Ranma and The Doctor
Chapter 12
Crumbling Tokyo
The park
"Doctor!" Ranma turned to him, eyes panicked for once, "How do we stop it?"
"There's only one way left," He felt the crack that was widening before his very eyes, "and that is to destroy it before it fully activates."
"Then," Akane was hopeful, "this isn't the end yet..."
"No, it isn't..."
The Doctor stood up again and followed the devastation, as the earth rumbled further, splitting up even more and breaking apart the grass and tarmacked roads.
"This is only the beginning of the process..." He paced around the point at which the pylon buried itself beneath the ground, "What it does is head just above the layer of magma of whatever planet it's used on, and travels along it to find the tectonic plates."
"T-Tectonic plates?" Nabiki and Ukyo stammered at the same time.
"What're those?" Ranma growled at another piece of knowledge that passed over her.
Akane squeezed the redhead's shoulder, "Ranma, those are what cause earthquakes, they rub against each other and the friction is what we feel."
The Doctor nodded, "Yes, but this doesn't stop at just that..." He looked around trying to find something, "This is a tool designed to kill all life on a planet, and then to destroy it without a trace, ensuring no one survives."
Ranma shook, fear taking hold of her for once, "But, I don't understand, why aren't we dead yet then?"
"The strange thing about Planet Killers is that they're all different. I've come across a fair few in my time, but this one is a highly specialised weapon used by an extinct species."
"Extinct?" Ranma shrugged, "Can't be all bad then, can it?"
He put on his glasses and held up the sonic screwdriver, trying to tune it to a different frequency.
"Their own weapon wiped them out, Ranma, without them realising it until it was too late." He slapped the sonic probe once and shouted out, "Yes, I've done it!"
"What? Now we can find it?" Akane asked hopefully.
"Not quite..." The Doctor began scanning the area, "Okay, I'll explain from the beginning, this particular Planet Killer is attached to the front of a ship. Any old ship will do, and in the middle of an attack, all that needs to happen is for the ship crash head first into the ground or sea. It then detaches and burrows underground indefinitely.
"As long as it still has power, it will begin to spread plague in the water supply, in the air, and later break the surface of that planet, cracking it up. This all occurs in the space of a week, as by then the disease would have killed off everyone on the surface. At the same time, it scatters parts of itself underground to create more fissures. Like the item itself, these cast-offs are indestructible.
"It also jams communications, electrical equipment, and shuts down all life support systems that exist. Ship docks are locked out and piloting systems malfunction. All to keep everyone from escaping alive."
Ranma felt around in his pocket and found the old Nokia and experimented by dialling the place she used to call home, sure enough no signal was detected. Shrugging, she threw it at its former owner, who it deftly.
"Here you go Nabiki, not much use to me now..." Ranma wryly spoke, before looking back at the only person who could help, "So Doctor, what're you looking for?"
"One thing the pylon looks for to spread the chaos around the world is for a large transmitter of sorts, that's why it's shaped like a pylon you see." He frowned, "Do any or you know of a large one around here it can attach itself to?"
The four girls looked at him mildly confused, "Umm, yeah, we know of one, sugar..."
"Where is it?" He asked, still aiming the probe in random directions.
"Where else do all exciting events happen, Doctor?" Nabiki remarked, smirking.
Ranma stepped up to him, forcing the Doctor to lower the probe, "We have to go to Tokyo Tower."
"Ah..." He scratched his head, "Sorry, I kind of forgot about that place..." Upon their looks, he continued, "Well, you can't exactly blame me, not having been to Japan in ooh, two hundred years or so..." He brightened immediately, "To the TARDIS then!"
They all started running back to the school, eager to stop the destruction around them.
Meanwhile
"... Massive network failures. Transit systems brought to a standstill. Nearby hospital reporting generator shutdown. Radio and television signals have ceased."
"So, I guess this is bad then?" Ryoga sighed heavily, already having figured out the answer.
"Ryoga..." Yuko's image flickered once, "What ever it is is trying to shut my hologram down, and all the systems tied up with me..." She moved over to his ear to speak closer to him, "I think right now the only thing keeping me alive is your life-force. Whilst before I relied on solar power, using your body energy for the advanced functions such as free floating movement, now I am entirely supported by you."
Almost immediately he felt himself tire, "Yuko... Are you that much of a drain on me?"
Her face showed hurt, and she shied away from him, "What...? How could you say that?"
Ryoga knew she took it the wrong way, "Y-Yuko, sorry..."
His eyelids grew heavy, and as he tried to hold out to touch the translucent girl, he fainted to the ground.
"Ryoga?!" She frowned, having already known he was joking, but thought that this was taking it too far.
His light snores told her he wasn't making it up.
"But, why sleep now? You slept earlier..."
Then, inspiration struck her, and after conducting a medical scan, she shuddered at what she found.
Five minutes later
"Oww, Yuko, please don't phase through my face, it tingles..."
"Ryoga, you're awake finally!"
"Finally?" He sat up and wiped the gravel off his face, "How long have I been out?"
"Five minutes, twenty two seconds." She had several screens up, mostly showing an outline of a body.
"Yuko... What's wrong?" He saw her face, and her tightened lips, "You seem tense."
"Worry more like..." She rotated the images so they faced Ryoga, "You've got a serious problem with your sleep cycles, they are far too close to one another, and you're only getting a tiny fraction of the rest you should be obtaining from sleep."
"Huh?" He did a quick check of his body and stared at her in puzzlement, "But I feel fine."
"Outwards and physically, you are in perfect health. Some might say well above average..." She coloured at this point as a part of the image automatically censored itself, before vanishing quickly, having stored it in her 'favourite images' folder, "Internally, you are also fit, but there is one aspect that is different."
Ryoga was aghast, thinking the worst, "What... It's not fatal is it?"
"No, thankfully..." Yuko shook her head before indicating his abdomen, "This is where the virus spread from, the exact point where you the antidote for the Feral's bites took effect."
"You mean to say, this is the antidote's doing?!" Ryoga felt his body in horror.
Yuko looked at Ryoga like a disappointed mother, "I told you, you shouldn't take uncertified drugs, because it was experimental even at that time, I can't find a way to fix it. You can now be classified as a severe narcoleptic given the duration and frequency of your REM cycles."
"But, there's nothing you can do?" Ryoga felt his body slowing again and feared he would be taking a nap any time soon.
"Like I said, I can't issue a quick fix, but what I can do is try to generate the necessary formulae to neutralise the effects, and it may take months, even longer to repair the damage done to your body. To do this, I'm going to need constant access to your body."
"H-How do you mean?" He blushed slightly.
Joining him in the reddening of her face, she coughed professionally and clarified further, "Namely, your blood and testing it whilst still inside your body. This is a drastic measure, even in our time, as people do not want to be subject to this, neither do they want to lose their humanity."
"Go on..." Ryoga swallowed once.
"Whilst on New Earth, I purchased many things I thought would be helpful for you and I in our travels, though I never in my wildest dreams expected to be travelling into the past..." She opened a portal and a box dropped into Ryoga's palm, "This was one of them. You can open it, no harm will come to you."
Releasing the catch, having already been DNA encoded, he withdrew a syringe filled with a black viscous liquid. The occasional spark and movement within it caught his eye.
"What is it?"
"These are nano machines, Ryoga..." She saw that it dawned onto him, "Yes, tiny robots that can repair anything inside you, and maybe make it even better. The Nanos can break down any illness within a day, and that's in our time, here it will nearly instantaneous. With them inside you, they can to figure out how to break down the antidote."
He could tell she was withholding something, and he was afraid to ask, "If they're so great, why doesn't everyone use them?"
As Yuko opened her mouth to reply, his Contact stared blinking rapidly. All through their talk, the ground was shaking, but he didn't even notice it. However a large series of cracks were making their way to him.
The text was in large enough font to be important, as squares and circles indicated the danger areas.
"Emergency. Fissures Detected. Rapid Evasion Required."
"Fissure? What does that me-AAAAAAAH!"
Swallowed by the ground, Ryoga fell into the deep canyon.
Ten minutes ago
"Die foul beast!"
The fissures circled him and growled at he stabbed at them, sealing them up using metallic stitches extracted from the pipes beneath the tarmac. They had trouble splitting those apart, but they could just generate new ones easily, moving to areas untouched by the person.
"Cowards! Why do you run?" The cracks shifted and aimed further into Tokyo ignoring the Kendo captain.
"Why, brother dearest, why are you so tempestuous today?"
Kuno turned to see his sister, casually walking down the street, neatly stepping over the ruptured pavements and road to reach him.
"Kodachi, my beloved insane sister, why are you so blasé by all this devastation?"
"Oh, this?" She gestured to the potholes, shattered roads and crumbling homes, "I thought it to be merely a circus act in town, or another interesting martial arts fight, why do you ask?"
"Have you not seen the skies darken, the cracks attack me, nor how people scream for their very lives?"
Kodachi glanced about and held her chin, "Now that you mention it, it is a tad more rowdy than I am used to..." She looked back at him, "Besides, you have been gone for four months, brother, and no explanation given either. I shall assume you decided to explore the world to further your education."
"Explore the world?" Kuno shivered, finally knowing how long he had bee gone for, "That is the last thing I have done, I have been to far more interesting places than this small planet."
Waving him off, she sighed, "So you say now, but I am surprised you failed to pursue your Akane for lack of competition. My Ranma has been missing for so long, even I have lost hope in ever seeing him again."
"Ranma..." Kuno stuck the sword in the ground, gritting his teeth as fire enveloped the fissure, reaching the four that had escaped from him and burning them out, stopping their advance. "That name, never speak of it again..."
"Very well, brother, but I must warn you not to speak ill of him, or I shall show you my anger again."
Her metal ribbon slashed behind her, cutting up a lamppost in three places. Kuno stood his ground.
"Do not test my patience, sister, it has been worn down thoroughly, and I am more than enough of a match for you..." He held the sword up, but pointedly did not lift his sleeve, "Do not force my hand with this weapon, I have seen too much death already."
Kodachi backed down at seeing the haunted look in his eyes, twirling the ribbon back into her belt, "Your face shows it all, you are not the same brother I once knew." Her own face changed into a crueller version, "Perhaps soon, you will come to see who the people around you really are."
He faltered, but firmed his grip, "I must stop this pain, Nerima is crying, people are suffering. Will you help me to eradicate these abominations?"
Kodachi looked about her, seeing people half embedded in the ground into the fissures, others just lying dead in the street, either from falling rubble, or from contracting some unknown virus. Even as the Earth shook, she remained neutral.
"I will not fight alongside you, but I will take this fight on my own." She indicated the spot behind her, "I will be heading in this direction, to stop the spread of this madness, whether you choose to follow me is your own discretion."
"No, I have seen many of them converging in that place," His outstretched sword arm was showing the way opposite to Kodachi, "And thus that is where I shall be."
"Then so be it..." Kodachi twirled once, re-emerging in her black leotard and ribbon, black rose petals littering the ground, "I will kill off the stragglers, you head on into the breach. Take care, brother."
Kuno nodded once and ran towards the destination of all the fissures, all leading towards one tall mass of girders, Tokyo Tower.
Five minutes later
Furinkan High
"Wh-what the hell happened here?" Ranma gawped at the destruction of the school and the road.
"Yeah, I don't remember this crack here either!" Ukyo stepped over the palm wide split.
"They're attacking enemies directly, people or military forces that may be able to stop them." The Doctor felt the edge of the fissure, as four of them met on one point, ""Given that these all converged onto one spot right here, it doesn't seem to be a tank, not that there'd be any randomly driving about your school. Who could it have been?"
"I don't know..." Nabiki checked around, "I can't think of someone important enough at the school to be killed..."
"Well, whoever it is, they're dead..." He stood up and looked at the black cloud above them the lightning crackling between them, "The fissures open up suddenly when under a person or object, about a metre in width, with four of them, well they had no chance..." He walked into the school, the others following him swiftly, "Of course, they can't stay open like that forever, and once the weight on top of the fissure goes, it seals up again to just ten centimetres or so, but inside it's very spacious, making sure whatever it is falls for a long time..."
Reaching the top floor, the TARDIS stood there as lightning began to strike the ground and nearby buildings.
"The ecosystem is destabilising, it must be nearing the tower..." Unlocking it, the Doctor gestured behind him, "Come on, Ranma, we need to get there fast!"
Starting forwards, the redhead was stopped by a hand holding on to her sleeve, "Hey, Akane, what're you doing?"
"You're going?" Her eyes were misting up, "To stop that thing?"
"Yeah, the Doctor needs me, Akane..."
Walking forwards, Ranma slowed as Akane, Ukyo and Nabiki followed.
"Hang on, you guys can't come with us..." She spoke, getting exasperated.
"Why not, sugar?" Ukyo thumbed her spatula in its holster, "I'm not exactly easy to beat."
"And I just want to see what you get up to..." Nabiki smirked as she saw the inside of the TARDIS.
"No." Ranma moved to the door and blocked it, "None of you are coming with us."
"But..." Akane stepped forwards, only for Ranma to move her hand out to halt her.
"I said no, Akane..." She began to close the door, "It's too dangerous, go home now, before you get hurt." Pushing her gently but firmly away, Ranma stepped back into the TARDIS.
As she began to cry out, Ranma locked the door, touching her head on the wooden panel. Feeling the light thumps behind, she closed her eyes tightly.
"Ranma...?" The Doctor looked over from the console, "Are you okay?"
She was quiet for a few seconds, still leaning against the door, before turning and smiling brightly, "Yep, I'm fine, let's get moving!"
Raising an eyebrow behind his glasses at her sudden mood change, he grinned back, "Okay, hold on now, this is going to be bumpy!"
"Right..." She grabbed on to the gantry, "Where are going?"
"Up." He said simply, before turning a lever.
And the TARDIS took off from the school, spinning in mid-air as the three girls on the roof watched it rocket towards central Tokyo.
"Ranma... Be careful." Akane murmured as the winds picked up twofold.
At that moment
2 kilometres below
"Come on Yuko, any ideas?!" Ryoga had already swallowed the feeling of death, represented by impression of his heart rising up into his throat.
"Umm, so you can't fly then?"
"Thankfully no..." He rolled his eyes, "Anything else?"
"Well, you didn't want those anti-gravity pods..." She blinked once, "Altitude currently -"
"I know..." The Contact was updating it every half a second, "Sea level minus 2.5 kilometres..."
"Scans show the end is another few kilometres down," She was grim, "Even with your skill, I doubt you could survive terminal velocity."
"Yeah, I think so too..." Ryoga began to sweat as he felt fear reach him, "Yuko, there's only one thing to do..."
"What is it?" She awaited his instructions.
"Switch to Hard Light mode and drag me to the edge there, I need to get some grip no matter what..."
"Hard Light?!" She floated away from him in shock, "But it drains you too much, and I'm too weak as it is..."
"Well, it's better than being a red pancake near the centre of the Earth..." He stared at her earnestly, worried about himself also, "Do it."
"Okay, Ryoga..." Her outline grew firmer, "Hard Light mode engaged..." Grabbing his hand, she tried to pull him but only moved him a few millimetres. "I can't do it, I'm too small!"
"Yuko..." Ryoga wasn't stupid, he knew that most of the items she bought back on New Earth were way beyond his understanding, but one of them was at least easy for him to understand, "Now is the time, Yuko, you have to use that module."
She continued to struggle, "No, I can't use that yet, just a little more..."
"I'll be dead in a minute or two, Yuko..." Getting a bit melancholic, Ryoga sighed, "Despite everything, I would've liked to do more things in my life." He saw her face scrunched up in frustration and desperation, "You need to enable the L-S expansion, and the Hard Light module at the same time."
"No!" Yuko was shaking her head wildly, "I won't do that, it'll suck the energy source in a matter of seconds, and in this case, it'll be your life!"
"I only need one second to get a grip on the earth," Ryoga blinked, using the Contact to scan Yuko and find the function within her holographic figure, seeing the necessary words he had to say appear on-screen, "Don't hate me for this, Yuko..."
She felt her body flicker once at an advanced invasive examination, and her tears welled up.
"No... You can't -"
"AI Override protocol, Omega Directive." Ryoga relaxed and smiled, winking at Yuko, before continuing to repeat the command, "Activate multiple programs in parallel sequence: L-S Expansion, Hard Light module."
"NO!"
Growing to the size of a petite girl next to Ryoga, who shut his eyes immediately, she cried out his name whilst throwing him to the rapidly descending wall, using her life size figure and physical presence to good use.
Shrinking instantly the moment Ryoga embedded himself into the wall, to reduce the draw on his power, she hovered near him and was punching his face, though her tiny, two-dimensional fists only phased into his cheek and nothing more.
"Ryoga, you idiot..."
"Heh, told you it would work..." He grinned, before his eyelids grew heavier, "Ahh, I think it's time for another REM cycle..." He quickly looked around the cave he created in the small crater he made when landing, gutting out around two hundred metres above him only to slow himself down. "It's okay, I'm secure here. See you in a few minutes, Yuko..."
He snored two seconds later, not even hearing Yuko curse him again.
Meanwhile
Surface level
"I cannot... I cannot stop them..."
Kuno groaned as his arm throbbed again, feeling like a thousand needles were working their way into his shoulder from the fingers, threading new nerve pathways. The torrential rain had seeped through his clothing, highlighting the red lightning veins clearly.
The fissures circled him, but were still heading for the centre, taking out anything in their wake.
"Earth cannot defeat them, as they break it apart like paper. Metal is useless as they move to other areas where I have not stitched them. Fire can kill them, but with so many, I cannot get all of them, even this unnatural rain dampens my flames now. Water does not drown them, and Wind is nigh useless on ground level..."
He saw the buildings shake as the fissures ran underneath them, but he was running out of ideas.
"I must see where they are headed for!" Using the sword to bend a nearby lamppost and road sign, he created a tall ladder to see into the distance.
"Their patterns are erratic, but they do all generally appear to be aiming for central Tokyo..."
Using the lightning vein, he zoomed in on the furthest fissures and saw that it was heading for a red structure which was very familiar to him.
As his eyes stopped glowing from the use of his magic, Kuno shook his head.
"Tokyo Tower, so they have come to topple that symbol of Japan?"
The deathly rasps like a rope being dragged beneath a wooden door, reached his ears as a rotating blue box hurtled its way to that destination, faster than he imagined was possible.
"So, Doctor, I have found you at last..." Kuno cursed himself at not being able to get there in time, "Even with modern day transportation, with these fiery cracks, I shall not be able to navigate safely there..."
As the rain plastered his face, a thought occurred to him, "Water is useless... As is wind..."
Creating ice was easy, like that time in New Earth, by freezing water with large amounts of wind, a small icy platform was created at the top of the pole.
"I now have the vehicle, all I require is the fuel..."
Swinging the sword behind him, muttering words that felt right to him, the circular winds created a crescent wave that began to flow in mid-air for his body. Getting onto the ice board, he angled it so the base was facing the wave, and kicked off the pole, as he rode the never breaking wave.
"I will find you, Doctor!" Kuno laughed maniacally, surfing on his private sea ten metres above the Earth, "And you... The person who I must see again, who I must talk to..." He cricked his knuckles, "I won't be forgotten!"
Conjuring more wind and boosting the water, Kuno soared and boarded his his way to Tokyo Tower.
Author's Notes
Sorry, been writing this chapter for months now it seems. It's already getting too long, so I've decided to split it at a natural point to give you something at least, instead of leaving you hanging.
Hope you enjoy it!
- J