Ranma the Forever Man
"So, did you enjoy your little trip through memory lane?" Akane asked, leaping from the decayed wall around the decrepid facimile of the Tendou Dojo that imprisoned Kasumi.
"I figured out what was going on around here," Ranma replied, bringing his sword out, and holding it down by his side in ready, "That's why you wanted to visit the grave so badly!"
Akane rolled her pitch black eyes, though the action was almost unnoticeable by Ranma, "Well, duh! I needed a soul, one to stablize me. Dear Kasumi was just what I needed."
"Akane, just when I think I've seen you do the most atrocious thing possible, you do something like this."
'Akane' began to chuckle, and then roared in laughter, "Idiot, haven't you been paying attention?"
Ranma's eyes narrowed, as he moved his back closer to Kasumi. He felt the girl behind him clutch tightly to his ribs, before speaking, "You're not Akane..."
"Just a reasonable knock-off," The faux-Akane replied, "In truth, I am what has been quaintly dubbed 'Soul Eater'." Ranma stood stern, ready to make an attack, but remained unmoving. The fake-Akane seemed upset at this, "What? No reaction?"
"Why tell me all this, why the whole thing about the past?" Ranma replied, attempting to get answers, while scouring the area with his sixth sense.
Soul Eater frowned, "It wasn't me. She..." Soul Eater pointed to Kasumi, "has been flooding this place with her despair and her pleas for release since she's been in here. Not that I haven't enjoyed it all, but it happened to trigger that sixth-sense you're currently using to find a way to escape!"
Ranma stopped his search, "Huh?"
"Don't be stupid, this is my domain. You think you can do something like that without my notice? Both factors triggered some sort of reverse-precognition; you mind saught out your past, with my domain giving your vision, for the answers to your current dilemma. Her cries of tortured enduring the battery, your own mind the engine."
"So, you plan on keeping me here, too?" Ranma went into a more aggressive stance, showing his intentions when she gave her answer.
"Sadly, no." the faux-Akane replied, "When your loving wife ran you through, and attempted to rip your soul from your body, imagine my glee at having the tortured soul of an immortal to compliment the golden soul of her sister. There was just one problem."
Soul Eater turned to the side, looking at the barren yard, "You're Immortal. I couldn't separate your soul fully from your body." The faux-Akane sneered, "You've given me quite the indigestion, Ranma, trying to devour your soul. You're free to go." She waved her hand to the side of her, causing the gates to the parody of the Tendou Dojo to open up into the darkness, "Have a nice life, and tell Akane 'thanks for the meal' for me!"
"Ah, much obliged," Ranma replied, as he started for the gates, shaking Kasumi off.
"Ra... Ranma?" Kasumi's voice trembled.
Ranma looked back at her and shrugged, "Sorry, Kasumi, but-"
She didn't even notice she had been suddenly picked up, and was being rushed to the gates in less than a nano-second.
"NO!" Soul Eater was suddenly in front of Ranma, barring his and Kasumi's path, "This wasn't part of the deal."
Ranma didn't reply verbally, instead choosing to answer by the Saotome Honor blade. The gleaming metal slashed through the representation of Soul Eater, tearing her apart like midnight fabric.
Ranma marveled at the ease of which he delt with his advisary, "Well, that was anti-climatic." As soon as he said that, he quickly grabbed Kasumi again, and lept backwards, just in time to miss being stomped on by a massive, black scaled reptilian foot.
"Don't worry, we haven't begun yet," One of the three heads of the Hydra Creature with Ancient Egyptian hyrogliphs down each of its necks roared....
_____________________
"Lay her there," Keiko ordered. The Lillin that had been carrying the comatose Akane's body set her in the middle of the circle that lay upon the top of the tower. It was a simplistic design; a circle for where the head was to lay, and two circles where the feet were to be layed together.
Akane's unblinking eyes stared upwards, just as her sister began to read aloud the scroll Akane had written long ago. The one that documented the spell that was the catalyst for what came to be known as 'the bleeding of the sky'...
_____________________
"GET TO THE PORCH, NOW!" Ranma ordered. Kasumi nodded, and ran to safety. Ranma turned, and leapt at Soul Eater with his sword drawn back. The serphent suddenly vanished, just as a familiar black blade came to parry his own.
Ranma blinked, as he was face to face with his own shadow. They both pushed away, while still in the air, and landed in guard across from each other.
"You can avoid all this hassle, just leave the girl here, and you can leave!" A voice that came from everywhere stated in a factual tone.
"She's coming with me," Ranma stated firmly, "And you ain't got what it takes to stop me!"
"Not me, but yourself?" the voice enquired. Ranma's shadow leapt for the attack.
_____________________
"What... what's going on?" Kodachi asked, as she watched the circle Akane lay in begin to glow red. Keiko had an expression of utter glee on her face, and ordered the Lillin to retreat, lest their lives be forfeit.
Kodachi didn't follow the nervous men, instead shouting at Akane's sister for answers, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO AKANE-SAMA?" All she got was a devious smirk for a reply. Keiko strode for the circle, seemingly unaware of Kodachi pulling out dual gymnastics pins. "YOU WILL NOT DENY ME ANSWERS, NOR WILL I ALLOW YOU TO HARM HER!"
She leapt at K-Chan, and thrust a spiked pin at the eternal woman-s head. Without seeming motion, Keiko knocked the wind out of Kodachi, and allowed her to crumple to the ground on her knees. "This is none of your concern, misplaced one." With that, Keiko stepped into the circle, and straddled her sister's waist.
_____________________
Ranma found himself pressed harder than he had ever been before. The long, steady sound of metal grinding against metal was actually two swords meeting against each other an infinite amount of times.
Fustrated with the stalemate, Ranma leapt back with a spinning slash. His dark doppleganger leapt back just out of range, before dashing forward with a vertacle slash. Ranma parried high, and attempted a shoulder tackle that was successful, followed by a downward stab to his grounded foe. The shadow swung its blade in an arc, both parrying the sword, and almost slicing Ranma's right foot off.
"Damn, he's smart, too," Ranma grumbled, attempting to come up with some stratagy to beat the shadow.
_____________________
"Well, sister," Keiko purred, as she looked down upon Akane's face, "For as long as I could remember, I wanted to be just... like... you." Her hands went to pin Akane's shoulders, as she felt the energy rapidly building under the both of them.
"You were the powerful one, the one everyone feared and respected, while I... I merely was your husband's benefactor's boytoy." Keiko blinked at that, "Um, there is a much more simple way of saying that, isn't there? Anyways. I found out that you had a contengency plan, in case anything went wrong with saturating the world with magic; a way to reverse the bleeding of the Sky. You would draw all the magic in the world back into yourself until you found another means of permeating it throughout the planet."
Keiko chuckled, "Dear sister, you have a heart after all, too bad it shall cost you. There was but one flaw that I realized in your spell you wrote over there, not that such an oversight could be a sincere concern, since you never thought you would ever be subdued. If someone were to be atop you, they would be the recepter of all that wonderous might floating through the air, painting the sky crimson, not you."
Keiko felt the thrumming of the might under her; it wasn't long now, "Soon, I will be even more powerful than you, even my husband! Aren't you proud of me, Sis?"
Akane's eyes focused on Keiko, and a dark smile formed on her face, "Sis, you're an idiot..."
_____________________
Ranma was beginning to wear from the intense battle. It seemed as if they were fighting for years, which he realized was probably partially true. Time was well distorted in this domain, so his perceptions were possibly either skewed, or Soul Eater stacked the odds in its favor by accellerating time for Ranma so that he would eventually even reach his limit.
Of course, Soul Eater's Avatar didn't experience such problems, as it was supplied infinite energy within its domain.
Ranma's mind raced for ways to finally best his opponent. One came to mind... this was *really* gonna hurt...
Ranma parried his doppleganger's blade to the outside, and stepped in close to keep it from being able to break away. At the same time, he was thrusting his sword at the shadow's chest. The doppleganger followed the momentum of it's parried blade into a spin, and ducked down, only managing to get about what would be a half an inch of its skull split. It thrust its own sword towards Ranma's stomach, piercing it right through to the other side.
"RANMA!" Kasumi wailed, as she saw the blade sticking out of Ranma's back. Both fighters were held in their poses for several moments, before Ranma's blade and arms became invisible.
Within moments, the shadow lay in an uncountable amount of pieces on the ground, as Ranma stood, with it's sword still stuck in his stomach.
"KASUMI, HURRY!" The girl didn't have to be told twice, as she rushed to Ranma. The immortal man pulled the sword from his stomach, and cast it aside. They both ignored the blood, as he raced them for the gates.
Ranma felt the tingle across his skin, as his face met the outside of the gates. In his elation, he didn't notice the pieces of the shadow melt into a puddle, that lashed out after him. The blakc tendril lashed onto Kasumi's waist, jerking him from his grasp.
That last thing Ranma recalled, before the whiteness overtook him, was Kasumi's sad and resigned voice, "Thank you, Ranma, for at least trying. Thank you for the gift of seeing you again."
_____________________
"Did you truly think I didn't notice what you were doing?" Akane snarled at a surprised and confused Keiko. Kodachi looked on, silently cheering the Akane on.
"But... how...?"
"I created the magical seal you're using to hold me, and restrict me from recalling the magic away from you, and back into me! Yes, I made it in case someone as powerful as me," Akane glared pointedly at her sister, "Or someone *like* me had to be subdued, but in your idiocy, you never realized that the seal on my back would be overwhelmed by the amount of magic coursing through this area, right now!"
Akane's expression turned sad, "I wanted to give you the chance. I really did, I was even willing to defy Ranma for you. You and he are the only family I have, it will be a long time before he forgives me, which leaves only you. Why did you betray me?"
Keiko stared angrily down at her sister, "WHY? BECAUSE I'M SICK OF BEING IN YOUR SHADOW! I'M SICK OF BEING A SIMPLE DOPPLEGANGER YOU TREAT LIKE SOME KID SISTER IN A PATRONIZING TONE!!! WHY AM I DOING IT? TO DEFY YOU, TO DEFY DEATH, TO DEFY RANMA, TO DEFY *EVERY*. SINGLE. DAMN THING THAT THE THREE OF YOU HAD SAID TO ME AND DONE TO ME TO KEEP ME UNDER YOUR HEEL!!!!"
"I see," Akane said quietly, before her face became emotionless, "Then you shall learn the folly of your actions, as your 'plan' comes to fruitation..."
Red gave away to blue, as a cyclone of magic correlessed upon the tower...
_____________________
On the new arctic cap, The frozen ground for four miles deep shattered upwards, giving away to the rage of an immortal. Diamond specs glistened in the black sky; much of it even managing to escape Earth's atmosphere.
Ranma was furious, still high on his anger, even after expelling so much energy. He quickly focused on the direction Akane was in, and used his ground burrow technique for the quickest route between him and her.
"So, did you enjoy your little trip through memory lane?" Akane asked, leaping from the decayed wall around the decrepid facimile of the Tendou Dojo that imprisoned Kasumi.
"I figured out what was going on around here," Ranma replied, bringing his sword out, and holding it down by his side in ready, "That's why you wanted to visit the grave so badly!"
Akane rolled her pitch black eyes, though the action was almost unnoticeable by Ranma, "Well, duh! I needed a soul, one to stablize me. Dear Kasumi was just what I needed."
"Akane, just when I think I've seen you do the most atrocious thing possible, you do something like this."
'Akane' began to chuckle, and then roared in laughter, "Idiot, haven't you been paying attention?"
Ranma's eyes narrowed, as he moved his back closer to Kasumi. He felt the girl behind him clutch tightly to his ribs, before speaking, "You're not Akane..."
"Just a reasonable knock-off," The faux-Akane replied, "In truth, I am what has been quaintly dubbed 'Soul Eater'." Ranma stood stern, ready to make an attack, but remained unmoving. The fake-Akane seemed upset at this, "What? No reaction?"
"Why tell me all this, why the whole thing about the past?" Ranma replied, attempting to get answers, while scouring the area with his sixth sense.
Soul Eater frowned, "It wasn't me. She..." Soul Eater pointed to Kasumi, "has been flooding this place with her despair and her pleas for release since she's been in here. Not that I haven't enjoyed it all, but it happened to trigger that sixth-sense you're currently using to find a way to escape!"
Ranma stopped his search, "Huh?"
"Don't be stupid, this is my domain. You think you can do something like that without my notice? Both factors triggered some sort of reverse-precognition; you mind saught out your past, with my domain giving your vision, for the answers to your current dilemma. Her cries of tortured enduring the battery, your own mind the engine."
"So, you plan on keeping me here, too?" Ranma went into a more aggressive stance, showing his intentions when she gave her answer.
"Sadly, no." the faux-Akane replied, "When your loving wife ran you through, and attempted to rip your soul from your body, imagine my glee at having the tortured soul of an immortal to compliment the golden soul of her sister. There was just one problem."
Soul Eater turned to the side, looking at the barren yard, "You're Immortal. I couldn't separate your soul fully from your body." The faux-Akane sneered, "You've given me quite the indigestion, Ranma, trying to devour your soul. You're free to go." She waved her hand to the side of her, causing the gates to the parody of the Tendou Dojo to open up into the darkness, "Have a nice life, and tell Akane 'thanks for the meal' for me!"
"Ah, much obliged," Ranma replied, as he started for the gates, shaking Kasumi off.
"Ra... Ranma?" Kasumi's voice trembled.
Ranma looked back at her and shrugged, "Sorry, Kasumi, but-"
She didn't even notice she had been suddenly picked up, and was being rushed to the gates in less than a nano-second.
"NO!" Soul Eater was suddenly in front of Ranma, barring his and Kasumi's path, "This wasn't part of the deal."
Ranma didn't reply verbally, instead choosing to answer by the Saotome Honor blade. The gleaming metal slashed through the representation of Soul Eater, tearing her apart like midnight fabric.
Ranma marveled at the ease of which he delt with his advisary, "Well, that was anti-climatic." As soon as he said that, he quickly grabbed Kasumi again, and lept backwards, just in time to miss being stomped on by a massive, black scaled reptilian foot.
"Don't worry, we haven't begun yet," One of the three heads of the Hydra Creature with Ancient Egyptian hyrogliphs down each of its necks roared....
_____________________
"Lay her there," Keiko ordered. The Lillin that had been carrying the comatose Akane's body set her in the middle of the circle that lay upon the top of the tower. It was a simplistic design; a circle for where the head was to lay, and two circles where the feet were to be layed together.
Akane's unblinking eyes stared upwards, just as her sister began to read aloud the scroll Akane had written long ago. The one that documented the spell that was the catalyst for what came to be known as 'the bleeding of the sky'...
_____________________
"GET TO THE PORCH, NOW!" Ranma ordered. Kasumi nodded, and ran to safety. Ranma turned, and leapt at Soul Eater with his sword drawn back. The serphent suddenly vanished, just as a familiar black blade came to parry his own.
Ranma blinked, as he was face to face with his own shadow. They both pushed away, while still in the air, and landed in guard across from each other.
"You can avoid all this hassle, just leave the girl here, and you can leave!" A voice that came from everywhere stated in a factual tone.
"She's coming with me," Ranma stated firmly, "And you ain't got what it takes to stop me!"
"Not me, but yourself?" the voice enquired. Ranma's shadow leapt for the attack.
_____________________
"What... what's going on?" Kodachi asked, as she watched the circle Akane lay in begin to glow red. Keiko had an expression of utter glee on her face, and ordered the Lillin to retreat, lest their lives be forfeit.
Kodachi didn't follow the nervous men, instead shouting at Akane's sister for answers, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO AKANE-SAMA?" All she got was a devious smirk for a reply. Keiko strode for the circle, seemingly unaware of Kodachi pulling out dual gymnastics pins. "YOU WILL NOT DENY ME ANSWERS, NOR WILL I ALLOW YOU TO HARM HER!"
She leapt at K-Chan, and thrust a spiked pin at the eternal woman-s head. Without seeming motion, Keiko knocked the wind out of Kodachi, and allowed her to crumple to the ground on her knees. "This is none of your concern, misplaced one." With that, Keiko stepped into the circle, and straddled her sister's waist.
_____________________
Ranma found himself pressed harder than he had ever been before. The long, steady sound of metal grinding against metal was actually two swords meeting against each other an infinite amount of times.
Fustrated with the stalemate, Ranma leapt back with a spinning slash. His dark doppleganger leapt back just out of range, before dashing forward with a vertacle slash. Ranma parried high, and attempted a shoulder tackle that was successful, followed by a downward stab to his grounded foe. The shadow swung its blade in an arc, both parrying the sword, and almost slicing Ranma's right foot off.
"Damn, he's smart, too," Ranma grumbled, attempting to come up with some stratagy to beat the shadow.
_____________________
"Well, sister," Keiko purred, as she looked down upon Akane's face, "For as long as I could remember, I wanted to be just... like... you." Her hands went to pin Akane's shoulders, as she felt the energy rapidly building under the both of them.
"You were the powerful one, the one everyone feared and respected, while I... I merely was your husband's benefactor's boytoy." Keiko blinked at that, "Um, there is a much more simple way of saying that, isn't there? Anyways. I found out that you had a contengency plan, in case anything went wrong with saturating the world with magic; a way to reverse the bleeding of the Sky. You would draw all the magic in the world back into yourself until you found another means of permeating it throughout the planet."
Keiko chuckled, "Dear sister, you have a heart after all, too bad it shall cost you. There was but one flaw that I realized in your spell you wrote over there, not that such an oversight could be a sincere concern, since you never thought you would ever be subdued. If someone were to be atop you, they would be the recepter of all that wonderous might floating through the air, painting the sky crimson, not you."
Keiko felt the thrumming of the might under her; it wasn't long now, "Soon, I will be even more powerful than you, even my husband! Aren't you proud of me, Sis?"
Akane's eyes focused on Keiko, and a dark smile formed on her face, "Sis, you're an idiot..."
_____________________
Ranma was beginning to wear from the intense battle. It seemed as if they were fighting for years, which he realized was probably partially true. Time was well distorted in this domain, so his perceptions were possibly either skewed, or Soul Eater stacked the odds in its favor by accellerating time for Ranma so that he would eventually even reach his limit.
Of course, Soul Eater's Avatar didn't experience such problems, as it was supplied infinite energy within its domain.
Ranma's mind raced for ways to finally best his opponent. One came to mind... this was *really* gonna hurt...
Ranma parried his doppleganger's blade to the outside, and stepped in close to keep it from being able to break away. At the same time, he was thrusting his sword at the shadow's chest. The doppleganger followed the momentum of it's parried blade into a spin, and ducked down, only managing to get about what would be a half an inch of its skull split. It thrust its own sword towards Ranma's stomach, piercing it right through to the other side.
"RANMA!" Kasumi wailed, as she saw the blade sticking out of Ranma's back. Both fighters were held in their poses for several moments, before Ranma's blade and arms became invisible.
Within moments, the shadow lay in an uncountable amount of pieces on the ground, as Ranma stood, with it's sword still stuck in his stomach.
"KASUMI, HURRY!" The girl didn't have to be told twice, as she rushed to Ranma. The immortal man pulled the sword from his stomach, and cast it aside. They both ignored the blood, as he raced them for the gates.
Ranma felt the tingle across his skin, as his face met the outside of the gates. In his elation, he didn't notice the pieces of the shadow melt into a puddle, that lashed out after him. The blakc tendril lashed onto Kasumi's waist, jerking him from his grasp.
That last thing Ranma recalled, before the whiteness overtook him, was Kasumi's sad and resigned voice, "Thank you, Ranma, for at least trying. Thank you for the gift of seeing you again."
_____________________
"Did you truly think I didn't notice what you were doing?" Akane snarled at a surprised and confused Keiko. Kodachi looked on, silently cheering the Akane on.
"But... how...?"
"I created the magical seal you're using to hold me, and restrict me from recalling the magic away from you, and back into me! Yes, I made it in case someone as powerful as me," Akane glared pointedly at her sister, "Or someone *like* me had to be subdued, but in your idiocy, you never realized that the seal on my back would be overwhelmed by the amount of magic coursing through this area, right now!"
Akane's expression turned sad, "I wanted to give you the chance. I really did, I was even willing to defy Ranma for you. You and he are the only family I have, it will be a long time before he forgives me, which leaves only you. Why did you betray me?"
Keiko stared angrily down at her sister, "WHY? BECAUSE I'M SICK OF BEING IN YOUR SHADOW! I'M SICK OF BEING A SIMPLE DOPPLEGANGER YOU TREAT LIKE SOME KID SISTER IN A PATRONIZING TONE!!! WHY AM I DOING IT? TO DEFY YOU, TO DEFY DEATH, TO DEFY RANMA, TO DEFY *EVERY*. SINGLE. DAMN THING THAT THE THREE OF YOU HAD SAID TO ME AND DONE TO ME TO KEEP ME UNDER YOUR HEEL!!!!"
"I see," Akane said quietly, before her face became emotionless, "Then you shall learn the folly of your actions, as your 'plan' comes to fruitation..."
Red gave away to blue, as a cyclone of magic correlessed upon the tower...
_____________________
On the new arctic cap, The frozen ground for four miles deep shattered upwards, giving away to the rage of an immortal. Diamond specs glistened in the black sky; much of it even managing to escape Earth's atmosphere.
Ranma was furious, still high on his anger, even after expelling so much energy. He quickly focused on the direction Akane was in, and used his ground burrow technique for the quickest route between him and her.