After dropping her bombshell about the world being in great danger, Nodoka quickly called up some video footage on her TV screen. The first clip showed what appeared to a meteor slamming into the ground somewhere in a large city, apparently located somewhere in North America… However, when the dust had cleared, a very large group of reptilian creatures along with what appeared to be a human male, but with three horns coming out the back and sides of his head were standing where the meteor had impacted the ground. The instant they had landed, he barked out a quick order: "Lava lizards, attack," and his minions quickly fanned out to search the surrounding area…
The second clip was in another large city, this time somewhere in Europe. This time, with a weird burst of snowfall over the surrounding area; a human-like being, but with hair that had the appearance of ice crystals, appeared. He was accompanied by several golem-like creatures, all armed with sickles. With a mere gesture of his staff, he then strode off with them following at a respectful distance, seemingly looking for something…
After both videos had ended, Nodoka turned again to her guests, who were looking at the screen with various expressions of disbelief and scepticism. "That footage was taken three days ago... The first clip was of Moltor and his minions, the Lava Lizards. You also saw his brother Fluriuos with the Chillers, his servants. I know they don't look anything like each other, but I can explain. Long ago, well before recorded history officially started, these two brothers attempted to steal the Corona Aurora, a legendary item so powerful, that it could make the person who wore it almost unstoppable. However, the crown was too powerful; it cursed them, turning them into the creatures you saw in those clips and then banished them to separate planets, imprisoning them in their own elements. In order to prevent anyone else from attempting to steal its power again; the protector of the crown took the five jewels, the primary source of all the crown's powers and scattered them all across the world, then hid the crown itself somewhere he had hoped it would never be found by mortals! Unfortunately, six months ago I managed to find the crown despite all the odds. By doing so, I unwittingly freed the two brothers from their separate prisons... Now thanks to my actions; they, along with Kami only knows what else, will be arriving on Earth to look for the crown!" Pausing a moment, she turned to where her safe was. Opening it up, she took out the crown, turned to show it to them and spoke: "Please, I need all of your help to prevent this from falling into the wrong hands!"
"Wait just a minute; let me get this straight… You expect us to travel all around the world, looking for five jewels from an ancient myth while fighting off the forces of evil, who are also after these jewels to use for their evil plans? What's more, you don't even have a clue where to start looking for the jewels… And to top it all off, these guys seem like they're willing to play hard-ball from the start! I've got one question for you...? Are you insane," Tatsuki asked, her eye twitching a little at the sheer audacity of Nodoka's request. "Sorry if that was a bit rude, but this seems to be more like a fairy tale, or the plot of a bad TV show, to me... These guys look like something out of a Super Sentai series and the story you just told us also sounds like it came from that kind of show! Even if it's all true, how do you expect us to fight them? While I'm fairly good at both fighting in normal tournaments and self-defence, even I can't take on entire armies..."
"Well, first of all, when you put it like that Arisawa-san, the whole thing does seem a little far-fetched… But, I swear on my personal honour that it's all true and I do need your help and I'll richly reward you all for your time and effort! Also, I can turn all of you into Power Rangers to help even up the playing field against Flurious, Moltor, their minions and any other foes you may face while you're searching for the jewels," Nodoka replied. While she appeared calm and collected on the outside, she was cringing on the inside: 'I don't want to let any of them leave, they're my first and best choice for this task! No-one else I've looked up even comes close with the skills that'll be needed... But I also can't force any of them into doing anything they're not keen on. I won't be like my husband; using a person's sense of honour against them to get what I want from them!'
"Power Rangers…?" Tatsuki repeated, her jaw dropping in shock. "You're kidding, right? This is sounding more and more like a Super Sentai series with every passing second! Just how can you pull that process off exactly? I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to decline your offer… This whole thing sounds off the wall to me!"
"I'm afraid I will have to decline your offer too, Mrs. Saotome..." Ryo now spoke up, while wearing a polite expression: "I'm not much of a team player and I too find it hard to believe that you can offer us the ability to become Power Rangers, despite my past experiences." Mentally however, he was having a quick conversation with his Yami: 'You ever hear anything about this 'Crown of the Gods' before, Bakura?'
'No, not even a whisper and I was among the best thieves of my time,' Bakura replied while wearing a frown, as he found Nodoka's news troubling. He continued: 'But it was either several hundred years before my time or in a land far from Egypt... As for the whole Power Rangers thing, don't be so quick to dismiss it as hot air! I wouldn't be surprised if she really could do something like that. After all, you're sharing your body with a five thousand year old thief from Ancient Egypt, so we've got no place to say what is or isn't possible… But it's your call in the end and I'll stand by you whatever choice you make!'
"Well, you can count me in anyway," Serenity now spoke up, while wearing an oddly determined expression on her face. Ryo, Tatsuki and Bakura spun around to look at her, while they all blinked owlishly in surprise at her statement, not expecting her to actually sign up. She continued to speak, ignoring the odd looks she was getting: "I know that there are some things that can't be easily explained by modern science, given some of the things my brother has told me about his adventures with his friends in the past, not to mention that time I got caught up in one of them... Besides, I can tell you're really serious about this whole thing and it certainly seems like you'll need all the help you can get!"
Finally, the blonde-haired boy, who had remained silent until now, spoke up: "I'm in too... While this whole deal does sound a little unusual, even by my standards, it's still got to be better then my last job was! And I won't sit around and let that kind of power fall into the wrong hands, if there's even a slim chance I'm able to do something about it. You sure you guys don't want to stick around for this?" This last comment was directed to both Tatsuki and Bakura, who were grabbing their bags from where they had put them when they'd first arrived. They paused briefly, then shook their heads and started to walk out.
As both Tatsuki and Bakura made their way towards the door, Nodoka made no move to stop them, respecting their decision to leave. She sighed: 'Who else can I choose now? At least I've got two out of four to agree to help me, which is two more then I was expecting… This whole idea does sound totally crazy, especially to those who haven't been exposed to all the unusual things that exist in this world!' Just then several flashes of yellow lightning struck the ground in front of the door, making Tatsuki and Bakura jump back in shock. Nodoka groaned and put her head in her hands: 'I thought I told him not to force any of those I chose to accept the task, if they weren't willing!' Then a ghostly image appeared in front of the door, forming itself into the form of a knight.
"She spoke the truth," the ghost spoke aloud, his ancient voice echoing with power: "The fate of your planet, your entire universe even, rests in all of your hands! I am far too weak in this state to go after any of the jewels myself… But know this: this quest is vital! If we fail, life as you know it will be no more…" The light faded away and the figure vanished into thin air.
Tatsuki and Ryo now shared a brief look, while they both processed this latest piece of information. Tatsuki still looked a bit sceptical while Ryo seemed torn. They then developed a determined look on their faces, gave each other a firm nod and turned to Nodoka, while speaking at almost exactly the same time: "Fine, we're in too! So when do we start?"
Nodoka mentally breathed a sigh of relief, smiled and nodded: "That's very good to hear! I do apologize for my patron's more aggressive sales pitch though, I didn't want to force you into anything you weren't sure of... But he was right about one thing; this task is of the utmost importance. And each of you are the top choice in each of your separate fields for this job. Now, if you would follow me, I'll show you to where you'll be taking the first step in becoming Power Rangers…" She then pressed a button on her desk located underneath a statue, causing one of the bookcases to slide sideways into the wall to reveal a lift. They all boarded the lift, which then set off downwards, while the bookcase moved back into position, leaving the room looking exactly like it had been mere moments before.
A few minutes later, Dr. Tofu came into the room by himself, muttering softly: "Well, Ranma's condition hasn't got any worse since my last check-up, that's some good news! But his levels of Ki energy are still surprisingly low, given the amount of time they've had to recover... No matter, I better meet up with Nodoka to start the DNA re-sequencing on all the candidates!" However, he was so distracted by his analysis that he hadn't noticed that Ranma had walked into the room behind him, just in time to see him call the lift.
Ranma just stared in shock at the surreal scene playing out in front of him; it was like something out of that weird Western puppet show he'd seen on TV… He'd never admit it to anyone, especially his father, but he enjoyed watching cartoons and some shows that most people his age would call childish whenever he got a rare moment of peace. It was his way of catching up on what he thought a normal childhood was supposed to be like, along with reading his adventure books. Even though he'd been on several adventures and travels of his own, he still liked to read about the quests of both fictional and real-life adventurers, just to expand his knowledge of other countries and cultures. A loud hiss interrupted his thoughts. Looking up, he saw Dr. Tofu board the lift which soon set off again, while the bookcase slid back into its original position. Shaking his head in amazement, Ranma decided to wait a few minutes and then call the lift himself to follow Dr. Tofu while thinking: 'Right, I'm getting to the bottom of this mystery, one way or another!'
#15 minutes later, underneath the mansion#
"Now just remain calm everyone! The process should only take a few more moments to complete. However, don't be too hopeful for laser-beam eyes or anything like that, this machine can only enhance what's there within you already…" Dr Tofu spoke up, while he and Nodoka examined the read-outs from a strange machine, consisting of a computer connected up to two pairs of what appeared to be strobe lights, each mounted on separate posts. Bakura, Serenity, Tatsuki and Naruto, who had finally introduced himself properly to the others, were all standing between the two posts as a faint white aura pulsed between the posts. As the white aura passed over each of them, there was an addition of colour to their own personal auras. Each change was unique to each of them: a light yellow for Tatsuki, medium blue for Naruto, black for Bakura and pink for Serenity. They had also each changed into a uniform Nodoka had provided for them. The uniform was a black top and bottom, with some coloured seams, each one of these personalised to the exact same colour that their individual auras had changed to.
Nodoka then spoke up again: "Thank you all for accepting my offer, despite any lingering misgivings some of you might have about this… The uniforms look good on you! Now, even as we speak; all of your physical and mental capabilities are getting enhanced by a DNA re-sequencer, lent to me by a good friend… Once the process is completed, you'll be able to do things and learn things that, even a mere month ago, you'd have thought impossible!"
"Is there any chance we're going to turn into a weird fly or something by this…?" Naruto asked, in what appeared to be a joking manner. On the inside, however, he was sweating bullets: 'That baka of a fox had better not mess this up for me...'
"Not a chance! It's totally harmless… The odds are a million to one that something weird will happen!" Nodoka replied. Mentally however, she wasn't so confident: 'At least, I think that's the case…' Aloud, she continued: "But you are now stronger and smarter than when you first arrived…" Just then the white light and the low hum faded away, as the machine shut down. Nodoka continued to talk, gesturing with her hands to the room they were in: "Welcome to your new base! Now, I would never even dream of asking you to do something that I wasn't willing to do myself, so in a few moments I'll be joining you, both by going through the process you've just gone through and in the field as your leader: the Red Ranger!" As she was saying this, she was walking over to take up a position in between the two stands of the re-sequencer. "Dr Tofu, if you would be so kind…" Dr Tofu nodded and placed his finger over the button that would start the whole re-sequencing process for her!
Just at this moment, the lift door hissed open and Ranma stepped out, looking around at the control room in awe. He caught sight of his mother in between the two poles and called out in an enquiring tone: "Mom, what on earth are you doing?"
Nodoka jumped in surprise and spun around, so she was facing her son and started to talk: "Ranma, what are you doing here…? You need to go back to the Tendo family home! Surely everyone there must be getting very worried by now about where you are... If I know them, given their past behaviour, they're probably tearing up the district looking for you..."
"I am home Mom!" Ranma replied, with a little more heat in his voice then he had intended. Sighing, he continued: "You see, I've actually told them that I was going to be staying with you at the moment, for the summer at the bare minimum, until all the arrangements that Pops made are resolved in a way that makes everyone happy! Of course, I didn't tell any of them where exactly you were staying… I'm not that stupid! But I can't go back now anyway; it would just inflame the situation there even more than it has been in the past and right now Akane is probably really steamed at the fact I left without telling them beforehand…"
"Son, I really think," Nodoka started to speak, hoping to try and convince Ranma to head back to Nerima while she was sweating on the inside: 'If Ranma knew what I was planning to do here, he'd try and take my place, without any hesitations on his part. While I know he'd have all the skills needed for the job and his heart would be in the right place, the chance that his condition could get worse is too great. I don't want to risk losing him!' But whatever she was going to say went unsaid, as Ranma cut in...
"Listen here, Mom! I know that you're trying to look out for my physical and mental well-being, given that I'm still not fully recovered from my old injuries. Both you and Dr. Tofu probably think I should be taking it easy right now back in Nerima, to give my body a chance to heal properly... But I'm feeling totally fine now and besides, this place would be much safer for my recovery than back in Nerima! I do appreciate your concern for my safety, really, but I can't let you put yourself in the line of fire like this. You just aren't as young as you used to be and I don't want to lose you… Not when we've finally able to have a normal conversation, without anyone barging in! Besides, I just earned the right to teach Musabetsu Kakuto earlier today and I wanted to see how I could adapt it to teach normal people some of the things I've learned, without having to use all the crazy methods that I went through... And for that I'll need time to reflect and plan it out, time that I'd never get back in Nerima with all the 'problems' that plague me!"
"Now I remember where I've heard the Saotome name from," Tatsuki suddenly exclaimed, while she snapped her fingers together. "You're the Ranma Saotome, aren't you?" When Ranma slowly nodded his head while wearing a very nervous expression, Tatsuki then turned to Bakura, Serenity and Naruto, who were all wearing the same confused expression: "Let me explain what I'm talking about here... Ranma here is either the ringleader or main target, depending on who you talk to, of the fabled Nerima Wrecking Crew; or NWC for short as most of the normal people in that area call them! Nerima has always been known for all the skilled martial artists who live there, but these guys are supposed to be on a totally different level to even those who've lived there in the past ... They have apparently done so much property damage in all the fights they've taken part in over the past two years, whether it's just simply been collateral damage or done intentionally, they'd tie with the Sailor Senshi for the most destructive battles! And Ranma here is said to be one of the top ranked fighters of that area ever since he showed up, about two years ago, right before things got really crazy! But since the official reports from that area have been so sketchy, most people outside the area are of the opinion that these stories are just tall tales... So was I, until just now, when Ranma mentioned his fighting style."
"How do you know all this...?" Ranma asked, while raising an eyebrow. He appeared fairly composed now, but he was quite ticked off on the inside. 'How in the world does she know all this stuff about me? If Nabs has been selling my personal info and pictures to any magazines behind my back, I might just spread a few embarrassing facts of hers that she would not want people to know around Furinkan via Daisuke and Horoshi… After all it's only fair if she finds out just how annoying it can be to have details you wanted to be kept secret revealed for all to see!'
"Well, my karate teacher used to teach in Furinkan as the PE teacher there seven years ago..." Tatsuki replied, wearing a neutral expression. "He said his time teaching there was three of the longest years of his life and you couldn't pay him any amount of money to go back there for a job, even if couldn't find work anywhere else! But he still has a few friends living there who kept him up to date with all the local news and informed him of any new martial artists of note who came there. I must admit, he was quite impressed with how skilled you were… But he wasn't too happy when he learnt just who your father was! Genma Saotome, according to him, is the worst kind of scum and given what I've heard myself, that's pretty accurate... Apparently, he's arranged so many deals that he's then run out on with keeping his end of the bargain, that his name has become famous among debt collectors as the ultimate target... The guy who finally gets to collect even one of his debts will be hailed as a hero amongst that crowd!" She then cringed at how she had put her statement and began to talk again: "Oops, I'm sorry if that caused any offence to either of you…"
"None taken..." Ranma replied, waving the apology off while sighing: "You're right about that though: Pops never did learn not to rush through things... He always wanted to make a quick deal to fill his empty stomach without much effort! That's meant he never even considered any of the long-term consequences of his actions... Or at least until they showed again up several years later, by which time he had almost always gone and forgot about the deal he'd made! When they did show up, he either dropped the blame for the whole mess on me or tricked me somehow into dealing with it for him... And to make things worse, the people he made the deal with always seemed to accept his lies at face value. Not one of them even questioned some of the most obvious inconsistencies in some of the stories he spun! This meant I always had to clean up after his messes, while he sat back and played Shogi with his old friend, Soun... Mind you, Soun has gotten much more willing to call him out on some of his dumber actions recently!"
Nodoka frowned slightly and was about to defend Genma, but she then sighed and nodded, conceding the point. She did remember her husband doing just that after the wedding attempt, when he'd tried to pin the blame for the whole mess on Ranma. His claim had been that it was Ranma's duty to marry Akane and unite the two schools of Anything Goes, but he'd have to deal with all his other commitments first: i.e. all the other people who wanted to marry him... This was despite the fact it had been all his fault that Ranma had been engaged to most of them in the first place, either due to an wedding agreement he'd made or the consequences of his actions impacting on Ranma somehow! "That's true, much as I hate to admit it…" she groaned, "My husband can be a bit, how can I put this, foolhardy with his actions!" Mentally, she muttered to herself: 'They don't have to know just how bad he actually is…'
Fortunately, most of the multiple marriage agreements Genma had left behind him over the years had been resolved by some payments to cover the value of what Genma had stolen, along with any interest that may have built on the dowry over the period of time since they were made. Most parties were happy enough with just that and those that weren't ended up having to drop their claim anyway, due to her son winning his freedom by himself... There were only three outstanding claims left to deal with now, and they were all in Nerima itself! These were the Tendo vow to unite the two schools of Anything Goes, Shampoo's claim due to her tribal laws and Ukyo's stolen dowry. It wouldn't be easy, but Nodoka was fairly confident that she could take care of these arrangements in such a way that most of the people involved wouldn't lose honour, without too much trouble.
The only fly in the ointment that could cause her and her son problems, as far as she could see, was the Kuno clan in general... Nodoka shook her head in exasperation as she recalled what her son had told her about his past dealings with them, along with a few attempts of her own in recent months to get them to leave her son alone. Trying to deal with them rationally was totally impossible! Only Sasuke, the family butler, would listen to reason and he could do nothing to rein any of his charges in... Each member of the family seemed to live in their own private little fantasy worlds, where they could do no wrong! The truth rarely got through to them, due to them selectively editing the facts to fit the twisted point of view they wanted. And since they wielded so much influence in the area due to their wealth and position, very few people could do anything about them... And most of those who did have the power to do something actually refused to use it, saying they saw nothing wrong with their behaviour! Nodoka wasn't quite sure why this was the case, given all the evidence that she and others had provided, but she had a sneaking suspicion that some of these people had been paid a very handsome sum to turn a blind eye to the Kuno's actions and then discreetly dispose of the evidence gathered so that it couldn't be found and used again. But without any hard proof of this corruption, she couldn't do a thing...
"Hang on a second," Serenity spoke up again after the few moments of silence that followed Nodoka's explanation, holding her finger to her chin, in a very thoughtful pose: "I do remember reading something about there being a big explosion there six months ago, in a family dojo during an attempted wedding... It got crashed by some jealous rivals of both the bride and groom using weapons with lethal intent. But the local paper was saying that the actual cause of the explosion appeared to be a gas leak which then came into contact with a naked flame!"
"Trust me, that explosion wasn't caused by a gas leak..." Ranma replied with a sigh, as he and his mother winced slightly as they remembered the events leading up to that whole fiasco. He mentally added: 'At least Soun had the decency to apologize for using my "cure" as a bribe to try and ensure that I'd marry Akane... He's okay now with the fact that I'm just not ready to settle down yet and that I want to take things with Akane at my own pace, not just rush blindly in. After all, he was in a similar position marrying Mrs. Tendo because of an arrangement between their parents. But they got the chance to take the courtship nice and slow and he realised that he was trying to move things between me and Akane far too fast over the past two years... It's just so annoying that Akane is not even giving me a chance to explain my current position on the marriage arrangement to her! I just don't understand just what her current problem is with me, she should be happy that she's no longer under pressure to marry me until she's good and ready... After all, wasn't she against the whole deal in the first place?' Aloud, he continued: "I'm not totally sure what caused the explosion, but I am fairly sure that there were no gas mains running through that yard. Mind you, that whole day was a particularly bad one for the whole area, since the emotions of most of the people involved were running particularly high!" He was about to say more, but his mother then cut in.
"Okay, I know I've dropped a lot of things on you in the last half hour or so that you may be finding hard to believe... So, you can go outside for a few minutes if you want; to let you process everything that you've been told. Ranma and I, along with Dr. Tofu, need to discus some important matters..." The tone was friendly enough, but it was clear that she wasn't going to take no for an answer from her son. Noticing this and the serious expression on her face, Serenity and the others nodded and quickly left. Nodoka then turned to her son: "Ranma, we need to talk..."
#Outside the mansion, a few minutes later…#
"Man, can you believe it! We actually met Ranma Saotome… I actually thought he was just an urban myth that teacher of mine told my karate class to inspire us into pushing past what we thought were our limits to new heights!" Tatsuki spoke in a bit of an awe-struck tone, as she was walking along with the others with her hands behind her head. "Although, the same could also have been said about the Sailor Senshi, until they were caught on camera four years back… Mind you, they haven't been that active in recent months. I wonder though, can Ranma really perform energy blasts like the rumours say he's able to...?"
Suddenly, Ryo stopped dead in his tracks, causing the others to pause… "Wait! Did you guys hear that," he asked, wearing a concerned look while his eyes were squeezed shut. "It's so loud…" All of a sudden his eyes snapped open wide. From his perspective, it felt as if he'd somehow developed the telescopic part of Superman's vision superpower, along with the super hearing. He could see clearly all the way down the lawn to the end of the driveway, a distance of six hundred meters with trees and bushes in-between. It should have been impossible for any normal human, yet he was doing just that! 'Are these new powers because of my gene getting re-sequenced,' he wondered. But the sense of wonder he felt at this new gift of his was quickly forgotten as he caught sight of a strange human-like creature darting between two trees across the road near the bottom of the driveway. He quickly recognized it as a Lava Lizard from the footage that Nodoka had shown them earlier. He turned to the others and spoke loud enough for them to hear him: "Get ready guys, we've got company coming and they're not here for tea and cookies!"
"I don't see or hear anything at all... You sure your mind's not playing tricks on you?" Serenity asked, raising an eyebrow at Ryo's seemingly ludicrous declaration. Just then, a large group of Lava Lizards appeared from the bushes much closer to their current location, with their body language clearly indicating their willingness to fight… Serenity sighed deeply, as she quickly slipped into a basic defensive stance. She then took a quick, apologetic look at Ryo, as he and the others also slipped into fighting stances, and spoke again: "Well, looks like you were right Ryo! I'm sorry for doubting you… I guess it was too much to hope that we could ease into the situation gradually!" Just as she finished saying that, their opponents charged in, with a bestial roar. A fierce battle ensued, with Bakura and the others getting tossed around like ragdolls, but still getting in a few good hits in on some of their opponents. But it wasn't long before they were all knocked to the ground, battered, bruised and out-numbered! "Ouch..." Serenity groaned as she struggled to get back up from the brutal assault, "I'm definitely going to be feeling that tomorrow morning!" 'That is, if there is a tomorrow for us…'
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going to let these lizards push us around like this any longer!" Tatsuki snarled as she slowly picked herself off the ground, hiding her cringe as some of her bruises rubbed off her clothes. She took a deep breath, paused for a moment and then suddenly disappeared in a blur of motion. The others stared in amazement as a yellow streak could suddenly be seen darting across the lawn between several large groups of the lizards. In the time it would take to blink, each group was knocked to the ground, with bruises all over their bodies.
"Tatsuki, how did you do that? You were like a blur…" Naruto asked, jaw hanging in shock, as Tatsuki came to a screeching halt before them, wearing a massive grin and her breathing only slightly laboured. On the inside though, he was in awe: 'I wonder, was that similar to how the Yondaime was supposed to look like when he used the Hirasishin?'
"I don't know exactly… If I had to place a bet though, my money would be on the gene re-sequencing finishing right then for me…" Tatsuki replied fairly calmly, while she took a few seconds to catch her breath. On the inside though, she was giddy: 'That was a rush! I've never been able to move that fast before in my life... And to think, that's a mere fraction of what I might be able to do now! I'm going to have to both apologize to Mrs. Saotome and then re-evaluate my skill level whenever I get the chance...' Just then she spotted a lizard, which had recovered from her attack faster then she had expected, come up behind Naruto with one of its sharp claws raised to strike him! "Behind you Naruto!" she shouted, mentally cursing the fact she had let her guard down in a dangerous situation and one of her new friends was about to pay the price…
Naruto reacted instantly, spinning around to face his opponent, while pushing both Serenity and Bakura out of danger. Seeing the lizard swing its claw down sharply and realizing there was just no time for him to block the strike, he made to leap out of the way of the attack. But even he didn't expect a focused blast of air to explode from his feet, allowing him to not only avoid the attack but let his jump clear the very treetops! When he landed, he then shoved his open palms towards the closest group of lizards, seemingly on instinct. What seemed to be a massive wall of wind erupted from his open hands, knocking several of the lizards over. Naruto then leapt into combat, unleashing a flurry of blows towards those that had remained upright after that weird blast of air he had used. Tatsuki was quickly put in mind of a quote she'd once heard a boxer use to describe his fighting style: 'Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!'... Naruto certainly seemed to be doing just that, always moving about while never giving any real chance for any of his opponents to make a clean counter-attack!
His fighting style however, seemed to be a real mixed bag... While he did have some good moves, several of his stances had holes in their defence wide enough to drive a truck through. While they wouldn't be that obvious to a rookie, with her level of practise she could tell. She then noticed he had placed his hands together in a strange way. His first and middle fingers on each of his hand were placed at right angles to each other, forming a cross-like shape. Her eyes then widened as several copies of him appeared, seemingly from thin air! They all mimicked his stance at first, then leapt into the fray independently, each of them picking their own target... 'What on earth…? It seems like a mere illusion at first, but those 'things' are actually solid copies of him that can act on their own initiative! I've never even heard of a move like that before, but it certainly seems to work for him,' she mused while she moved to engage some more lizards by herself and this time she vowed to make sure they were all down for the count. A stray thought crossed her mind: 'I sure hope that Serenity is holding out okay, she just doesn't really seem like the fighting type! Just like Orihime once was…'
'Whoa! These lizards aren't playing around… Good thing Joey and Mai gave me some basic lessons in self-defence; otherwise I'd be in serious trouble right about now! I just wish I'd taken the time to advance my training afterwards, instead of being content with just learning the basics… These guys just don't know when to quit,' Serenity softly whispered to herself as she took a quick glance to check on her new (and old) friends. They were now starting to go on the offensive against some of the monsters that were attacking the house, either by tapping into their new-found powers or combing them with some of their past training in martial arts to even up the playing field. Naruto and his clones were bouncing all around the place like multiple pin-balls, never staying in the same place for too long, keeping quite a few of the lizards tied up in combat with him. Meanwhile, Tatsuki was using her speed and karate skills to not only fend off her opponents, but take them down hard... Even Bakura was doing quite well for himself in combat, lashing out with well-oiled punches and kicks, pushing back any Lizards that came too close to him!
Meanwhile, she was just barely fending off three of them by herself. These Lava Lizards had isolated her a few minutes ago while she was distracted by Naruto's new ability, leaving her cut off from her team-mates who had their own problems to deal with, so they couldn't bail her out. This had indicated a very surprising amount of animal-like cunning and teamwork on their part. She was holding her own surprisingly well, considering her almost non-existent experience in hand-to-hand fighting compared to the others, but her foes just weren't giving her any chance to catch her breath for long and she was quickly starting to run out of steam! Her entire body was starting to ache, both from the earlier attack and the fact that she had never been pushed quite so hard before in her life... 'Man, this fight would probably be a lot easier if my genes would just finish their re-sequencing already,' she mentally grumbled to herself. 'After all, Tatsuki's super speed coupled with her fighting skills has already halved their numbers, really turning things around for us. We were on the ropes until that happened! Naruto's super agility has also been a great help, letting him and those weird clones he can make dodge in and out of combat at their own pace… I have to wonder though, are those clones part of his gene re-sequencing, or something he could do already, since he seemed to put his hands into that seal as if it was second nature...? Even Bakura's enhancements have already proven to be a major help to us, since these guys would probably have totally taken us by surprise if he hadn't seen or heard them coming and he's also been able to take care of himself just fine! I wonder what exactly my powers will be like… Maybe... maybe I won't get any powers at all! After all, Dr. Tofu did say that the augmentations would be based on our natural gifts. So I might not get enhanced in any obvious way by the re-sequencing process... No, I have got to stay positive; I will not be a burden to my friends and let them down when they are counting on me! Not like the last time, during Battle City, when those 'Big 5' creeps hijacked the blimp... That will never happen again,' she muttered darkly to herself, recalling how pathetic she'd been back then. Sensing her brief lapse in concentration, all three of the Lava Lizards leapt in, sensing a chance to finish the fight here and now…
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Okay folks, I'm really sorry about the long delay on posting this chapter, but life was first being a pain and then the FanFiction website was having problems!!!!! Also sorry about the cliffhanger, but I'd decided to stop it here, so as to show I'm still working on this story... Don't worry about Serenity, she'll be just fine! Any requests for what her re-sequenced power should be, let me know in a review... Personally, I'm leaning towards a "Lady of The Red" style, but I'll consider any and all ideas!