Realities Cubed
By Jim Robert Bader
(Based on the Works of Rumiko Takahashi and Others,
including my fellow fanfic writers, Nicole Manders, Trella,
Gregg Sharp and DB Sommers, who provided some of the characters and concepts that have appeared in this series, and to TH Tiger for his generous support and advice in the writing of this and many other projects)
Chapter Twenty-Four.
Countdown to Oblivion
Continuum # 87219654
Blue Area, Luna
Kiyone often wondered why her life had taken such curious turns that she should wind up in a virtual "marriage" to someone who once had been accounted her worst nightmare. The mere thought that she and Mihoshi could have been together for so many years would have horrified the younger version of herself, the Kiyone who once was, who had been single-mindedly career oriented and determined to let nothing stop her rise to the top spot of the Galaxy Police Bureau. To think such an annoying bubble-headed, whiny little brat could have derailed her promising career was beyond unthinkable to a rising star like Kiyone, and being partnered with the most incompetent patrolwoman in the history of the GPB was simply not conceivable. One would have to be out of their mind to think that Kiyone would stay at Mihoshi's side for one second longer than duty required would have earned a contemptuous laugh, followed shortly by a short push out of an airlock (preferably without a spacesuit). No way would she have accepted Mihoshi as anything other than a lodestone around her neck, let alone a domestic partner of close to twenty terrestrial years now standing.
"All systems primed and ready," she reported aloud, "The Cannon is building up its charge to about sixty-three percent of optimal levels. Disengaging secondary safety locks, arming main trigger and setting targeting lock to the coordinates you specified, Washu."
"Adjust your settings by point-oh-oh-three, Kiyone," Washu dutifully relayed across a thousand alternate dimensions, "Raise the altitude by nine tenths of one degree."
"Adjusting to .003, atziluth O9er, check," Kiyone responded, automatically setting the controls so that the aiming mechanism would fire at exactly the coordinate specified by her instructions.
Washu was such a perfectionist, but then again, there was something almost comforting about her near-infallible genius that Kiyone had come to rely upon, even though Washu was the primary reason she was married to Mihoshi in the first place. It had been one of Washu's experiments that had opened Kiyone's eyes to the truth about Mihoshi, a truth that forever altered her appreciation of the dusky-skinned blonde patrolwoman and gave her new insight into the true meaning behind their very odd "friendship."
"Power now at Eight-two percent and rising," Kiyone dutifully reported, "Switching to full manual control. Auto-systems locked, tertiary systems primed, back up and reserve power fully online, all systems checking in the green. We are ready to go once maximum power levels are achieved."
"Hold for my signal," Washu urged, "I've programmed in a nine second delay before firing so as to adjust for any last minute corrections, but once you pull that trigger, the won't be any stopping or turning back. We only have one chance to do this, so be sure to get it right."
"Check," Kiyone replied, "Awaiting signal as per your mark."
It had puzzled Kiyone for the longest time how a total airhead like Mihoshi could have even gotten on the Galaxy Police, let alone racked up an impressive record of arrests while still a rookie patrolwoman. They had been partnered up during Mihoshi's third year of service and Kiyone's second, making the blonde the senior partner (an irony seeing as how often Kiyone felt more like her baby-
sitter than the "Rookie" officer on their team). Her first impression of Mihoshi had been that of a total space-brain, a fumbling, childish emotional basket case whose irritation factor was only exceeded by her total dependence on Kiyone for the least little bit of emotional support. How in the name of all that was holy had someone like that gotten past the filtering process of the Academy? It could not just be the fact that her Grandfather was the GPB's Grand Marshal!
And yet, checking back on Mihoshi's records, Kiyone was astonished to discover that her partner had graduated at the top of her class and achieved high honors in all of her major subjects. She had been an aggressive go-getter out to prove her worth to the Galaxy Police by taking on the toughest and most dangerous assignments, rather like Kiyone herself when you came right down to it. She was a top-rated pilot, a first-rate crack shot and a skilled investigator...indeed, in every category the exact opposite of the girl Kiyone knew from first hand experience, who could fall asleep on duty and dream about food and forget which sock went with which foot and simply drive Kiyone to distraction!
Talking to those who had known Mihoshi before Kiyone had produced even more confusing results. At first Kiyone had been working on the theory that their superiors were covering up for the shocking embarrassment that Mihoshi must have posed for the Grand Marshal. That theory went out the airlock when Kiyone had heard first-hand accounts of people who had seen Mihoshi in action and were impressed by her achievements. Once again they seemed to be describing a wholly different person than the woman Kiyone knew from daily first-hand experience. It had driven her crazy with trying to reconcile the total contradiction and the paradox that was Mihoshi, a girl who could stumble over her own shadow and yet somehow play a significant role in bringing down such wanted desperados as Kagato and Doctor Klaw. What was one to make of such a baffling enigma?
And then Washu had supplied the answer, one so obvious that Kiyone had marveled that she had never even suspected it from the very beginning. Always in those interviews with other Galaxy Patrolmen there had been an implied "but" to their glowing testimony. Mihoshi had indeed been the rising star of the Bureau, BUT-
-and always there was this unspoken, implied BUT to their statements-it seemed as if they were saying, "That was Mihoshi then, but now...isn't it a pity?"
A flashing red light drew her attention back to the display terminal and Kiyone spoke once again into the relays, "Dimensional Cannon has reached full charge, Washu. It is now primed and ready to fire. Removing final safeties, weapon armed and active, awaiting your instructions to fire."
"Hold and be ready, Kiyone," Washu said, "Check the timer scope to your left...it should be counting down to termination point. I've made all the necessary calculations, now it's up to you to pull the trigger."
"Roger that," Kiyone said, "Standing by and awaiting countdown."
Washu had been the one to uncover the truth behind that "BUT" that had been eluding Kiyone. It seemed that Mihoshi had indeed been the Galaxy Police's most aggressive go-getter, so much so that she had dared pursue one dangerous case too many. A rogue scientist-a real Kagato wannabe-had captured Mihoshi investigating too near to his secret lair and decided to "experiment a little" with the overly adventuresome policewoman. Mihoshi had endured three days of hideous experiments designed to explore her neural pathways in order to discover what it was that made her such an outstanding Detective, but in the end Mihoshi had managed to break free and turn the tables on her captor. Backup had arrived to find Mihoshi idly playing with biochips taken from computer that had been used to record her "test data," only she was treating them like domino-chips. She was rushed to the nearest infirmary for observation and was given a clean bill of health...at least so far as things went on the physical side of things.
Mentally, though, she had suffered a severe neurological trauma that had scrambled her synaptic relays and had reduced her to an almost childlike state of neo-infancy. Psychological counseling was immediately referred and the slow process undertaken to rebuild her personality and mental functions. They had managed to restore her to an operational state but were unable to totally clear up the randomly misfiring synaptic relays affecting her higher brain functions. Technically her brainwave scans were off the charts as far as mental activity, but so much of it was re-routed and convoluted that coherent thought patterns could not be fully reestablished. Mihoshi was mentally the age of a twelve year old yet still retained much of her knowledge and combat abilities, so with great reluctance (and in honor of her high record of achievement) the Brass had elected to return her to field service, hoping to let her eventually retire with honor so as not to embarrass the Marshal.
Oddly enough Mihoshi's record for outstanding arrests-to the astonishment of nearly everyone-continued to skyrocket, only this time she seemed to solve cases almost by a whimsy, blundering her way through cases that would daunt the toughest investigators, relying more and more on pure "dumb luck" to get her through situations where there was almost a zero percentage chance at survival. This "Fluky-Luke" effect (Washu had coined the term based on an old Cartoon character) appeared to be the product of a latent mental ability that Mihoshi appeared to have developed as an indirect consequence of her mental aberrations. Washu hypothesized that Mihoshi had gained the ability to alter probability lines on a purely unconscious level, causing seemingly random events to work out in her favor, a survival reflex of which she was wholly unaware. It was this factor that had drawn Mihoshi to Earth and brought her into contact with Tenchi, Princess Ayeka and the Space Pirate, Ryoko, allies who were able to help Mihoshi complete her assignment of "dealing" with Kagato. It had also gotten her through many other scrapes where the possibility of success was infinitesimally small, an ability that still served Mihoshi to this day, though never had she been able to consciously control this power or make it work on command.
Of course merely postulating this as a theory was never enough for someone as inquisitive as Washu. Having discovered the reason why Mihoshi was such a "feather-head," Washu set about devising a "cure" that could neutralizing the randomizing effect and restore Mihoshi to the level of competence that she once had enjoyed. Washu created a form of "Nanotech" bug that could seek out and correct the misdirected and misfiring neural passages and had gotten Mihoshi to swallow them (by cleverly sprinkling them on some of her breakfast wafers), and after an initial "awkward" period (during which Mihoshi had appeared as though she were taking up break dancing) she had seemed to respond to the therapy and started immediately showing results, her thought patterns reforming in a stable pattern and her regaining the ability to remember things for more than five consecutive seconds.
The result was a Mihoshi who astonished everyone who even thought they knew her. Overnight she went from embarrassing to intimidating, becoming aggressive and self-assertive for the first time since Kiyone had known her and at once assuming the top spot in their partnership with an incisive intelligence that was more than a little daunting. Kiyone suddenly found herself with a Mihoshi who could not only carry her own weight but who actually seemed to be holding herself back to allow Kiyone to keep pace with her, a Mihoshi who would constantly interrupt or correct her and point out little details that Kiyone herself had missed during an investigation. This Mihoshi was a bit more ruthless and a lot more daring, able to quote regulations verbatim and never missing a beat in a conversation.
In other words she was more than a little scary!
It didn't last, of course...but while she had her mind working on even channels she was a wonder to behold, a force to be reckoned with and easily the best officer whom Kiyone had ever met. At the height of a major crisis, though, her intelligence and coherency began to falter, that Nannites losing their grip and gradually burning out from the strain of trying to keep all neural regions firing in sequence. The damage that had been done to her was more extensive even than Washu had realized and the "old" pattern was reasserting itself, like in that Terran novel called "Flowers for Algernon" that Kiyone had once read through. Under pressure and intense fire by an enemy named Yakage (yet another of Washu's former assistants turned rogue...Kiyone privately thought the Mad Genius needed to use better application standards for testing her prospective employees) those microscopic Neural-Enhancers began to flare out and falter with alarming rapidity, and there-facing almost certain death together-Kiyone witnessed the "old" Mihoshi making a valiant comeback. It was tensely emotional scene for the both of them, but no less for what Mihoshi would say as she gradually lost the ability to think coherently all over.
"I know what you think of me, Kiyone!" Mihoshi had wailed, "I know you think I'm a crybaby and a coward, that I'm slow and I trip over my own shadow, but I've been trying...I've been trying really hard to keep up with you. You think I want to go back to what I was? You think I want you to hate me for what I've become? Don't you know how much I've always looked up to you, how much I depend on you? What my life would be like without you...?"
It was a moment of stunning revelation, the discovery that Mihoshi was in love with her, had always been in love but had never really known how to show it or to win back Kiyone's affections. Their partnership was in more than name as far as Kihoshi was concerned, and even while super-intelligent she had been expressing her support and desire for Kiyone, albeit in ways that actually turned Kiyone away, producing the irony of a Mihoshi who made Kiyone feel slow, incompetent and stupid! Suddenly the prospect of having the old Mihoshi back did not seem like such a terrible thing, and when contrasted to the other Mihoshi...well...things that had used to annoy Kiyone no longer seemed all that important.
Which, in a very obvious way, was extremely ironic, even funny after a fashion, because up until that incident, had anyone ever bothered to ask Kiyone what she thought about her partner, she would have declared in no uncertain terms that she HATED the little twerp, that she despised her with an overriding, overwhelming intensity, blaming her for the loss of her career, the ruining of her life and the destruction of whatever passed for order in Kiyone's formerly neat and tidy little existence...
Perhaps Hate was not strong enough a term...in truth Kiyone had utterly and completely LOATHED Mihoshi for the scores of incidents where the bubble-headed dweeb had gotten the both of them in and out of more jams than any ten Jinxes Kiyone could name. She still remembered that incident when she had been marooned for two months in that mad scientist's lair without food or water, somehow sustained by the "Ultra Energy Matter" deposits that had powered a device that would have been used to destroy a good chunk of the Milkyway Galaxy had it successfully exploded. She remembered vowing that she would personally choke the life out of Mihoshi, even as she used her own socks to collect moisture from the reserve power cells of the device in order to wet her parched lips until a passing cruiser found and rescued her (and wasn't it just dandy that the ship turned out to be a Slave Cruiser out to "recruit fresh talent" like herself? Oh, and the joy she had getting herself out of that predicament...yes...she certainly owed Mihoshi for that one! Too bad circumstances had prevented her from collecting...)
Where had the Hate all gone, she wondered? When had she stopped resenting Mihoshi and the ceased cursing the fates that had brought them both together? To where had all the loathing and disgust flown off? When had Kiyone actually started to be genuinely concerned about her welfare? Having finally come to an understanding of the working dynamics that underlay Mihoshi's seeming incompetence, Kiyone finally understood the true nature of her partner, and in the light of the revelation of Mihoshi's desire for her, it became impossible for Kiyone to go on hating the little idiot, and in fact that was when Kiyone began to really and truly appreciate Mihoshi as a person.
How odd it was that she could even come to return that love that Mihoshi fairly radiated once she started to see Mihoshi's good qualities, the fact that she really was a good and decent person who meant well and never intentionally brought harm to another. There was just enough of the "Smart" Mihoshi underneath the fluff to make her acceptable as a partner, but once Kiyone started to see her in a different light she found herself becoming more protective and nurturing towards the other woman, even defending her against attacks and slanders made against her personal integrity. From there it was a short step to realizing things that she had never been consciously aware about Mihoshi, such as the color of her eyes, the way the sun reflected off her hair, the sky complexion that made her seem both sensual and quixotic...like a spirit of air and fire made all-too-solidly flesh...
Ah yes...and then there was again Washu's next little surprise when she decided to combine DNA strands so that the two of them could have a very special "Wedding Present" when the two of them had "sealed" themselves into a promised union. Little Kihoshi had been the surprise (read: ASTONISHMENT) of her parent's lives, but over the years that they had watched her grow to young adulthood they had found every emotion in the book to describe their mutual daughter. Kiyone shared the distinction of being labeled a "FAMA" (Father-
Mother) with Ryoko, who had known similar such joys in the person of Ryeka, and wasn't it just a dandy comment on her femininity for Kiyone to realize that she was someone's biological Father! Still and all, Kihoshi was everything that she would have ever wanted in a daughter, and despite the periodic aggravations, she was proud at how her child had turned out. Kihoshi embodied the best that was in both parents, and she even seemed to have inherited her mother's Latent Probability Altering talent, albeit she did seem to have some limited control over her ability. It even did Kiyone's heart proud upon discovering that her daughter had developed a budding interest in the young Prince Teneka.
Kiyone smiled to herself as she thought about Washu, the instigator of so much mischief. That whole business with enhancing Mihoshi's intelligence had been intended to put a halt in the Blonde's constant disruptions of her experiments and Mihoshi's almost compulsive habit of pushing the wrong buttons and destroying Washu's inventions. Instead she had created a Mihoshi who fully understood Washu's devices and the implications for their possible uses and had promptly arrested her on the spot! (It still gave Kiyone a gleeful chuckle to recall Washu's rather dumbfounded expression on that occasion!) Then when Kihoshi came of age enough to crawl around on her own she kept getting into Washu's lab despite the most elaborate attempts of the Mad Genius to prevent this, and as Kihoshi grew in stature her ability to penetrate Washu's defenses had only grown more intrusive. It got to the point where Washu had to virtually take Kihoshi on as a lab assistant in order to curb her tendencies to meddle, and still all that did was allowed Kihoshi to even further penetrate her security and cause even more mischief! Yes indeed, Kiyone was justifiably proud of her kid and considered her the best deterrent to Mad Geniuses everywhere that had ever been herself hatched in a laboratory.
Right now her "Kid" was with Prince Teneka on a dangerous mission assigned by Washu, and yet Kiyone was the very picture of calm and collected, not a scatterbrained basket case like Kihoshi's mother would be, this in spite of the fact that they were now on an orbiting satellite that just happened to be the target of the Dimensional Cannon. Washu had assured Kiyone that her daughter and the others would be evacuated before the final minute, and Kiyone trusted Washu's judgement as she would few others...
Nonetheless...it was a pretty nail-biting affair calling for a razor-thin margin of error. Kiyone could not totally avoid feeling a slight shudder as she watched the timer count out the minutes and seconds that remained until the final moment when she would pull the trigger and set in motion one of the most destructive inventions of Washu's considerable arsenal. She prayed Kihoshi and the others would not be there when the cannon's beam hit the target, or else...
Or else she would never be able to look Kihoshi's mother in the eye again, and that-surprising as it was-was a thought too unbearable to be contemplated.
"Hold on kids," Kiyone said tensely, "I know you can do it...I believe in you, Kihoshi..."
And somewhere else in time, Washu heard this silent acknowledgement and nodded her head in token agreement. Sasami/Tsunami also heard Kiyone's words and shared them in her thoughts, while on the asteroid itself a certain blonde haired figure did not hear the words but sneezed just the same, then rubbed her nose in mild irritation...
Roll Call:
Kihoshi Kuramitsu -Daughter of Mihoshi and Kiyone, Apprenticed Galaxy Detective Teneka Masaki -Son of Ayeka and Tenchi, Kendo Master of the Wings of the Light Hawk
"Darn it!" Kihoshi complained, "Must be some dust or something in here...a fine time to be allergic..."
"What was that?" Teneka asked as the boy sliced through one of several stone giants who were converging upon them, his Light Hawk sword cleaving stone like it was paper, "I'm kind of busy, I didn't quite hear you..."
"Never mind," Kihoshi called over her shoulder, "You just keep those guys busy for another minute, Ten-chan...I'm almost done here working the combination."
"Well, I don't mean to hurry you or anything," the Juraian Prince called back as he blocked a stone club and shattered it into gravel, "But could you hurry it up? These guys mean serious business."
"You're doing just fine, Ten-chan," Kihoshi smiled, "I know those guys aren't any real trouble for-ah! I did it!"
The huge metal doors to the safe-like vault that had been blocking their path swung silently open with the ponderousness of something thick and incredibly massive. Inside was a chamber well lit and filled with devices, giving every impression of being some kind of network control center.
"Good work, Kihoshi!" Teneka said cheerfully, "Now give me a moment to finish these clowns off and I'll join you!"
With that declaration the boy turned his full attention towards his stone-like attackers, and suddenly the word in his hand glowed more brightly and grew to twice its length, and with a single slash he cleared the cavern of all remaining opponents.
Kihoshi flinched slightly as the flash of energy disintegrated the enemy soldiers in one searing blast of his Light Hawk sword. She knew Teneka was only using a fraction of his real power so as not to bring down the entire cavern, but even so it could be quite daunting to realize the hidden power of Jurai that the boy contained hidden within in, only to be displayed at crucial times such as this.
When the flash died down and silence filled the air in place of the din of battle there was an unsettling aftermath where the light died down and Teneka's sword faded from his hand, no longer needed. Kihoshi uncovered her ears and said, "Wow...that sure did the trick."
"Sorry," Teneka said as he turned around, "I didn't want to distract you by doing that sooner. Let's go and finish Grandmother's assignment."
"Right," Kihoshi said, taking a step forward towards the vault, only to jump back rapidly as an energy beam struck the place where her foot had been set, "YIKES!"
"Stand behind me," Teneka declared as he moved forward, and Kihoshi dutifully fell in place behind the handsome boy as miniature logs filled the air around them and formed a protective shield that caught and deflected the beams that sought to claim them. Teneka moved forward and ignored the defensive measures set in place for just such an intrusion, and with Kihoshi making sure to stay as close to him as she could manage they fully entered the chamber and found the central control podium. At a glance he studied these controls then said, "This looks like what Grandmother told us to look out for. Can you handle these devices?"
"Sure," Kihoshi moved around him and smiled as she saw the shiny buttons, flashing lights and other controls that were so typical of the sort of high-tech equipment she liked to play with in the lab of her Aunt Washu, "This must be what's controlling the dimension-shield thingie that made it so hard for us to get close to this satellite."
"Can you switch it off?" Teneka asked, "I sure don't want to get stuck here when your Fama fires off the Dimensional Cannon."
"Well, Washu said to just do what I normally do when I'm given a control panel," Kihoshi smiled, "So...I might as well have fun like she told me."
Teneka winced slightly. Knowing how Kihoshi and anything technological fared, he had a creeping hunch that something very spectacular was about to happen...
Roll Call:
Nabiki Saotome -Time Patrol Dispatcher, Lore Master Freya Kuno -Goddess of Love and Battles, Valkyrie Lyn Reikou Kuno -Daughter of Freya and Kuno, Valkyrie in Training Sayo Sanosuke -Daughter of Kasumi and Ranma, Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Hiroshi Honsamu -Son of Maki and Takai of the Dark World, Exorcist Ganymede Kuonji -Son of Makoto and Ukyo, Senshi in Training Shanma Saotome -Daughter of Shampoo and Ranma, Musubetsu Kakuto Ryu Mace Saotome -Son of Shampoo and Ranma, Musubetsu Kakuto Ryu Kinko Kuonji -Daughter of Akane and Ukyo, part-time Angel Adam Saotome -Son of Ranma and Azusa, Cyborg Moira Saotome -Daughter of Ranma and Azusa, Cyborg Muku Dori Senzenen -Daughter of Akane and Mikado, Iczellion Warrior, partner to Rhea Rhea Kano -Iczer Four, daughter of Nagisa and Iczer-One
"Auntie," Muku Dori remarked as they continued on their way down the cavern, "Does it feel to you like this place...well..."
"Like we are walking down the throat of a great beast?" Nabiki responded, "Yes, that impression is rather difficult to avoid, isn't it? I wish that I could give you a more reassuring appraisal, children, but the facts are there and there's no sense in softening the crisis we are facing."
"Putting it a little blunt aren't we, Sugar?" Freya asked, "Might want to give these tykes a little encouragement. After all, we're most likely headed into major trouble, and with a war party this size a little unit cohesion wouldn't be such a bad thing. We're a Baker's Dozen easy, and half these kids have never met before, let alone know what all they're capable of doing in a fight."
"True enough," Nabiki said, calling back over her shoulder, "All of you are trained fighters, I can tell that at a glance, but as of right now we're one solid team and on the same side. Keep that in mind and don't get too far out of sight of one another. The person fighting at your side is your shield arm, and you cover them like you'd want them to cover your backs, does everyone understand that?"
There was a considerable activity of everyone glancing at everyone else, with new faces being of keen interest to those who already knew their own closest companions, but then Rhea answered the question aloud and said, "Understood, Aunt Nabiki. We will fight as one team and defend one another with our lives."
"Just don't get in my way when it gets intense," Lyn said, "I need plenty of elbow room if I'm going to fight at my best."
"Then don't stand in my way when I start blasting the suckers," Muku Dori responded, "Freya and me tend to clear a room when we really get cooking."
"Everyone listen to Aunt Nabiki," Ganymede said forcefully, still carrying the cat-girl, Shanma in his arms as her ankle was still too swollen to support weight, "She's totally right about us having to work together like a family unit. I don't know much about what's going on here, but it's pretty obvious that it's us against just about anything that's out there, and the last thing we need is to go stumbling into each other's way or trying to play hero and hog the spotlight. We fight as a team, and anyone who comes at us is the bad guy, you got that?"
"I'm with you, Big Bro," Kinko said, "Some of us may fight better with a little room to flap our wings, but if we go off and fight separately we're more likely to leave a hole in our defenses."
"Getting awfully assertive, aren't you?" Shanma mused of her hermaphrodite suitor.
"Just giving the same speech my mom would be giving me about now," Ganymede smiled, "You should hear what my cousins are like when we get together for a Senshi reunion."
"Just the same," Shanma said, "Maybe you should put me down when you start fighting. I can handle myself, you know..."
"Not a chance, Beautiful," Ganymede smiled, "Until the swelling goes down you're going to need someone to cover your back, and I might as well volunteer for the job since you matter more to me than anything else in this world or any other."
"Laying it on a little thick are we?" Mace glared, his feline features twitching in irritation at the flirtations the Boy-girl was playing to his older sister.
"Just saying it like it is, Kid," Ganymede replied, holding a surprised Shanma even closer to his full-breasted bosom.
"Stop calling me Kid," Mace snarled, "You ain't that much older than me..."
"Shut up, Kid," Kinko said with less heat than amusement in her voice.
"Auntie," Sayo spoke up, "Will father be all right? I know he is very powerful, but that creature..."
"Dragon," Adam corrected.
"You mean Herb?" Nabiki asked, "Not to worry, Ranma knows what he's doing there. You don't need to worry about him handling himself against the likes of that fellow. After all, it's not exactly like it's the first time the two of them have met in battle."
"Awfully confident of your Man, aren't you?" Freya asked.
"Ranma is far from perfect," Nabiki said, "But I know him better than anyone else alive, and I know what he's capable of, what he'd do in a situation such as this. At heart he's still the same guy I met over twenty odd years ago, the lost and lonely boy who showed up in his cursed form slung over the shoulder of a panda on my doorstep. He always tries to do the right thing, he never gives up or surrenders to adversity, and he NEVER loses, ever."
"Never?" Lyn Reikou asked curiously.
"Never," Nabiki said confidently, "Maybe at one time he could afford to lose the occasional odd match, in which case he'd regroup his resources, rally his confidence, study his opponent's strengths and weaknesses, then come back for the second round and inevitably triumph. The only one who ever proved daunting was Pantsaru Taro, and that's largely because he was older and more experienced with a curse that turned him into a real monster. Once Ranma mastered enough techniques he was able to leave even Taro in the dust..."
"Is it all about Techniques, Lady Saotome?" Hiroshi asked, "I sensed a power in your husband that went well beyond anything that I'd think a natural born human could gain through study and practice."
"True," Nabiki said, "But you have to understand the sort of roads that Ranma and I have followed to get where we are today. There's been pain, loss and sacrifice all the way, and in the end he paid a terrible price to achieve ultimate victory over death itself. He's like finely tempered steel, blade-
sharp and honed to a lethal edge, and anyone who stands in his way is going to meet his maker very shortly."
"You sound almost proud of that, Auntie," Muku Dori remarked.
"I'm not sure if Pride is the right word," Nabiki said, "But yes...I am proud of Ranma, for all that he hasn't had the easier road to tread...or me either for that matter."
"I'm not sure that I understand," Adam said, "Moira and I are still getting used to this concept about alternate realities with different histories..."
"But how can Father be more powerful as a human than we are as Cyborgs?" Moira finished for her brother.
"The answer to that is far from simple," Nabiki replied, "Though it's plain that things happened differently on your world, on our world Ranma was originally married my little sister, Akane..."
"What-my mom?" Muku Dori reacted.
"What do you mean your mom?" Kinko said, "Go on, Auntie...I've already heard this story, but I think these other guys need to know what happened to make Uncle Ranma go over the edge like that."
"Over the edge," Nabiki sniffed, "Actually that term should more properly go to my sister. You see...in our version of reality, my little sister was suffering from an undiagnosed condition called Rage Syndrome. She literally could not control her temper and would get angry at only the most minimal provocation. It was a condition that got exacerbated during their long and protracted courtship, when anything Ranma did or said to deny his feelings of growing attraction for Akane only served to drive a further wedge in their relationship. It was as much his fault as her own...his upbringing had taught him to treat confrontation the same as courtship, but Akane never really understood what motivated him to push her away and insult her more often than pay her the compliments she wanted to hear. Before too long she distrusted him even when he was being nice to her, and as many times as he saved her life she could never fully accept the feelings that were growing between them."
"Well," Freya remarked, "I can tell you from experience that trust is a pretty essential component to any relationship, and living without it...well...can lead to some pretty spectacular-but rarely successful-marriages."
"Precisely," Nabiki resumed, "Every battle that forged stronger ties of love between them only served to increase the distrust Akane felt towards her own feelings. Ranma tried to make their relationship work...tried harder and longer than any sane man would have attempted in his place, but it was too little and too late. The sum accumulation of past slights and irritations magnified even the slightest transgression on his part so that Akane interpreted his actions in their most negative contest. This slow mental torture gradually forced her over the edge until she finally snapped. On their wedding night she manifested the first real signs of her dawning madness, and every day for a year that followed she grew worse and worse, the demons tormenting her until she finally turned homicidal."
"No...not mom!" Muku protested, "She'd never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it!"
"I feel the same way about my mom," Kinko sympathized, "But this version went psycho, like the one who was Ranko's mother."
"I think there's more to your story than you're telling us, Sugar," Freya remarked, "I can feel waves of guilt coming out of you, and I hardly think you were just an innocent bystander."
"Good guess," Nabiki said, "And you're right, I wasn't innocent. I had as much to do with what happened as anyone. It's taken me twenty years to live down my part in the affair, but I've finally managed to put it all behind me, so I might as well tell you the darkest sins of my own past. The truth is that I encouraged Akane and Ranma to get together, I even went out of my way to arrange circumstances so that they would be forced to admit the true depth of their feelings for one another. I manipulated, bargained, arm-twisted and connived to insure that Ranma chose only Akane and none other of his many fianc es, all while remaining on the sidelines and out of the limelight. Those few times I actually stood out and took an active role in affairs, I made sure that I came across as a totally heartless bitch who on cared about money and simply saw the affair between the two of them as an opportunity for exploitation..."
"But why?" Sayo asked.
"Because I was in denial that I had any feelings," Nabiki said, "And I was full of pride in myself and my abilities to out-think anyone at the time. I was smarter than the fools throwing their lives away in senseless battles and I thought I knew everything. I thought making Ranma and Akane see how much they cared for each other would be enough to get them to stop fighting...instead I only made things worse, and-worse even still-I drove a further wedge in Akane's mind. I failed to see her madness as it was growing, and then...when I saw what she was slowly turning into...I lost all nerve and ceased trying. In the end I failed my little sister, and was witness to the tragedy when she attempted to murder Ranma but got Ukyo instead in the bargain."
"My...Fama?" Ganymede softly exclaimed.
"No way!" Muku shook her head violently, "Mom would never do a thing like that! Not to Aunt Ukyo..."
"You're forgetting that she wasn't really your mother," Nabiki said, "She was one alternate version who went bad...and eventually she had to be institutionalized on a suicide watch. I failed and betrayed my sister by not getting her the help she needed, and I failed Ranma even more because I didn't offer him the support he needed. So you see...I am ashamed of what I was and what I did back then, and all because I was trying to escape from a truth that I was blind to..."
"The truth that you were in love yourself with Ranma," Freya smirked, "Can't hide that truth from me. You had a big crush on the boy and you couldn't even admit it."
"Not exactly," Nabiki said, "I found him...fascinating...in a boorish, unpolished and unmannered sort of way. He was the most exciting thing to ever enter my life, but to me he was just a penniless financial sinkhole who had all the charm and grace of a warthog. Yes, I saw that he was heroic with a rude kind of nobility, and I thought he was cute in a clueless kind of manner. He wasn't a pervert, like every other boy in our school, even though Akane accused him of being one because of his curse and the...unfortunate way in which they were introduced to one another. I saw him hurt and bleed many times, I saw him fight relentlessly, and I saw how he attracted the attention of every girl in our school, even if he never consciously did anything to encourage the girls to fight over him the way they did. I thought him a brainless barbarian who was rude, conceited and obnoxious, and I never thought he'd amount to anything but another mooching washout, like his father..."
"And in spite of all that you still loved him," Ganymede murmured.
"Yes," Nabiki glanced down, "I was a fool and too proud to face the facts, and if anything I was in love with him BECAUSE of all my objections. I was a flawed and imperfect being floundering around in search of something to believe in. I had my life all mapped out in my head, and I thought I could control my own destiny. The last thing I wanted was to chain my destiny to a pig-headed fool who wanted nothing more in life than to be the toughest thug on the block. I had all sorts of reasons why I shouldn't care about him or any of the troubles he got himself into...him and that brainless panda of a father of his, so imagine my mental state when I saw his marriage to Akane turn into shambles. All that time I'd been criticizing Ranma for denying his true feelings, and I was guilty of far worse. I was a hypocrite and a fool, and because of my cowardice my sister and family suffered. My own father suffered traumatically and his health faltered. It was on his deathbed that he forced me to promise that I would take up the cause of uniting the houses by marrying Ranma..."
"So that's why you two got hitched, eh?" Freya asked.
"Yes, but it took many years before we could put our mutual pasts behind us," Nabiki said, "At times I couldn't even look at him without feeling the weight of my guilt crash down on me like a lead weight. The loss of my whole family shook me to the core and destroyed my fragile self-image as a rising mover and shaker. I dropped out of college and began to search for something to believe...and by turns I wound up in the village of Joketsuzoku at Cologne's invitation. It was there that I met the woman who would shape my life and cause me to discard the old me forever..."
"The Lore Master Lotion?" Shanma asked.
"Yes," Nabiki glanced at the purple furred cat-girl, "Did you know her?"
"No," Mace replied, "She...died before any of us were born."
"I see," Nabiki turned and stared at the ground again, "A pity. She was like a second mother to me. I can never forget the way she could stare right through me to the very soul and draw something out of me that I didn't even know was there to begin with. It was because of her that I finally found the courage to seek out Ranma and bring him back into the world, and then the two of us got involved with the Time Patrol...but that's a whole different story. All that matters is that I'm not the woman that I once was, nor is Ranma the innocent young boy I fell in love with. We've...rediscovered ourselves and come together in a new sense...we know each other well and we have pledged ourselves in ways our fathers never even dreamed possible. Our future is only just beginning now, but it won't end here in these caverns, of that you have my word."
"We know that, Auntie," Kinko smiled, "You know, you're a lot like the Aunt Nabiki I know, but it does sound like you had a pretty tough life."
"It's had it's ups and downs," Nabiki shrugged, then sniffed, "Listen to me ramble on like an old midwife. Not much of a pep rally, and it doesn't have all that much to do with the coming struggle against Karadon and his minions."
"Oh, I dunno, Sugar," Freya said, "It's easy to forget what there is to fight for if all you think about is fighting. I think your husband knows that better than anybody."
"Could be you're right," Nabiki replied, when all of a sudden a huge explosion shook the halls, causing everyone to bend their knees and brace themselves to maintain their balance.
The explosion only lasted a few seconds, but when it had passed, Lyn Reikou cried, "What was that?"
"Was if father fighting with the Dragon?" Sayo asked.
"No," Nabiki replied, frowning slightly, "I sense...different forces at play here...another powerful struggle between contending parties."
"Whatever it is, it came from pretty close nearby," Ganymede reckoned, "I think we ought to keep moving to where ever it is we're headed, Aunt Nabiki, just in case it gets any closer."
"Sounds reasonable," Freya move, "That agree with your call, Nabs?"
"Why is everyone suddenly calling me that?" Nabiki growled, "I hate that nick-
name. But...yes...I sense that we are very close to our goal. It's just down the passage that we'll find what we came here to discover."
"I'll scout on ahead, Mom," Lyn Reikou said, then like a flash of lightning she accelerated forward, becoming little more than a blur to the naked eye.
"Whoah!" Mace exclaimed, "Now that's fast!"
"How did she do that?" Moira asked, "Even Michael and I can't move like that."
"You think that's something?" Freya smirked, "You should see her do an end run around the Giants' defense."
"MOM!" Lyn Reikou called from further down the corridor, "I think you guys had better come down here quick!"
Nabiki and Freya exchanged glances, then the party hurried on ahead to cover the remaining distance, only to come to a complete halt as they caught up to where Lyn Reikou was standing still, gaping in awe at something directly ahead of her, which turned out to be a huge cavernous chamber that extended up and down for an immense distance in both directions. At the center of this cavern was a strange column of quasi-organic nature that stretched like a slick ball of spider-twine suspended at both ends of the cavern. It was balled near to the center, and a tiny human figure was wound up there and attached to the side, partially imbedded in a manner that cause Nabiki and Freya to start as it was identical to the position they themselves had been in only moments before, though this was not what held their interest as they stared in mutual disbelief at the entrapped figure.
"What the heck is that thing?" Mace asked.
"I dunno," Shanma murmured, "But if the spider who made it shows up, I'm leaving!"
"I think you both had better look a little closer," Ganymede urged with a nod, "That guy in the ball looks familiar, don't you think?"
"Huh?" Muku exclaimed, sheltering her eyes.
"Oh dear," Rhea said, her visual powers far more acute.
"I don't believe it," Adam exclaimed, "It's..."
"Father!" Moira cried out
"My-our father?" Sayo self-corrected.
"Oh my," Hiroshi declared as he and the others gazed upon the red and black-
suited figure of a young man with dark hair who seemed in most respects to resemble the leather-clad Time Cop of his acquaintance.
"Ranma..." Nabiki whispered.
"Or one version of him anyway," Freya nodded, "I think, Sugar, that we just hit the jack pot..."
Roll Call:
Ryoma Saotome -Son of Ukyo and Ranma, Musubetsu Kakuto Ryu Carmine Hitomabori -Daughter of Inaho and Mosquiton the Vampire, 1/8th Vampyr Tarot Kenzan -Daughter of Shampoo and Konatsu, Mage/Wicca in training Tachi Kuno -Son of Nabiki and Tatewaki, Nampo Kendo Ryu Efreet Mizuhara -Adopted daughter of Ifurita and Makoto, Demon-Goddess Minos Tarot -Son of Kasumi and Pantsaru, Shotokan Ryu Onnama Saotome -Daughter of Tatewaki and Ranma, Musubetsu Kakuto Ryu Touga Kuno -Son of Ranma and Tatewaki, Daimyo, Kendo Master Ryonosuke Senzenen -Son of (?) and Mikado Senzenen, Family Retainer Xandar Kurunei -Son of Kaori and Sasuke, House Ninja Yoriko Kuonji -Daughter of Ukyo and (?), House Ninja
"For what it is worth, Minos-san," Tarot said, "You did the right thing by leaving her back there to fight on her own..."
"Stuff it, Kenzan," Minos growled, "I know I did the right thing. Ain't no way I can help back there, not against that guy, but you think I wanna be reminded that I'm nothing more than a handicap? She'll fight better without me, but it sinks in my craw to have to admit it."
"Still and all, it takes a brave man to admit his limitations," Touga replied, "I, too, am humbled that you could allow the woman you care for to fight her battles on her own terms. Such trust speaks volumes for your character, and it also makes you a more interesting ally."
"I just hope your girl's as good as she thinks she is," Ryoma said, "That guy's got a lot of raw power on his side, and I don't like the way he could just play with us like we were nothing."
"I know," Carmine winced, "Whatever that was back there, an illusion, whatever, it sure was hideously real enough for my tastes!"
"Yeah," Efreet complained, "I can still remember what it felt like feeling my body blow up like that, like I was turned into some kind of explosive gel or something. Whoever that guy was, he was a real monster!"
"Try not to dwell on it, people," Tachi urged, "At the moment we've got more important things to be worried about..."
"Indeed," Ryonosuke replied, glancing at the floating energy-disk conjured up by the self-described Witch in their midst, Tarot, "We have injured to attend to, and there is no telling how long Yoriko and Xandar will last without the services of a healer."
"Yeah, how are they doing?" Onnama noted, "That guy really did a number on them, you think they've got any chance of pulling through this?"
"They have a chance," Tarot replied, "A very slim one, but as Lord Touga and Ryonosuke have said, they need proper medical attention, and that is beyond the scope of my power base. A healer could repair their internal injuries, repair the rupturing of vital organs, even staunch whatever internal bleeding they may be suffering. It pains me to look upon such a valiant pair and know that the best that I can do is to try and ease their final moments."
"They must live," Touga said urgently, "I could never forgive myself if they perished to no good purpose while in my service. We have been together since childhood and I...respect their abilities and value their service. I do not have enough of those whom I might call friends that I can afford to squander them this way."
"We're all with you on that one, Prince," Ryoma replied, "But try and stay sharp, this ain't no place to be getting' complacent. We got enemies here, and that guy we met's probably just the first one. From here they'll probably get way lots tougher."
"No way!" Onnama replied, "Tougher than that creep?"
"It is theoretically possible," Ryonosuke replied, "Though difficult to conceive."
"I sure hope you guys are wrong about that," Minos said, "I'm feeling inadequate enough as it is."
"Cheer up," Tachi replied, "We're still a pretty lively and formidable lot, so I wouldn't write us out just now..."
"Hold up a minute," Carmine raised a hand and cape to an abrupt halt, "There's somebody just ahead of us...I can feel the heat patterns radiating off of their bodies."
"Can you be sure of that?" Tachi asked, "It's not too well illuminated in these passageways, and the corridor is slight curving..."
"She's sure," Efreet assured, "I can feel it too...there's a huge power reading directly ahead off us and slightly off to the right...three large Bio-energy signatures and one huge piece of technology, all of them right off the scale. I'd say we were headed into some real trouble this time, guys."
"Not necessarily," Tarot remarked, "I sense great power ahead of us, but it doesn't feel like the hostile sort. The only feelings of malevolence that I'm feeling is coming from the device in the next chamber. I think the two living beings up ahead are allies."
"I trust your instincts, but we ought be ready...just in case," Ryoma cautioned as they rounded the bend and came out into a much larger chamber.
There, indeed, they found two figures awaiting them, a tall girl with unruly black hair done up in a warrior's braid standing next to a blue-haired girl whose hair was even more unkempt, both of them dressed in unusual looking attire, one a martial arts gi bearing the "Anything Goes" mong in a stitched white circle, the other a skin-tight and gaudy looking outfit that showed off a magnificent figure. Upon the shoulder of the blue haired girl was perched a curious long-eared creature that looked something like between a rabbit and a cat, and all three staring at a huge object that hung suspended in the room like some massive unblinking eye set within a highly technological framework.
The three strangers turned at the sound of their approach, the large dark haired girl immediately falling into a defensive stance until her companion said, "Wait...they don't look like enemies. That one wearing the spatula is an almost dead-ringer for a guy I know named Ryokoma. The redhead...well...that looks a little like my Uncle Ranma..."
"My uncle too," the taller girl relaxed, "So...who are you guys anyway?"
"That's what we were gonna ask you," Ryoma replied, but then Touga stepped forward and said, "I am Kuno Touga, Daimyo of what you call the prefecture of Nerima. These are my friends and kinsmen from many alternate realities, and I take it that at least one of you has connection to the clan of Saotome?"
"Yeah," the blue haired girl replied, "So you're a Kuno, huh? Well, I won't hold it against you."
"We were wondering if any of you guys could tell us what that thing is over there," the tall dark-haired girl hooked her thumb over her shoulder.
"Hmm..." Efreet studied the object in question, "It looks a little like the Eye of God..."
"The WHAT?" Carmine exclaimed in alarm.
"You know," the Demon-Goddess informed her friend, "The Ultimate Weapon from my world. I told you all about it a long time ago. It has the power to control time and space and can open up gates to other worlds and..." she blinked her eyes, "Oh my..."
"The Eye of God?" Onnama turned and stared at the object in question, "That does not sound too good..."
"No, it doesn't," Tarot replied, moving her hand slightly so that the glowing disk supporting the two injured parties was moved to an unoccupied portion of the ledge on which they were standing, "And I'm betting that we've all been directed to this spot for a reason. What we're looking on is a device at the center of so much intrigue and deception. This whole elaborate complex is nothing more than an engine of destruction aimed across the boundaries of space and time to all points of some celestial compass the likes of which we mere mortals cannot imagine."
"In other words you believe that this...creation serves some foul purpose that mere mortals such as ourselves could not conceive," Ryonosuke said grimly, "My lord, I know little of this thing that the Gaijin call technology, but I can tell that a device such as this should not exist in any sense of the word or meaning."
"Agreed," Touga affirmed, "But if destroying it is our purpose, then the means of doing this must be determined..."
"Not to worry," Carmine said, "Efreet here is a product of the same technology that created the Eye on her world, so it ought to be no problem for her to blow that thing to Kingdom Come with one shot of her keystaff, right Honey?"
"Ah...actually," the girl in question replied, "This thing may be a lot smaller than the Eye of my world, but...well...I don't know if it would be safe for me to even try. The real Eye that I know about could transport entire continents with one shot of its ruby beam, and it even sent my Mom through time and space over ten thousand years. If I shoot it with my keystaff it could go off and transport us anywhere completely at random, and I'm not even sure if we'd all arrive at the same place. I could absorb some of its power, but even using that it could take a long time for me to find the rest of you guys..."
"I see," Ryoma nodded grimly, "So this thing isn't just a fancy gadget or a weapon...its power could even be the same one that's been yanking us around from world to world, so if we destroy it there may be no way for us to return to our original timelines."
"No fooling?" Ryeka said, "Well, maybe there's another way for us to get back, if you guys have been thrown around the same way me and Ayane here have. My Grandmother's probably out looking for us even as we speak, so I don't think we need to worry about this thing being our only lifeline."
"Sure, no problem!" Ayane made a fist, "Destroying gadgets is my specialty...I wreck at least a dozen Mecha and Killer gadgets in a weak, all thanks to that annoying Berka."
"Unfortunately, I cannot allow any of you to do that," a voice dramatically interrupted, "Your arrival here was most untimely, and that due to the interference of one who has opposed me at every bent. I do not know why he selected you lot, but your journeys end here, and I am your final witness."
"What the...?" Onnama exclaimed, turning to find a very tall man standing in another clear area in their midst, a handsome fellow of indeterminate age dressed in formal attire who had a light brown hair color but whose eyes were strange and full of unnatural emotions.
"Who are you?" Ryoma stood at the ready.
"The enemy most obviously," Tarot replied.
"We come at last to face the one who has been toying with our lives, it seems," Touga remarked as he, too, stood in a posture of readiness.
"You are mistaken," the man replied, "I am not the one who has been manipulating your lives, but that is mainly because you are all too insignificant for me to bother with you insects. My aim is not to change things but to eliminate your flawed universes from reality altogether."
"What?" Carmine declared, "But that's crazy!"
"Yeah," Ryeka declared, "Who are you to decide our fates anyway?"
"You could never begin to comprehend what I am or the nature of what I represent," the man declared, "But I am known as Karadon, and that is all you need to hear as I consign you to oblivion."
And with that the man made a dramatic hand gesture that caused the room to be filled with a light that turned everything stark white, and then oblivion did indeed fill the entire chamber...
Continued.
Comments/Criticisms/Convoluted Plotlines and Solutions: shadowmane
Things are heating up on all corners as Ranko and her Posse ride to the rescue (assuming they can convince the last member of their little Warband to cooperate with their mission), but will even the presence of so many Saotomes be enough to turn the battle in their favor, and what ultimately is behind the schemes of Derek and the renegade Guardian, Karadon? For that and other mysteries, stay tuned for, "Back to the Futures," or "For Whom the Smells Toll!" Be there!
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