A Spider In Nerima
A Ranma ½ / Spider-man fusion
Chapter 37: Awakenings, Oh My!
Ben Reilly and Akane Tendo peered at the interior of Ranma's room through the sliver thin opening between the shoji door and its frame. What they saw held them in a petrifying grip. Inside a shimmering crystalline cocoon, the body of Ranma Saotome shifted back and forth between male and female.
Just down the hallway, Akane's sister Kasumi prayed feverishly for the young man inside the room, but most especially for her sister. The sudden turn of events was devastating to the older Tendo girl's high hopes for her sister and for the young man who had captured her imoutosan's reluctant heart.
The eldest Tendo daughter could only ascribe the horror taking place to the capricious chaos that seemed to follow Ranma Saotome. And now, just when the relationship between Ranma and her little sister seemed to be taking a welcome positive turn, the chaos was back.
The same painful keening sound the trio heard earlier began to issue from the sparkling cocoon before them. As the sound grew, the frequency of the transformations buffeting the body of their sensei and fiance'‚ increased. One change cascaded into the next. One second Ranma was himself, a handsome, pigtailed young Adonis of corded muscle -- the next a petite, voluptuous woman with flame-red hair, just as capable of dispatching a foe as her male version.
Reilly was the first to notice the aberrations sneaking into the staccato transmutations. At first he thought the transformations were coming so rapidly he was seeing after-images. To Reilly, Ranma seemed to have multiple legs and arms sprouting from the flickering trunk of his body.
Akane's gasp moved him beyond his vain hope to horrible recognition. These weren't after-images etched on his retinas by the scintillating light flashing from the webbing as it moved in reaction to the fluid dance taking place at its center. What he and Akane saw was really happening. In the flip-flop of transformation, Ranma Saotome was turning into an eight-limbed monstrosity. Within seconds the transformation was complete. Inside the silken prison, a nightmarish cross between human, cat, and arachnid struggled against an unseen foe -- a marionette directed by an abusive puppeteer.
The keening grated into a cacophony of snaps, pops and rasping scrapes as the feline spider-monster's limbs knocked together, and its monstrous mandibles clicked convulsively.
Akane Tendo wanted to recoil from the sight before her, but she couldn't. Her breaking heart couldn't -- wouldn't -- abandon the man she somehow knew beyond reason was still there. Her mind struggled to understand and ignore the horror of what she was seeing.
Ben Reilly found himself leaning heavily against the frame of the shoji door. His breath seemed caught in his throat. He was neither able to catch nor expel it, because he knew beyond doubt he was somehow responsible for the grim fate befalling Ranma Saotome.
Dr. Tofu's story of the shadowy merge that overtook Ranma, Akane and Kasumi when they picked up his unconscious body at Ueno Park was yet another dagger thrust into the heart of Peter Parker's clone. If whatever got off on Ranma was doing this to him, what would it do to the two Tendo girls?
The final phase of the transformation began to emerge as the man-woman turned spider-cat approached exhaustion. The being who was Ranma Saotome, was pulling inward, drawing its limbs under it tightly. It looked ready to die, a crippled husk trying to protect the center of its being with a fence of legs.
A racket of caterwauling yowls abraded the ears in the upstairs hall of the Tendo home, before falling into a painful mewling. Akane suddenly realized part of the wailing was coming from her own throat.
The misshapened body in the cocoon seemed to split open before the tortured eyes of Ben Reilly and Akane Tendo. It unfolded like a grotesque flower, veiled by the sparking gossamer shroud.
The flower abruptly coalesced into human form once again. But not completely human. Definite cat-like attributes marked the body transforming before them. It ricocheted between the appearance of a bishonen warrior with scythe-like claws, whipping tail and alert twitching ears and a dazzlingly cute magic cat-girl princess of feline imperiousness.
The transformations began to slow. The feline ears, tails and claws manifest on the form inside the cocoon lost their prominence. Through the now almost transparent casing, Ranma Saotome was becoming himself again.
§☼§☼§
The young Shinto priest looked around at the temple grounds. Though the ancient shrine appeared well maintained, he struggled with a hazy memory that the only jinja to the Neko-kami in the area was long abandoned. Yet here was an immaculate environ, well kept and well suited for the wedding ceremony he was called upon to perform today.
The bride stood before him. An English woman; she introduced herself as Fiona Caldwell, and in an unusual twist of tradition, made the arrangements for the ceremony. At her side stood her groom, a Chinaman, clad in an impeccable white tuxedo. The priest couldn't recall hearing the man speak during the arrangements.
A bit of folklore flitted through the priest's mind. Miss Caldwell said her groom's name was Mao-Mo-Lin. It occurred to the priest, the name was the same as a figure from Chinese folklore -- a ghost cat, cursed to eternally seek a bride.
The priest smiled. Despite the coincidental name, this man, dowdy as he appeared, was no cat. He wasn't a ghost either, rather the fortunate suitor of the attractive English woman before him.
A handful of guests gathered around as the pair began to recite their vows in response to the priest's promptings. The groom's first nasal response, allayed the priest's suspicion the man was mute.
Other figures seemed barely visible in the shadowed nooks and alcoves of the temple grounds. Somehow the Shinto holy man couldn't seem to see any of the witnesses' faces in any detail. This strangeness bothered the priest slightly, but he put away the gnawing foreboding and concentrated on his duties. They had paid him after all, even though neither appeared to be an adherent to the indigenous faith he served. Obviously this was a spur of the moment nuptial party or against the wishes of the bride's parents, the priest thought.
A strangled gag brought the young priest back from his musings. Before him the groom was in obvious distress. The man's hands were at his own mouth. His eyes bugged enormously from his skull.
"Airen! What's wrong," the handsome woman at his side reached out for her groom -- her words an odd mixture of Chinese and English.
His hand swept out, pushing her away. "Nyooo. Get awaay from mee, Fiona," the man in white wailed.
His body began to quake. Before the priest's eyes, the groom's form began to inflate. The white tuxedo was absorbed into his flesh as his bulk expanded. The priest's own eyes bugged as he staggered back from the transformation. The groom was no longer human, rather an oversized white cat with eyes the size of beach balls and a mouth full of needle-sharp teeth. "Mao-Mo-Lin," the priest whispered, realizing he was witnessing the groom's true form as the Chinese folk tale came to life before his eyes.
The English bride held her ground, standing at the cat's side, but when the ground underneath the behemoth suddenly disappeared into a void of blackness, even she retreated.
To the young priest's eyes, the earth didn't cave away underneath the ghost cat. It suddenly turned the jet black of a greedy lightless void yearning to consume the light above it. The suddenly opened abyss pulled the transformed groom into its depths. A dazzling white point of light sparkled above the void before the black hole was replaced by the solid stone steps once again.
A thunderous "crack" split the suddenly deafening quiet of the shrine. A black glimmer twinkled in the spot where the man called Mao-Mo-Lin stood moments before. The priest became aware only he and the young Englishwoman remained in the open yard of the jinja. All the other guests had vanished.
The obsidian glimmer bent the light around it and expanded. The astounded priest looked on a jet-black version of the white cat that had just disappeared. The black cat shook its head, opened its eyes and looked around, taking in its surroundings. The bride sprinted for the torii of the shrine. Her motion attracted the demon cat's attention. It spun, hissing, claws springing forth from its massive paws.
The young priest was motionless; watching without comprehension at the rapid fire events playing out before his eyes.
The girl skidded to a halt under the double crossbar of the torii as a wizened figure stepped between her and the pursuing catamount. The shrouded figure, half as tall as the English woman traced a cryptic aegis in the air between the fleeing girl and the monstrous cat.
"This one you will not harm," a rasping voice cackled as the neko-oni also skidded to a halt in front of the pair. Its sulfuric breath came in ragged gasps as it sucked in the air of the material world.
The diminutive figure reached up and pulled back the hood of its cloak, revealing gray hair atop a finely wrinkled face. "I am Madame Qua of the True Believers of the Hand. This is my disciple. She has willingly chosen to serve the purpose of the Beast. Do not hinder our purpose demon or you will face the wrath of our master, the Beast."
The cat-demon snarled and spat at the two women. "I care not about you, your pathetic disciple or your master. Only Saotome is important. Stand in my way woman and you will regret it for all of eternity," it hissed.
From the shadowy alcoves of the shrine, a hoard of muttering ninja appeared. They moved silently to surround the women, drawing weapons in defense of the pair. Only the shallow whispering of the arcane litany on their lips broke the silence following the old woman's declaration. Their garb was dark green. Close silk masks covered their heads, save for a single oval opening for their cold eyes. An applique'‚ in the shape of an open black hand emblazoned the front of their utilitarian ninja-style attire.
The demon-cat snarled its hatred, but advanced no farther. It spun, searching for another exit.
A strangled gasp issued from the steps of the shrine altar. It was a tiny sound. Hardly noticeable at all really, but it seemed almost thunderous to the young Shinto priest from whose throat it issued.
The head of the black monster swung toward him. Their eyes locked. The cat licked its lips. A huge tongue, carpeted with razor sharp rasps curled languidly over the glistening white teeth filling its mouth. The young priest tried desperately to remember a warding prayer against cats.
He felt a momentary relief as the demon before him dissolved into a horde of common house cats that spread out across the grounds of the shrine. Terror was the last thing he felt as he realized the feline mass had surrounded him and was leaping at him from all sides.
At the torii gate, the shriveled matron motioned imperceptibly to one of the faceless ninja surrounding her and the younger woman. A bundle landed at Fiona Caldwell's feet.
"Change."
The young woman quickly opened the package and shook out a jumpsuit identical to those worn by the silent guard around her. Without a word the would-be bride stripped off the white business style ensemble she wore and donned the uniform. She was pulling the silken mask in place when Madame Qua spoke again.
"Step aside. Let him pass."
The troop of Hand militia parted to let a wave of cats flow through the torii posts, down the jinja steps and disappear into the streets and undergrowth of Nerima Ward.
The old woman stood watching the feline flow abate. When the last cat vanished the crone chuckled.
"Interesting. Happosai may be denied his vengeance, while I -- I will be released from my debt no matter the outcome."
"What of the union?" the girl at her side asked without emotion.
"If the groom ever returns, we will see to that," the old woman replied as she waved her hand at the torii. The grounds seemed to shimmer briefly and the appearance of well-kept maintenance evaporated into harsh dilapidation. The only things new in the abandoned shrine were the shining white bones of the skeleton on the steps of the ancient and overgrown altar.
§☼§☼§
Ranma's transformational dance inside the diaphanous cocoon ceased.
A broken sob caught in Akane's throat, breaking the silence. Ben Reilly released his unconsciously held breath as Akane shoved the shoji door open and began crawling toward the silent and still form of Ranma Saotome.
"Ranma," she whispered his name as she tore at the crystalline webbing barring her way. She raked it aside with her hands and arms, burrowing into the gossamer tangle. The filaments shattered under her advance. They fell tinkling to the wooden floor and sparkled in the window light like broken shards of spun glass.
Ben Reilly straightened and stepped into the room, intent on following Akane to his Sensei's aid.
As his shoulder brushed a span of webbing suspending Ranma between floor and ceiling, he felt a burn. Turning his head, he was surprised to see the fabric and flesh of his right shoulder separating where it contacted several strands of the webbing. The shimmering threads passed through cloth and skin unfazed. Blood began to seep from the wounds, but quickly changed to a liberal flow. Reilly pulled back, watching the now crimson stained filaments emerge from the cuts in his tattered shirt.
Instantly Reilly reached out and touched a shimmering fiber lightly. He felt the sting as the filament parted the flesh of his finger. A quick examination revealed an almost microscopic line of red crossing the tip. It began to grow into a welling droplet. His spider sense was silent. He looked at his shoulder again. His arm was stained crimson from the inch-deep slice he'd barely felt.
"Akane! Stop!" Reilly cried, fearing he was too late.
The girl was already deep into the webbing, making her way toward Ranma, crying as she went. She called his name, crawling, ripping the scintillating threads out of her way with now bare and bloody arms. Wherever they touched her, the strands separated fabric and cut flesh before yielding to her insistence. She was oblivious to the wounds.
Reilly was paralyzed with horror. He watched, dumbfounded as the youngest Tendo girl reached the now blackened cocoon, a trail of blood in her wake. She stood up, heedless of the danger of the molecularly sharp strands surrounding her.
She reached out and grabbed the gray silken shroud, her fingers sinking between the darkened fibers as she began to tear at the fabric of Ranma's prison. She paid no heed as she ripped the silken body bag from its moorings and hugged it to her body, lowering it to the floor. The razor sharp strands shredded the front of her seifuku.
"Ranma, I'm here," she sobbed as she tore chunks of webbing out of the cocoon with bloody fingers. The tattered shreds of her school uniform parted. The garment barely clung to her shoulders as she rocked the body of her beloved in her arms. The now peacefully quiet face of Ranma Saotome seemed to sleep as she cradled his head on her lap and brushed stray strands of the crystalline webbing from his face with fingers dripping with her own blood.
"I'm here. I'm here," she whispered. Impulsively she pressed her lips to his, calling his name. His lips remained unresponsive to her kiss.
§☼§☼§
A torrent of feline fury boiled through the streets and back alleys of Nerima. It flowed through the sewers and bounded through the tree tops, making its way in a more or less straight course toward the walled compound of the Tendo home and dojo.
Denizens of the ward, whether they were canine or verminous, bolted to avoid the yowling clowder of cats traversing the ward's various neighborhoods in a malicious swarm. Those too lazy, old, arrogant or distracted by other concerns paid the ultimate price for their inattention.
Miraculously, citizens of the ward were scarce along the demonic clowder's path, and the few who witnessed its passing, swore off their favorite intoxicant thereafter -- at least for a little while.
§☼§☼§
Ben Reilly gawked at the sight before him. He couldn't understand how Akane Tendo wasn't sliced into a bazillion tiny pieces. He couldn't understand the failure of his spider-sense to warn him against walking into the razor sharp strands. He couldn't understand, and yet he knew -- he knew -- the events of Ueno Park lay at the core of the mysteries assaulting his understanding. Somehow all this was his fault.
He was applying a hasty web bandage to his shoulder when the familiar warning tingle of his spider-sense began to buzz. Its warning grew quickly. Reilly swore inside himself. Something was coming just when he needed time to figure out what was happening with Ranma and Akane.
Behind him, a soft scuff of slippered feet and a whispered, "Oh my," signaled Kasumi's presence. The comely young woman was shaking her head as though trying to clear it. The warning buzz inside Reilly's head stepped up in intensity. Kasumi's hands snapped up to clutch the sides of the back of her head.
"Ohhh!" She looked into his eyes with a bewildered look of distress. "Reilly-san, what's happening?" she said as she held her head.
The New Yorker was reaching out to touch her shoulder when the warning inside his head screamed. Kasumi Tendo flinched. In unison Reilly and the young woman turned toward the high-set window across the room from them.
Whatever it was, it was coming through that window.
Reilly read the familiar warning signal. He had to get on the other side of that window to meet whatever was coming, but he couldn't cross the short distance by the most direct path. Turning, he barked an order to the eldest Tendo girl, "Kasumi stay here. Whatever happens don't touch that webbing."
Less than a second later he was gone. Kasumi looked for only a second at the remains of the ceiling panel the westerner ripped out of his way as he leaped into the attic space above.
The girl barely had time to think about calling repairmen to fix the ceiling and the hole in the roof above as the howling in her head escalated and changed. The frantic buzzing in her head suddenly sorted itself out and made sense to the young woman. She didn't know how, but she knew something evil was headed for that window. She knew Reilly had gone to meet it -- to defend Ranma and her sister. These things she knew and incomprehensibly understood.
Horror washed over her as her eyes followed the bloody trail starting about a meter inside the doorway and leading to a tragic tableau in the center of the room.
She could make out her kneeling sister's back as the younger girl cradled one end of the darkened cocoon on her lap. Akane was sitting in a puddle of blood as she gently rocked her fallen fiance'.
A tiny movement caught Kasumi's attention. A barely perceptible line of scarlet seemed to flow outward from Ranma's cocoon shrouded body in all directions. It raced up the remaining strands of webbing and down the tunnel Akane breached in her advance.
The bands of crystalline webbing seemed to shimmer with the barely detectable wave of scarlet. It raced outward, running to and fro over the strands still attached to the walls and ceiling. The threads still spanning the room seemed to shiver with muted waves of subdued rainbows. Before her astounded eyes, a lacy curtain began to descend from the intact horizontal filaments, even as tiny scarlet points seemed to launch themselves from broken intersections of the original web.
The scarlet line was rebuilding the latticework that supported the cocoon. Kasumi's eyes snapped back to the two youths at the center of the room. The cocoon was being rebuild too, and this time its bounds included her sister's kneeling form. The remains of her new school uniform slid from her shoulders to puddle around her hips where it soaked in the pool of blood that surrounded her.
The weeping girl took no heed of her state of undress nor to the otherworldly events taking place around her. She rocked and wept and whispered, "Ranma no baka," with a voice steeped in sorrow and regret.
A light "thump," outside the window drew Kasumi's attention. She knew Reilly was there. The buzz inside her head told her so. An ominous shadow suddenly blocked the sunlight streaming through the window. The eye-dazzling light show of sparkles dancing on the shimmering webbing that criss-crossed and clogged the interior of the Tendo guest room, lost its fairyland luster.
Kasumi Tendo didn't know what was going on, but she knew one thing: she would not desert her sister or the stricken young man on her lap to the evil outside that window. Nor would she desert the foreigner who was putting his life on the line for them. She reached between her legs and gathered up the back hem of her dress, tying it in place with her apron. She would fight.
It had been years since she'd even done a kata, but what little skill remained would be used to defend her family. Her hands clinched into fists and a flinty resolve shone with laser beam intensity in her eyes as she stood guard over the precious treasure in the guest room.
§☼§☼§
For Ranma Saotome, the spiraling well of darkness that threatened to engulf him turned crimson. Warm Lap's hand seemed to brush his face. Gargantuan drops of blood pelted him. Their impact drove back the darkness, transforming it into a warm red glow of life. It was a crimson rain that flowed down his face and into his mouth. He struggled to wipe it from his lips, but he couldn't move his hands and arms.
Instead he found himself amazed by the flavor on his lips. It was blood. Somehow he knew it was Akane's. The flavor was nothing special -- the same salty iron taste he'd experienced when he'd tasted his own, but ... it was as though it was bursting with life -- a life so vigorous it burst upon his tongue with an effervescense that seemed to lift him out of the darkness.
Ranma struggled to shift his attention from the flavor on his lips. His surroundings were changing; pulling his attention outward. The constricting well with obsidian walls was gone. In its place he found himself in an expansive tent woven of a shimmering scarlet cloth.
A golden lamp fashioned in the shape of four roaring lion heads lit the interior. The four-faced lamp encircled the central pole of the tent with one face gazing toward each corner. Golden light streamed from the open mouths and eyes of the brazen luminary, suspended at least two meters above the floor. Its light bathed the foursquare enclosure in a warm glow.
Light shining through openings in the top of the lamp revealed a central support plate fashioned in the shape of a spider resting on top of the beam. Six gossamer threads descended from the spider-shaped plate to suspend the lion-faced lamp midway up the pole. Eight wooden supports reached out from the plate, extending to the sides and corners of the scarlet tent. At their midpoint, a pegged joint changed the angle of the supports, making them look even more like spider's legs, and allowing the tent sides to fall more vertically to the ground.
Ranma wondered at his strange new surroundings. Each new awakening seemed stranger than the one before, and he felt sure he might be finding Alice or a fretful white rabbit at any moment.
He looked about, taking in his surroundings more closely. He was reclining on an ornate divan covered with large plush pillows. Sitting up, he noticed intricately woven tapestries hanging at intervals from standards suspended between the spider-leg struts. The banners divided the tent into an inner court and an encircling outer court. The divan upon which he awoke sat at the back of the inner circle, opposite a section devoid of hangings, marking the path to the doorway flaps.
He was getting up to examine the tapestries more closely when the flaps of the entry burst inward. Ranma Saotome dropped instantly into a ready stance. He almost relaxed when he recognized Akane Tendo's familiar face.
Their eyes met and the girl stumbled on the tent's floor coverings as she tried to stop her headlong plunge through the entryway. The stumble caused the tattered remains of her school uniform to slide from her body.
Her reaction was instinctive and purely Akane. Her head dropped to see what was happening. Her hands and arms moved to cover herself, clutching at her bra and panties, which threatened to desert her as well. Her touch exacerbated her problem as the violated undergarments surrendered. She found herself holding the scraps in place. The well-worn cry, "Ranma no hentai!" cascaded from her lips.
Ranma Saotome's reaction was more a conditioned response. He saw what was going to happen. He spun, turning his back and wailing, "I ain't lookin'! I ain't lookin'!" in defense, while waiting for the impact, head in eye-covering hands.
Akane whirled, searching for something -- anything -- to cover her nakedness. Without thought of value or significance, Akane stepped to one side and ripped one of the embroidered banners from its supports and wrapped it about herself as the useless shreds of her store-boughts fluttered to the ground.
"Ranma you perv ..." she stopped in mid word, frozen by realization. "Ranma? You're awake?"
The quaking youth nodded, not daring to turn toward her. "Course, I'm awake ..." he started to snap before a flicker of doubt assailed him.
Was he awake in this Lewis Carroll world? He didn't have time to ponder the question as a small but powerful hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. Akane stood before him, wrapped in a silken banner of scarlet and gold. Joy and question danced in her eyes as she looked into his face, all hint of customary wrath abandoned.
"You're awaaaaake!" She almost squealed.
"Uh, I think so, maybe ... I, I'm n-not real s-sure 'bout th-that," he stammered as he looked pointedly around the tent, before her arms encircled him in a bearhug that suddenly reminded him of Ryoga's misguided embrace under the man-made waterfall of Healthy Leisure Land.
§☼§☼§
A boiling horde of cats topped the Tendo compound wall as Ben Reilly ripped his way through the oft-patched roof of the house.
As it advanced across the garden it coalesced into the form of a massive black cat that circled the koi pond.
Reilly leapt down from the main roof to the eave sloping away from the second floor windows. He ripped his web-shooters from around his ankles, slapping them into place on his wrists. Since his first run-in with Shampoo, the westerner refused to be caught without his full arsenal.
Inwardly he was grateful this new menace seemed to be taking a more solid form. He always found shape shifting foes such as Sandman and the Swarm the most difficult to subdue. With any luck he might be able to knock this beastie out in short order. The magnitude of the warning buzz in his head told him he wasn't going to get that lucky.
The menacing eyes in the cartoonish head swung toward him, and to Reilly's astonishment and momentary relief, paused. Reilly settled the web shooters into a more comfortable position. He was ready now.
The cat's outlines began to shimmer. Suddenly the form below him expanded, growing until a giant with oriental features and vertically slitted eyes stood catseye-to-eye with Ben Reilly.
A massive sweat drop rolled down the back of the westerner's head, and he found his hands in the shocked promise pose of surprise.
The giant almost presented an image of shocking might and awesome splendor in robes of scarlet, gold and black, a pair of swords at the belt -- almost.
Unfortunately, the portrait of Chinese royal might was spoiled by an oversized French cavalier chapeau, complete with six-foot feather perched at a jaunty angle on the giant head. The regal robe was sullied by a massively wide and worn leather belt that prevented it from falling in natural lines to the ground where it should have just hidden silk slippers. Instead it cinched the giant's midsection in a constricting grasp that forced the robe to ride up and reveal a pair of worn and oversized leather boots.
The swords on the giant's belt were mismatched. One was a slender rapier, the other, far more ominous, was a curved scimitar of Chinese design that reminded Reilly of a cat's extended claw.
Quickly suppressing his reaction to the giant's ridiculous mixture of attire, Ben Reilly dropped into the now habitual ready stance of Anything Goes.
"Nyai am Aku-Mo-Lin. Nyai have come to take back what Ranma Saotome has stolen from me," the giant announced in a high nasal twang that mocked its regal demeanor. Dismay flickered across the vertical irises of its eyes. The giant cleared its throat. "Stand aside, or face my wrath," it continued in a rich, and far more appropriate baritone.
Reilly struggled to keep from laughing at the sudden change in voices. Evil and dangerous as his spider-sense warned this thing was, it was hard to take seriously in its inept attempt to bluff him as a mighty Chinese Puss-n-Boots.
His screaming spider-sense sobered him. He was inwardly grateful for his foe's sudden change of tactics. Reilly knew from past experience and borrowed memories he would have been hard pressed to defend against a feline tsunami. Its current form gave him a fighting chance.
"I am Ben Reilly of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts," he replied in mock seriousness. "Sensei Saotome is many things, but a thief is not one of them. Perhaps you're thinking of his father -- definitely a thief and a con man. As for standing aside, you can't have an audience with the Sensei until you prove your claim, Mr. Lin -- if you can."
Anger clouded the giant face. "You doubt my claim," the rich voice replied as a smirk gained control of the visage. "Very well then. This is my proof."
Reilly knew the attack was coming before the words reached his ears. The giant's hand drew and thrust with the short curved sword, faster than any normal man could have seen -- faster even than most ordinary martial artists could have avoided. Reilly thanked God he was neither normal nor ordinary as the blade passed through his previous position.
Reilly realized the monstrous strike was only incidentally aimed at him as he leaped above it. The blade carried past where he'd stood toward the wall of the bedroom beyond. The westerner somersaulted and twisted in midair. One hand shot a line of webbing over the massive hand gripping the hilt of the sword, while he reached down with the other to gain purchase on Aku-Mo-Lin's outstretched arm.
Happosai-like, Reilly planted his feet on the giant's wrist and pulled viciously at the line, lifting the point of the sword as it crashed through the wall just under the window seal. He felt the second blow coming. This one was aimed at him, but he couldn't let go of the line in his hands, or it might be all over for Ranma and Akane.
§☼§☼§
Kasumi felt it coming, and there was nothing she could do about it. The wall just under the window exploded inward. Chunks of wooden structure and splinters of window glass tore through the shimmering web clogging the interior of the room. The larger chunks fell harmlessly at her feet. Smaller fragments hung in the shattered remains of the webbing. The whole latticework seemed to quiver, then collapsed into a scintillating carpet of glassine splinters.
An enormous curved blade swung to and fro in the air just above Akane's unnoticing head. If it dropped only slightly, the girl would be decapitated.
Kasumi Tendo leapt forward. Reilly's warning about the webbing was now unnecessary and unheeded in the heat of the moment. She had to keep that blade from dipping.
Without thinking, she reached -- reached into hammerspace and pulled.
The haft felt comfortable in her hands, as though custom-fitted for her grip. The head of the mallet she suddenly found in her grasp wasn't terribly large like the one's Akane used to pull. It was a square sledge, perfectly sized and weighted for the meter-long handle in her hands. Its striking face was cut into a coarse diamond toothed maul. Kasumi flipped the weapon and found the opposite face a finer version of its reverse. She recognized it immediately as an oversized meat tenderizer. A small, but grim smile crossed her face as she swung at the massive fingers holding the sword. She'd tenderized this monster. Oh, yes, she would.
Kasumi felt bone give under the impact of her blow. She heard the screech of pain from outside the shattered wall. The sword quit swinging to and fro as the massive hand released its grip and withdrew from her attack. The sword's point lurched upward, burying itself in the ceiling, sticking fast. A second later, a gray-clad figure crashed into the room, opening the hole in the wall a bit wider.
Ben Reilly came to rest on the now completely encased forms of Akane Tendo and Ranma Saotome. He lay still before Kasumi Tendo's shocked eyes, obviously battered unconscious. Blood began to flow from his back where he lay on the molecularly keen strands. As if in response to his wounds, the scarlet glimmer leapt up again. The tiny red dots flowed out from the central cocoon and began to enshroud Reilly, making him part of the misshapened casing that now imprisoned her sister and future brother-in-law.
A scrabbling at the opening drew her attention. Enormous black paws with matching enormous claws were ripping at the wall, enlarging the hole in her home. Between swipes, Kasumi Tendo caught glimpses of the snarling face of a feline behemoth beyond.
At her feet, the web-weaving scarlet mites were fast workers. She could barely make out the westerner's features under the coating of filaments they were laying down.
Desperation and determination settled like a weight on Kasumi Tendo's shoulders. This was beyond her, she knew, but she couldn't abandon the trio at her feet. What chance did she have against a monster that felled a seasoned fighter like Reilly-san? She looked about for another choice, but found none. She wished Ranma was awake. She knew he would find a way to win -- he always did. Then the realization of the nature of her foe dawned on her -- a giant cat. Even if Ranma were awake he would be no succor.
Kasumi Tendo centered herself and turned to face the monster on the other side of the wall. She knew that were Ranma in a position to comment, he would call her decision stupid. She hefted the mallet in her hands and breathed a prayer.
"Okaasan, help me."
(EoC37)
TBC
A/N: Sorry about the delay. Taxes, business trips and all, ya know. There's much more in the "bank" this time, so the next part of "Awakenings" should -should- follow swiftly.
-JW