a dry click.  "There
is.  I'm out of ammo."

She smiled in a rakish manner, a look more suited to another redhead he once
knew.  "So much for the rescue, ne?  It worked anyway; you managed to give
me my second wind."  She placed her hands in close proximity to one another,
and a ball of pulsating ki sparked into life and danced in the space
between.  "Well, it's us or them," she sighed.

Michael noted her tone as he snapped his finger, producing an Uzi this time.
Reaching behind him to place Martin's rifle back into subspace, he then
commented, "What's that tone for?  Surely you don't feel pity for those
things, do you?"  His old familiar rifle in his hands, he depressed the
trigger, the muzzle flash nearly as bright as her fireball, the depleted
rounds nearly as hot as her ki as they bored into their targets.

"No--they're evil and deserve what they get.  I'm afraid of any innocents
who may get caught in what I'm about to do."  The ball between her hands
instantly got brighter and whiter, a sign of the immense power poured into
it.  "May the kami forgive me if I hurt an innocent."  Thrusting her hands
forward, she roared to the undead, "Not nice to piss off a Saotome!  Eat
this!  Saotome Special Attack!  SHIMBONO NO YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  At that point,
her attack initiated.

Michael nearly dropped his rifle, stunned at what he saw.  From what little
he had seen earlier, this woman was a capable fighter, but other than minor
level ki attacks, nothing more than what he dealt with when he was a
teenager.  Hikaru's next attack had changed his mind about that in a
heartbeat.  A tremendous torrent of energy lanced from her outstretched
palms, an attack that easily rivaled anything that he'd seen Ranma or Ryoga
throw at the worst of their rivalry.  Furthermore, he realized as the
creatures were either incinerated or turned into so much flaming chunks,
that all her attacks had not been ki--it was magic.  Magic flame was
blasting from her palms, turning the grounds into a virtual outdoor kiln.

Above her, the voice laughed.  "For all your worth, Pillar, you're only
delaying your inevitable death!"  Out of the huge wall of flame, the
silhouette of the Kraken appeared, charred and scorched, but still on its
tentacles and lurking menacingly.  "And as you can see, my pet is still
around!"  Citroen, noting the look of barely controlled rage on the
redhead's face, laughed all that much more.  To prove her point, she
casually loosed another bolt of energy that came crashing down to the
ground, nearly hitting both Michael and Hikaru.  Only a quick leap backwards
saved them from becoming as charred as the creatures Hikaru had just
dispatched.

"I have no idea what she's screaming, but she'll have to do the rest of her
screaming six feet under!"  Michael drew a bead on the mage, but was stopped
short by Hikaru.

Before he could comment, the redhead snarled under her breath, "She's MINE."
The snarl turned into a scream as the redhead roared into the air in the
language Michael failed to comprehend, "Just you and me, whoever you are!
NO more innocents!  NO MORE!"

"Come and get me," her challenger dared.

"Damn straight!" the redhead yelled.  As she readied to move, she grunted
quietly in Japanese, "Wish I had a katana or something...."

A snap of the fingers, and one was being held out to her by her erstwhile
partner.  "This what you're looking for?"

"How did you...?" she asked as she grabbed the scabbard like a child handed
a favorite plaything.

"Too long to explain," he replied.  "Now, don't you have something more
important to do?  I have crowd control to attend to."

Nothing further to be said, she fastened the katana on and began to race
towards the entryway to the roller coaster, ignoring all the aches and pains
her body was screaming at her.  Her opponent above noted this and began the
gauntlet for her, raining down bolts of lighting after repeated bolts of
lightning.  Chunks of wood, plastic and metal exploded or caught aflame
around her, pelting her with small bits and pieces.  The air became
warm--too warm.  She felt something bite into her legs.  But Hikaru
continued her charge up the walkway, knowing that the woman had to be
stopped and now.

The minute she entered the lobby section of the waiting area, there was a
massive explosion, as the area behind her disintegrated in a shower of
plasma.  Hikaru was thrown forward, off her feet and into a pile of what
were once living, breathing people, now nothing more than body parts.  As
Hikaru recovered, she stared straight into the lifeless, unblinking eyes of
a little redhaired girl, a girl that would never see another day.

"No...."  Rather than tears, something snapped inside the soul of Saotome
Hikaru.  Something from deep within her howled, screamed at what was
happening.  She didn't understand any of it, save that people all around
were dying, because of her, because of what she was.  It was the worst thing
that could ever be thrown in front of her.  A goddess of another world, and
here she was on her own, not able to do much of anything other than stare at
the child, utterly powerless to do anything other than wonder how the fates
could be so cruel to her to make her possibly omnipotent in one universe,
yet so weak and frail in this one.

Words flashed like neon in her mind: ((A Martial Artist must protect those
in need, must use the Art for more than mere personal gain, lest he becomes
nothing more than a well-trained bully.))  Those were words her father had
taught her the first day she began her training, and the words now rung like
hot metal, searing in her mind.

Some one was going to pay for all of this.  And as Hikaru brought herself
back to her feet, absently wiping a rivulet of her blood from her brow, she
decided that the idiot throwing the lighting bolts, for better or for worse,
had been elected.  With a soundless scream of rage, she leapt over the
safety rails and straight onto the coaster tracks, more than eager to fight.

However, as soon as she leapt onto the entry track, she was met by a huge
column of lightning streaking her way.  Having no time to move, it rammed
into her with enough force to fling her forward, slamming her against the
front of the unmoving car train.  She felt like a rib or two snapped, and
her spine was being remodeled by Dali.  Plopping onto the track again,
sparks showered around her as the melting fiberglass of the coastercar began
to splatter against the electric rail.  She vaguely smelled something
burning, felt something hot against her skin, could barely see past the red
beginning to smolder in her eyes.  The only sense that seemed to be working
was the faint laughter of a woman hell-bent on killing her and as many
innocents that got in the way.

Automatically, mechanically, Hikaru ripped off the scorched tang, fortunate
that the black T-shirt underneath had not been ruined.  Stoically getting
back up to her feet, she made a fist and screamed, "I"VE HAD ENOUGH!  NOW WE
PLAY MY WAY!"  She raced towards the access stairway, so enraged that she
ignored the blasts of energy coming her way, a rainstorm of plasma pain and
death directed towards her.  However, she was a woman that had been pushed
quite a ways past her limits, and so she neither cared or worried about what
was coming her way anymore.

As soon as she hit the accessway that led to the 80-meter plateau where the
idiot was raining destruction, Hikaru moved into action.  Ignoring the
screaming sensations that said her body was no longer conditioned for this
type of punishment, feeling herself weighted down with the alphabet of
debilitations from A scored leg to a doZen lacerations, she called a ball of
fire magic into her hand, and made an insane gamble.  Once upon a time, back
in the innocence of her teen years, she had taken gymnastics in addition to
her kendo practice.  A MUCH better kendo artist than a gymnast, she was
still fairly good at that, even though she knew that she would never be
able--then or now--to compete against an Olympic-level gymnast like Suzuki
Nae, Kagayaku Ikuko, or Kuno Kodachi.

Still, it was that skill level, combined with a hefty dose of her husband's
stupidity-cum-bravado that she loved about him that led her to attempt the
deranged.  Still racing up the gangway while building up the courage to
commit to the deed, she screamed, "MOEAGARUDENKYUMURE SHUKKA!" and released
a swarm of baseball-sized fireballs in a shotgun pattern, straight at her
opponent.  At the same time, she leapt to her left, off the coaster
framework and into boundless air.

Counting on the same Saotome knack for insane stunts that her husband had,
the minute she cleared the safety rail, she spun and twisted her body to
hopefully catch the rail that would vault her into phase two of this
demented scheme of hers.  She remembered that she was usually prided on not
being exactly the overkill member of the Knights, but that was the better
part of a lifetime ago.  This was the here and now, however, and if she
didn't make the catch she was going to hit the pavement 70-plus feet below
and end up like one of Ukyo's dinner specials--

((--YES!))  Barely able to grasp the metal structural pole, she nearly
ripped her arms out of their sockets as several aerodynamic forces protested
her creativity in this.  Still, she was able to hold on, and using her
momentum, launch herself towards the other end of the ziggurat, grab the
matching pole on the other side and launch herself back into the air, doing
the same on two more bracing poles and picking up speed.  If she timed it
right, and luck was on her side, she'd be in business.  And as she noted
that she was now approaching striking distance of her quarry, she smiled a
feral grin.

This woman was expecting a Hikaru that always played fair, that was right
and just and believed in what was right.  Well, she was going to get that
Hikaru...

...and all the bad habits and attitude she'd picked up since she lost her
innocence.

~*~

Shiki stood there, bloodied and bruised, but still moving on willpower.
Although she'd handily defeated the Istumaden, they'd been replaced by
Toragumo, creatures with the size and heads of tigers, but the bodies of
spiders.  These things were faster, a lot more agile, and a LOT more lethal.
She was giving them all that she was worth, but they kept on swarming, and
being the size of tigers, they weren't exactly easy to squish.  But she kept
fighting, even though her strength was now flagging and the chances of her
not surviving was becoming more and more apparent.  But while she was
willing to live with the honorable death of a Martial Artist, Mariko and
Michiko were next, and their deaths were NOT an option.  So, she fought on,
despite the mounting odds.  But, as she turned and caved in the thorax of
one Toragumo with a well-placed snap, an unnoticed one to her side decreed
her fate.

Slamming into her with the speed of a Nissan, she felt the wind knocked out
of her as she crumpled to the pavement, gasping for breath.  In the corner
of her eye, she could see a trio of the creatures leaping into the air, on a
clear trajectory for her throat.  Despite the fact that her life was about
to end, she didn't have the strength to do more than watch as they came
closer to her.

"SEIFUKUSHA TENKYUSHO!"  The air around Shiki exploded in crimson energy as
a woman moved into range, her fist glowing with a radiant power as she
reached the apex of her flying uppercut.  Upon reaching that zenith, she
roared, "TENDO SCHOOL OF ANYTHING-GOES MARTIAL ARTS SPECIAL ATTACK: SENSUIFU
HADOKYAKU!"  Her body became electrified with waves of ki, and as she
slammed into the pavement scattering chunks of concrete and mythical animal
alike upon impact.  Upon that foolhardy maneuver, the attitude of the beasts
changed from brave to fearful as the woman got up and snarled, "Lunchmeat."
She maneuvered in front of Shiki, her aura set somewhere between fluorescent
and searchlight, and clearly in the mode of a martial artist with extreme
talent--if not as good as her, that was.

Inexplicably, the creatures, so hell bent on killing a second ago, seemed to
sense the woman as a larger predator, one THEY should fear; their wolf pack
tactics having proven useless on her.  Slowly, the creatures began to slowly
back up as the woman called up a fireball into her hands, and as they began
to turn around, she yelled, "TOO SLOW!"  She released the fireball, roaring,
"TENKA ATSURYOKUHA!" and the crimson ball of energy leapt from her hands,
blasting into the hurriedly departing throng of creatures.  The ball
impacted on the second one, charbroiling it on impact and scattering the
others like tenpins.  As the others continued their flight, she turned to
Shiki.

Shiki got a good look at her rescuer.  An older woman, she looked like she'd
been through hell.  Her shirt was in tatters, and her pants were scored and
shredded to the point that with a couple more adjustments, they could
probably be turned into decent cutoffs.  She was bloodied and bruised, and
probably was on the same last reserves of inner will that Shiki was on.  But
she stood there, with a viperous look in her eyes that she would have
normally associated with the Emperor than with a woman.

Then her face softened as she smiled, offering Shiki a hand up.  "Are you
okay, miss?  You were able to handle half of them pretty well, but not all
of them.  Still, not bad for an amateur."  Nodding her head, the woman
continued.  "By the by, I'm Kuno Nabiki of the Tendo Musabetsu Kokuto Ryu.
And you are...?"

Shiki was about to give the woman a snarling response-(("Not bad?"  Who does
this woman think she is?))--when she heard the outbreak of hysterical crying
and screaming.  Kuno-san forgotten, Shiki raced towards the inside of the
carousel' boundaries, fearing the worst--the inevitable.  When she arrived,
she saw the worst.  Hunched over Mariko, Michiko was a heartbroken,
despondent soul.  It was clear from Mariko's closed eyes that she wasn't
merely asleep, and that what should have been her happiest day of the year
had turned out to be the worst of all.

"I...Shiki...I tried...." the look in Michiko's eyes was that haunted look
that would never leave, the sort of look that she would wake up screaming
from nightmares a dozen years from now.  The tears began to run down Shiki's
face, even as Michiko grasped the deceased girl closer to herself, sobbing,
"I'm so sorry, Mariko, I'm so sorry...."

Shiki slumped to her knees in defeat.  To have fought all this time, and to
have failed her best friend, to have allowed Mariko to suffer and die on her
birthday was unconscionable.  She failed.  She.  Failed.

>From her perspective, Nabiki didn't know what to do.  While the fighting,
the combat and pain had become what been somewhat de rigeur in her life
since she met Ranma--and more so, when she took up the mantle of the Tendo
family martial artist--this was above and beyond what she was accustomed to,
what she could live with.  A tear traced its way down her cheek as she moved
instinctively to Shiki's side, wondering if this was what Ranma felt when he
beheld Akane's body, her soul having moved on.  There was nothing that could
be done here, except to help these girls as much as she could.  And once
that was done, she had to find the others, and fast.  Her mind began racing
again--if she was in this kind of mess, what about Hikaru?

~*~

Kuu and the girl she was with looked at the man with fear.  Akama had the
defiant look on him that he'd mastered from his father, and was going to
protect Hououji-san and the other woman with what ever it took.  The man was
dangerous, clearly, and anyone running around with a pump shotgun in Japan
during whatever the hell was happening, had to be someone obviously not
worth messing with.

As for the guy with the shotgun, Michael pointed it at them, unsure of
whether they were going to turn into some melting creature, or grow wings
and fangs or something of the like.  While attempting to hunt down some of
the quarry that he and Saotome rounded up, his instincts told him to head
into what appeared to be the center of the maelstrom, despite the fact that
he would be at ground zero.  Not that this would have been a first; that
sobriquet went to his assassination missions in a dozen places.  But his
ammunition was close to gone, he gave his katana to Saotome, and although he
could go hand to hand if the situation called for it, he'd already decided
the best place to keep these horror movie-rejects was at least past arm's
length.  With that thought in mind, When he stood there for a few minutes,
awaiting a transformation that did not come, he lowered the gun.  "Come with
me," he motioned.  "Let's get you out of here.  There's a big, bad, nasty
looking thing the size of a building that's going to be on us in a second,
and--"

A wet, slurpy sort of shriek sounded behind Michael; at the same time, the
brunette screamed "Look out!"  More annoyed than enraged, he took care of it
in the easiest way he could.  Not even bothering to look, he pointed the
shotgun behind him and fired.  As the shotgun rocked him due to the recoil,
he used the momentum to spin on his heels and, pumping the shotgun again
halfway through the motion, fired again as soon as he completed the motion.
He felt hot, wet blood splashing on his back, slightly acidic, but it only
stung rather than burned, so he could live with it, though he was going to
have a problem explaining this mess to the hotel's laundry service.

As he moved into position and reloaded, he absently noted two things: one,
that what he had cut in half with the shotgun was a half-woman,
half-butterfly, and not of the pretty fairy variety, either.  From what he
could tell of what was left of its upper torso she would have been cute if
the head had been human.  The other thing he noted was that there was a
group of them coming right at him, and at least one of them was almost fully
human insofar as these butterfly women--again, the term "fairies" just
didn't seem to apply--were.  As he backed up to protect his new charges, the
Queen B-fly stared at him imperiously through a pair of translucent, faceted
eyes.

"I am the Kocho-denkyo," the creature announced with a voice that sounded
like the swarming of wasps, "and you have killed one of my followers.  For
that, I should kill you, but I think that I might have other plans for you."
She licked her lips invitingly, with a tongue that extended to the length of
a proboscis.  "Be honored--not every man is offered this sort of choice, to
rule at my side and be the father of a race that will take over the world."

Michael stared at her with a cool demeanor.  "What of the women?  And the
boy?"

"They are carrion, as far as I am concerned," the Kocho-denkyo responded,
with an offish manner.  "The boy will be allowed to grow to adulthood, and
will make a fine mate for any female offspring I bear."

"Hmm, I see.  Give me a second to explain things to these folks, if you
will."  He turned around, facing the fully human group once more.  As an
aside to the one woman seemingly in control of the trio, he offered the
shotgun, saying, "Take this.  If what I have doesn't work, you have two
rounds left in it to get yourself clear."

Kuu took the shotgun like it was a live cobra, but looked at him with a grim
understanding.  "Wish this was a bow and arrow," she murmured.  "At least my
sister and I were in our school's archery club."

He grinned at her.  "Sorry, but I left them in my jacket back at the hotel."
No lie, that; he had no idea that he was going to need this much armament
for such an occasion.  ((I'll have to plan better next time,)) he thought,
then added, ((if there is a next time.))

Kuu saw the look in his eyes, and knew it instantly.  It was the combative
look on the face of the man before her, a look that was found on many a
person she knew.  From the times when she saw Fuu with that look on her
face, to most recently Hikaru and Nabiki, she knew what it meant and what it
heralded.  "What do you have in mind, sir?"

"Two words: feather grapeshot."  His eyes steeled, and for a second, it
seemed as though he was about to rage at her, though she knew that wasn't
the case; still, the level of focus was so deep, so entrenched in his eyes,
that she subconsciously stepped back, and slowly aimed the shotgun at him.
Still either he hadn't noticed, or he was extremely focused, because he said
nothing about that, instead ignoring her and the unintended threat she
represented.

"You are taking too long," the Kocho-denkyo said in that buzzing voice of
hers.  "I will have your answer now, male, and I will have their heads."

"Shoo fly, don't bother me," he said, turning and giving her a defiant,
go-to-hell glance.  "Personally, I prefer my significant others less
flighty, and frankly, you just don't fit the bill."

Despite the inhuman eyes, the face of the Kocho-denkyo was a mask of rage,
the visage of death coming from on nigh.  Trembling with an uncontrollable
rage, the creature roared, "DIE!"

"SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU!" he shouted.  "QUILL FLECHETTE!"  He pointed his
hands forward, and the world got gunmetal gray as every weapon in his
arsenal slammed full force into the Kocho-denkyo and her court.  His entire
inventory, from throwing knives to cyanide vials and everything in-between,
pounded into the butterfly-women with the force of a tsunami.  His hands
were an untraceable blur as he loosed everything he had, throwing things
with an incalculable speed that rivaled the best that Ranma could throw.
The veritable fog of metal and iron ripped through the Kocho-denkyo and her
henchwomen, boring into her and out the other side, cutting them apart as
though they were caught in a sandstorm in the middle of the Sahara.  The
metallic rain continued, unabated, and the abrading zephyr of blades gnawed
into and through the exposed flesh and bored through the exoskeleton that
was present, through gossamer wings and compound eyes, through silken fabric
and bits of hair, and sent them to the four winds, a sanguineous spray of
chunks and horror as the creatures screamed from being flayed while alive.

When Michael stopped, there wasn't even enough of the creatures together to
bury one being whole much less the baker's half-dozen that clumped on the
floor.  His whole front was covered in a dark blood that wasn't that of a
normal full-human.  His clothing was soaked and stained, and behind him, he
heard someone turn and vomit.

Turning back to him, he saw the brunette leveling the shotgun at him, fear
embedded in her eyes, her hands shaking like the Tokyo fault-line as she
tried to point it at the beast who had just casually killed, who had just
done so without batting an eye. Despite the intent to protect her and the
others, she was terrified of him, and had to protect Akama and this innocent
woman from this....  "You-you're...a monster!" she gasped, her voice filled
with at the tremor of terror.  "You...you...."

Michael gave her the most sad, genuine look he could.  "Miss, I won't even
begin to tell you how many lives I've taken in defense of my country or of
others."  Reaching out and taking the shotgun from her trembling hands, he
said, "And every time I have to do that, I feel less and less human."
Hefting it with one hand, he said in a somber tone, "Be glad you'll never
have to pull this trigger.  Every time you do, it takes away from your
humanity, just as much as it saves you.  Don't let yourself be caught by
this.  Never let yourself be caught by this."  He turned away from them,
lest they see the sorrow in his eyes, though the neutral mask that was his
face hid that sorrow well.

As he turned, however, something new caught his eye: the monolith Kraken,
headed straight for the giant purple coaster.  Not only that, but the two
people engaged in the middle of a sword fight.  Spitting out a foul-mouthed
expletive, he turned to the three he was with, and knew the choice had to be
clear.  He had to get these three innocents out of harm's way, even though
it left the redhead at the top of the coaster without backup.  As Michael
told the trio to follow him to safety, he thought that he'd failed in his
vows to protect the innocent.  Worse, that Mousse, if he'd still existed,
would have gotten his so-called "revenge" against Saotome.  And deep within
Michael Tseng, that thought chilled him most of all.

~*~

Thanks to the benefits of luck and Newton's Laws of Physics, Hikaru was
launched into the air, and above her opponent, getting a clear glimpse of
her for the first time.  Not bothering to call out her attack while at the
zenith of her arc, she launched a fireball straight at the monster--human or
not, anyone cruel enough to slaughter dozens of innocents for no reason
other than attacking one person, didn't rate treatment in the human factor.

However, the sorceress proved to be fast, as she whipped out a nasty looking
serrated scimitar and easily swatted away the pyrotechnic as though it were
nothing.  However, this left her open to a second, attack, which Hikaru was
only too eager to initiate.  As the end of her arc brought her close to the
woman, she lashed out with her right foot, slamming the calico-haired woman
across the chops and sending her spinning back.  As the arc ended,
threatening to take her over the railing again, Hikaru grabbed the safety
rail, twisted, and hopped onto the metal platform.  Her feet hadn't even
touched the ground as she unsheathed the katana and went into an offensive
position.

Getting off the floor and rubbing her jaw, Citroen looked at her opponent,
eye to eye.  "Well, if it isn't the all-too-mortal Pillar of Cephiro."  She
raised her sword into an attack stance.  "Are you ready to die, 'Goddess?"
she asked, her voice dripping with challenge.

"Hajime," Hikaru snarled between clenched teeth.

They began to size up each other, readying for a conflict that would end in
the death of one, maybe both of them.  The pair circled each other, sensing
the other's moves, probing for weaknesses, observing the other's strengths.
Save for the fact that Hikaru had already received numerous injuries, both
women were ready for a fight to the finish, and neither one expected or
would grant the slightest bit of quarter.

They continued this for a minute or two then stopped, long enough to look at
each other in the eyes, expressions of hatred and disgust in their faces.
The whole world seemed to quiet with the sounds of only feet softly padding
on metal deck plating, of soft breathing, of a bird chirping, of a multitude
waiting as a goddess and a sorceress prepared to wage conflict against one
another.

The world charged back in to fast forward as Citroen leapt in for the
attack, screaming, "PREPARE TO ENTER YOUR HEAVEN, OH GODDESS OF CEPHIRO!"
The sorceress slammed the blade home with such force that it rang against
the metal of the second sword, a high crescendo that could be heard at the
very top of Fujisan itself.

However, Hikaru had expected that move and parried, then brought the blade
down, slashing into the cape of the sorceress, and eventually into the metal
armor underneath.  The blade glanced off it even as at Citroen leapt back.
She tapped her shoulders and the cloak fell free, wrapping around Hikaru,
obscuring her vision.  Citroen took advantage of the distraction and raced
in, stabbing as she went.  Hikaru moved by luck as she freed herself from
the cloak, and Citroen's blade missed her side by inches.  With the other so
close, the redhead made a counterattack, initiating a rapid sword thrust
almost as fast as Kuno's Tembatsu Da.

To counter, Citroen dived on the floor, rolled free of the area then
commenced a lightning attack, sending a great blast of energy towards
Hikaru.  Hikaru leapt to the side, however, and channeling her fire magic
into the katana, executed a wide slash that sent a wave of flame towards the
sorceress.  The stream of flame slammed Citroen and flung her to the floor.
As Hikaru raised her sword for a downward slash, Citroen countered with a
lightning blast.  The jagged tendrils of plasma nailed Hikaru squarely in
the chest, flinging her back several feet, and giving the sorceress the time
she needed to recover.  With that split-second past, the pair leapt at each
other again.  This time, the redhead executed a rising slash in mid-air
while Citroen followed suit.  The two attacks countered each other, and the
force of the blows threw the two apart like rag dolls; Citroen was pounded
into the safety railing and almost knocked over, while Hikaru crumpled to
the floor, her head impacting against the metal with a loud clang.

She got up, ignoring the stars in her head that were currently doing a swing
revival and all her body parts that were begging for mercy.  Her left arm
was heavily abraded, and she was bleeding from a nasty little gash on her
right cheek.  ((Oh Kamisama, does this hurt,)) she mentally moaned,
suppressing a wave of nerve-pinching pain.  This was quite different than
anything she'd dealt with in quite a while.  Although she'd kept up in her
kendo skills over the years, and picked up the School of Anything Goes along
the way, she was more of a practitioner than an actual combatant.  It had
easily been years since the last time she'd gotten into combat of any
serious degree, and this "day at the park" was not turning out as planned.
Bringing herself back to her feet, she knew it was crunch time, and that
more than just her life at stake, more than just that of the thousands in
jeopardy; the lives of her son, best friend, and sister-in-law were at
stake--and there was no way in hell that Hikaru was going to allow that one
more second.  Dashing towards her enemy, sword down low and ready for
another special attack, and aura blazing, she screamed an incoherent curse
of fury.

Citroen clambered back over the railing, lucky that she was able to grab it
before her momentum carried her to a tragic end.  She ignored the ringing
headache and the nasty scorch on her arm, instead using the support of the
railing to stabilize herself.  ((So the Pillar has some skill with a sword.
Interesting, I suppose--she is not one of those all-peaceful goddesses that
so many of these lessers believe in.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if
this "deity" is pretty new at her job, as though the mantle of the Pillar
were some job title, rather than a name for a god.))  Reconciling her
strength once more, she saw as the redhead began to get back to her feet.
There has to be a way to counter her.  Whatever she may be, she's better at
the sword than I am.  Looking out of the corner of her eye, she noted a
familiar tan shape slowly moving towards the coaster, as though it were a
lapdog, awaiting the response of the master.

((I can kill this Pillar, if I play my cards right,)) Citroen mused.  ((But
it's going to take a little more subterfuge that I'm not one for using.
Best give myself a tactical advantage--true that it is unfair to this
cretin, but it is just so.))  Slowly, surely, she pumped small, barely
noticeable magic into her scimitar, hoping that the redhead wouldn't notice.
Her opponent leapt into the air for a strike, and the Vanden Plaz mage
followed suit.

The pair clashed again in mid-air, Hikaru putting her strength behind a
power strike while Citroen loosed a small lightning blast.  The plasma
scorched Hikaru's already injured arm, but her strike rang true, slashing
her target across the chest, just enough to bit through the metal and draw a
gout of blood.  Both, however, got back up and went at it once more.  This
time, however, Hikaru did a flying kick and nailed Citroen in the head, but
unfortunately jarred her ankle on landing and bit off a scream.  Citroen
snapped to rapidly enough that she caught the redhead off-guard, landing a
vicious slash to her back.  Hikaru screamed as she stumbled forward, but
managed to turn in time to block what would have been a fatal blow.   Hikaru
moved from that parry into a nasty slash that cut open both Citroen's
forearm gauntlet and the flesh underneath.  With Citroen springing back,
both women dropped into defensive positions once more. The two stared at
each other for the longest time, both wondering: were they charging up their
magic for another set of mystic attacks, or resting for another fierce round
at each other?

Citroen laughed, the sound of contempt clear in her voice.  "Ah, the brave
Pillar.  The all-too-human Pillar, it seems.  Or, the about to die Pillar,
as I should say.  All those people died, just because they were in the way
of me killing you, did you know that?"

Hikaru tried to hide the sick shock and shame clearly on her face.
"How...how could you?  All these innocent children...."  Hikaru winced as
fought off the wave of anguish at the sense, holding onto her rage, not
saying anything--her actions would speak for her.  The pair stared at each
other between the meters that separated them, and from the staggering gulfs
that made up the souls of each other.  ((It's now or never, Hikaru.))  The
all-consuming thought was the only thing running through her mind at the
moment, the only thing that pushed her on despite the pain.  She did have to
admit that she'd had better days, those being the kind where she wasn't
saddled with a grocery's list worth of injuries: bleeding profusely via a
ton of lacerations, a black eye, burns on a couple parts of her body, and
enough sweat and blood to make the wounds sting like a regiment of knives
being stabbed into her as she took every painful step.  Her clothing was
bloodstained, ripped, or burnt in various places, and she didn't quite look
the kawaii redhead that everyone was used to.

Noticing that her opponent was awaiting another strike, Hikaru slowly moved
her blade into position.  Hikaru wasn't sure how long she stood there, but
all she remembered was Ranma and their children, living a mournful life
without her, and she knew that such an event would never happen while she
still had breath to draw.  ((Love will see me through--it has to.))  She
tensed once more, ready to race in, when the odds changed.  The framework
rattled for a second, and without even taking the time to guess, she knew
instantly what it was, and what it would spell.  Simply put, she would have
to win decisively if she were ever going to see her husband and children
again.

Focusing on one last strike, her plans became twofold.  Springing once more
into the fray, she swung the blade in a feint, at the same time, allowing
the momentum of her attack to carry her low.  As Citroen counterswung to
meet the attack, Hikaru rolled under the strike, the mage's blade splitting
the air with a high-tone whistle as it almost sliced off her pigtail.
Twisting herself despite the pain, Hikaru swiftly changed tactics as she
jabbed Citroen in the stomach with her elbow, then leapt for the nearest
rail, ricocheted off it with a perfect bound, and shouted, "Shidou-ryu
Special Attack! Shinzakura Kazezan!" while launching herself straight at
Citroen.

Hikaru's blade slammed into Citroen's with a force that she hadn't expected.
Oddly enough, the world went literally silent and dark, as though the force
of sound no longer existed, and an instant eclipse occurred.  As though
willed into being by the force of the connection between the katana and the
odd scimitar, a soft spray of sakura petals fluttered by, spraying outward
in a conical fount, carried on by a slight breeze that seemed both to come
out of and go nowhere.  As time slowed to nothingness, the pair of
combatants passed each other and moved on, as though nothing was happening.
The pair eventually reached the range of their movements, turned and faced
each other.

Hikaru stopped at the platform, closest from the center of the
rollercoaster.  She could feel the vibrations getting stronger as the Kraken
made its way up.  Soon, it would be time to execute stage two of her plan,
and she'd only have one chance at that.  Anything else would mean never
seeing her family again.

"Nice floral display, Pillar," Citroen sneered.

Hikaru nodded with her head.  "Look at your blade," she replied in the same
tone.  Citroen looked at her scimitar, noticing with a shock that all she
held was the handle.  "The Shinzakura Kazezan is an old Shidou family move
that is rarely used, but I thought in your case it would be ni--"

A vibration shook the platform, cutting off her words and strong enough to
nearly knock her off her feet; Citroen braced for the shock, clearly
indicating that she expected the event.  Another wave rattled the coaster's
frame, and a whiny roar came out of nowhere.  ((Almost time.))  Still facing
her enemy as though nothing was wrong, she said, "Give up.  The police will
be here soon, and they can take you into custody."  Hikaru looked at Citroen
and said in a tight, controlled voice, "Please don't force me to have to
kill you."

Citroen's eyes narrowed as she commented, "I don't think it is me who will
die today, Pillar."  Right on cue, the Kraken appeared over the ledge, just
behind its master, towering over the sorceress as though it were a
dangerous, menacing mountain, as though it were a demonic Daibutsu, tensing
to strike down the redhead.  Knowing that Hikaru's hand was played, the
woman said, her voice dripping with acidic sarcasm, "I'm terribly, terribly
sorry it had to end this way, Pillar.  You're very formidable, and perhaps
in another life, maybe we could have been allies.  But you belong to a group
that needs to be wiped off the face of the earth."  Citroen raised her fist,
and a blur of energy appeared in it, shimmering an aura of doom upon Saotome
Hikaru.  Grinning like a person who'd accomplished one of life's major
goals, she said, "Prepare to meet YOUR gods, O Goddess of Cephiro."  Without
turning her head to her murderous pet, she cooed, "Kill her."

Inexplicably, Hikaru sang out a siren's call of her own: "You lose."
Feeling the edges of exhaustion and unconsciousness crushing in on her, she
nevertheless closed her eyes, calling to the absolute last iota of strength,
stamina, and willpower she had.  She had no choice but to command the
remaining stores of her deepest well of pyromancy for this, something that
she knew would pretty much be suicide if she screwed up.  There was the
sound of a roaring fire, and her whole body began to glow with a fiery blaze
as she called out, "SAOTOME FINAL ATTACK, STEP ONE!  HIKARIMUSUME!"  Flame
burst out from her, incinerating her clothing, but not burning her; rather
becoming a part of her, merging flesh and flame into one.  The katana she
held melted into slag in her hand, but she didn't feel the splatter on her,
merely feeling as slight wetness as the blade incinerated.  The ground began
to warp and woof with the heat she was generating, but she remained
standing, glowing eyes focused on Citroen, who was apparently unimpressed by
the light show.  Hikaru stood there, transfigured into what almost was a
living ball of flame, and whispered in a voice that sounded like the crackle
of a bonfire, "And now you die."  Without explanation, reason or rhyme, she
fell backwards towards her death.

Citroen giggled with a child's glee--she not only won, but had also made the
Pillar so humiliated, she chose to take her own life!  Racing to the edge of
where the redhead had been, she peered over the artificial precipice,
grinning at her handiwork, and knowing that nothing stopped the Vanden Plaz
from conquering Cephiro now.

However...

...the smirk on Citroen's face turned to a puzzled look of confusion, then
blanched into a mask of fear as she suddenly realized what the other woman
had done.  She stood there for a second, unmoving and frozen in time as
though the Daguerreotype of fate hadn't quite finished her yet; she couldn't
act, duck, or even talk as she finally realized the Pillar's attack.

Finally, as the flames rose, melting everything, she screamed out a
teleportation spell, hoping that it would save her.  It would be the last
thing she would ever do.

~*~

Stepping off the platform, Hikaru arced into a dive, a human torch that
torpedoed towards the ground below.  She had one chance and once chance only
to make this work.  This was insane, and something that under the best
circumstances, even Ranma wouldn't do.  Then again, he had been the one who
had told her about it.  Long ago, when he was a teenage, he'd fought an
opponent more powerful than he.  With the threat of being forever trapped in
his female form, he'd attacked with the Hiryu Shoten Ha, but Herb (or
whatever his name was) took control of the move. However, Ranma had expected
this and revised his move, riding the ki-typhoon up to the top, then coming
down on the Dragon Prince with a mammoth blast of ki.  He'd called the move
the Hiryu Korin Dan, and had only used it once or twice, as it was an
extremely dangerous move, similar to a controlled nuclear detonation.

Well, this wasn't exactly the same thing, but if she played it right....

As more and more of her willpower and life-force was changed into her fire
magic, it flowed within her, making her begin to feel giddy.  She opened her
eyes briefly, and noticed the ground rushing towards her at an obscene
speed.  Her body drunk from a level of power that she'd hadn't channeled
quite some time, and exhilarated from pulling off a stunt that her husband
would be furious at her for, she idly wondered at the back of her mind if
this was, quite possibly, the most stupid thing she'd ever done.

Oh well, too late for that now.

Cocking her arm as far back as she could, she could, she screamed a roar
that shook the heavens, her voice echoing like the commandment of the very
goddess that she was: "SAOTOME FINAL ATTACK, STEP TWO!  HIRYU KORIN DAN,
REVISED--MEGAMI NO KYOUKAIIKI!!!"  She slammed her hand into the ground, and
an immense donation of flame occurred, an unstoppable explosion of magic
that rippled outwards like a fiery shockwave that burned all.  The world
seemed to explode in an incandescent flash as Hikaru's powers streamed out
through her hands, the onslaught boring through everything in its path as
though it were an unstoppable juggernaut on speed, a power that should not
have been unleashed on an unsuspecting world.  She was certain that she
screamed, because the output of power felt like she was literally being
ripped in half, molecule by molecule.

A blast of red engulfed the mighty violet rollercoaster, incinerating it in
a flash.  The blast wave rolled outwards, flattening buildings and
attractions, and anything in its path.  Monsters and creatures from hell
burned in a pure, holy flame that couldn't be described.  Innocents felt a
soft, caressing warmth, even as they saw the world around them turning into
a blazing patch of hell.  A few hundred feet away, the JR train that passed
by derailed, slamming into the nearby 7-11.  The ground rattled shook, and a
good portion of the town of Kawaguchiko shook from the tremblor of what as
first thought to be an earthquake, until they looked in the direction of the
amusement park.

The expansive wall of flame that rushed out from where the impact had
occurred grew more intense, and the mystical flames seemed to howl with the
banshee shrieks of a young woman and mother, executing a final attack she
felt was the last chance to survive.  The flaming shockwave eviscerated each
monster it alighted upon, incinerated each demon it came into contact with,
but pretty much left untouched the innocents and harmless.  The raging
inferno continued, unabated, rushing outwards like a voracious pack of
wolves hunting prey.  The blasting, searing flames grew into a dome of fire,
slowly consuming the entirety of the park.  The penumbra burned into
everything, an unstoppable, all-conquering force that could not, would not
be denied.

Just when it seemed as though the blast had reached critical mass, the dome
of flame burst like a bubble, and a shockwave strong enough to kick off the
Richter scale pummeled the area, ripping apart everything in the blast
radius, oddly still sparing the innocents, as though the flame were still
controlled by a force of will.  Finally, as though it signaled that it was
complete, the explosion reached into the sky, an angry red mushroom cloud of
the like that had not been seen in Japan for decades, and no one hoped they
would have, since.  The roar echoed throughout the Five Lakes area until it
died out, and as the deafening onslaught died away, a nation knew that
something climactic had occurred, but that the answers would probably never
be known.

~*~

Nighttime fell on the town and the majority of the National Police, as well
as every local law enforcement agency and a company of troops from the
JMSDF, stood over the remnants of the park.  Overhead, a wing of police
choppers flew overhead, bathing the ashen, sooty remains of the location in
an odd, eerie light.  Search teams had gone in and out several times into
the blast crater that was once Fujikyu Highland, and although a few people
had been pulled out safely, most of those recovered from what little
wreckage there was were mostly bodies, some of them grossly and bizarrely
maimed.  The deduction was clear that the monsters had slaughtered most of
the people at the park, but no one knew where the volcano-strength
detonation of flame had come from, or why so many people were spared, when
the should by all rights have been turned into so much charcoal.

Kuno Nabiki was one of those lucky enough to have survived what the news
agencies were calling "The Fujikyu Firestorm".  Right now, she was leaning
against a police cruiser, a blanket around her shoulders and holding onto
her nephew Akama for dear life, as though she would be damned if she would
let anyone or thing come to harm him.  Both he and Hououji Kuu (currently
asleep in the backseat of the cruiser) had survived the turmoil, thanks to
an American who was currently under questioning by authorities, probably
filling out a statement.  The girl that was with them was taken to the
hospital for shock, and Nabiki absently wished that she would be fine.  Of
Hikaru, search teams had recovered nothing so far, and Nabiki was
hard-pressed to fight back a terrified and sick fear of what was the fate of
her sister-in-law.

Akama looked up and said, "Aunt Nabiki, where's Okaasan?"  He hadn't asked
where she was earlier, as he knew that his mother was a fighter, almost as
brave and strong as his father, but as the hours had passed, even he
realized something was wrong.  It took Nabiki all of her inner will to face
him and lie--at least she hoped it wasn't a lie--that she would be here
soon, that Hikaru was probably helping the police search for people.  The
truth was, she was very afraid.  Despite what Hikaru had commented about
being a goddess of another world, this was reality, a place where things
like that didn't happen.  Did Hikaru mean what she'd said about being a
goddess?  Was that possible?  In a world where people changed forms by
water, blew apart landscape with their bare hands, and lived a nightmarish
teenhood, was it possible for Nabiki to have a deity as a sister-in-law?
And if so, was it possible for a deity to die?  Nabiki wasn't sure that she
wanted to know the answer to the former question, and she sure as hell
dreaded the answer to the latter.

Vaguely, she noted the sleek black helicopter landing, its side emblazoned
with the Kuno Industries K.K. logo.  She did take note of the five people
that had hopped out of it the moment the aircraft had touched down on the
ground, and as calmly and stately as she could, she and Akama walked over to
join Ranma and the rest.  Automatically, Nabiki reached out for her husband
and grasped onto him for support, unashamedly breaking into tears in front
of everyone.

Meanwhile, Ranma grabbed a hold of his son.  "Akama, where's your mother?"
When young Akama had answered in the negative, Ranma immediately turned to
Nabiki, his eyes showing a complete and utter terror that was not at home in
his eyes.  Nabiki couldn't answer him, couldn't say a world.  As she watched
her brother crumple to the ground in a dazed shock, she let go of her
husband and held onto Ranma, feeling guiltier and dirtier than any other
time in her life.  She'd failed her brother, her nephew, her family.  What
good was she?

Meanwhile, Ryoga did his best to do what he could for Satoru.  While Nabiki
and Ukyo could intercede on Ranma's behalf, there wasn't anyone really there
to comfort Satoru for the loss of his only sister.  The martial artist
patted the kendo master on the shoulder, looking for signs of deep, black
depression.  If there was one person in the world who had been to the
deepest pit of the darkest expanse of melancholia and returned unscathed, it
was Hibiki Ryoga.  He'd been there and found in the end, he didn't care for
it.  He'd be damned before he allowed any of his friends or family to suffer
the same fate.  To his side, Ukyo simply stared into space, refusing to
believe that history was playing itself before her eyes again, that she and
Ryoga, witness to Akane's death, should have to bear witness to the end of
Saotome Hikaru; worse, to have to watch Ranma go through that torture once
more.

As for Ranma, he slowly slid into shock, barely feeling anything as Nabiki's
arms slid around him.  ((Hikaru, gone?))  He felt a part of him ripped out,
as though he wanted to die.  This was worse than Akane's....  No!  There was
no need to think that way, no need to think that way at all!  She had to be
alive!  There was no way she would abandon him and their family like that!
"She's NOT dead," he mumbled into Nabiki's shoulder.  "She can't be...." he
mumbled as his eyes watered and stung.  He felt like he would die--and with
Hikaru gone, perhaps a part of him had died already.  He was part of the
living dead, no longer one with this world. Fate had taken two of the women
he loved most in this world, and cast nothing but emptiness at the martial
artist.

Around him, people began to feel the weight of what had happened.  Akama
looked confused, and was starting to get a little frightened.  Ukyo turned
and tried to blink away the tears, even as she gave Ryoga a stare that he
knew he'd understand in a heartbeat.  Ryoga saw it, nodded mournfully, then
inclined his head towards the fallen martial artist.

And in the arms of sorrow, miracles can be borne.  Tuning himself off,
shutting himself deep within his own soul, away from the spaces of the
world, Ranma heard something at the barest corner of his mind, something
that he didn't quite realize in a conscious manner.  Was it whispering, or
was it clairvoyance, he neither knew nor cared to bother.  He only knew that
he heard the voices of people drifting over the ill-breeze that spread like
a blanket over the slaughterfields:

 "Yeah, Kasugano.  No one can explain it.  Ground Zero's still so hot, no
one can step near it.  And I don't mean radiation-hot, I mean fire-hot!"
 "Fire?  But there's nothing left to burn, Fujimori! Are you sure?"
 "I'm telling you, there's one area there still flaming!  Like the flames of
hell itself, I tell ya!"

Fujimori was about to reply to his colleague when he suddenly found a man
half his age gripping him as though he was a lifeline.  "Where?" the man
rasped, his eyes a mixture of pain, despair, anticipation, and hope, his
voice signaling as though the firefighter were the last thing in the world
holding him onto sanity.  Looking into the blue eyes of the tense blue eyes
of the man, Fujimori was so struck to his core, he couldn't elaborate.
Finally, after managing to tear himself away from the baleful eyes of the
pigtailed man before him, he turned and pointed to an angry red blip in the
distance.  "Th-there."

Ranma needed no further encouragement.  Letting go of the man, he turned and
bolted like a shot into the distance, racing deep into the dust and
desolation, ignoring the stench of burnt everything.  With the exception of
Akama, who stayed with Kuu, the rest raced after the martial artist, hoping
to catch him before he did something rash in his grief.  Kicking up ashen
dust as he bolted, Ranma raced for the center of the conflict, sidestepping
or bypassing the destroyed debris, approaching the red glow in what was
deemed to be the center of the explosion.

As Ranma approached the center of the blast, he saw what was apparently a
geodesic made out of flame.  Sparks showered throughout the vicinity of the
crater, though there was nothing in any danger of being set ablaze.  A
firetruck stood by, with a team of firefighters blasting the dome with
everything they had.  Someone shouted that despite the water, the flames and
heat were getting stronger, and that if they didn't stop it soon, the heat
would reach a critical mass, threatening the entire town of Kawaguchiko.
Should the dome burst, a heatwave could lash out that could be worse than
the first blast.

Odd, Ranma noted idly, because he didn't feel any of the heat that the
others mentioned.  And clearly it was there, because even through the
moonlight, heatwaves were warping the appearance of the air, running reality
through a sort of stained glass.  Then it hit him.

He wasn't feeling what must be obscene levels of heat.  There was a dome of
fire that the firefighters were attacking, which seemed to get stronger, as
though by magic.

Hotarubi Reikizhoheki.

((HIKARU!))

Without stopping, Ranma relied on hope and love and leapt over the heads of
the firefighters, who only realized that someone was approaching, even as he
cleared their heads in the leap.  Without even thinking twice, he plunged
headfirst into the fiery dome, into what could be certain death, even as the
firefighters leapt back in shock, even as the rest of his friends rushed
towards the scene, even as Nabiki and Ukyo screamed in fright over Ranma's
apparent suicide.

There was a flash as the huge firedome flickered, then guttered out like a
candle in the wind.  There was a slight heated breeze, and then the dome
dispersed.  What was revealed was either truly horrifying, or very touching.

In the center of a secondary crater created by the firedome, stood an
apparently dead squid-like thing that looked like one of the monsters from
one of the rides.  Standing just away from it was Ranma, who held a
seriously injured Hikaru.  She looked like she'd been through hell.  First
and second degree burns, cuts, gashes and bruises littered her very much
nude body, but at the moment, she didn't care.  She was cradled in her
husband's arms, kissing him with what strength she had.

Breaking off the kiss for breath, she opened up the one eye that wasn't
swollen shut, gently caressing his cheek.  "A-are...A...kama...and--"

Ranma gently kissed her again, silencing her.  "They're safe, Hikaru."

She rasped, "They...they came to kill me, Ranma."  As the firefighters set
up a stretcher, she said, "They...came from Cephiro.  Did all this...just to
kill me."

As he gently set his wife on the stretcher, then took the blanket and set it
over her, he said, "I won't let them, love."

"LOOK OUT!"

There was a burst of movement behind them as the Kraken got up and pounced
towards the group, it's bloody and murderous eyes seriously intent on
killing the Pillar of Cephiro if it was the last thing it would do in its
unearthly life.

Ranma spun on his heel, faster than humanly possible, it seemed.  "KACCHU
TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"  A wall of high-speed punches met the Kraken head on,
rebounding it from its attack.  Ranma ducked low and roared, "AKANE
BAKUDAN!"  A short range, intense burst of ki met the monster head on,
tearing it to complete and utter shreds, spreading the ashes of the creature
for the one-meter range of the attack.

Hikaru weakly smiled as she saw what Ranma had done.  Seeing Satoru standing
beside her, she said, "See, oniisama?  He was definitely a find."  Finally,
her energy spent, the redhead drifted off to a well-deserved
unconsciousness.

Satoru bent over and kissed his sister gently on the forehead.  "Yes he is,
imouto-chan."  Satoru then looked to his brother-in-law and said, "Ranma,
we've got to get going to the hosipital."

Without looking back, Ranma replied, "You go on ahead, Satoru.  I'm going to
stay here for a few more and find out who it was that attacked Hikaru.  The
bastards that did this."  He turned and his eyes narrowed in rage.  "They
hurt her, Satoru.  They were trying to kill my Hikaru."

Satoru nodded; he would probably do the same in his place.  "I'll go with
her to the hospital, and you can just meet us there, Ranma.  Be careful,
because they could be hunting you, too."  With nothing further to say at the
moment, Satoru and Kuno accompanied the injured redhead as she was carried
to the ambulance.  Ukyo, Ryoga, and Nabiki chose to remain with Ranma.

"Whatever you need, I'm with you, Ranma," Ryoga said in earnest.

"You can count on me, Ranchan," Ukyo answered as well.

Moving to his side, Nabiki said, "That's three of us, then--no one hurts my
family and gets away with it.  What's the plan, little brother?"

Ranma turned to her.  "That's easy, guys.  We hunt them down.  Where they've
run off to, they haven't run far enough."  Screaming to the nocturne sky,
Ranma bellowed, "GET THAT?  YOU'D BETTER KEEP RUNNING, 'CAUSE IF I FIND YOU,
I'M GOING TO PUT YOUR SORRY ASS IN A COFFIN, D'YA HEAR ME?"

~*~

Daimler sat in his personal chambers, brooding, staring at the one item that
Citroen brought back from her mission.  It had been a failure, strictly
speaking, but Citroen had brought back critical information that they needed
to know about the Pillar and her secrets: namely that the so-called "Goddess
of Cephiro" was as human as he, though a traitorous, sniveling strumpet of a
Japanese.  But the Pillar was from Earth, and that meant that she had
weaknesses, fatal weaknesses.

Citroen had been given a hero's burial two days ago.  Between the heavy
amount of burns she had sustained, the amount of blood lost, and the shock
of an unprepared transdimensional teleport, it had proven too much for her.
She had died in the arms of her brother Sharan, who was now personally
holding the Cephiran nobility responsible, due to their link to the Pillar.
Already Daimler had to keep him away from the Water Knight Ryuzaki, for fear
of killing her before her usefulness to them was done.

"My Lord, " a voice said, interrupting his meditation.

Without looking, he replied, "Yes, Sharan?"

"Everything has been set, Lord Daimler," the man said.  "Our forces are in
place, and Barina has now officially taken over as our guru-mage."  The last
sentence was hard for the tech-mage of the VP to say, Daimler noted.  Sharan
had loved his sister dearly, and with her gone, the emptiness inside him
would only turn into a deeper hatred, one that would be advantageous, but
hard to rein in if they were not careful.  "The city of Mondeo has been
razed off the face of the planet."

"Good, good," he said, turning to face Sharan.  "Dacia and his forces left
nothing alive?  None of those flying vermin?"

Not in the town, no, Daimler, though there's been a complication that shall
soom be corrected," he said.  "In fact, he asked me to give you this."  From
within the folds of his robe, he pulled out a small display box, wrapped in
a red satin cloth.  He looked at Daimler, his face appearing calm and
serene, even though Daimler in truth knew of the seething rage just
underneath.  Looking very similar to--and only slightly more male
than--Citroen, Sharan excelled in technology.  Very skilled even back before
they'd begun the Cephiro campaign, his skills leapt into multitude upon
multitudes when they'd come across the remains of a crashed Autozamian
ship--which was now the newly-restored OPEL.  Sharan would have been the
perfect soldier, if it were not for certain...peculiarities that could not
be proven about him.

No matter.  "Where is Dacia and his assistants at the moment?" Daimler
asked.

"Why, paying their respects to the lady Knight Umi as gentlemen should, of
course," Sharan said in a neutral tone.  Again, another change.  With the
war now in full swing, the torture of the Water Knight, the only female
prisoner, had begun.  Some of what Daimler's men were capable of could
be...messy, but as long as they did not kill or seriously injure her, he was
accepting what they were doing to such an inhuman traitor.  Originally, they
had made the male prisoners watch, but that little entertainment ended when
the archer, Cabrio, managed to break out of his cell and attack one of the
soldiers involved with Lady Umi at the time.  It was a shame, as the VP
soldier, a true hero of the homeland, had been killed by the Cephiran before
he was taken down and beaten to death by Private Panoz' compatriots.  Since
then, they were no longer allowed to watch in person, but Sharan, always the
thoughtful one, arranged to have the entertainment shown to them through
monitors placed in the cells of the prisoners.

Soon, the Water Knight would be nothing more than a half-dead husk. In fact,
with the constant amount of "entertainment" that she was being made to
provide for the men, it was a miracle that she was still alive as it was.
Daimler idly wondered who would be the next one to be a comfort woman for
his troops.  Perhaps Lady Caldina, or General Presea.  Maybe even Queen Fuu
herself.  He smiled at that.  If he were to make her the comfort woman for
his entire army, it would still be better treatment than she deserved.

"What is this complication?"

"There was one escapee from Mondeo, the spawn of the village leader, a
female named Minica.  We have a patrol after her, and we do not believe that
she will make it to Cephiro Palace alive."

"See that she doesn't.  Mondeo is an important town to them.  If one has
survived, then a small hope survives for them.  I want that hope crushed."

"As you wish."  With that, Sharan departed, leaving Daimler to his thoughts
once more.  Daimler sat for a second, then reached over for the nearby
bottle of wine and a glass, pouring himself one.  It was not as good a
vintage as that of his homeland, but then again, nothing was.  With that, he
unwrapped the box, and decided to look for himself.  Ah, perfect.  Not only
proof that Dacia had carried out his orders to the fullest, but with his
usual artist flair as well.

In the box were the earthly remains of the leader of the village of Mondeo,
the village of fairies.  Pinned and mounted like a butterfly inside the box
was their now-deceased leader, Primera.  The look in those now-still eyes of
hers was one of pain and shock, as though she never expected to be killed by
being impaled by a nail, and mounted onto a display box.  What disturbed
Daimler about this display case was the features of the...creature. She
looked human, and if she had been, instead of some thing, Daimler would have
found her attractive.  It scared him that a world as beautiful as this could
be populated by demons and monsters--and worse, such as this lesser.

This world needed to be cleansed, to be made pure for its own sake and
survival.

Whispering to the dead fairy inside the box, Daimler cooed, "I'm glad the
box was large enough for two.  Soon, your daughter shall be pinned right
beside you, Primera, and if I have my way, all of the Cephiran royalty, and
all of the lesser races as well."  He made a toast to that bright future,
one that he would soon see in his grasp.


NEXT:
Part Five:
Shock to the System

AUTHOR'S NOTES:
For those of you who don't know that little fact of Mazda trivia, believe it
or not, it's true.  It is called the Miata in most of the world because,
Mazda wanted a name that sounded Japanese, but they couldn't think of a
name.  One of the members of the marketing department came across the old
German word for "gift"--Miata--and the rest, as they say, is history.  The
reason it is called the Roadster in Japan, however, is because the syllables
mi-a-ta was found in only one word: miataru (to find), which at the time of
the car's inception was a term used by Japanese criminals (yes, Virginia,
they do exist) for theft/carjacking.  Due to the obviously negative
connotations, the Roadster name (the code name for the car prototype) was
retained.  This information was obtained from an article that I once read,
and if the above is wrong, well, it's not my fault.  ^_~

For those of you who are curious, K. K. is the Japanese equivalent of Co. or
Corp.

I would like to thank Rob Barba for his exhaustive information on both
Fujikyu Highlands amusement park (a real park at the foot of Mount Fuji,
listed in the Guinness Book of World's Records for the World's Tallest
Rollercoaster and the more obscure Park with the highest concentration of
Horror-based amusement--three haunted houses, one haunted rollercoaster, and
one haunted log ride), and on Japanese monster mythology as a whole.

I'd also like to thank the Eternal Lost Lurker for pre-reading me through
some pretty rough spots.  Life has been difficult for me as of late, and
sometimes I just feel like I'm not quite myself. ^_^;;