Part Ten
by Jared Ornstead
aka Skysaber
OoOoO
"I look forward to hearing your own words of how you intend to salvage this situation, Nephlite." Queen Beryl kept moving her fingers around that ball, as always never revealing she was watching TV on it.
Barney continued to sing to her as Nephlite made his report.
"My Queen," he said, bowing. "The mage gathers support around him at an alarming rate. Even my spies..."
"I love you, you love me..."
"Enough of your babbling!" Queen Beryl shifted her fingers slightly and smurfs appeared in her viewing sphere. "I want to know what you intend to do about it, none of your excuses."
Nephlite remained bowing, it hid his gritted teeth. The lifespan of servants who failed Queen Beryl was astonishingly brief. Perhaps that mage had known something when he'd predicted Nephlite's death at Zoicite's hands. All it would take is a few more failures...
"But papa smurf always said..."
Beryl shifted her fingers and channel-flipped. She'd seen that episode of smurfs before. She frequently reenacted it in evenings in her quarters all alone with her rather extensive plush doll set. Though she was still searching for an evil smurfette doll...
Nephlite shifted under that uncanny silence. That look in Queen Beryl's eyes, as if she knew every thought in his head! He looked away shamefacedly. "But my Queen, even if we were to muster every youma at your command we *still* could not equal the force those three extra Sailors took out with ease!"
Beryl acquired a wicked grin as one of her favorite shows came back from a commercial break. "Hmm, that's too bad... for *you* Nephlite! Zoicite!" She called.
The female general appeared amid streams of cherry blossom petals, bowing already to her sovereign. "Yes, Queen Beryl?"
"Go Go Gadget helicopter!"
Beryl grinned and showed fangs. There was something she liked about that Claw fellow, though that cat *obviously* needed to be taught discipline! "You will assist Nephlite in this endeavor. Those Scouts need to be neutralized. Perhaps you have a plan you might suggest for how this is to be done?"
Hmm, it was an episode she'd already seen...
Zoicite made some form of suggestion, which Beryl missed as she realized that was a *new* commercial for Crunchy Flakes. Then she scowled horribly in the midst of Nephlite's reprisal.
News. How she *hated* news...
Zoicite smiled. ~From Queen Beryl's face it's easy to tell her favor is shifting my way.~
Nephlite scowled. ~Perhaps the mage's prediction will come sooner than I imagined! Power is shifting and my influence with Queen Beryl is fading faster than I'd thought...~ He recalled what the stars had shown him, what he'd not been prepared to believe even then.
Beryl's mood improved dramatically as a rerun of Voltron appeared that she'd not seen before. "Excellent, Zoicite." She replied, not having heard anything. "I'll leave it to you. Do not fail me, Nephlite. I'll rely on *you* to do whatever you can to assist her in this. Destroy those Sailor Scouts and I'll forgive your failure. Should you fail me..."
It was sufficient threat. Both generals vanished amidst promises.
A sparkle came to Queen Beryl's eyes. At last!
She stood triumphant, glowing with power. "Who will undertake a glorious mission for the Negaverse?"
Three youma appeared. "We will, Queen Beryl."
The ruler of the Dark Kingdom smiled."Yes, the Avarice girls, a perfect choice." She employed her magic to summon a colorful flyer, which she pointed to with her other hand. "The new Pheonix Mage merchandise has come out today. I want you to obtain for me their largest plush doll and a complete set of comics! I also want the Flower Fan play set, and roller skates!"
OoOoO
The Scouts all stiffened.
"Okay, now how to broach the fact that I *like* saying those words? And when they are true I can't help them from slipping out, and frequently?" Jared wondered aloud, figuring nothing much could improve this situation, so he might as well make it worse.
Michelle was blushing, and shocked. But, inevitably, smiling shyly also. The other girls weren't one bit better, stammering and off balance.
"But how do I tell her that I love these other three, too?" He spoke aloud, releasing Michelle from his side and going among the others, ending up taking Amy's hands. "For how could any man worthy of the name call himself anything but a dastardly fool for rejecting the sharp loveliness... nay, the *need* to love the incredible beauty that is Amy?"
Amy nearly swooned. Her heart fluttered.
He went on, taking the shrine maiden as his next target. "Or the fiery temptress, she whose passion outshines the very sun? In whose smoldering eyes and dark tresses must surely be found the very secrets of life and joy itself." He smelled her hair as if it were a bouquet of roses, inhaling deeply. Rae found herself oddly pleased and began blushing at the touch of his fingers in her hair.
The youth rotated to bring Mina as the object of his attentions. "But the knees grow weak and the heart quivers within my breast! For what light can there be for eyes of man if Mina shows not her face? Would not the heart darken? Yea, even the fiery molten pits of the Earth turn cold if she were not near?"
Twin spots of crimson red appeared on Mina's cheeks. Her eyes were staring.
He returned to Michelle and lightly rubbed her shoulders, standing behind her. "If a man were an utter fool, an imbecile as well, and blind to every feeling of the heart, he still could not fail to *feel* the presence of *this* gentle spirit near. What price roses to a summer's day? Or skies to the earth beneath? What is life without that touch that makes it dear?" Michelle found herself smiling at those words in spite of all he'd said to others before her.
Jared positioned himself to face them all, meeting their stunned eyes, knowing that they were still too off-balance for conscious thought and riding that fact, aware that it wouldn't last.
He spread his hands imploringly, expecting fully to get killed for this.
"The seas stretch not far enough, nor is their vastness sufficiently deep to drown the desire, nor fill the need for Amy. What fire could consume the ardor, or match the tempest blaze of love which Rae ignites? Could any radiance be held so dear as the source of Heaven's light, and Mina in its glow? And how could any man live without his better part? Michelle, that most desperately needed part of this man's soul?"
Hmm, they weren't killing him yet. What was up?
While not a *direct* Kuno impersonation, they ought to have clubbed him by now. Then again, none of them were Akane (thank the Lord), and...
While he was serious, he'd never expected to be *taken* as serious. This made things a *little* more concerning, as misunderstandings now could hold FAR more meaning than the minor clubbing he'd been expecting. Realizing there were no words that could possibly recover from how deeply he'd dug himself, he cast a spell and just stood there radiating his feelings. They were love, pure and unsullied, for each of them individually and alone. There were feelings of appreciation for their unique qualities and an awareness of deeper mysteries to their personalities he was as yet unaware of, but love for them just as they were.
A strength was not a whole person, nor was it there all the time. But...
Mina, who was fun, a quality he felt was as necessary to life as breathing. Who was also held as the unspecialized specialist; not the smartest, nor the strongest, nor the most intensely emotional, but the strongest all around. Able to stand in for the best if they weren't available, or assist them if they were. That her time alone had made her better rounded as she'd not been able to afford any weak points.
Amy, the intellectual, and the deep need he felt to converse on an equal level at times. While wonderful in other ways her strength lay in assisting others through the ability of reason, that every person's strength meant more with her helping, guiding them along, aiding them in working together, and pointing out where they might best apply their powers and efforts. In a fight or in life.
Rae, whose fiery depths made for an intensity of emotion that might match his own, and the need he felt for an equal here as well. Whose passion served to motivate the rest that they could not ever stagnate. Yet spirituality tempered and refined as well, and all the team would improve through exposure to her.
Michelle, whose nurture and support, care and kindness was unequaled. And how desperately needed those traits were, for no one goes through life without getting any emotional wounds, and the healing of those was a strength the equal of any other.
Lita, the strong, whose brawn assisted them all, accepting the heavy burdens of a fight so the rest could breathe and coordinate their skills, and whose fierce loyalty was the glue that held them all from flying apart. The one to remain cheerful in spite of hard going.
Pluto, whose reliability went absolutely beyond all question, whose loneliness called to equal wounds in him, and how he wanted to tickle her out of her shell and into fellowship, healing her wounds that her other traits might be brought more fully into life. The suspicion of which twinkled invitingly.
And others not yet so near, only lightly touched upon. Gentle Saturn, scarred by calamity, mistrusted without cause, yet willing to give her all for them all the same. Uranus, fierce and trustworthy, a stand-by-your-side companion through the worst of whatever could be thrown at you...
A team.
That the head cannot look upon the heart and say "I have no need of thee..."
Love felt for all of them. Individually, alone, and yet also together.
Love was deeply rooted as part of his psyche, and yet hesitantly, shyly, offered to them, almost waiting for them to reject it so he could withdraw and not be vulnerable any more. Frightful of the hurt felt many times before, and yet irresistibly offered all the same, shining brightly as it even carried an awareness of being nothing like it could. That, while powerful, his feelings were nothing compared to what shocking intensity he was capable of, yet were irresistibly felt even at low flame. He was incapable of *not* feeling love, they were its targets this time, and that he was holding everything back he could.
But it was escaping all the same.
It was now raining live dodo birds over a radius of three hundred feet, but that was a side effect he could live with.
Four girls stood with red, shining cheeks and racing hearts.
Pluto collapsed beyond her time portal, crying uncontrollably.
Elsewhere, other girls looked up, unsure of what they felt or where it came from but amazed all the same. Lita faltered in her step, carrying a tray of treats, as she went suddenly rosy-eyed and crimson-cheeked. In Australia a girl looked up from her tools as she tuned the engine of a race car, then had to sit down as feelings struck her powerfully. In America, a solemn eleven year old girl suddenly stopped her coughing and told her distraught father, in anxiety over yet another childhood illness, in detail and surprising clarity all about the man she would someday marry.
In the Mists of Time, Sailor Pluto transformed into a sobbing ruin as parts of her heart untouched for eons asserted their continued existence, with their hunger and need.
Jared broke off as he heard someone clapping.
Nodoka was standing by, wrapped katana tucked under her arm while she used both hands to applaud her son's behavior. She wiped a proud tear from her eye. "Ah, there you are, son." Nodoka Saotome walked up, unwittingly interrupting and breaking the moment for them all. "My sister called and said you'd had a rough morning fighting with your cousins..."
Jared performed introductions. "Ah, mom?" He prayed she wouldn't embarrass him any more than she had. "These are my close friends: Mina Lovejoy, Amy Anderson, Rae Hino and Michelle Chambers. Mina-chan, Amy-chan, Rae-chan and Michi-chan, this is my mother, Nodoka Saotome." Those named blushed scarlet and bowed low, mumbling polite things and darting glances at him.
Nodoka Saotome openly considered the young girls, sizing them up. "Oh, my son, so manly! To be so young and already... Ahhh, and four of them!" She shifted her bundle to her hands and walked among them, gazing down on the girls with fondness and frank appraisal.
The young redhead began to consider what trouble he might be in. Having his 'mom'... Oh dear. Her concepts of manliness... He hoped she didn't manage to scare any of his new friends away.
The woman focused a bright, happy smile on her startled 'son'. "I'm so proud, Jared. I never expected this so soon. Toward the end I could practically *feel* your regard for them radiating from you." She again looked over the girls next to her. "Very healthy young ladies." She said in approving tones.
The dodo storm was still going on, but his mom only had eyes for his friends and they seemed quite caught up in meeting her approval. The boy was so focused on seeing that things go well he was as surprised as anyone when a tall, beautiful young lady wearing a sun dress coordinated with her green hair stepped up to him and took his arm.
Nodoka noted the movement instantly. She turned from her inspection and blinked. "I'm sorry, do you also know my son?"
Jared froze when he recognized who had his arm. Sailor Pluto in her civilian garb just bowed to his mother. "Yes, honored mother, my name is Susan, and though I have no right to it as yet, the only family name I wish to carry is Saotome."
Nodoka instantly swept up her and Jared in a HUGE hug, weeping openly as she cried aloud. "OH! MY SON! HOW *PROUD* YOU'VE MADE ME!" Her head darted around taking in all the girls. "So which one will be first? And how many..."
She was interrupted by a united chorus of young Scouts screaming at Pluto. "HEY!" Then Jared was glomped in every direction by them, cutting off his plans for a quiet escape and perhaps running for the hills.
~They weren't suppose to LIKE this! They were supposed to let me GO!~
Somewhere, a black-haired young man looked around, agitated.
"I hate that feeling." He muttered. "It's like... like... someone just got MY harem..." His voluptuous, scantily clad oni girlfriend flew up in her tiger striped bikini, caught him peeping on the girl's bath again, and mayhem ensued.
Back in the street, Nodoka froze in place, then snapped open a victory fan and just beamed. A dodo bird hit her on the head and her eyes flew wide at the impact, then wider as the rotund avian rolled off.
She tracked its progress for a moment.
There was now a waddling tide of the almost spherical birds making their flightless way down the street.
Nodoka bravely ignored them. "Son, should we perhaps adjourn to my house? That way we can discuss this away from what is looking like a youma assault."
There came the screams and crowds began to back into them, swallowing the group in the press.
OoOoO
Grey was having a worse day than normal.
This was hard to do, as he typically had some of the worst beings in the multiverse find humor in tormenting him. But it was mostly anticipation that was making this day so special... He knew that it would get worse.
Nevertheless, having the crowds react to him with horror, fleeing away, getting bunched up...
He'd tried varying his path, but he'd only been running into *more* people that way, one's who been scurrying out of what they'd thought was his way. Now he was driving a crowd of what had to be hundreds of people before him in a human wave. It was enough to make someone sick.
Lita was trailing him in tremendous nervousness. Only a few minutes ago she'd felt...
Little sparkles came to her cheeks and her eyes were long ago dazed. Whoever it was, he loved her. She *knew* it! Unfortunately the thought had held no direction to it, but maybe, if she got *real* lucky! Hey! And this guy knew some people named Amy, Rae, Michelle, Mina and Pluto! It was simple! All she'd have to do was find them, and...
If she was not half so lost in a world of fantasy she'd have noticed that she was at the center of some very unpleasant attention with her Boomer friend. Grey was still considering options. To abandon Lita at this point would leave her at the mercy of an angry mob, she was no longer seemingly capable of just finding her way to an address alone, his experience with the built-in jetpack was abysmal, and...
Yup. Looked like it. The Self Defense Force had mustered what looked like the last few men with gonads if that tank was any indication.
Messy.
He reached for his rail gun. Sailor Jupiter getting killed as a direct result of *his* interference would weigh more heavily against his karma than he'd like to consider. He could probably blow the turret off and they'd get the hint.
Probably.
He hoped.
Oh, look, a bomber flying high, about to position itself overhead. Telemetry didn't read any heavy explosives, so they'd probably just pepper him with smart rocks.
Lita continued on in her dreamy fantasy, hardly even holding onto her treats.
OoOoO
"I still think this is a terrible idea!"
Zoicite smiled, playing with her hair. "That's not your concern, Nephlite. Beryl put *me* in charge. Now are you going to do what I asked you or aren't you?"
Grumbling, Nephlite began to apply energy to his task.
OoOoO
Nodoka found herself shoved up against her son and the young girls that were clinging to him like barnacles. She noted his flight uniform for what seemed like the first time.
"Son, I didn't know you were interested in cosplay." Nodoka stuttered, pressed more tightly by the crowd than she could remember being since the mass exodus had began a long time ago. Or was it only a few weeks? Time seemed to stretch so long with the emergency going on.
Jared felt a slender hand... Two! Three! Slide onto him under the cover of the crowd. He could practically *feel*... um, forget the practically, the girls behind him were grinning. Nodoka had somehow divined this and gave him a 'my son is so manly' smirk. He tried to address her comment. "Um, actually..."
There was some fiddling down there.
Okay, he wasn't ready for *that* yet!
Jared crouched and sprang out of the crowd's 'embracing' grasp, catching the limbs of a tree and swinging over to balance, tip-toed on one leg, on the spire of a utility pole.
From there it was easy to see what was going on.
~Grey? Uh Oh. Looks like either he, or that tank, are about to be in trouble.~
Then he spotted a familiar ponytail out apart from the crowd, trailing slightly behind the cyborg.
Opportunity!
~Hmm, she'd looked taller on TV, but that was Lita all right!~
A Mass Sleep ought to do it. Wide enough area, nobody gets killed. Which, when good guys fall to fighting, non-lethal was the only way to go! The situation could then be defused by the removal and separation of the parties, he could find out what the cyborg was up to and recruit Lita to join the team!
That's when his simulacrum swept on to the scene, walked with complete ease up to the hulking cyborg, gave it a friendly pat on the shoulder, then walked beyond it unconcerned and stopped before Lita, giving her a smile.
She dropped her tray of treats and didn't even notice.
The image of Japan's new hero took her hand and kissed it, then started up her arm. The Pheonix simulacrum embraced Lita, taking her passionately into his arms, held her tight against him, then dropped one of his hands to...
...have it stopped in a thumb lock.
"If you don't *mind*?" Jared asked it, as he got its attention. The thumb lock was one that even his simulacrum ought to be able to escape easily, but it *did* serve the purpose of catching the thing's attention. "Hormone crazy snowball." The redhead muttered, as the magical construct (simulacrum were typically made of ice and snow) released its hold on Lita, much to her disappointment.
The cyborg was looking anywhere but at them, grumbling audibly about kids growing up so fast these days while it held its head in its hands.
In the heat of the moment, stopping his double from performing unspeakable, or certainly private, acts upon Lita, Jared had not considered that he'd wandered right out into the middle of the attention of everyone.
This was bad, but it easily would've become worse if the crowd had continued to focus on him. However, intervention of a sort came in the form of a youma attacking the crowd, having found a feeding opportunity. Before Jared could even assess the first, the street to the right screamed as it was destroyed by another coming up through it. Other youma landed and began to terrorize.
Yet being in the midst of everyone cut his options down to nearly zero. No cape he could swirl around him, no illusions.
Anything he did at this point would be public knowledge.
The simulacrum caught sight of something behind Jared's back and cast a spell from *his* memory using *his* spell points (Hey! That's not fair!) and sent a shock of lightning into a minor youma that had just appeared. The ground also began to rip up in a disk a few hundred yards in diameter and started to drift away, cyborg, crowd, and youma all on it. Buildings around the edge of the disk were crumbling...
But that youma was a weak one and the spell had destroyed it.
By now the citizens of Japan had well developed flight reflexes, but the rising island of floating ground, coupled with the crowds that had forced this congestion and the speed of the attack, had still frozen several small children marching on their way to preschool. The youma that had broken through the street began to reach for them...
Jared had drawn and thrown a weapon without even realizing he'd done it until the creature's ruined eye sprayed gore across the sidewalk behind it.
Many eyes were instantly upon him.
His throwing blade traced a graceful, yet tight, arc and returned to his hand, marking him plainly as the one who'd thrown it. The creature he'd hit was already regenerating from the injury.
Oh great. REAL great. Why didn't he just hang a sign around his neck: Good guy incognito? Note to self: Transform into some form of disguise before assaulting the bad guys or rescuing fair damsels. Well, no help for it but to go on. He stepped away to clear Lita's side so she wouldn't be involved when she was without any Sailor Powers to defend her, while his simulacrum on the opposite side fired off another attack spell, converting two youma to dust and causing a splendidly proportioned female arm with an impressive sword to be thrust from the ground Lady of the Lake style.
The more he did now the more about him was publicly revealed. Argh! The agony! The simulacrum's next incautious spell blew away a small youma yet turned itself into a solid, inanimate crystal statue trapped within a gold and silver cage.
~Okay, note to self: Wild effects can be lethal. Much care is recommended.~
This began to look serious. All the Sailors were packed in tight in the confines of a terrified crowd, the 'Pheonix' was publicly down...
**Whump!**
...and the cyborg's rifle shot passed right through a minor youma without hurting it a bit, proving adequately that tech weapons weren't effective and earning grumbles from Grey about useless depleted uranium rounds. All of Jared's weapons and most of his stuff that bore enchantments were locked away where he couldn't get at them...
So maybe he could risk a *tiny* spell?
A youma threw a wrecking-ball extension from its arm into the cage were the crystal statue of his simulacrum was imprisoned, shattering it into fragments of crystal glass and wire.
Okay, maybe not.
It was his rule never to use wishes for anything he could do himself, nor to use them as any form of attack (nasty things tended to happen when you unleashed magic of THAT potential with the intent to harm), but there had also been this private contest amongst the members of his adventuring party about who could *misuse* a wish in the most amusing way.
Not that that applied here, but he'd no end of laughter when one of his friends had wished for Beanie Babies. They'd invaded a 20th century earth as a direct result.
Nevertheless, he had a few wishes he had yet to think of creative uses for. He had them still around mostly because he couldn't think of anything he wanted badly enough to wish for, but this counted. He slipped the ring on, quietly preparing...
...When he caught sight of that sword, still held aloft in that lady's hand.
~Aw, heck! A secret wasn't worth THAT much!~
He ran over and made a grab for the sword, only as he did so the female hand holding it opened, and the sword disappeared. He almost went back when he noticed a ring glistening on her now-open hand.
He plucked it off and the hand withdrew into the earth.
Placing it on his hand he suddenly realized that he knew no way to activate it.
In seconds panic was going to start killing people if nothing else did. Just then he caught sight of Mina's parents, the Lovejoys, out in the crowd. Nodoka was getting squeezed against the Sailor Scouts, who were trying to escape yet help helpless in the center of the crowd.
He could save them, he'd just blow his identity forever if he did.
Mina was staring at him out of the press of the crowd, torn by indecision. She couldn't change here without everybody in the whole world knowing that she was Sailor Venus! If that happened she'd never get to see her family again, or...
Her eyes were pleading to Jared.
Amy and Rae were having similar trials. Michelle just kept stoic and wished she knew how to use that ring! Nodoka gazed out of the crowd and stared forlornly at her manly son. Susan was nowhere to be seen.
One of the youma was beating the cyborg around the head with a van, which was causing far more damage to the vehicle than the cyborg, but he looked dreadfully embarrassed all the same.
Jared sighed.
"Man, I wish I could get all of my powers back..." His eyes flew wider than his face "...and have everything working right, and keep all of the secrets I care about, not have anything result which I would find upsetting, deleterious..." in wide-eyed panic he began to cram in all of his exclusive phrases before the wish went off.
There came a screech of tires and white vans with huge SkyWing Studio logos splashed along both sides skidded to a stop beside him, pouring film crew. A guy in a white, studio T-shirt and sunglasses dismounted from one of the passenger seats and tossed him a heavy, jeweled ring in the form of an angel whose wings curled back to encircle the wrist, shouting. "Here!"
Jared caught it. It was a clip-on ornamental work for that ring he'd taken from the female arm. Absently, he applied it, snapping the two together. Magic sealed them together, forming a solid whole.
More vans screeched to a halt down the street, and now all were deploying roof cameras on small booms. Sound guys with directional mikes were finding themselves vantage points while crew with clipboards, props, and portable cams began to filter into good locations.
Jared had the weirdest expression on his face. Ask and ye shall receive, right? There might have been a better use for the wish but he'd been short on time to ponder things. He swiftly slipped off the wish ring and returned it to storage. The monsters had, by now, terrorized the people who'd been there into a circle of huddled crowd. Easy to drain, less chasing.
The camera crews completed their setup.
~Hey! this wasn't an identity I care about! Created special for this occasion.~ He could feel the masking magic already about his features, and with panic to spur on people's memories *this* face is what they'd most likely remember!
A guy with a clapper came before the main camera and announced. "Devil Hunter verses Street Monsters, Live action." *clack*
The redhead even knew his lines.
Jared jumped up and landed on an otherwise deserted patch of road. Grinning slightly to himself, the young man began his role, presenting the angelic ring so that the youma could all see it.
"I can hold no enmity against those coerced into evil
But to those vile beings who toy with the hearts and souls of men
Since the time of ancient days we have been your destroyers!"
The youth leapt into the air, throwing himself into an energy storm he only dimly knew how he'd summoned, because at this point all was instinct. His clothes shredded and flew off, reforming into a costume of richly hued blue tunic and tights, with bracers and boots as he'd worn when he'd first arrived in this world. Only now the symbol of an upright sword whose hilt expanded into angelic wings spread wide and whose blade was lit by a chromatic fire over the center of his chest.
He landed after spinning into costume.
"The First Generation Devil Hunter, Jared Saotome! Is here. Beware!"
Then the youth paled as he realized he'd just been briefly stripped naked live on camera and it was being broadcast over all Japan.
Man, life sure could *suck* sometimes! He resolved to wait getting embarrassed on this until later, though. With a tremendous roar echoing over city blocks one of the creatures lunged at him. Jared leapt over the charge of the beast, flashing the weird ring even as he twisted in mid air.
The monster came howling toward him, Jared suddenly had cause to ponder, as he dodged, what weapons he was going to use to kill this? Almost all of his arsenal was tied through some way to a hero guise he'd already used. He even knew only one style of unarmed that was capable of hitting magical critters.
Granted it was a *good* one, but this was a nation whose hobby was studying martial arts. If he started using it somebody would notice what the White Pheonix and the Devil Hunter used were the same.
Only one idea remained.
He'd best at least try it. He actually knew a good half dozen spells for creating swords out of flame, electrical energy, rainbow light and so on. If he were to disguise the casting somehow he might actually be able to pull out one of those.
Hey, he even knew the right words!
The redhead jumped and landed up on a convenient lamppost. "Watch closely, now. If you concentrate on all that is good within you, a Devil Hunter can summon a sword made of spirit!"
Jared brought his hands together and was as astonished as anyone else when he rippled through with unfamiliar powers. The spells for Flame Blade, Chromatic Blade, Faerie Sword, Ice Knife, Enchanted Blade, Mordenkainen's Sword, Dimensional Blade and others all flared briefly within his mind along with their supporting enchantments. All simultaneously evoked and instantly were erased from his mind in an experience he'd never had before.
The fine sword that was formerly held by the mysterious lady's hand was created in his grasp. The force of bringing it forth staggered him, bringing him down to one knee and siphoning more spell energy than he'd used to assault the Negaverse fort.
He brought his head up to see the youma staggering back. The youth stood and brought his blade to bear. It looked like a lightsaber with a core of silvery steel and giving off enough active waves of power, among those waves being manifestations of fire, electricity, ice, and other destructive forces, to almost blind him.
Fear? What was this thing, fear? He was holding enough power in his hand to beggar the most powerful spell he'd ever thrown! Let them come at him during all hours of the day and night! He'd face them all!
The youth rushed and eliminated two youma with a single horizontal slash, instantly powdering them. Four others attacked, and as soon as that, the battle was over. There *wasn't* anything left to fight.
The battle might've led to real tragedy, though. All of these people had *seen* the Pheonix Mage go down. Once hope like that was lost it was nearly... well, really hard to regain.
Subtly, feeling the wand and bracer again on his arm, the youth concentrated. As the mourning folk were just starting to emerge from their shock and gather around the fragments of the Pheonix simulacrum (Grey was no longer viewed as a threat, besides, the van had fallen on him), the wand glimmered, and those fragments stirred.
Light from each of the shattered pieces of crystal brightened, gathered, and coalesced into a wavery outline, one which quickly solidified into the familiar form of Tokyo's finest hero.
The image of the Pheonix Mage, now appearing as solid as anyone, brushed off his sleeves, then tossed a wink to the crowd.
"And they thought they could get rid of me that easily. They forgot what happens when you kill a pheonix." The image transformed into a fiery bird and flew off. After the bird was out of sight, the hidden wand on Jared's forearm ceased its glimmering.
~Whew!~
OoOoO
"And NOW Nephlite!" Zoicite sang out gleefully. "Attack!"
Grumbling about the futility of this measure, Nephlite ordered his creation, and it did so.
OoOoO
Just as the crowd on the hundred yard disk of earth was about the relax a trifle, Tokyo Tower moved.
Not moved as in 'the wind caused it to sway' but moved as in 'lifted one of its supports and took a step, manifesting a vast, evil face a good long distance across and laughing evilly as it stomped buildings'.
This was not a good day for Tokyo, land-value-wise.
Ever so *amazingly* glad that he had his spells returned uncorrupted to him (and not a minute too soon, either) Jared/Devil Hunter threw his ring/energy sword into the air and cast a favorite spell.
"Whatever could more handsome be
Than one, or two, or three of me?
Arriving softly, without sound
Surprising those who'll look around."
Jared/Devil Hunter caught the sword as it fell, then grinned at the self who'd reappeared next to him, the Pheonix Mage. Not an illusion this time, either. The Body Outside Body spell was a Wu Jen specialty, and the ability to recruit three or even four extras of yourself in a fight was pretty remarkable. Very temporary, but no magic known would tell them apart. At least not when they *tried* looking the same.
For a man with multiple identities the spell was priceless. The only drawback really was that only one of him got to carry his magic items and cast spells. A hefty limitation for a mage whose only recourse was magic, but for a mage/martial artist...
Thus the thrown sword, as the Devil Hunter persona didn't need magic save for the one item he didn't want assigned to the Pheonix Mage when they split.
A perfectly ordinary seeming Jared Saotome stood in with the rest of the crowds as himself as a Devil Hunter impersonator and the Pheonix Mage went off to fight the bad guys. On impulse he started applauding and shouting out encouragement.
Michelle, Mina, Amy and Rae all *stared* at him!
Amy whispered that it was probably an illusion again.
A cloud of vulture-like youma separated from the top of the moving tower and began to terrorize. They got intercepted by a veritech blazing at them with high-velocity cannon shells, which was sufficiently distracting as to draw them away in spite of the fact it couldn't hurt them.
Veritechs are not magic items. Fun, useful, but not often magic.
The Pheonix Mage landed, dropping the Devil Hunter to cover his back, then summoned a small animal, transformed it into a rust monster, and threw it against the tower.
Rust monsters from first edition D&D destroy any metal object, regardless of size, instantly upon touch.
Zoicite nearly didn't teleport fast enough as the tower beneath her turned to dust and fell in hazy, indistinct patterns and distinctive lumps of powdery rust.
Then the veritech led the youma pursuing it right over the position of a certain duo on the ground, and the Devil Hunter got a huge leap in a spinning overhand slice destroyed five of them. The Pheonix Mage blasted the last.
All of the heroes vanished every which way, taking the rust monster with them (it would later be turned back into its walrus self and let go on a beach).
Jared on the dirt island continued to clap and cheer his lungs out.
OoOoO
Grey finally extricated himself from the ruins of the van (having finally given up not damaging it - there'd been a kid's toy inside and he didn't want to beggar a family if they failed to have insurance).
Lita eventually recovered her senses enough to faint with bliss.
The Scouts attention was drawn to a man striding up to Mrs Saotome, naturally Jared's attention was drawn as well, especially as his 'superspy' abilities informed him that the man was carrying a concealed firearm, unusual hereabouts.
"Saotome-san? Well, you've saved me a trip. I have a preliminary report."
OoOoO
Nodoka blinked for a few minutes, trying to sort out all that she had just seen. Naturally, she'd kept track of the location of her son at all times and had noted a number of things a casual onlooker would have missed or misinterpreted. Now her thoughts on how to question him were being derailed by this other immediate concern. "Oh. Yes. Very well. Uhm, Jared! This is Keihatsu Kossori, whom I have hired to locate your brother and father."
Jared blinked, faculties whirring. Obviously Rini's meddling had caused Nodoka to go from passively waiting to actively seeking as regarding her son. Natural enough, since that's what she 'remembered' doing as part of that cover story, which just might be the sole positive result of all this mind control. Serenity and Rini were obviously the politicians of their family. He mused over the detective's name, meaning "Sneakery to Enlighten" and with a family name like "Sneak" was probably of ninja background. How perfectly in keeping with the Ranma series...
The various girls blinked. The same thinking going on through many heads. ~Jay-chan has a brother?~
"Sir," Keihatsu said, tipping his bowler towards Jared briefly. "In any case I checked around for any clues as to what they were going on, starting with police records."
Jared suppressed a groan. Genma? Police Records? If ever a man kept a diary it would be like reading his to see Genma's police report. It probably held more of that man's life than the old fart could even remember. Then again, there was a certain glee in seeing one less unwitting victim going along with his schemes from now on, though Jared was worried about what hearing it would do to poor Nodoka.
She was, through some appallingly twisted and weird circumstances, kind of his mom. She deserved what help he could give, as he trusted she would most certainly do the same for him.
He tuned back in as the detective began again speaking.
"Apparently, on March 12, 1984, a man named Genma Saotome collected all the cats in a neighborhood in Wakayama, put them into a pit, starved them, and then tried to feed his son to the cats." Keihatsu handed a copy of the police report (12 pages including the statements from neighbors who witnessed the thing) to Nodoka who took the report with a "you've got to be kidding" expression.
The detective went on.
"This went on seven times, at different locations with the boy being draped in food. On the seventh such occasion, Genma apparently gave up. The neighbors investigating found over fifty cats dead, cut apart into little pieces as well as some boxes and two construction pipes." He handed the photos and a further report to the numb Nodoka.
"What kind of father does that to his son?" Battle auras were beginning to flare around the Scouts without them transforming from civilian guise.
"Only an idiot. Which describes him perfectly." Jared coughed into his hand to get attention, now he didn't need it.
"Son," Nodoka rebuked strongly, out of reflex. "He is your father, you will respect him." She glanced at the girls to see about their reaction to this horrible breach of her son's manners. She was disappointed, the girls were agreeing with her son.
But when child abuse crosses the line into outright torture, most people would.
"So long as you do, I shall." The redhead responded, expecting that to be short indeed. "But I can add significant detail to what this man knows of what went on there. You see, I've heard of this." Jared said truthfully. He caught Nodoka's gaze and met it with his own, stilling her automatic objection as he went on. "It's called the Catfist. It's a martial arts technique that's considered nearly unbeatable, unless an opponent knows about it, in which case it is pretty useless. The Catfist is taught by throwing the student wrapped in fish sausage into a pit of starving cats." He scanned his audience. The detective was taking notes? Let him. "The technique has been banned for killing most of its students, and driving the rest of them mad. At best it causes some rather severe psychological problems."
"I'll bet," said Mina, looking a little green.
"What kind of problems?" Amy studied medicine, this was in her bailiwick.
"A severe fear of cats for one thing. You can understand that being thrown into a pit wrapped in a cat's favored food and being torn at by swarms of hungry little critters doesn't do wonders for your liking of them. And that happened, what? Seven times?"
Keihatsu nodded, feeling compelled to add. "That we know of."
Jared saw Nodoka getting a little green. He continued. "Anyway, the technique can only be used when the victim loses his mind and submerges his human self and thinks he's a cat. Knowing pops, he wouldn't stop until Ranma had the technique down perfectly, even though there isn't a training manual made that describes this without clearly telling all of the warnings about why it's not used anymore. To train Ranma in it he'd have had to ignore all of that. What good is a powerful technique if a ball of yarn, warm lap, or a whiff of catnip distracts you and you can't hold a single thought in your furry head? A catfist fighter is useless if the opponent even knows to throw a mouse in his way."
Jared stared at the ground. "But the training was probably successful. If Ranma learned the technique it would have enabled him to slice apart metal, stone or other things with chi-claws manifesting from his hands. The sliced apart pipes indicate that he probably learned it. Just at a cost of his humanity, that's all."
From the sorrowing look on Nodoka, Jared recalled that this was her *son* that he was talking about here... Well, her OTHER son, he guessed. He felt sorry she had to know. But better this than she continue to believe her husband blameless and so let him go on in his evil ways.
"Is your dad a youma?" Mina mused aloud, then apologized when she realized she had spoken aloud.
Keihatsu looked thoughtful, then riffled through a sheaf of papers. "Hmph. Fits the profile. I've also got some other reports here. Mainly petty theft, a couple of assault charges that may have been related to attempts to steal food, the stealing of a dowry..."
"Excuse me?" The girls all yelped at that. Interfering with a marriage? Jared's father or not, this man must be caught and punished!
"Akira Kuonji filed this report back in 1981," another sheaf of papers was produced from within the dapper man's suit. "Ranma was promised to marry his daughter, an Ukyo Kuonji, and the papers signed. Unfortunately, Genma and Ranma apparently ran off with the dowry and Kuonji-san died two years later. Ukyo is apparently now living as a crossdresser in Osaka, and attending a boy's school."
"She must have snapped from the shame," theorized Michelle.
Nodoka pulled a microphone out of nowhere and began wailing to the heavens about her worthless husband dragging the family honor through the muck, destroying innocent lives in the bargain. Then she noticed the silent and staring crowd and became instantly still. "Thank you, Kossori-san, please leave the rest of the report at my home."
"Yes'm," said Kossori, though he didn't leave.
"Yes, Kossori-san?" Nodoka dreaded this. What was so important that he felt she had to hear it right away? Did she really want to know?
"Upon learning about the dowry theft, I did some further checking. It appears that Genma Saotome made eighteen other engagements for his son..."
"Eighteen?" Nodoka repeated in a shriek, considering fainting.
"EIGHTEEN?" The Scouts considered the possibility that this *was* a Dark Kingdom plot.
"...eighteen..." Jared murmured with a nod. He'd *known* it would have been something like that. "...somehow I thought it would be *more*..."
"Seven of which," said Kossori, "did NOT specify Ranma specifically but merely 'his son' or 'his child'. When I learned of this, I thought I needed to get this information to you immediately, Saotome-san."
Nodoka nodded absently, too numb to even glance at the paper as she took it.
"Jared-kun," Kossori said with a slight bow. "Sometimes the best defense is not to be there, and sometimes the best defense is to act first. I leave it to your discretion."
Several nubile young ladies heard this and turned speculative.
Jared twitched. If he were single, AND these other girls came around, he would be in the same mess Ranma always was, either having to marry the first one to come along or ruin the Saotome family honor (as if that could even be DONE any more at this point, but still). Alternatives and preventative measures HAD to be found.
He was gazed upon appraisingly.
Jared glanced out to the street and was not terribly surprised that the cyborg had vanished. He had some deep thinking to do himself anyway. He met his mom, err, Nodoka's stunned gaze.
"Quite something for a *preliminary* report, don't you think? One wonders what the full extent should be, if this is what boiled to the surface from a mere scratch."
Nodoka fainted.
The redhead glanced between the unconscious form of Lita and his 'mom's' still form. Carrying both would be out of the question... "Hey!" He called out to the camera crew, still packing up. "Can you guys give us a lift?"
One of the crewmen turned to him and Jared was startled to realize that he recognized the guy.
The man tipped his cap, hiding his pointed ears. "Of course, Lord Sanzennin. Thy word is our only law."