Short Summary:
Party 4/4. Game ends.
Thus concludes my foray into Ranma 1/2 fanfiction, which I
consider to be an accomplishment. The more I think about it
the more I prefer the old series than any fanfiction. The
goal by which I started was to prove certain points, and as
it stands right now I lost even that edge. Perhaps it is
because the demographic I write for doesn't exist. So this
is it, you can relax now.
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--Razorclaw X (http://www.angelfire.com/art/rcxshizuka/index.html)
_________________________________________________________________
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-- File: ranffss9.txt
Wheel of Fire Special #9: Ranma VS Shizuka
Written by Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NYChotmail.com)
www.angelfire.com/art/rcxshizuka/ranma/ranff.html
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and characters belong to Rumiko
Takahashi. Proper licenses belong to respective
properties and characters. All other material herein
belongs to the author, and plagiarism of this concept,
in part or in whole or borrowing, in part or in whole,
will not only get you my ire but the priceless sight
of seeing you behind bars. No part of this document
may be reproduced, retransmitted, or altered, in part
or in whole, for monetary gain, incidental,
consequential, directly, or not at all, without
express permission from the author (if you are unable
to contact me then that does not grant you these
rights). Such condition applies to all my works, and
your ignorance is no excuse, as I reserve the right to
update this disclaimer, and it stands in whatever
shape or form it manifests in any work, appearing
there or not.
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Day 3 of Stage Two-- Early Afternoon
"One round," Kanna announced, standing between Ranma
and Shizuka, laying out the rules of the match. "No
time limit. Victory goes to whoever gets a complete
knock-out. No deaths, maiming, or any other sort of
permanent disability. Refreshments at the snack
bar afterward."
Taking a step back, she signaled for the match to
begin.
Ranma purposefully left himself open, waiting for
Shizuka to make the first move. He watched her slide
out her remaining Viper sword out of its sheath, then
switch it to her left hand, this time keeping it
overhand. She reached over her shoulder for her
loaded shotgun, but even in this configuration Ranma
knew Shizuka could at most shoot once, because her
other hand was required to reload the weapon.
"What're you waiting for?" Shizuka taunted, holding
the barrel pointed toward the sky. "Try and win."
"After you," Ranma replied mockingly.
The priestess of Genbu smiled, barring her teeth in
some malicious grin, and something in the back of
Ranma's head was telling him he was playing into her
plans. "So, womanizer... did you bother to discern
what the weather would be like today?"
He felt a few pats on his head, and looked up toward
the sky. Indeed, the clouds have rolled in from the
west, and they were getting darker. Fixing his eyes
back on Shizuka, he said, "So?"
"I know for a fact that you're nowhere near as strong
in your girl form, which gives me an edge, because
your effectiveness will be tolerable on my level."
The drizzle became much more dense, and Ranma hardly
took note of the others seeking shelter. "I don't
care; I can still beat you with my eyes closed!"
"Mind, I hate handicaps more than anything," Shizuka
admitted, but her malicious expression never wavered.
"But I congratulate myself on taking advantage of every
opportunity I can get, and you're giving me far more
than I imagined!"
Water poured from the sky above. "So stop talking
and try to beat me!" Ranma cried, hardly noticing her
transformation under the rainfall.
Lowering the shotgun to level with Ranma's chest
Shizuka rushed forward, skewing to Ranma's left
slightly, but keeping the weapon trained level. Ranma
dodged to the right, but it proved to be a flinch as
Shizuka never squeezed the trigger, as expected. The
priestess swung with the Viper sword as Ranma darted
by, forcing Ranma to duck as she moved.
The moment she stood up again the martial artist saw
the single barrel pointed her direction again, and
evaded again, realizing that Shizuka was completely
aware of her attack deficit. The next two swings that
threatened to bite into Ranma's left flank and arm
told her that Shizuka wanted her to pay attention to
the shotgun rather than the sword, allowing her the
chance to get the critical shots with the sword.
It's not going to work, Ranma vowed.
Apparently, Shizuka caught on as well. She raised
her sword high, then brought it down quickly, slicing
the air. Ranma barely detected the shockwave, but the
shrill produced forced her to cover her ears. A
fraction of a second later the shockwave impacted
against her body, sending her flying back.
Her ears still ringing from the sudden noise, Ranma
remembered this particular succession technique that
Shizuka forced herself to remember in the fight against
Kode the badger demon. The primary effect of the Sonic
Cutter was to stun the opponent with a high-pitched
noise within the human and demon sound spectrum; the
wave front was just icing on the cake. The operating
principle was that sound traveled faster than the
solid air, so the stun would take effect appropriately
before the wave front would reach the target.
Preemptively Ranma already had her hands to her ears,
but instead, Shizuka squeezed the trigger of the
shotgun. At the last moment she pivoted on her right
foot, allowing the shell to fly past where her stomach
would have been. The shell shattered on impact beyond
the battlefield, spraying globs of paint everywhere.
"Paintballs," she realized.
The moment Shizuka motion to raise her sword Ranma
covered her ears, and moved out of the way, but
instead of creating another cut Shizuka simply threw
the sword up in the air. With her momentary free hand
she quickly reloaded the shotgun, discarding the spent
shell and replacing it with a fresh shell on the
shotgun's rack in one smooth motion. It was done in
surprising speed that Shizuka had enough time to
catch her falling sword, and throw off another Sonic
Cutter in the same motion.
This time the wave completely missed, although Ranma
could still hear the noise. At this rate she was
going to become deaf....
"Okay, I'm through messing around!" she declared.
Throwing a right hook meant to knock out Shizuka,
Ranma's fist met with resistance. Realizing that she
prepared the same kind of energy shield Reiko employed
back at the Shrine, Ranma decided on a tactical
retreat, planting her feet against the field and using
it as a springboard to clear distance.
"I see your own training wasn't in vain," Shizuka
noted, raising her sword again. "But I'm much
stronger than those fools!"
* * *
"That's one," Miranda counted. "Two more to go."
"Two more what's?" asked Akane, looking toward the
martial artist.
"Shizuka had three spells prepared for this fight,"
she explained. "One of them has to be that barrier of
her's. I'd kill for something like that."
* * *
"It looks like you've improved," Ranma granted, "but
I've been going easy on you."
"I know," Shizuka replied, still wearing the same
smile. "I've been holding back, too."
"Liar!"
"Since when did I lie? My mouth is a weapon, too."
"That's not funny."
"Of course not. It's infuriating."
Grinding her teeth in anger Ranma vaulted with her
right leg extended, and threw several rapid kicks
where Shizuka should have been. The priestess dodged
to her right long before the attack would have
connected, and her motion appeared effortless. Or
rather, she was not making a concentrated effort to
move out of the way. Ranma adjusted her attack to
compensate, but Shizuka was weaving out of the way
quickly and fluidly....
...like a snake coiling to strike.
Ever so disinterested in offering an easy target the
martial artist made her own evasion moments before
the shotgun barrel would've been shoved up her gut.
"I learned quite a bit watching you fight, you know,"
Shizuka said, unfazed by the setback as she weaved
against more of Ranma's failed blows. "You won't
hesitate to use every option available to you. In fact
it makes up for my own failings against you; one-trick
ponies don't work."
"Glad something good came out of this!" Ranma shot
back.
* * *
"There's no way Shizuka could've avoided all those
hits!" Ryoga exclaimed, balling his fists. "She's not
moving that fast, but it's as if she's predicting the
blows."
"This must be her 'second spell,'" Ukyo guessed.
"But she can't be predicting Ranchan's moves; she
wouldn't be waiting for an opening like that."
"You're right," the other agreed, calming his voice
a bit. "But it still seems as if Ranma's throwing
punches at something that's not there."
"Maybe that's it," Akane said thoughtfully. "What if
Ranma's seeing something we're not?"
"There's such hypnotic techniques," Kanna added,
"where one could strike at an opponent's 'image,' so
to speak. Yet even such techniques have their limits
when one exhausts their images."
"But the symptoms are the same?"
Kanna nodded. "Shizuka is making very arbitrary
movements with little effort on her part, leaving
Ranma to hit nothing but air. Yet, most stories I hear
of the mirror image technique don't ever last this
long; it must be the spell."
* * *
Why can't I hit her?! Ranma wondered in her head.
There's no way Shizuka could be this fast!
Even though Shizuka still had her barrier around
her the priestess was avoiding attacks; Ranma paused
in her thoughts for a moment to assess the situation.
She knows I might find a way to break the barrier,
Ranma reasoned, therefore Shizuka's trying to avoid
getting hit at all. There's no other reason for it;
Shizuka has to be convinced that I can beat her if
she's going through all this trouble. The thing is,
she's never fought like this before; it's always been
a trick pony, as she said.
Yet, there was something about how she said it.... I
taught her that lesson? If that's the case, why can't
I learn from her? No, that's silly; Shizuka never did
anything useful before.
I've always attacked the barrier with the Moko
Takabisha, and it just 'splashes' on impact with the
barrier, with the barrier absorbing most, if not all,
the impact. That had to be the way to do it, since
Reiko flinched then, so it has to be the application
of the attack....
Ranma hurled herself backward away from the overhead
slice from Shizuka's sword.
Cutting? Yes, that's it! I need a sword....
Kuno could smash buildings with his stick just by
his air pressure alone, but I don't have anything like
that....
But then, neither did Miranda Kusao, and she DID
attack with cutting motions, with her bare hands and
feet. It can't be her gloves and boots; those were
just as good as using a sword-- only a tool, a means to
an end. If Miranda could do it with her hands... why
can't I?
Ranma cleared herself some distance away from
Shizuka, extending beyond three swords length. The
priestess had her shotgun barrel trained on Ranma,
steady.
"End of the line?" Shizuka huffed.
But then, why is she never where I expect her to
be? Only one way to find out....
Raising her arms crossed up high over her head,
Ranma took in a deep breath, extending her fingers
outward flat and parallel, just like Miranda would do.
"Moko Takabisha revised...." She threw her arms down
to her sides, forming an X-shaped cross of energy. The
air around her seemed to sizzle against the rain, and
a new energy wave erupted to life, sent spiraling in
Shizuka's direction.
Surprise registered on Shizuka's face, and the
crosscut attack sliced through the priestess....
Who, once again, wasn't where she was supposed to
be; by the time Ranma realized he missed Shizuka was
already getting back up from the ground.
* * *
"Hey!" Miranda cried. "He's rippin' me off!"
"He figured it out," Ukyo whispered, amazed.
"But he still missed," Kanna pointed out. "If he
can't figure out how to beat the mirror imaging, then
Ranma's going to tire himself out before it's all
over."
* * *
I know I'm hitting her, Ranma kept telling herself.
I KNOW I hit her that time, but it's still as if she
wasn't there....
Maybe that's why I'm not hitting her, she realized.
I'm NOT hitting her at all.
Ranma peered through the rain at the priestess of
Genbu, who was genuinely shaken-up now. Although she
kept her shotgun trained on Ranma she was side-stepping
slowly around in a circle, as if waiting for Ranma to
make a move first. It was then she picked up the
first hint as to what was wrong: the rainwater pouring
from above seemed to be going through her.
Illusion, Ranma surmised. Not just any illusion, but
a really good one so that I can't tell where she really
is....
She shifted her eyes a bit to the left of Shizuka,
and noted that the rain seemed to dance against the
profile that Shizuka should've been casting against
the rain.
Of course. She's really to the left of where I'm
seeing her... or rather, her image is trailing behind
her body. I'm only seeing the image!
With this in mind, Ranma's confidence boosted as she
raised her crossed arms again. She concentrated,
knowing that one blast would not be enough to cover
any avenue of escape.
Letting out a cry, Ranma, using her superior speed,
threw three of the cross-cut Moko Takabisha bolts in
Shizuka's direction.
* * *
Dammit! Shizuka cursed mentally as the rightmost
cutting bolt slashed through her barrier. She felt
herself being hurled back by the blast hitting her,
and knew her barrier failed her at this critical
moment.
Sailing backward, the priestess lined-up her eye and
shotgun, training it on Ranma, and squeezed the
trigger. Shizuka knew her shot found its mark long
before her back scraped against the wet ground,
feeling satisfaction as the paint shell's impact forced
Ranma to cry out in shock.
"Get up," she heard Deathclaw urge. "You're not done
yet!"
"Yes, it's not over yet," she agreed, forcing herself
back up despite her pain. She lost her hold on her
spent shotgun, but it didn't matter... not anymore.
Ranma staggered where she stood, her stomach inward
from the shock of the projectile hitting her square. A
bright blue splotch was the only sign of any attack on
the martial artist, and it painted a rather brilliant
target indeed.
"Had enough yet?" the martial artist shouted.
"You beat my barrier," Shizuka listed, "and saw
through my trick, and laugh at my paintball shells,
but that's all I ever really needed...."
"Giving up, huh."
"No; you underestimate my potential!"
Quickly ducking her right arm back into her sleeve
Shizuka's fingers caught the last paper talisman she
prepared for the battle, and threw it up into the air.
She thrust her sword out at it, skewering the ward
through the center, breaking the seal holding the
enchantment together.
Lightning crackled from the tip of the sword down to
where the spent ward lay skewered. A single great
bolt seemed to leap from the dark clouds above to the
tip of the blade, momentarily shocking Shizuka at its
sudden speed, but leaving her unfazed. Yet, the same
could not be said for Ranma as the lightning bolt
leaped from the tip of the blade, and collided where
the paintball impacted the martial artist.
It was a complex gamble to rely on such a situational
spell, Shizuka knew, but it paid-off. The weather was
a natural occurrence that worked in her favor; the rest
was simply a matter of painting the target. Although
Shizuka would have preferred a magic that didn't
require painting as such, a chain lightning spell was
always awesome for those rainy days.
The spell required two key things: a pre-determined
target, which differed depending on who prepared the
spell, and something to conduct the lightning well,
like the sword. Shizuka chose the color of one set of
her blue paintballs, knowing it was probably the best
delivery she could get on someone like Ranma. Without
the sword's metal surface the lightning wouldn't be
nearly as effective in frying the martial artist into
a state of static shock, so to speak.
Shizuka lost all feeling in her sword arm, and the
sky around her seemed to darken. That hit of Ranma's
must've done more damage than I thought, she told
herself....
"No, it's real," the ghost dragon in her head
warned.
A black bubble of dark shadow emerged instantly
between her and Ranma, and a moment later it burst.
The explosion sent the priestess back, scraping against
the wet ground on her back once again, this time losing
grip of her sword. She heard the weapon clatter some
distance behind her, but her heavy eyelids were
considering something far different.
"Get up," urged Deathclaw. "Now!"
"Quiet, you," she mumbled aloud.
Shizuka keened painfully as she felt Deathclaw's icy
grip seize her heart. "Get up, now," he repeated, and
the priestess recalled that the beast exerted more
control when she was losing consciousness. She wanted
to stay awake, but it struck her as odd that Deathclaw
would actually encourage her.
She felt a cold shiver down her spine, and knew that
the ghost dragon, impatient with her, was exerting
control again. Without the incentive to move on her
own Shizuka felt like a marionette to the puppeteer's
commands, and realized she was sitting up.
Across the courtyard Ranma herself was getting up,
obviously forcing herself. Shizuka could not tell if
it was her own attacks, or the bursting shadow bubble,
that did the damage, but one thing was certain, the
match wasn't going to go much further when both
opponents were on the verge of knockout.
"I'm not licked yet," Ranma said, her voice barely
audible amidst the falling rain.
"You've... you've gotten better," Shizuka noted,
remembering the crosscut projectile. "That hurt; a
little more and I might've won...."
"Since when did you get so strong?" he asked,
sounding impressed.
"I didn't," she answered. "I'm still the same
weakling as before. Only this time... I fought
smarter, not harder." She shook her head. "Stupid
saying, but it works, I guess."
"I'm really sorry I had to do that," another voice
said, "but I can't let you two hurt each other...
too much."
Where the shadow ball erupted earlier another form
was taking shape on the grounds, rising from the cast
shadows befit to her profession.
Shizuka stood up and sat on her knees, invigorated
under her own power. "Hokuto!"
"Hey!" Ranma cried. "What's the meaning of this?"
"As much as I'd like to see you two duke it out,"
the Shadow Weaver said, "there's more important things
at stake. For all the time it took me to track you
down we may have lost a lot of time already."
Instantly the priestess was on her feet, clomping
steps on the wet surface beneath her feet. She reached
out with her right arm, and grabbed Hokuto by the
scruff of her cloak. "I don't give a damn about your
stupid riddles! Spit it out!"
* * *
"You're asking me to help him?" Ranma said in
disbelief, having poured the kettle of hot water over
himself now that he was sheltered from the rainfall.
He glanced across the empty room to where Shizuka sat,
a towel wrapped around her head to soak up all the
water in her hair, diligently cleaning out her shotgun
barrel.
Thanks to Hokuto's interruption of the duel the
match was considered a draw, which was far more than
Shizuka could hope for. Miranda was, not surprisingly,
upset that Ranma copied her moves, and she desired a
fight over it, but Ranma wasn't in the mood-- not after
getting fried by the chain lightning. The others were
quite impressed that Shizuka managed to hold her own;
Ranma himself was surprised she used her head for a
change.
"Your friends were already called to him," Hokuto
explained. "Even now they try to stop him from
entering the city, but so far that's not the enemy's
purpose. Ziel's thoughts are being controlled through
a magic flute-- the Havoc Wing-- an instrument carved
from the bone of a fallen phoenix. He is instilled
with a murderous intent; this has awakened his demon
blood fully, and attacks without discretion... devoid
of morals or sanctity of life."
"Left unchecked," Shizuka added, "I don't think
anybody stands a chance." She looked toward Ranma.
"I hope your pals are smart enough to run away."
Ranma shook his head. "As much as I hate to say it,
I really don't want others going up against something
like that. Who's dumb enough to fight?"
"Mousse and Shampoo are on their way," the Shadow
Weaver answered.
"What?" asked Kanna, who was standing in the frame
of the doorway, leaning against one side with her arms
folded. "What's that goon doing here?"
"Three guesses," Shizuka answered sarcastically.
"I didn't know they were back in town," Akane added.
"They're definitely going to be in trouble." Ranma
got up to his feet, prepared to leave. "So when're
we going?"
"I'll have to take you myself," Hokuto replied. "I
can take each of you through the Shadow Stream to where
Ziel is, but the sensation is unsettling."
"Yeah, I know," the martial artist said, nodding,
remembering his previous, unwanted trip through the
dark matter.
"Something I should know?" Miranda wondered.
"So glad you volunteered to go first," Ranma said.
* * *
Ranma was glad he didn't have the pleasure of
traveling with Hokuto first; it seemed that Hokuto
could, at most, safely travel up to four people,
including herself. In that regard Ryoga, Kanna, and
Miranda decided to head off to the battle first--
probably because some of them wanted to leave Ranma
and Akane back together, or some of them were too cocky
about the experience.
He had not really seen her for quite a few days; even
their initial encounter outside the shrine wasn't
enough to remind him that he was an idiot for leaving
her behind. He looked into her eyes, and found no
anger, no demon-- only sorrowful joy. He knew that it
was only a reflection of his own feelings.
He found his arms around her, and resisted the
temptation to let her go.
"It's okay," Ranma said, searching for words. "I
think I've got it right, now."
"Stupid Ranma," Akane replied, although it never
held its strong meaning.
* * *
Ukyo slid the door shut as she stood outside under
the overhang, joining Shizuka, who stood with her arms
folded, staring out into the rain.
"It's not like they're going to do anything," the
priestess said. "Let them stand there and do nothing.
Hokuto probably needs to get her bearings after moving
so many people at once."
"I'm surprised," the chef began, changing the
subject. "I never thought you had it in you."
"Every street punk has their day once in a while,"
she scoffed.
"No, I mean it," Ukyo persisted, trying her best to
sound genuinely impressed. "I didn't think anybody
could keep up with Ranma, much less you."
"Liar. Kanna beat him."
"That was luck," Ukyo countered.
"Skill; she outsmarted him. Kanna's by no means
strong in the strength department, you know. Or in
certain other areas, but being smart gives you the
chance to be a step ahead."
"Okay. Granted, Kanna is a war scholar and has a
few years on him. That doesn't mean she can beat Ranma
if she didn't have the time to plan out the battle
ahead of time."
"True, true. That's why he'll never beat her. Oh,
and Miranda beat him."
"She's a lazy slob. She doesn't look like she's
been practicing lately, y'know?"
"That's because she doesn't practice until after she
realizes someone's strong enough to beat her," Shizuka
explained, acting as if were as plain as day. "Did I
miss anybody?"
"Just forget it," Ukyo said, not wanting to argue.
"You still don't know when to shut up."
"And you're so sunny that if the sun sets, you'll
still be glowing."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment, or an insult?"
"Take your pick."
The rain overhead seemed to beat harder on the roof.
"Don't you ever stop insulting people?"
"Don't you ever stop being so cheery? It's
disgusting."
"Same for that attitude of yours," Ukyo countered.
"How the hell did you ever become a priestess, anyway?"
"By default, not by choice, I assure you," Shizuka
answered, her eyes narrowing. "I'm tellin' you, those
people like types like you. No wonder everybody's
pressuring your kind."
"'My kind?'"
"Yeah," Shizuka said, her tone conveying a sense
that Ukyo should know what she was talking about.
"You ever notice on TV that everyone promotes happy
and healthy lives? It's always the same damn thing:
grow up, get a boyfriend, marry, have kids, and be
cute. Shitty message they're spreading to girls, I
say."
"There's nothing wrong with a healthy life."
"Not if that's the only way it's being told," the
priestess continued. "I don't have any of those, and
I'm healthy and happy."
"I thought you...."
"He is not!" she answered quickly, cutting Ukyo off.
"And you know what else? Since I'm a priestess
certain things are expected of me. I don't do any of
it; I do things my way. Have you ever seen an angel
before?"
Ukyo blinked, confused. "No...."
"They say," Shizuka continued, apparently satisfied
with the response, "that if people could add one more
thing to the human race, it'd be angel wings. It
supposedly 'looks good.'" She lowered her head and
spat. "Ever wonder why you never see a summoner
summon a Celestial? They're too haughty and full-of-
it to come. They're too 'good' for us lowly humans.
That's why every summoner makes pacts with demons...
Infernals, outcasts of the spirit people. Angels are
Celestials, Kuonji, and I hate them and everything
having to do with them. That's why Sypha is leading a
war in the Kami Plane-- to overthrow the Celestial
Order that's held their world, and our world, since
time immemorable. We the human race are too fixated on
being 'good' that we don't know how to 'be.'"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Ukyo
wanted to know.
The other girl shrugged. "I don't know; maybe I
wanted you to know why I'm not a good priestess. The
Celestials are so self-righteous that they're like
strict parents who want you to do as they say."
"You didn't grow-up with your parents, did you?"
Shizuka sighed. "Of course not. I didn't 'conform'
to what they wanted in their firstborn child."
Ukyo shook her head. "You're one messed-up kid,
you know that? Don't you ever stop thinking about
'you?'"
"Hah. That's funny; Akane told me I wasn't selfish
enough. Don't you just love double standards like
that?"
"It's your self-image; you think you're all-that."
"I wouldn't be the first one, Kuonji. But it's a
different thing to dream and to make dreams happen. At
least I am aware that I have a self-image."
"So am I," Ukyo countered. "I know what I am...
nothing more, nothing less."
She glanced over at the priestess, who seemed to look
satisfied with the response. "You're getting better,"
Shizuka replied. "It's good to know who you are and
where you stand."
* * *
Ruin of the Underground Lab
Thunder crashed in the distance as dark clouds rushed
to consume the sky, and Nekurow's boots clomped against
wet earth as he made his way past his defeated
opponents.
Any that stood in the way of his target was an
obstacle, and for that they should be lucky they have
their lives, the dark hunter mused.
It appeared he arrived last among those remaining
martial artists left in the Tokyo area, with the girl
Ayame in tow. Although he did not wish her to be
around while he 'went to work' she came out of her own
volition, likely curious as to what he was going to do
to Ziel.
The only worthy adversaries were a pair of Chinese
martial artists-- one of which practiced the black
arts of hidden weaponry. Nekurow only encountered
such a practitioner once before, long ago, and it was
a battle he had lost for underestimating the enemy's
power. But that was many years ago, and experience is
a wise teacher for those who live to learn from it.
The dark hunter neutralized the weapon master's arts
by throwing out his scabbard to catch the chains; with
such a distraction the weapons were rendered useless,
and it was a simple task to knock him out. The other,
a feisty unarmed girl, proved to have a speed
advantage, but without a weapon of her own she could
not get close enough to land a blow of her own. That
was her mistake.
Ayame seemed to know those two as well, and for
defeating the pair so soundly she chose to remain
behind. That was just as well, Nekurow thought; she
would have gotten in the way during the real fight
with the Wind-User. Her heart bled for those in need,
but such sympathy and love was wasted on Nekurow.
The wind scattered the falling rain in seemingly
random directions, but Nekurow's spectacles discerned
a pattern-- a spiral-- moving around the ruins in a
wide arc. Such behavior was typical; the Wind-User
was most likely at the eye of the storm, and it was
best to get there before the battle began.
He met resistance in his steps as he entered the
field of the spiraling wind. It was more than obvious
to Nekurow that Ziel was expecting him. Reaching into
his inner coat Nekurow withdrew his energy shield,
opening it up and holding it to his left, against the
path of the incoming wind. Creating a small hole of
calm air from the magical device the hunter ducked his
head and stepped inside.
* * *
The rush of cold air did not compare to the bite of
the void of the shadow.
Ryoga shivered despite himself, forcing himself ahead
of Kanna and Miranda, who were similarly shaken-up by
the shadow transport. Their benefactor, Hokuto, had
long since vanished from sight, probably to get the
others, preparing to make two more trips. Of course,
the Shadow Weaver had not dropped them off just
anywhere.
They stood sheltered under an overhang to what
appeared to be an empty aboveground storage shed,
protected from the rainfall that was picking up. Not
far away was a girl, standing on her knees, staring
down at one of two prone, hurting people-- one Shampoo,
one Mousse-- both of who had seen better days.
"Hey squirt," Miranda called, her voice rebounding
off the wall closest to her, "what's the haps?"
Ayame jumped in surprise. "You?! How did you get
here?"
"Long story," Kanna answered.
Ryoga nodded, lowering himself beside Shampoo. She
looked up back at him, seemingly in immense pain,
although there were no visible bruises or cuts on her.
"There's a man in black," she explained, "who beat us
in five minutes."
"That's bad, even for you," Miranda said, kicking
blow the proverbial belt.
"You wouldn't last one second," Mousse countered,
cocking his head up slowly, his glasses uneven on his
brow. "He's good."
"I suppose it's this Nekurow guy I've been hearing
about?" guessed Kanna. "And Mousse... why the hell
are you here?"
"Heh," he chuckled, "I knew I'd find you here...."
"What's this all about?" wondered Ryoga, his
suspicious eyes passing from Mousse, then to Kanna.
"Kanna... why'd you leave so suddenly?" asked the
weapons master. "We were so... good together...."
"Don't you get it?" the tactician bit back. "I left
because I need space. I mean, sure, studying doesn't
look like much of a life to you, but it's what I've
got; I'm not a complete loser. I felt like going back
and finishing college; helping Shizuka was a rather
convenient excuse to... well... excuse myself."
"But there's no way...."
"Of course there is! Mousse, think about it; the
only reason your people are fighting is because they
are gangbanging each other. I'm an outsider, so I got
an outside opinion on this... but it seems to me that
sometime not long ago someone pushed someone's buttons,
and people feuded. If one person did something, they
had to do it back. From my point of view there's
absolutely no reason why your people should be
fighting at all, and I'm willing to bet you yourself
don't even know why you're fighting."
"They started it," Shampoo started to say, but
stopped herself.
Mousse slammed his fist on the ground. "Dammit! I
should've known! We're still playing-out Sypha Blade's
little distraction drama!"
"When Sypha was looking to fix Dragon Pearl," the
other Chinese warrior continued, "she got everybody to
fight each other to hide the fact she was looking for
something. People notice when strangers come looking
around."
"So she integrated herself into the Tigers tribe
and provoked the fighting, hoping we'd all be too busy
fighting amongst ourselves to fight her over the
artifacts," Mousse finished. "And she's already long
gone... what a devious woman she is!"
"Mousse," Kanna said, "there's no way I can help
you other than what I told you guys before. You have
to work it out for yourselves."
"But what about Nekurow?" wondered Ryoga. "Where did
he go?"
Ayame raised a finger, pointing toward the path of
destruction beyond the overhang. "There's some kind of
underground compound over there... the Wind-User broke
through the earth and it's exposed to the sky. Nekurow
went in there, but hasn't come out yet."
"Seems like the wind's pickin' up, though," Miranda
noted, standing at the edge of the overhang.
Standing up, Ryoga decided, "I'm going after him."
"Same here," Miranda said. "I ain't sitting this one
out."
"Only if you think you can keep up," Ryoga directed
at her.
"Shut up."
"Wait for Ranma," Kanna advised. "There's no use
getting picked-off one at a time by either of the
opposing parties."
"I tend to agree," Shizuka said, making her entrance
from the shadow. Behind her Ranma and Akane appeared,
but Ukyo was nowhere in sight. "But Nekurow's mine."
"Where's Ukyo?" asked Kanna.
"She's coming later," Ranma answered. "So where's
Ziel?"
"Over at the crater over there," Ryoga said, pointing
the same way Ayame did earlier. "Nekurow's apparently
over there, too."
"Okay, fine," Ranma said, cracking his knuckles.
"I'm going to show that guy some real action!"
"You aren't thinking of doing it by yourself, are
you?"
"Just stay out of this," Shizuka told Ryoga, drawing
her sword. "I've got a score to settle with the black
hunter." She slid her shotgun off her shoulder, and
handed it to Ryoga. "Watch this for me, 'kay? It's
not dried yet."
"Where're you going?" he wanted to know.
"I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve," she
replied, reaching for her string of three beads
hanging off her left sleeve. "Just that it's going to
call for a little creativity, since none of the beasts
are answering the summons lately."
"This'll be quick," Ranma assured him, stepping out
into the rain.
"Ranma, be careful," Akane said as he and Shizuka
disappeared from the shelter.
* * *
Dropping down with a thud Nekurow quickly descended
into the crater. He judged that the underground
chamber was constructed for isolation purposes, as each
of the four sides of the square chamber were white
and bare, and appeared to have been designed with
keeping noise inside in mind. At the center was a
smashed rectangular table made of wood, splintered
down the middle across the long side. Broken metal
shackles hung uselessly at the places meant to keep
the room's occupant down on the table.
It was not that much different from a mental ward,
only the concern of the occupant was the farthest from
the doctor's mind.
At the far end of the room, barely concealed by the
shadows cast from the broken ceiling above, the black
hunter's eyes found the prone body of Ziel Kagura,
apparently looking exhausted. If the blast was any
indication, it meant that the Wind-User expended a
great deal of energy to get peoples' attention.
"Welcome, Nekurow."
The hunter paused in his thoughts, immediately
tensing and reaching for the sword at his side. "Show
yourself!"
From beyond the shadow where Ziel lay another
emerged, draped in dusty brown robes. Nekurow judged
his height and build, but the newcomer's identity was
concealed, as the hood cast a shadow over much of his
face. The robed one stood with both arms to his side,
but his left arm betrayed the fact that he was holding
something-- probably a throwing weapon.
"I am glad you accepted my invitation," the robed
one said. "I went through a lot of trouble in order to
find someone who could defeat the infamous Nekurow."
"You," Nekurow recognized, remembering the man who
directed him to Tokyo in the first place two weeks ago.
"I should've known that you'd have a personal stake in
this. What are you up to?" he demanded, his hand on
the scabbard, thumb pushing the blade out by the hilt.
"There are parties that are particularly interested
in that sword you carry," he continued. "The Orochi
Cult in particular want their sacred blade back, but
even they wouldn't dare challenge you. And after I
take it from your carcass, they might not be able to
pay the highest bid on such a collectable relic."
"Junk collector," the hunter spat. "I expected the
Orochi Cult to come after the sword one day, but not
in this manner. I cannot lose to one such as you."
"Ah, but in my line of business, I collect all manner
of 'junk.'" He raised his left arm up, revealing a
strange, bone-like instrument. "This Havoc Wing, for
instance... an instrument whose melodies attune the
victim's mind to its current, whereby the notes can
control."
"I've heard of this 'Havoc Wing,'" Nekurow replied,
his other hand drawing the Orochi sword. "It's power
is limited to imprint on one mind at a time, and to the
proficiency of the user. It plays off the feelings of
the victim, but is useless against those protected
against such power-- such as myself. What makes you
think your control over the Wind-User will spell my
demise?"
He saw the robed adversary smile under the hood.
"That was assuming I 'could' control him. The moment
I play the right notes, he'll slaughter any living,
breathing soul he sees. Anything to make the 'itch'
go away."
"That doesn't bar you, junk collector," Nekurow
pointed out dryly.
"There you go, assuming again. Certainly, you may
see me, but it doesn't mean Ziel does...."
"Nekurow!!"
Both the hunter and the enemy looked up toward the
top of the crater, with two new arrivals.
"We ain't finished yet!" Shizuka announced, leaping
into the crater, her sword drawn. Nekurow noted the
priestess was missing her other blade as she stood.
She pointed the sword at him, ignoring the robed man.
"You touch Ziel, you die."
Nekurow's eyes narrowed, noting that the robed one
had already begun playing his deadly notes, and the
Wind-User had already begun to rise, the priestess of
Genbu oblivious to what was going on around her. He
waited, watching as Ziel wound-up his arm free-hand.
"Shizuka!!" the other cried from above. Nekurow, his
eyes trained on said girl, barely noted who it could
possibly be.
Although the girl remained unflinching, her ally's
last-minute ki attack sliced the tornado Ziel spun-off
against her, rending the wind harmless, merely blowing
her hair and his coat around. Nekurow grimaced,
realizing that she probably also knew about the
incoming attack, and chose not to do anything about
it.
The robed flautist paid it no mind, but Nekurow
judged his reactions through Ziel, as the Wind-User
was already using his wind power to carry himself
out of the crater to attack the offending ki-user.
"It seems as if your attempt to kill me has failed,"
Shizuka said, visibly disappointed, as Nekurow noted
the robed one vanish back into the shadow. "Even the
Shadow Weavers are afraid of you, but, as a fellow
demon hunter... you're nothing special to me."
"Awaken Deathclaw," Nekurow encouraged, frustrated
that the possessed girl was getting in the way again.
"You say you are a demon hunter... but you protect
those two demons with your life. Do the world a
favor-- allow me to slay these beasts before they
cause atrocities."
"I can't do that," Shizuka replied. "If I may be the
servant of demons, then you're the servant of angels.
You're a tool of prejudice and intolerance to the way
YOU think is right. No; this time you're not fighting
Deathclaw-- you're dealing with Shizuka Minazuki, and
if you've got a problem with my friends, then you're
going to have to go through me first."
Nekurow smiled, amused by the bravado. "So be it!"
* * *
The rising tornado carrying Ziel out into the rainy
grounds dissipated, and Ranma lowered her soaking arms
as the winds died. The Wind-User's clothes were torn
and ripped across in places, as if his own winds
sliced into him. He held his head and arms low with
an arched back, as if he could not stand up straight.
Ziel took in long and deep breaths of air, as if the
air around him were suffocating.
"Ziel," Ranma shouted, "you don't have to listen to
him...."
"He can't hear you, boy," he heard the voice of the
robed collector say, apparently having finished with
the Havoc Wing. "In this state Ziel is beyond my
control-- as I said earlier, my control over him was
not complete. I think he'll demonstrate this for me."
As if on cue Ziel's arms wound back, and then forth,
ripping two quick tornados to life. Ranma threw
herself away to the side, barely escaping the wind
marked by the spinning rainfall.
"He won't stop until I play the counter notes," he
added, "or he wears himself out and dies. After all,
he is a frail human. It matters not which comes
first; if you survive, I'll just attune the flute to
you."
* * *
"Hokuto," Akane said, looking back toward the Shadow
Weaver who just brought Ukyo with her, "what's going
on?"
Appearing visibly exhausted, the Shadow Weaver
answered, "It is as it appears."
"So what about the Havoc Wing?" she asked. "Can't
we do anything about that?"
"Such as?" Miranda said, posing her own question
into the pool, obviously bored out of her mind.
"Our enemy need not play constantly to retain its
effects," Hokuto answered. "But it is useless to try
and stop Ziel with it without knowing the notes that
went into stirring his blood."
"It's still worth a shot, I think," Kanna said in
support of Akane.
"I'll get it," Ryoga volunteered.
"You can't," the Shadow Weaver told him. "He's
beyond your ability."
"You're kidding," Miranda groaned. "Will you quit
telling us what we can't do and tell us what we CAN
do?"
"Just who is this guy, Hokuto?" Akane asked finally.
"You obviously know more than you're letting on."
"He's a Shadow Weaver, too, isn't he?" guessed Kanna.
"Is that why you're protecting him?"
"I'm not protecting him!" she protested.
"Sure sounds like it to me," Mousse scoffed.
"You're better off not knowing too much," Hokuto
insisted. "The Oracle of Bones is a dangerous man."
"Hokuto!" Akane yelled impatiently.
"Kosseimaru."
"Kosseimaru?"
"He's a collector of rare artifacts, and is thought
to be immortal because he found something," Hokuto
explained reluctantly. "We've traced him to be at
least three-hundred years old, and we've never gotten
close enough to him to know if he's truly a man, or a
demon."
"So there's guys even you fear," Ukyo concluded.
"Kosseimaru lives off the riches he makes by selling
certain artifacts to the highest bidder. He apparently
is aware of our order and knows when we watch him. We
are forbidden to get close to him... because he has
killed some of us in the past, and our numbers are not
what they used to be."
"So why don't we gang-bang him?" suggesed Miranda,
clenching her fists in anticipation. "One guy can't
possibly deal with all of us."
"We just want the flute," Akane said, putting the
focus back on the matter at hand. She looked toward
Shampoo and Mousse, who were forcing themselves to
sit-up.
"This is personal," Shampoo stated. "We get your
flute, then I get Nekurow!"
"Forget that," Mousse insisted. "I just want that
bastard."
"We're getting the flute!" the other insisted. "I
don't care for this mind control magic."
Wordlessly, Ayame watched as both Shampoo and Mousse
got up to their feet, and turned and exited the
confines of the shelter, out into the rain and into
the coldness of the wind. Following their silent trek
went Ryoga, Miranda, and Ukyo, with the former two
cracking their knuckles, and the latter slipping out
the giant spatula slung over her shoulder. Akane got
up and followed, and finally, Ayame's eyes passed to
Kanna, who was staring back.
"Um, I think I'll sit this one out," Ayame said,
getting a silent nod in return from the other girl.
Kanna nudged her head toward Hokuto. "Make sure she
doesn't go anywhere," she ordered, unslinging her
death scythe before moving out.
* * *
The weight of Nekurow's heavy blows did not hurt as
much as before, Shizuka noted, keeping her hands firmly
gripped on her single remaining sword. Although the
Viper swords were designed as a pair in mind they were
forged as any other katana, just like the Orochi sword.
However, the Orochi sword was forced in a superior
manner to the Viper swords, and it was made of a
mystical fang to boot. The Viper swords were just
regular swords decorated with ornaments.
For each overhead swing Nekurow made Shizuka was
ready to parry the blow, and the moment he withdrew for
another blow she wheeled around, dodging to either
side seemingly at random, and sometimes backward,
creating a slowly-moving circle of death as either one
of the combatants refused to allow their flanks or
rears to get compromised. Her heart hammered against
her breast, and her thoughts raced, scrambling to
discern some sort of weakness... stupid habit... that
she never noticed before.
The dark glasses the dark hunter wore reflected the
priestess' dilemma perfectly, and she knew that Nekurow
knew it, too.
"Help me," Shizuka said in her mind, reaching down to
her soul-- and the creature sharing within.
"Help?" Deathclaw scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous.
You wanted to beat him without my help."
"That last time was a mistake," she admitted. "One
of us has to be in total control, or this doesn't
work. But you know... if I go, you go, too."
"Yes," the ghost dragon knew. "You made sure he
won't care if he kills you. A wise decision."
"Look, dragon breath," she hissed, suddenly annoyed,
"I don't like you, and you don't like me. Fine; we've
got that squared-away. But I don't plan on dying, and
neither do you, so let's set aside our petty
differences for now and wipe the smile off this guy's
face. How about that?"
She waited for Deathclaw's reply, but her impatience
won out first. "Give me an opening, dammit!"
The dragon sighed. "He's playing on your
frustration," he answered. "Get out of melee range."
Shizuka's eyes narrowed, waiting for the opportunity
to capitalize on such an obvious idea. Nekurow pulled
his sword back, reorienting his hand to opt for a
horizontal slash. Choosing this to be the time the
priestess forced all her strength in her legs, then
purposefully catapulted backward as hard as she could
as the swinging blade slashed the air. She released
one hand from her sword grip, slipping it up her sleeve
until her fingers closed around the steel cards.
Whipping her arm back out she threw three of the
cards back toward the enemy, swinging with one motion.
As they were piercing the air with a whine Shizuka
barely had the time to blink before all three of them
were dead and clattering on the ground, having their
momentum absorbed by Nekurow's energy shield, which
spread like a hexagon that protected nearly his entire
body with a transparent, shimmering force. Nekurow
kept the shield trained ahead, but his sword ready,
low and behind, ready to swing.
Shizuka raised her right leg upward toward remains
of the ceiling, and triggered the harpoon gun strapped
to her lower leg. The harpoon sped upward and lodged
itself quickly into the ceiling, and the rope that
trailed back to the launcher quickly rolled back in,
taking the priestess up into the air by her leg. She
stared down at Nekurow, and could not read his
expression with the glasses in the way. Planting her
other foot against the ceiling Shizuka dislodged the
harpoon, allowing it to retract fully and placing
herself in freefall, sword first, downward to the
opposing black hunter.
Nekurow pivoted off his left foot, turning back and
allowing Shizuka to smash against the ground. Although
the collision indeed hurt Shizuka counted on the move,
putting her in a better, more deceptively-advantageous
position. She reared back slightly, coiled to strike,
knowing that she had the scant precious seconds to get
under the energy web shield. True to her nature the
snake lashed out with its fang, darting under the
shield for Nekurow's legs, catching him on his left
leg. Meeting with heavy resistance Shizuka raised her
Viper sword up and took a good, quick slash at his
shield arm, and somersaulted backward against the
inside of the shield, tearing it out of the hunter's
grip.
The hunter howled in pain as the energy shield died
without his life force to fuel it, and the device
clattered uselessly behind Shizuka. Before she could
get back to her feet Nekurow was already reaching for
another weapon, and the priestess felt the leather lash
of his whip coil around her sword arm. Shizuka pulled
her arm back, but Nekurow was counting on it; he
released the hold on the whip, causing her to stagger
back defenseless for a few critical seconds.
Her eyes widened in shock when the next stroke came,
her back slamming against the wall behind her. She
looked down, staring at a retracting spear weapon that
ran straight through the left side of her stomach and
through the back, impaling her against the wall. Her
eyes followed the retracting pole back to Nekurow's
open palm, and underneath it to the dark recesses of
his coat sleeve.
Her Viper sword dropped uselessly somewhere on the
ground, Shizuka grasped the retracting pole with both
hands, in a vain, weak attempt to dislodge herself.
"You fought well, and I commend you on your courage,"
Nekurow hissed, his voice filled with no great
pleasure at the task before him. "I will make this
quick."
* * *
Ziel spun off more tornados, forcing Ranma to weave
between the spinning winds on a moment's notice, as the
path of the winds were erratic and unpredictable. She
dodged one tornado, only to get a second tornado full
in the face, the spiraling wind ripping cuts on her
clothes and her face and arms. Ranma refused the urge
to cry out, unwilling to give the deranged Wind-User
the satisfaction of inflicting pain.
Said opponent stood in place, hunched-over and
clutching his head, occasionally pounding against it
with his open palms, as if to drive out a hideous noise
from his head.
Ranma stretched her right arm out, and threw an
arced ki bolt, and watched it sail through the incoming
tornados effortlessly with its vacuum force. Ziel did
not move even as the blade nicked his left shoulder,
nor did he seem to notice, but his rage seemed to
intensify against the struggle going on within him.
Several more tornados spun away from the Wind-User, and
there was nowhere to find cover.
Utilizing her quick speed Ranma made several slash
motions, quickly forming a safe pocket of air from the
incoming attack.
"Damn it," she cursed. "That jerk was right; not
even a blow like that's going to stop him. He WANTS me
to kill him."
But that's not going to happen, Ranma reminded
herself. Yet... Ziel wasn't giving any openings....
Make one.
Whipping out several cuts in front of her to pave
the way Ranma rushed in the wake of the vacuum shield,
forcing her way through the tornado storm and getting
the first real reaction out of Ziel, who finally
seemed to notice her. Raising up slightly Ziel tossed
his arms about, sending his own vacuum blades out to
diffuse Ranma's own, but it was not enough to break
Ranma's momentum. She launched a strong kick against
Ziel's face, sending the Wind-User flying backward
against the ground.
Lowering her guard for a moment Ranma tensed again
when Ziel, despite taking what should have been a
knock-out blow, was getting back up, using the wind to
bring his body into the air. Levitating effortlessly,
Ziel's blank eyes stared back at the martial artist,
and he took several deep breaths in rapid succession.
"No way," she muttered in disbelief.
As if the day wished for Ranma to get it worse, she
felt the air beneath her feet spiral, but it was too
late. Spiraling upward into the sky out of control,
the wind knocked out of her, Ranma struggled with
herself to keep her eyes open. As quick as the wind
column appeared it vanished, leaving the martial
artist to plummet back down to the earth, hard.
That was it, she realized too late. Ziel's trying to
wear me out....
Shaking the thought out of her mind, Ranma forced
herself to get back up. "Everybody's depending on me,"
she told herself. "Akane's depending on me. Even
Ziel.... I won't lose."
* * *
"Good," Kosseimaru said, observing his puppet flatten
the upstart martial artist. "You were the right choice
after all." He raised the bone flute to his lips. "I
see there is no need to overexert yourself... there is
still the hunter to deal with...."
"Kosseimaru!"
Disturbed that someone shouted to him by name the
robed man lowered the Havoc Wing, and turned. "I see
there were more of you, after all."
With Akane standing in front, the gathered martial
artists seemed ready to take on the dark one. "Stop
this right now!" she demanded.
"Or you're going to wish you stayed in bed this
morning!" added Miranda.
Kosseimaru snorted. "It doesn't matter; I came
prepared for you as well."
Quickly reaching into his sleeve, Kosseimaru threw
out several small, tooth-like bones, scattering them on
the ground before him like a protective shield. Each
of the balls glowed, pulsating with a life of their
own, and in a quick flash, were replaced by five
skeleton warriors-- animated dead, each armed with
swords carved of bone.
"What the hell...?!" Ryoga cursed.
"Feel free to play with my hydra teeth," Kosseimaru
invited, lifting the Havoc Wing back up. "I'm busy."
* * *
Akane stood her ground, but Miranda and Ryoga charged
head-on to the new opponents. She looked to her left
at Ukyo, who merely shrugged, then rushed to join them,
along with Mousse and Kanna. With one-on-one odds on
the hydra teeth, that left her, and....
Shampoo tapped her on the shoulder. "Now we can get
the flute," she suggested, before rushing off herself.
"Shampoo, wait!" Akane cried, but the martial artist
was already rushing off past the hydra teeth and the
others. Shaking her head, she followed Shampoo in
turn, amidst unintelligible encouragement from Ryoga
and Ukyo.
* * *
Parrying a swing from a bone sword, shattering on
impact against her spatula, Ukyo wound up for the
swing. She sliced across the rib cage of the bones,
shattering it on impact, allowing the rest of the
animated skeleton to crumble before her.
Wiping her forehead, about to congratulate herself on
a job well-done, the bone fragments began to move
again. Each of the fragments shimmered as before,
quickly reconstructing themselves.
Quickly darting her eyes to each side, she saw that
Kanna and Mousse, who each had already taken-out their
own opponents with fatal weapon blows, were suffering
from the same problem.
"Dammit," she cursed as the hydra teeth, now
fully-reassembled, along with the bone sword, rushed
her. "Don't you guys know when to stay dead?"
* * *
A scant few notes escaped from the Havoc Wing before
Shampoo was over Kosseimaru, interrupting the sequence
of notes. Despite herself Shampoo fought against the
bruises Nekurow gave her earlier, throwing punch and
kick with surprising speed against the rainfall. Her
teeth barred, her eyes intent on the robed foe, she
was focused on dislodging the flute from his hand.
But for as much as she was quick, Kosseimaru seemed
even quicker, dodging each blow with surprising ease.
"My, my," he said impassively. "Aren't we eager to
die?"
"Fight me!" Shampoo challenged. "No more stupid mind
tricks!"
Yet the robed man refused to answer the challenge.
"You were one of those I sought to fight Nekurow, but
you had many failings. Such as your curse... and
speaking of which, I see you remedied that failing."
"I will quiet you!" she hissed.
"Are you truly fighting me, or yourself?" he taunted.
"You share a kinship with Ziel; you, too, were weak
enough to have your mind controlled by another."
Bursting into an explosive anger, Shampoo didn't care
if Kosseimaru punched her soft spot. It was
inexcusable for one of her upbringing to be manipulated
by such magicks-- even if it was by an enemy as strong
as the Phoenix Mountain people. She grew up surrounded
by such magicks in her youth, and Shampoo thought she
was better-prepared to handle such things.
One great kick landed in Kosseimaru's mid-section,
but instead of impacting against a hard body, Shampoo
felt whatever it was underneath the robes buckle and
cave like sand. She found herself standing before the
robed man, her right leg stuck in his chest, and stared
at a dark smile.
Kosseimaru wasn't hurt by the blow at all.
"That tickled," he said, amused.
* * *
"Think of something!" Shizuka shouted in her mind,
unable to budge the spear no matter how hard she
tried.
"Is this how you intend to end this?" Deathclaw
snorted, disappointed. "If you are too weak...."
"Shut up, I'm thinking! I don't want your help!"
She felt a cold shiver take hold in her body,
spreading from the metal shaft impaling her side. Her
blood froze as she felt Deathclaw's presence, exerting
control over her body functions, numbing her stomach of
the bleeding pain. It was as if the gods took pity on
her, and killed the pain-- and the feeling-- in her
stomach.
Shizuka was certain it was true that the ghost
dragon finally decided to help.
* * *
Annoyed at having cut down her opponent for the third
time Kanna lowered the butt-end of her death scythe
down to the remains of the hydra teeth, sifting through
the remains, contemplating kicking them and scattering
them across the wind. Her eyes narrowed as the
pieces closest to the center of the pile started to
glow, but noted that the pieces she sifted away were
not. Angered, Kanna lifted her foot and stomped on
the glowing pieces twice.
She waited and watched for them to glow, but the only
source of light was emerging from the bottom of the
pile. Kicking the broken pieces out of the way Kanna
found a glowing marble-like tooth-- just like the ones
Kosseimaru threw out in the first place. Spinning her
scythe in the air, with the blade facing down, the
tactician speared the marble.
The marble shattered, a wisp of energy dissipating
harmlessly from the now-opened center.
Raising her head, she shouted to the other, "Guys!
Their cores are their weakness!"
"About time," Mousse shouted back. Kanna turned to
his direction, seeing him hammering the bones and
grinding them to dust-- along with the core-- with a
large mallet.
Her eyes focused on Ryoga, and Kanna barely witnessed
the martial artist punch through the bones' rib cage.
The hydra teeth seemed to stop in an instant, and wisps
of energy flew out from the cage; Kanna surmised that
Ryoga crushed the core with his bare hand. The former
animate collapsed around his arm.
* * *
"You're not human," Shampoo realized, trying to get
her leg unstuck. She felt something rattle beneath
the robes.
"Heh, heh, heh," the enemy laughed. "Maybe... or
maybe not."
"Kosseimaru!!"
The robed man only had time to turn his head before
Akane gave him the hardest knuckle sandwich ever.
Bones cracked from the blow, and Akane stood back,
dumbfounded that her blow could do so much damage. The
cloth around the man's head suggested that his neck
was snapped, and now Kosseimaru was looking at her
with his head having turned a full circle around his
body. Bits of skin flaked off of his visible cheek.
"That... hurt!" he cried with rage.
"What in the world are you?" Akane demanded to know.
Before any answer could come Shampoo's free leg was
around the arm holding the Havoc Wing, bringing the
robed... thing... down to the ground, collapsing in a
heap. Seeing the robed man lose grip over the bone
flute Akane reached out and scooped up the bone
artifact, keeping it out of reach from Kosseimaru.
"Heh, heh," the collapsed man laughed, "what are you
going to do with that? You don't know how to stop
Ziel."
"I don't need to know," Akane said, holding the two
ends of the flute with her hands. Raising her knee up
for a second she brought the flute's mid-point down
hard, snapping the bone in two.
"NOO!!!" Kosseimaru screamed in surprise and anger,
reaching out with his outstretched hand.
* * *
Ranma charged at Ziel, who was spinning a massive
spiral around himself, preparing to launch an even more
massive tornado. She weaved to the left and right,
dodging wind blades as they came, with some nicking her
arms or legs. Letting out a cry Ranma threw several
more blade bolts, carving against the width of the
tornado shield ahead of her.
She dove into the brief aperture, fist-first, like an
unstoppable missile. She felt the wind crash against
her on the way in, and rip her apart on the way out,
taking Ziel with her with surprising force.
Ranma collapsed some distance past Ziel, tumbling
over her head and landing on her back, staring up at
the dark, cloudy sky. The rain beat against her body
that ached all over from the reckless attack, and she
knew she could take no more of the punishment-- the
limit was reached.
Yet, that seemed to be enough, and Ranma did not
protest against her heavy eyelids, welcoming the long-
earned rest.
* * *
Nekurow retracted his extending spear seconds after
Shizuka's grip weakened and faltered. Her arms fell
limp, and her head fell forward, as if all life was
drained through the weapon. Annoyed that the girl was
probably so weak that she died from such an inaccurate
blow the weapon quickly slid back through the
priestess' body, allowing it to crumple to the ground.
Tossing the retracted weapon aside the dark hunter
walked steadily toward the fallen priestess, unsure if
he really killed the girl. He reached out with the toe
of his right boot, intent on turning the body over.
The last thing he saw before the brightness overtook
his vision was the girl, very much alive, tossing a
small bead at his face.
* * *
"You dumb fuck," Shizuka cursed, getting back to
her feet. She held up the two remaining beads from the
string on her left sleeve, having swept them off when
she faked unconsciousness. "And you call yourself a
hunter?"
The summoning beads served as a sort of container of
potential energy for magic; typically they were offered
to summoned beasts in exchange for service, as the
residents of the Kami Plane used it to increase their
personal power-- and thus their station among their
peers. However, since it was potential energy, it
could be fashioned and used however the user pleased,
if they knew how to harness the power.
Knowing that the blinding flash-- which lasted only
for a heartbeat-- would keep Nekurow busy for only a
few seconds until his spectacles readjusted to the
brightness of the chamber, Shizuka tossed the second
bead in front of her, allowing it to transform into a
glowing ball of energy. It stopped in mid-air, opening
a small aperture, and unleashing several tiny needle-
like bolts at the exposed Nekurow.
The dark hunter staggered back as each needle
punched into his chest, dissipating upon contact, but
causing harm nonetheless, firing like a minigun. The
scorpion stinger wasn't meant to deal a lot of damage,
but serve as a constant distraction for its speed of
attack.
Preparing to throw her third bead Shizuka was
unprepared for Nekurow's sudden recovery, as he rushed
into the fire of the stinger and knocked the priestess
with the back of his free hand. Staggering backward
her arm flailed as well, causing her to lose grip on
the bead. It clattered uselessly somewhere behind her,
and Shizuka cursed her luck.
Nekurow raised his hand to adjust his glasses. "That
was an interesting trick," he admitted, "but hardly
enough."
Annoyed, and nearly out of options, Shizuka quickly
threw three more steel cards, then aimed her right leg
out as if to kick, and fired her harpoon gun.
For his credit the dark hunter quickly deflected all
three projectiles away, and dodged to the right,
allowing the harpoon gun and the rope attached to it to
fly under his left arm. He smirked, but before he
could make a reply Shizuka was suddenly catapulted
toward him, with both her feet first, knocking him in
the stomach and knocking him out, sword flying.
Crashing against the opposite wall, Shizuka, too,
collapsed to the ground on her back, the harpoon still
stuck to the wall.
"It's not over," Deathclaw warned, and the girl
snapped back to her senses.
True to form Nekurow was getting up, and looked as
if he was going to dive for the Orochi sword. Shizuka
quickly planted her feet against the wall, and
catapulted herself off, breaking the harpoon free.
With her arm outstretched she reached for the sword as
Nekurow did the same. Her fingers curled around the
handle just as Nekurow's hand clamped onto her hand.
Yet just as quickly as his hand was on it was gone,
and Nekurow howled in pain as he was shocked by the
sword. Cradling it as if it were burned it allowed
Shizuka ample time to get back to her feet, the large
Orochi Sword in her hand. She held the blade under
the dark hunter's chin threateningly.
"The sword has chosen its master," she announced
dryly.
"That's impossible," Nekurow muttered in disbelief,
making no move to provoke the priestess. "I mastered
the sword long ago."
"You'd be surprised what a 'demon priestess' is
capable of," Shizuka replied impassively. "So I guess
it figures, coming from a demon sword."
* * *
"You broke the spell," Kosseimaru said, trying to
regain some shred of dignity. "You broke my flute."
"You're through," Akane said, standing over the man.
The robed man laughed. "You win... this round...."
The mass holding the robe up seemed to buckle, and
Shampoo's hold rendered useless. Smokey wisps rose
from the ends, startling both girls as the others
came up, having dealt with the hydra teeth.
"What the hell?!" exclaimed Ukyo.
Narrowing her eyes, Kanna reached with the butt of
her polearm, and poked at the robe, coming straight to
the ground. She pulled it away, revealing a clatter of
bone and decaying skin, dissolving into the air.
"This guy's a skeleton, too," the tactician
announced. "Tricky guy, using puppets."
"So it's not over, huh?" Ryoga surmised.
"Well, if he shows his face again, we can take him!"
Miranda boasted confidently.
* * *
Sitting alone in a dark room, far from the battle,
Kosseimaru stared at the table before him, arms
folded impassively. Sitting on top of the wooden
surface was a single clear, crystal orb, resting on an
ornate bronze phoenix pedestal which, up until that
moment, was showing him what was happening around his
animated puppet.
The bone animate took a great deal of time and
effort in order to construct, but situations such as
this proved it was worth it. It would take some time
to gather enough material to animate another one to
replace the one lost, but that was why it was useful
to keep more than one around.
On the other hand, there was nothing that could
replace such a useful tool as the Havoc Wing. That
would have to be remedied. The Orochi sword, though,
he could afford to let go... for the moment.
"Ranma Saotome," he said, smirking in amusement.
"Shizuka Minazuki. Ziel Kagura. Nekurow. You were
all interesting pawns; I think perhaps, in the future,
you could entertain me further. Until then...."
* * *
Tendo Household, End of Day 3 of Stage Two
Ranma, after having dried himself off from pouring
hot water over himself, walked into the dojo leaning
on a walking stick to support himself, followed by
Akane. Many of the others had come back to the dojo
from the battle-- all save for Hokuto, Ayame, Miranda,
and the dark hunter, Nekurow, who presumably wished to
move on their separate ways. Nekurow in particular
did not wish for company, it seemed, after
acknowledging that Shizuka was the victor-- her first
victory, as far as Ranma was concerned. Hokuto, as
Shizuka put it: "Ms. Explanation pops in only when
it's convenient."
Miranda, for her part, stayed for only a short
while, then ran off into the rainy night, mentioning
something about "training." Maybe, Ranma thought, he
"finally got good enough" that she decided to resume
training to catch-up. He looked forward to fighting
her in the future, and promised to himself that he
would not lose.
His eyes glanced around the area, spying clusters of
his friends. Ryoga and Ukyo were busy catching-up on
old times, probably swapping stories of their
respective lives after parting last. Kanna and Mousse
seemed to be deep in conversation, while Shampoo stood
near the exit alone, staring out into the rain. She
was disappointed that, when Nekurow emerged from the
crater, he was disarmed, and unable to give her an
appropriate rematch-- one which both agreed to at some
later date, probably when he got another sword. Ziel
Kagura, similarly beaten as Ranma, sat propped against
the wall next to Shizuka, who was holding her newly-
acquired sword up to the air to study. The priestess
kept the blade Kanna kept by her side-- one which Ranma
heard was useless to fight with anymore. It only
seemed fair that she got a new one to make up for the
loss of the old.
Both he and Akane approached the two slowly. Ranma
recalled when Shizuka emerged from the crater, with
a hand over her bloodied side, and Akane rushed to her
side. Shizuka told her to back off, citing that it
"was only a flesh wound," and it would heal. She was
far more irritated that it put a hole in her shirt
more than anything-- she even explained away the blood
stains.
Incredibly stubborn, he thought to himself, and maybe
just as simple.
"Well," Ranma said in greeting, "I see you like your
new toy."
"It'll have to do," Shizuka answered in response.
"It just wasn't a sword someone like Nekurow should
use."
"What're you going to do with the other one?" Akane
asked, curious.
"I'm going to go home, and present it as a gift for
Mizuki," she answered, returning the Orochi sword to
its sheath. "I think it's only proper. Besides, I
need a vacation after going through all this crap."
"Hey, Ranma," Ziel said. "Back there... thanks for
everything.... It seems you're the better between the
two of us, after all."
"Nah," Ranma scoffed, shaking his head. "You just
weren't doing your best then."
The Wind-User snorted in amusement, extending an open
hand. "Heh, yeah... I guess you're right. You're
okay in my book."
Returning the handshake, the martial artist said,
"You're welcome."
Pausing in mid-shake, Ziel's expression melted, and
his eyes narrowed. His lips parted, as if he was
about to say something, but stopped, as if attempting
to find the right words.
"What?" asked Ranma.
"You know," the Wind-User said bluntly, "I could've
sworn you were a little shorter that last time, and
pretty plump, too. And you scream like a girl."
* * *
"Kanna," Mousse began, opening himself to what he
meant to say for quite some time, since his journey
to Japan began, "when you left, I didn't know what to
do. It wasn't just about the war thing... I...."
"Don't say it, Mousse," Kanna interrupted coldly.
"I'm sorry, but I don't feel the same way about you...
and I don't think you know what you're talking about."
"But I didn't finish," he complained.
"There's a difference between love and idolization,
you know?" she explained. "When I was growing-up I had
to learn that the hard way. I had lots of admirers as
well as my fair share of critics. Well, those admirers
thought I was cool because I was so smart and good-
looking. Well, one time, this guy professed that he
had feelings for me."
"Now, not knowing what it is like to truly be in
love, I believed him. But then my friends-- my real
friends-- they caught me on the way up and pulled me
back down to earth. I got confused about what to
think, and what to say, because I liked being admired
like I was. But admiration isn't something where you
are willing to throw away everything and focus on that
one thing. That's what I think love might be; I don't
know, because I never felt it. Admiration is where
you find something about another person that you like,
and you look-up to that person, because maybe, deep
down, you want to be just like them."
"Do you understand what I'm saying?" she asked,
unable to read Mousse beneath his glasses.
Lowering his head slightly, he nodded. "I see...."
Kanna placed her hands on Mousse's shoulders, and
stared at him intently. "Listen, Mousse. I know you
know what love is. Look deep into your heart, and ask
yourself, 'Who do I want to spend the rest of my life
with?' If you can answer that question with a name,
and you know her face, and can find and reach that
special person... you should do it. There can't
possibly be anything better when you know, and she
knows, and both of you are willing to throw away
everything... just to be together."
"Really?"
"Really."
Mousse raised his head slowly, and looked into
Kanna's eyes. He craned his head to the side, and
stared away from the tactician for several long
moments, allowing Kanna's words to sink-in fully. It
was something that he had felt... long ago... that was
buried, but not forgotten.
"I've got to go," he said finally, and Kanna
released her hold. "There is someone waiting for me."
* * *
Mishima Estate
"I returned to thank you for your hospitality these
past few days," Nekurow announced, standing at the
front entrance, ready to depart at a moment's notice.
Ayame and Chika were the only ones present.
"You're welcome to return anytime you wish," Ayame
informed him.
"I will consider that next time I am in town," the
hunter replied.
"Um, Nekurow?" Ayame asked, "where are you going?"
"To search for a new sword. That girl was correct;
the demon blade was not mine to wield. I foresee a
lot of time soul-searching until that day... and
perhaps I may consider what you told me earlier."
"I see," Chika said, jabbing her elbow into Ayame's
ribs. "You're getting ahead of the game."
"Hey! That's not funny!" Ayame protested.
Nekurow bowed respectfully. "I shall take my leave
of you. I look forward to seeing you again."
* * *
"You heard that Ziel and Shizuka are okay, right?"
Nabiki typed to Shion, sitting at her computer.
"Yes," came the response.
Puzzled over the over-simplistic response, not
eliciting the response she expected, Nabiki replied,
"That's it? You're not going to say anything to her?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Is there a reason to?"
"Because she's your girlfriend."
"She'll come to me when she feels the need to. I
trust her to do this."
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "You really do love her,
don't you?"
"Perhaps," Shion conceded. "But that's how I trust
all my friends."
"You're not just going to leave it at that, are you?"
"Yes I am."
"Weirdo."
"Thank you."
Nabiki groaned, waiting for the 'inevitable' smiley
that never appeared. Shion was taking all of this as
one big compliment, and she had no doubt in her mind
that he was enjoying every minute of it.
* * *
"Hey Mousse, Shampoo," Ranma greeted, approaching the
two standing near the exit together. "I never
expected to see you guys so soon."
"Well, well, Saotome," Mousse returned in greeting,
"looks like you're out of practice."
"Akane tells me something interesting," Ranma
said, getting to the point. "She said that, even
during the rain, Shampoo didn't transform."
"Into a cat?" she said. "Not anymore. Shampoo got a
cure for the stupid curse."
"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Mousse interrupted.
"Ranma, you're still cursed, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, we did an experiment at Jusenkyo," he
continued. "When we captured someone from another
tribe I wanted to see what happened with the curses if
you threw someone in multiple, contradicting springs.
Kanna didn't like it, though. So we threw this guy in
the Spring of Drowned Girl, and then into the Spring of
Drowned Man."
"After that, it didn't work," Shampoo finished. "In
other words, curses contradicting cancel each other
out."
Ranma blinked. "Really?"
"Well, yeah," the Master of Hidden Weapons said.
"You mean I won't turn into some hideous man-woman
curse combination?"
"Yes," Shampoo confirmed. "Although that guy didn't
like what we did to him...."
Dropping his walking stick, suddenly full of
energy, Ranma grabbed Mousse by the scruff of his
robe. "Tell me you brought some!!"
"Um, well, if I knew we were coming to visit you...."
"You didn't?!"
"We had no time," Shampoo said in excuse. "It was
all Mousse."
"I wasn't thinking of Ranma!" he explained away.
Ranma lessened his grip. "Tell me you've got money
for a ticket to China...."
"Actually, we had to work for our tickets just to
get HERE," Mousse explained. "It never occurred to me
at the time to get round-trip tickets like Kanna did."
"So we're staying around for a while," Shampoo added.
"Maybe few days, maybe a few weeks."
"I can spring you guys," Kanna interrupted, suddenly
jumping into the conversation.
"What about me?" Ranma complained. "I need a ticket,
too!"
"You?" the tactician said, amazed and disgusted. "I
hardly know you! I'm giving them money because of all
the trouble they went to just to follow me here."
"What makes you think I didn't go through a lot of
trouble?"
"Prove to me you're not too lazy to get to China
yourself!" she dared.
"Fine!" Ranma exclaimed. "How about a match? If I
win, you pay my way to China!"
"So what do I get if I win?" Kanna asked, interested.
"Hmm... you'll do my groceries next week."
"You're on!"
Shampoo leaned over to whisper in Mousse's ear. "Do
you count on Ranma coming anytime soon?"
Mousse shook his head. "I'd pay to see how long
Kanna can string this out. Maybe we ought to mail him
some when we get home."
-----------------------------------------------
Author's Rant
End of the line. I didn't feel it necessary to cover
the bases covered already (such as the obvious Ranma
and Akane relationship), but rather put Ranma in a
position where he isn't so susceptible to his ego trips
as happens when he fights someone. In a manner of
speaking its a culmination and conclusion of why I had
him lose his previous fights in the first place-- in
order to humble him and curb ego... not to change his
character, but rather to make him a little wiser.
Whereas for Shizuka, her strength was what Ranma
lacked and her weakness was what Ranma had in spades,
which is why I find their interaction so interesting.
The snake is seen as a wise creature in Chinese
culture, although it is a loathed creature in Western
cultures, and Shizuka is somewhat sharing both those
views. What wasn't resolved in her situation was her
apparent incompetence in fighting ability-- she doesn't
seem to use her head at all (being wise and being able
to capitalize on it are two different things).
Shizuka has an unthinkable number of options at her
disposal that it seems a waste that she doesn't utilize
more than one of them at a given time. Therefore one
must force her into a situation where using just one
option doesn't cut it. In that sense nobody can tell
her how to fight, and that places the methods she went
for and for what Ranma went for switched-- Shizuka
needed to train alone and Ranma needed his friends.
Honestly, Miranda was always meant to be like this.
Her addiction is victory and she is afraid to fight in
fear of losing. She's 'in it' for glory, fame, and
idolization, and a lot of you don't understand that, so
I'm beating it over your head.
Kanna, on the other hand, can win because she CAN
plan her battles ahead of time, as opposed to Ranma's
thinking on his feet. Like Ziel and Shizuka Kanna
can't take hits, so obviously you're going to take out
someone who can a vastly different way.
Nabiki and Shion served as traditional Greek muses
in the old plays; they play the role of exposition,
explaining sideline events to the main plot. Although
essentially the Kuno characters weren't used heavily in
this fic. They originally had larger parts but were
reduced from the previous version in editing, as they
served no actual use in the story.
If Mousse and Kanna not getting together looks like
a discrepancy to you, it is. After all, Sypha didn't
really SAY that was what was going to happen; just told
Ranma what he needed to hear. This serves two points--
one, to end the conflict Sypha started and discarded,
and two, to get Kanna back in Japan for whatever else
I want to do with her (not necessarily having to deal
with Ranma).
Ziel was originally created to close the gap I made
in creating characters-- most of them were female.
Over time he turned into something more and does have
a hidden, but semi-obvious reasoning behind him. Not
to mention 'Ziel' isn't really his name; he is a
character known by his handle alone as a variation of
the other Inner Circle members who are referred by
their actual names rather than their handles (it's a
carryover from his demon ancestor, actually). That and
his shifty background makes him more mysterious.
And no, he isn't aware of Ranma's curse, and neither
are Kanna, Miranda, or Ayame. They were never close
enough to Ranma in order to tell the difference, or not
paying attention. Shizuka's the only one of the lot
that's actively aware of Ranma's curse, and it's one of
the reasons she's at odds with him in the first place.
The Springs thread was something left-over from the
series a long time ago, whereby Ranma was convinced
that the Spring of Drowned Man would hurt him rather
than cure him. It was a cruel thing to do, but when
faced with hybrid examples you can never be too
careful (Taro, Seiryu's minions).
Nekurow is a good guy. Really; he has to be if
Shizuka is a bad guy. He's somewhat of a pathetic
parody of the trend of recent RPG heroes being brooding
dark loners, and Ayame was his femme-foil. Of course
since it is a parody he doesn't 'soften-up' or repent
at all-- he's still a jerk. Ayame's incarnation here
is more similar to that used in 'Souls of Fire' than
here, as I found that more interesting.
Kosseimaru somewhat translates to 'bone spirit.' The
hydra teeth are of course a nod from 'Jason and the
Argonauts' (the cheesy film, not the myth). In fact
originally Nekurow was going to be this guy (the name
is a bastardization of 'necro' using the Japanese word
for 'black'). If this guy sounds familiar to you, he
should-- he is loosely based off Naraku from Inuyasha
with a Highlander twist. The reason he wasn't
concerned about getting attacked by Ziel was simply
because the dummy Kosseimaru wasn't really alive and
Ziel didn't prioritize soulless beings during his
blood riot (chances are they wouldn't have blood...).
-- Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NYChotmail.com)
www.angelfire.com/art/rcxshizuka/ranma/ranff.html
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