*** Disclaimer - I don't own any of these characters. I wish I did,
but I don't. This means that I stole them. If you legitimately own
any of the characters used here, and want to sue me, go right ahead.
I'll gladly give you my nickel. I'm not making any money off of this,
and I don't plan to. ***
Yes, I know, I am committing a mortal sin, by starting one
series instead of working on another. But my muse is flighty. Oh
well. This runs very similar to the Superdimensional Collision Omni
concept that has been running around, but it's not, and as anyone who
can tell you knows, I don't write fast enough to steal that idea
anyways. I've been kicking this idea around for about a month now, and
my muse finally told me to write, so I did.
I'm probably going to get flayed alive, since so far (and a
warning to those of you who don't want to read something ABSOLUTELY,
100% original (and what are you doing then on the FFML???)) this reads
simply as crossover for the sake of crossover - but once again (hey,
this is getting familiar), there is a background to this, and a reason
for it's being - I just haven't gotten to it yet.
C&C as always is appreciated, and don't worry, I'm not fragile,
I won't break - I mean, I've actually tried to publish poetry before, I
doubt any of you could do any worse to me. :) (Hehehe, and for those
of you who don't know what that means, I recommend you try sometime).
Chapter One : The Violent
Lina looked around at the newly made clearing, and began to
worry. Amidst the charred trees, and general remains of a forest,
there were people. What made her worry was the general condition of
the people. They looked to be absolutely, one hundred percent, unhurt.
Worse yet, of those not still inside the clearing, although apparently
not unhurt, the great majority seemed to be getting up. And they all
looked slightly angry.
Lina began to doubt her decision to use Dragon Slave. Behind
her, the chimera commented, "perhaps next time, we should just try
saying hello?"
At that, Lina turned towards Zel with a look that could kill
anyone not both acquainted with her and made of stone, and was about to
start screaming at him, when a soft voice spoke up behind her. "The
Dragon Slave. A spell that draws upon the power of the Mazoku, namely
the one known as Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo."
Lina glanced back to the clearing. The woman who had spoken
was hovering roughly in the middle of the crater, approximately ten
feet from the ground. She was also glowing with power. Lina,
resorting to her emergency backup plan for dealing with strangers,
reluctant waiters, or those who otherwise interrupted her, promptly
fired again. "Fireball!"
The blue-haired woman seemed to smile. "Too bad. Just a
novice." As she spoke, the air around her began to grow red, and what
Lina thought felt an awfully lot like a Dragon Slave, only a hundred
times more powerful, enveloped her. Instinctively, she threw up her
most powerful defense spell, only to have it torn away like paper in
the face of the blast. Suddenly, her use of the Dragon Slave seemed
like a very, very bad idea.
***
Ryoko felt the impact of the second blast hit her shield, and
growled. "Hey, you! Don't you start shooting those things too! I've
had about enough of this!" She floated up from the now enlarged crater
to face the other woman.
"I agree. This is certainly no way to treat the crown princess
of the planet Jurai." Aeka said, getting up, and dusting herself off.
She seemed relatively unhurt by the two blasts. Azake and Kamidake,
on the other hand, seemed little more than firewood. "Ryoko, what do
you say we take care of these people once and for all? Azake,
Kamidake, seal her up!"
"Eh-hem. I wouldn't do that if I were you. And Ryoko, that's
no way to treat your sister!"
"What do you mean, mom?" Ryoko snarled, turning towards Washu.
"Well, she's not really your sister, in that I wasn't the one
who created her, so more like a distant cousin, but she's definitely
artificial. Quite powerful, too. Not much on personality, though, and
of course, I could do a much better job! Really, nothing, for a genius
like me! You might want to watch out though."
"Lady Aeka. I must agree. It would be unwise to attack her as
we are now." Azake said.
"Well, I don't like it!" Ryoko pouted.
"Ryoko." Tenchi said, dusting himself off from the double
blast. "Stop it, Ryoko. You heard Washu. Now let's all just try to
work this out peacefully."
The blue-haired woman floated towards him, and landed, near the
edge of the double crater. "You are mistaken. You have declared
yourselves as my enemy. The only action now is to fight." She leveled
her staff at Tenchi.
"Don't you touch my Tenchi!" Ryoko yelled. At this, the
blue-haired woman promptly turned and shot her. The force of the blast
knocked her out of the clearing, into the forest beyond, and sent her
crashing into one of the larger trees with a very audible crack.
"Ryoko!" Tenchi reached for the master key, and summoned his
sword.
"Tenchi, wait." Washu called from behind him. "That's not
going to do any good against her."
"I don't care. I'm not going to just stand here and let her
hurt Ryoko!" Tenchi leapt towards the woman, striking with the sword.
She spun to face him, and quickly sent a blast of energy launching him
into woods after Ryoko, and knocking the weapon from his hands.
"Lord Tenchi! How dare you treat a member of the Jurai royal
family in such a manner!" Aeka yelled. Small wooden blocks began to
appear around the blue-haired woman.
"The power of the royal trees of Jurai." She commented, almost
absently. Then, the wooden blocks around her went flying in all
directions, as similar wooden blocks began to contain Aeka, and blast
her with energy.
Aeka screamed, causing Tenchi to awaken, now dressed in Juraian
battle armor. "This has gone on long enough." He spoke to the woman,
once again floating leisurely towards him. "Let's fight."
She leveled her staff at him, and fired a third time, causing
another explosion, and yet another crater. In the center of it, Tenchi
stood, Light Hawk Wings blazing, entirely unscathed. He reached out,
and grabbed onto one of the wings, summoning his blade.
She landed, and summoned a blade of her own, much the same as
the one Tenchi was holding. They came together, and energy crackled
around them. Then, she simply collapsed, unconscious.
***
Ritsuko looked at the data the Magi were giving her. None of
it seemed to make any sense. Of course, given her line of work, that
wasn't all that unusual, but she still didn't like it. "Commander.
We're detecting an unknown AT-field of incredible strength. Energy
readings are almost off the charts."
"What is your diagnosis, doctor?"
"I don't know. The Magi don't seem to know what to make of it.
The AT-field conforms to no known type."
"Is it an Angel, or isn't it?"
"The power readings certainly seem to indicate so. Nothing
manmade could possibly generate that much energy, except an EVA."
"Very well then. Classify this as the 19th Angel. Send Shinji
up in Unit 01, with Rei as backup. Tell Shinji he is not to engage
until we can visually evaluate the target."
"Sir! Is that wise?"
"Just do it, Akagi."
***
Lina awoke with what amounted to be the worst headache of her
life. Briefly, she recounted the events that had occurred in her head.
The party had been travelling along a particularly deserted road,
towards Seyruun, following yet another of Xelloss's clues. Then, quite
abruptly, they had encountered a large group of strangers on the road.
She looked around, through the shimmering purple haze that
surrounded her. "Oh, yeah," she commented. "I did use the Dragon
Slave, didn't I." The purple haze disappeared, as Syphiel, along with
the rest of the group, fell on her face.
The area definitely looked different. There were now four
craters on the ground, all roughly centered where that strange woman
had been floating. There was not an intact tree within sight. There
was also a growing crowd of people standing around an unconscious
blue-haired woman.
At this sight, Lina promptly fell over again. "Ouch."
"You should be careful, Lina. You're lucky Syphiel got her
protection spell up in time, you know." A white-clothed princess
stared at her strangely.
"So, Amelia. He he. What happened?"
"Oh, you should have seen it! The Great Sword of Justice came
from the sky, and vanquished the evil villain! Oh, it was so
beautiful!" Amelia assumed the dreamy gaze normally reserved only for
Zelgadis, and began imagining rose-petals falling from the sky.
Lina blanched. "So. Don't tell me, you defeated her?" She
asked, dryly.
"Oh, no. That guy over there had this great sword, made of
light, and they fought! I told you the blazing fury of justice would
always win!"
"Another sword of light, huh? I don't remember any legends
about there being two of them." Lina suddenly began rifling through
her clothing.
"Um, Lina? What are you doing?" Amelia asked, worried.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" She growled. "If he has
another sword of light, I want it!"
"And if it's not a sword of light?" Asked Xelloss, suddenly
appearing beside her.
"What? What do you mean, not the sword of light?" She asked,
unnecessarily loudly.
"I simply asked what you would do if it wasn't. You don't
really know that it is, do you?" Xelloss smiled.
"Well, it was powerful enough to take her out, so I'm at least
going to find out what it is! Hey, where have you been, anyway? And
where are we?"
"Lina. That is a secret." He smiled again.
***
Katsuhito Jinnai watched the giant purple creature move towards
him. "Finally, a weapon to defeat my enemy! Ha ha ha ha ha!" He
shouted.
Several of the Bugrom growled at him.
"Of course it's a long way away! Look at how big it is! This
will give you time to prepare a trap for it, anyway."
The Bugrom looked at each other, and growled again. "Yes, I
want you to trap it, idiots!"
This provoked yet another round of growling. Jinnai barely
managed to keep from screaming at them. "What do you mean, you don't
know how! It's simple! Just dig a pit, and it'll fall in and get
stuck."
Deva watched the scene with an expression resembling hero
worship. Finally, the Bugrom would be able to conquer the world. She
smiled.
***
Ranma was the first to recover from the blast. What had, he
thought, been the athletics courts behind Furinkan High was now nothing
more than a smoldering crater. Several smoldering craters, in fact.
The only other students around, however, were Akane and Ukyo, and some
green-haired girl he didn't know. Not too mention the fact that there
didn't seem to be anything left of the high school, and he didn't
really remember it being in the middle of a forest, anyway.
Ranma looked over at Akane. She seemed to be unhurt, although
scratched up quite a bit. Built like a brick rang through his mind.
She opened her eyes.
"Ranma? What happened? Where'd the school go?" She asked,
beginning to look suspicious.
"How should I know? I think there was some sorta big fight
over there," he said, waving his arm in the general direction of the
blast. "Probably that old freak again."
"You say something, Ranma?" Happosai asked, as he attempted to
dart through the trees past them. Ranma deftly picked him out of the
air, as he hopped by.
"Ya. What do you think you're doing, you old freak."
"Ranma, is that anyway to talk to your elders? And for your
information, I'm off to go add to my collection." He rasped, trying to
dart past Ranma once again.
"Oh no you don't!" Ranma shouted, throwing a kick at the old
man, only to find it met by the old man's pipe, as it sent him
sprawling on the ground. Happosai disappeared through the trees,
towards where the blast had come from.
Akane stood above him, scowling. "C'mon Ranma. We've got to
stop him!"
***
Sasami woke up to see Ryo-Ohki miyaing insistently, and a
couple of teenagers running off into the forest shouting angrily. The
ground trembled, and a giant purple foot landed beside her.
***
Tenchi looked stricken. A strange, red-haired woman stood
before him, speaking faster than he had ever heard anyone speak before.
"What do you mean, sell my sword?"
"How much do you want for it? I'll give you a hundred!"
Sweat drops formed on his forehead, and he tried to back away,
waving his arms to try and ward her off. "He he he. Well, you see .
it's not really for sale."
"What do you mean it's not for sale?" She screamed.
"Well, uh, it's not really mine."
"Then whose is it?"
"Um, well, um, it really belongs to the Emperor of Jurai, but
he's not here, so I guess it belongs to Aeka." He said, still
ineffectively waving his arms, and gesturing towards the purple-haired
princess.
"I have no intention of selling that sword to you, especially
not for as lowly a sum as a hundred yen. That sword belongs to the
Jurai royal family, and can only be used by those with royal blood."
Aeka sneered.
"Fine, two hundred! And what do you mean, only by those of
royal blood?"
"This sword is bonded to the Jurai royal family."
"So what? Three hundred!"
"Why, you! I told you, I have no intention of selling this
sword to you. And who exactly do you think it was that started this
fight in the first place?"
"Four hundred!"
"I said no!" Aeka screamed, bracing herself in standard
Juraian battle posture.
Xelloss took this opportunity to appear, and tap Lina on the
shoulder. "You know, now may not be the best time for this
discussion," he said, looking concerned.
"Huh?" Lina turned to stare at him, and noticed a giant purple
creature standing about half a mile behind him, and began to sweat.
"So, uh, Xelloss. Um, exactly which one of your relatives is
that?" Gourry asked, profoundly.
"That's a good question!" He said, cheerfully.
***
Shinji looked at the crater in fear. Had it been centered over
Tokyo 3, it would have blasted straight through the shielding and into
the geofront.
"Shinji. Report." His father spoke over the comm.
"No sign of the Angel." He said, impishly.
"Yes. I can see that. Very well. You are to scout the area,
and remain until such time as the Angel has reappeared. Rei will
remain as backup."
***
Ryoko blinked away, rubbing her head. Damn that woman, she
thought. How dare she threaten my Tenchi.
Quite suddenly, a giant roach stepped on her, bringing her back
to reality. "Ouch! Hey, watch it!" She turned, to look at the
bipedal, bluish insect. It was carrying a shovel. The Bugrom turned,
and growled something incomprehensibly like an apology.
"Hey! No slouching, back to work! The pit's not finished
yet!" A high school boy shouted at it, and it trudged off again, down
into a large hole dug into the ground. Almost immediately, Ryoko was
hit again, by a flying clod of dirt.
"I'll get you!" She shouted at the bug, teleporting into the
hole it had dug, and knocking it into the air with a blast of energy.
It promptly clanged off of the giant robot standing above them, and
fell back into the hole. Ryoko looked up.
"Huh? What's that?"
"That's my newest weapon. With it, the Bugrom Empire will be
unstoppable! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Jinnai laughed.
***
Ryo-Ohki miyaed, worried.
"I know, Ryo-Ohki! We've got to get back and warn Tenchi!"
Sasami said, as she ran. The giant robot was stopped now, and Sasami
had almost caught up to it.
"Miya, miya, miYA!" The cabbit exclaimed.
Sasami turned to look at the cabbit sitting on her shoulder.
"Ryo-Ohki! What's wrong?"
"Mi-YA!" The cabbit cried, staring at the giant bug in front
of them, holding a shovel. Sasami startled, and tripped, falling
headlong into it, and knocking them both into the hole behind it.
***
Ryoko noticed the bug falling towards her in time to teleport
out of the way. Instead, she managed to teleport directly into the
other girl crashing down the hole. "Sasami?"
"Oh, Ryoko! Thank goodness you're here! We've got to get back
to Tenchi!"
"Mi-ya!"
"Well, we can't walk back. Not with that blue-haired bitch
around, not to mention that giant monster. We'll just have to use
Ryo-Ohki."
"Ryoko, you're not planning on fighting that thing, are you?
It's too dangerous! You could get hurt!"
"No. We'll go get Tenchi, and run away. Go, now, Ryo-Ohki!"
The cabbit leapt into the air, underneath the creature, and
transformed.
***
Shinji screamed.
His Eva was collapsed on the ground, and the Angel floated just
above him. He was in no means in any position to fight.
Furthermore, the Angel materializing out of thin air directly
beneath him had been rather unnerving.
"Shinji. What are you waiting for? It is the enemy. Attack.
That is an order." His father's voice spoke over the comm.
***
Ryo-Ohki raced across the crater, stopping briefly to pick up
Tenchi. A small crowd was beamed aboard as well, but Ryoko didn't even
notice. Instead, she turned Ryo-Ohki back towards the purple giant,
intending to knock it down once more.
"But, I thought you said you weren't going to fight it, Ryoko!"
Sasami cried.
"Hey. You don't want that thing chasing us, now do you? I'm
not going to fight it, I just want to slow it down a little."
"Mi-ya!"
"She's right, you know, Sasami. We've no idea how powerful
that thing is. We don't want to let it follow us, now, do we?"
Washu's voice said, from the rear of the cabin.
"Right! Now, get ready to fire, Ryo-Ohki!"
"Mi-ya!"
"Five hundred!"
"I said no!"
"Jeez, you guys, can't you give it a rest?" Tenchi whined.
"She never gives up, does she?" Xelloss winked, then
disappeared.
***
"Dig, damn you, dig! It's got to be deeper! No, it's not deep
enough yet! Look at how big that thing is!"
The stream of dirt flying out from the hole increased, and the
hole became noticeably deeper. Jinnai looked up, as the great purple
beast loomed above him. "I've got you now, Makoto! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
***
Ritsuko looked at the data coming from the Magi. They were all
wrong. The AT-field the Angel was generating didn't conform to
anything. Not Adam, not Lilith, not the EVA's, not anything. Worse
yet, it didn't even match the one she had seen earlier. "Commander.
We may have a problem. I think this is a second Angel."
"Explain."
"This data doesn't match what we saw before. The power
readings are too low, the mass is far too high, and the AT-field is
completely different - it doesn't match anything we've ever seen
before. I believe we're looking at an entirely new entity."
"That is irrelevant. Focus on the enemy we have."
***
Shinji spun, firing, as the Angel flew past him. He missed
every time.
So far, the Angel's own weapons had bounced harmlessly off his
AT field, but the Angel was fast. He barely had time to react to its
change in direction. And it seemed to be ignoring him, heading
straight towards the geofront.
"Shinji. Stop it." Gendo spoke.
"I can't! It's too fast!"
"Rei. Engage the target. Shinji is useless."
"Yes." Rei said.
"Hey!" Shinji screamed, but the comm was dead. Infuriated,
and embarrassed, he chased off after the Angel, only to trip on a hole
in the ground.
***
"Now! Grapple it!" Jinnai screamed. His plan had worked
perfectly; the giant had stepped on the hole, and tripped, and now lay
prone on the ground. Of course, it had been running, and so had
skidded a good mile, but that didn't pose any problem. Further, the
cable that it had been dragging had severed, and now lay, sparking, on
the ground next to him.
The bugs looked at him, and stared. Behind him, Margaret tried
to pin his arms, and failed.
"Not me, you morons. The giant! Grapple it!" He shouted,
waving frantically.
Margaret promptly took off running towards the giant, trampling
him.
***
Makoto studied the crater before him. Ifurita, he thought.
Slowly, the started to climb down into it. There seemed to be some
people gathered at the center. Perhaps they would have some answers.
To be continued.