Insertion

 Part 44

 Carrot and Ranma's Bogus Journey

++++++++++++

 Ranma frowned as he stared at the three newcomers. They were holding
practice in the middle of an abandoned lot near Hotaru's home. Ryoko was
being pounded by her sister quite nicely; Hotaru was merely meditating
off to the side, waiting for her turn to spar. All who were able were
currently transformed, and Ryoko wasn't having a nice time of it.

 Ranma sighed and held up his hand, halting the match. "That's enough for
now."

 The older woman staggered back to her feet, looking rather worn and
beaten, but not really hurt. "You punk. Why the heck do I have to learn
like this?"

 Ranma leveled a small playful glance at her. "The times you will need
this power, will be battles. It has no other useful purpose that I've
found. Using it at any other task would just be a waste of energy."

 Ryoko snorted and staggered over to Hotaru's side. "You learned it this
way?"

 "I found the power on my own," she replied calmly.

 Ranma found himself the recipient of a rather nasty stare.

 "I learned this way," said Chibi-Usa as she smirked at her. "Hotaru is a
special case."

 "What's that supposed to mean?" snapped Ryoko as she glared at them.

 "It's nothing," said Ranma. "We have something you don't. That's all."

 The woman was about to protest this, but something stopped her. 

 "So, there you are," said Urd as she stared at him from across the lot.
Belldandy moved up beside her with a frown on her face.

 "Well, if it isn't the goddesses! How nice!" said Ranma cheerfully.

 "Demon!" snapped Urd angrily as she started forward.

 "Calm down. I'm holding a class at the moment," he said as he nodded
towards the trio of girls.

 Belldandy blinked at him. "Class?"

 "Yes, these three are my students," said Ranma as he stood up and dusted
off his pants.

 "So, you're some sort of Lore Demon?" said Urd as she eyed him for a
moment.

 "Lore Demon?" said the boy in confusion. "I'm afraid I don't read much.
I'm a little busy for that."

 "Pop," said Chibi-Usa nervously.

 "Calm down," said the boy as he glanced at her. "All of you." He turned
and looked at the goddesses for a moment as he said this. "I'm pretty
sure I know what you're upset about, but fighting over it now won't help
anything."

 "We've come to send you back to where you belong!" snapped Urd.

 "Where would that be?" asked Ranma as he arched his eyebrow at the
woman.

 "Nilfleim," replied Urd coldly as a ball of power formed in her palms.

 Ranma narrowed his eyes at her and frowned. "I'd rather not fight, but
you two are trying my patience."

 Belldandy frowned at this, remembering his actions the last time they
met. He'd been running the whole time. "Does he know he's outclassed? Or
is it something else?" she muttered out loud.

 "You're awful confident," snapped Urd.

 "Killing a goddess isn't something I want to do you know. I'm not what
you think," he said calmly.

 "Oh really?" said Urd coldly.

 "No," he said as he smiled at them gently. "I'm actually a pretty nice
guy. Come on, can't we talk about this?"

 "Urd," said Belldandy as she looked at her older sister for a moment.

 "What the heck is going on? Who the heck are these chicks?" grumbled
Ryoko irritably.

 "Goddesses," said Pluto as she appeared between the two women in a
swirling vortex of power. "More than a match for the likes of you."

 "Well, I already said I'd rather not," he replied with a simple shrug.

 Hotaru stood up and looked at Pluto for a moment in silence.

 "At any rate..." started Pluto.

 Ranma appeared behind her, holding a sign. "Sleeps naked! Photos only
3,000 yen!"

 "Will you stop that?" growled the woman as she glared at him.

 Both Goddesses stepped away and gasped. 

 "He's fast," commented Urd.

 "Look, I'd love to get into this with all of you, but you're bothering
my class. Could you come back later?"

 The Senshi frowned at him and glanced over at Chibi-Usa for a moment.
"You shouldn't be here. You don't belong, your very existence is wrong."

 The girl stood up and mooned her. "Kiss it Puu!"

 Pluto growled and turned towards Ranma. "That is your fault!" she
snarled while pointing at the child.

 "So I've been told," he replied dryly. "I understand Usagi rather
enjoyed it."

 "Usagi?" muttered Urd as she looked at the boy.

 "You shouldn't be..."

 "What? You expect me to let Endimyon get his grubby little claws on such
a sweet piece of ass?" snorted the boy as he turned away from her and
stuck his nose in the air.

 "Eww! Gross Pop!" cried Chibi-Usa.

 "Who are you?" asked Belldandy as she stared at the scene in confusion.

 "Ranma Saotome," replied the boy with a small shrug. 

 "How dare you!" snarled Pluto angrily.

 "You know...if I'm married to Usagi...he's available..."

 "..." said Pluto. "What would you know?"

 "I know more than I'm letting you know about," he said with a smirk on
his face.

 "It means nothing, you have to be destroyed," snapped the Senshi
angrily.

 "Oh? How noble of you, giving up a life long dream just for some flimsy
future that you can't guarantee will come about."

 "Who said you were married to Usagi?" snapped Pluto.

 Chibi-Usa raised her hand.

 "You stay out of this!" snarled Pluto.

 "Who are these people?" muttered Urd as she watched the argument. 

 "They seem to have forgotten about us," said Belldandy with a worried
looking frown.

 Ranma lazily picked at his ear, looking at the sky casually. "You know,
the goddesses might be upset you left their gate unguarded..."

 "Hey. That's right! What the heck are you doing here anyway?" said Urd
as she glared at the woman for a moment.

 Pluto blinked and stared at them for a moment. "I uhh...I left the
Senshi of Time in training to guard it. She needs the practice..."

 "Shirking your responsibility that way? How shameful!" gasped Ranma.

 "Mind your own business!" snapped Pluto.

 "At any rate, lying to your bosses and telling them I'm a demon..."

 "I never told them that!" snapped Setsuna hotly. 

 "How do you know she works for us?" said Urd as she eyed the boy for a
moment.

 "Huh?" Ranma turned to look at her and grinned. "She's my ex-fiancee of
course." The truth was, he was just guessing. 

 "You're a threat to the future of this planet and the Galaxy!" snarled
Pluto.

 "Actually, I'd say I'm your only hope...Puu," said Ranma cheerfully.

 "Don't you dare call me that!" snapped the Senshi angrily.

 "What is he talking about?" said Urd as she stared at Pluto for a
moment.

 "He's..." for a brief moment, she considered lying to them just to be
rid of him. However, lying to a goddess was never considered a good idea.
"He's Genaku's reincarnation."

 "I see," said Belldandy as she looked him up and down for a moment.

 "We don't need him," said Pluto as she glared at the boy for a moment.
"He's too dangerous to leave wandering the Earth. He's already changed
the future once, and the past as well."

 "Has he?" asked Belldandy as she looked at him for a moment and frowned.

 Ranma snorted at them. "You don't really think the Senshi can beat those
Youma Lords without me do you?"

 "They haven't awakened their true power yet," said Pluto coldly.

 "Right, they haven't even reached their Super forms yet," said Ranma
with a smirk on his face. "You still don't have the crystal, and that one
thing was the weakest of them."

 Pluto narrowed her eyes at him. There was no way he should have all this
information. She looked at Chibi-Usa.

 "Pluto, you should leave now," said Hotaru as she stood up and stared
the woman down.

 "Who are you?" snapped the woman as she glared at the child.

 Hotaru detransformed, a cold looking smirk on her face. "Someone you
can't lead around blindly."

 The woman gasped and stepped back. "Saturn!?"

 "I've been watching you since I woke up. I must say, I'm quite
disappointed in you," said the girl calmly. "It pains me to see you
reduced to this."

 "How dare you!?" cried Pluto. "Allying yourself with him?! You have no
idea what he's done to me!"

 "You are mistaken Pluto, I know exactly what he's done to you in the
past," she replied calmly. "I was there after all. He is, and always will
be my Sensei."

 "So...he isn't a demon?" asked Urd as she looked at Pluto.

 "Unfortunately, no," replied the woman with a frown on her face.

 "Well. I'm glad that's settled," said Ranma as he turned away. 

 "Cocky little mortal isn't he?" snorted Pluto.

 "He has the power to destroy a world, something no mortal should have,"
said Belldandy.

 "Well, I've saved this one a few times," commented Ranma as he glanced
back at the goddesses. "I don't want much, just a little peace and quiet.
I've managed to get her younger friends off my back, but she's rather
persistent."

 "That doesn't excuse you for what you did," replied Urd coldly.

 "I can't fix it," he said as he glanced over his shoulder at her. "I've
also got a class to teach if you'll excuse me."

 "Let me kill him," growled Pluto.

 "Leave him alone," said Urd. 

 "What?" said Setsuna in shock.

 "He's right about one thing, we can't touch him," said Belldandy. "He is
to be judged as everyone else will be, and he's the only mortal on the
planet strong enough to face what is coming. For now, he is off limits."

 Pluto frowned. "What do you mean?"

 "He and his friends defeated the Sub-Zero program," said Urd calmly.
"That's no easy trick."

 "You came here to kill him didn't you?" retorted Pluto.

 "No, we came here to send him back to Nilfleim. We thought he was a
demon," said Urd calmly. "If he isn't, there isn't much we can do at the
moment."

 "Since when are you so passive to the activities of the mortal realm?"
said Pluto sharply.

 "Don't forget who you're talking too," warned Urd.

 "Right," said Pluto as she bowed her head slightly. "Forgive me."

 "I know you're upset, but there are rules we have to follow these days,"
said Urd calmly. 

 "So, what can I do then?" asked Pluto.

 "Stop talking about killing me right in front of me, that's what," said
Ranma as he glanced at them with a frown on his face. "Jeez, don't you
have any tact?" 

 Pluto frowned at him and turned away. "I'll deal with him later then."

 "You shouldn't even be here," said Belldandy with a chiding tone.

 Pluto quickly vanished into the porthole she created before they could
say anything more.

 "Honestly. She used to be so responsible!" muttered Belldandy under her
breath.

+++++++++++++

 About an hour later, Ranma was sitting with his mother sipping tea
lazily at the Saotome home. The others had all returned to their
respective homes after the training had ended.

 "Your father still eludes me," grumbled the woman with a frown forming
on her face.

 "Well, he is good at running away. I'll say that for him if nothing
else," commented Ranma dryly. 

 "We've got a lot to talk about," said his mother calmly.

 "Oh?" he said as he arched his eyebrow at her.

 "Yes. I would like you to come stay with me," she said as she sipped at
her own tea calmly.

 "What brought this on? I told you I'd like to finish the school year at
least," he replied calmly.

 "It is obvious that you have no intention of marrying any of those
girls," said Nodoka as she leveled a small smirk at him. 

 "True enough," agreed Ranma.

 "As a matter of fact, Nabiki seems to be afraid of you," continued
Nodoka.

 "I suppose she is," agreed Ranma.

 "Do you wish to tell me why?" asked Nodoka.

 "She thinks I'm crazy," he said with a small shrug. "No big deal."

 "Are you?" prodded Nodoka with an unusual amount of calm.

 "That's a matter of perspective," he replied. He noticed her hand pass
over his cup when she thought he wasn't paying attention. He said nothing
and didn't see anything inside the liquid. It didn't even ripple.

 "I feel you are as ready as you're going to be," said Nodoka as she
smiled at him. 

 "Ready for what?" he said as he picked up his cup and drank the rest of
his tea, leaving it in his mouth for a moment to taste for anything
unusual before swallowing. "Mother."

 "Yes my son?" she asked.

 "What have you been slipping me in my drinks lately? I haven't been able
to figure it out."

 The woman paused and looked at him for a moment innocently. "What do you
mean?"

 "Every time we get together this way, you put something into my cup. I
haven't felt any different lately, and I can't figure out what it might
be."

 "My, you are perceptive," said the woman with a smirk on her face.

 "Oh?" he said as he arched his eyebrow at her.

 "Just a little of my own power," said the woman with a small shrug. "I
was hoping you wouldn't notice."

 "Power?" he mumbled as he looked at the cup.

 "It was the subtlest way I could think of," she replied sweetly, a hint
of malice in her voice as her gaze turned cold suddenly.

 Ranma stood up and frowned at her. "Something is up with you."

 "Yes my son," she replied with a small nod. "I have been quite active
since you and your father left me all those years ago."

 "Busy huh?" he said as he crossed his arms. "Busy with what?"

 "You should know, the darkness inside you has been slowly eating away at
your very being since the day you returned to me," she said as she stood
up and smiled at him.

 Ranma stepped back as a sort of shimmering image washed over her body.
"Oh shit!"

 "My son, now you are mine," said Beryl as she glared at him coldly.

 Ranma felt a pain in his shoulder and slumped down to his knees in shock
and agony. "What the hell? That mark!" He jumped out of the room, dashing
through the door as the woman watched him calmly.

++++++++++++++

 Five minutes later he was leaning against the wall of a building in the
streets of Tokyo. He scratched at his shoulder madly, finally ripping it
away to reveal a swelling red mark. "Damn! This is because of her!"
snapped Carrot as they stumbled into an alleyway and fell into a pile of
garbage bags.

 "What is that?" snapped Dan painfully.

 "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" cried Ranma as he turned their head towards the mark,
it was looking at them.

 They stumbled out of the pile and staggered forward as it grew larger
and larger, pulling away from their body. 

 "What the hell?" cried Carrot in shock.

 A head, exactly like theirs was looking back at them, giggling madly.
"Hiya!"

 "Shit!" snarled Dan as it continued to pull away from them at an
alarming rate, forming a torso of it's own as well.

 The thing punched them in the face as they stumbled away smacking them
relentlessly. "Ha! Take this, and this!"

 Carrot decked it across its jaw.

 The thing blinked and glared at them for a moment before continuing the
assault. This time, the trio attacked back leaving the appearance of
demented Siamese twins beating on each other.

 Finally, Carrot maneuvered the thing into a wall and it fell back,
finally separated from them.

 "Well, that wasn't very nice," said their doppelganger. 

 "Who the hell are you?" snapped Ranma angrily as he moved them into a
combat stance.

 "You're good Ranma, and I'm bad Ranma," said the thing merrily. It
started to do a little dance in front of them, chattering as it smacked
them repeatedly.

 Ranma frowned, and the lightsaber appeared in his grasp. He poked the
thing in its face with it and grinned. "Good, Bad, I'm the guy with the
lightsaber."

 The thing merely grinned at them and they paused, a sudden pain forming
in their chest. "What?" muttered Carrot dumbly.

 "Heh. I've seen that movie too," said the evil Ranma as he watched them
slump down in front of them, the reversed end of the lightsaber poking
through their chest. His face changed, no longer the idiot's grin and now
a mask of calm intelligence.

 "Damn," muttered Ranma as he found himself on his back. The others
hadn't spoken yet. Or more precisely, couldn't speak. "I'll get you for
this," he muttered.

 "How? You're already dead?" said the thing. It turned away and waved at
them as it strolled out into the street. "Sayonara."

 Ranma felt the world go black.

++++++++++++++++

 He woke up and blinked as he pushed himself up with his arms and glanced
around. "Where am I?"

 He paused when he noticed another figure lying beside him, passed out
cold. "Who?" He rolled the man over and gasped as he recognized him, it
was a person he'd only seen in his dreams. "Carrot?"

 The man groaned and sat up painfully, he shook his head and looked at
the pigtailed boy for a moment. "Ranma?"

 "What happened? Are we asleep or something?" 

 "We must have passed out, that damn thing got us," said Carrot as he
staggered to his feet and helped Ranma up as well.

 Ranma blinked as he realized that the boy's arm was solid, he was
grabbing him. "Hey. I can touch you."

 "Huh?" said Carrot dumbly as he realized it. "Wha?" Ranma's fist was the
next thing he saw. "Ouch! What the hell was that for?"

 "I've been wanting to do this for a long time now," said the pigtailed
boy coldly as he moved into a combat stance.

 "We can worry about that later! Where the hell are we?" said Carrot.

 Ranma paused and looked around. "Funny you should mention that..." he
commented as he realized what was around him.

 "Oh fuck," said Carrot simply as he glanced around as well. They were
standing on top of a large pillar of jagged stone, all around them flames
and boiling lava roared angrily. There were millions of others below
them, screaming and writhing in agony. 

 "Hello boys," said a voice from above them. 

 They both turned to see a woman staring down at them from above, a cold
smile on her lips. "Welcome to eternity."

 Ranma blinked as he recognized her. "Hey. You're that demon chick from
before..."

 "I was hoping you'd stay alive longer," said the woman as she landed
between them. "Too bad. Oh well, off to eternal damnation with you!" She
smiled cheerfully and snapped her fingers. The pair vanished in a flash
of light.

+++++++++++++++

 Dan frowned as he found himself standing next to Pissant in an elevator
of some kind. "Where the heck are we? Is this another one of Ranma's
weird dreams?"

 "I don't know," said Pissant with a shrug.

 Dan looked up at the ceiling. A single speaker was above them, and it
began to play Kenny G music. Immediately he started screaming as if in
pain. "Oh shit! We're dead, and we've gone to hell!"

 Pissant was smiling cheerfully and trying to hear the nice music over
Dan's screaming. "Quiet down would you? I like this part!"

 "Noo! I have to spend eternity with you?!!" said Dan in horror. He
paused and noticed that he could see the annoying voice for the first
time. "Hey. I can see you..."

 Pissant blinked and glanced at him. "So you can." He was a blond boy
with shoulder length hair, he actually didn't look as wimpy as Dan had
thought he would, but was still on the smallish side.

 The elevator stopped, and the pair looked at one another as the doors
opened. They stepped out and glanced around in confusion. Soft music
played all around them, and there was a large set of gates in front of
them.

 An old man in white robes smiled at them cheerfully. "Welcome!"

 Dan glanced around. "Heaven?"

 "Indeed! Such fine mortals!" said the old man cheerfully. "Come! Come!"
he beckoned to them.

 "There must be some mistake. There's no way I should be here," muttered
Dan to himself.

 "The sign of someone who truly belongs here," said the old man with a
wise looking smile.

 "Wow! Neat!" squealed Pissant happily as he looked at the city on the
other side of the gates.

 The old man peered into a book and smiled at them warmly. "Oh my! This
is the first time any of your kind has appeared here! What a fine day it
is!"

 "Our kind?" said Dan in confusion.

 "Saiyans. We've never seen a single one pass through the gates!" said
the old man happily.

 Dan blinked and looked behind him, the tail was still there. Pissant had
one as well. "Whoa."

 "Well, it seems you both don't have much of a record. Only a few months
on the two of you," said the old man cheerfully. "Seems not one of you
has done much at all."

 "Um...We were kind of stuck in someone else's body," said Dan as he
looked at Pissant and shrugged. 

 "Yes," agreed the cheerful looking spirit.

 "Well, that explains some of it I suppose," said the old man as he
calmly closed his book.

 "But...I had a whole life in my own body," muttered Dan in confusion.

 "Yes, it seems there was a bug in the system a while back," said the old
man with a sagely nod. "You were mistakenly placed into someone else's
body. Out of another dimension no less. It is of little consequence. Only
the deeds you performed in this world matter."

 Dan blinked; Carrot and Ranma were the ones who did almost everything of
importance. He'd done little, and hadn't even killed anyone. Not from
lack of trying so much as not really having the opportunity. "Oh."

  "Hey! Lucky break!" said Pissant as he smacked the boy on his shoulder.

 "Hey. Where are Carrot and Ranma?" he wondered out loud.

 "Those two?" said the old man with a small frown on his face. "They are
where they belong. Disgusting creatures, they destroyed an entire world!
I was backlogged for a week!" 

 Dan looked at him for a moment and blinked. "Oh." After a moment he
shrugged his shoulders and smiled to himself as he walked through the
gates with Pissant.

+++++++++++++++

 Ash Ketcum stood overlooking the dark cloud of mist that had appeared in
the middle of the room. He was standing on a balcony in the middle of a
theater, watching the famed Pokemon opera 'King Picaku' with his friend's
Mist and Brock.

 "Prepare for Trouble!" cried a voice.

 "Make it double!" said another voice.

 "Oh no! Not these guys again!" whined Ash as he stood up from his seat
with his friends.

 "To protect the world from devastation!"

 "To unite all people's within our nation!"

 "To denounce the Evils of truth and love!"

 "To extend our reach to the stars above!"

 "Jessie!"

 "James!"

 The pair appeared from the middle of the could and posed proudly, a
familiar figure hanging his head in between them. The pair elbowed him
and he glared at them.

 "Junior Trainer Carrot," he muttered lamely.

 "Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

 "Surrender now, or prepare to fight," said Carrot as he pulled a small
popper from his pocket and pulled the string, sending a rather pathetic
stream of confetti into the air.

 "Meowth! Dat's right!" said Meowth as he appeared with them.

 "Man, who could have known hell would suck this much," grumbled Carrot
lamely.

 "We have come to steal the famous acting Pokemon!" cried James.

 "We'll stop you!" said Ash and his crew as they appeared in front of
them.

 "Oh no! It's those kids again!" cried James.

 Carrot looked at him in irritation and frowned. "You know. I'm getting a
little sick of all this."

 "Huh?" muttered everyone as they turned to look at him.

 "How come I'm taking orders from you weenies? You're idiots! I'm smarter
than the three of you combined!" he snapped.

 "Hey! You'd better watch it kid!" snapped Meowth.

 "Yeah, yeah," grumbled Carrot. "Look..."

 "Obey your superiors and steal those pokemon while we keep these brats
busy!" snapped Jessie as she slapped him.

 Carrot growled at her, but stumbled off to do her bidding. "I can't
believe I'm doing this still." He frowned as he looked down at the small
electric rat as it prepared to shock him. "All this just so I can be some
pokemon trainer. I don't wanna be a pokemon trainer!" He blinked as if he
had just thought of that. "Hey. I -don't- want to be a pokemon trainer!"

 Everyone looked at him.

 "Then why are you doing this?" said Misty as she stepped forward. "You
could be our friend! You don't have to work for these two!"

 Carrot blinked and looked at her for a moment, and then back to Jessie
and James. "Nah. These things are worth money!" he cried as he turned to
look at the Pikachu in front of him. He ripped out a section of the
ground and hefted it over his head. "Heh!"

 The Pikachu screeched and stared at him as he swatted it like a fly and
knocked it out. "I wonder how much it's worth to his owner to get him
back?" he chuckled to himself as he stuffed the animal into a sack after
putting it into a Pokeball.

 "Still a jerk," grumbled Misty.

 Carrot turned to smirk at her. "I'm through with these idiots!" He
pointed at James and Jessie. "I can do better on my own!"

 "You little ingrate!" snapped Jessie as she moved to slap him. He decked
her dead in her face.

 Everyone looked on in shock as Jessie toppled over and fell flat on her
back out cold.

 "Stop him! Pikachu!" cried Ash as he released his pokemon.

 Carrot chuckled and rolled off to the edge of the stage, pulling one of
the spears used in the production into his grasp as he did so. "Come on
you little rat!"

 Pikachu blinked, Carrot had three pokeballs on his belt that he normally
used to fight him with. 

 "Well? Aren't you going to fight? I'm challenging you to a pokemon
battle!" cried Ash.

 Carrot swat the rodent aside with the spear, the blade was little more
than a piece of plastic, but the wooden staff suited his needs nicely.
"Naw. My pokemon all suck. I mean, I've got a Chansey, a Ditto, and a
Psyduck for god's sake!" He pointed his pokeball at Pikachu and captured
him. Grinning, he put that into his bag as well.

 "No! Pikachu!" cried the boy as he rushed forward. 

 Carrot slammed the spear across his face, sending the boy sprawling
across the ground in pain. He looked up at him with tears in his eyes.
"No you can't!"

 "Watch me," replied Carrot coldly as he rushed towards the other two
trainers.

 They backed away in alarm, taking their own pokeballs from their belts. 

 "No! Get away!" cried Misty.

 "Move it chick! Before you get hurt!" snapped Carrot as he dashed by
them, smacking them both aside with his makeshift staff.

 They weren't hit very hard, and staggered for a moment before tumbling
into the laps of some rather shocked spectators.

 Jessie, James, and Meowth simply stared in shock, unable to speak.

 "He...he did it!" muttered Jessie.

 "That little brat beat them!" gasped James.

 "Dis can't be!" lamented Meowth.

++++++++++++++

 "You've done well," said Geovanni as he looked at the boy kneeling
before him with a sack in his grasp.

 "You're going to pay me for this," said Carrot as he looked up at the
man coldly.

 "Of course not! You're making the name of Team Rocket proud! That should
be reward enough!" said the man with a small chuckle.

 "From now on, my loyalty is bought," said Carrot as he looked up at the
man and smiled darkly. "You either pay me, or I walk out and sell these
things on my own. I'm sure the owner would be more than happy to part
with a few thousand to get them back."

 Geovanni glared at him and stood up in his seat. "What?"

 "You heard me," said Carrot with a chuckle of his own.

 "Brat! You forget who I am!" snarled the man as he stepped down and
raised his hand as if to smack him. He paused when he heard a clicking
sound and felt something against his belly.

 Carrot was smiling at him, the barrel of a gun pointed at the man's
abdomen. "Do you have any idea who I am?" he asked in amusement.

 "Well, I'm certainly impressed," snorted Giovanni. "I never expected
anyone so ruthless to show up here."

 "What are they going to do to me? Send me to hell?" said Carrot calmly
as he stared at the man coldly.

 "They just might," said the man as he nodded to himself. "They say
that's what things like this get you, but then...it's never bothered me."

 "I'm already in hell, if I have to be here, I'm going to do it my way,"
snarled Carrot. 

 Giovanni nodded and picked up a briefcase from beside his seat, sliding
it across the ground towards Carrot. "Here. I think we might work well
together."

 "Stick me with those idiots you had me with before, and I'll kill them,"
said Carrot as he dropped the bag and turned away with the case in his
hand.

 "I'll remember that," said the man with a smirk on his face.

 "Hell indeed," snorted Carrot as he walked out of the room. "I'll show
them who's punishing who."

++++++++++++++

 Ranma was cowering in the corner, nothing but darkness all around him as
he huddled protectively from the dark things that surrounded him. "No!
Get away!" He turned to look at them as they closed in, their demonic
eyes glowing gold as they closed in around him. His entire body was
covered in scratches and claw marks. "No! Leave me alone!" he wailed
pathetically as the demons yowled all around him.

 He wanted to become one of them, for the darkness to take his soul away
and the madness to take him into oblivion. This time, it wouldn't come,
and he knew it. He would spend eternity cowering as he was, the demonic
creatures attacking him at their leisure. Shuddering he looked down at
the ground, his tears evaporating away as he sobbed. "No! I can't! I..."

 They jumped on him, just as they had for as long as he could remember.
He would spend days under the claws before they backed away, forcing him
to wait in agony for a time. He screamed as he felt their teeth biting at
his flesh, and their claws scraping him away. This time, he knew there
would be no release, no technique that would make him invincible. He
screamed in terror and simply sat while they tore at him.

 Then it hit him, demons or no, they were just cats. He felt them tearing
at his body and slowly rose to his feet. He glared at his shaking hands
and felt disgusted with himself, falling into a deep depression. "Is
this...what I've become?" he muttered to himself as the animals clung to
him and continued to attack, despite him standing.

 He slowly turned his head and glared at them, a simple chi blast would
be enough, but not for him. Now, he would at last have his revenge.

 "Heh," he laughed and lifted one of the ones on his shoulder by the
scruff of its neck. "Bad kitty."

+++++++++++

 Mara glared at the lesser demon overseeing the torture of the two
youths. "What the hell is this?" she growled at him. They were lying on
their backs with rather evil looking smirks on their faces in the middle
of a boiling pool of magma.

 "I don't know! I used the templates you told me to for their torment!"
cried the demon pathetically.

 "They're winning!" she snapped at him. "Do something about it!"

 "I'm trying!" snapped the lesser demon as he turned and summoned a pair
of large ugly demons. "Do something about this!" he screamed at them.

+++++++++++

 "Well. I haven't seen you in a while," said Carrot as he smirked at Ash
and his friends. He was standing on the edge of a boiling lake of lava,
deep within a mountain. Magmar lay at his feet, covered in the white
powder of a fire extinguisher. The boy chuckled and lifted one of the
balls up, catching the animal easily.

 "This isn't right! You have to use pokemon to catch pokemon!" cried
Misty.

 "Oh? And who's going to stop me? I don't care about your pathetic
league, I'm a rich man," said Carrot as he eyed them for a moment in
amusement.

 "Doing things like this for money isn't right!" cried Ash.

 "Money...I don't really care about the money, or the power," said Carrot
calmly.

 "Then why?" gasped Ash.

 "Sooner or later, I'm going to catch someone's attention, and when I
do..." The boy's grin widened. 

 "What? What do you mean?" cried Brock.

 "If you stick around long enough, you'll find out," said Carrot as he
turned and saw Giovanni walking into the room calmly. 

 "Well done my loyal servant," said the man as he walked up next to him
and pat him on the shoulder. "You're going straight to the top."

 "You!" cried Ash in shock.

 "Well, Mr. Giovanni, you've outlived your usefulness," said Carrot as he
turned towards the man.

 "Eh?"

 Carrot shoved him in his chest, plummeting him into the lava below. "I'm
in charge of Team Rocket now."

 "What?" gasped Ash.

 Jessie and James appeared from behind a rock and stared at the boy in
shock. 

 "You killed him! You killed the boss!" cried James.

 "Yeah! You won't get away with dis!" snapped Meowth as he appeared as
well.

 "Oh? Who's going to contest my rule of Team Rocket now? You?" said the
boy as he glared at them.

 Jessie smacked Meowth on the back of his head. She rushed up to Carrot's
side and leaned into his chest. "Oh Boss! You know you were always my
favorite trainer! We could be beautiful together!"

 Carrot snorted and eyed the trio of trainers for a moment. "Go away,
there's nothing you can do now."

 "What?" said Ash dumbly as he stumbled back.

 "Go play in your pokemon league, live your pathetic lives out, and stay
out of my way. If I ever see you interfering in my business again. I
won't even kill you."

 "He's just letting us go?" muttered Misty.

 "Yeah," muttered Brock in confusion.

 "You see, I won't hurt you Ash Ketchum, but your mother..."

 "What?" said the boy as all the color drained from his face.

 "Wow! A brilliant plan!" squealed Jessie.

 "Get off me before I become annoyed," snorted Carrot calmly as he shoved
her aside. He pulled a gun from his pocket and pointed it at Ash. "All of
you have families, and I know where all of them live. Thanks to my little
adventures with these idiots, I've met them at one point or another. You
can continue to get in my way if you want, and go home to find your
family dead, your homes burned. If you're off stopping my plans, you
won't be there to protect them will you?"

 Misty shuddered. "Ash...we should go..."

 "But...we can't let him get away with this!" cried the boy in
frustration.

 "He's right Ash, he's got us. There's nothing we can do," said Brock as
he glared at the evil man hatefully. "We can't protect them, not when
we're away all the time."

 Carrot turned as something made a noise from in the lava behind him.
"It's about time," he commented lazily as he strolled back into the
center of the cavern. "You should leave now." He tossed the trio the bag
containing the pokemon he had just caught.

 Jessie and James looked on dumbly. 

 "What are you doing?" gasped James.

 "I never cared about any of this," he replied casually. "I've just been
trying to attract someone's attention. "Someone I could take out my real
frustrations on." He cracked his knuckles and looked on as a hideous
thing blasted up from the magma. It was fat and covered in scales. Two
bat-like wings jutted from its back, and a set of large horns rose back
behind its head just over its eyes.

 "You're becoming troublesome mortal," said the thing angrily.

 "I'm not the one in trouble," said Carrot as he grinned at the thing and
spread his feet apart. A golden aura of power surrounded his body as the
tail he kept hidden around his waist uncoiled.

 The demon blinked in surprise.

++++++++++++

 Ranma was sleeping soundly, a rather contented smile on his face as he
lay in the middle of the room, unmolested by the animals that now cowered
in fear on the edges of the wall.

 It was a rather unpleasant scene really, as Ranma was lying in and was
also covered in the remains of around thirty of the things. He yawned and
stretched his arms as he sat up and blinked. "Huh?"

 "You're not taking your torture like you should human," said the skinny
demon that lumbered into the room and glared at him. It was around ten
feet tall, with wings and horns like his counterpart. 

 "Who are you callin a human?" snorted Ranma as he glared at it for a
moment.

 "Eh?" said the demon as it looked down at the boy who appeared to have
sprouted a tail.

+++++++++++

 Mara stared at the scene in shock from outside the two souls.
"Er...umm..."

 The lesser demon sweat nervously as he watched the carnage play out
inside the minds of the two saiyans. "Maybe you should have said
something...or sent some stronger demons?" 

 "Shut up," growled Mara.

 "My, how interesting," said a horrifying voice from behind them.

 Mara and the lesser demon both whirled around and fell to their knees.

 "Hild!" gasped Mara in shocked surprise. "What brings you here?"

 "Bring them to me," said the demon queen as she eyed the two souls for a
moment. "But wait until they've finished playing with your friends."

 "Yes!" cried the pair as they bowed a little lower, scraping their faces
against the dirt.

++++++++++++

 Hild stared at the two souls in front of her, they glared at her but
without much malice in them. "Who are you?" asked Ranma.

 "I am Hild, queen of the damned," she replied calmly as she eyed them.
The room was only darkness, and they could only see a pair of legs, white
fingernails, and the eyes of the demon in front of them. "It seems you
two have managed to escape your torment. A most impressive feat."

 "Yeah...well..." snorted Carrot.

 "It only took you both twenty years to do it as well, most unheard of,"
said the demoness as she smirked at them.

 Neither of the boys looked surprised at this.

 "You wouldn't call us here unless you wanted something," said Carrot
calmly as he looked up at her without fear.

 "You wish to avenge yourselves?" asked Hild.

 "Of course!" snapped Ranma as he moved towards her a single step.

 She narrowed her eyes at him, but he didn't move any more, so she let it
pass. "I can offer you the chance. However, there is a catch..."

 "What's that?" asked Carrot. He was also deeply interested in this
offer.

 "You will become one again, but it won't be the same this time." said
Hild calmly.

++++++++++

 Ranma Saotome staggered to his feet, he was in the middle of a dark
alleyway somewhere in what looked like a destroyed section of Tokyo.
"Where the hell are we?" he muttered angrily as he staggered through the
darkness for a moment.

 "Carrot?" muttered Ranma as he tried to think.

 "Yeah. I'm here. I feel sick as hell though," grumbled the other voice
in frustration.

 "What happened to us?" asked Ranma as he noticed a few dirty looking
people running away from them through the alleys in terror.

 "I dunno, last I remember, we were talking to that Hild chick. There was
more after that, but I think she took it away."

 "So? Now what?" asked Ranma as they seemed to feel a little better and
get their bearings straight. 

 "Come on, let's check out where we are," said Carrot. 

 They jumped up onto the nearest rooftop with a single bound, landing
lightly on the top of the building. "What the..." muttered Ranma in
horror as he stared out into the distance in shock.

 "Oh man," said Carrot as he stared out at the remains of Tokyo. There
was little more than shells of buildings remaining. Destroyed, burned,
decimated. "What the hell happened?"

 "I think...we did," said Ranma as their jaw hardened in anger.

 "That evil us..." said Carrot in horror. "But..."

 Everything seemed to make sense, without them around, he could easily
take out those who might be a threat to him later before they suspected
anything was wrong with him. "Damn," growled Carrot. "We've got our work
cut out for us then."

 "It's too late already," said Ranma sadly.

 "Maybe, but I for one am not going to let this bastard enjoy whatever he
gained by doing this." Carrot clenched their fist in front of their face
and looked at it for a moment. "Oh...Oh no! No! Noooooo!" He fell to his
knees clutching his head in horror.

 "What? What is it?" cried Ranma in alarm.

 "Look at us!" cried Carrot. 

 Ranma blinked and looked down at their body. Something was indeed
different. A nearby metal vent, long since covered in dust and soot, was
roughly cleaned away with a swipe of their arm. The reflection was dirty,
but still visible.

 A figure dressed in black, red, and white, was staring back at them. A
huge red cape hung over their shoulders, and a pair of green eyes peered
soullessly back at them. "What the hell?" gasped Ranma in shock.

 "We...we're a hellspawn!" cried Carrot as he shoved his fist through the
metal in frustration.

++++++++++++

 "Angela, we have one," said Belldandy as she walked into the room where
the angel was relaxing. 

 She was a beautiful woman, with long red hair and a stunning body. She
paused and looked at her master in confusion. "Hellspawn?"

 "Yes," confirmed Belldandy.

 "Why would they send one there? The place has already fallen," said the
woman as she stood up and frowned.

 "There is still the faintest glimmer of hope there," said Belldandy. "I
fear if this problem isn't taken care of, it will vanish forever."

 Angela nodded slowly. She knew the world was lost, there were a few
desperate souls remaining, but they would soon be lost, once the evil
power that had consumed the world grew tired of playing with them.

 "It is a dangerous place," said Belldandy.

 "I know," said Angela as she lifted up her spear and gave the woman a
hard frown. She vanished in a flash of light, leaving Belldandy standing
alone.

 "Good luck. I wish I could bring myself to return with you, but..." she
turned away and left the room in silence.

++++++++++

 TBC...

 Heh. Well, now that I've pulled the unexpected on you, I'll bet your
wondering what the hell is going to happen next? What happened to
everyone? What of the rest of the collective? How did this change things?
How on earth am I going to fix this mess? And finally, how the hell am I
going to keep something like this funny? Stay tuned to find out!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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