Wow.. so my streak continues. Much more serious in tone. Ranma gets down and
dirty.
BTW, any Sailor Moon fans feel like giving me a hand, email me. I'm much
stronger on Ranma and Slayers. I probably will want a few pre-readers to help
me with SM details.
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: ranmazokuch4.txt
Ranmazoku Chapter 4 - Soldiers of Darkness
By PansutoTarou5925
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I own the rights
to Ranma �. Long live the rightful owners of these two fine anime. This
work is non-commercial and is done only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi
and Hajime Kanzaka. Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights
owned by Viz and Software Sculptors. Bishojou Senshi Sailor
Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno who
has the US rights, but it's there's not mine. (I'm drawing a blank)
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on Nighthawk's page
and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If he's reading this, I'm curious to
know what he thinks of all this. Questioning me would be like questioning
Xellos if you ask when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events, characters
and the like may not resemble canon. People who are rabid canon-thumpers
beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while you're at it)
PREVIOUSLY - Ranma discovers he's not Genma's son, that Xellos is his
father, that he's not even human, studies black magic under Phibrizzo,
yadda yadda yadda, gets in a fight with Ryouga and curses a decent sized
crowd to act like Kuno. Read the previous chapters, really, I'm not good at
rehashing stuff.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
I had remained in Wolf Pack Island overnight. Let them think I ran away.
OK, so I did run away.. big deal. I needed the time to sift through
Phibrizzo's leftover junk anyhow.
I had been sorting the enormous pile of stuff into three smaller piles. One
was composed entirely of utterly useless crap, like a necklace made entirely
out of the teeth of some sort of predator, or a battered spear. Presumably
they were relics from when Phibrizzo wandered the Desert of Destruction
alone, mementos of his centuries of solitude. The second pile was of
magical stuff that couls drained for the betterment of my power.
The third was the largest. With no one to talk to, Phibrizzo had written. A
lot. Volumes covered the history of the world, the major philosophies of all
of the races of the world, the creation of golems, curses. Curses. I put that
one aside, searching for more books that could be of immediate interest. A
scroll depicting the hierarchies of the four staffs upon the sea of chaos
caught my eye. Then I found a text on the history of the staff of Dorphied.
Jackpot. This was exactly the sort of thing I needed.
The first part of the book described how Hellmaster knew of my world and
how to collect information across the dimensional barrier. Boring. though
maybe I could make some use of it later. What I wanted was to learn about
potential enemies and sources of power in my world. I sat down, flipping
ahead until I saw the first mentions of the battles between Dorphied and
Death Fog Photobranigdo. Interesting stuff, that. I was lost in the book for
quite a while - longer than Hinako-sensei would ever have believed, for
sure. The interplay between the different dark lords and their lieutenants
reinforced a feeling I had gotten earlier, that if I was to succeed in my bid
to take over Maryuoh's or Hellmaster's positions, I needed underlings. I
already had a possible canidate in mind for my priest for a while. She had
all the necessary requirements, I felt, to be a devastating mazoku. And
she'd be easy enough to dupe into agreeing.
The parallels between this world and the one of my birth - creation,
whatever - were striking. There was even one who combined both aspects
of the shinzoku of that world and its mazoku like Gaav, although this one
was merely a lieutenant and not one of the major players like this Saffron
guy or Metallia.
A few chapters later, I came upon an interesting little tidbit. The Giga
Slave was actually known on my world. It had a different name, of course,
as it had been independently developed in that world. Not too suprising
when you thought about it. L-sama's power could be reached from any of
the four worlds. I really preferred the sound of this one, though, it was so -
Hmm...
I read the entry again, then flipped back a few chapters. This was
interesting. Hmm.
"I think I've found my general." I said in a hushed whisper, and gave a little
grin. Now I only had to figure out how to make the pitch.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
I was back in the Tendo house the next morning and needless to say..
breakfast was interesting.
Actually, it was very normal at first. I pounded Genma, he pounded me
back, we both threw each other in the pond, and we went to eat. It was
during the meal that things got interesting.
First, Kasumi, demonstrating conclusively the way water is attracted to
cursed individuals, managed to knock a glass of water into Nabiki's lap,
causing her to immediately jump up and over the table. "Ranma.. make me
yours!" she purred.
"Ack!" Love! Kindness! Bad! Very bad! I tried to grab a cup of tea to toss
on Nabiki, but instead I only ended up knocking a cup of water onto
Akane's lap. "Crap."
Akane immediately pulled a bokken from stuffspace and immediately went
on the offensive. "Unhand the pigtailed boy!" she commanded, leveling her
bokken at Nabiki.
"Dammit! USE MY NAME!" I yelled. "The others do!" Nabiki jumped up
and pulled her own bokken out.
"Have no fear, Ranma, for I , the Ice Queen of Furinkan High, shall smite
this scoundrel!" she said. Soun and Genma just sat there, confused, as the
two sisters immediately started a duel at the table.
"Oh my! Nabiki, that's your sister! Akane! Please!" Kasumi covered her
mouth in shock and hid in the kitchen.
"Have at thee! Ra-tat-tat-tat-tat.." Nabiki yelled, attempting Kuno's multi-
strike technique and tearing up the room. Akane countered with a vicious
slash to the stomach that Nabiki deflected into Genma's head. The flat
thunk of a panda's head being impacted by a bokken sounded, and then he
fell face first in his miso. The soup was warm enough to change him.
Sighing, I picked up Nabiki's and Akane's soups and threw them. The
added anger was all fine and good, but dealing with hordes of the insane
was not.
At least I would be able to finish my breakfast in peace. School wouldn't
be as restful.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
The route to school we took avoided the ladle lady's house entirely. None
of us wanted to take the chance of dealing with a Kunoized Nabiki or
Akane again. Fortunately, the sheer level of chaos caused by the mess had
prevented anyone - meaning Cologne or Nabiki - from asking the serious
question of just how Jusendo water happened to get under that battlefield.
But it would be asked. I needed to hurry up if I wanted to be anything
other than a bottom rung mazoku. I sighed. There was a wonderful
sensation as I entered the Furinkan yard: never had I felt such hatred.
Problem: Most of it was directed at me. A veritable wall of bokken waving
boys stood in the front yard.
Solution: One big Mokou Takabisha fake ki blast. The result - only a few
stragglers left standing to clean up. Just as I was finishing the last few who
were lucky enough to be standing, I turned to go in and was greeted by the
sight of fifty-odd guys getting up. "I FIGHT ON!" they chorused. Yup.
This sucked. I can't even let loose and just sadistically rip into them, that
would tip off Akane.
Later... too late, really, I finished off the door crowd and walked in. Now I
had girls draped all over me and Akane getting madder. Well, let her. I
need something to give me a recharge at this point. I waved Akane through
the door of the classroom, then walked through, scraping most of the
glomping girls off. The few who mangaged to retain a hold on me I
removed. I also noticed Hiroshi and Daisuke giving me the evil eye, and
Yuka and Sayuri giving me longingful looks alternating with ambivalent
ones toward Akane. At least Hinako is late.. Hinako late? Please, dear L-
sama, let her be sick...
"Saotome, you cad!" Hiroshi whispered in my ear.
"Evil sorceror! How could you! You were our friend! Release the beautiful
rose Sayuri and the fierce tigress Akane from your evil spell!" Daisuke
whispered in my other ear.
"Douse them with hot water." It was true. Heck, I really had put them all
under an evil spell too, sort of.
Daisuke got up, apparently deciding he had time before Miss Hinako got
there to get hot water. "Though I mistrust you, I, Daisuke, the True
Sidekick of Furinkan High -"
"Hey! I'm the True Sidekick of Furinkan High!" Hiroshi interrupted.
Daisuke seemed to have steam coming from his ears. "How dare you
accuse me of stealing my name!" The two picked up the bokkens they had
brought to school and were about to probably start a major riot, as the
other affected students all reached for their bokkens, except that Miss
Hinako came in the classroom at that moment. She held up her coin,
causing everyone to immediately calm down.
"Everyone return to their seats!" Hinako-sensei yelled in that annoying
childlike voice. The students sat down and sat very still. No one wanted to
set off the child teacher of Furinkan. Good thing the Kuno curse didn't
make them stupid. Then Hinako stood up on the chair and tilted her head
dramatically. "Only I, Hinako Ninomiya, the Little Princess of Furinkan
High, may date Ranma..." I groaned and put my head in my hands.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
At lunch, I decided that it would be best if I fled the place. Some idiot had
turned the sprinklers on outside, and Furinkan descended into a pit of
chaos and violence the likes of which it hadn't seen since last Tuesday.
Regardless of the level of insanity and how tasty it was, I was getting tired
of the endless stream of attackers and female admiriers who were all
impossible to shake. So I jumped up on a roof and got as far away from the
school as possible.
I was female, but there was nothing I could do about it at the moment. If
the sprinklers hadn't gone off I would have talked to Nabiki and tried to
bring her within my orbit, but since she wouldn't, I'd just search for my
other canidate. Probably better I was female for this part, actually. I quickly
transported to the Astral plane and began searching for the unusual magical
signal of my chosen general. There would only be one person with the
peculiar admixture of black and white magic I was searching for. They, like
Gaav, were L-sama's exceptions that proved the rule about mixing magic.
It wasn't too hard to find her. Spying on her, it was easy to see that I had a
good chance of winning her to my side. Just because I was mazoku didn't
mean I was devoid of sympathy. My own abilities had contributed to a
lonely childhood as well. I looked with sympathy on her as she was bullied
by the weak who surrounded her. Such as her should never have to answer
to the likes of them. If I won her to my side, I would cripple my enemies
and strengthen my hand considerably. Now, how best to make my offer...
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
I was walking back to Nerima, having gotten a cup of hot coffee from a
vending machine on the way back to restore me to my normal form.
Hopefully, the earlier Kuno madness had subsided, or better yet the battles
spread out, so I could taste the anger but not get involved in the actual
battles with the obsessed victims. The sight of the three guys standing in
the middle of the road around a compass stopped me, though.
"Which way is it pointing? It's been going nuts for the past hour or two."
said a mysterious figure in a scaled robe. His compatriots, a tall hulking
guy and a small guy with a wolf-skin hat (poor wolf), turned to him.
"It's pointing right down this street now, sir, and it's stopped jumping." the
wolf-hat guy answered.
"Ah" scaly robe answered. He then turned around and did a double take.
"YOU!" I took a quick look at his magic signature.. this ought to be
interesting.
"Hello there, stranger. Or perhaps I should call you.." I taunted, then
teleported behind him and yanked off the robe... "Princess Herb!" I
laughed.
"Grr!" The Dragon Prince ofthe Musk was livid. "How dare you call me
that!" A thought seemed to occur to him. "Wait, how do you know I was
cursed? You broke into my citadel before that damnable monkey pushed
me in."
"Your magic signature is similar to Jusenkyo victims I've seen before." I
said, smirking. "So, why are you here? Are you looking for.. this?" I said,
pulling the Chiusuuton I had stolen earlier out. I had been planning to lock
people who fell into the Ryouga pool with it, but we all know how THAT
turned out...
"You'll give that to us!" Herb commanded. "Or I will personally punish
you for your crimes against the Musk." I casually leaned against a water
fountain and inspected my fingernails. His lackeys circled around to flank
me.
I smirked. "What are you going to do? This?" Faster than the human - or
even part dragon - eye can see, I flipped some water from the fountain on
him with the Chiusuuton ladle. Herb screamed in rage. I just laughed and
held up the Chiusuuton. "Watcha gonna do, Princess?"
Herb smiled back. She then blasted be with a convenient hose, catching the
Chiusuuton with the spray. "Oh, just - what the?"
SHIT! That HURT! "AAAAAAAaargh! Ite ite ite iteiteiteiteite!" I yelled,
jumping up and down and in circles while screaming my head off. I knew I
had nothing to fear from the ladle because it was pretty weak ryuuzoku
magic and my mazoku powers would resist it (unlike Jusenkyo, which was
Death Fog's power), but I had no idea how much the process would hurt.
Still smoking where the enchanted water hit me and feeling absolutely
shitty, I summoned all of my power. I threw a fireball into the water
fountain, spraying me with hot water, and I stepped out male. "OK, you
little ryuuzoku bitch. You've had your fun. Now, I'm going to kill you."
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
You could see the gears turning on Herb's face. "You! You're a mazoku!"
she said accusingly.
"Right in one, sister. What clued you off? The teleporting, or the fact that
I'm smouldering like a pile of burnt tires right now?" I said. Truth to be
told, I might be in for a real fight. That damn water took a lot out of me.
Herb seemed to realize that, too, because her next command..
"Lime! Mint! Get the Chiusuuton!" she screamed. I immediately ducked
the punch from the slow guy, Lime, and dodged, or rather tried to dodge,
Mint's knife thrust. The blade merely glanced off, though. It wasn't
enchanted. I kicked Lime away and teleported to the other side of Herb.
"Feh." Herb said. She fired a blast of magic.
"So, you can throw magic around too." I smiled. "Looks like I'll get a
workout." I snarled, then threw a blast back one handed and teleported to
behind Herb's position. She had anticipated and flown in a loop.
"Ryuu Sei Hisho!" she cried out, and for the first time since I had unlocked
my true powers, I knew pain from an enemy's attack. I gritted my teeth -
had such a short absence from pain really made my tolerance so less. Or, I
suddenly realized with a start, was this the first time I had ever felt true
pain? "Hito Ryu Zan Ha!" Herb yelled, this time firing dozens of little
crescent shaped blasts. I teleported agin, this time to right in front of where
she was facing, correctly guessing Herb would try to catch me behind her
again.
"I've got you now, you little dragon bastard!" I roared, and caught her in a
bearhug. I tightened my grip with all my inhuman strength: even a
ryuuzoku would succumb to that. Except that Lime smashed a boulder
over my head.
While boulders smashing on my head couldn't shake my concentration -
and just where the hell is he getting those - it did distract me from Mint,
who sprayed me with the hose again. "AAAIIIIIeee!" I screamed, dumping
Herb as another set of burning splotches popped up across my arms.
"Dammit! You're going to pay for that!" I teleported in front of the guy.
"So you think you know wolves?" I said, grinning ferally. I transformed to
my monstrous body with the wolf's head. It was small and female, but I
still had the satisfaction of seeing the two goons piss their pants.
"MINT!" Herb screamed as I smashed Mint through the front of a store.
She immediately started blasting me with energy blasts again. I ignored the
pain and pounced on her, grabbing her and Lime each with one giant claw.
The little ryuuzoku bitch kept blasting me with those damn energy blasts,
and the other one was nearly breaking my claws off trying to escape. I
crushed both into the ground with my weight.
"JUST DIE, DAMMIT!" I roared, a truly deafening noise. Picking the two
up, I drove them into the ground with superhuman force. And again. And
Again. Until all I had was two battered unconscious forms. I just dropped
them and transformed back. There was probably a more elegant way to win
that fight, but I didn't know how. I picked up the Chiusuuton. "What the
hell am I going to do with this now?" I said aloud. Then I figured it would
be a good idea to flee. Come to think of it, people probably saw me
transform into the wolf. This was not good. Damn halfbreed ryuuzoku,
making me lose my temper like that.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
I was back in Juuban, searching for my future general. Ah, there she was.
Her earlier troubles had given me an idea. I staggered into the park where
she was, all covered in burns and bruises, and collapsed where she'd see
me. "Don't worry, lady." my chosen warrior said. She waited until my eyes
were closed. Then she tried to heal me. The pain was excruciating, but I
held on. Damn white magic anyhow.
"No.. don't.. " I said raggedly. "That kind of power.. doesn't work on me."
She seemed suprised at this.
"You've seen others who can do magic?" she said excitedly. I nodded.
"Of course. My name's Ranma."
"Mine's Hotaru." she said. Her hope from finding someone who knew
magic and didn't find her weird seemed to fade back into her customary
depression. I got up.
"Want to be friends?" I asked, and reached out my hand. She looked at it
uncertainly for a few minutes.
"Sure!" she said, as if making an important decision.
"Want to go get some ice cream?" I said. Having someone to really teach
in magic reminded me a little of being with Phibrizzo. Of course, she hadn't
accepted yet, but she had no other friends. I knew the feeling. If I could
win her over, I'd have an adviser that understood me, I think.
"So what do you know about magic?" she said, as we walked away from
the park. We passed this really strange pink haired girl on the way out. I
looked at her funny for a second; she reeked of white magic, yet was pretty
weak. But only for a second.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
At the ice cream parlor I deduced several things. First off, that this girl was
up to her neck in trouble already. Second, that she'd probably end up
falling into hands of the forces of darkness. I could sense some kind of dark
bond between her and some other individual, presumably this world's
version of a mazoku. While that was my general plan too, I wanted them to
be MY hands. I took the pretext of going to the bathroom to go teleport to
Wolf Pack Island and fetch a specific magical item I had in mind that I
recovered from Phibrizzo's stash. Fortunately, I had not drained some of
the more useful curios.
"Ranma-chan! Whatever did happen to you?" Zelas said, seeing me in my
current state of bedragglement.
"Just a run in with an annoying ryuuzoku and his, er, her cronies." I said,
remembering Herb's face when I splashed him. May you rot with that
body, Herb. "I just came to pick something up. I'm doing a little
recruitment." She nodded and gave me a knowing smile. I rolled my eyes.
What the heck does she think I'm doing, picking up chicks? In this body no
less?
I got what I came for and came back. "Hey, Hotaru, check these out." I
said, holding up what looked like a pair of glasses.
"What are those?" she asked, picking them up and looking at them
curiously.
"Well, they let you see the true shape of anything that isn't too heavily
shielded magically. You'll see through anything untrue." I knew I was safe.
Mazoku have a real form that exists only on the Astral plane. Granted, she
would see my curse, but hey, it's just a curse. Nothing that can't be
demonstrated away. As long as I'm open about it. "Hey, look at me with
them."
"You're a guy!" she exclaimed. Then she glanced over the glasses, as if to
check. "Why do you look like a girl then? And whats that swirling stuff?"
she asked.
"It's kinda a curse." I said sheepishly. "The swirling energy.. that's my
magic." Actually it was probably my astral body, but that was fairly
accurate, nonetheless.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked inquiringly. Good point. Think fast...
"What do you think the glasses are for?" She nodded.
"That's cool." She looked around the room. Most of the stuff in the room
was normal, excepting me, so she wouldn't see much. "Hey, that plant is
really a girl." she said. I looked at the plant in question. Sure enough, there
were some weird emotions coming from the plant. Sort of disturbed,
actually.
"Huh? Let me see." I took a look through the glasses. Sure enough, I saw
the unfortunately unforgettable Tsubasa in there. "Ah , that's just Tsubaka.
Crossdresser, not a girl. Probably has a crush on some poor worker." I
handed her the glasses back.
"They showed you to be a boy."
"Yeah, but I'm under a curse. Tsubasa is just weird."
The walk we took after the snack was pretty strange too. I had given her
my life story, skipping the bits about me being a shapeshifting evil demon
with aspirations of power in a parallel dimension, and we had a nice,
depressing, cathartic talk. It was kinda funny, neither of us knew our
mothers and had obsessive dads. Both my fathers, actually. Eventually, we
ended up near Hotaru's place. It positively belched black magic. Even
Hotaru seemed to notice subconsciously.
"OK, Hotaru, you can keep the glasses." I said, smiling.
"Really?" she said excitedly.
"Sure!" With that, she went into the house, wearing her glasses. The lady
at the door she flinched at when she saw her. Good. That ought to get her
nice and suspicious.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
I returned to the Tendo home to find a den of insanity and chaos
unmatched in the world. In other words, everything was normal, including
the three ring circus waiting for me to step in the middle. Shampoo and
Ukyou were there, though only Ukyou had food. Aha.
"No ramen?" I said innocently. Excellent. Ukyou and Akane got pissed at
me showing Shampoo any favor, and Shampoo got annoyed because she
didn't have any ramen to give her "Airen".
"No. Hibachan have stupid male guests. Not want to stay in restaurant."
she said, sulking. "Ranma take Shampoo on date, no? Shampoo bored."
Guests?
"Guests from China?" I asked, with that sinking feeling returning.
"Hai. Stupid Musk." she said.
Ukyou decided to speak up at that point. "I've got some fresh
okonomiyaki for you, Ranchan, with extra pork just as you like it!" I only
order the pork to annoy Ryouga, but hey...
"Not today. I feel kinda sick." With that I went up to my room and decided
to spy on the Musk.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
I collapsed down and pretended to sleep as I spied upon the meeting
between Herb and Cologne.
"So, you say this mazoku was a red haired girl?" she asked. Herb stopped
stuffing her face with ramen and looked up.
"No, I said the mazoku turned into a red headed girl." Herb said, returning
to her meal.
"Really." Cologne said, her hands shaking. "I.. I think I need to call
Shampoo."
Herb seemed amused by this. "What, you know this mazoku?" she asked.
"What are you going to do, sing at him?"
Cologne looked troubled. "I don't know what I'll do." she said. "I'm going
to find out, though." She walked over to the phone and dialed the Tendo
house. I could hear the phone ring at both ends, a strange thing. "Hello,
Kasumi, is Shampoo there? Yes? Can you put her on?" There was a short
pause, followed by the sound of argument from downstairs and a splash.
"Ah, Shampoo. Is Ranma there? I'd like you to bring him over to the
Nekohanten as soon as possible, alright? He's sick?" She looked over her
shoulder at Herb. "Mazoku don't get sick, you know." she said, lidding her
eyes.
"How many Jusenkyo cursed people are there in this town?" Herb replied.
"Quite a few."
"That turn into redheaded girls?" Herb pressed.
"You're right." Sigh. Going back to the phone, "Shampoo, tell the Tendos
I need to perform a few tests. It is possible that Ranma has been possessed
by a demon."
I could hear Shampoo's "Aiyah!" all the way in my room. Perhaps this
might be a good time to get more lost than a Hibiki family reunion. I
quickly teleported out of the room to Juuban after assembling my pack.
I knew that this day would come, and I'd be known for what I am, but I
never expected it to be so soon.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
I ran into a crying Hotaru at night. "Ranma!" she yelled when she saw me.
"It's so horrible!"
"What is, Hotaru?"
"The people in my house.. they.. they aren't people." She was shaking
badly. Jeez, what the heck was going on in that house? "And my father...
he.. he.." she said, crying. I grabbed her shoulders.
"What is it, Hotaru?"
"My father.. he's.. a monster..." she finished. I held her for a while. Her
emotions were those of extreme fear and terror, normally delicious, but I
refused them.
"What do you mean, a monster?" I asked. "Some people might call me a
monster, too." I put her down.
"He.. he's this.. this THING." She shuddered with revulsion, apparently
unwilling to describe the 'thing'. "And Kaolinite.. she looked normal, but
she had swirling energy like you. And she had these ugly little creatures
with her." I nodded. So this guy was cooking up home-brewed golems for
the local mazoku. Interesting, there weren't supposed to be many left, and
certainly not enough to pull off such a stunt. "And I noticed this black
path.. it was barely there before, I almost didn't notice it. But in the house,
I could see it. It went from me down into my father's laboratory. I didn't
see what was on the other end. I don't think I want to." She disintegrated
into mad sniffling again. I hated being the one to shatter her world, but
maybe it was for the best that I had decided to make this pitch, from the
sounds of it. I let her get it all out. The more completely she let go of her
old life, the more completely she'd fall into the new one I had prepared for
her.
"Well.. I'm going to be honest with you." Honesty was the best policy.
Mostly because the truth is the greatest lie of all. "I'm not human either."
"Really?" she asked semi-fearfully. I nodded. When I didn't jump out of my
skin and eat her, or whatever she was expecting, she seemed to come to a
decision."Yeah, but you're nice."
"I dunno. I'm like the distilled essence of black magic." She got this thrilled
expression, the kind people get in horror movies when they want to be
scared.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Really." We were walking aimlessly around again.
"That's so cool. I wish I was like that." she said. "I wish I was strong,
instead of plain old Hotaru."
"You've got a lot of potential, actually. You know, I could make you into
a magical powerhouse too, you know." I said, offhand. Here it finally was,
the pitch. "We'd make a great team, I think."
"I don't know." she said. We walked in silence for a little longer. "I'll think
about it." We came to the Tokyo Tower. I figured by now Cologne has
search parties out for me or something. I'd have to hide as Hotaru's dog or
something. Of course, Nabiki would notice me, maybe, but I could handle
her.
"Stop." came a voice from right behind us. We turned slowly. A woman
with red eyes and dark green hair in a really stupid outfit was pointing a
staff at us. She must be a member of that team Zelas embarassed.
"What do you want?" I asked, half bored.
"I've seen you." the woman said. "I've been tracking you ever since I
heard reports that someone turned into that monster. I don't know who
you work for or what you're up to, but your work here is finished." She
levelled the staff at me and whispered "Dead Scream." A big ball of energy
slammed me into me, with some charring and smoking showing where it
had hit. At least I had a name to go with the face now. Pluto, by her magic.
I bit my lip and did not cry out. Some fights you won by not attacking. At
all costs I must appear better than the nominal good guy to Hotaru. "I have
no idea what evil you were about to do to this girl.." she said, firing
another blast, "but you'll never harm her." She smiled slightly at that.
"HARM ME?" Hotaru yelled. "Ranma is my friend!" With that, the
sorceress attacking me suddenly switched targets.
I jumped for Hotaru. "Hotaru! NO!" guessing correctly that the trigger-
happy Pluto would fire at me when I moved. Of course, it looked like she
was shooting at Hotaru. I took the hit in the back and slumped down.
Hotaru looked at me, crying once again.
"I wish I could do more than heal you.. but.." she whispered. She then got
a hard look to her eyes. "Do it."
"Huh?"
"Transform me." Oh yeah. That. I grabbed her and forced black energy into
her body, locating and severing the connections she had to both the one
known as Sailor Moon and whatever dark entity seeked to rob her power
in her house. I then gave her a bit of my power, just enough to transform
her into a mazoku. Her own latent power did the rest.
Hotaru stood up straighter, taller, head bowed, and pulled a wicked
looking polearm out of thin air. I recognized the device as the Silence
Glaive, a rather powerful black magic weapon that fell into the hands of the
forces of the enemy. Her outfit vanished in a black smoke, revelaing a
pitch-black version of the ridiculous outfit the other was wearing.
"I remember now. You used to make fun of me..." she said, in a leaden
voice. "All of you.. Venus... Jupiter.. Mars... but worst of all were the
outers." She looked up at a now shaking Pluto.
"How..how.. how did I miss this?" she said. "You! This is all your fault! I
have no idea how you defied the Gates of Time, but it won't last for long!"
"No, you won't last for long." Hotaru agreed. She then teleported right
next to Pluto and struck her with the butt of the glaive. I started to ready a
curse I had been taught for just such an occasion. Every mazoku knew it
for when a target had to be taken down without killing. And with Hotaru
providing a major beat-down as cover, I had all the time to prepare it.
Which was good, I wasn't fast enough with the curses to just throw it and
go.
"Hotaru! Get back!" Her complaince was immediate. I cast the curse at
Pluto, and was satisfied to see the red star seal appear under her feet. She
instantly was returned to her street clothes. "Not so tough outside of your
school uniform, huh?" I jeered. Hotaru smiled slightly and waved her
polearm uncertainly. I shook my head. "No unnecessary killing." She
appeared relieved. It wasn't like your morals got changed immediately
when you were turned into a mazoku, just your instincts. Or so I'd read.
"Let's go."
Meanwhile Pluto was screaming at her pen. "Damn you! WHY WON'T
YOU WORK!?!" She shook her fist at us as we retreated. "I'm going to
get even with you two for this! You just wait!" She then got a panicky note
to her voice. "Oh my god! If I can't.. YOU'VE DOOMED THE WORLD!
I HOPE YOU'RE FUCKING HAPPY!!!" Neither of us needed to look
back to know she was crying. The sudden relaxing of anger told us that.
"Will the world get destroyed because of us?" Hotaru asked worriedly.
"No. Not if I can help it." I said cheerfully. "That's our job!" Hotaru jerked
as if stung.
"But I don't want to destroy the world!" she cried.
I stepped in front of her and wagged my finger. "In that case, we'll just be
very incompetent at our job. Heh heh!"
"So, what are we going to do?" she asked me, curiousity shining in her
eyes.
"Well, do you feel that tingle three blocks west?" I saw her nod in the
darkness. "That's what we'll fight. It's a Daimon. We'll drain it, we'll get
stronger, and innocent people will be saved." I made a qucik detour to a
water fountain and splashed myself. Then I tried to use my power to mimic
what I had felt Hotaru do when she had transformed. The result: one
redhead in a dark black Sailor suit with a skirt the color of drying blood.
"Let's look like a team!"
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
Two groups of Senshi had already arrived on the scene. The redhead,
whose name was Eudial if I remembered right, and her Daimon were
duking it out with the large group of Senshi while the others were
inspecting crystal thingies. "Those ones fighting the witch are the inner
senshi. Those two who don't care are the outers." Dark fire flashed in her
eyes. "I'd like to see them suffer."
"For the crimes of a past life?"
"Close enough for me." she said. "I'm not weak any more. And I'll get my
revenge." We jumped down dramatically, and Hotaru rapped the glaive
twice to get everyone's attention. Every sentai group had a cheesy
entrance. We wouldn't disturb that fine tradition. "Deeper than the deepest
night, warriors of darkness arise! We are the Dark Senshi!" Hotaru spun
her glaive and took a crouching position. I took a one-legged crane stance
and smiled evilly. "Prepare for pain!"
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
Nice cliffhanger, no? This story is getting wildly different than what I
imagined, and yet it's still looping back to the same general end.
Sometimes I amaze me. I never thought this Ranma would ever end up in a
fuku, but the notion of dark senshi running around, draining Daimons
(convenient source of energy, that) and confusing the heck out of the other
Senshi.
The whole Saturn as black-magic misfit of the scouts came when I noticed
the similarities between the Giga Slave and the Death Reborn Revolution.
Both can go out of control and become the end of everything, both are
fantastically deadly spells. I figured if any senshi was to break from the
others, it's her. Oddly enough, the world is in less danger now that's she's
with Ranma, as Usagi will never give Mistress 9-in-disguise the chalice (or
whatever it was) thus putting the universe in mortal danger.
Pluto is sealed. She can't use the time gate. She didn't allow herself to
know who Saturn was, and Ranma is unseeable by the Gates of Time (his
name should provide a clue why) This is the same thing done by Mazenda
to Lina in NEXT, and is pretty much unreversible unless the mazoku
responsible is destroyed.
I have to thank everyone for all the mail. Keep on firing your questions at
me, the C&C, even flames, random comments, whatever. It's all fun.
Oh, and wild guesses are always welcome if you feel like predicting
Ranma's actions. I always try to respond promptly - I'm on the computer
most of the day, so I generally respond fast and often.
it's on Nighthawk's page
www.geocities.com/NighthawkTM/index.html
and Crossover Corner
www.geocities.com/animecrossovers