This story is a work of fanfiction. As such, it owes a great debt to the creators of the characters used herein: Rumiko Takahashi, Kunihiku Ikuhara, Naoko Takeuchi and the creative teams of Interplay, Obsidian and Bethesda.
(シーンブレイク)
Annulled Destiny II:
Wild Wasteland
(シーンブレイク)
WARNINGS:
1. My self-taught English still sucketh.
2. By reading further you agree to suffer from my unimaginably slow writing speed.
(シーンブレイク)
Reading the prequel isn't strictly necessary. This story is designed so that it could be read stand-alone.
(シーンブレイク)
A dry, deadly hot desert. The rocky plain is covered with scarce small bushes, their brownish branches almost devoid of foliage. Mountains could be seen rising over the horizon in every direction, bluish in the distance. There's a deep silence, not even insects could be heard.
Suddenly, a column of brilliant light flashes to life amidst this vast emptines, striking from the sky like silent lightnig. It is shortening quickly, growing thicker. Soon it begins falling apart to separate lumps. If there was someone to observe this phenomena, he'd see the light melting, flowing into four female figures surrounded by a big glowing bubble each. They float half a dozen meters above ground.
A couple seconds later the figures begin to dim from brilliant to golden yellow like a setting sun, descending faster and faster as gravity takes hold on them. As soon as the first bubble touches the ground, it bursts with a flash blowing sand and rocks aside. Not obscured by the glow any more, a limp body lands in the resulting crater with a dull thud.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Then there is silence again. Four nude girls lie sprawled in four craters, their hair spread around, their limbs bent awkwardly. There are two short-haired brunettes, one redhead with long, wavy hair and one blonde with hair of unbelievable length, literally reaching her feet. Spread around, it covers her and the ground around her like a transparent starburst.
The sun is scorching them indifferently, making a heat stroke a very real risk.
A few minutes later, one brunette begins to stir. Then she sits up awkwardly, squinting against the bright light. "Ow, it's hot," she mumbles in Japanese. "Guys, are you all right...? Guys...? Ranma?" She begins looking around in panic until she notices her three coimrades. She lets out a breath of relief: "I'm so glad. I was afraid we were scattered again!" Awkwardly standing up she hobbles to shake the others awake. The ground on the crater bottoms is not as hot as it is around, but the air is still that of an oven and the sun is mercilessly scorching. Not a good place to be lying around unconscious.
Chapter 1,
Meet your new homeworld
(シーンブレイク)
War. War never changes.·
(シーンブレイク)
"Ow!" Ami hastily sat up, jolted awake by the feeling of hot sunlight. It didn't help much, her shoulders were still being scorched. "Akane-chan, is that you?" She took a look around, but her sight was still blurry, spots swimming in her eyes from the too bright light. "We have to get into a shade, me and Usagi can't stand such heat!"
"There is nothing around that provides one," Akane replied grumpily as she was gathering Usagi's hair picking it from the ground so she could at least approach the girl without stepping on it. She bunched it up. "Hey, Usagi-chan!" She shook Usagi's shoulder. "U-sa-ni!"
"Mgmphinute more, Mamo-chan..." the blonde mumbled.
Akane sighed as she continued gathering her hair from the ground. "However long you dream, the harsh reality won't go away, Usagi-chan. Come on. Or are you going to whine about your sunburned back later?"
"Ohhhh," the blonde drawled with disappointment as she flowed into a kneeling position. "The dream was so sweet. Mamo-chan was there." She took a look around. "While the reality is truly harsh and merciless..." She stood up, then jerked her head as the sand-powdered bunch of her hair caught on her sweaty back.
"Are you all right, Usag-chan?" Ami asked worriedly.
The blonde surveyed the surrounding landscape. "I am. Bodily, at least. If you disregard the unattainable dream of simply laying down and dying, then I am all right. We landed in a perfect place. This landscape is fitting and symbolic."
"We have to find shelter," Ami urged. "We won't survive here for long."
"I agree," Akane said as she scrutinized the horizon. "I won't either. With sun this harsh, even ki-reinforcement won't help me against sunburn... Drats, there's not a single tree up to the very horizon! Let's wake Ranma and make him dig us a burrow."
True to her words, she dragged the redhead out of her crater and started shaking her vigorously.
"Huh?" Ranma mumbled, coming to her senses. "Ak... Akane? Are you all right?" Her face lit up with a silly, adoring smile.
"I am, but why weren't you waking up? Are you·all right?"
"I wouldn't say that," the redhead replied, trying to stand on her own. "It feels like something in my soul... Wait." She began squeezing her breasts with rising alarm. "Tits?！ Oh craaaap!" She clutched her head with both hands.
"What crap?" Akane asked, taken aback. "What are you talking about?"
"I sympathize, Ranma-kun," Ami said. "But... That was likely inevitable. The transfer process required the powers of Sailor Sol from start to finish."
"What are you talking about?" Akane grew worried. "What was inevitable?"
"These bodies," Ranma pointed at herself, "aren't the ones we were born in. They were created here, in place, based on our souls. Shit! I was hoping to get a mold of my original, male side!"
"So what?" Akane asked, not comprehending. "There's no limit to our magic anymore. We find a place to heat water—"
"If," Ranma interrupted her. "If the curse even survived the transfer. Now this body is my original one! At best, I'd be transforming from a girl into a girl with cold water, and back into a girl with hot! Oh, craaaap!"
Akane gasped.
"Then we have to find Jusenkyou," Ami said trying to console her, "and dip you in a proper spring so that you transform into a guy with cold water."
"That's if it even exists in this world," the redhead replied, her mood sour. Then she perked up. "No matter, we'll make it. We'll find something. Even if I have to become a futanari!"
"Brrr!" Akane shivered.
"By the way, where did we land?" the redhead asked. "It's scorching good. Mebbe Africa? Come on, transform. I can survive this, only becoming dark, but you would be burned seriously!" Sweeping one last lovingly-predatory look over her wife, she turned around to allow others some privacy as she started surveying the horizon.
"I'm afraid," Ami replied, rubbing at her shoulders, "our henshin wands aren't with us anymore."
"So transform without them!" the redhead urged matter-of-factly. "I remember it was you who said they were training tools."
"Easier said than done," Ami replied with uncertainty. "All right, I'll try."
"I wouldn't be able to, I'm sure," Usagi declared, despondent. "My poweres have... always depended on my mood too much."
"Just imagine," Ranma told her with a sadistic grin, "your skin peeling off."
"Eek!"
"Rrrranma!"
The redhead dodged. "Your back is swelling, all red, inflamed..."
"Moon-eternal-makeup...! Waah, it doesn't work!"
"It's so sensitive that even the touch of you own hair causes you unbearable pain..."
"Ranma! Stop that at once!"
The redhead dodged. Akane zipped by, losing her balance. A moment later her punch crushed rocks raising a column of dust.
"Moon crystal power, make-up...! Nooo, not this too!"
"Forget the touch! Even a slightest breeze, even trying to move put you in horrible agony!"
"Rrrr!"
"There are dozens of kilometers on foot between you and the nearest hospital! But we can't even carry you: your entire body is one solid lump of pain!"
"Ranma, you sadist, I'll beat you into a pulp!"
"Please, please, let it work! Moon prizm power, make-up...! Make-up, I say...! Nooo! I don't want to die from horrible pain!"
Enraged, Akane laid unto the redhead in a whirlwind of blows. But her movements were laughably predictable. Ranma was flowing away from her strikes with ease, continuing to torture the blonde with a smirk: "Pain! Pain is torturing you like claws raking your flesh, never stopping. There is no escape! Walking is agony. Sitting still is agony. And then, a day or two later—"
"You asked for it! I'll never forgive—"
"Moonprizmpowermakeup‼！" Usagi shrieked hysterically through tears of terror. Light flashed in her raised, empty hand.
"Hiryu shoten ha." Misty streamers whirled around Ranma's raised finger.
"Why you, paras—" Akane was sucked up by a small tornado. Whipping her about half-heartedly, it soon spat her out. She tumbled across the rocky ground raising clouds of dust.
"It worked." Sailor Moon let out a breath of relief as she tugged at her first, basic suit she haven't summoned for the last two years. Then she added with respectful approval: "Your motivational skill is really something. Masterfully done!"
"What?" Akane was taken aback. She was covered in scrapes and scratches after demolishing a particularly sturdy bush with her body.
"Always please!" Ranma grinned. "You two, do it. It's awkward for me, you know."
"Mercury crystal power, Make-up!" Ami transformed into Super Sailor Mercury. "Hmm, it was easier than I expected."
"Iris prism power, Make-up!" Akane echoed. Nothing happened. "Iris prism power, make-up! Why doesn't it—"
"Relax," Mercury advised. "Make yourself believe you are holding the wand."
After seven tries, Akane managed to transform into Sailor Iris. Her scrapes vanished. "What about you?" she asked Ranma who just kept standing there in her birthday suit.
"I, well, I'ts not that..." the other girl tried to object unconvincingly.
"You've overstrained yourself, haven't you?" Mercury asked calling up her visor with a thought. The transparent face-mask emerged in front of her face, its HUD filling with symbols and graphs. "Just as I thought. Thank you, Ranma," she said with deep feeling. "You sacrificed a lot for our sake."
"Wait!" Iris exclaimed. "Are you telling us he can't transform?"
"Not much of a loss," Ranma tried to wave her concern aside with strained indifference. "For the lives of my wife and friends, that's a small price to pay!" She then added with concealed hope: "Ami? How bad is it? It's bad, isn't it? I can't even feel the Sun."
"Alas," Mercury replied. "Your sailor crystal... burned out, for the lack of a better word. Without my computer I can't say how long the recovery would take. I assume, months or even years."
"Or never," Ranma summed it up with a sigh. "Never mind. I only miss the ability to fly, that was really cool. I was waiting eagerly to fly in the sky over land, not just in empty space..."
"Ranma..." Iris walked up to her and hugged her.
"I don't remember much," the redhead admitted, "but in the end the energy was running out. I remember deciding that I would pull you all through even if I burn myself out. Well... I am alive, and that's good enough! Hey, Ami—"
"Mercury," Iris corrected her.
"Let's call each other by our real names," Sailor Moon suggested. "The secret identities were for protecting our loved ones who couldn't defend themselves. There are none now." She felt around her hair still hanging, undone, down to her feet. "Ranma, do you have some technique to lop this off? I'm afraid it would be some time until we get our hands on scissors."
"What?" Ami and Akane chorused in horror.
"Lop this off," Usagi repeated, wrapping her hair around her arm and raising it overhead. "It's a part of my old life that must stay behind."
Ami and Akane were standing there, mouths agape, unable to believe what they heard.
"It's too risky," Ranma replied. This gesture only made her feel respect for the girl. "I do have a vacuum blade, but I haven't practiced it in a long time. We'd have to cut dangerously close to the body."
Akane let out a breath of relief.
"All right," replied Usagi. "I'll try by myself, then. As far as I remember, the transformation answers to my will and..." She concentrated with a funny grimace, her forehead scrunched up. "Aha! Moon crystal power, Make-up!"
There was a brief flash of transformation, then her hair ebbed like a wave, falling down and pooling at Usagi's feet. Akane gasped.
"Kind of like that," Usagi said as she smoothed her forward-tilted mohawk and slid her palms along the prickly stubble of shaved hair at the sides of her head. "Is this gothic enough?"
Her seifuku turned almost entirely black. The bows and the skirt piping were dark grey, as well as the rings hugging her shoulders and elbows. Her tiara was glinting a dark filigree of blue-finished steel. There were deliberately overdone shadows around her eyes, her lips glossy black. Instead of the usual crescents, there were black upturned crosses dangling from her ears. The black brooch was bearing a picture of a broken heart. Of the four small gems signifying her connection to the Inners, there were three empty depressions and a lone sapphire, the only spark of color in the outfit.
(To see images read this fic from the wеbsitе ranmafics dот ru)
"I don't know about gothic," Ranma replied, "but if you were aiming at gloomy... Not bad."
"Good." Usagi nodded. "Mourning or not, but there better be no asking me about love in the near future."
"This..." Akane couldn't find words. Her friend's sudden change of image unsettled her.
"For a real Goth girl, your costume isn't elaborate enough," Ami assessed with critical eye. "But as a base it's acceptable."
"All right," Usagi agreed. "I think the elaborate details up when I couldn't sleep because of grim thoughts. Let's now test how well I can punish and inflict justice. Moon tiara action."
A bluish-black disc zipped across the plain, cutting through bushes and striking sparks from rocks. Then it reversed direction, flying back directed by Usagi's will. Then forward again. It was only the fourth pass when it lost power and fell, rolling across the rocky ground with a clang.
"I still can," Usagi noted with grim satisfaction. Ranma haven't missed the fact that she was trying to look more gloomy than she was feeling. "Now for something serious..." She concentrated, then made a gesture like she was grabbing something out of thin air. Two small, glinting things materialized to the sides of her arm, then fell to the ground with quiet clatter. "Oopsie."
"What's wrong?" Ranma asked as she walked up closer to take a look.
"I'm afraid there wouldn't be much use of me, except hacking and slashing," Usagi replied as she picked two round, multifaceted crystals from the ground. One was dull golden, the other dull silvery. "I just thought that all my sceptres were either from ours with Mamo..ru's love, or from the Kingdom repositories." She lifted the golden crystal level with her eyes, scrutinizing it. "This is one more proof that Endimyon never existed in this world. But how did his crystal manage to follow me? A mystery. I now have both the Kinzuisho and Ginzuiso, both responsive as rocks." She sighed as she replaced the jewels in her subspace pocket.
"Let find our bearings," Ranma urged. "We had to catch our breath and stuff, but this world is a total unknown. Do you remember that walk in the dark and the guy made of white woodlice?"
"Yes, I do," Akane replied with a shudder.
"White woodlice?" Ami asked, confused.
"Oh, right!" Ranma snapped her fingers. "You were cooped up with that old lady doing your research while me'n Akane went to get the token... Well, we met a monster that kills with a touch, and not in a nice way, from what I could figure out of Ahta's warnings. Split into a swarm of woodlice-like things upon his death, too. Each as deadly. Probably burrow into your flesh or stuff. Anyways, do you remember that world?"
"Ew," Usagi commented.
"Yes... Yes, I do," Ami replied, alarmed. "I'm scanning, but there is nothing of notice so far. What are you implying? That there could be things out there that could kill us before we can even detect them?"
"That too," Ranma said. "Take robot snipers, for example. Or a Khas-eeeschaeet. There are most likely no such things, but let's make this assumption: we are in an enemy's backyard and they simply haven't reacted yet because they are lazy."
"Expect the worst?" Akane asked.
"Expect the worst we can handle," Ranma corrected her. "Because if there's something we can't, it's better to go out with a bang rather than be captured... I'm not giving up, mind you, but we are·clones with barely a week difference from our originals back home. In light of a total unknown waiting for us, knowing that death isn't as end of everything as it used to be is... comforting."
"Hey, that's my line," Usagi complained. "I'm the gloomy Goth here."
"I hope it doesn't come to that," Ami said. "But I see your point. What do you suggest?"
"Whatever happens," Ranma said, "we have to move quickly. When possible, use the folds of the land to hide from probable distant observers. Only stop moving in secluded locations between hills and such. And learn about the world, as fast and hard as we can."
"Seems reasonable," Akane agreed. "Keep alert, keep moving, know your adversary... Or if there is one."
"Let's go, then!" Ranma ran to the north, towards nearest mountains.
"Wait," Ami called after her, trying to catch up. "Let me tear my ribbons off so you can make a bikini."
"No way," Ranma shouted back over her shoulder. "If the fate threw me naked into such a scorcher with no shelter from the sun, hell if I let bikini lines spoil my suntan!"
"Exhibitionistic pervert," Akane deadpanned catching up to her. "Why did I marry you, again?"
The redhead's only reply was a lopsided grin.
Ami raised her hand to her earring, using it to manipulate the visor on the run. There were lines of text and graphs running across the semi-transparent mask.
"Well?" Ranma asked impatiently a couple minutes later as they were running in a steady rhythm.
"I'm afraid, nothing too reassuring," Ami replied. "The air is virtually empty, there are only a couple encrypted short wave broadcasts recepting weakly, one from nort-west, the other from north-east. There are no satellite signals of any kind. If we believe the briefing, it should be 22nd or 23rd century here. I thought at first that maybe they just dropped the use of radio. But there's silence on hyperwaves as well. There's only a faint echo of some interstellar transmission. I don't like this. I can only hope they just switched completely to optic cables and lasers. The air composition is not reassuring, either."
"What exactly are you afraid of?" Akane inquired with worry.
"I... don't know yet," Ami replied evasively. "I hope it's not what I fear it is. I have to scan more ground samples."
Three Senshi and one naked Ranma kept running to the north. The plain, slightly wavy, was stretching on monotonously. The stiff, grasping small bushes, while posing a minimal obstacle, were forcing them to meander a bit. The sun was scorching.
But they were running easily. These three magical girls and one martial artist could match a horse. Then the horse would be run into the ground and died while the girls would continue running.
"It looks like there's a road ahead!" Ranma shouted with joy, increasing her pace.
The others started running faster too, eager to find what kinds of clues Ami could pull from the road.
The more of the road became visible from beyond the smooth folds of the landscape, the more their joy dimmed. Reaching the road, the four girls walked out onto it to stop there in silence.
The road was running in a straight line, cutting through the desert with two ragged strips of grayed, cracked asphalt with a wide strip of desert ground in between them. A long time ago, each direction had two lanes. But now the asphalt was frayed at the edges, crumbling away and making them narrower, blurring the line between the road and the rocky roadside. In places the asphalt was missing altogether, giving way to rocky detritus. The stiff bushes were growing from the cracks.
"What you were afraid of," Ranma said looking into the distance. Yes, these were rain channels cutting across the road. No one was in a hurry to fill them. There were also sand drifts, without any traces of someone ever crossing them.
Ami did not reply. Crouching down, she moved her palm over the asphalt. Formulas were dancing across her visor.
Ranma noticed rusty frames in the distance and ran there. Others followed her. Up close these things were still vaguely car-shaped. Rusted to almost transparency, sagged, they were resting on their bellies, the tires having mostly crubmled away. It looked like they were standing here for eternity. Not too densely, but intermittently, blocking both lanes. The traffic turned to be right-hand so they were not in Australia.
"And no one tried to move them away," Usagi commented grimly. Her gothic look was quite right for the situation.
Ami stopped scanning, dismissing her visor with a sigh.
"Well?" Ranma urged.
"The traces... tell of a massive radioactive fallout that occurred in the past, from sixty to a hundred years ago. The levels are mostly back to normal now but in the first few months it was hell, enough to kill most living things many times over... These were barbaric, dirty bombs..." She walked up to one of the car husks, ripping the rusted shut hood away. Calling up her visor again, she scanned the engine remains. "I assume these cars stopped here when the electromagnetic pulse from the nuclear explosions burned their controlling electronics."
Akane gasped quietly.
"A brave new world, yeah," Ranma commented. "Have probably reached the stars, yeah. That good-for-nothing benefactor! Everything he touches really turns into crap!"
"And still, even the end of the world, even such·end of the world is better than remaining there," Usagi disagreed. "Because death at least gives way for new life."
"Maybe, not all of them have died out?" Akane suggested with trepidation.
"Of course, not!" Usagi said with conviction. "Someone is transmitting these broadcasts, right?"
"Robots, mourning their masters," Ranma joked darkly. "But jokes aside, this world ain't that bad. First, we can relax now. There are no such nasty things as evil, continent-spanning empires, hordes of killer robots or all-devouring gray goo. Secondly, we will be highly sought for! It's like martial arts heaven! Well, except saying goodbye to normal panties, instant noodle packs and toilet paper... That part sucks."
"Sought for?" Akane asked in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Well, a world after a nuclear war..." the redhead hinted. "Mad Max, the fist of the northern star..."
Akane just frowned.
"Oh, right, boy stuff." Ranma corrected herself: "Imagine this: the villages of survivors are far-between, there is no state, no law, only marauding gangs. Sengoku Jidai would look like heaven in comparison. And here we come, awesomely badass! We can even found an empire!"
"And these gangs all carry firearms, used to use them," Ami added absently, busy with scanning.
"And my healing powers have kissed us goodbye," Usagi added. "I can only amputate something unnecessary."
"Like his tongue," Akane quipped. "He wants to become an emperor. How about an empress?"
"Gack!" Ranma shuddered. "Thank you, but I am going to nightmarize me myself."
"Why are you talking like a girl?"
"Well, to... conform," the redhead replied evasively, clearly talking round corners.
"English doesn't distinguish between these forms anyway," Ami noted.
"Really?" Usagi was surprised, as she had a firm 'F' in English.
"Yeah," Ranma confirmed. "We are still long ways from Japan."
"Why English?" Akane asked.
"These bushes are endemic to the North American continent," Ami replied making a wide gesture. "The probability that we are in United States is high."
"There's a road sign over there," Ranma said, pointing. It was with its back to them, so they ran to see what was written on the rusted tin plate shaped like a stylized shield. The shield turned out to be painted blue, not all the paint having flaked away yet, with a big white number 15. There was a red strip running along its top, with "..RSTATE" still discernible on it.
Ami frowned: "So little data. Pity my computer isn't here anymore. With it, we would have pinpointed our location precisely!"
"But we are in the USA, right?" Ranma clarified.
"Now, definitely," Ami confirmed. "We are somewhere around the Mohave desert, if I'm not mistaken. It's California, the western coast."
"Where do we go?" Usagi asked glancing down the road that was running east to west. "On the positive side, I don't want to lie down and die anymore. That would be... disrespectful to the billions who died too early."
"Well, Japan is to the west, right? We only have to swim across the Pacific?" Akane clarified. Having just learned to swim, she was feeling ready to take on an ocean.
"Yes," Ami confirmed. "San-Francisco is somewhere to the west and Los Angeles is somewhere to the south. Both are sea ports. Although... If cars rusted so much in the dry desert, we are probably better off crossing the ocean on a raft."
"My danger sense," Ranma said, puzzled, "is telling me strange things. If we go East, we lose Ami."
"Only Ami?"Akane asked.
"Only her, and certainly her," Ranma confirmed. "I propose we count this as 'weird shit to stay far away from' and go west."
They ran west. Kilometers were flying by. The three Senshi weren't feeling the scorching sun at all. Ranma was using ki-reinforcement to make the resulting suntan thicker and smoother. They haven't spent an hour in this world yet, but her skin was already darkening.
Ruins started occurring to the sides of the road. Crumbling from age, half-buried in sand, the wooden houses were still carrying traces of white paint. There were low one-story ones with a wide-brimmed flat roof. Or tall two-story ones. All so crumbled that their shape was barely recognizable.
Everyone doubled their alertness, but nothing was moving in the ruins. Ami was scanning constantly, but there were no large life forms. There were only rats and insects, but that was wonderful, it meant this world still had life.
Soon, a skeleton of a city emerged from beyond a rise. That's what it looked like: blackened frames of skyscrapers with gaping breaches and floors hanging in the air. These were surrounded by a thicket of smaller high-rises, all crumbling.
"I hope we don't have to go there?" Akane asked with a shudder.
"We'll have to scout it," Ranma replied. "If anyone is still living there, it would be the best chance to observe the locals. Don't be so dejected! I doubt there is anyone in there. They had looted everything valuable long ago and moved to a place with water."
A gas station appeared on the right. It was a one-story brick shed, a separate canopy still holding miraculously on two thin struts and a couple car carcasses.
Ranma couldn't resist making a small detour to rummage inside, but she only found dust and trash. All cabinets were open, the rusty cash register was ripped open. There was a rotten matress in the corner, surrounded by rusty opened tin cans.
The ruins to the sides began merging into some semblance of a street, the plots of land shrinking and disappearing. The road curved in the northern direction, towards the faraway skeletal skycrapers. The girls stopped before a huge, shabby board "Welcome to Barstow City!"
"Let's turn away," Akane suggested. "I don't feel like venturing into this spooky dead city."
"You let your emotions fool you," Ranma disagreed. "I told you before, the most dangerous things to us are robot snipers. After them, living snipers. While the most safe is a broken terrain with limited visibility where we have advantage thanks to our ki senses and Ami. This city is the safest place to be!"
"Don't forget that we don't know what we could meet," the mentioned girl warned her. "Worst case, the probable enemy would have cloaking techniques or tech effective against us."
"Even so," the redhead did not give up, "it's much easier to disengage and take cover in the city."
"Then, would it have been safer to move away from the road?" Akane asked. "Why were we following that highway?"
"Because it's much easier to stumble onto someone that way?" Ranma shrugged.
"Onto an ambush, for example," Usagi suggested cheerfully.
"I hoped to find traces of human activity," Ami admitted. "Like a caravan route. Alas, no results so far. No one used this highway for decades. It is possible that on the plain people simply made new paths, more suitable for pedestrian and caravan traffic. But then the highway had to cross at least one. To be honest, my best hope is with the rocky terrain where roads are laid along most convenient routes so that the ways of the wild descendants of this civilization should match them. Especially at mountain passes.
"Also, highwaymen could set their ambushes there," agreed Ranma. "We could beat them up and question thoroughly."
"So, are we actively asking for it?" Akane said. "Risky."
"No more risky than them finding us first," Ranma parried, "when we'd have to make a camp for the night while still knowing nothing about them."
"I agree," Ami supported her. "Better us finding them first, while the factor of surprise is on our side to compensate for their knowledge of the land."
"I see," Akane resigned with displeasure. "But do we have to go into the city? Who could be there? It's a graveyard."
"Some looters," Ranma said. "Scrap metal foragers. What could you pick out of a dead city? I'm not a techie, but I think that's a lot."
They continued their way along the road. Closer to the city center, the ruins merged into one mass. Many of them were brick, multi-story. The highway began climbing up to a multi-level junction, then crashed down in a mess of concrete and rusty rebars. The girls jumped down there without slowing and continued meandering down the half-buried streets. They were taking caution when running and bounding up the hills of debris, to avoid causing a landslide.
The dead city had an oppressive air about it, everyone wanted to cross it quickly.
The skyscraper remains were already behind them, to the right, when Ami suddenly stopped amidst a clean stretch of the street. The two and three storied houses on the sides of it were yawning with empty shop-windows with piles of collapsed floors beyond. The rusty lampposts were standing straight.
"Weird," Ami mumbled. "What could it— Eek!"
A pack of huge rats rushed her, streaking from the ruins like gray lightning bolts. Each the size of a dog!
Smack-smack-smack, the rats sounded as they were send flying with a punt of the blue boot. Smack-smack - a jump to dodge - smack-smack-smack. Ami was hitting fast and precisely, no one even twitched to help her: that's Super Sailor Mercury for you.
"Did you mean these?" Ranma asked, lifting a brow.
"No! There's something really weird... The lack of my computer is so frustrating! Try to direct your ki senses underground. I'm reading flowing water, in pipes most probably, and some strange signals, maybe from living things."
Ranma concentrated. "Whoa! I almost missed them. There are sources of weird ki, mediocre but notably stronger than an untrained human. Some are close to the surface. Probably in the sewers. But others are quite deep. But that's on the edge of my perception, I may be wrong."
"Sources of weird ki?" Akane asked with alarm.
"Mutants, probably," Usagi presaged ominously. "Who else could live in such place?"
Akane cast a side glance at her, shivering. No, she was glad that this gloom and doom acting was helping her friend to overcome the loss of her loved one. It's just that this Gothic Sailor Moon was creepy. And it wasn't the black lipstick or other outward attributes. Usagi used to be so merry, so optimistic, that the dark humor on her part felt just disturbing.
"Maybe in that direction," Ami pointed, "there is a water pump. I propose we investigate."
"The longer we stay, the more I feel like getting away from this city," Akane admitted.
"Don't be such a scaredy cat," Ranma chastised her. "It's vital to learn as much as possible till we have to make a camp for the night. Would it be safer in the city or in the desert? What if there's a hungry spirits rampage at nights in the city? Or if some deadly critters crawl out at nights in the desert? By ourselves we could only learn this the hard way. But sneaking on the locals and listening in, on the other hand..."
"We should also learn who these locals are," Ami added. "The signals are way too strange. Maybe humans have been replaced with youkai? Or with aliens from space? The sooner we know this, the better."
"Well, when you put it that way," Akane reluctantly agreed.
"Don't worry," the redhead reassured her. "If we have to beat a hasty retreat, we'd rely on Mercury's fog. It's a thousand times better than any smoke bomb."
The four began sneaking along the street, having turned right at the nearest crossing. It turned out to be impossible to move across rooftops as they were used to: most buildings, four or five stories in height, had collapsed into themselves with only the walls remaining. And those that didn't weren't looking able to hold a person's weight. But there was not too much meandering involved as the streets were always at a right angle and the collapsed buildings were not an obstacle for the Senshi.
"One of these... anomalies is approaching from the right," Ami warned whey they were nearing a crossing.
"Yeah, one of the sources of this weird ki," Ranma agreed.
The four of them squeezed into a pocket between the wall of the nearest building and the mess of its collapsed innards. Hiding in the shadows, they froze peeking out of the windows.
A... man walked from beyond the corner. Dressed in ragged pants and boots, his bare torso consisted of a mass of grayish-green scabs, ugly skin creases and red film like that on a barely healed wound. His ribs were protruding, as well as the muscles on his wiry arms with prominent joints. In his right one he was carrying a very worn and chipped baseball bat.
"Here we are," Usagi whispered in Akane's ear, almost making her jump. "A mutant."
It looked like he heard that. Tensing, he raised his weapon into guard position as he turned his bald, nose-less head towards the girls, allowing them a clear look at his milky eyes and lip-less mouth, with teeth standing out making the unlucky man look like a zombie.
"Sh," Ranma hissed at her comrades.
"Probably, rats," the mutant grumbled hoarsely, then limped on his way. Soon he disappeared behind a corner and the redhead allowed herself a comment: "That fella got it hard... But he is definitely human. Also, his boots are new. The horizon is clear, others are milling underground."
They climbed out of the cover, listening carefully.
"Did he mutate from radiation?" Akane asked worriedly. "If the war was a hundred years ago, does that mean there are still highly radioactive places around?"
"I'm watching it constantly," Ami reassured her. "There's no radiation anywhere, except the heightened background. But radiation doesn't work that way. It produces mutants only in movies, in real life you either survive it or die."
"So it was their common ancestor who mutated?" Ranma asked. "Because there are several dozen of them, all feeling rather the same to my ki senses."
"I don't know," Ami admitted. "I don't understand. We have to get up close to one and scan him. But let's watch them first. I hope it was just my imagination, but he felt... fleetingly wrong for my Senshi senses. Let's be on our guard, in case demons are involved."
"Then we definitely have to investigate these mutants!" Ranma perked up.
"Wait, let's tear a bow for you," Akane suggested casting a disapproving side glance at her.
"Not now!" The redhead waved her away. "We aren't going to let them see us anyway. Let it be an extra motivation for sneaking better."
After a couple blocks there was still no sign of a sewer access. A a small square opened ahead, surrounded by intact buildings. It looked like an industrial zone was beginning here.
"Let's go up to the roofs, maybe?" Ranma suggested with unexpected uncertainty. "I don't feel anyone nearby, we left them all at our five. But my danger sense... It prickles weirdly."
The sun was shining brightly on the small square ahead, casting deep shadows along the walls. The silence was complete, especially ominous amidst a dead city inhabited by mutants.
"We would be visible from afar," disagreed Ami. "While I can quickly fill the square with fog. Collect yourself, Ranma-kun, this is so unlike you."
"Heh..." The redhead scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "With this new... ah, nevermind."
With new what? Akane thought. Is he inventing an another insane technique? Now I have to worry for him, he won't spill it until it is complete.
"Let's cross the square," suggested Ami. "There is a water pump in that building over there, we can ambush those who performs maintenance on it. There are many sewer tunnels but I'm not sure which of the entrances are used. My subterranean scan radius is too small while there ruins are a real mess."
"If sitting down in the ambush helps you to collect your thoughts, then why not?" Ranma agreed.
The four girls began sneaking across the square, looking watchfully around.
When they were in the middle of the square, Ami suddenly stopped, fiddling with her visor controls. Her frown was visible even through the visor filled with formulas.
"What's wrong?" Ranma grew wary.
"It's nothing," Ami hastily reassured her. "Just interference. I'm receiving low-frequency magnetic waves the brushless electric motor of the pump, but it keeps doubling. Here it goes again. Either the pump is going to break, or something is wrong with my visor."
"Do you hear that?" Usagi asked.
There was a faint sound like car tires across gravel.
"It can't be!" Akane exclaimed.
"Several... no, two ki sources are coming," Ranma warned, preparing to jump onto the pump station roof. "Feels like humans, not mutants. Average, a bit stronger than Ukyou."
"That's it!" Ami exclaimed, vexed at herself. "I am simply receiving pulsations from one more brushless motor!"
"I wonder if these humans know there are mutants down there," Akane said.
"Should we greet and warn them?" Usagi added, blowing her identity. It was apparent that her usual kind and caring self was lurking just below the goth shell.
"Let's catch them?" Ranma proposed suddenly.
"Catch?" Akane lifted one brow. "Why? Talk fast."
The sound was coming very close, there were mere seconds left to make a decision.
"Contact them," Ranma corrected herself trying to cram as much words in as little time as possible. "Surprise. Not their territory. We look harmless. Square's good for surrounding in the fog."
"What if bandits? And, Ranma—"
"Take them down, interrogate," she interrupted her.
"I'm ready," Ami said in agreement.
"Likewise," Usagi added, uncharacteristically collected as she lifted a hand as if to scratch her forehead.
Time ran out. Ranma had a fleeting thought she was missing something. Frowning, the redhead concentrated harder on her ki senses.
A long, low car rolled from behind a corner, swaying languidly on the potholes. Silvery, it was all in spots and streaks where the silvery paint was gone and the bare metal was polished thoroughly to a silvery shine. The car looked alien in this city of crumbling ruin. Four headlights were frowning from under its front wings protruding like rectangular brows. The straight, massive bumper was grinning with six oval cross-bars. The raised rear wings were protruding sharply over the coverless trunk with bags piled in it. This miracle of engineering even had a windshield! It was almost intact, only a couple of bullet holes.(note 1)
The car stopped sharply, its front end dipping for a moment. The front doors flew open, and two huge... Indians? jumped from the car at once. Both were of very similar build: the same barrel-like chest, the same arms like bison legs, the same leather pants. But one was bald, his face painted white with a black design, a big bone through his nose. The other, who climbed out of the driver seat, had short black hair, with dark eyes on a face with high cheek bones.
"Holy shit!" the hairy Indian exclaimed with excitement in English.
"Grampy Bone sez: always keep your eyes open," the painted one responded. "Then you won't miss a treasure."
Ranma noted that both had a knife and a large handgun. While there was a holder with bigger guns visible under the car roof. But why were her three comrades looking at her like that? What's with the half-lidded stares?
"Gimme a fist, bro!" the painted Indian said with a feeling, like he was moved. "The detour was worth this moment alone, even if the bloody twelfth had collapsed a long time ago!"
"You're right, bro! Brofist!"
Leaning over the car roof, they tried to bump fists but failed to reach each other: the car was impressively big, the roof alone level with ranma's eyes. Grunting, both left the cover of the opened doors to lean over the hood and bump fists at last.
Decent moving, for someone using their ki on an instinctive level, Ranma noted. Used to rely on weapons in combat, but probably can draw these guns of theirs in a blink on an eye.
"Ranma," Akane injected sardonically. "I understand. I am prepared to put up with you having needs. But I'm beginning to be jealous of them over you."
"Huh?" the redhead replied, distracted from her tactical analysis. "Eh?"
Raising a brow, Akane glanced her over, top to bottom then bottom to top.
A sharp keening, like teakettle boiling up, assaulted everyone's ears when Ranma finally got it. The redhead blushed down to her armpits. Ami stumbled when her back bow was suddenly torn away. Blue ribbons flashing through the air, Ranma vanished into thin air like a mirage as she employed her invisibility technique.
"You'll know next time how to sunbathe," Akane stated with deep satisfaction.
(シーンブレイク)
August 13, 2014. Translated August 14, 2014. Corrected October 15, 2015.
Author's notes:
1
Chrysalis Highwayman is an almost exact replica of 1958 Chrysler Imperial, with slightly different grille and front bumper. This thing is 5.7 meters long and 2.06 meters wide.
Thanks for C&C to:
— Crystal
— Нуммминорих Кута