Obligatory Disclaimer (Do you even read this anyway?): I don't own Ranma or the game this fic is based on
Alright folks, we're gonna take a break from our little apocalyptic ballet for a moment and look in on Shampoo. Haven't seen her lately...
1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1
The Trumpeter's skull smashed into pieces as it hit the ground.
His horn clanged to the floor somewhere nearby.
Shampoo and her followers watched silently as a large, ornate Candelabrum materialized above the empty robes, just like all the other Fiends.
Shampoo strode forward and plucked the Candelabrum from the air. Inscribed on the bottom plaque was the word Godliness.
She had done it. Each of the Fiends were dead, the Candelabra retrieved. and now, she would learn the answers to the questions that she so desired.
A loud crack split the air. A small, square area of floor in front of the entrance sank about a foot into the ground. Another section of floor next to it sank a foot and a half.
More and more pieces of the floor sank downward, in a large spiral, slowly tracing into the middle of the room. Within a minute, the room had been replaced by a spiral staircase, leading downward.
The disembodied voice of the Trumpeter filled her ears. "Congratulations, Shampoo. You have earned the right to see our Master. You may descend the staircase. He is waiting for you."
Shampoo didn't hesitate a moment. She started down.
Time passed. Perhaps she walked downward for hours, perhaps only minutes, perhaps days. She didn't know, and honestly didn't care. She hadn't cared about the time since she had started her trek into the Labyrinth.
Soon she was jerked from her thoughts. A door stood before her at the bottom of the stairs. An ornate yin-yang symbol was inscribed on the door, at eye-level. There was no knob or handle.
Shampoo felt her arm rise automatically. She pressed inward on the yin-yang. It quietly depressed into the wood. The door slowly swung open.
There it was. Before her was the Old Man's room. The fire burned in the fireplace. The old gramophone played its music in the corner, louder than ever now that Shampoo was closer to it. The room ended in its sudden drop into the liquid Magatsuhi.
But the Old Man and his attendant were nowhere to be seen.
Shampoo looked around anxiously, feeling nervous for the first time since she had started her quest into the Labyrinth, since she had first met the man a thousand years ago.
For the first time, Shampoo noticed something about the room: the floor was in perfect contrast. On the left side, it was covered in the most beautiful white tile, white as the purest snow. On the right, the darkest black, blacker than a moonless night. Against the wall there was a bookshelf, placed exactly halfway on each color of tile. Shampoo approached it, examining the books.
It was definitely the most mixed library she'd ever seen. And the books were divided over the color as well. On the left side-goodness again- were holy books like a Christian Bible, and a copy of the Torah. On the right, -evil again- were books labeled Luciferian Bible, and something that Shampoo recognized from pictures as a copy of the Necronomicon.
On the other shelves, there were scores of other books, packed together tightly. Each one matched the other, like a set of dictionaries. Wedging one out, Shampoo leafed through it. Every page was filled with cursive writing. Shampoo's eyes widened as she recognized some things mentioned here. There was Lincoln freeing the slaves. There was the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The books were a perfectly chronicled account of human history. Dated and matching writing throughout the book.
"Congratulations, Shampoo." said a familiar voice. Shampoo spun.
An open door had appeared in the wall. The veiled woman was standing there, hands firmly on her white-suited employer's occupied wheelchair. The Old Man was staring firmly at Shampoo with his deep blue eyes, the faintest hint of a smile on his face.
The Veiled Woman spoke again. "You've reached the bottom, Shampoo. There's nowhere left to go but up."
"Shampoo not stupid. Shampoo knows difference between up and down. Now will stupid veil-lady tell Shampoo why Shampoo has wasted weeks fetching Old Man's Candelholders?"
"I told you before, Shampoo. My Master and I believe that the Recreation of the world is the most evil of evils. One nearly always shapes the coming world to their desires. We wish to end that. So we needed a warrior, a champion. My Master chose you."
Shampoo sighed. She'd heard this before. "But why Old Man choose Shampoo? There plenty others Old Man could choose. Why Shampoo?"
The Old Man raised a hand before the Veiled Woman could speak. He placed the end of the cane that he always cradled in his arms onto the floor. With it's aid, he slowly rose from the wheelchair and to his feet. Leaning on the cane for support, he slowly hobbled over to Shampoo.
He placed a tender hand on her arm.
The smallest of smiles graced his features.
And for the first time, the Old Man spoke. His voice carried the wisdom of ages.
"Because, Shampoo, you were the only one in the Vortex World with no ideals on the remade world."
The Old Man slowly walked around behind her, never removing his hand from her shoulder. However, it wasn't the Old Man that reappeared at her other side.
It was a Young Boy, in a well-pressed black suit.
It was the Young Boy, that Shampoo had seen leaving the hospital just after the Conception, standing there with the Old Woman. The Veiled Woman had disappeared, Shampoo noted dimly.
The Young Boy spoke into her ear, with the quiet innocence one would expect of a child his age. She could feel his brown eyes fixated on her. "Since the beginning of time, nearly all of demonkind has had their own views on how the world should operate. And once the conception occurred, your friends were no different."
The Boy disappeared behind her again. Shampoo heard the voice of the Old Man in her left ear. "Johji Hikawa, of course, had his idea for the World of Silence."
In her right ear spoke the voice of the Young Boy. "Ryoga Hibiki had always felt alone, laying groundwork for his Reason."
The Old Man's voice in her left ear again. "Ukyo Kuonji soon discovered her idea for the World of Beeauty, which soon became her World of War."
The Young Boy's at her right. "Tatewaki Kuno soon joined her, as your friend Mousse did Hikawa."
"And even your love, Ranma Saotome, wished for a World o Freedom, with help from Hinako Ninomiya, Akane Tendo, and her sister."
"But you, Shampoo, you stayed pure and allowed me to find you. And you passed my test."
Shampoo had stood as stiff as a board throughout all of this. Now, she finally spoke. "Wh... what are you? Old Man or Little Boy?"
There was a quiet sigh from behind her, a sigh that was indistinguishable from the voices of the Old Man or the Young Boy.
And then, appearing at her left, was not the Old Man or the Young Boy, but someone else entirely.
It was a man, a middle-aged man. He was clad in a well-pressed grey suit. Long, healthy blond hair fell about his shoulders. One brown eye stared from his left side of his face, one blue eye from the other. He looked like a younger version of the Old Man. They could pass as father, son, and grandfather.
The grey-suited man gestured to himself. "Who am I, you ask? I am the Watcher of Good and Evil. I am the Regulator.
"Since the first world was created here in the Amala Universe, I was there. I have constantly observed the state of each world, of each cycle of remaking it. I have watched the purest of the pure help and aid those who need it. I have seen people with the blackest of evil in their hearts make the same people suffer.
"When the Berlin Wall came crashing down, I was there. When Adolf Hitler ordered the Jews of Europe to be killed, I was there. When Saddam Hussein was convicted and executed, barely a few years ago, I was there. When the snake offered Adam and Eve the apple, I was there. And it is my duty to record every second of it in those books. That is my first duty.
"My second: Evil is a powerful force. So whenever the strength of evil threatens to overwhelm, I balance things out."
For a moment, Shampoo's vision went hazy. The man- the Regulator- went blurry. When Shampoo's vision cleared, he had been replaced by the Young Boy.
"Be it by going into the world..."
Another haze. The Young Boy was gone, with the Old Man in his place.
"...or by staying here in the Labyrinth."
With a final haze, he returned to his middle-aged, grey-suited form. "That's why I've called you here, Shampoo. As said before, the Creation is an evil that must not be allowed to go on. Each ideal of the next world is selfish, tailored for the benefits of the maker. Even that of your friend, Ranma. He may consider it a World of Freedom now, as have many who tried the same thing. But each and every time, it had evolved int a world of freedom for them only. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
"Therefore, there is only one choice of action. When the time for Creation draws nigh, and passage is opened to Kagutsuchi, someone must ascend to it. Then shall Kagutsuchi be destroyed, and this horrid cycle of torment and suffering can finally end. And I have chosen you to do the honors, Shampoo."
Shampoo's mouth was dry. "But... but if Shampoo kill Kagutsuchi, then Vortex World will stay Vortex World forever. It stay like is now. It never change."
The Regulator shrugged. "A necessary sacrifice."
"But why not Regulator kill Kagutsuchi? Why Shampoo?"
The Regulator put a warm, kind hand on Shampoo's shoulder. "I am honor-bound not to influence in Creation... directly. You can make a wonderful loophole for me. You can end this suffering. I know that, in your heart, you agree with me. If you didn't you'd have attacked me by now."
The Regulator held out his left palm and pointed at it with his right index finger. The finger bulged at the end, and then bulged a long, thin line up his finger, tracing around it like a spiraling vein.
As the bulge reached his knuckle, the skin pushed upward, then out, as if the Regulator was growing another finger from his index knuckle. It began to peel off down the finger, as if the Regulator had a worm wrapped around his finger. When it reached the tip, the strange line of skin snapped off, and fell to rest in the Regulator's palm.
Slowly, the wormlike thing began to grow features. Tiny, centipede-like legs appeared, three on each side. Claws like on would see on a scorpion sprouted. An armored tail and stinger grew. Within seconds, the thing resembled a cross between a worm and a scorpion, curled up in his palm.
Shampoo was fascinated, disgusted. "What that?"
The Regulator picked up with tiny thing by its tail, with his finger and thumb. He allowed it to dangle in front of him. "This, Shampoo, is a Magatama. A living manifestation of power itself. Now..."
He dropped the thing back into hes palm and held it out to Shampoo. "...eat up." Shampoo cringed.
"I understand your hesitance. But this will bestow great power upon you. You will become the Hitoshura- both human and demon, yet neither. This power can be used to help us defeat Kagutsuchi. All I ask you to do is ingest it."
Shampoo blinked, thought carefully.
Then she reached out and plucked the thing from the Regulator's hand. It curled gently around her finger.
She examined the Magatama for all of two seconds. Then not allowing herself to hestate, tilted her head back and dropped it into her mouth.
She swallowed.
At once, she felt the power begin to course through her body. She keeled over, arms at her sides, the experience infiniely painful, yet so pleasurable one could never want it to stop.
Yet in spite of all this, she could still hear and understand the Regulator bending over, whispering into her ear, "Thank you, Shampoo."
Then with a single push, he shoved he backwards. She stumbled two steps, then teetered on the edge, falling facefirst into the liquid Magatsuhi.
1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1
Let me make it clear that, while Nabiki was dissolved by the Magatsuhi, Shampoo is much more powerful than her, therefore, she will not. More of Ranma next chapter!