TRTSS37: Hero! – By DS Wynne
Disclaimer: SM, R1/2, ST, DC Comics/Marvel Comics and other properties belong to their respective owners.
Note: This story is a multi-genre limited series.
Author's Note: With all these superhero movies coming out this summer, I wanted to pay homage to this trend. Feel free to make suggestion as to which superhero or supervillain should cross Ranma's path. Also, since this is a Ranma-centric adventure, Sailor Moon won't be making that many appearances, other than the occasional cameo or reference. As always, C&C are welcomed. Enjoy!
Part 1: "Tales of a Green Lantern!" (A)
True to his word, the rogue Oan scientist named Krona (blue dwarf with black hair and goatee) attempted to make peace with his fellow Oans, the Guardians of the Universe. After all, in spite of his reputation, he did like the rogue Time Lord Professor River Song, being a sort of kindred spirit of sorts. The irony was that "River Song" was a future alias of the present "Ranma Saotome", aka "Ronin", aka "The Senshi Supreme". This is not to be confused with the term "sailor senshi", which refers specifically to a certain magical girl group. Basically, Ranma was the chief warrior and primary protector of Earth, due to his uncanny ability to beat the odds against more powerful foes, even when it is theoretically impossible for Ranma not to do so.
On a side note, having the title of Senshi Supreme was not different from the title "Sorcerer Supreme", which is used to refer to anyone who is deemed worthy to protect his or her homeworld from mystic-centric threats, like Doctor Strange had once done before passing THAT title to Ranma as well. It must be noted that the only reason why Ranma hadn't earned the title "Scientist Supreme" was because he had a disdain for "intellectuals" who, based upon his experience in dealing with super-scientists and mad geniuses, tend to be amoral and reckless in his or her pursuit of "pure" scientific inquiry. Besides, it was his wife Usagi Tsukino, aka "Sailor Moon", aka "Sailor Cosmos"—a MAGICAL girl—who was the Scientist Supreme of Earth, and those in the know, who knew Usagi well, saw that arrangement in ironic terms… Nevertheless, thanks to Ranma's possible future self, Krona extended an olive branch to his brethren with the desire to make peace.
"You know, I knew that this was a bad idea," Krona said, as he was contained in a force field generated by the elite cyborg Green Lanterns known as the Alpha Lanterns.
"You have much to pay for, Krona," said one of the Guardians.
"Me?" Krona said. "First, you began our vendetta by using the Manhunters to kill me and those who supported the idea of 'free science'. And then, you used MY research to create your personal henchmen: the Green Lantern Corps. And all this need to control emotions and 'chaos' in this Universe, was because ONE of us who had his heart broken, when the females of our species left for Zamoran to become immortal amazons."
"Lies!" said another Guardian, who was female. "Zamar Hathor was the love of my life!"
"Tell me, Aps Jean," Krona said with a sneer. "How did you feel that you came back as a woman, when the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner brought back the Guardians as the possessed entity 'Ion'?"
"I hated it!" Aps Jean said. "And I hated the fact that when Kyle Rayner brought us back, the Chaos Lord was with him…"
Pause.
"It was his Tau'ri 'curse' that affected our rebirthing matrix, so that half of us would come back male, while the other half would come back as female. And now, I can be with my beloved as a male!"
"To be fair, if it had not been for the Chaos Lord, Kyle Rayner would not have been able to control the Ion entity, and thus repeat the tragedy of the Dark Phoenix," said another Guardian named Aps Happi, as he smoked his pipe. Not many knew that "Aps Happi" had another name: Happosai Saotome, who, up until recently, had retired from his duties as a Guardian, in order to live as an Earth human. It was because of the dwindling numbers of the Guardians that Happosai was asked to return to his former role…and after his true self and memories were restored.
"That is beside the point, and you know it! Ranma Saotome is your great-grandson by way of an Earth woman named Genko Uchiha, so, of course you would not see the Chaos Lord as a threat…"
Pause.
"Ranma Saotome is a menace, just like the Green Lanterns of Space Sector 2814!"
"Sister, we have tolerated Ranma Saotome and his comrades from Earth because of their unique 'talents'," said another Guardian. "Hal Jordan and John Stewart represent our interests on Earth. Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardener are a part of the Honor Guard of the corps, by facilitating recruitment and training of new members of the Green Lanterns. Meanwhile, while Alan Scott protects the Star Heart with Torquemada, the Keeper of the Book of Oa, Ranma Saotome serves as our enforcer and black operations specialist amongst the Omega Lanterns, the so-called 'Green Lantern Corpse'. In fact, not even his fellow Lanterns knows about Ranma Saotome's involvement in the Corpse, by design."
"And yet we do tolerate these cretins, to our detriment," Aps Jean said. "Therefore, I vote that we utilize capital punishment against the rogue Krona, so that he can serve as example to our wayward Lanterns."
"I'm very hurt," Krona replied sarcastically. "I mean, you did everything but take my life."
"Imprisonment is too good for you."
"But you should wait until Ganteth and Lianna have returned from their mission in the Ant-verse," said Sayd. Sayd and her lover Ganteth had created the Blue Lantern Corps as a counter-weight to the politics of the Green Lantern Corps, but could participate in discussions within the ranks of the Guardians.
"Why should we wait?" Aps Jean said. "Ganteth is a close friend of Krona's, and Lianna is not mature enough to know what is right. I say, we vote now to wait for Ganteth and Lianna."
"Agreed," said another Guardian. "Surely, we can all agree to that."
"All in favor?" Aps Jean asked, as she looked around the inner chamber. "All opposed?"
"It appears you have your vote to condemn me to death after all," Krona said, noting that more than half the assembled Guardians had voted in favor of voting for either living for an eternity in a Sciencell (a prison underneath the main hub of Oa) or oblivion.
"We have to vote on that first," Aps Jean said.
"Well, I can't take a chance on that," Krona said, as he took out a small whistle. He then blew it…
Suddenly, the creatures representing the Emotion Spectrum appear, and attacked those that were within the inner chambers. Each entity were powerful enough to destroy entire planets, and were the source of power for all the Lantern Corps…
"No!" Aps Jean said, as she moved to defend herself.
"Yes," Krona said with a smile. "You've forgotten that I was once the Keeper of the Entities of Light, and have studied them extensively in order to harness their power. But don't worry; I won't kill you all. However, I will have to make a few changes…"
Meanwhile, back on Earth…
After weeks of "drama", Ranma Saotome wanted to do something that did not involve some misadventure or grand scheme.
Today, there will be no titanic struggles.
Today, there will be no quest to some far off realm.
Today, there will be no cloak-and-dagger games.
Today, there would be no time travel.
"Ahhhhhh," Ranma said, as he relaxes in his hammock in the backyard of his house. He then reached over to sip his fresh, ice cold lemonade.
"Yep, life is good-"
Suddenly, Tatewaki Kuno, dressed in his Green Lantern garb, burst into the backyard. He used his Power Ring to create a suit of samurai armor made from light construct energy. His eyes glowed bright yellow.
"Kill Ranma Saotome!" Kuno said, as he nearly sliced Ranma in half. Thankfully, the Senshi Supreme was more than fast enough to avoid being cut.
"Ah, man!" Ranma said, as he moved to a loose fighting stance. "What now…?"
An hour later at Fenris Aircraft, in Coast City, an important meeting was taking place…
"…And so, my friend Tatewaki attacked me," Ranma said, as he observes a containment field filled with corrupted power rings, contained within a force field system, thanks to the Justice League Unlimited.
"Luckily, his attacks were unfocused, and that I had more experience in utilizing a power ring…"
Ranma then turned to his friends.
"Do you know why a Green Lantern is being controlled by the Parallax entity, Hal?" Ranma asked.
"Not sure, other than reports from Oa indicated that the Guardians had captured Krona," said Colonel Hal Jordan. When not a Green Lantern, Hal worked at Edwards Air Force Base through the joint USAF-Ferris Aircraft test pilot program.
"Oh, boy," Ranma said, as he leans on something for support.
"What do you mean, 'oh, boy'?" said Guy Gardner, as he folds his arms. Guy Gardner was a former pro-American football player who had retired to become a high school teacher, while being a part-time member of the Green Lantern Corps. It was only recently that he devoted his time to the Green Lantern Corps full-time, after he retired from a career of teaching after twenty years. It must be noted that Ranma and Guy had even a bigger rivalry that Guy had with Hal.
"What happened, Ranma?" asked Alan Scott. Alan Scott was a founding member of the Justice Society of America. When not acting as a superhero, in a semi-retired capacity, he was the owner of Gotham Broadcasting System, and even lived in Gotham City itself. In fact, he is the only "metahuman" superhero that Batman tolerates living in the city, and has gone into an active partnership agreement of sorts as co-protectors of the city. It also must be noted that unlike other Green Lanterns, Alan Scott's power ring had the old "wood weakness" (i.e. anything made of wood can disrupt the strength of the energy output), since Alan had not yet updated his weapon. Not surprisingly, Alan's power ring was not affected by what was going on with the standard power rings…
"Yeah, what did you do involving Krona, Saotome?" Guy asked accusingly.
Ranma quickly explained what had happened, when the entire Universe had died due to stresses in the space-time continuum, and that he and a few others needed Krona's helped to restart it.
"You should have said this sooner," Hal said.
"Considering what the Guardians have been up to lately, why should I trust THEM for anything?" Ranma countered. "The moment I file my report, the more likely they would have accused me of consorting with the enemy."
"That is essentially what you did, Ranma," Alan replied.
"So, what now?" Guy asked.
Before anyone could say anything, Alan's power ring sparked. A holographic image of Kyle Rayner appears.
"Kyle?" Hal asked.
"I don't have much time," Kyle replied, as he looks over his shoulder. "Krona took out the Guardians, and took over anyone wearing a power ring. Only John and I were able to escape, and have gone to ground."
"How were you able to hack into my power ring, Kyle?" Alan asked.
"I remember using it during the 'Zero Hour Crisis', remember?" Kyle replied.
"Right."
"Give us your rendezvous coordinates; we'll do the rest."
"Alright, I feeding the coordinates to you," Kyle replied, as a series of numbers appear ion front of everyone.
"Hal, we need you, man," said John Stewart, as his image appeared. "It's getting bad out here."
"We'll be there as soon as we can," Hal said. "Hal: out!"
With that, Alan deactivates his power ring.
"Well, we certainly can't use anything relating to the Green Lantern Corps," Ranma said, as he scratches his chin.
"Why not?" Guy asked.
"For one, the moment we put on our power rings, we will fall prey to whatever has happened to the Green Lanterns. And for another, at the very least we will be detected the moment we enter Oan space."
"So, genius, what do you propose?" Guy sarcastically.
"The same way I got here," Ranma said, as he points to his TARDIS. It was the last model made before the Time War had consumed the combatants for the final time. At the moment, it was configured to look like a Coca-Cola vending machine. In fact, it could dispense soda…
"Then we better get going," Hal said, as he reaches into his workbench drawer, and pulls out a small case.
"What the hell is that?" Guy asked.
"Our way out of this mess, I hope," Hal said.
"Should we get help on this matter?" Alan asked.
"No, this should be a Lantern deal."
"Then we should get Jennie-Lynn and Todd on the way to Oa."
Jennie-Lynn Hayden (aka "Jade") and Todd Rice (aka "Obsidian") were the children of Alan Scott. Due to Alan's exposure to the Star Heart, Jennie-Lynn and Todd developed super-powers. While Jennie-Lynn turned green like the She-Hulk (but without the increase size, musculature and strength), she had the power of the Green Light internalized, so that she could do the same things that her father could do as a natural-born Green Lantern. Meanwhile, Todd learned to tap into the very chaotic energies that were contained in the Star Heart, and could control the very shadows of the Dark Dimension. Not surprisingly, both Jennie-Lynn and Todd had a weakness for wood…
"Fair enough…"
Tbc.