Persona Task Squad: The Heart of the Watcher. Death Pirates/Lylatian Rescue Arc. Arthanos Mini-Arc.
Chapter 33, part 7: The Search for the Shards. The Realm of Jade.
(Enter Andrew's POV)
What hit me? Oh yeah. I was knocked out for intruding without going through the Observatory. And the sheriff here hits hard.
I then sat in my cell, pondering my escape. Judging by the interior, they didn't expect someone like me to be here.
However, I was disturbed by someone stirring.
"Anyone got the number of that bus?" I heard him ask. He and I then made eye contact, and the both of us recognized each other. "Andrew?"
"Ranma?" I asked him.
"What are you doing here?" The both of us asked at the same time. Then we made a surprise look and said, "I could ask you the same question." Both of us were getting annoyed. "Stop doing that!"
We then growled, but I noticed his was more...feline-like than usual. "What happened to you?"
"Happosai," he replied. "Got me with a curse, but stopped halfway after his hand caught on fire. Kuno sent me to another planet, and the stupid Dragon Orb sent me to this planet. You?"
"Searching for a shard that contains the power to take over the universe numerous times," I replied. "I was in Mabase earlier."
"That explains the smell of smoke."
Huh? "You never noticed that when we first met."
"Happosai's curse, remember? I'm part cat now. Literally."
Oh... I then noticed something wrong...one of my avatars changed my appearance. "And now I'm stuck in the Werewolf Persona, and if I'm right, we're in the Realm of Jade."
"Realm?"
"An alternate plane connecting the world you live in with this one, where it's full of lycanthropes and mage users of all shapes and sizes. They must have got you because of your technology."
"Then they've never meet a Ki fighter before." He then cracked his knuckles. "You up for an escape plan?"
I nodded. "They are NOT going to stop this werewolf." At that, he and I combined energies in order to burst through the wall.
We then ran out through the cells, but we had noticed rumbling in the distance. "The heck is that?" Ranma asked me.
"It's not like any tremor I know," I said. "It sounds almost...artificial."
At the word artificial, a stone leg burst through the roof. Sure enough, he and I had the same thoughts: 'We need to save the world...again.'
We then ran outside to see a familiar figure on the golem...wait a second. "Brianna?" I asked him.
"I hope not," he said. "Let's save her."
"Wait," I said. "Let me do something. I haven't been able to test this out." At that, I concentrated on connecting my chakra to the Golem, which through my Earth manipulations was easy. The foot went through the sand, and the people inside (whom I was assuming was the corrupt Sheriff and her sex toy) were panicking. As soon as Brianna was caught by Ranma, I yelled, "NOW RANMA!"
He nodded. "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" he yelled, piercing his finger through the stone. That shattered the golem's leg, making the golem's body fall into the ground.
"Thanks for the help," Brianna said.
"No problem," Ranma replied. "That's what a martial artist does."
That's when she recognized him. "Ranma? Is that you?"
"Yeah...well, sort of."
"Long story, Brianna," I said, "but it seems like you're looking for something here."
"Nice to see you too, Andrew," she said. "How long has it been?"
"A couple weeks, maybe. I don't really know."
However, the Edge Guards caught up to us and notice the Array (the Sheriff) and Triant (the old man) come out.
"Uh..." I said. "Sorry for breaking out, but you really need to scan BEFORE containment. Name's Andrew."
"Ranma Saotome," he said. "Sorry about this."
"What's a werecat like you hanging out with a werewolf?" I heard the were-tiger say.
"I'm not a werewolf," I said. "I'm just one when situated in the atmosphere."
"And he's my friend," Ranma said. "And one heck of a sparring partner"
Inside the headquarters, I got to know some of the officers here.
Shelia, a were-jaguar who's born with a birth defect, was looking at Ranma like...a crush? Well, it's the smell of attraction. Anyways, about the birth defect, well, instead of gaining strength in her hybrid form, she gets it in her human form, and she's annoyed by it.
Garfield, or Gar as his friends call him, was her older brother. Basically the doting big brother on who her sister dates most of the time, but rather calm. He and Ranma could make great sparring partners.
Tirga, the were-tiger who asked the stupid question, was a womanizer who nails it every time. However, he gets beat up in the process, judging by the fist mark on him earlier.
Thropan, the were-panther, was a LOT like the scientists back home, only using magic instead of technology to make sure that it works. He was a bit curious about my other forms, but didn't pry, which was a relief to my standards. Plus, he's good with first impressions.
Onoli, the were-lion, was someone who could relate to Ranma in a LOT of ways. It didn't occur to me that he was raised by monks until I found him as an astral projection.
The other three I didn't recognize, but one of them I would recognize as Gina by mistake and in the words of Ranma, a "power house." Julia had a mastery of martial arts that could outweigh Ranma's own, and Gar happens to be her student. I could learn a thing or two from her if I had more time back in Earth.
Seance was the student of Julia's husband, Theodore Diggers. Sometimes, he's a bit uncertain about things, but fights when the odds were low.
Genn was a shape-shifter, which was similar to shifting Avatars only without the annoying personality clash. Weird thing is, she wished to remain in female form, and Seance was mostly the reason. One can imagine the perks of a shape-shifting girlfriend...except for Magneto, who has one in Mystique.
Anyways, because of the confusion of the werewolf/were-cheetah war, they were tense around me, but Ranma, Brianna, and Julia vouched for my loyalty, and Garfield and Thropan were okay with it. Onoli was slightly indifferent, but Sheila was mostly confused.
"Don't stereotype that all werewolves are evil," I told her. "It's profiling, and it's wrong." That's why Thropan was okay with it, because he had a similar opinion.
During lunch, I had to drop the bomb.
"I need to find the Keyhole to this world," I said, surprising them.
"The what?" Tirga asked me.
"I know what he's talking about," Ranma said. "The Keyhole he's talking about is the lock that separates the Heart of the World from outsiders. If it's forcibly unlocked by Heartless, the world is gone."
That caught Onoli's attention. "There's more to it than that, is there?" he asked me.
"I'm also looking for the Chaos Shard of Arthanos," I said. "If fallen into the wrong hands, it could destroy and reshape the universe ten times over. I've already found the other six, but I need all seven in order to make sure the balance isn't disrupted."
"I know where the Keyhole is."
That was easy. "You do?"
He nodded. "However, you're going to need to brush through your martial arts training in order to get through here."
"He isn't going to train under Master Leep," Julia said.
"And there is NO WAY I'm letting him near Happosai," Ranma said, voicing his opinion.
"Who?" those out of the loop asked him.
"Picture Tirga, only 300 years old, human, and uses a pipe for a weapon. Likes to steal panties."
Sheila glared at Tirga.
"I didn't do anything this time!" he yelled.
"You're insisting that you two can train him?" Thropan asked him.
"More than that," Ranma said, smirking. "Andrew, if you will?"
I nodded, then made a hand seal. "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" At that, three clones of myself appeared in the flesh. "Find anything you can read," I said. "After you're done reading a chapter, dispel yourself."
All three of them nodded. One minute passed, and one of the clones dispelled. "Those pick-up lines aren't going to work, Tirga."
He was shocked. "How did you know?" he asked me.
"I see," Onoli said. "Crafty."
"Thanks," I said. "But you need to keep those scrolls under lock and key. I could have sworn that one of them was an Elder Scroll."
"There goes the second one," Ranma said. "Where's Clone Number Three?"
I then flinched. "Trap door in the library," I replied.
"Well, that worked," Gar said. "Still, isn't that a form of cheating?"
"It's not cheating. I just don't like to dawdle. I'm in a meditative state right now, and time moved slower so I can get the shards."
"How come you can still use your energy, then?" Seance asked me.
"Arthanos must be in control."
"You mean you were in contact with the Chaos Mage?" Onoli asked me.
"Yeah..." Chaos mage?
"Then the shards are in good hands, then. Only the Chaos Mage can fully control the power, but why you?"
"That's the question I've been asking myself."
"Well," Ranma said, "we can't exactly stay in one place for long. If Andrew's right, he needs to get the final shard to get back to his body before dying. I'm going with him."
"How are you going to get there in one day?" Sheila asked him. "It's basically a death-trap to get to the Monastery."
Ranma had smirked. "Onoli, you coming with us?"
"Yeah, but why?"
I smirked as well. "You're navigating. Just hold onto me."
At that, he did so. "EARTH BODY FLICKER!" I yelled, going through numerous hand-seals. Ranma, Onoli, and I disappeared through the floor.
...and reappeared through the monastery entrance.
"Traveling underground is not a good experience for me," Ranma said.
"It's a new one to me," Onoli said. "But we're at the right place."
"Right," I said.
Unfortunately, my danger senses have been going haywire halfway through the desert, and it wasn't because of the sand worms.
"I sense it too," Ranma said.
"Something was here before us," Onoli said. "But what?"
"One who's odor is fouler than an old gym bag," I said.
"Greetings, Watcher and friends," I heard a demonic voice say. I then looked up to see a man not much older than I am. "I've been expecting you."
"Who are you?" I yelled.
"I am Damien Marshall, the former prisoner of the World of Origin." The son of the Devil himself. "Pity that you brought friends to see your death through the shard, but I shouldn't be surprised."
I growled. "What are you after?"
"I can't say, but I can say this. If you can survive, I will be more powerful than you can possibly imagine." He then took out a white shard and put it in demonic energy. "Until then, say hello to the Ruin Devil Heartless for me." At that, he disappeared into flames.
(Play "Devils Never Cry" instrumental from Devil May Cry)
"Get back, you two," I said, drawing the Keyblade. "Only I can stop it."
"Are you insane?" Onoli asked me. He then leaped forward, but Ranma held him back. "What are you doing?"
"We can't interfere," he said. "It's between the Watcher and the Shard."
"But he's going to get killed! I can tell that this thing is as powerful as the shard itself, if not more powerful than the Lich King. There is no way he can kill it."
"He's not trying to. And I know how powerful he is, stronger than Saffron, but he'll defy the odds."
I then leaped upwards onto the Regigigas look-alike and slammed him down with the Keyblade, but he knocked me off.
"Looks like Light won't cut it," I said. "Time to shed a little darkness on you." I then placed my hand over the Heartless Tattoo and changed form.
"SHADOW BLADE, THE DOWNFALL OF DARKNESS!" At that, I used the two blades in my hand to slash him open and extract the shard from his being. "Time to say goodbye, you Light of Destruction rip-off. DARKNESS WRAITH!" Shadow Blade then separated from my being and combo attacked it into submission while I (as myself) made the final blow.
(End tune)
As the Ruin faded, the Lock appeared, leaving me to lock the heart of the world. Shadow Blade then went back into my being as the Portal opened. "I'd love to stay and chat, but my friends are waiting for me back at the ship. Nice meeting your troupe, Onoli." At that, I went through the portal.
...and woke up in the bed back at the Great Fox II.
"That's one hell of a trip," I said. I then noticed the tattoo glow and form into "Arthanos" on my arm. "Welcome home, Arthanos."
I then noticed the date. "One day later. The hours have went up by two, though."
The door opened up to reveal Trisha. "You're awake?" she asked me.
"What did I miss?" I asked her.
"Not much. Fox had locked Fortuna while Krystal went for Fichina. Wolf just came back from Macbeth after Sora went to Zoness, Tyler in Sauria, and Riku in Titania. Now only Venom's left untouched."
I sighed. "And with that, a final battle," I said. "How long till then?"
"A couple of days. Right now, I'm glad you're okay." She then noticed Arthanos. "You got a new Avatar in your sleep?"
"Yeah, and I had to do a meditation process in order to harness it. But right now, what's for dinner?"
"Follow me."
Yeah, I'm back in the world of the living, and when we get to Venom, we're sealing the final Keyhole.
To be continued...
