Author's Notes –
Yes, after the long hiatus this fic is back on track. So much going on over the last year or so, but I'm slowly getting things back on track.
X Cross world X
Few of the people who knew Ranma looked past his physical prowess. Considering his dedication to mastering various styles of martial arts, the pigtailed boy never took it as a slight against him. Few people ever gave him the credit that was due to him though as he was more than just a jock. Able to dissect, dismantle, and reproduce various techniques as well as to adapt them to various situations on the fly, the young master martial artist was far from stupid. Few understood the true depth of his unique intelligence though, often claiming that it was just luck or the stupidity of his opponents, but the truth was that Ranma thought best when fighting.
Having spent the past three hours in running fights with the strange thrulls and their handlers he was slowly getting used to the repetition of the Underground's fighters and their tactics of thrulls attacking and diverting attention while their elemental user. Even with several users their tactics didn't vary, though they often appeared to get in each other's way as they appeared to be unused to fighting with more than two teams at a time.
No longer having to compensate for his weaker body and having adjusted to the exo-suit that Su had created for him and all the others, the pigtailed fighter allowed his body to simply react to the fighting, allowing his mind to wander.
'You know, this kinda feels like an RPG,' he mused. 'Me, the hero, and my loyal companions jumping from one quest to another without having time to really rest between the missions. The adventurers fighting hordes of minions until they find a clue to something or other that will help them defeat the boss of the mission/quest who in turn helps prepare us for our ultimate showdown with the big boss. All that's missing is some unexpected true boss that's been manipulating the other boss that I've been gunning for.'
Clenching his fist, he felt the tendons and ligaments stretch while the other men allowed the soothing hot waters of the Hinata Sou's onsen to ease their tired muscles. Though his renewed body was perfectly capable of chasing after Leonard's vanishing forces, the others in his little squad weren't. The hard, destructive battle on the isolated mountain top and the run through the Underground had taken a lot out of the others
'This is why the hero only has a handful of companions on each mission, gotta keep the others fresh for the next crisis.'
Relaxed yet restless, the cursed martial artist returned to his room. He didn't know how long he'd paced the floor of his tiny room, but evidently it was still night as the pale moon could be seen from his window when a gentle knocking interrupted him.
"Ranma?" the nearly breathless woman called out to him from the other side of the thin sliding door. "It's me, Hatsuho; can I come in?"
"Ah, sure," he replied automatically.
The darkness of the hallway told him that it was late, though there was just enough light for his keen eyes to make out the alien's silhouette as she entered his room.
"I wanted to thank you," the explorer stated.
"Why?" he retorted. "It's not like we saved her."
"No, you didn't," she replied. "But thanks to you Birdy knows where to look for her."
"We still gotta get back down to the Underground, and we don't have a lot of time to work with," he growled. "But here I am, trying to rest but failing miserably."
"You're doing more than I am," the alien scout admitted as she settled closed the door behind herself.
"…" Words just weren't his forte. Perhaps that was why he'd had so many problems with Akane and the other girls. "So you can't sleep?" 'Why the hell did I ask her that?'
"I'm used to a different time unit," she finally answered. "We also require less sleep than a typical human."
Accepting her information, Ranma found himself nodding. The feel of soft yet strong hands cupping his face should have startled him as the long hours of fighting had honed his senses and reflexes, yet rather than flinching and pulling away he allowed her to pull herself closer to him. For all the fighting and killing that he'd recently experienced he had not expected the alien woman to provide him with a moment of humanity and gentleness.
X Cross world X
If there was one thing that Birdy Cephon Altera hated about her job it was the paperwork. Yes, the capture of the fugitive Gomez was a good thing, but the amount of paperwork involved with the report about the battle as well as the 'loss' of all the captured equipment had to be documented.
"For a Level 6 planet Earth sure is advanced," muttered the alien officer.
"It's because Humans, like many unadvanced species, possess many various factions," the bald man stated. "The promise of power, even power supplied by 'aliens', appears to be sufficient enough incentive to get them to use their newly acquired power to try and subvert the other factions."
The two-toned haired woman nodded.
"Honestly though, your report is…"
"Unbelievable?" Birdy suggested.
"Yes," the bald commander stated gruffly. "But I know that you're not capable of manipulating your recorder. The readings from your suit confirm everything though, even the body switching, gender-changing boy – impossible to believe as it is…
"Therefore, I am removing your limiter."
Startled, Birdy could only stand there as her commander's holographic projection glanced down at his display. "This, this isn't because I lost to Ranma, is it?"
The bald humanoid figure shook his head. "It's not uncommon for even an Alpha Cygni to lose in battle. The fact that he bested you is of no consequence to us. What does matter is that the other 'you' did die on this mission. It would be reckless of me to allow you to operate under the same restrictions as the 'you' that died."
Birdy nodded. The grim reminder sent a chill up her spine.
"What you should know is that the Santovasku have mobilized. Their fleet is on its way to Earth as we speak. In response the Cygni have begun to mobilize as well."
The young officer nodded. "I understand. If I can find the princess I should be able to avert another war." 'In this world and the other.'
"Off the record, I'm afraid that you might be under-equipped for this mission. I doubt that even your power suit and the equipment you've, um, lost, will not be enough. As you're aware, there are other species who are hiding their presence amongst the humans. There should be a Santorum not too far from you. He might be interested in some of the equipment you, um, lost. Just tell him Dust sent you."
X Cross world X
The recent turn of events soured the elder's mood. Ranma's recent bloodlust as a result of his contract with the cursed blades and armor were understandable, but with those items gone Happosai couldn't help but wonder if the boy's psyche would be able to process everything. From what he'd heard of Ranma's life in the other world the boy had only killed once before. Since coming to this world though he'd killed the Kuno heir as well as countless Amalgam soldiers and Underground thrulls.
There was blood on Ranma's hands, but could he handle that burden? Or would he become a soulless killer with an insatiable bloodlust?
The signs pointed to the later. Though the others needed a moment to rest, Ranma appeared to want to press on. But was that simply masking his desire to kill more opponents?
Then there was the incident when he'd returned to his home dimension only to attack and seriously injure his rivals.
But what could he do?
X Cross world X
The gentle glow of the approaching dawn filled the sky with a reddish hue as the storm clouds loomed in the horizon.
Fully rested, Ranma sat up, fully expecting to see a buxom alien sharing his futon. Though his sheets were slightly disturbed there was no sign of the violet-haired Alpha Cygni. 'Wait… was it a dream?'
Dressing quickly and silently, he rushed down to the lounge.
"Morning," the ever cheerful Seta greeted as Sagara glanced up at him from stockpile of ammo.
"Morning," Ranma returned. Glancing around the room he eyed his companions as he pushed aside the strangely vivid dream he'd had.
The others stifled yawns, though a few actually yawned as they greeted him, leaving him with the distinct impression that they were still exhausted despite the night's rest they'd had.
"I've decided," he proclaimed, drawing all eyes onto him, "that it's best if only a three man team goes into the Underground."
The stunned looks from the others hadn't been completely unexpected. Yet mixed in was also a sense of relief.
"A three man team would probably work best," Seta seconded. "You'd be able to move faster, and we wouldn't be getting into each other's way as often as we did last night."
Ranma nodded.
"You're not leaving me behind," the young galactic officer insisted as she jumped to her feet. "The Princess' safety is my highest priority."
Again Ranma nodded. He'd known that Birdy had been a given, but that left only Ukyo. Though she wasn't the girl he knew and her skills weren't up to par with the Ukyo from his world, she'd proven more than capable during their last excursion into the Underground. "Ukyo, you used to live down there, and it's obvious that we'll have to go down further than anything that Keitaro's gone down."
"I understand," the brunette replied.
Though Kanako looked likely to object, the adopted Urashima opted to remain quiet. None of the others questioned the team selection, leaving Ranma to feel a bit better about his decision. "Sagara, work with Kaname and Hatsuho to inventory the weapons we captured from those aliens; as a Whispered she might have some insight on the weapons the aliens were using. Keitaro, try to find out what those other artifacts we recovered from Okinawa do. Seta, see if Mithril can help you secure that alien ship, I've got a feeling that either Granny or Sophia are going to try to get their hands on it."
"Sure," Seta smirked. "Leave it to us."
"Right," Ranma replied, extending his hand to the older man. "I'll do that. We should be back before tonight, but if we aren't, we'll let you know. We've only got a few communicators from the aliens, so we should be able to contact you if anything happens."
Strengthened by his resolve, the others nodded, accepting his orders. No longer was he merely chasing leads and reacting to circumstances; no, now he was leading them.
X Cross world X
"He's no son of mine," proclaimed Genma Saotome. "It's impossible!"
Despite his most logical and emotive statements, Genma Saotome couldn't help but doubt himself. Years of solitary confinement in the secret prison known as Hades and his already fragile mind had led to his propensity to talk to himself as he tried to rationalize things.
'You know the truth,' Hina him sent. 'The boy truly is the son of Genma Saotome, though he is not your son.'
The addition of the two cursed blades and their voices didn't help his psyche; nor did the fact that the two blades seemed to have an intimate connection to the person who claimed to be Ranma Saotome.
'The other Genma succeeded in raising a 'Man amongst Men',' taunted the blades, though which one had said what still baffled the master martial artist. 'But it wasn't thanks to him, it was thanks to Hinata Urashima. She managed to destroy the Omni-sphere in the other world and keep the bond between the spirit and this world intact, while in this world the Omni-sphere managed to sever that link.'
"Resulting in a higher reliance on technology to compensate for the loss of spiritual energies," concluded Genma. "So what do I do?"
X Cross world X
The long shadows of the dimly lit corridor danced, mimicking the figures that moved throughout the underground passage.
"We have the sacrifice," a masked man stated. "We need to perform the ritual now!"
"We can't, not yet!" hissed the robed man at the front of the procession. "The priests need to harness more mana before they can begin the ritual. If they tried to start it without enough power the spell would fail, leaving us without a sacrifice and the priests."
"But…" the masked man sputtered.
"If only we had the forces necessary to capture the dragon-ship," the horned man stated.
"What good is a mere dragon-ship to the Dragon God?" the robed man demanded as he spun around on his followers. "At best their ship would have allowed us off this planet, but that's only if we managed to avoid the damned Galactic Police and the stupid science vessel in orbit around this miserable rock!
"Besides, our goal isn't to just escape this rock, it's to destroy it. The Dragon God will give us the power to do so."
"But, what of those intruders?" the horned man protested.
"The ones who fled?" robed man asked. "What of them? They've fled; they're no concern to us. If the thrulls wish to pursue their master's killer let them, but tell the others that they are not to pursue anyone wishing to leave the Underground, only stop any who try to enter. We cannot allow anything to interfere with the ceremony."
* Home world *
"We have the sacrifice!"
A roar of cheers greeted the robed man's proclamation, reverberating off of the stone ceiling and walls as his followers celebrated the news.
"The time is nigh! We shall begin the ceremony!"
Silence greeted his words as those gathered immediately took up their tools and weapons in preparation for the sacred ritual.
"All will be ready soon," the robed man smirked as he looked down at the tiny bundle in his arms. "Before the day is done you shall die a glorious death, all for the sake of our master."
* Home world *
Silence filled the Dean's office as the gathered teachers and staff met. The fact that nearly all of the magical staff had been summoned to should have cued the scruffy blond mage to the fact that something extraordinary had happened, but then again, given the fact that had currently been dealing with someone traveling between parallel dimensions/universes, Takamichi Takahata wasn't surprised to see them all gathered. As one of the Dean's most trusted teachers it fell on him to explain the odd circumstances to his peers.
"Thank you all for coming," the weathered old mage greeted once the door was closed behind Takahata. "Sister Shitaki, if you would?"
The blond blinked.
"Thank you Dean," the humble woman replied as she stepped forward. "Last night, I was in charge of the University's Astronomy class, when one of the students made an interesting discovery. My initial thoughts were that she'd mistaken spotted a satellite or perhaps one of the Russian or American space-ships, but… well, you can see for yourself."
Pointing to the projector she waited for the dark image to appear, drawing several gasps from the gathered magi.
"This is a joke, right?"
"Aliens? Seriously?"
A feeling of dread crept up the blonde's spine.
"They're the Santovasku," the elegant woman beside him proclaimed.
All eyes immediately turned to the head of the Shinmeiryu as the proud kendoka stood beside her brother – the Dean's very own son-in-law.
"You know of them?" Konoe asked as he stepped forward.
"Our current investigation has led us to make some interesting discoveries," Takahata replied.
"Saotome?" the Dean muttered as he scratched his chin.
"Has picked up some interesting allies," finished Tsuruko. "Aside from being able to jump between parallel universes, he's made the discovery that only those who do not have a counterpart in the other world can travel between the two worlds – one of them happens to be an alien."
"One of these Santovasku?" Sister Shakti concluded.
Takahata shook his head. "No, she considered herself an Alpha Cygni, a member of the Galactic Police. She was pursuing a Santovasku though."
"It appears that something similar is happening in this world as in the other one," Eishin interjected. "From what our sources told us, the Cygni and Santovasku are ancient enemies. The Santovasku apparently kidnapped the Cygni's princess, and apparently triggered a galactic war between the two races."
"And somehow Earth is caught in the middle," muttered the Dean. "What can we do? Our sources in the government have confirmed that there is increased chatter in the space program of a discovery. From the size of the fleet I wouldn't be surprised if others have made this discovery."
Takahata glanced at his friend and her sister, unsure what to say.
"We hope that Saotome returns from the other world quickly," Tsuruko finally replied. "Perhaps he and his allies…"
Takahata resisted the urge to shake his head. Even if Ranma managed to get his original body back and get back to this dimension, could he really stop and an intergalactic alien war?
X Cross world X
Few who knew him would dare to say that Leonard Testarossa was anything but fair tempered. Calm, collected, and calculating, the brilliant Whispered rarely took any risks as he weighed all his options. Losses he could accept, even when they were just outside of what he'd expected. The recent battle though was even riskier as he'd encountered a force that he'd suspected had greater firepower than his own, a rarity when once was using state of the art mecha like his miniaturized and unmanned Arm Slaves. Still, he'd expected his forces to suffer some losses, but expected their overwhelming numbers to make up for the difference in technology. He probably would have succeeded to if not for the blasted Ranma Saotome.
Not only had the mysterious Whispered martial artist thwarted his efforts to capture the alien dragon-ship, but Saotome and his allies had destroyed all the Arm Slaves and killed or captured nearly three-fourths of the troops he'd deployed.
With his resources depleted, Leonard was forced to rethink his options. Well, he would have, had Sophia not ordered him to take this new and unexpected course of action.
"You're sure this is where we need to go?" he asked the buxom redhead.
"Do not second guess me Leonard," Sophia replied without even so much as a glance back at him. "If Ranma has indeed regained his true body then this mission is of the utmost importance. We need to reach the Omni-sphere before he does."
"But the one that I've built"
"Is incomplete," Sophia finished. "The Omni-sphere that the Russians used to create and activate the Whispered is merely a copy. The true Omni-sphere is here in Japan. If I didn't use the delayed and re-routed command signal I'm sure that Mr. Gold and Urashima would still be in Japan, but now they're chasing ghosts in the Russia."
The silver-haired teen hated being misled, especially when it was he who was supposed to be in charge. Knowing that Sophia had ordered him to send his troops on a fool's errand irked the proud Whispered. Had she trusted him with that knowledge he would have graciously accepted the losses. Then again, perhaps that was the point. Had he sent a suicide squad the remnants of Amalgam might have caught on.
"I anticipated the fact that Ranma and company would interfere," Sophia explained. "Not only was the dragon-ship close to the Hinata Sou, where Ranma and his allies are based, but given the scale of the battle I knew that it wouldn't be long before Mithril became involved. Let them have the dragon-ship. With the Omni-sphere I will be able to control it once they repair it."
X Cross world X
The chill of the morning air failed to clear the kendoka's mind even as she tried to concentrate on the handful of leaves in the wind. Careful, practiced strikes neatly cleaved the offending leaves in two.
"You're distracted," a sagely voice stated. "You're usually able to cut them down the stem of the leaf, but to see the uneven remains lead me to believe that you're still upset about being kidnapped."
Motoko paused, breathing deeply as she eyed the next target.
"You're the future heir of the Shinmeiryu," the shriveled old man stated. "You're the one who should be rescuing, not being rescued, right?"
Her blade flashed in the air, reflecting the light of the approaching dawn, missing the leaf completely.
"Few people could hope to stand toe-to-toe with that monster," Happosai scowled.
"It's not that he defeated us," Ryoko interjected as she sheathed her blade. "It's that we… I... I couldn't do anything to help Ranma!"
The admission stung the young kendoka.
"Keitaro has the Kusanagi," she spat out. "Yes, he's the better fighter, and he's Ranma's cousin"
"He also fights to protect Kanako," Happosai pointed out. "She fights because our Kanako died. Sagara fights for Kaname, Seta to help Ranma. Those three are the only ones other than Ranma and Birdy who can travel between the two worlds."
Hearing him state the obvious only hurt her all the more.
"You wish to help Ranma, do you not child?" the sagely old man asked.
Fighting back the tears, Ryoko nodded.
"Then support him."
Blinking away her tears, the slender kendoka tried to make sense of his words. "How? I'm not strong enough to fight like the others, I can't…"
"It's not physical strength that Ranma needs; the boy needs good friends, not just comrades. He needs someone to help him shoulder the weight of what he's doing, of what he's done; someone to let him know that when this is all over that he has somewhere to return to, someone to return to."
Her eyes now clear, Motoko saw the sun rising in the east, a new sense of purpose and determination in her heart.
A/N
I'll leave things here for now.
Happy Memorial Day, and thank you to all the troops, past and present who have served. It's because of you that we Americans have the rights that we enjoy and sometimes take for granted.
Dreamingfox