TRTSS37: Hero! – By Ocramed
Disclaimer: Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Star Trek and other properties belong to their respective owners.
Note: This is a multi-genre story.
Part 36: "Ten to One!" (VII)
Thousands of years ago, during the Shang Dynasty Period in China…
The wild child of the village at the foot of Mount Tai was humming to herself, as she went shopping in preparation for her visit to relatives in Nyucheizu, within the Byankala Mountain region, when the love of her life stopped by to pay a visit…
"Guess who?" the young man said, as he covered the girl's eyes from behind.
"Is it 'Brother Bao the Goat Herder'?" the maiden said with a mischievous grin.
"What?" the young man said incredulously, as he lets go. "Do I look fat to you?"
"No, not that I wouldn't mind a little girth, Yi," said Orchid, as she turned to face her fiancé. "Especially for one who is the 'Excellent Archer' of the Jade Heavenly Court, I think."
"So, it's my renown that attracted you?"
"No, silly," Orchid said, as she pulls Yi with her to their favorite spot in the village, which was a young tree. She was a rare beauty, being a red-haired beauty who was good at martial arts. "What attracted me to you was the fact that you DID take on the challenge of the gods in order to save our village from the Huns…"
Pause.
"And when you fought by my family's side, when we stood our ground against them."
"Hey, I'm willing to do anything for a pretty face," Yi said with a grin, as he moves to kiss his fiancée…
"Excuse me?" said Orchid's mother disapprovingly, as she passed by. "Just because you are the chosen for the gods that does not mean that you can take liberties with my eldest child."
"Er, sorry," Yi said, as he grinned like an idiot. "I…I just want to spend as much time as possible, before she took her trip to Nyucheizu."
"Humph," Orchid's mother said, before turning away to resume her shopping at the village market…
"Don't mind Mother," Orchid said. "She's always like that."
"Well, I really wish she would give me a chance," Yi said.
"Oh, I think she has," Orchid said. "Otherwise, she would have kicked your butt by now."
"…"
"I just hope that our trip to my ancestral village will be as uneventful as possible-"
"Brother Yi!" said a village elder, as he is flanked by an important dignitary and some Imperial Soldiers."
"What is it, Elder?" Yi asked.
The village elder differs to the dignitary.
"Greeting," the dignitary said, as his underling hands over a royal scroll for him to read. "It is my great pleasure to invite you, Heavenly Archer Yi, to pay a visit to our great emperor for his birthday 'bash'."
"I am honored to be invited, but I have to escort my fiancée to her ancestral village," Yi said. "As soon as I have done that, I will gladly entertain the emperor."
"The emperor would not be pleased by this news," the emissary said. "After all, the elders of the Huns would like to meet you, and meeting you might allow the emperor to sue for peace between them and the Han."
"I see…"
"Don't worry, Yi," Orchid said. "I can travel to my ancestral home with another escort."
"Then, it is settled," said the emissary. "You will be honored, of course…"
The next day, Orchid gives Yi a lock of her hair in the form of a tassel for his bow.
"Just be careful," Yi said. "You may be a descendent of warrior women, but you are MY woman."
"No, you're MY man," Orchid said. "And as long as you have my lock of hair, we'll always be connected…my love."
With that, Orchid and Yi share a chaste kiss…
Present day.
Naruru wakes up with a start, and sees that she was in a cave, on some bedding. The last thing she remembered was falling from the sky after being shot at by-
"You're awake," said a voice.
Naruru turns to see Celestial Archer, as he sat nearby on a rock while tending to a fire.
"I take it that you are not unharmed?" Celestial Archer asked. "That was quite a drop you took."
"I had worse," Naruru replied. "So, question: why?"
"Pardon?"
"You could have taken me into custody, or even killed me with that bow of yours, which I assume belonged to the Heavenly Archer Yi of Mount Tai?"
"You…know about Yi?" Celestial Archer asked.
"I do. Well, not directly. I knew his patron, the Moon Goddess of the Xian, Xhang-O, very well…"
Pause.
"Well, maybe I was TOO familiar, but that's a subject for another time."
"Oh. Well, I can answer one of those questions at least," Celestial Archer said, as he shifts his body a bit. "When I went to secure you, Yi's bow told me that you were special, and that I was to not turn you over to my superiors."
"That's interesting," Naruru mused. "May I take a look at your bow?"
Celestial Archer gives Naruru a quizzical look.
"You have my word as a martial artist that I will not do anything underhanded," Naruru said. "Scout's honor?"
"Okay," Celestial Archer said, as he hands over the bow, although, he was waiting for Naruru to betray his trust, hence the reason why he had his hidden microphone turned on, even if his transponder/locator was not active…
Naruru accepts the bow, and then closes her eyes while touching it with her delicate hands.
"Fine craftsmanship, indeed," Naruru said, as her hands begin to glow.
"What are you doing?"
"All objects contain a residue of energy from the aura of its owner," Naruru said. "In fact, a chi master can learn much about the owner of the object by way of a martial arts technique called 'Object Reading'."
"No way."
"Yes, WAY. The trick is sifting through the previous owners of the object in order to prevent a 'mash-up effect'."
"Well, when I found the bow, it was under my village's main tree, in the center of a local market," Celestial Archer said. "It didn't look the bow was in use since the Heavenly Archer had used it."
"Well, then, I guess the process will be easy then…"
Pause.
"Okay, you were a street performer who was into 'rap music', specifically 'hip hop'."
"Yes," Celestial Archer said.
"And you never had a girlfriend."
"What? That's not true!"
"I'm kidding, although you didn't get your first girlfriend until after you became the Celestial Archer a few years ago."
"…"
"Okay, going back further…further…further…OH!"
"What is it?" Celestial Archer said.
"That explains it," Naruru said, as she opened her eyes. She then turned the bow to see the tassel of hair.
"Hmmmm…"
"Explains what?" Celestial Archer said.
"This body that I wear is based upon the girl whose tassel of hair used to belong to," Naruru said.
"I don't understand."
"Have you heard of the Pools of Sorry?"
"You mean, the legendary 'Jusenkyo'?" Celestial Archer said. "Near the Byankala Mountain region in Western China?"
"That's the one."
"We never knew that such a place was real."
"It's very hard to get to, since the place is remote,' Naruru said. "At any rate, from what I can discern, a girl who drowned at Jusenkyo was the beloved of Yi the Heavenly Archer. Because my present body is based upon that drowned girl's body, the bow was reacting sympathetically …"
Pause.
"Which, I suppose is both flattering and creepy."
"So, what does this all mean?"
"Before I get to that, I have to say this one more thing," Naruru said. "From what I can also discern, the reason why you came upon the bow in the first place is because you, my friend, are the reincarnation of Yi himself."
"Whoa," Celestial Archer said. "I…I did not know that. But…you're not pulling my leg, are you?"
"I give you my word that I am not," Naruru said. "At any rate, because of Yi's past with this girl, you and I have a connection…"
Pause.
"But don't get any ideas. I'm really a GUY who happens to have the body of the girl that Yi fell in love with."
"Hey, don't look at me," Celestial Archer said with a smirk. "I'm not into THAT type of lifestyle."
"What? You don't think I'm sexy enough?" Naruru said coyly, as she begins to speak in a hypnotic voice while enhancing her sex appeal. "I'm mean, not that I'm into THAT sort of thing, but what if we were the last human beings on Earth…?"
Celestial Archer was about to respond, even as the light from the outside is reflecting off Naruru's eyes. Unknown to the champion of the Xian moon goddess, Naruru was using a form of "domination" to cause the Celestial Archer to be caught off-guard.
"Um, well, I-"
THOK!
With a few pressure points, Naruru renders the Celestial Archer unconscious.
"Sucker," Naruru said, as she dusts herself off. She then takes a look at the Celestial Archer's bow, sighs, and then places it next to an unconscious Celestial Archer.
"I AM a man of my word, kid," Naruru said, as she turns to leave. "You really know how to pick 'em, Xhang-chan."
You know me very well, Izanagi.
"Humph."
Naruru then notices something, as she looks up.
"So, I'm being searched," Naruru said, as she scans the skies. "Time to end THAT…"
Meanwhile, high above the area, Immortal-Man-in-Darkness surveys the disputed territory in the alien-derived vehicle known as the "Dragonwing". For an hour, pilot-and-vehicle, acting as one, attempted to get a fix on their target's location.
"Immortal-Man, this is August General," said August General-in-Iron over a secured communications line.
Within the ship, Immortal-Man, cocooned in an amniotic-like sack, responds.
"Channel open," Immortal-Man said.
"What's the situation?"
"Negative on our target. It's like some divine force is preventing me from locating Celestial Archer or our target's location."
"Understood, but let's not defer to the gods just yet, especially after our counter with false ones," August General replied. "Nevertheless, if we do not find Ranshin Rantsu, or whatever alias he—or she—is using, we might have to increase the crisis level of our operations."
"Understood, August General. We'll keep you posted-"
WHOOOM-THUMP!
Dragonwing shuddered, causing Immortal-Man-in-Darkness to immediately to check his sensor readings…
"{Yoo-hoo}!" said a voice telepathically.
"Who is that?" Immortal-Man yelled. "Show yourself!"
"{Look up}."
Immortal-Man looks up to see Naruru sitting on top of Dragonwing, with her hand firmly placed on the hull.
"How-?"
"{I'm already familiar with Durlans and their technology, being a reservist with the Green Lantern Corps, which is how I am communicating with you at the moment}," Naruru said. "{Doesn't Beijing know that humans are incompatible with Durlan-tech}?"
"…"
"{I take it that they do know, and, for the sake of national security, don't care}…"
Pause.
"Still, the design has some sweet reverse-engineering."
"Considering the fact that you know about the Dragonwing, I cannot take the chance of your knowledge going public," Immortal-Man said, as he began the process of shaking off Naruru. However-
SPLURCH!
Naruru pulls Immortal-Man out of the vehicle, causing it to careen out of control. While holding on to the pilot, Naruru reaches into the cockpit, which was filled with fluid, and ignores the burning sensation of her free arm, as she begins to maneuver the joystick of the vehicle…
SPLASH!
At the last minute, Naruru leaps off the craft with Immortal-Man in hand, allowing it to fall harmless into the water near the disputed territory.
"Man, that sucks," Naruru said, as she places Immortal-Man onto the ground. She then looked at her arm, the one that was used to pilot the Dragonwing directly.
"Huh," Naruru said. Her arm appeared to have blisters, like a chemical burn. It then dawned on her as to what really happens when a human links up with Durlan-tech.
"Ah, man," Naruru said immediately, as she rushed over towards Immortal-Man. She removes the helmet that was attached to the pilot's body suit. In many ways, the Dragonwing incorporates a setup similar to "Evangelions" (or "Evas") that are used in Japan against "angels", in which pilots utilizes body suits while in fluid. In fact, Evas utilizes alien technology as well. However, unlike the Dragonwing, using Evas don't necessarily degrade the human body…
"Hold on!" Naruru said, as she sees Immortal-Man's face, which looked like it was dipped in acid…
Captain Chen Nuo looks up at the beautiful girl with his own decrepit eyes. However, the only thing he felt for her was contempt.
"Thanks…thanks for killing me," Nuo said. "Because of you, you might have killed me before it is my time."
"What do you mean?" Naruru said.
"You were right; humans aren't compatible with Durlan technology, but Beijing felt that the sacrifice, to have a super-functionary capable of protecting the people, was worth it…"
Pause.
"It's funny how high a price being a hero can be…"
With that, Chen melts down into protoplasm.
"Damn," Naruru said to herself. Had she knew the extent of the damage that Durlan technology could do on the human body, Naruru could have done something to save the pilot of the Dragonwing…
However, Naruru had more pressing concerns, as a targeting scope locks on her position.
TARGET FOUND.
TARGET SIGHTED.
ENGAGE.
BLAM-!
Tbc.
Author's Note: Will take a break from this story. Next update will be in a few days or so. See you then…