Can It Get Any Worse?: Chapter 6
Within hours of setting out the next morning, we found, at last, a
destination. The city sat behind massive walls of the same type stone
and construction of the road. Ninety meters high and half that thick,
I couldn't help but be impressed by the work. The city itself was
huge. The buildings were all low to the ground and constructed of a
single color of stone. When viewed from above, the buildings took on
the same pattern of organization as in the road. Oh yeah, there
wasn't anyone living in the place. There could have been people, or
six tencacled clams or whatever passed for intelligent life on this
planet hiding somewhere, but I didn't see any signs of them.
Windblown dust had gathered in corners and between buildings,
suggesting significant age.
"Did we scare all the people away?" Usagi asked sadly. I shook my
head. I was still feeling a little sorry for Usagi after last night's
unfortunate incident and I didn't want to make her cry by rebuking
her.
"Look around," I said once Usagi's attention was focussed
elsewhere."No one has lived here in a long time." Besides the dust,
though, there was no debris or litter. There was nothing except
stone. Wooden window casements in some of the dwellings we passed had
rotted away to nothing. I wouldn't even have known that any had ever
existed there if not for Ami pointing it out. That little computer of
hers has to be magically augmented, I just don't know how.
"This is a nice place," Makoto said after we had walked into a sizable
square with a still functioning fountain that sprayed a fine mist into
the air."Why would anybody abandon it?"
"Who knows?" I shrugged."A plague could have killed off the
inhabitants ten thousand years ago or they could have decided that
living in such a colorful place was aggravating. We'll never know." I
didn't feel any magical agent at work, so how could the stone this
city was composed of have escaped the relentless erosion of nature,
especially a place so close to an ocean that would bring in frequent
storms and a steady and continuous salt spray to further speed
destruction?
"Then I," and Usagi did a little semi-speech,"shall claim this the
City of Usagi!" She raised her arm and swirled it around, collecting
energy and forming it into an extremely skillful construct. It was
well done, the flag of silver with her picture on it, though not
really suited to my tastes.
I watched, with the senshi as witnesses, as Usagi flew to the top of
the highest structure and planted her flag. The silver fabric caught
a nonexistant wind and unfurled completely, giving off a radiant glow.
"Maybe it's something in the air," Minako supplied to the silence of
big eyes and giant sweat drops.
"What do you think?" Usagi asked, streamers of pure happiness twirling
around her. Sometimes there can be such a thing as too Good.
"Uh, it's great, Usagi," I replied."What made you think of such a
wonderful name?" Everyone else just nodded along with me.
The girl shrugged and smiled."It just felt right." She shivered."I
just couldn't stand for such a pretty place to be so lonely and
abandoned." As long as she didn't try to clean it up and make all nice
and shiny, I couldn't care less what she called it.
"The next one is mine," Rei snapped, irritable that she hadn't thought
of claiming the city first. Those two have a really weird love-hate
relationship, kinda like the one my mom had with the old bastard, but
without the sex.
All the senshi, even Ami, then called dibs on who would name what.
Poor Minako looked like a sulky little kid when she found out everyone
was ahead of her. Ha, watch this."You all have your fun. If we don't
find anyone to tell us otherwise, I'm claiming and naming this
planet." Ha ha ha."Ranma has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" The
choking noises made by Rei and Makoto were worth letting myself get
caught up in the small lapse into silliness.
****
Ami and I were the only ones who had decided not to go explore the
city in more detail. We were sitting outside the wall at a small fire
and eating berries from a big leaf I had wrapped them in. There
weren't any wombats around and I didn't feel like hunting much.
"Ranma, if the whole planet is like Usagi's city, we're screwed," Ami
said around a mouthful of berries. I congratulated myself on getting
Ami to say 'screwed' within a normal conversation. A little time and
I could maybe get a few curse words worked into the senshis'
vocabulary.
"Yep," I agreed."Of course I get to be Emperor of Ranma, then." Ami
smiled worriedly. Heh."Really though, if it comes down to the wire,
and I can't find what we need, I can just tear a hole into another
universe." My crystal and I can do that, for the record. Not me
alone. No one has that much power, even Silence and Saturn."That
would destroy this planet. That's a last resort measure, though,
because we could end up somewhere worse. I'm on good terms with the
inhabitants in the Hell of our universe, destroying an entire sentient
species by accident though," I shook my head,"Would get me personal
attention from the Prince of Hell himself."
Ami was staring at me when I looked up to get some more berries."You
mean you've really been to hell?" she asked disbelievingly."I thought
all those references were just jokes."
"No really, I have. It's not a bad place to visit, a little warm for
my tastes, but nice, in a...red sort of way. The Dark Prince isn't a
bad guy, he just got stuck with a crappy father." I've had my fair
share of bad parenting, so I know.
"But the...tormenting of lost souls...and eternal damnation..."
I waved that off."Hell isn't what people think it is. You have to do
something 'really' bad to go to hell. Trust me, if you're there, you
deserve it. I was just babysitting Nicky, so I'm the exception."
Nicky's a nice kid. Too bad his brothers hit him with that shovel.
"Who's Nicky?" Ami sounded resigned, like she just couldn't help but
believe me.
"The Dark Prince's youngest son. He's a bit on the goofy side, not
really Prince of Hell material. I've heard that his mother was a
goat, so you can't really expect much." The berries slowly dwindled
away in the silence. I hope the other girls can find themselves
something to eat or their going to throw a fit."Ever hear of Hitler?"
Stupid question, I know. I told her about his twice daily anal
pineapple rape and had her cracking up pretty good by the time the
girls came back, a monstrous watermelon held between them.
"Look what we found!" Usagi exclaimed. That was a big damned
watermelon. We made a feast of it, sporadically interrupred by a
shootout between Rei and Usagi with peach pit sized seeds. I showed
my little group of girl scouts how to remove the moisture from thin
slices of the melon, producing a huge quantity of dried watermelon
chips. I didn't ask Usagi why she carried garbage bags in her purse,
it seemed like a waste of breathe. No more picking berries for a
while.
****
Weeks later, with no other sign of civilization besides the Road and
Usagi's city, I started to get worried. My companions and I were all
in relatively good spirits, though for how long I couldn't guess. I
'm really thinking about getting rid of this damned ring and letting
the senshi know who I really am. It's not like they could destroy me,
and I'm the only one with the know how and power to get us
home...Truth is, I'm really horny. I could probably have seduced Ami
in my girl form, I just think she swings that way for some reason, but
that would make things way too awkward and I'd much rather be a guy
for the occassion.
I'd continued instructing the senshi in the arcane art and was
pleasantly suprised that the higher energy levels of Ranma world(has a
nice ring to it) made learning spell patterns easier for some reason.
Ami knew, if knot well enough to properly use, all of the ice and
water based spells that I did. She was getting completely separate
lessons from Usagi in white magic and myself in the darker aspects.
Rei and Makoto were far enough along with their studies to help each
other witht the more difficult heat/electricity spells that were most
familiar. Minako consistently insisted that her's was the power of
love and I couldn't really make her understand that most of her magic
was centered around high energy plasma.
****
"What are those?" I asked Minako and Makoto as we sat in the cave I
had found. Night had fallen and everyone was relaxing. They were
playing some kind of card game. I couldn't see well into there little
corner of the cave because of the shadows cast by the light spheres
they were using. I didn't want to play, I have the worst poker face
ever, I was curious and bored.
"Pokemon cards," they answered simultaneously. The duo took turns
describing the layout of the game. I nodded and said yes and no
whenver appropriate, but my attention wasn't really with them. I was
busy discreetly watching Rei give herself a sponge bath. I wanted to
cry. It's all so unfair. When they finished, I made my escape into
the cool night.
I climbed to the top of the rockoutcropping that housed the cave and
slipped the ring off, feeling the instant change from male to female.
If I hadn't accepted this thing, I would not have had a way to truly
hide from devil hunters, then again, I would be somewhere now having
fun doing 'something' or someone.
If I hadn't been so wrapped up in my own problems, I would have heard
or sensed Ami's approach. When her head popped up over the rim of
slightly flattened ledge made by the jutting rock, I froze, unable to
move or think. Well, the secret was out, I guess.
She continued to climb, unaware of my appearance. It wasn't until she
was almost all the way up when she began," Ranma, I-" and a cloud
moved just enough to bathe me in moonlight. She, too, froze. I
thought she would fall, but she powered up a flight spell and floated
over the rim and to her feet. Hmm, why wasn't she screaming and
trying to blast me?"R-Ranma, what are y-you doing? Is that an
illusion?" She didn't come any closer and I could sense the building
of defensive barriers around her.
"No Ami, this isn't an illusion. This is my true form." I quickly
slipped the ring on and changed back into a girl."This is just an
altered state." At least I had managed to speak.
"But, but Luna said that you were evil all those months ago...and then
you showed up as a girl..." Things must have started to add up in her
head.
"Luna was wrong about me being evil," I informed her heatedly. Damned
furball."I just have a demonic presensce."
"That's why you hate Setsuna so much, isn't it? She tricked you into
teaching us and you had to honor the agreement, but you couldn't do it
in your true form, so she gave you the ring. You didn't know it would
make you a girl, then?" Wow, she inferred most of it out of that one
little piece of info. Good girl.
"That's mostly right. The agreement was to teach the senshi so that I
could have the ring. It was supposed to mask my presensce so that
devil hunters would leave me alone. They've bothered me for years,
you see. Sailor Pluto didn't feel like telling me that it would have
to change my gender to be effective." That reminded me that with me
out of the same general area as Setsuna, the power to all the curses I
had stuck her with would be gone. They had probably all faded away by
now. Shit.
Ami didn't speak right away. I remained silent as she walked up to me
and sat down."I won't tell the others. I think you would be suprised
if you did. Luna has been wrong before. The others are open minded
and genuinely think of you as a friend, they'd accept you without much
trouble, I'm sure." She sounded like she believed what she was saying.
I didn't.
I chuckled and said,"You forget that I'm really a guy and that I've
seen you all naked A LOT and listened to you talk about nipples and
stuff. I'm not sure if it wasn't a punishment more than a pleasure.
I don't think most girls would see it that way, though." I did have to
sleep, afterall, and all kinds of bad things can happen to a person's
resting mind and body.
"It's up to you. Your secret is safe with me," assured Ami."And I
don't know about you," she said shyly, in a whisper,"but I liked it
when you saw me nude."
Alarm bells and all kinds of flashing lights were going off in my
head. I wasn't entirely sure whether Ami was squeezing my crotch
either. This wasn't supposed to happen, not with Ami. I could see
Minako, the future slut, making a move like this, but not AMI! I was
suprised, not stunned into inaction. I switched back to my true form
and saw that Ami didn't take exception to it. Yay!
****
Insert Lemon scene here. I can't write them seriously whenever I try,
so make use of your imagination until I can get someone to do one for
me.
****
It's amazing the amount of tension one can relieve through sex. When
you've gone months without it while being in a highly sexual(from a
guy's perspective) situation, you feel like a totally different
person. I didn't even let myself notice all the knowing looks I was
getting from the senshi, even Usagi. Ami was a real screamer.
Isn't today a great day? All sunny and breezy, not a hint of a cloud
in the sky, a giant spaceship slowly descending to the ground. I
rubbed my eyes and shook my head. Yep, still there.
"Look alive, girls!" I shouted back towards the cave. The senshi
scrambled into the clearing in full battle regalia. I didn't need to
point out the ship.
"Do you think this is their planet?" Usagi asked."They can't have my
city!" She looked ready to blast the ship.
"It doesn't matter if it is," I heard Ami reply."If they're friendly,
anyone with the ability to build a ship that size could get Ranma the
supllies he needs to find home." I turned and winked at the Senshi of
Mercury, causing her to blush rosily.
The ship was too close for comfort by now and a deep humming whine
filled the air. The thing was going to set down right in front of us.
The closer it got the easier it got to appreciate the true magnitude
of the ship. It was shaped like a giant saucer with a sharply curving
protrusion flowing downward, from which were attached to uprising
tubes that glowed with energy.
"Look," Rei pointed."There are words on it! In English!" She was
right. It read U.S.S. Enterprise.
****
Author's Notes: It's shorter than normal, I know, but if I ever get a
good lemon scene for Ranma and Ami, it'll fill out pretty good. No,
this isn't going to be a Star Trek crossover, just a kind of guest
appearance. I'm thinking of having a 'Crossover Crisis' like romp
through various anime universes. I still haven't decided. C&C
welcome at dark_phoneix@hotmail.com