[FFML] [Ranma/Various] Avenging Act IV Prologue

[DB Sommer]

Gary Ee wrote:

>Avenging
>Act IV
>The Hate Monger and the Peacemaker
>Prologue
>
>Ah, its finally returns! ^_^
>  
>

% Yep. It might take a while between chapters, but the story continues 
on at a steady pace.

>Xxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>“Buckle up your seatbelts, boys and girls. We’re in the final approach 
>for the destination of the latest Challengers of the Fantastic/Fantastic 
>Four get-together: the Blue Area of the Moon.”
>
>As opposed to the last one where Johnny brought Reed, Ben, Makoto and Fujiwara to Hooters. When the women found out, the carnage was epic..... Since then no one else but Reed and Makoto were allowed to plan these get-togethers.
>  
>

% Heh.

>After delivering his announcement, Ben Grimm looked over his shoulder at 
>the assemblage of passengers. His teammates, Susan Storm and Reed 
>Richards, were sitting together while Johnny Storm had the co-pilot’s 
>chair. Makoto ‘Mr. Fantastic’ Mizuhara was sandwiched between 
>Shayla-Shayla and Nanami Jinnai, aka the Human Torch and Invisible Girl. 
>The rocky form of Fujiwara (come to think of it, Ben still didn’t know 
>the man’s full name) better known as the Thing, was lamenting being 
>
>Lamenting about being sober? Wait till a certain water priestess finds her way out of El Hazard, then your problems will REALLY begin Fujiwara-sensei.
>  
>

% She has made it back. She's part of a group called 'The Fearsome Four' 
that are rivals of the FF. And yes she still has the hots for him.


>sober. Thanks to a side-effect of traveling to El Hazard, Fujiwara only 
>had his super-powered form when he was on the wagon, unlike his 
>compatriots, Makoto and Nanami who could use their abilities of 
>telemechanics and invisibility combined with force fields respectively, 
>at will. Shayla-Shayla didn’t count since she actually came from El 
>
>In Nanami's case, usually unwillingly.
>  
>

% Nah, she's resigned herself to the idea that in order to keep Mako's 
interest, she's a super heroine.

>Hazard and started out with her superpowers.
>
>Pity that Ifurita isn't around at the moment. I always thought she'd make a good Vision if not Ultron.
>  
>

% I've always thought she has 'Super Adaptiod' written all over her.

>Johnny was also looking back and let out an audible sigh that caught 
>Ben’s attention. “Come on, kid. You had to know Reed and Mako would 
>wanna come back and examine that ancient city we found that last time we 
>teamed up and took care of the Red Ghost and his Super Apes up here.”
>
>Ah one of those stories. God bless the Silver Age.
>  
>

% Actually he could be retconned easily. A Russian scientist who always 
wears the color red and only trusts apes to obey him unquestioningly.

>“It’s not that,” Johnny told him. “What makes Mizuhara so lucky that he 
>has two hot girls after him while I have no one? Why can’t we have hot 
>girls on the team?”
>
>Wait till Shinobu the She-Hulk comes into the picture.
>  
>

% Actually no plans for a Shulkie to show up at the moment.

>“Actually Suzie’s pretty hot,” Ben pointed out.
>
>“Ewwww! That’s my sister you’re talking about. That just isn’t right.” 
>Johnny grimaced.
>
>Obviously Johnny has never been introduced to doujinshi. There's probably one featuring not only him and Sue but him, Reed and Ben.
>  
>

% Yeah. He'd pass on that

>
>“None of them were monkeys. They were a gorilla, an orangutan, and a 
>chimpanzee.”
>
>Do NOT call them monkeys, especially the Orangutan. He'd probably try to twist your head off.
>  
>

% Magnetically no less.

>“Anyway,” Ben said in a tired voice. “Remember back right before we 
>formed the team? You know, when you tried to talk the three of us into 
>going up with you in that rocket of yours? Except I refused to fly it 
>because it didn’t have enough shielding to protect us from cosmic rays? 
>And Suzie called me a coward for it until I pointed out it might do 
>stuff to her and maybe give any kids she might have three eyes or twelve 
>toes? She sure changed her tune and got you to back off quick enough. Heh.”
>
>In this universe? He might luck out and be born an all-powerful demigod capable of altering reality. Oh wait.....
>  
>

% The last one didn't fare so well.

>Nanami scowled at the flirtation and clung to Makoto’s arm even tighter. 
>Not to be one upped, Shayla-Shayla did the same.
>
>One wonders what Power Peversion Potential Makoto could have with Ifuita given his new abilities. I'm sure both girls are thrilled they left her behind in El Hazard.
>  
>

% She 'went missing' at the end of the adventure, so her whereabouts are 
unknown. She could be on Earth though. She wouldn't be the actual Super 
Adaptiod, though. It exists already.

>Johnny sighed once again and turned to his team’s leader. “Hey Reed, why 
>can’t we have some girls on the team?”
>
>"Because I don't like sleeping on the couch."
>  
>

% Well, Reed hasn't married Sue yet. One of the reasons he's about to 
get in trouble for the My thing.


>“I only weigh 500 pounds,” Fujiwara said.
>
>“Oh, well I don’t know who couldn’t take a quarter of a ton of bricks 
>landing on them,” Ben said drolly.
>
>Thor, Hulk, Iron Rose, Hercules, Captain Oni, the Submariner....
>  
>

% Well, he does mean people currently in the ship

>“
>“I’ve seen your sips. It’ll be time for our next joint meeting before 
>you rock back up.” Ben wasn’t totally unsympathetic with the man. Being 
>a pile of orange bricks couldn’t be all that fun, even super-powered. 
>Ben did just fine using his natural abilities, and so did his teammates. 
>They had taken down the Mole Man, Miracle Man, the Pluto Organization 
>with it’s so called ‘Perfect Murder Plots’ for sale, and the team’s 
>official arch-nemesis: Dr. Doom, as well as a host of others. The 
>Challengers of the Fantastic were a household name across the globe 
>thanks to the rogue’s gallery of foes that had defeated. Yep, no need 
>for super powers in his book.
>
>I wonder who Dr Doom is in this world or if its still Victor von Doom. 
>

% Yep. He was in the  'Armored Dreams' side story where Chi took over 
Latveria, and was mentioned in a Hulk flashback when Doom tried to get 
him to destroy Chi. Luckily Doom gave Chi the ability to cry, and when 
she did, the Hulk realized he had been tricked, since bad guys are never 
pretty young girls who cry. :)

>Jinnai would have been Mizuhara's nemesis if he weren't already Pastepot Pete. Maybe B-ko or Sylia Stingray just to ratchet up the tension between the two women in Makoto's life. If there is one thing missing from Reed's life its a romantic partner that he can converse with as an intellectual equal;
>

% Alyssa Moy was kind of the answer to that, though she was a bit more 
on the Indiana Jones side.

> Susie isn't dumb by any means but Reed is easily one of the most brilliant minds on a planet where villains can build power armor in their garage. Heroes can do the same in a cave with a box of scraps.
>  
>

% He probably is number one, with Doom a close second. There are 
probably individuals with superior knowledge in single fields, but not 
with the sheer variety of knowledge Reed and Doom share.

>
>“Wait, Ben, hover here,” Reed said. He looked to Makoto. “What do you 
>make of that?”
>
>"42? Why does it always transmit the same numbers?"
>  
>

% Heh

>The teams deployed from the landing ramp, Fujiwara and Ben in the lead 
>with both Makoto and Reed following close behind while the girls trailed 
>closely behind their men. Johnny brought up the rear, staring at 
>Shayla-Shayla and Nanami’s rears, to be specific.
>
>You'd think with good looks, fame and fortune would come vast amounts of feminine attention. I guess its true, girls only dig flaming men.
>  
>

% Actually he has an active dating life, and his hitting on women has 
actually helped them out of a jam or two, but there's no single girl 
he's attached to. This is also early in the FF's career, so he's still a 
horny teenager

>“Reed Richards, you slow down before you walk into a trap,” Sue warned 
>as she pursuing hot on his heels, the others following in turn.
>
>Pursued?
>  
>

% Will change

>“I hardly think an advanced alien race would want to watch something as 
>pointless and mundane as television,” Makoto said.
>
>Ah, I do believe its the Ultimate Voyeur, not that the Blue Area of the Moon didn't already tip me off.
>  
>

% Yep, though he's canon here

>Makoto stopped in front of a machine with a blank viewscreen. He stared 
>at it intently.
>
>Reed stopped next to him. “Is your ability to control machinery telling 
>you something?”
>
>"Tentacles, so many tentacles! So wrong on many levels. Brain bleach! Now!" 
>After that day, Mr Fantastic was never the same again.
>  
>

% heh.

>Makoto held his hand up to the device. Like Nanami earlier, he closed 
>his eyes as he stretched his senses out again. “Yes, it is alien 
>technology. Highly advanced. It would take me hours to decipher some of 
>this. However I think I see how to turn this machine on.”
>
>Ben said, “Maybe that ain’t such a great idea seeing as how whoever owns 
>this place might not like us messing with it. For all we know it’s his 
>equivalent of a DVR and we might be messing with the settings.”
>
>Or his "demolish Earth for the pan galactic highway button" but who's to know?
>  
>

% Yep, though Reed becomes a trifle unthsuseastic when confronted with 
the unknown.

>“I wonder what alien porn would look like,” Johnny said.
>
>Watch "Legend of the Overfiend" Johnny.
>  
>

% Probably not a bad call

>A voice, booming but gentle began. “Five million years ago the 
>Celestials arrived on Earth and engaged in their usual habit of 
>experimenting on what they perceived as the beings with the most 
>potential for evolutionary advancement.”
>
>Thus creating dolphins.
>  
>

% One of the Conspiracy was a dolphin sorceror, actually.

>“To this end the experimental subjects were divided into two groups. The 
>Eternals were given a form of increased longevity and the ability to 
>harness the power cosmic. Due to their longevity this also lent itself 
>to genetic stagnation.”
>
>Apparently this also affected either their libido or their fertility rates since immortals can have explosion, geometric population growth in just a generation or two.
>  
>

% Somewhere it mentioned their very low fertility rates. And while they 
could procreate with humans, the offspring was always human.

>“A rivalry developed between these two races for several millennia, with 
>the Eternals winning the outcome on nearly every occasion. Eventually 
>the Youma were defeated decisively and forced into seclusion under the 
>oceans and earth, the Eternals determined never to let them see the 
>light of day again.”
>
>Just like in the Marvel comics, the Eternals don't always come across as very nice people. Quite the contrary in fact.
>  
>

% I don't know the retconning that occurred, but they did let themselves 
be worshipped as gods. Admittedly to a large degree they were concerned 
with suriviving the Celestials judgement.

% BTW, that was taken care of with the destruction of the Eternals and 
Youma here. When the Second Host came and discovered both races gone, 
they judged humans had proven superior to either altared form and 
deserved to be dominanent.

>Fujiwara whistled as the scene changed to show a pair of flying beings, 
>one a large man with crimson hair and beard fighting a woman of 
>surpassing beauty with a long mane of blonde hair flowing behind her. 
>Each of them unleashed powerful beams of energy from both their hands 
>and eyes at one another, devastating the landscape in a running battle.
>
>One would imagine that being able to project energy from different parts of your body would be useful in the Marvel-verse simply because everyone else tends to look at your eyes or hands. Kinda embarrassing to admit that you managed to outblast Cyclops only because you shoot beams from your navel though.
>  
>

% Heh

>The voice continued. “Serenity decided to relocate the Eternals to the 
>moon so that they could look down from above on those they wished to 
>rule. They created a city they dubbed Crystal Olympia and formed a 
>breathable atmosphere for any visiting humans, though none would be 
>allowed to live in the city itself. Likewise Eternals were forbidden to 
>live on Earth, for it was her judgment that in order to rule humanity 
>effectively they would have to live apart from it.”
>
>Machievelli, Serenity ain't.
>  
>

% No. No she wasn't.

>“However, one of Serenity’s chief advisors, Beryl, betrayed her. Along 
>with a handful of other powerful Eternals, who aligned themselves with 
>Beryl for a variety of reasons, the traitors secretly organized and 
>trained the Youma hidden deep under the earth into a vast army. Then, at 
>the height of Serenity’s achievements, they struck simultaneously in 
>Atlantis and on the Moon.”
>
>I would wonder though, what Beryl's ultimate goal was. In the original she served Metallia but here it looks like she just wanted to kill off her own race and be the new Eve.
>  
>

% Pretty much. Her ego made her feel she was superior to all, and needed 
to rivals for that title.

>“As the shattered remnants of Atlantis slowly submerged beneath the 
>ocean forever, Beryl and her generals teleported the entire Youma army 
>into the heart of Crystal Olympia and attacked. While the Eternals tried 
>to mount a resistance, the Youma army was too powerful and struck too 
>quickly. As the casualties mounted, it quickly became evident Crystal 
>Olympia would fall.”
>
>Therefore proving once again the power of the Zerg Rush.
>  
>

% Heh

>
>“Understanding that they would be defeated, the Eternals used the last 
>of their remaining power to banish Beryl, her generals, and all of the 
>Youma on both the Moon and Earth into the Negative Zone where they 
>remain to this day. The effort to banish their enemies used up all the 
>power of the Uni-Mind, destroying the remaining Eternals on Earth and 
>the Moon, leaving only humanity as inheritors of the planet. End of entry.”
>
>Ah, so that's how Annihilus and Beryl met.
>  
>

% Yep. Actually Youma do come to Earth individually with the help of an 
extra-dimensional traveler called Ulluyx'L Kwan Tae Syn and his use of 
the Hellfire Helix. This will be touched upon later in the Act

>“Well, that was… informative,” Johnny said.
>
>Reed and Makoto already had their heads together.
>
>And all their women tiny sweated from their close physical proximity.
>  
>

% Heh. No worries along those lines'

>“Inspection of the ruins would lead a lot of credibility to the tale,” 
>Makoto said.
>
>lead->lend?
>  
>

% Yes, and i used all the changes you mentioned.

>Susan looked just as despondent. “I’m never going to be able to pry him 
>out of the lab once he sinks his teeth into this. It’ll take months. At 
>least.”
>
>Shayla-Shayla and Nanami looked just as dejectedly at Makoto.
>
>Not to mention the archeological dig once they find Atlantis.
>  
>

% Yep.

>A flash of light heralded the appearance of a mysterious being that 
>materialized before the octet. He appeared largely human, though he was 
>twenty feet high and bald with a somewhat disportionately large cranium. 
>He wore a simple garment similar to a toga with blue embroidery and a 
>blue cloak.
>
>In a voice identical to the one on the screen, he said, “Intruders, you 
>have trespassed in the home of the Watcher. While I am forbidden to 
>interfere in matters, neither can I allow strangers into my home.”
>
>Which is Watcher speak for "okay, you got the information I wanted to impart to you but couldn't outright tell you because of my oath. Now please leave before the Council of Watchers disintegrate me."
>  
>

% And some things never change. :)

>started to walk in the direction of the Watcher’s home when Sue blocked 
>his way.
>
>“Oh no you don’t, Reed Richards. You are going to respect that man’s 
>wishes and leave him alone.”
>
>“But Sue,” Reed started to complain.
>
>"Reed, don't antagonise the irritable demigod."
>
>"Yes, dear."
>  
>

% Sound advice, really.

>xxxxxxxxx
>
>[End Prologue]
>
>[Writer’s notes] Now for those worried about me overpopulating the fic 
>with heroes, have no fear. I have no intention of using either of these 
>groups in the near future. On the other hand, the information they 
>learned will be very key for what is about to begin.
>
>Great to see Avenging back in action and (presumably) the resident incarnations of the sailor senshi to boot.
>

% Yep. Makoto the Living Lighting was already referenced, and the others 
will be appearing as well


> I wonder if that means the Inhumans are lurking somewhere about now that the Celestials have made it into Avenging continuity? In any case, great writing and looking forward to the next chapter.
>  
>

% I have that figured out as background info that might not make it to 
the light of day. Washuu is an Elder of the Universe called 
Experimentor. She regards the Celestials as 'Third Rate Geneticists' and 
decided to one up them and created the Inhumans. The Sanjiyan Unkara 
(Triclops of 3X3 Eyes fame) and Avian race Red Raven belonged to 
splintered off from the main grouping.