Insertion

 Part 48

 Angelic interlude!

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

 Ranma walked through the wasteland with Hotaru, both were moving in
silence as they contemplated their next move. 

 "Hey Ranma," commented Carrot as they walked.

 "Huh?" replied the thing.

 "I just figured something out."

 "What's that?"

 "This sucks."

 Hotaru looked at him in confusion for a moment. Ranma was strangling
himself again. This had happened several times over the course of their
trip.

 "Idiot. You keep forgetting that I'm not inside you anymore, so that
doesn't work. Besides, we don't need to breathe anymore anyway. Already
dead remember?" said Carrot.

 "Shut up," grumbled Ranma irritably.

 "I haven't said anything," replied Hotaru in confusion.

 "Um..." Ranma realized that he had said that out loud. "I wasn't talking
to you. Sorry."

 "Oh. Right, the other guys," said the woman cheerfully. "I'd almost
forgotten."

 "Well, there's only one now," he muttered irritably. "And he's just now
figured out that this sucks."

 "Smart guy," said the woman as she turned away and continued walking.

 "I didn't mean right now. I mean in general," said Carrot inside his
host's head.

 "What do you mean?" grumbled Ranma.

 "This whole fusion thing bites."

 "You're tellin me?" growled Ranma.

 "Oh come off it," snorted Carrot in retort. "Look, I'll admit it's
inconvenient. However, up until this point, I've been having a pretty
good time of it. I just realized that I'm not anymore. It blows."

 "What the heck kind of idiot are you?" snapped Ranma. "How could you say
all that was fun?"

 "We had it pretty good for a while there. I'll admit the whole hell
thing really sucked, but otherwise, think about it. We were rich,
handsome, and stronger than anyone else alive! We had lots of friends,
and we had all kinds of adventures! I even kind of miss having Dan
around."

 "You miss that insane..." muttered Ranma in disbelief.

 "Well, I'll admit I'm not all that upset over Pissant leaving, but
you've got to admit Dan was useful at times."

 "I guess so, but you two were always fighting," grumbled Ranma.

 "Well, I suppose so, it was good natured though," replied Carrot
cheerfully.

 "You beat the crap out of each other on a regular basis!" snapped Ranma.

 "Well...I..."

 "It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't get beat up too every time you did
it!" snapped the angry hellspawn.

 "I didn't say I wanted him back Ranma, just that I kind of miss having
him around a little," said Carrot irritably. "He had his uses. Besides,
this hell bent revenge thing doesn't suit us all that well. I'll be glad
when we kill him, and then all we have to worry about is becoming a
demon."

 "That isn't a good thing," snorted Ranma irritably.

 "We don't have much choice," pointed out Carrot. "Like I always tell
you, you've got to make the best of your situation."

 "Making the best of our situation? How the hell do you think we got into
this mess!?" snapped Ranma angrily.

 "It wasn't all my doing you blowhard," snorted Carrot. "You had a hand
in this as well, so don't go pulling a 'Carrot, because of you I've seen
hell!' on me buddy."

 "Right," grumbled the thing dejectedly.

 "Look. All I'm saying is if we have to do this, we might as well enjoy
it," said Ranma. "I'm tired of being all angsty. That's mostly your
doing, I've been trying to have a little fun, but you keep ruining it."

 "What the hell do you want us to do?" snorted Ranma.

 "I dunno. We'll think of something," replied Carrot. "Anyway, I wonder
what happened to the Masaki family? Ryoko isn't with them, she's probably
dead."

 "Pluto too, he'd have killed her if he could," pointed out Ranma.

 "I wouldn't count on that. She's probably hiding out on Pluto," said
Carrot calmly. "Can't be sure though, those starships may have been used
to flush her out. Now that I think about it, you're probably right. He'd
have destroyed the time gates, to prevent time travel."

 "That's not good," grumbled Ranma.

 "If he's allied with the Amazons, that means that time traveling mirror
is out too," grumbled Carrot with a heavy sigh. "I'll bet he managed to
destroy it."

 "Those goddess chicks don't like us either. If they're even still
around..." grumbled Ranma sadly.

 "He wouldn't have killed them, I'm not even sure if he can," said
Carrot. 

 "Why not?" asked Ranma.

 "Too risky. It might piss off the wrong people gods who might be able to
overpower him too easily, he also might have lost Loki's support. Can't
be sure about that though. No telling on how he'd react to a mortal
killing a god."

 "Wouldn't they have tried to fight him?" asked Ranma.

 "Probably, but getting rid of them would be easy enough," said Carrot.
"Just kill Keiichi. If he's gone, Belldandy would have to go up to heaven
with him."

 "Keiichi? You mean that mechanic guy?" muttered Ranma in surprise.

 "Yeah. He made a wish that Belldandy be with him always, if he died,
then..."

 "She'd have to go wherever he went," said Ranma as he seemed to catch
on.

 "Right, she's probably not able to leave heaven anymore, not unless he
tags along anyway," said Carrot cheerfully. 

 "At any rate, we should figure out what we're going to do next," said
Carrot as he changed the subject suddenly.

 "Wait until they're alone and attack them one at a time?" asked Ranma.

 "Well, it seems I was able to teach you a little," commented Carrot
dryly. "Yes, but I don't know how we're going to manage that."

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

 "Huh?" said Hotaru as she turned to look at her companion.

 "When can we find them alone. I mean individually?" repeated Ranma as he
stopped and crossed his arms.

 "What do you mean?" muttered Hotaru in confusion.

 "I'm not stupid enough to take them all on at once. I'm going to need to
get to them individually."

 The woman nodded at this and frowned. "I'm afraid I can't be of much
help then."

 "Huh? You should know of something," he pressed.

 "Well, no actually. Mistress Nine kept to herself. All of them are like
that for the most part. The only time I ever saw the others was when
Ranma summoned us together, or sent us out on a mission with one another.
We didn't particularly care who did what other than that."

 "Each having their own agenda," muttered Ranma with a small frown.

 "Right. Mistress Nine's plans were disturbed when Ranma destroyed the
planet with those lasers. She couldn't collect enough power to resurrect
Pharo 90. Plus, he basically prevented her from doing it with other
means."

 "Oh?" asked Ranma as he arched his eyebrow.

 "Yes. You see he kept her busy. She was probably the one he sent out the
most, but he usually limited her missions. If she ventured off to collect
a little power, he punished her."

 "Seems like she'd try to do something about that," commented Ranma.

 "He was stronger, and faster than she was. There wasn't much she could
do to him. Plus, he was very careful with her."

 "She's plotted against him several times?" asked Ranma.

 "Yes. He was planning on using my final attack to actually destroy this
planet when he was finished. Pharo 90 would have just wiped out
everything, the whole system."

 "Saturn couldn't supply enough power to do it on her own?" asked Ranma.

 "No," she said with a small shrug. "She needed more power. Once her
direct connection to me was severed, she had to find other means of
supplying the power she needed. Basically, you foiled her plans twice.
Once when you repaired Saturn and separated the three of us, and once
when the other you killed most of the life on the planet."

 "What about the talismans?" asked Ranma.

 "Ranma killed the owners. You can't take the talismans from a dead
senshi. You can kill them to steal them, but it's impossible to get to
them without the senshi being alive."

 "So...you're the only Outer Senshi left then," said Ranma with a short
nod.

 Hotaru merely nodded.

 "This just gets better and better," grumbled the thing with a heavy
sigh.

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

 Kuroi sat in front of a large view screen on the deck of the large
starship that orbited Earth. He smirked as a familiar figure dressed in
the robes of the Juraian Royal Family appeared in front of him. He still
looked like a young boy of no more than nine years in age.

 "Ah, Prince Tenchi. To what do I owe this unexpected surprise?" he said
to the image in front of him.

 "I've come to take a last look at the Earth," he replied diplomatically.
"It is my home planet after all." His voice was laced with venom as he
said this and glared at the boy.

 "Fine. Keep your distance, I'll allow you as close as Venus," said the
youma calmly.

 "Very well," said the prince calmly.

 "Do not worry young prince. Soon Metallia's link to this dimension will
be severed completely."

 "Monster. Destroying a whole planet..."

"Is quite necessary I assure you. I'm sure the Juraian officials have
explained this to you in great detail," said the youma.

 "I will never forgive you for this," spat the boy.

 "Well, you aren't Emperor yet. I'm sure Yosho feels the same way, but by
the time you are, it would only be a pointless war. Something I'm sure
neither of us wishes to happen. So many would die for a dead planet."

 Tenchi growled at this.

 "Metallia's link to the dimension is Earth, and the life there. Once it
is gone, we'll be quite safe. I've been suppressing her attempts to
escape her prison thus far, but it won't hold out forever." The evil
youma smirked at him. "That is why all of the Youma were localized in
Japan. That is where her grip is the firmest."

 "Why not just destroy that place then? Why the whole planet?" snarled
the angry prince.

 "Because it would not destroy her link, merely weaken it for a time. Her
grip would be on an empty patch of water, rather than an island," replied
Kuroi calmly. It was obviously an old conversation. "She'd just have to
send her Youma a little farther away to gather what she needs. The
population control is one of the safeguards that we created to prevent
her from gathering energy easily."

 "It isn't worth it," snapped Tenchi hotly.

 "I could have just killed you and your little family you know. I
graciously offered the Jurai Government the chance to take you away,
however forceful that might have been."

 Tenchi turned his head away shamefully. "..."

 "How are those lovely wives of yours these days? Enjoying them? Ryoko is
quite rude, she never calls her father anymore."

 "Shut up," snapped Tenchi hatefully.

 "I know what you're thinking, Washuu was a liability my boy, she would
have attempted to stop us, as would you. Had you been allowed to remain
on the Earth that is; you'd be dead too, if you had remained."

 "Tsunami out," said Tenchi as he cut the communication off.

 "Keep an eye on him," said Kuroi as his face fell into a frown. "If he
tries anything, send the entire fleet after him. Tsunami or not, he's not
dumb enough to try and fight off our entire navy alone."

 "Sir!" replied one of the men who worked on a console nearby.

 Kuroi smirked. Ranma was indeed the perfect man for the job he'd given
him. Keeping entire families alive for their military was a stroke of
brilliance. There were no men working for them who had lost any family,
so they had much less fear of revenge driven morons attempting to disrupt
them internally. They were also treated well, and told of the reason for
destroying the planet. Of course, when they moved to the new planet, they
would all be killed. None of them were aware of that though.

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

 Hotaru sat down on a tree stump in the middle of a dead forest. Ranma
stood beside her and leaned against one of the dead trees casually.

 "You're not tired?" she asked him.

 "I don't get tired easily anymore," he replied calmly.

 "Oh," she muttered to herself as she relaxed. "We've been walking all
day."

 "Yup," he commented calmly. 

 Hotaru frowned suddenly and sat up. "What's that?" she muttered.

 Ranma's attention was also focused in the same direction. "I'm not sure.
You stay here and rest, I'm gonna go check it out."

 Hotaru looked at him and frowned. "Maybe..."

 "I think I know what it is. If I'm right, you won't be much help to me
anyway. Just stay here, and I'll come back in a little while," said
Ranma.

 The woman nodded and seemed to relax a bit. "Don't take too long."

 "Right," said Ranma as he started off in the direction of the power they
had felt.

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

 "Well, you've been doing well," said Mara as she appeared in front of
him a short distance away from where he had first felt her.

 "What do you want? I'm busy," he said calmly.

 "I've come with a warning," she said calmly. 

 "Oh?" he said with a smirk forming on his face.

 "Yes. The gods have sent a hunter after you," she replied calmly. "You'd
best be on your guard."

 "An angel," he grumbled irritably.

 "Yes," she replied with a slightly surprised frown. 

 "I'll handle it," he replied as he turned away.

 "Don't be so cocky," she said irritably.

 "I think I can deal with one angel," he said as he glanced back at her.

 "Well. Let's find out shall we?" she said with an evil looking grin
forming on her face.

 Ranma stepped back as the woman's body began to grow and distort. "Oh
shit."

 Mara's grin widened as she grew to over ten feet tall. Her body became
gray, and four large horns that curled in front of her huge bug like eyes
from the top of her head and the side of her face. Her body had become
skinny and lithe, and her hands had grown into gigantic claws. "You think
you're strong enough to beat an angel do you?" snarled the thing
wickedly.

 Ranma stepped back. "So, you're showing off for me eh?"

 "Showing off?" she chuckled.

 Ranma had moved back into a defensive stance to await the coming attack.


 "Come on little Spawn!" snarled Mara as she lumbered forward. "Show me
how strong you've become!"

 Ranma jumped forward, punching at her.

 She swat him aside easily laughing as he crashed through one of the
trees. 

 "Damn," he grumbled as he stood up shakily.

 "Weakling! You won't last five minutes against an Angel!" snarled Mara
as she lumbered towards him.

 Ranma jumped up, avoiding a strike from the thing's claws.

 The chains lashed out, missing the thing's head as it simply shifted.
"Ha! You're slow!"

 "I didn't miss," said Ranma as he floated back, causing the chains to
become tight suddenly.

 "Eh?" muttered Mara in confusion as she glanced back. Her jaw dropped
into an angry scream as a dead fallen tree slammed into her face, one of
the twisted branches came through the back of her head. "Gluck..."
stammered the thing as it staggered painfully.

 Ranma landed on its back, bringing the chains up tight like horse's
reins. "Come on bitch! Let's see how long it takes me to tame you!"

 Mara roared in anger, jumping up and down and tossing him around
violently. She tried to roll over on top of him, but he shifted aside and
crawled onto the top of her head. She began to thrash more and more
violently, attempting to smash him into the trees. He held firmly though
and dug his heels into her sides. 

 After about two minutes, she finally got some of her senses back and
reached up to grab him with her claws. He nimbly jumped aside and landed
on the ground, rolling through the dust onto his feet again. "Ready to go
again?" he asked her.

 She glared at him for a moment and bit through the tree, crushing the
center to splinters. "That was impressive. I've never had such a young
hellspawn give me such a good fight. You didn't even use any of your
power."

 "I'm going to need it if I want to kill the other me," he said calmly.

 She shrank back into her original form and smirked at him. "We'll have
to remember this game later," she said as she walked up to him and pushed
herself against his chest.

 Ranma frowned at this, but said nothing.

 "Bye bye handsome," she said as she vanished into the shadows.

 "Is she suggesting what I think she is?" muttered Ranma with a slightly
sick look on her face.

 "Hey. I might take her up on that, if she doesn't look like that thing
again next time," commented Carrot.

 "EEW!" exclaimed Ranma in disgust. 

 "So, back to Hotaru then?" asked Carrot cheerfully.

 "No. Back to hell with you," said a feminine voice from the shadows.

 "Huh?" said the pair as they turned to see someone staring at them from
a perch nearby. "Who the..."

 She jumped down, clothed in a dirty brown cloak. "I've come to send you
back where you belong, Hellspawn."

 "You must be that angel," said Carrot as he backed away from her.

 "Heh. Indeed," she chuckled as she glared at him from the shadows of her
hood.

 "Hoping to catch me in a weakened state, after fighting with that
demon?" snorted Ranma. "I haven't even broken a sweat."

 "Not surprising, seeing as all your pores have been burned off," she
commented dryly.

 "Look lady. I've got something to do here, and I don't want to waste my
power tangling with you. How about we do this later?" said the thing as
it looked her up and down. "You and I can fight all you want, after I've
killed Ranma."

 "I don't think so," said the angel coldly. "You'll fight now, and go
back now."

 Ranma frowned at her. "I'm not gonna be able to get out of this one."

 "I'm afraid not. Die!" she snarled as the cloak flew off, revealing a
stunning woman with long red hair. Her body was mostly hidden under the
huge number of firearms that she wore.

 "Oh fuck," said Ranma as his eyes grew wide.

 The angel opened fire with an M-60 machine gun, blasting everything in
front of her.

 Ranma moved into the air, skillfully dodging bullets as she adjusted her
aim. He felt a few of them rip into his body, but ignored them. They
weren't doing enough damage to really hurt him as Carrot was absorbing
the shots, and he'd only been hit six times. 

 "What the hell is this!?" cried Ranma dumbly as he landed in front of
her. She jumped back and pulled a pair of Uzis from her sides and trained
them on him. "What the hell kind of angel uses guns?" 

 "A smart one," snapped the woman as she opened fire. 

 Ranma dodged by leaning back and flailing his arms, the bullets passed
all around him as she fired on him.

 "So...you've seen that movie too," commented the angel.

 Ranma was standing in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Yeah."

 "It doesn't matter. You can't win," she snarled.

 "Look lady..." started Ranma irritably.

 "Die!" snarled the angel as she pulled a rocket launcher onto her
shoulder.

 "Oh man," whined Ranma as he staggered back.

+++++++++++

 Hotaru arched her eyebrow as she saw the explosion in the distance.
"What the hell is he doing?" She paused again as something else caught
her attention. "Oh shit! Not now!" 

++++++++++

 Ranma frowned as he glared at the sheet that covered Kuno's body. "I
never liked him much anyway." The village that had once been home to the
commune now smoked in the distance, little more than a series of craters
in the earth now.

 Chibi-Usa strolled up beside him. She looked to be in her mid-twenties
and was wearing a long black evening gown. Ryoga stood wordlessly on her
arm, his face almost as expressive as a stone mask. A dark smirk formed
on her face as she looked down at the body. "He was useful though."

 "Why do you think I kept that idiot around for so long?" he snorted
casually. 

 "No sign of Hotaru, or the mask sir," said one of the men who strolled
up to him and saluted.

 "Keep looking," he said to the man calmly. "An interesting way to die."
He kicked the sheet-covered body and snorted in disgust.

 "I almost wish we didn't have to kill whoever this is," commented Tochi
as she floated down beside them.

 "We'll use the computer back at the base to locate the mask. It would
have survived. It's probably buried," he commented lazily. "Hotaru was
probably incinerated, but make sure. I want a DNA check of the ashes,
find her."

 The soldier saluted him and turned away to pass out orders to his men.

 "Something about this bothers me," said Tochi.

 "Baka! We lost two of our people, they weren't weaklings either," said
Ranma as he stared at her for a moment.

 She frowned at him and turned away. "I think your over cautiousness may
pay off this time."

 "It usually does," he replied calmly. The group paused suddenly, looking
off into the distance. "Who is that?"

 "There's two of them, quite strong," said Chibi-Usa with a smirk on her
face.

 Ryoga gave a low feral growl.

 "Behave yourself darling," she said as she smacked him lightly on the
arm.

 He looked at her for a moment and said nothing. His eyes began to glow
with a strange power though.

++++++++++

 Ranma frowned as he looked at the smoldering end of his cape and glared
at the angel. "How much ammo does this chick have?" The ground was
covered in shells, and she showed no signs of letting up any time soon.
Each time one weapon was spent, she'd simply switch to another. This had
been going on for almost fifteen minutes now.

 "Die damn you!" she cried angrily.

 "Stop it!" snapped Ranma as he dove by her and slashed with his claws.
She dodged and fired a few more shots at him with the large pair of
handguns she now sported.

 Ranma managed to avoid being hit yet again, and rolled across the dust
to his feet.

 The angel frowned as the weapons in her hands fell into two clean-cut
sections. She growled and threw them to the ground. "Damn!"

 Ranma looked at her, she didn't appear to have any more weapons on her.
"Finally!"

 "I guess we do this the old fashioned way," she snorted as a large spear
appeared in her hand.

 "Haven't you had enough yet?" snapped Ranma irritably.

 "You haven't seen the beginning of my power yet!" she snapped.

 "Look lady, I don't have time for this. Could you just go away
please..." He paused suddenly as he looked at the assortment of weapons
that was lying around on the ground. "Wait a minute..."

 She frowned at him as he looked at her again.

 "I only no one person stupid enough to pull something like this!" said
Ranma as he pointed at her.

 "Huh?" muttered the angel in confusion.

 "Dan! It has to be!" cried Ranma. "What the hell do you think you're
doing asshole!?"

 Dan blinked as she looked at the thing in front of her. A smirk appeared
on her face as recognition seemed to sink in. "Hey. Pissboy, it's Carrot
and Ranma."

 "Well. I can see you didn't waste any time, you jerk," snorted Ranma as
he frowned at the woman. "That must suck, having to be a chick."

 "Is it them?" muttered Dan as she glared at the hellspawn in front of
her. "Yup. You're one to talk brain boy, at least I can still take a
piss."

 "I thought it took three spirits to make an angel," commented Carrot
irritably as he ignored the barb. "You and Pissant, but who else?"

 Dan frowned suddenly. "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to do
this?"

 "Huh?" muttered Ranma in confusion as he found himself looking down the
shaft of her spear.

 "Oh man. Still an asshole," grumbled Carrot.

 "Ha!" cried Angela as she dove for them, slashing wildly with her spear.

 "Cut it out!" snapped Carrot.

 "I'll send you to hell!" cried the enraged woman.

 "You and what army?" snapped Carrot. "You forget, you're just the
muscle! We're the skill and the brains! You can't win!"

 Angela missed again, cutting a huge gash in the ground. "Hold still damn
you!"

 Inside Ranma's head, another conversation started while the angel was
distracted. "We're gonna have to kill him!"

 "No prob!" agreed Ranma.

 "We can't overpower him, don't even try. He doesn't have the same limits
we do. We're gonna have to take him down the hard way. We don't have the
energy to spare otherwise."

 "Damn, this won't be easy," commented Ranma.

 "We're gonna have to try and outsmart them, not too much of a problem,
but he can throw around enough power that it won't be as easy as it
sounds."

 "Quit talking to yourself and fight!" snapped Angela.

 
 "Take this!" cried Ranma. He slashed out with his claw and managed to
break the woman's armor, specifically her top.

 Angela screeched girlishly and covered her breasts.

 "Damn it! This is no time for that!" cried Dan.

 "Shut up!" said a familiar sounding voice. "He might see..."

 "Did see," corrected Carrot as he smirked at them with his arms crossed
over his chest.

 A new voice unfamiliar tone entered the angel's voices. "He's right.
Stop being a baby and kill the demon."

 "That was a woman," muttered the hellspawn as he uncrossed his arms
slowly and glared at her.

 "Perceptive, isn't he," she asked him as she forcefully removed her arms
from her chest. It seemed to take a bit of effort.

 "Very, he's a smart one," confirmed Dan.

 "You'd better not be thinking perverted thoughts about us!" snapped
Pissant angrily.

 Ranma was about to reply to that when the woman intervened. "He couldn't
if he wanted to. I've never seen a Hellspawn that could."

 "Stop talking about that!" snapped Carrot irritably. "It ain't our fault
it ain't there anymore! It got burned off in hell damn it!"

 "Are you ready to die?" asked the woman coldly.

 "Yeah! Bitch!" agreed Dan.

 Ranma arched his eyebrow as he noticed the angel pinch herself on the
leg. "As interesting as this is, we're about to have company," said
Carrot as he looked over at the horizon.

 "What?" said Angela as she turned her gaze in the same direction.
Several figures were closing in fast. "Damn!"

 "Heh. We can worry about this fight later, we don't have time to argue
right now. We've got to leave, right now."

 "Too late!" growled Angela hatefully.

 Ranma turned his gaze upward again and frowned. Chibi-Usa was holding a
wand over her head and glaring down at them. "Moon Killing Escalation!"

 Ranma dove into Angela and pulled her to the ground before he even
thought about it. Then, the energy wave hit.

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

 TBC...
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