Berserk 1/2
Introduction:
This is an interesting experiment that I just had to try. After reading the only similar thing to this that I could find (BSSR, or Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Ranma), I decided that the worlds of Berserk and Ranma 1/2 could fit together pretty well. After all, both Gutts and Ranma had psychotic father figures...
I'm a crazy SOB, and the idea just wouldn't leave my mind. So here we are.
First, some warnings. Just like Berserk, there will be gore and lots of it. Also, the familiar "splash of water" trick will not be making an appearance. This is a tale of the Kuro Toushi, or the Black Fighter, and the Band of the Boar.
Legal bits: I own neither Ranma 1/2 nor Berserk. Please don't sue.
Episode 1:
The Black Fighter
It was raining. It always rained, it seemed. The man walked on, noticing that few of the locals would greet him. If he needed verification he was in Nerima, he had it. Just ahead, he saw a tavern sign; two hands clasped in agreement. The Sign of Sealings. He had heard that the baron's men haunted this place regularly. He hoped today was no exception. He shrugged inside of the massive cloak, and continued on.
"Oops! You finally spilled it!" Sergeant-at-Arms Kinpa grinned, and gripped the pretty young brunette's head. "You'll have to be punished." His men laughed as he forced the girl's head into the spilled wine.
"Yeah!" A large man to his right said as he played with a small dragon pendant around his neck. "Clean that table until it shines!" He laughed, but suddenly gurgled, and coughed up blood. A small pebble had embedded itself in his temple.
"Gamaru!" The band of men as one turned to the door. Who dared to raise their hand to the King's men!
The cloaked man stood in the doorway, tossing a handful of rocks into the air.
"Bastard! You'll pay for that!" Three men drew their weapons, but the stranger was too fast. Each man fell, a pebble standing between their eyes.
Kinpa grabbed the brunette, and held his sword at her throat. "I'm not gonna let you walk away from this, you bastard!"
The stranger scowled, and flicked another rock. It drilled into Kenpa's arm, and he felt it go numb. "Wha-?"
Suddenly, the stranger stood over him, Kenpa's blade in hand. "Take this message to your master for me." The stranger slammed the sword into Kenpa's shoulder. Above Kenpa's screams, the stranger spoke: "Tell him 'The Black Fighter has arrived.' That's all." And the stranger snapped the blade off in Kenpa's arm.
Suddenly, one of the fallen men, a large berserker called Naref, stood and charged the stranger. Kenpa felt his heart grow cold as he watched the stranger spin in place and drop into a fighting stance not seen in Nerima for fifteen years - the Saotome Musabetsu style. As the stranger stopped moving, the hood fell from his head, revealing black hair tied back into a pig-tail.
"Okanmuri Tenshin Amaguriken!"
The stranger's fists glowed red, and blurred. All Kenpa could see was the body of his comrade disintigrating under the barrage of fists. As Naref's body parts dropped, the stranger resumed his stance, and wiped his bloody hands on Naref's cloak. He then spoke in a low tone. "I'm counting on you."
He knew this town. Years ago, he had gotten his first real start here. Anyone with an eye for the past knew that. He also knew that the last place he would like to be was here.
So, with the whole town in an uproar over his appearance, he sat under an oak tree and waited for the baron to take notice. He had enjoyed a light lunch, and ran down the list. Shiratori and Sanzenin were dead. Mint and Lime, though excellent together in combat, had stood little chance when faced with the Black Fighter. That meant that Herb probably was the baron here, a guess that had been almost confirmed when those buffoons at the Sign of Sealings had the dragon symbols. Good.
The ground darkened, almost as if he was under some massive beast. As the shadows fell, he could hear gibberings and cries for help. Above them all was a deep chuckle that resonated with the surrounding wood.
"Shit! Them again!" He stood and assumed the Musabetsu Urei Genkotsu form, but slumped back into his seat as the voice spoke.
"We are always watching you. Your body is ours. You can't leave us."
Another voice, a wispy mocking tone, was heard, and underneath his headband, blood began to drip. "Your blood, flesh and bone. Everything is ours."
"That's right!" The first voice exclaimed. "Everything is ours!" And the two voices laughed. Blood began to spill into his left eye, and he squinted it shut.
"Shut up!" He spat, and started; a chill wind grippd his leg. Looking down, he saw the rotted face of a spirit. The spirit itself had wrapped itself around his leg.
"It's mine!" It moaned.
He opened his mouth to curse it, but suddenly he was surrounded. Cold phantoms of death peered at him; advanced on him. They were laughing.
"The brand!" The first one pointed at the headband, now soaked through with blood. The others joined in the rising chant. "The brand!"
The deep voice spoke again above the chanting, sounding far too close for his comfort. "As long as you have this brand..."
Another voice, confident and calm, spoke. "Your anger. Your sadness. Your pain. And fear. Everything is ours."
"Stop it!" He shouted, but to no avail. The spirits laughed, and engulfed him. In the blackness of the night, he stared into the faces of those who were responsible for his agony and grief. A man with golden wings... Another man with a cruel sneer... A young boy, grinning lustfully... and a woman bearing a black rose.
And from these shades, a fifth formed. A man cloaked in black shadows, brown eyes glaring accusingly at the Black Fighter. Just barely visible underneath the armor was a headband of yellow and back.
"Ryouga." He said the name like most would say the name of a loathsome creature, and then shouted:
"Urei Bahuka!"
A green energy ball blasted its way toward the gathering, but they disappated in a flurry of laughter. The Black Fighter was left gasping for breath, and weeping in grief. He stumbled into an abandoned house. Knowing what he did of the demon's habits, the owners had probably been devoured. The furniture was still here, as well as most of the roof. Here he could sleep off the effects of the Grief Blast. It seemed that every time he used it, he could see her face. See her form being... See her.
"Akane..." He almost whispered, and darkness overcame him.
He awoke to the sound of thudding hooves and burning wood. Something nearby was burning. He grabbed a handful of pebbles and donned his cloak. Herb had obviously grown tired of waiting, and had put innocents in danger. Time to put in an appearance.
The baron's men rode in a raiding line, and a man in cobra-shaped armor shouted behind them. "Kill them all! Burn everything!"
Herb.
The Black Fighter ran along side the party, staying just out of sight. When the baron slaughtered the town minister and tossed his corpse like so much excrement in front of a group of villagers, it was all he could do to not reveal himself right then. When he heartlessly slaughtered the selfsame villagers, he lost it. He ran to the front of the horde, each step punctuated by Herb's cruel laughter. He now stood in the burning wreckage of the Sign of Sealings. The young girl's corpse stood transfixed by a spear. Her dead eyes stared at him, and he swore.
The thunder of hoofbeats caught up with him, and he tossed the handful of pebbles at the riders' general direction. He got some satisfaction when the screams of the dying reached his ears.
Herb grinned widely, sharp teeth gleaming in the inferno. "He's here."
He strode out of the flames, and glared back at the horde defiantly.
The grin never left Herb's face as he waved his hand at the Black Fighter. "Attack!"
Twelve cavalrymen charged forward, but he answered by dropping back. He flashed crimson, and spread his hands out.
"Jinsoku Bahuka!" The crimson energy shot out, and ten of the men exploded. Superheated armor pieces rained down on the other soldiers. A few green recruits added the contents of their stomachs to the mess when the entrails of their former comrades followed.
However, two of the chargers had dodged the rapid chi blast. They swung their polearms out toward him, but hit air. He balanced on the tips of their spears, and spun in place. Their sneering heads snapped off, and rolled to the ground.
He dived off of the falling spears, and landed in the Saotome Musabetsu stance in front of the baron.
"I see... I've heard rumors about you. You're the Black Fighter. You, a mere human, cannot do anything to us." Herb laughed.
The Black Fighter glared intently at the baron's armor, however, and soon found what he was looking for. He grimaced. A Behelit.
The baron spurred his horse forward. "You're so easy to kill!"
The Black Fighter charged back. "Bakusai Tenket-" He jabbed forward, but missed. The baron slashed down, and bowled him over. The Fighter struggled to stand, but Herb was right on top of him. "Die!"
Herb jabbed his spear down, and shattered the flagstones of the ruined tavern. The Fighter, however had jumped over him. The Fighter grabbed a chunk of rubble and heaved it at the baron. The baron, turning to follow the Fighter, took the stone square in the chest and flew off his horse, sliding straight into a ruined wall, which collapsed on top of him.
The soldiers cried out! One took a step forward. "My lord!"
But Herb wasn't finished yet.
Suddenly, a tail shot out of the rubble, striking the Fighter in the jaw. He flew backwards, and landed in a heap.
The baron's laugh filled the air, and a serpentine claw flexed. "You were trying to kill me." A serpentine leg crushed fallen oak beams underfoot. The Fighter followed the horrific image upwards, to find a human head clenched in a massive cobra's jaws. "Humans are such weaklings." As he took it all in, he realized that the demon's form towered over seventeen feet tall. Here, certainly was the Naga King. "None of you can kill me!"
"M-monster!" The soldiers dropped their weapons and ran, their stink of fear overpowering the burning offal.
The Fighter stood, and tried to regain his balance, but the Naga King's tail whipped him into a support wall. He collided hard, and tasted blood. He struggled to stand.
Herb laughed again. "You would have been dead already if you were an ordinary human."
The Fighter extended his finger, hoping to find the breaking point of the flagstones, but the Naga King smashed his arm with its tail, and followed up with another blow to his back.
"Now do you understand? That's how weak you humans are!" It lifted its tail high in the air. "This is..." And it brought it crashing down on the Fighter's back. "... the end!"
The Fighter screamed.
The Naga King grasped the Fighter's head, and lifted him up. "Fragile... Humans are so fragile." The Fighter's vision blurred as the King squeezed. "I can't wait to eat you all and fill up my hungry stomach."
The Fighter twitched, but the Naga King didn't notice. "You are going to feed me... huh?" Suddenly, the Fighter's open palm was in front of the King's face. A delicate green ball danced in his palm.
"Shishi Hokodan!"
And the world went white.
The Naga King flew one way, while the Fighter and the Behelit arced gracefully into the air.
"Hiryu Shoten Ha!"
A fierce wind picked up, and gathered wood, stone and metal fragments. The whirlwind shredded the body of the Naga King, slowly turning red as the gore gathered into it. It moved on and dissipated, dropping wet shrapnel into the street.
The Naga King moaned in agony, and the Fighter approached its prone torso. Just one arm and the head remained from the massive beast. The Fighter was casually tossing a fresh handful of rocks.
"You said that humans can't kill you, didn't you?"
The Naga struggled to look its killer in the face. "You..." Then the Fighter stripped off his headband, and the Naga gasped. "The brand! Oh yeah..." Then he screamed as the Fighter flicked a stone straight through its left eye.
"You're right." The Fighter said. "Humans are weak." He flicked another stone, and the Naga's scream lengthened. "But we want to live, even if we are wounded and tortured." Stone. Scream. "We feel the pain." Stone. Shriek. "Why don't you taste the pain, too?"
"No! No, stop it! Help me!"
The Fighter grinned humorlessly. "What would you do if humans asked the same thing of you?"
The Naga screamed for mercy as the Fighter casually pushed over the support wall. Flaming debris crashed down upon the prone form of the defeated Naga King, and as the Black Fighter walked away, the scream of agony burbled into a choking shriek. It was dead.
The Fighter gripped the Behelit and crushed it. Now, no one would be able to use it.
He paused. Wasn't this where he had defeated Basuzo?
END.