The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the
creation and possession of the brilliant Rumiko
Takahashi. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and her
licensees (Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji TV, Viz
Communications Inc.) No copyright infringement is
intended.
"The Green Lantern", copyright ALL-AMERICAN COMICS
# 16 (July 1940)
(Note: Green Lantern #16 provided the inspiration for this
story. However only the colour green remains.)
WARNING: This story contains scenes that some readers may
find sexually suggestive and/or violent.
Extended author notes will be added at the end of
of Chapter one and again at the end of the final chapter.
*******************************************************
Bedlam Fire
Chapter 3
******************************************************
Akane concentrated on putting one foot in front of the
other, not really caring where she was going. Anywhere was
better than----she shuddered slightly, thinking of her room. The
familiar desk and lamp, the lacy curtains . . .even the little
duck on the door seemed alien, frightening. Only the statue of
Kwannon gave her any comfort--small comfort at that, as she
was simultaneously attracted and repelled by the Goddess of
Mercy in an emotional tug-of-war that left her limp and
nauseated.
Breathing in deep slow breaths, she inhaled the sweet
aroma of the plum trees and let the delicate intermingled
colours of pink, white and red blossoms soothe her jangled
nerves.
"What did you do with Ran-chan?" Kuonji Ukyou
dropped from a tree to land on the path in front of Akane,
swinging her uber-spatula into guard position. This was the
fifth park she'd been to in three hours. She was hot . . . tired,
and the lunch-time crowd that was Okonomiyaki Ucchan's
mainstay was long gone. _That_ girl was not only after her
fiance, she was eating into her restaurant's profits.
"You ought to put something on that bruise." Akane
said briefly, glancing at San Pu's attempt to print a map of
Qinghai province on Ukyou's face--with her fist. She could
smell Kashiwa-mochi cooking. She loved the sweet-bean and
rice-cake confection wrapped in an oak leaf. Her father had
always bought it for her, even though it was a traditional treat
for Boy's Festival. If Ranma found out, he would tease her
about being such a tomboy.
"Listen you," Ukou flushed angrily, making the bruises
stand out in horrid contrast. "I know you did something to my
Ran-chan. Ranma honey wouldn't have cut class unless you
did something to him!"
Akane stopped in mid-step, putting her foot down with
exquisite care before turning to face the androgynously
dressed okonomiyaki cook.
"_Your_ Ran-chan?" Her head began to throb and she
could feel a muscle jumping beneath her left eye. Streamers of
green fire nearly invisible to the human eye began to crawl
through the air toward the pony-tailed girl.
Ukyou purpled at Akane's carefully neutral tone and
took a heavy step forward, her giant cooking tool slicing the
air with an aggressive swing that swirled plum blossoms
through the air.
"_Your_ Ranma-honey" Akane continued, "would cut
class if the sky turned blue or someone told him rain was
wet." Akane's mouth twisted slightly. "You don't know him at
all, do you?" She shook her head dismissively, then winced at
the pain the movement caused. Maybe some ume-kuba-cha
would help. She'd always had a taste for roasted-barley tea,
and the slightly sour taste of plums reminded her of when she
used to come to this park with her mother and sisters. She
turned her back and walked away, trying to follow her nose to
the food vendor.
"Why you----"
Akane didn't need the warning of Ukyou's angry shout.
The sudden surge of her battle aura brought Akane around in
time to block the hasty swing of the big pole-arm.
Recovering somewhat from her initial surge of anger Ukyou
took a more solid stance before starting her attack."Don't you
make fun of my engagement!" She made a probing thrust,
gauging carefully Akane's defenses. "Genma promised
marriage. He stole my dowry. He stole my honor. He stole my
_womanhood_!"
Green fire crawled across her skin, burrowing deep,
like an unseen army of insects, pricking her with thousands of
tiny bites that drove her mad.
"Then take it out of _Genma's_ hide." Akane snapped,
slapping the business end of the spatula aside while sliding
away from Ukyou's advance. "Take Genma's _hide_ for all I
care. Sell him to a zoo or make panda okonomiyaki. Just leave
me out of it!" Yelling was a mistake. Her stomach roiled with
sudden nausea and the pain in her head was blinding.
"You can't have my Ran-chan!" Ukyou snarled, making
a basic Kesa cut, spatula blade moving diagonally from
Akane's left collar bone to her right hip.
If they'd had any attention to spare, they might almost
have seen the web of green fire that tangled and twisted them
both.
Akane yelped as her blouse parted beneath the razor
sharp blade. "HEY! This was," she fingered the torn material,
"a really ugly shirt. I wonder why I ever bought it?" She tried
to joke.
She was too sick to want a fight right now. Clamping
her jaws tightly, she pressed her eyes shut against the pain in
her head. "That's probably the only reason it's not in Nabiki's
closet." Maybe if she stayed perfectly still, it wouldn't hurt as
much.
"I'm going to teach you to steal another woman's
fiance!" Ukyou began the deep belly breathing that initiated the
special attack of her school---- "Dance of the Tengu!"
"Eeeeep!" Akane spun out of the way, trying to put
some distance between herself and the whirling dervish of
steel that Ukyou unleashed. Sudden fright drove the nausea
away, but the pounding in her head was worse.
"Would you cut that out before you hurt someone!"
Akane did a split that dropped her below a double handed cut,
then rolled out of the way of a reverse spear strike."Ahhhh,"
she rubbed her head where the haft of the spatula had grazed
her temple and her palm came away bloody.
"You've been leading Ranma around on a leash,"
Ukyou snarled, "making him do stuff that he doesn't want to
do. It's going to stop now!" With a ritualistic flourish, Ukyou
dropped into an offensive stance, spatula held at high middle
guard position.
"You don't _lead_ Ranma anywhere." Akane wiped
the blood off on the grass and stood up. "You just hang on and
hope you survive the ride." She pressed her hands to her
throbbing temples. Her head was getting worse. Tears of pain
leaked from her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. "I really
don't feel good right now. If you want to talk to Ranma, he's
probably at home."
The web tightened, drawing them together, burning and
crushing.
"He's _not_ home!" Ukyou screamed, charging Akane.
"He's never going to be _home_ until he's with me!" Akane
brought her hands up to block a cut at her head. Reversing
instantly, Ukyou slammed the butt end of her spatula into
Akane's unprotected belly, emptying her lungs with an
explosive burst of air. Dispassionately, Ukyou watched Akane
drop to her knees, gasping for breath. "I spent ten years of my
life trying to regain my honor, and nothing's going to stop me."
She tilted Akane's head up with the tip of her spatula. "You
can't win. I'm a better fighter, a better cook. I'm a better
woman. Cuter too." She smiled sympathetically. "Kuno likes
you and he's rich. Or maybe Ryouga. I don't want to hurt you,
so just give up on Ran-chan."
Something snapped."That's really nice of you!" Akane
felt as if the pain had exploded her brains out the top of her
skull, leaving it empty and cold. Her fist moved in a blur, and
Ukyou was left staring stupidly at the headless shaft of her
battle spatula. "But you see . . ." Akane got slowly to her feet,
"I _want_ to hurt you."
Emerald flame roared with silent thunder, washing
them in flame, like moths in a furnace.
Ukyou brought the steel shaft up in guard position in a
reflexive motion. "I don't know how you did that, but----"
Akane's fist blurred again, and the steel shaft of
Ukyou's headless spatula parted soundlessly like a rotten
stick. Nothing daunted, Ukyou struck out using the broken
pieces as if she were fighting with han-bo.
Unimpressed with Ukyou's short-staff technique,
Akane stepped inside her strike, parrying Ukyou's right hand
with her left and grabbing Ukyou's left hand in an Eagle-Claw
grip. Ukyou gasped in pain as Akane's grip tightened, and the
broken section of spatula dropped from her nerveless fingers.
Almost casually, Akane caught Ukyou's right hand as the
okonomiyaki genius took a wild swipe at her head. Holding
Ukyou's hand motionless as if she were a child, Akane
plucked the remaining piece of spatula from her fingers and
examined it critically. Wrinkling her nose in disdain, she
dropped it to the ground and stepped back, watching as Ukyou
tried to shake feeling back into her hands.
"You're not very good without that spatula, are you?"
Stepping forward, her right hand drove a Raking-Tiger-Claw
into Ukyou's chin, snapping her head back, then ripping down
her face, tearing bloody furrows from forehead to neck.
Reeling with shock and blinded by blood flowing into
her eyes, Ukyou snatched at the bandoleer across her chest.
Seemingly oblivious, Akane casually moved away, allowing
Ukyou to fumble a brace of mini-spatulas into each hand. She
even allowed Ukyou to wipe the blood from her eyes, merely
standing and watching as Ukyou launched the steel missiles
and grabbed another double brace.
Ukyou had just cocked her arm for a second throw
when the first flight of blades flashed with fat green sparks and
dropped out of the air in front of Akane. Shaking off her
amazement, Ukyou reflexively launched the second set of
blades and reached a third time for her bandoleer.
"That's enough of that." Akane's hand clamped down
on Ukyou's arm as she reached for her last mini-spatulas.
Impossible! It was impossible. Akane couldn't be that
fast. No one could----
Akane ripped the bandoleer free, tossing it aside.
Ukyou slammed a hard right into Akane's stomach, and
her arm went numb to the shoulder. It was like hitting steel, not
like flesh at all.
"I could kill you . . ." Akane _lifted_ the taller girl free
of the ground, holding her at arm's length until her toes
dangled inches above the path. ". . . but I'm not." Ukyou had a
brief sensation of free fall as she flew through the air. A fire-
burst blossomed in her head as she slammed into a tree and
slid, half stunned, to the ground. Groggily, she looked up at the
dim, shadowy shape that loomed suddenly over her. Almost
she imagined she could see another figure behind her, a
monster of emerald flame that reached for her with fiery
talons.
"I'm not going to kill you," the horribly conversational
voice said to Ukyou. "but I am going to hurt you." A hand,
impossibly strong, yanked her to her feet so fast she could feel
her brain slam against the inside of her skull, stunning her
again. Cool air spilled over her chest and back as her jacket
and shirt were ripped away. Feebly, she reached out and
grabbed Akane's arms to stop her. Akane didn't even seem to
notice and continued to strip the bigger girl, tossing her
trousers and shoes into the azaleas lining the path.
"You must have thought the 'Tunnel of Lost Love' was
pretty funny?" Akane asked. "And when I was possessed by
that Demon Doll?" Ukyou hung limply as Akane held her by
the throat. "And throwing bombs at my wedding? I bet you
thought that was hilarious!" Ukyou cried out as Akane
viciously twisted her nipple. "DIDN'T YOU!"
"NO! NO!" Ukyou screamed, not knowing if she was
answering Akane's question or begging her to stop. Akane
didn't seem to care which.
"No?" She rammed two fingers under Ukyou's sternum
hard, dropping her to the ground and stepping out of the way as
Ukyou spewed her lunch on the ground. Stepping around the
dazed girl, Akane grabbed her pony-tail and yanked her head
back, running her fingers down the vulnerable line of her
throat.
"Just a little pressure," Akane said softly, "and I could
crush your throat."
"please . . ."the word came faintly from Ukyou's lips.
"please . . ."
"I'm going to cripple you." Akane moved slowly
forward, relishing the beaten, broken look in Ukyou's eyes.
"After I'm through with you, small children will wet
themselves at the sight. Women will faint and strong men will
cry!"
Ukyou huddled weeping on the ground, not even caring
that she'd soiled herself in terror. She couldn't see the jade
flame that bubbled from beneath her skin and dripped onto the
ground where it was devoured by emerald fire that reached
hungrily from Akane's shadow.
"You're disgusting,"Akane spat in Ukyou's face. "Ten
years looking for vengeance and you give it up the first time he
says you're cute? You're not samurai. You're nothing but a
whore." She kicked the batterd girl away from her, smiling as
Ukyou ended sprawled in the dust. Terror and humiliation
rolled off her in waves, and Akane savored the taste. Payback
was delicious. Green hunger washed out to envelop the fallen
girl.
"You're not samurai." she repeated. "Samurai don't
give up. Samurai don't . . . don't . . ." Akane's entire body
shuddered, as if fighting an invisible current.
*You are Samurai.* She heard her mother say. *The
honor of our family is that we have never failed in our duty.*
*You are Samurai.* Again and again she'd heard that
from her father. *You are Samurai. You must always protect
the weak.*
"Sam . . .urai. I am . . . am . . . SAMURAI!" She
punctuated the scream with a savage blow that shook a two-
hundred old oak. "SAMURAI! SAMURAI! SAMURAI!" Each
scream was accompanied by a pounding blow that ripped
great gouges from the tree and all unseen, pushed the jade
flames back inside her. Fists raw and bleeding, panting with
exhaustion, she stripped off her jacket and bent to wrap it
around the girl at her feet. Ukyou flinched at her touch, and
anger flashed across Akane's face to be ruthlessly suppressed.
"Stick to okonomiyaki." Akane said tiredly, gathering
Ukyou into her arms. "It's safer." Moving down the path at a
steady pace, she headed for Okonomiyaki Ucchan's.
******************************************************
"Akane?" Kasumi tapped softly on the door. "Akane?
Are you coming down to dinner?"
"I don't think so, Kasumi." Akane's voice came faintly
through the door. "I still have a headache."
A tiny frown creased Kasumi's smooth brow
indicating, for her, a severe disturbance of her normally placid
nature. "Please come down to dinner." she asked again. "I've
made your favorite--egg custard with octopus balls and rice,
cold Chinese noodles and Okinawan sweet fritters with
walnuts and raisins," she added temptingly.
"Yeah sis," Nabiki slipped up beside her older sister.
"You haven't been to class in four days. You haven't been
downstairs except to use the furo in three. You could at least
let us see you at dinner." She narrowed her eyes, as if trying to
see through the door. "If you come down, I'll let you borrow
my new dress." she wheedled. Kasumi smiled slightly at her,
and Nibiki squirmed under "the" look. "well, _your_ new
dress, "she admitted reluctantly. "But I had it cleaned."
There was a thumping noise behind her and Kasumi
looked around to see her father and Uncle Genma pressed in
close behind Nabiki. At the top of the stairs, hanging behind
the others, stood an uncharacteristically chastened looking
Ranma.
"Ranma is worried about you." Kasumi added before
Nabiki could try to bribe Akane with any more of her own
clothes.
"I . . ."
Everybody froze, waiting out the silence.
"I'm sorry," the answer came finally through the door.
"I just don't feel like it tonight."
"Alright," Kasumi said softly. "but if you are not
feeling better by tomorrow you are going to see Dr. Tofu. I'll
just leave a tray outside your door." Placing her burden on the
floor Kasumi turned and left, followed by Nabiki, Souun,
Genma and, finally, reluctantly, Ranma.
Akane lay on her bed, listening until the last set of feet
pattered down the stairs. Closing her eyes she concentrated,
seeking beyond the walls of her room with faint tendrils of
green fire. It wasn't _seeing_ exactly. She wasn't sure what
it_ was_ , exactly, but it allowed her to smell . . .taste . . .
feel . . .all and none of those things, through walls, in the
dark . . .
It was wonderful.
Satisfied that the corridor was empty of everyone,
especially a certain pig-tailed martial artist, she focused her
concentration on the door. It was like tensing a muscle, long
unused, but after a moment the knob turned and the door swung
open revealing a tray on the floor.
Panting a bit, Akane mopped her brow with the edge of
her blanket. This next part was going to be tricky. Fixing her
gaze on the tray she concentrated, streamers of green fire
flowed from her finger-tips to surround the tray. Clenching her
. . .will . . .was the only thing Akane could think of to describe
she sensation. She imagined wrapping her hands around the
distant tray and could feel ghostly fingers grip the cool metal
rim of the tray. Slowly, wobbling slightly, the tray rose from
the ground. A bead of sweat rolled down her brow to end
hanging off the end of her nose, but she didn't dare wipe it off.
Her vision narrowed, until nothing existed but the tray.
Carefully she brought the tray to her and set it gently in her lap,
not spilling a drop from her glass of tea. Not like yesterday
when she'd knocked over her orange juice. Grimacing at the
remembered taste of rice and fish liberally flavored with
citrus she almost dumped this tray in her lap as well. Because
it wasn't quite _in_ her lap yet. Gasping, she grabbed the juice
with her hand and the tray with her mind. It wasn't a matter of
strength, she now knew. With a glance she scooped a coin off
her desk and crushed it to the size of a pin-head.
Control was the key.
Setting the tray and juice on the floor she quickly
swung the door shut with another thought and bent her attention
to her dinner.
Shoveling in custard and octopus, as if she were
fueling a machine rather than a human body, she wondered if
Ranma had this hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach all the
time. She was beginning to feel a little sympathy for him. But
only a _little_ . Thinking of Ranma reminded her of his
betrayal. Rage flared behind her eyes, hot and sweet in an
instant. Quickly she stomped down on her anger before it
could consume her, looking at the icon of Kwannon through
narrowed eyes.
She wasn't sure exactly what was going on . . .with the
statue. Her new abilities. Her nightmares and surges of anger.
No, more than anger. Blind rage. Her stomach cramped,
forcing a moan of pain from between her lips.
Starving! She was starving. Grabbing for her bowl, she
shoveled in some rice, almost spewing it out in disgust. She
was hungry. But not for rice. Unbidden the image of Ukyou,
sprawled in the dust came to her. _That_ was what she
wanted. Pain. Humiliation . . .Fear.
She found herself at the door, hand turning the knob,
without realizing how she'd gotten there.
"Oh-- No--You-- DON'T!" She snarled, glaring over
her shoulder at the icon. Straining she forced her hand, finger
by finger, to unclench from the knob. Stomping over to her
closet she pulled out her weights and strapped forty kilos to
each ankle. Grabbing a thirty kilo weight in each hand she
settled into a basic horse-stance.
Dreams were the key.
Lifting her right leg parallel to the ground she brought
both arms over her head in a graceful arc as she smoothly
lowered herself to the ground.
The dreams troubled her sleep . . .
As her buttocks touched her heels she reversed the process,
bringing her arms down until her hands met just below her
navel just as she stood erect on one leg.
Made her crazy.
"One. . ." she said, watching herself in the mirror to
make sure her form was perfect.
A bloody picture of Kuno came into her mind. Worse,
she could still see Ukyou, crying.
Forcing her right leg higher, until it was even with her
ear she smoothly lowered herself , bringing her arms over her
head in the same motion.
But if she kept her mind busy . . .
Her derriere touched ground and she started up again,
feeling a slight burn in her calf muscles.
If she worked herself into exhaustion . . .
"Two. . ." Frowning she saw in the mirror that her
form was off, her alignment not quite centered. Anger flared.
So quickly that it frightened her.
If she worked until she collapsed . . .
Shifting slightly until she was properly positioned
Akane started down again. She was going to keep going until
she fell asleep without nightmares. Even if it killed her.
Glaring at the icon, she sneered at its unearthly beauty. Or
maybe she'd just pound that stupid statue flat. Blinding pain at
the thought drove her to her knees. She couldn't destroy the
statue, couldn't even tell anyone about it--what it was doing to
her.
Struggling to her feet she resumed her stance. She was
a martial artist. No stupid piece of metal was going to beat
her.
"Three . . ."Staring out of her window into the
darkness she waited for the dawn.
******************************************************
She was hunting.
Akane found herself skittering like a spider across a
sky the colour of clotted blood--following the faint traces of
her prey. Without pausing, without a thought of what she was
doing, she followed the trail into a roiling thunder head that
towered hundreds of miles into the sky. A bolt of lightning,
wider than the Sea of Japan, blasted a hole through the
blackness, vanishing into the depths below. Lightning was near
kin, and bothered her no more than the city sized tornados
spawning and dying inside the maelstrom.
Moving swiftly through the storm she gained on her
prey. She could taste it's fear on the magnetic winds, delicious
tangles of pain and terror in the complex web of radiation that
swept the ammonia skies of the gas giant. Extending her senses
she watched her prey, exhausted and desperate, seek sanctuary
inside a vortex of plasma erupting from the planets center, half
a million miles below the cloud cover. Faintly amused she
slowed her stalk. Allowing her prey to rest. Gain strength.
Hiding her presence she slipped through the storm like
some leperous cockroach, approaching unnoticed to within
meters of her quarry.
Panting, shivering ,the cloud creature huddled inside
the vortex. It had been hunted through the sky for days. Trying
frantically to get home. Almost thinking it was safe, then being
driven away from sanctuary and family at the last minute.
Over and over again. But now . . .it couldn't sense the thing
that had been chasing it. It was safe. Safe . . .
There was, in every kill, one perfect moment. When
hope, fear, courage and despair were perfectly balanced. So
perfectly that one tiny stroke, at precisely the right moment
was more crushing, more heart rending than the actual death
blow.
A faint tendril of green energy reached out and, feather
light, stroked the huddling cloud child. One faint, harmless
touch that crushed all hope, destroyed thought, annihilated
courage in a final screaming wail of terror before the final----
"Owwww!" Groggily Akane rubbed her nose. She
must have fallen asleep after all. She'd been dreaming. A
crazy dream about . . .about . . .She vaguely recalled . . .storm
clouds? And . . .flying? She was fighting or chasing something
in her dream. That must have been when she bumped her nose
on the ceiling.
Ceiling?
Akane blinked, reaching a hand out to touch the
pebbled ceiling tiles. Yep. This was the ceiling alright.
Ceiling!
"Aaaaaaawkkk!" With a solid thump Akane hit the
floor like a sack of rice.
"Owwwww!" Akane rubbed her backside and glared
back and forth between the ceiling and floor, frustrated
because she couldn't figure out who to blame for her falling.
How was she suppose to know who to pound if . . .
Falling?
Akane sat back down with another thump, not even
feeling the protest of her bruised fundament as she stared up at
the ceiling.
"oh---- my"
Somewhere in the back of her mind she had a sudden
insight into her sisters mind. She put that though aside for
another day. For now she needed to concentrate.
Standing slowly, she stared up, turning in a circle as if
looking for something on the ceiling. Licking suddenly dry lips
she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as she came to a
decision. Closing her eyes, she concentrated, imagining she
was getting lighter and lighter. Floating like a cherry blossom.
Flying through the sky, like one of the dawn-clouds her father
had named her after. Soaring free. Without a care in the world.
Nothing! Nothing was happening. It was a stupid idea
anyway. Sighing in disappointment she opened her eyes.
"Ohhhhh!" she breathed, looking _down_ at the floor
of her room.
She----
Was----
Flyyyyyying!
******************************************************
She felt like a bottle of soda that had been shaken hard.
If she didn't let the bubbles out, she would explode. Without
stopping to think about how stupid she was being she launched
herself out of the window. Air rushed past her face as she fell,
then with a lurch she soared upwards and the breath she'd
been holding escaped with an explosive burst. She hadn't been
_really_ sure she would actually be able to fly. Focusing on
the lights of Tokyo she raced across the sky.
******************************************************
"Hey, a shooting-star!"
Hiroshi looked up from where he was discussing the
differences between boys and girls with his new girlfriend. A
charming young lady, refreshingly free of curses, challenges or
magical artifacts.
"Green?" Hiroshi though for a moment. "Don't
shooting-stars usually fall _down_?"
Daisuke pondered this as _his_ new girl friend, also
enchantment challenged and martially marginal while still
being possessed of all the right parts in all the right places,
nibbled on his ear.
"Don't usually laugh, either," he opined, listening to
the gleeful shrieks fade in the distance as he offered his other
ear for amorous mastication.
******************************************************
Akane circled Tokyo Tower again, doing a lazy barrel
roll, finishing with an outside loop. She grinned involuntarily
at the stunned look on the face of the single custodial worker
leaving nose prints on the glass of the special observatory,
two hundred fifty meters above the street. Zooming in closer
she gave the man a wink and watched as his eyes rolled up in
his head and he slid out of sight.
Ooooops.
She felt too good to let a little thing like that upset her
for long. Turning away she spiraled up around the tower, past
the hazard lamp blinking at the top of the lightning rod and into
the cool blackness of the night. Clouds drifting over the face of
the moon caught her attention and she decided to race them
across the sky.
Streaking through the night she left a trail of emerald
sparks as she raced to catch the drifting puffs of cloud. Any
experienced mariner or pilot could have told her that the slow
drift was an illusion, caused by distance. But there was no one
near, as she passed eighteen thousand feet, to tell her that the
beautiful silver "mackerel sky" was caused by moonlight
reflecting off ice-crystals in cirrocumulus clouds thirty
thousand feet above her.
At fourteen thousand feet oxygen saturation is only
eighty percent of sea-level and the temperature drops to minus
fifteen degrees centigrade.
Hypoxia sets in.
Intoxicated by her new ability Akane jetted through the
air, determined to touch the sky, or at least a part of it.
Recklessly she burned green fire to propel herself though the
heavens, and, unconsciously, to warm the thinning air. To
compress it to breathable pressures.
At twenty thousand feet oxygen saturation is only
seventy percent of sea-level and the temperature is twenty-
five degrees below zero. Only a thinning green aura preserved
a livable environment around her.
Akane had just decided that it was going to be harder
to catch the clouds than she first thought when the green halo
surrounding her flickered. Alarmed she jerked her attention
from the chase to notice the sky was shading from blue to
black. And she could see the curvature of the earth.
The protective aura flickered again and a blast of cold
hit her like a fist, instantly stealing the breath from her lungs
and freezing her eyes shut. A pilot trained in high altitude
emergencies would have known that, unprotected at eighty-
five thousand feet, she had, at most, sixty seconds of life, as
the cold crystalized her blood and explosive decompression
pulped her internal organs, like a bullet train hitting a rabbit.
Akane only knew she was in trouble. Tipping over,
like a diver going off the high board, Akane streaked blindly
for the ground, a shooting star in truth. Almost immediately
she felt a tearing sensation, as if she'd overextended a weak
muscle and her aura vanished at sixty-five thousand feet. Cold
and hypoxia slammed her like a hammer.
She was already supersonic when she lost consciousness.
For three minutes she fell, slowing to two hundred fifty miles
per hour in the denser air at fifty thousand feet. At sixteen
thousand feet she came groggily awake, moving a mere one
and a half miles for every minute she fell. The warmer air
unfroze her eyelids and forced her awake.
Dazedly she watched the moon and the lights of Tokyo
swap places as she tumbled through the night sky. It took her
over a minute and better than five thousand feet to remember
where she had been.
"oh . . ."
And what had happened.
"shit!"
Frantically she reached inside herself for the green
fire, to find only a faint . . .faint . . .ember. Not enough power
to bend a spoon, let alone fly.
Nine thousand feet.
She watched the moon slide past as she tumbled
through the air. Reflexively she stabilized herself on her back.
She'd rather her last sight be of the moon than the dirty
concrete that would mash her like a bug.
Eight thousand feet.
She had a history assignment due! She'd never get into
a good college if she flunked the course.
Seven thousand feet.
This was a stupid way to die. Ranma would never let
her forget how stupid she had been.
Six thousand feet.
"RANMA! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!"
Five thousand feet.
Boy, that felt GREAT! No wonder Ryouga did it all
the time. Thinking of Ryouga brought a sudden surge of anger
and green fire flickered briefly before dying.
Four thousand feet.
Akane gaped at the dying flames, then flipped in midair
so that she was falling, face down. Excitement sang through
her blood. She had a chance.
Three thousand feet.
Not much of one. But a chance. Straining she peered
through the dark, trying to find----
There! A darker patch among the city lights. A park. A
flat-place to land. Maybe even water to cushion her fall. She'd
worry about drowning later. Putting out her left arm she arched
her spine, bringing her heels toward the back of her head as
she body-surfed through the sky. She had to time this just right.
She didn't have enough strength to fly. But she didn't need to
_ fly_ .
Two thousand feet.
Just slow down.
Her racing mind suddenly recalled a long forgotten
conversation with her friend Miaki. About a tandem sky dive
she'd done on a dare.
One thousand feet.
'Everything looked the same until we were three
hundred feet over the field. Then the----'
_Horizon_ started moving up! Instantly Akane flipped
upright, falling feet first as the skyline seemed to rise above
her. The dark patch rushed toward her like a giant hand.
"Ryouga!"
Images of the lost boy flashed in her mind.
"Liar!"
Images of a small black piglet.
"Peeping Tom!"
Anger. And with it -----green fire.
Sleeping in her bed.
The fire blazed with her rage.
Listening to her deepest secrets.
"RYOUGA!!!"
Watching her get dressed.
"YOU PERVERT!!"
Emerald fire roared into life and Akane clawed at the
sky in an effort to slow her deadly fall. One second, then
another. And a third. The fire roared and Akane thought that
she was actually going to make it.
Until the flame was snuffed ----- like a candle in a
typhoon, as the last of her self induced rage was consumed.
A giant hand reached out of the dark and smashed her
in the belly, knocking the breath from her body. Other hands
battered her unmercifully, tearing her clothes, ripping bloody
furrows in her skin. She had a brief impression of cherry
blossoms as branches whipped her across the face. Akane
wrapped her arm around her head to protect her eyes and
fought to bring her feet under herself so she didn't break her
back when she----
WHAAAAAM!!!
Akane slammed into the ground, feeling as if God had
slapped her across the back of the head. She bounced once
and fell back to the ground, stunned, surrounded by a cloud of
dust.
Gradually her vision cleared and she stared up
through the trees, looking at the stars shine faintly through the
hole she'd torn in the canopy. For several minutes she lay on
her back, afraid to move for fear something would fall off.
Finally, carefully, _very_ carefully, she tried to rise to a
sitting position. It took her a few tries but eventually she
managed.
Braced on her hands she looked around, digging her
fingers into the dirt. Bringing a handful to her face she
breathed deeply, inhaling the cool aroma of grass and earth.
She was _never_ going to fly again. Maybe Kasumi would let
her move her room downstairs. She could sleep in the doujou.
She wasn't even going to use a step ladder and she'd never
_ever_ wear high-heels. After a minute she struggled to her
feet, groaning as she did so.
Limping down the grassy path she came to a small
sign under a lamp post. Reading the name of the park she
groaned again, louder this time, when she realized where she
was. A good twenty kilometers from home.
She probably should find a police-box and ask for help
. . .but she had no idea how she would explain ending up here,
bruised, bloody and naked except for her torn pajamas. She
could try calling home. Then she imagined her father's
reaction and shuddered. She'd rather take her chances with the
police.
Sighing Akane started down the path, her bare feet
slapping softly against the ground in a limping half-trot. With
luck she would make it home before dawn. If she kept to the
shadows maybe no one would notice her.
******************************************************
Notes:
{answering some questions from previous chapters}
1)Ryouga has NOTHING to do with the Amazons
getting lost. ^_^
2)There are NO DC characters in this story.
None, never, nada, not a chance.
3)The story may seem a bit out of balance
because these "chapters" aren't really
chapters. I'm breaking them into 30-40KB
chunks for people who have complained that
their mail-box will not take anything larger.
Thank you to everyone who has written. I'm
trying to answer all of you individually.
I apologize if you haven't heard from me yet.
I'm working as fast as I can. But I DO
read all my e-mail and I really appreciate
hearing from you.
I'm workng my way through about 1.2 MB backlog
and C&Cing as I go, but I'll get to everyone
eventually. (If you don't hear from me in a week
or so, and wish to, you might want to try again.
Your e-mail may have gotten lost. :(