Alright, time for my next chapter. Hey, to the guy that wanted to
preread for me...
Gomen Nasai! I accidentally lost the email you sent with your addy, so
please contact me again!
BTW, as always, C&C appreciated. And, thanks to Defender of the Light,
my apparantly dedicated prereader. You've done me a world o' good.
Disclaimer: The trolls in Great Britain at Games Workshop
own Warhammer 40,000; I don't. I don't own the Ranma
characters, either.
The Emperor's Hand
Chapter Six: Destruction
A hammer fell, this time not in Akane's hands, but in
the hands of someone trying to kill her. The best part, by
Kodachi's twisted definition, was that she wasn't doing the
deed. The huge mallet, backed by gravity, would do it all.
And she was just along for the ride. And, finally, with the
death of the harridan, her Ranma-sama would be free of
whatever trap he was currently in.
Hearing a faint giggle, Akane's eyes opened, slowly,
then flew open. Wood grain filled her vision, rapidly
growing larger, and time seemed to slow. In fact, for a
moment, it seemed that the hammer wasn't even falling
anymore.
That was when she noticed that the hammer was outlined
in thousands of colors, as well as the leotard-clad girl
holding on to it. The girl, Kodachi, was held so motionless
as to not even be able to speak, though she was allowed to
breathe. Suspecting who was her savior, she glanced to
either side, and noticed the Shaman standing on thin air
outside her window. It opened, and he stepped through.
"Good evening, Tendou Akane. I had a... feeling... you
would need my assistance, and Cologne _had_ asked that I
look out for you." He smirked. "I take it this girl is not
exactly a friend of yours?"
She took a deep breath, and felt the tingle of
adrenaline she didn't even notice before dying down into
simply a rapid heartbeat. "No, she's not. She's the local
psychopath, with an obsession for Ranma. Some friends of
his ran into her yesterday, and warned me she was on the
warpath. I guess I was still a little fuzzy-headed, and
didn't lock my window."
"Well, then," he said, "do you mind if I send her
somewhere more suitable?"
"Actually, allow me." Akane reached out, grabbing hold
of the mallet's handle. The Shaman released his hold on it,
while still restraining Kodachi. Akane spat into her hands,
and rubbed them together. She took two practice swings,
then hauled off and walloped the Kuno girl, right as her
psychic ally released his telekinetic hold.
"Remarkable," he said, watching as the gymnast soared
off into the night. "Is there anything in the Kuno genetic
structure that makes them so aerodynamic?"
"I don't know." She thought it over for a minute.
"Maybe it's part of the genes for stupidity."
"Could be."
***********************************************
Akane managed to actually make it on time to school
the next day, as Kuno was nowhere to be seen. There was
already a betting pool on where he was, but Nabiki wasn't
running it. She also would not say why she didn't
participate, which led to another betting pool.
Lunch found Akane sitting with her sister, Ukyou,
Yuka, Sayuri, Hiroshi, and Daisuke. The group had gathered
together to try to make sense of what was happening. Yuka
and Sayuri hadn't seen anything, but as they were Akane's
friends, they were there to provide an objective opinion.
"How do we know that this Shaman guy wasn't the one
who took him in the first place?" asked Yuka. "You said
that the colors around Kodachi were the same as what you
saw when Ranma vanished."
"I agree with Yuka," said Ukyou. "We didn't do much
talking yesterday at the Nekohanten, and he just made the
hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. This could have
been one big plot to kidnap Ran-chan so he can marry
Shampoo. You know, they take him, then spend a week or two
pretending to try to find him, then move back to China when
they 'can't find him'?"
"But he seems so nice. And, he saved my life last
night," said Akane.
"So what. If they let you die, after all the trouble
Ran-chan has gone through so many times to come rescue you,
he'll go berserk if he finds out. Of course, that's just
because he's had to rescue you so many times, eh? He'd be
pretty mad to find out all his hard work was for nothing."
Ukyou idly flipped her ponytail. "Of course, if he finds out
_he's_ been kidnapped, who knows what he'll do..."
"No." murmured Nabiki.
"What?" asked Daisuke.
"It's not a plot. What you're suggesting is too
sloppy. And if this Shaman person is in on it, and has the
power to do what we saw, then why didn't she call on him
earlier?" Nabiki tapped her pen against a small notebook.
"There have been any number of times she could have called
on him, and used him against us. Plus, if he is what he
claims to be, he wouldn't care who marries whom."
"Then what's up?" asked Sayuri.
"I say we all go to the Nekohanten tomorrow, together,
and find out. A show of force, if you will." Nabiki turned to
Akane. "Do you trust this Shaman?"
"I, um, actually, yes. I do. I don't know why,
though."
"Good. Then let's do it." Nabiki closed her notepad.
"Umm, Nabiki," began Hiroshi, "just why wasn't Kuno at
school today?"
"Five thousand yen, please." Hiroshi dug out the
required cash, and the middle Tendou daughter continued.
"He asked me where the 'pig-tailed goddess' was, since he
hadn't seen her in a few days. So, I sold, er, told him
that she and Ranma left through a hole in the sky. He went
off on a soliloquy about how this proved Ranma was a
sorcerer, and he would free her if he had to cross the
length and breadth of China to do so."
"Why China?" asked Sayuri.
"Well, I once told him that the source of Ranma's
magic was the Springs of Jusenkyo." Nabiki smiled. "With
any luck, he'll fall in Spring of Drowned Man With Uncommon
Common Sense."
Ukyou snorted. "We should be so lucky. Hey, wait a
minute, where did Hiroshi just run off to?"
Daisuke smiled. "He's off to collect our winnings. We
both bet ol' Kuno was in China, and it was because you told
him to go there, Nabiki-sempai."
"Don't forget my 10% fee, boys."
"Of course not."
Ukyou remained behind as the others left for class, her
ponytail still bouncing in her idle fingers. She knew what
she had to talk to Akane about, but didn't know how to say
it. And if she spoke too soon, she might attract the
attention of the big players in whatever this was. That was
something she didn't want. Right now, all eyes were on Akane,
Cologne, and the Shaman.
If everyone else found out that she had seen it just as
clear as Akane had, there'd be a whole slew of new
complications. Ones she didn't need. All she really needed
was her Ran-chan back.
Thinking for a minute, she came to a disheartening
conclusion. From Akane's descriptions, the two girls had seen
it almost exactly as clear. If the key really was a strong
emotional bond with him... no, she couldn't. The tomboy is
always hitting him, calling him a pervert, whacking him with
that mallet. There was just no way.
*Akane really couldn't love him as much as I do... can
she?* came the quiet thought, in the empty lunchroom, from
the girl with the vacant stare.
***********************************************
Ranma followed Teldurin's squad of Howling Banshees to
the staging area. He would fight along side them, just to
the right of the Avatar, himself, and would ride in their
Wave Serpent. As part of the main force, they would find
themselves in the heaviest part of the fighting.
Riding in the hover vehicle, the human prepared
himself for the visions that would assail him as they left
the Craftworld. In the Webway within the world-sized
starship, the Eldar spirits within the Infinity Circuit
kept the paths free of influence, but nothing could shield
it once they had left the confines of Valdur Avendel.
Before they left, the Banshees had given him a basic
rundown on the nature of the apparitions, and the four most
powerful gods of Chaos.
The spiked fiends he had seen before were demons and
spirits of Slaanesh, called the Great Enemy by the Eldar.
As the Lord of Pleasure, he represented the corruption of
the mind and spirit, decaying into decadence and hedonism.
Khorne, the Blood God, was the Lord of Battle.
Reveling in destruction for its own sake, his fervent
followers spilled blood with every act, if possible. A
world assailed by these berserkers could only be freed by
the complete annihilation of the invading force.
As a counterpart of sorts to Slaanesh, Nurgle was the
force of decay, and disease. His pustulent champions
lovingly spread the gift of Father Nurgle, in the form of
virulent diseases that slew with horrifying certainty, and
disgusting symptoms. A horrifying family, the servants of
Nurgle only seek to spread the infection of their god's
influence.
Finally, there was Tzeentch, the Lord of Change.
Patient, and powerful, he set plans in motion that could
take generations to come to fruition. He infiltrated
governments, and guided conspiracies. If his Machiavellian
manipulations failed to bring about his beloved Change, he
would simply utilize his greatest power, magic. As the
greatest magicians of the four Chaos powers, this mystic
might was formidable, indeed.
Of these four, Ranma wondered which he would see in
the Webway this evening. They were going to battle, so he
suspected he would see the spirits of Khorne, the Blood
God. He was wrong.
Humanoid figures feebly scratched at the Wave Serpent,
their flesh flowing and changing like melted wax. Brilliant
blues shimmered through the spectrum to greens, yellows,
and reds, and energies unknown to mortal man danced to a
mindless rhythm. The rhythm caught the mind's eye, gifting
it with visions, even as it robbed it of sense. Only with
great effort did Ranma tear his eyes away from the display
sent by Tzeentch.
With a flare of natural sunlight, the Eldar forces left
the Webway, and emerged on the desert planet where the young
man had first appeared. At the moment, the only sign of any
conflict was the soft, decayed bodies of the Orks. The
greenskins were a fungus based life-form, and faded into
mulch far more rapidly than their opponents. The Eldar bodies
were gone, leaving behind their weapons and armor, something
to be salvaged once the world had been reclaimed. He did not
know what had happened to the bodies of the Eldar, and
decided not to ask.
A great dust cloud whipped up behind the swift vehicles,
suppressed only slightly by a dispersal in the ranks. Shortly
before the Orks and Tyrannids came into sight, they would
spot the dust, and begin opening fire with their long-range
artillery. Whereas Ork artillery was haphazard, and
relatively conventional, the rounds fired from the living
Tyrannid guns consisted of bio-acids, or explosive spores, or
even pods that erupted into clouds of voracious things, fully
capable of consuming the psychoplastic structures of the
Eldar vehicles as easily as flesh and bone. So, about a mile
from the point where they could be spotted, the Avatar
commanded his forces to halt.
"Dismount your vehicles! Jetbikes and Shining Spears,
you will go with the Vypers on a flanking attack, arcing far
to the north. Make your arc big enough that we will be upon
them before they can react to your dust cloud. Falcons, you
do the same. Pilots of the Wave Serpents, follow two miles
behind. The rest, disperse, in a wedge. Banshees and
Scorpions with me, at point. Fire Dragons, you are behind and
to either side. Dire Avengers, take center. Dark Reapers, you
will be behind them. Guardians, you take position between the
Banshees and Scorpions." The great Avatar cocked his head,
speaking telepathically with the remainder of his forces.
Ranma took position with the Banshees, and easily kept pace
with their rapid advance.
As they trekked across the sands, Teldurin reached down
to her belt, and handed a colorful, ornate mask to the human.
"Wear this, Anial Gorwydd. It is the mask of a Harlequin,
gifted to me two hundred years ago. It will help protect you
from the psychic screams of our own masks, as well as protect
your eyes from the glare of the sands."
He accepted it, bowing as much as he could as the brisk
jog. "Domo arigato, Exarch-sempai. It's an honor, an' it
probably would be even more o' one if I knew what a Harlequin
was." He smiled, and fastened it over his face.
Nothing really seemed different - until he glanced over
at the left flank. There, he spotted several Guardians,
wearing cloaks that shifted with the sands. The lenses of the
mask made them visible to him, and he was glad. He'd hate to
have accidentally blasted one while fighting, if he didn't
know they were there.
All too soon, they made contact with the enemy. At
first, the only foes they encountered were the Hormagants.
They bounded into the Eldar lines slashing away with four
scythe-like arms, sometimes leaping as far as ten meters in
their frenzy to tear at the Aspect Warriors. However, most of
them were blown apart by the heavy firepower carried by the
Fire Dragons and the Dark Reapers, or sliced into pieces by
the powerswords and chainswords of the Howling Banshees and
the Striking Scorpions.
Hot on the heels of the Hormagants came the Orks,
however. Not as fast as the insectoids, the sheer numbers of
the greenskins, and their toughness, made them more fearsome
opponents. For every one slain, two more took its place.
Ranma glanced at the Avatar, who merely nodded. Diving over
the heads of the Banshees, he landed deep within the Ork mob.
Bodies started flying, as he unconsciously imitated Akane's
method of dealing with the Horde o' Hentais that would attack
her every morning when he first arrived. Sweeping blows
rendered row after row unconscious, and their ranks dwindled
with every minute.
On the left flank, hideous red and purple Genestealers
began shredding every Guardian they came across. Some few
managed to fire their weapons, but the shuriken catapults
failed to kill enough of them to save themselves. Eldar blood
sprayed across the sands, as shards of devastated armor flew
like petals on the wind.
Like a hurricane of rage, the Avatar then dove in among
the creatures. Bone talons raked harmlessly against the hot
iron crust of the god's body, while the Suin Dallae sliced
through several of the creatures at a time. Following close
behind him, the Fire Dragons rushed in, their fusion guns
vaporizing the Genestealers.
By now, the battle was a swirling, chaotic mess. The
Eldar squads stayed together only thanks to the telepathy of
the Farseers and Warlocks, while they were beset on all sides
by both the crude war machines of the Orks, and the genetic
nightmares of the Tyrannids. Forced to fall back, Teldurin's
squad gathered around her, and strove through a mass of
Termagants to reach a hard-pressed unit of Dire Avengers.
Together, the Aspect Warriors cleared a foothold, and began
to link up with other harried units.
Slicing through a Lictor that barred his way, the Avatar
approached Ranma, and motioned with his great black blade.
"Mortal, the Hive Tyrant is there. If we slay him, they lose
their cohesion. But he is too well guarded by Carnifexes and
Lictors."
Recovering from a spinning back kick, Ranma glanced over
there. "Yeah? How can I help? Want me ta blast a way
through?"
"No," said the Avatar, backhanding a Tyrannid Warrior as
it tried to attack him from the rear. "Do what you did back
on the Craftworld. To me."
"What?"
"Do it." The Avatar's voice would brook no disagreement.
He charged the pigtailed martial artist, sword swipes
seemingly aimed at him, but unerringly striking down the Orks
and Tyrannids around them. Ranma found himself falling back
into the familiar spiral, avoiding both the strikes of his
erstwhile ally, and the foes that surrounded him. When the
spiral was complete, he threw the uppercut of cold chi, right
as the Avatar leapt into the air.
Amazed, the Human watched as the Avatar flew into the
air, riding the tornado. It launched him high into the sky,
until he was barely visible. Ducking a claw swipe from a
Carnifex, Ranma turned his attention back to the battle, but
kept one eye on the falling god.
An immense creature, the Hive Tyrant fired its bio-
explosive cannon at a safe range. Its creatures knew where it
would fire next, and avoided the area, but it did not care if
its Ork allies were caught in the devastation. So far, none
of the Eldar were within close combat, but, if they were, a
living Bonesword would make short work of them. Laughing with
unholy glee, it noticed something above it.
At first little more than a dark spot, the silhouette
resolved itself into over two thousand pounds of half-molten
iron, falling pell-mell straight at it, sword point first.
With only enough time to fire a single shot, the Hive Tyrant
was dismayed to see the living grenade miss. Then, the Avatar
was on it. The nine foot blade drove deep through the thing's
brain, even as its heavy feet shattered the carapace on its
shoulders. What was left of the Hive Tyrant collapsed under a
ton of hate.
Bereft of guidance, the creatures surrounding the Avatar
panicked, and attacked randomly. Some were able to swing at
the god, others swung at nearby Orks, while most merely got
in each others' way. Meanwhile, the Wailing Doom sliced
through foe after foe.
On the other end of the battlefield, Ranma faced off
against a huge Ork. It was wearing extremely heavy armor, and
one hand was covered in a huge robotic arm. Grunting in its
crude language, it swung the heavy thing at the human. Ranma
easily dodged it, and dropped down below the return swing.
With a cry of "Kashu Tenshin Amaguriken!", his hand blurred,
repeatedly striking the plate armor in a single spot. In
seconds, the armor shattered, and the next three punches sent
the huge greenskin flying thirty feet.
A wisp of wind brushed his neck, and he spun with a
dragon tail sweep. His heel caught against a hoof the size of
his chest, which failed to knock the great beast down. A
Carnifex, four slicing blades crossing like obscene scissors
across its chest, trying to cut down the Human. "Oh, great.
As long as this thing doesn't drool on me, I should be fine."
He jumped, landing on the top of the monstrosity's head.
Howling in confusion, it struggled to reach its top pair of
pincers up to him, and he simply leapt straight up. A loud
kiai, and his Mokou Takabisha lanced down at the beast,
knocking it to its knees. Dropping in front of it, he lashed
out with the strongest roundhouse kick he could muster. Even
though the Tyrannids creatures were more like demons than
Human, he couldn't kill them. Even the Orks he faced were
simply knocked out.
That was when he discovered that Teldurin's squad was
killing the foes he rendered unconscious.
***********************************************
Night fell quietly, and without fanfare. It had been
over four days since the disappearance, and no one really
knew what anyone was doing about it.
"I'm telling you, Nabiki, she's hiding something." Akane
clenched her fists at her side. "I say we go over there right
now, and find out!"
"Calm down, Imoutochan. The first thing we have to do is
review the evidence, then use Occam's Razor to determine the
most likely situation." Nabiki stretched her legs, and rolled
over onto her stomach.
"A razor? How do we get this Occam guy to let us borrow
it?" asked Akane.
Nabiki laughed. "No, Akane, Occam's Razor is a concept.
Basically, it means that the simplest solution that meets the
available evidence is the most likely truth."
"Hm. Makes sense to me."
"Exactly my point. Now, first," Nabiki ticked off a
finger, "Ranma was taken through a hole in the sky by a
glowing hand, both of which were lined in, as you put it, a
thousand shimmering colors.
"Second, only those with a positive emotional bond with
Ranma of some sort, whether friendship or love, who were in a
position to see it, _could_ see it." She nodded to herself.
"Of course, there were a few who may or may not have a
positive emotional bond with him who did not see it, mostly
because they were inside at the time.
"Third, Cologne knows a seemingly young man, who claims
to be an immortal shaman, whose so-called psychic powers have
the same sort of signature as the phenomenon that took Ranma.
On the other hand, this individual saved your life from
Kodachi last night.
"Fourth, by your own story, Shampoo was just as shocked
as you were to see what happened. And we both know how bad of
an actress she is," noted Nabiki.
Akane muttered, "Yeah, at least when she's not wearing a
reversal jewel."
"Be that as it may, the evidence suggests that this
Shaman, or someone with an almost identical power signature,
is responsible for Ranma's disappearance. That is definite."
She placed her chin in her hand. "The real question is why."
"What's to say that Cologne didn't put him up to it?"
asked the youngest Tendou daughter.
"The fact that this individual saved your life. If she
knew exactly what was happening, she would have no need to
ask him to keep an eye on you." Nabiki sat up on her bed. "As
it is, with the clearest image of the gateway and hand, you
have the strongest link to what happened to your Fiance.
Thus, if she was in on it, she would more likely try to have
you removed from the picture, rather than try to keep you
alive.
"No, Akane, she's about as much in the dark as we are.
Right now, the lynchpin to this whole scenario seems to be
the Shaman."
"Well, what's the key?" asked Akane.
"I don't know, Imoutochan." Nabiki sighed. "I don't
know."
=====
- Valandar the Red of the Empty Tankard
Captain of the Guard of the Barony of the Far Woods
Empire of the Iron Mountains
http://members.tripod.com/~Valandar/fanfic.html
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