From: metroanime@mindspring.com
To: metroanime@mindspring.com
Subject: asd22
Date: Monday, August 06, 2001 8:44 PM
A Soldier's Duty, chapter 22
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi
"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you
can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people
spend it for you." -Carl Sandburg
DISCLAIMER: Naoko Takeuchi and other authors created the playground, i'm
just messing with the equipment.
---------
Grey, the reincarnated Basalt - soldier of an ancient magical kingdom,
slowly crawled his way to consciousness.
"He doesn't appear to have much life energy," said a woman's voice, though
with an oddly hollow quality.
"How the heck do you drain life energy anyway?" That was a stereotypical
bimbo voice.
Cracking eyes that seemed to weigh about as much as a mini-van, Grey tried
to look around without being obvious. People were strung up in thick white
webbing. Most of whom he knew.
The girl landing with the dark wings he did *not* know.
"I am Sailor Lead Crow and I want to thank you for capturing my targets."
Lead Crow held up a braceleted wrist as she spoke. "I think I'll show my
appreciation by showing you a trick."
"Silky! Bunny!" Some *other* woman came running out of the hallway. "Stop
her, quick! The energy readings are..."
Lead Crow sent two energy balls spinning towards the newcomer.
"Mimette-sama!" "Mistress!" The two "youma" called out as the energy balls
struck the newcomer.
*PUM!* *PUM!* *SHOOM!*
Grey's eyes opened involuntarily larger. A flower had appeared over
Mimette's head and a glowing crystal popped out as the flower unfurled. He
couldn't help but think that this looked incredibly silly.
"Ah, Phobos & Deimos, the lucky twins, handmaidens of Mars." Lead Crow
stopped gloating for a moment. "'Handmaidens of Mars' - sounds like a cheap
paperback romance. Oh well. I'll collect your Star Seeds as well."
Grey watched as the glowing gem faded into a black gloss while this Lead
Crow person stalked forward.
*SHOOOOSH!* Black squirming tentacles covered Mimette.
The portion of Grey that was the old soldier Basalt, aka Nebula, began
assessing things in a calm rational manner.
( ) Allies - currently unable to assist, those present were wrapped in
spider webbing.
( ) Enemies - two youma, one girl in a transformation matrix, and a Senshi
who was quite obviously "Turned". Power level ranging from High to Extreme.
( ) Physical combat - laughable. He'd had arrows lodged in him, been
attacked, beaten on, and spent entirely too much time going beyond his
limits of late. He'd need a few days of rest just to recover from the last
few days. Even if one discounted the difference in power levels, there
wasn't a way to make it even a good try.
( ) Knight Of Duty abilities - gone. Queen Serenity had meant to the seal
them off, but it looked like she had overdone it. That *had* always been one
of Sera's bad points. That and taking the wrong advice to heart way too
often.
(x) Magic - Rei's new shikigami had stated that he could use "clerical"
magic. Magic that flowed from another source and built upon a protective or
healing area of expertise. Forcing it didn't work, but letting it flow based
on need had worked during those rescues. Maybe...
"Prisoner no longer be,
Sailor Mars now be free!"
Rei gulped air gratefully and wheezed out her transformation phrase. She
hadn't been able to force much air past her gag.
As Sailor Mars, she could deal with spider webs rather easily. Even a near
miss caused them to shrivel away. Makoto yelped before she hit the water
then spent some time coughing rather than transforming.
Black tentacles evaporated and Mimette stood in a seifuku. "Sailor
Psychowitch!"
Grey managed to prop himself up to a sitting position and tried another.
"Freedom of Movement" had worked fairly well, so maybe an augmentation
spell? Names of spells went through his head briefly and he chose one.
Muttering a phrase over and over, he began "Prayer" - which gave bonuses to
his allies and impeded his opponents at the same time.
Makoto spat water out and called out her transformation phrase. There was a
large sizzling noise and Sailor Jupiter transformed, but was a little crispy
around the edges. She made a note to get out of the water next time she
transformed.
Usagi spat spider webs and called out *her* transformation phrase.
Neither Ayane nor Kasumi had transformation phrases. Ayane merely said
something nasty and unpleasant in German (which she felt was a superior
language for cussing) while Kasumi merely went into a coldly logical mode
(handy for ninja warriors) and started pulling throwing knives out of her
sleeves. Then both temporarily fell over as they had been standing in the
water when Makoto had pumped an electrical charge into it.
Sailor Lead Crow sent two spinning energy balls towards the twins.
"Honey BOOMERANG!" A flying metal shape stopped one of the balls.
"Pulse laser!" An energy beam slammed into the other energy ball.
Sailor Lead Crow stepped back, looking around. "Interesting, but
insufficient to stop *me*. This collection of Star Seeds will only prove to
Galaxia that I can succeed where Tin Cat failed."
"Evil deserves no chance to prove itself," said a normally blonde woman
(though currently her hair was red and considerably shorter) in a tight
costume as she landed and formed a sword out of thin air. "Ai no senshi,
Cutey Honey!"
Setsuna landed next to Honey, and smirked as she brought her staff up.
"Nuku Nuku know sexy too!" Nuku said, landing nearby.
"Fools, you cannot stand against Sailor Lead Crooaggghhkkkk!" The Sailor
found that leaving one's mouth open for an extended period while ninjas
prepared throwing weapons was not a good thing. While it didn't actually
cause her any damage, she had a barbed shuriken stuck in her mouth now.
"Sailor Psych HEY!"
With that the melee was joined. With this many players, and no set positions
for any of the groups involved, any organization fell apart within seconds.
Free for all, general melee, brawl. Whatever you want to call it, it's a
general fight sequence where rules and strategies fall by the wayside.
Missile weapons and ranged attacks are generally of little or no use in such
chaos.
It was made worse by the number of sides in this battle: not only was there
two youma (actually one was a Rabbit Spirit and the other was a Spider
Spirit), there was their former mistress - now a Farce (or Phage or whatever
other tag you wanted to use) who was indiscriminately attacking everything,
there was Sailor Lead Crow (still choking on a throwing star and trying to
get it out of her mouth), there was a short pixie trying to get a clear shot
at a boy who was mumbling on the floor, there was a skulking figure in the
shadows, and there were two handmaidens and three Senshi assisted by a
blonde android and a green haired Ifurita former-Senshi.
Oh, and there was a catgirl cyborg (Nuku Nuku) who was trying to play with
the big butterfly(Haruka).
Igneous, aka Sehan, used one of his new attacks to give himself some cover
so that he could remove the former Consort. (Step one in his plans to become
the new Consort.) "Death Shroud!" A thick cloud of dust and grit formed that
swept from the onsen to completely engulf the ryokan. Then Igneous
discovered that there was a major drawback to his special attack. He
couldn't see through it either.
Setsuna whipped her Power Key Staff through a quick circling action.
"Technique acquired, though it seems of little actual use. Visibility less
than two feet." Then, peering through the dust, she started trying to figure
out what was that shape glimpsed over there. She built up power and slammed
an energy bolt into it when she determined it was *not* a Senshi. The sound
of a tree falling was sufficient evidence that she'd just have to go to HTH
attacks.
Phobos and Deimos dodged wildly as someone tried to bring a tree down on
them. As they had a poor combat potential, the two quickly decided they
needed somewhere to hide. The problem was where and how.
Sailor Mars had seen the dark cloud move in, and knew immediately that this
was cover for an attack. Using her spiritual abilities, she determined that
the main threat was right *there!* "Burning... MANDALA!"
Sailor Jupiter shrieked as one of the youma attacked her with flaming bolts.
Well, that had given her a direction at least, and that was clearly one of
the bad guys. "Jupiter Thunder Clap!"
Sailor Moon yelped as lightning slammed her into a post. Then something
unusual happened. Sailor Moon got an idea. ~Waitaminute. My Healing
Escalation doesn't hurt non-youma. So if I use a Moon Spiral Heart
Attack...~ Sailor Moon began winding up for her attack thinking that she
could hit everything in the ryokan without worrying about "friendly fire."
------
A black cat yawned. "Y'know, Celeste-baby, this test of Grey-boy's is, what
is the modern parlance? Screwed, skunked, blown, shredded, ka'kul'vari,
potatoed, yogoreru..."
Celeste winced. "Well..."
"in the street slang popular with the Tarakne (aka the mercenary
followers/descendents of Tarak) they would say 'the plan has been unmade'
while those of that quaint Krynn place would say 'looks like the Tinker
Gnomes have been playing with the plumbing.'"
"I know." Celeste groaned. "Ami and Amieow - the two sides of Ami Mizuno.
The studyholic who declares she has no time for romance, and the playful and
affectionate girl who is both shy and passionate. One side rejected him, so
both sides are out."
"You don't consider that interference from the Wizard?" A green eye opened
to regard Celeste. "This whole thing was to be hands off, you know. Even *I*
agreed to this stipulation, and you *know* how hard it is for me to keep
from meddling."
"I know." Celeste dropped her head in her hands.
"...And don't think I don't know where you inserted one Rei Ayanami and one
Asuka Langley Soryuu." Toltiir sniffed. "It became perfectly obvious once
'Ayane' started cussing in German and 'Kasumi' was even more obvious."
"Well, they *did* have a point." Celeste pointed out. "Of course, if they
fail, they'll return to their original timeline. Rei dies, becomes Rei III
and a mass murderer before her death. Asuka dies eventually from
malnutrition and lack of medical care."
Toltiir considered protesting the change of subject, but decided against it.
Besides, he thought he could find a happier timeline to sneak the two into.
Which was part of what a god of mischief was all about. "What about Maya
Ibuki, Ritsuko Ikagi, and Maya Tono? For that matter if Misato doesn't
succeed?"
Celeste nodded and brought up a screen. "Maya Ibuki and Ritsuko Ikagi get
inserted back into their mainline Evangelion timeline. Which, of course,
means they get turned into LCL and all *that* sort of thing. Maya Tono was
actually Eira, a drow slave talented in music. She'll end up relocated to
the Promenade under Waterdeep, Eilistraee has uses for some non-evil drow
over there. We were going to set her up at 'Heart Of Darkest Chocolate' but
they're apparently shutting down."
Toltiir nodded. Eilistraee, the child of Corellon Larethian and Araushnee
(the goddess who eventually succumbed to her darker side and became Lolth)
had a tough row to hoe. Any allies she got were dearly appreciated. Maybe
Sailor Pocky ought to head out that way.
"If Misato doesn't succeed, then she'll be inserted into a Ranma timeline
where she'll play Genma's replacement." Celeste checked. "Yeah, one of those
timelines where someone else is in the Genma role and trying to teach Ranma
to be the best martial artist, etc, etc. Word came down that there was a use
for her."
Toltiir considered the timeline in question. Genma dead, having tripped and
fallen into a lion cage while trying to train Ranma in the Catfist? A
Captain in the Japanese Self Defense Force ending up with custody of the
boy? Hmmmm. She could end up taking him with her to study over in Germany,
end up engaged to Asuka, then meet up with this albino Chinese Amazon...
Hmmmm.
"In any case, it doesn't much matter. About Ami & Amieow, after all. The
timeline which had Ami as Grey's childhood friend and lover ended up merging
with a more mainstream timeline. So Ami would have ended up growing up older
and alone, or with Makoto as the Senshi end up pairing off since they can't
associate with anyone of lesser stature."
Toltiir snorted. He didn't care about trivial things like that, but the sad
fact was that most Crystal Tokyo/Neo-Silver Millenium/Utopian Kingdom
"futures" didn't have a lot of humor in them. Banishing all impurities from
people's hearts and the like so that everyone knew their place and happily
worked their part and contributed to the greater whole? Yech! Try telling a
joke to someone in one of those timelines and they'd just glassily stare at
you with that vague smile on their face. Perfection was nice to visit, but
who the heck wanted to live there?
Celeste stopped talking, confident she'd changed the subject enough.
"You forget, Celeste, I'm an Elder god - one of the Aramarian pantheon who
has been around for more than one cycle of multiverses." Toltiir started
grooming a paw, his voice emanating from the air nearby while his tongue was
otherwise occupied. "Grey's primary aspect is an Aramarian *dragon* - a
silver one. And I know full well the lore of silver dragons." The cat looked
up from the grooming to raise an eyebrow at Celeste. "And that he drew spell
points from me, making him a cleric. Though a pantheon cleric instead of a
single-deity servant as he also drew from Bast and Hephaestus just to name
two. As soon as we hammer out the details, and cats-up on the requirements,
we'll have to get bast to him about the deal and see what sort of mischief
en-tails."
"Well, it's not like you could do any better," said Celeste.
Toltiir smirked and winked. "That sounded like a challenge."
------
"Everyone stop shooting," Setsuna called out into the murk. Naturally she
was hit by a Burning Mandala, a Thunder Crash, two shuriken, and a
"psychoburst". Picking herself back up, she heard her own voice say.
"Technique acquired: Elemental fire/spirit multishot attack. Technique
acquired: elemental lightning discharge. Technique acquired: chi charged
projectile weapons. Technique Acquired: telekinetic bullet. Ouch."
Triggered by *that* series of attacks, another series began. Lightning
slammed into Sailor Mars, coinciding with the fireburst that Mars had used
to knock Ayane into a boulder.
Ayane's firebomb exploded, managing to knock down both Phobos and Deimos.
Nuku Nuku continued her singleminded pursuit of the big butterfly. Haruka
had given up trying to hit Grey with a "World Shaking" in order to escape
being played with by the big kittygirl.
Bunny's "Raging Libido" attack had managed to hit Silky, who had been so
distracted she had been pounded into the ground by Sailor
Psychowitch/Mimette.
"Who's next?!" Sailor Psychowitch yelled into the silence.
Which, of course, was the typical sort of stupid mistake that youma had been
making for years.
Sailor Psychowitch was hit simultaneously by Kasumi's shuriken (the feather
shaped ones she had gotten the idea for while watching an old Gatchaman
episode), Sailor Jupiter's lightning, and Setsuna's "high impact beam". The
first attack did little damage, the lightning even less, but the latter one
reduced her threat potential to people tripping over the smouldering crater.
Setsuna stilled her breathing again, listening to movement after the
explosion. Things had settled into a pattern. Strike, move, listen, then
strike when you had a reasonable chance of determining that your target
wasn't an ally.
Cutey Honey changed to her armored form just before some shuriken rattled
off the iron. "Cut it out! It's ME!" She was reasonably sure that shuriken
(even if they were shaped like feathers) meant one of the ninja.
Sailor Lead Crow turned towards the helpful identification and sped off.
There was a dim shape that had to be one of these heroes. Another Star Seed
for Galaxia! *PUM!* *PUM!*
Cutey Honey staggered under some strange energy attack, then turned to deal
with this threat. She was wearing a sailor suit, so was this another of the
Senshi's allies? Or maybe not. She thought she'd met all of them, except
that Neptune and Uranus.
Sailor Lead Crow came to a halt. No flower? No Star Seed? Did this enemy
have some defense? Galaxia would have to be alerted to this new factor! She
spread her wings, ready to fly out of this cloud and return to her mistress.
-------
Rotating her staff around, Setsuna noticed a pair spread wings of some
really big bird. Honey didn't have wings (that she knew of). Sailor Mars
didn't have wings. Neither did Sailor Jupiter, the two ninjas, or Phobos and
Deimos anymore. Grey was currently mumbling some spell and she knew this
because she was standing protectively over him. Sailor Lead Crow *did* have
wings. "Target acquired..." She'd been trying all sorts of things with her
basic energy blast: altering it from a pulse laser to a beam, to an impact
bolt, rapid fire, build up and big blast all around her (it had been an
abandoned building out in the mountains, she'd seen a roach and freaked a
little), and a wide area blast. (She'd had trouble sleeping that first night
she'd turned into an Ifurita.)
Smiling slightly, Setsuna thought it appropriate to whisper her attack. She
hadn't met her younger self since the change and therefore been able to
relearn the "Dead Scream" attack.
Setsuna felt a danger coming closer, whipped her staff back without looking
and bonked someone who was trying to stab Grey in the back. She wasn't
inclined to let such things happen with *her* around. Where was she? Oh
yeah. "laser... beam!" ~Hmmm. Needs work. I'll have to work on more dramatic
attack names.~
Hmmm. Fog was clearing and the shape was still moving. ~Let's see...~ "XRAY
LASER!" ~oooo! She *felt* that one all right!~
-------
She'd had to interrupt her attack twice, mainly because people kept shooting
at her. She just KNEW Rei had done that on purpose. Rei was so mean!
Sailor Moon came to the end of her windup. "Moon Spiral Heart... Attack!"
The pink glow flared out, spreading first in a dome, then becoming a heart
shape that surrounded the entire ryokan.
Sailor Mars picked herself off the ground, eyes narrowed as the magic washed
over her. ~Why the heck am I at an onsen, anyway?~
Resting against a post, Sailor Jupiter wondered what had happened. It almost
felt as if she were waking up from a long nap.
Ayane, Kasumi, Phobos, Deimos, and Honey felt the magic washing against
them. Only Kasumi was currently conscious and she didn't know what this was,
only that it was some kind of blanket attack. She flipped to the top of the
ryokan, and from there outside the area of effect. She hoped this wasn't
hard radiation of some kind.
Setsuna braced herself against the assault, gritting her teeth and holding
the Power Key Staff in a death grip. She would shield herself and the boy
under her from this assault. There was no *way* she was ready to go back to
being Sailor Pluto and laboring under the geas to protect the Crystal Tokyo
timeline. Sailor Moon was trying to reinstate the status quo, to banish
their opponents and cut through enchantments, to heal their side's wounded.
Setsuna Meiou wasn't ready to relinquish her newfound freedom.
Sailor Moon frowned, it felt like something was pushing back at several
points where she was sending the attack. She immediately began another
windup. This time for sure.
Phobos and Deimos stirred, found out they were ravens again, and were
understandably quite upset. Phobos cawed a lot and Deimos sulked.
Igneous woke up, saw his target, apparently unguarded, and started looking
around for his knife again.
Queen Serenity, checking up on Igneous' progress, saw this about to occur
and started her own windup.
Ayane, whom most people would agree was *not* a very nice person, groaned
and picked herself up out of the crater she'd made. She also wondered why
she had this strange urge to bake cookies and try to be upbeat and
optimistic.
Doctor Johnny Fever(aka John Caravella), hiding in his room, realized he was
cleaner and more sober than he'd been in years. He proceeded to leave the
ryokan in order to rectify the latter of the two conditions.
Arthur Carlson, Maytag repairman and former executive of a Cincinnati radio
station, decided that Tokyo was nearly as crazy a place as his brief stay in
Flagstaff Arizona had been. Except that no ancient Native American ghost
warriors attacked major appliances for no apparent reason in Tokyo. At least
that he'd seen so far. Once again he experienced a pang of nostalgia for his
days at WKRP, which had turned out to be one of the more sane periods in his
life.
Setsuna felt the magic building up around her, reached down with her left
hand, grabbed Grey's arm, and flew straight up at a high rate of speed. At
his squeak and suddenly wrapping himself around her, she realized something
she hadn't before: which was that he had been in the onsen. Naked. They were
currently alone at a height of 11,000 feet, well out of the dust cloud that
had made the onsen battle such a mess. Setsuna blushed brightly enough for
her face to qualify as an anti-collision light.
Which was actually a good thing, as the two of them slowly turned their
heads to see a large plane go by not too far away. Close enough that they
could see all the faces pressed up against windows as they hovered there,
water still dripping...
Grey, *not* able to fly, clutched onto Setsuna as if she were the only thing
keeping him from falling 11,000 feet to become so much bug splat on the
ground below. (She was.)
Flares of pink and silver light, lightning and fire, and explosions in the
ryokan below announced the battle was being renewed. Setsuna considered it
briefly. She wasn't detecting any signs of youma, and all of the attack
signatures were identified as being Silver Millenium oriented. Conclusion:
the good guys were shooting at each other. "C'mon, Grey-ch... SAN. I think
you've had enough dating for tonight, let's go home."
Grey nodded, not aware he'd just agreed to spend the night at Setsuna's
home.
----------
Mamoru Chiba sat back from his perch at the Hino shrine and watched the
moon. It was nice to be able to just sit back and appreciate the beauty for
once. No ancient evils out to devour mankind. No worrying about a Menace
From Beyond The Stars. Their current enemy lacked the armies of youma, much
less something like Metal'la as a backup. No monster turning up in the wee
hours of each every night. So far the only really bad one had been that
Virtual Beast.
A shape flitting across the moon caused the sometimes Tuxedo Mask to lose
that train of thought.
That had been Setsuna flying through the sky, a naked boy with *very* pale
skin clinging to her.
Mamoru blinked twice, slowly got up, then went to the front of the shrine.
(Jangle jangle) (clap clap clap) (rub rub) "Better him than me. VERY better
him than me."
--------
"Tanaka," said the woman, bowing politely.
Tiger Tanaka swirled the wine around in his glass idly, then made a slight
gesture towards the other chair at the table. "Do join me. It's simple fare,
but then the doctors tell me to stay away from the fancier stuff nowadays."
"Hmmm, fish and rice. Why am I not surprised?" The woman plopped herself
down into the indicated chair. "No sake?"
"Doctors," indicated Tanaka with some distaste. "I think I've had enough of
this battle, old friend. It is just unfortunate that none of my personnel
are ready to fulfill my role in this."
"The days of derring do, of spies who actually go out and spy, living by
quick wit like some swashbuckler of an earlier era, have passed." The woman
poked at the fish without any enthusiasm. "The days where your ninja could
pass like ghosts through the modern world faded in the 70s, and now are
growing ever more distant. Spies nowadays are computer operators, former
hackers and engineers, who sift electronic ghosts and streams of data to
find a pattern. You, my friend, are a relic of a time the world would like
to deny existed at all."
"When I pass," admitted Tanaka, "it is most likely an accountant will take
over the post. With the Cold War ashes, and Chinese security what it is, my
agency is now seen more as an expense than as useful. We are left with only
the shadows of former glories in this modern era. As our society has become
more technologically dependent, our society has itself become more like a
machine - cold and impersonal."
"Nature itself is often cold and impersonal," responded the woman. "As well
as thoroughly messy and frequently painful. Still, this is not what I came
here for, old friend."
"Ah, well, I'm old." Tanaka chuckled. "Old men are *supposed* to ramble, you
know. I'm entitled."
The woman nodded in response.
"Is it *that* time, then?" Tanaka raised an eyebrow. "I thought it wasn't
for another seven years."
"The beginnings of the end have already occurred. There are less than five
days remaining." The woman said simply. "It's about to become the busy
season."
Tiger frowned and pushed his plate away, his appetite fled. "Well, it
appears we will be meeting again soon."
"Soon enough." Mistress Death sighed deeply as if the weight of the world
were on her shoulders. "Too soon. I have walked with you most of your life,
Tanaka-san. The next time we meet will be the last."
-----------
Igneous ran, plans already forming in his head. Let the Queen cool down.
Then find a way to explain to the Queen that he had been serving her own
interests while shifting the blame elsewhere. Maybe to Sailor Pluto, since
she was already out of favor. Play to the Queen's jealousy and pride, tweak
her desires for the Kingdom. He'd be forgiven, it would just take some work.
And the eventual prize would be all the sweeter.
Igneous had always had an odd talent. He could lie, even under a truthspell
from the Imperial Crystal, simply by believing his own lies. When the Queen
checked, he would be telling the truth at least as far as his own mind was
concerned.
A glowing red dot stopped the running Igneous. Someone was here? On a lonely
mountain road near a ryokan that was still lit by flashes of Silver
Millenium attacks?
"Well, bub, the Queen gave you a second chance, and you blew that one too.
Do you know why she won't give you a third chance?"
Igneous barely kept his knees from knocking and a cold sweat poured off of
him, filling the night air with a sour smell. "It's not my fault..."
Obsidian flicked his cigarette out onto the road where it sent little sparks
floating briefly out. "Sehan, Sehan, Sehan. You can lie to the Queen, you
can lie to yourself. Lie to me? Not a healthy thing to do."
Igneous began looking around. He could still escape. He could recover from
this turn of events. He could hide where no one would expect him, like
Botswana.
Obsidian walked slowly forward, little smile in place. "I just remembered
one of my special attacks, Sehan. Look at the bright side, in another
thousand years maybe you'll be reborn again."
"No! I... please?" Igneous, aka Sehan, made another mistake. He turned to
run, figuring that as Obsidian was a hero, he wouldn't shoot someone in the
back.
------
The fight at the ryokan stopped as the dust finally died down and a
bloodcurdling scream could be heard echoing from the mountains.
"What was that?!" Sailor Jupiter asked nervously, referring to the scream as
well as the gurgling way it cut off.
Usagi's pigtails floated up from the hot spring where she'd submerged
herself, hiding instinctively when that scream had rung out. They were
followed a moment later by Usagi's head splashing up, currently an
interesting shade of scarlet.
"We don't know," said Serenity, looking down at where her long flowing dress
had become waterlogged. Basalt had been right, long ago, when he'd mentioned
the typical court gowns as being less than practical outside that court. Now
that the Royal Court consisted of a conference room and set of suites at a
Holiday Inn, it was becoming obvious that she would have to put away the
trappings of court for now. "Though it sounded like someone went off on
their own initiative and decided to remove a threat. Well, We shall speak to
the old wolf later."
Sailor Mars grumbled. "Well, so much for *this* date. What a night."
Nuku ran by, still pursuing a little pixie.
The pixie flew up now that the cloud was no longer obscuring vision, turned
and summoned her magic. "Let's see how *you* like this!"
The energy blast shot past Nuku Nuku, who simply dodged, bounced off a roof,
and finally caught the butterfly.
Two crows managed a startled cawing noise as the burst hit them.
Ayane limped off, not wanting anyone to see how much she'd gotten burned by
that pink light. It didn't show *physically* other than a lot of red skin,
but it still hurt.
Bounding to the roof, and then down to the top of a ceremonial rock jutting
from the water, Kasumi looked around, blinking. "Say, wasn't this your date
with Shard-san, Hino-san?"
"Yes," said Rei, still wondering why none of her dates went as she'd
planned. Trying to date Mamoru hadn't worked out. Now she had really messed
up. And just *look* what had happened to Phobos and Deimos now!
Kasumi "So where *is* Shard-san?"
"He's right..." Rei looked about and gasped. The last she had seen of her
date, he had been in the water. "AhhhhhH!"
----------
Dawn in Tokyo.
Michiru stretched happily and began her work. "Ze Hino Shrine, it needs be
tidy, no?" Michiru was *not* amnesiac, which was what Haruka believed. No,
she simply found her current transformation to be oddly acceptable.
Odd, because cleaning and polishing had never been so fulfilling prior to
that transformation. And she also knew that Haruka as a pixie was under
someone else's control. Haruka blamed Shard-san for the current
transformation, despite that it did not fit the boy's modus operandi at all.
Turning her into a French Maid who got turned on by domestic chores? It
*definitely* fit the tactics they'd seen so far of this mysterious Wizard.
Of course, she'd tried to turn into Sailor Neptune, but had wanted to wait
until after everyone was gone. That way if it was embarassing, nobody would
witness it. She had transformed, it *had* been embarassing, and that had
further proved that this enemy had some influence over Haruka.
Either that or Haruka's naughtier impulses had surfaced during those
transformations. Which, come to think of it, was *also* quite likely.
--------
Grey came awake as an arm flopped over his head. He puzzled over it
momentarily. Not *his* arm either. Slender, deeply tanned, dark green polish
on her nails.
Oh. Just Puu-chan. Grey closed his eyes.
Eyes shot back open, followed immediately by a "yeep" and rolling away.
Setsuna?! What the heck?! Where? How?
~Oh yeah, we came back to her place. i insisted she take the bed, i'd take
the futon. Then she had me wind her up again. She started arguing about how
she couldn't take the bed with my injuries, and ended up by her threatening
to knock me out if i didn't take the bed. i disagreed and... everything went
black?!~
Looking frantically for something to wear (besides a pair of pink pajama
bottoms borrowed from Setsuna) Grey realized something very very important.
Setsuna Meiou didn't bluff.
--------
Usagi suppressed a yawn. They'd done everything but drain the spring and
never found a trace of Grey. Two hours they'd gone over it. No sign, which
meant it was likely he had escaped or gotten kidnapped.
Old hat really. Guys who associated with the Sailor Senshi were *always*
getting kidnapped, turned into youma, targetted *by* youma, or having their
energy drained. Heck, look how many times things like that happened to Naru!
Usagi failed to supress the next yawn.
"Oneechan, you're getting all baggy-eyed," Shingo reported, making a face.
Usagi shrugged, feeling something odd in the air but unable to tell what.
Shingo looked disappointed but then that old brother-sister sparring had
been mostly absent for over a year now.
Usagi was just glad that at least it wasn't Mamo-chan being kidnapped this
time.
---------
Setsuna ignored the panic in Grey's eyes. If he were more certain of himself
or the relationship he had with her, she would engage in some good natured
teasing.
As it was she would go easy and gently, as one would handle a spooked
animal. It was easier to coax him, and he'd never gotten into the games of
dominance or one-upsmanship that some guys had been into. Or at least Nebula
had never been, and Setsuna saw a lot of Nebula in this incarnation.
"Excuse me, Grey-ch.. SAN. There's a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that
should fit you. As it is I've got some business to take care of, do you mind
locking up?" Setsuna listened to his fumbling acquiescence but her mind was
already racing ahead. There were two individuals she needed to speak with.
She'd have to call and leave messages to meet later before they left for
school. Ah, a busy day it promised to be.
---------
Minako, or Mineko as she was currently in catgirl mode, was confused.
Her mother had turned out to be (now that Minako was revealed to be Sailor
Cheetah) *against* the engagement. In fact, she now wanted her "little girl"
to go to a temple for purrification. Errr, no. All she had to do was get
near her iinazuke and she was purring. Purification. Then enrolled in a nice
school somewhere where they didn't have youma or sailorsuited warriors of
love and justice, etc, etc.
Her *father* had argued extensively and passionately at the other end of
things. Mineko was *already* involved. And as Mineko had already been
through two hours of a Shinto exorcism without any more effect than
irritability from having paper wards stuck to her for said period of time,
there was no reason to think Mineko would be seperated from Minako by a
Buddhist or Christian ceremony, was there? Mineko Aino might be the fast and
furrious Sailor Cheetah, but she had a fiance who was already understanding
of such things. And how many Japanese boys would tolerate an engagement to
someone hairier than they were?
So the argument had broken out and continued for most of a day and showed no
sign of anything being resolved soon.
Now her mother was checking out schools in Australia and Switzerland. Her
father was telling her to elope. Her mother had almost backed off her
position when her father had mentioned that Cheetahs were an endangered
species and that they had litters. So Minako might have between four and six
kits at a time. THAT had almost had Minako taking her mother's stance.
Switzerland didn't sound nearly so bad for once.
On the one hand, Grey-chan was nice. Moving to America wasn't as big a
concern for her, she could already speak the language and there was a chance
she could break into music *there* instead of Japan. Not as an idol singer,
but maybe into pop music. Why she could be the next Elvis Parsley! She had a
chance at him, which would break Danburite's curse of never being threatened
with a choice of love over duty. He was *still* the reincarnation of Basalt,
the Knight of Duty. As her father had pointed out, this was a guy who could
relate to her and accept her no matter what weirdness came down with her
current crimefighting activities.
On the other hand, she had friends - the Senshi whom she loved dearly (not
like the hentai press speculations!) and duties to protect her Princess.
While Serenity might have cancelled those obligations out by removing the
Sailor Venus identity, she had made those oaths and bonds in good faith.
Even without being Sailor Venus and the ability to contribute as part of the
Sailor Senshi, these were all dear friends whom she'd miss greatly. If she
went to Queen Serenity, apologized, and promised not to question her orders
again, Minako was relatively sure she'd be reinstated as a member of the
Senshi and her werecheetah abilities negated. She could return to being
Sailor Venus, beautiful soldier of love and justice!
On the other hand again, privately, she could admit the idea of being the
star of a smaller group had some appeal. American superheroes were unlike
the sentai teams of Japan, but it *could* work out. She was calling herself
Sailor Cheetah, a little costume change and she could be Quickgold or
something, and her sidekick Grey. Batman and Wondergirl, Supergirl and
Robin, Abbot and Costello, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Cheetah and Catboy!
She could do it! She could have a boyfriend, be a costumed superpowered
crimefighter, graduate (everyone knew the academic standards in American
high schools were pathetic), and pursue her singing career! Or even get into
NASA! Couldn't NASA use an astronaut with werecheetah strength and
durability? A singing sensation superhero space shuttle astronaut!
Or...
Minako deliberately shifted back to human and let out a deep breath. She was
*very* confused by all this.
If only Grey-chan had been cute. It would have been a no-brainer then.
--------
Setsuna watched from a distance. The age gap between herself and Nebula's
current incarnation made this difficult. Still the competition was stacked
up nicely.
Her main competition was Mineko Aino, and Setsuna felt quite a bit of
sympathy for the girl. If she lost to Minako/Mineko - she could bear it. In
almost every future she'd foreseen prior to losing her Sailor Pluto
transformation, Minako Aino had never freed herself from Danburite's curse.
Even in those futures where one or another of the Senshi had found love, it
was never the Venus Princess. (Usually it turned out to be Ami who had a
life outside the guard, though she'd seen a few futures where Rei and
Yuuichiro had turned into a couple.) Even trysts with her own gender had
been foiled by the curse.
No, Setsuna wouldn't be completely unhappy if Minako Aino wised up and
sought to claim Grey Shard's heart. He could do a lot worse himself, and it
was quite likely that his seriousness would compliment her carefree
attitude. Enough in common to relate, enough different not to compete.
Further back in this competition was the samurai girl. Setsuna was far from
an idiot and had seen the way he had looked at the proper and dignified
Sakura Shinguichi. Setsuna *was* fairly observant and had seen the
considering way that Sakura had looked at Grey when she had thought no one
was looking. She *was* quite pretty, and had a poise and mysterious attitude
to her that seemed likely to draw Grey in. Still, Setsuna wasn't quite sure
how to place the samurai and her relationship to Grey, would either of them
be good for the other?
Even further back, the handmaidens Phobos and Deimos. Yet these too could
Setsuna feel sympathy for. Bound to an unkind fate where they were reborn as
mere ravens, serving their mistress Rei Hino as they had served the Mars
Princess. If they had a chance to be heroes of their own merit, Setsuna
thought they'd do well, and tying their own stars to that of Basalt/Grey
would do for a start on that path.
She, herself, she placed somewhere between Mineko and Serenity.
The others, the ninja and her fellow Senshi, were unlikely. Serenity, also
unlikely. Basalt had been forgiving in that there were few hard feelings,
but would never extend his trust again after it had been abused. The only
chance Serenity would have would be either to prove that she would never
dismiss him again even at need (*how* Serenity could do this was uncertain)
or to re-invoke duties and oaths and force him to stand again as her
Consort.
If THAT happened, Setsuna felt it unlikely that Basalt's heart would ever
heal. There would be cold duty and he would fulfill those duties, in the
manner of a soldier who held duty and personal honor in the highest regard.
He would act the part, no doubt, and go discharge his duties with his usual
competence.
Setsuna would rather see the handmaidens marry Grey. She'd rather see USAGI
marry Grey. Well, maybe not that. Even if they weren't related in this life,
that was sort of creepy. And possibly not that albino ninja. But just about
anyone else on the fiancee list was fair game before she'd watch Basalt go
through THAT level of pain.
It was time to interview the front runners. If she herself was not chosen,
it was needful to find the one who could best heal his heart.
She was an expert on time. And time was running out.
===========
OMAKE OMAKe OMAkE OMaKE OmAKE oMAKE omake
"An Ultimate Technique?"
Genma nodded to Soun. "Yes. I had considered the Catfist, supposedly an
unbeatable technique which allowed the practitioner to fight with feline
agility and speed."
Akane frowned, unsuccessfully hiding her jealousy at the thought of learning
a special manuever like that.
"Unfortunately," Genma continued, "the next page not only described the idea
of training someone in that technique as a moron, but pointed out that the
technique is easily defeated by using indirect methods such as throwing a
cat toy out."
"Ah, I see," Soun nodded wisely.
"I considered training Ranma in 'Hyuri's Fury' - transforming him into an
unstoppable berserker," continued Genma again. "However, that technique also
has its flaws." Genma didn't state that his main reason for not teaching
that technique to Ranma was that most likely Ranma would be guilty of
patricide eventually. Which would seriously put a crimp in his father's
plans of living a comfortable and indolent retirement.
"I see," repeated Soun.
"There were many 'Ultimate Techniques' that I considered teaching Ranma.
Many were 'Instant Kill' methods like the Hokuto Shin Ken or Shiva's Touch.
The problem with those was that I couldn't find the current practitioners of
such techniques, much less uncover anything better than a first hand account
of having seen the results of the technique."
Soun nodded. This *still* didn't explain why Ranma was not present.
"There were evasion techniques like the Instantaneous Teleport and the
Shadowleap, but those evaded me as well. There were hints and rumors of
methods to awaken one's full chi potential, the power of magic, or psychic
talents within a disciple." Genma sighed deeply and tried to look stoic and
dignified.
Kasumi thought that Genma looked constipated and made a note to get some
high fiber foods.
"I tracked down rumors of strange and esoteric martial arts manuevers. The
'Hadoken', 'Limbic Kai', 'Drop Dead Gorgeous', 'Soul Fist', 'Sarcophogus
Surprise', and many others. Some I was able to have Ranma learn, and add to
the boy's arsenal. We travelled to Tibet and India where he studied under
masters of chi."
Soun interrupted eagerly. "Wait a moment. Did you learn these methods
yourself?"
"Uhm, no, actually. All of the various sensei refused to show me the secret
of their craft, and one of them used some manuever on Ranma so that he would
only reveal those secrets to a worthy heir."
Nabiki snorted. Well, from what she had seen so far of her father's friend,
she could see why some martial arts master would be reluctant to show Genma
their secrets. Ranma though must be pretty special or at least promising for
them to confide in his son.
"So did you succeed in teaching him an Ultimate Technique?" Soun pressed.
"Well, that would depend on what you mean by an Ultimate Technique..."
hedged Genma.
"An Ultimate Technique, also called a Combo, a Hissatsu Waza, a Finishing
Move, or a Special Manuever, is either a single manuever which bypasses the
target's defenses, or (more often) is actually a set of related moves which
are a next stage in martial arts," recited Kasumi with her eyes closed. She
read a lot. "They are as advanced above a regular martial art such as judo
as a judo master is above an untrained person. Often the Ultimate Technique
carries a price - either in difficulty in acquiring the technique, pain and
suffering in learning the technique, special bloodlines or ceremonies to
even begin learning the technique, mental instability or insanity caused by
the technique, demonic or divine possession, quests, an Epic Fate, or some
other great hardship which is laid upon the practitioner's karma."
Everyone spent a moment staring at Kasumi as she finished.
"Yes, well," Genma began.
There was a knocking at the front door. Nabiki brightened immediately and
began running towards it. This could be Ranma at last.
"Hello, are... you... Ranma?!" Nabiki stared at the tall, muscular, handsome
boy. No, not handsome. He was drop dead gorgeous!
The boy sighed deeply, reached down to the fallen girl, and used a pressure
point manuever to restart her heart. "Yeah, I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about
this."
To: metroanime@mindspring.com
Subject: asd22
Date: Monday, August 06, 2001 8:44 PM
A Soldier's Duty, chapter 22
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi
"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you
can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people
spend it for you." -Carl Sandburg
DISCLAIMER: Naoko Takeuchi and other authors created the playground, i'm
just messing with the equipment.
---------
Grey, the reincarnated Basalt - soldier of an ancient magical kingdom,
slowly crawled his way to consciousness.
"He doesn't appear to have much life energy," said a woman's voice, though
with an oddly hollow quality.
"How the heck do you drain life energy anyway?" That was a stereotypical
bimbo voice.
Cracking eyes that seemed to weigh about as much as a mini-van, Grey tried
to look around without being obvious. People were strung up in thick white
webbing. Most of whom he knew.
The girl landing with the dark wings he did *not* know.
"I am Sailor Lead Crow and I want to thank you for capturing my targets."
Lead Crow held up a braceleted wrist as she spoke. "I think I'll show my
appreciation by showing you a trick."
"Silky! Bunny!" Some *other* woman came running out of the hallway. "Stop
her, quick! The energy readings are..."
Lead Crow sent two energy balls spinning towards the newcomer.
"Mimette-sama!" "Mistress!" The two "youma" called out as the energy balls
struck the newcomer.
*PUM!* *PUM!* *SHOOM!*
Grey's eyes opened involuntarily larger. A flower had appeared over
Mimette's head and a glowing crystal popped out as the flower unfurled. He
couldn't help but think that this looked incredibly silly.
"Ah, Phobos & Deimos, the lucky twins, handmaidens of Mars." Lead Crow
stopped gloating for a moment. "'Handmaidens of Mars' - sounds like a cheap
paperback romance. Oh well. I'll collect your Star Seeds as well."
Grey watched as the glowing gem faded into a black gloss while this Lead
Crow person stalked forward.
*SHOOOOSH!* Black squirming tentacles covered Mimette.
The portion of Grey that was the old soldier Basalt, aka Nebula, began
assessing things in a calm rational manner.
( ) Allies - currently unable to assist, those present were wrapped in
spider webbing.
( ) Enemies - two youma, one girl in a transformation matrix, and a Senshi
who was quite obviously "Turned". Power level ranging from High to Extreme.
( ) Physical combat - laughable. He'd had arrows lodged in him, been
attacked, beaten on, and spent entirely too much time going beyond his
limits of late. He'd need a few days of rest just to recover from the last
few days. Even if one discounted the difference in power levels, there
wasn't a way to make it even a good try.
( ) Knight Of Duty abilities - gone. Queen Serenity had meant to the seal
them off, but it looked like she had overdone it. That *had* always been one
of Sera's bad points. That and taking the wrong advice to heart way too
often.
(x) Magic - Rei's new shikigami had stated that he could use "clerical"
magic. Magic that flowed from another source and built upon a protective or
healing area of expertise. Forcing it didn't work, but letting it flow based
on need had worked during those rescues. Maybe...
"Prisoner no longer be,
Sailor Mars now be free!"
Rei gulped air gratefully and wheezed out her transformation phrase. She
hadn't been able to force much air past her gag.
As Sailor Mars, she could deal with spider webs rather easily. Even a near
miss caused them to shrivel away. Makoto yelped before she hit the water
then spent some time coughing rather than transforming.
Black tentacles evaporated and Mimette stood in a seifuku. "Sailor
Psychowitch!"
Grey managed to prop himself up to a sitting position and tried another.
"Freedom of Movement" had worked fairly well, so maybe an augmentation
spell? Names of spells went through his head briefly and he chose one.
Muttering a phrase over and over, he began "Prayer" - which gave bonuses to
his allies and impeded his opponents at the same time.
Makoto spat water out and called out her transformation phrase. There was a
large sizzling noise and Sailor Jupiter transformed, but was a little crispy
around the edges. She made a note to get out of the water next time she
transformed.
Usagi spat spider webs and called out *her* transformation phrase.
Neither Ayane nor Kasumi had transformation phrases. Ayane merely said
something nasty and unpleasant in German (which she felt was a superior
language for cussing) while Kasumi merely went into a coldly logical mode
(handy for ninja warriors) and started pulling throwing knives out of her
sleeves. Then both temporarily fell over as they had been standing in the
water when Makoto had pumped an electrical charge into it.
Sailor Lead Crow sent two spinning energy balls towards the twins.
"Honey BOOMERANG!" A flying metal shape stopped one of the balls.
"Pulse laser!" An energy beam slammed into the other energy ball.
Sailor Lead Crow stepped back, looking around. "Interesting, but
insufficient to stop *me*. This collection of Star Seeds will only prove to
Galaxia that I can succeed where Tin Cat failed."
"Evil deserves no chance to prove itself," said a normally blonde woman
(though currently her hair was red and considerably shorter) in a tight
costume as she landed and formed a sword out of thin air. "Ai no senshi,
Cutey Honey!"
Setsuna landed next to Honey, and smirked as she brought her staff up.
"Nuku Nuku know sexy too!" Nuku said, landing nearby.
"Fools, you cannot stand against Sailor Lead Crooaggghhkkkk!" The Sailor
found that leaving one's mouth open for an extended period while ninjas
prepared throwing weapons was not a good thing. While it didn't actually
cause her any damage, she had a barbed shuriken stuck in her mouth now.
"Sailor Psych HEY!"
With that the melee was joined. With this many players, and no set positions
for any of the groups involved, any organization fell apart within seconds.
Free for all, general melee, brawl. Whatever you want to call it, it's a
general fight sequence where rules and strategies fall by the wayside.
Missile weapons and ranged attacks are generally of little or no use in such
chaos.
It was made worse by the number of sides in this battle: not only was there
two youma (actually one was a Rabbit Spirit and the other was a Spider
Spirit), there was their former mistress - now a Farce (or Phage or whatever
other tag you wanted to use) who was indiscriminately attacking everything,
there was Sailor Lead Crow (still choking on a throwing star and trying to
get it out of her mouth), there was a short pixie trying to get a clear shot
at a boy who was mumbling on the floor, there was a skulking figure in the
shadows, and there were two handmaidens and three Senshi assisted by a
blonde android and a green haired Ifurita former-Senshi.
Oh, and there was a catgirl cyborg (Nuku Nuku) who was trying to play with
the big butterfly(Haruka).
Igneous, aka Sehan, used one of his new attacks to give himself some cover
so that he could remove the former Consort. (Step one in his plans to become
the new Consort.) "Death Shroud!" A thick cloud of dust and grit formed that
swept from the onsen to completely engulf the ryokan. Then Igneous
discovered that there was a major drawback to his special attack. He
couldn't see through it either.
Setsuna whipped her Power Key Staff through a quick circling action.
"Technique acquired, though it seems of little actual use. Visibility less
than two feet." Then, peering through the dust, she started trying to figure
out what was that shape glimpsed over there. She built up power and slammed
an energy bolt into it when she determined it was *not* a Senshi. The sound
of a tree falling was sufficient evidence that she'd just have to go to HTH
attacks.
Phobos and Deimos dodged wildly as someone tried to bring a tree down on
them. As they had a poor combat potential, the two quickly decided they
needed somewhere to hide. The problem was where and how.
Sailor Mars had seen the dark cloud move in, and knew immediately that this
was cover for an attack. Using her spiritual abilities, she determined that
the main threat was right *there!* "Burning... MANDALA!"
Sailor Jupiter shrieked as one of the youma attacked her with flaming bolts.
Well, that had given her a direction at least, and that was clearly one of
the bad guys. "Jupiter Thunder Clap!"
Sailor Moon yelped as lightning slammed her into a post. Then something
unusual happened. Sailor Moon got an idea. ~Waitaminute. My Healing
Escalation doesn't hurt non-youma. So if I use a Moon Spiral Heart
Attack...~ Sailor Moon began winding up for her attack thinking that she
could hit everything in the ryokan without worrying about "friendly fire."
------
A black cat yawned. "Y'know, Celeste-baby, this test of Grey-boy's is, what
is the modern parlance? Screwed, skunked, blown, shredded, ka'kul'vari,
potatoed, yogoreru..."
Celeste winced. "Well..."
"in the street slang popular with the Tarakne (aka the mercenary
followers/descendents of Tarak) they would say 'the plan has been unmade'
while those of that quaint Krynn place would say 'looks like the Tinker
Gnomes have been playing with the plumbing.'"
"I know." Celeste groaned. "Ami and Amieow - the two sides of Ami Mizuno.
The studyholic who declares she has no time for romance, and the playful and
affectionate girl who is both shy and passionate. One side rejected him, so
both sides are out."
"You don't consider that interference from the Wizard?" A green eye opened
to regard Celeste. "This whole thing was to be hands off, you know. Even *I*
agreed to this stipulation, and you *know* how hard it is for me to keep
from meddling."
"I know." Celeste dropped her head in her hands.
"...And don't think I don't know where you inserted one Rei Ayanami and one
Asuka Langley Soryuu." Toltiir sniffed. "It became perfectly obvious once
'Ayane' started cussing in German and 'Kasumi' was even more obvious."
"Well, they *did* have a point." Celeste pointed out. "Of course, if they
fail, they'll return to their original timeline. Rei dies, becomes Rei III
and a mass murderer before her death. Asuka dies eventually from
malnutrition and lack of medical care."
Toltiir considered protesting the change of subject, but decided against it.
Besides, he thought he could find a happier timeline to sneak the two into.
Which was part of what a god of mischief was all about. "What about Maya
Ibuki, Ritsuko Ikagi, and Maya Tono? For that matter if Misato doesn't
succeed?"
Celeste nodded and brought up a screen. "Maya Ibuki and Ritsuko Ikagi get
inserted back into their mainline Evangelion timeline. Which, of course,
means they get turned into LCL and all *that* sort of thing. Maya Tono was
actually Eira, a drow slave talented in music. She'll end up relocated to
the Promenade under Waterdeep, Eilistraee has uses for some non-evil drow
over there. We were going to set her up at 'Heart Of Darkest Chocolate' but
they're apparently shutting down."
Toltiir nodded. Eilistraee, the child of Corellon Larethian and Araushnee
(the goddess who eventually succumbed to her darker side and became Lolth)
had a tough row to hoe. Any allies she got were dearly appreciated. Maybe
Sailor Pocky ought to head out that way.
"If Misato doesn't succeed, then she'll be inserted into a Ranma timeline
where she'll play Genma's replacement." Celeste checked. "Yeah, one of those
timelines where someone else is in the Genma role and trying to teach Ranma
to be the best martial artist, etc, etc. Word came down that there was a use
for her."
Toltiir considered the timeline in question. Genma dead, having tripped and
fallen into a lion cage while trying to train Ranma in the Catfist? A
Captain in the Japanese Self Defense Force ending up with custody of the
boy? Hmmmm. She could end up taking him with her to study over in Germany,
end up engaged to Asuka, then meet up with this albino Chinese Amazon...
Hmmmm.
"In any case, it doesn't much matter. About Ami & Amieow, after all. The
timeline which had Ami as Grey's childhood friend and lover ended up merging
with a more mainstream timeline. So Ami would have ended up growing up older
and alone, or with Makoto as the Senshi end up pairing off since they can't
associate with anyone of lesser stature."
Toltiir snorted. He didn't care about trivial things like that, but the sad
fact was that most Crystal Tokyo/Neo-Silver Millenium/Utopian Kingdom
"futures" didn't have a lot of humor in them. Banishing all impurities from
people's hearts and the like so that everyone knew their place and happily
worked their part and contributed to the greater whole? Yech! Try telling a
joke to someone in one of those timelines and they'd just glassily stare at
you with that vague smile on their face. Perfection was nice to visit, but
who the heck wanted to live there?
Celeste stopped talking, confident she'd changed the subject enough.
"You forget, Celeste, I'm an Elder god - one of the Aramarian pantheon who
has been around for more than one cycle of multiverses." Toltiir started
grooming a paw, his voice emanating from the air nearby while his tongue was
otherwise occupied. "Grey's primary aspect is an Aramarian *dragon* - a
silver one. And I know full well the lore of silver dragons." The cat looked
up from the grooming to raise an eyebrow at Celeste. "And that he drew spell
points from me, making him a cleric. Though a pantheon cleric instead of a
single-deity servant as he also drew from Bast and Hephaestus just to name
two. As soon as we hammer out the details, and cats-up on the requirements,
we'll have to get bast to him about the deal and see what sort of mischief
en-tails."
"Well, it's not like you could do any better," said Celeste.
Toltiir smirked and winked. "That sounded like a challenge."
------
"Everyone stop shooting," Setsuna called out into the murk. Naturally she
was hit by a Burning Mandala, a Thunder Crash, two shuriken, and a
"psychoburst". Picking herself back up, she heard her own voice say.
"Technique acquired: Elemental fire/spirit multishot attack. Technique
acquired: elemental lightning discharge. Technique acquired: chi charged
projectile weapons. Technique Acquired: telekinetic bullet. Ouch."
Triggered by *that* series of attacks, another series began. Lightning
slammed into Sailor Mars, coinciding with the fireburst that Mars had used
to knock Ayane into a boulder.
Ayane's firebomb exploded, managing to knock down both Phobos and Deimos.
Nuku Nuku continued her singleminded pursuit of the big butterfly. Haruka
had given up trying to hit Grey with a "World Shaking" in order to escape
being played with by the big kittygirl.
Bunny's "Raging Libido" attack had managed to hit Silky, who had been so
distracted she had been pounded into the ground by Sailor
Psychowitch/Mimette.
"Who's next?!" Sailor Psychowitch yelled into the silence.
Which, of course, was the typical sort of stupid mistake that youma had been
making for years.
Sailor Psychowitch was hit simultaneously by Kasumi's shuriken (the feather
shaped ones she had gotten the idea for while watching an old Gatchaman
episode), Sailor Jupiter's lightning, and Setsuna's "high impact beam". The
first attack did little damage, the lightning even less, but the latter one
reduced her threat potential to people tripping over the smouldering crater.
Setsuna stilled her breathing again, listening to movement after the
explosion. Things had settled into a pattern. Strike, move, listen, then
strike when you had a reasonable chance of determining that your target
wasn't an ally.
Cutey Honey changed to her armored form just before some shuriken rattled
off the iron. "Cut it out! It's ME!" She was reasonably sure that shuriken
(even if they were shaped like feathers) meant one of the ninja.
Sailor Lead Crow turned towards the helpful identification and sped off.
There was a dim shape that had to be one of these heroes. Another Star Seed
for Galaxia! *PUM!* *PUM!*
Cutey Honey staggered under some strange energy attack, then turned to deal
with this threat. She was wearing a sailor suit, so was this another of the
Senshi's allies? Or maybe not. She thought she'd met all of them, except
that Neptune and Uranus.
Sailor Lead Crow came to a halt. No flower? No Star Seed? Did this enemy
have some defense? Galaxia would have to be alerted to this new factor! She
spread her wings, ready to fly out of this cloud and return to her mistress.
-------
Rotating her staff around, Setsuna noticed a pair spread wings of some
really big bird. Honey didn't have wings (that she knew of). Sailor Mars
didn't have wings. Neither did Sailor Jupiter, the two ninjas, or Phobos and
Deimos anymore. Grey was currently mumbling some spell and she knew this
because she was standing protectively over him. Sailor Lead Crow *did* have
wings. "Target acquired..." She'd been trying all sorts of things with her
basic energy blast: altering it from a pulse laser to a beam, to an impact
bolt, rapid fire, build up and big blast all around her (it had been an
abandoned building out in the mountains, she'd seen a roach and freaked a
little), and a wide area blast. (She'd had trouble sleeping that first night
she'd turned into an Ifurita.)
Smiling slightly, Setsuna thought it appropriate to whisper her attack. She
hadn't met her younger self since the change and therefore been able to
relearn the "Dead Scream" attack.
Setsuna felt a danger coming closer, whipped her staff back without looking
and bonked someone who was trying to stab Grey in the back. She wasn't
inclined to let such things happen with *her* around. Where was she? Oh
yeah. "laser... beam!" ~Hmmm. Needs work. I'll have to work on more dramatic
attack names.~
Hmmm. Fog was clearing and the shape was still moving. ~Let's see...~ "XRAY
LASER!" ~oooo! She *felt* that one all right!~
-------
She'd had to interrupt her attack twice, mainly because people kept shooting
at her. She just KNEW Rei had done that on purpose. Rei was so mean!
Sailor Moon came to the end of her windup. "Moon Spiral Heart... Attack!"
The pink glow flared out, spreading first in a dome, then becoming a heart
shape that surrounded the entire ryokan.
Sailor Mars picked herself off the ground, eyes narrowed as the magic washed
over her. ~Why the heck am I at an onsen, anyway?~
Resting against a post, Sailor Jupiter wondered what had happened. It almost
felt as if she were waking up from a long nap.
Ayane, Kasumi, Phobos, Deimos, and Honey felt the magic washing against
them. Only Kasumi was currently conscious and she didn't know what this was,
only that it was some kind of blanket attack. She flipped to the top of the
ryokan, and from there outside the area of effect. She hoped this wasn't
hard radiation of some kind.
Setsuna braced herself against the assault, gritting her teeth and holding
the Power Key Staff in a death grip. She would shield herself and the boy
under her from this assault. There was no *way* she was ready to go back to
being Sailor Pluto and laboring under the geas to protect the Crystal Tokyo
timeline. Sailor Moon was trying to reinstate the status quo, to banish
their opponents and cut through enchantments, to heal their side's wounded.
Setsuna Meiou wasn't ready to relinquish her newfound freedom.
Sailor Moon frowned, it felt like something was pushing back at several
points where she was sending the attack. She immediately began another
windup. This time for sure.
Phobos and Deimos stirred, found out they were ravens again, and were
understandably quite upset. Phobos cawed a lot and Deimos sulked.
Igneous woke up, saw his target, apparently unguarded, and started looking
around for his knife again.
Queen Serenity, checking up on Igneous' progress, saw this about to occur
and started her own windup.
Ayane, whom most people would agree was *not* a very nice person, groaned
and picked herself up out of the crater she'd made. She also wondered why
she had this strange urge to bake cookies and try to be upbeat and
optimistic.
Doctor Johnny Fever(aka John Caravella), hiding in his room, realized he was
cleaner and more sober than he'd been in years. He proceeded to leave the
ryokan in order to rectify the latter of the two conditions.
Arthur Carlson, Maytag repairman and former executive of a Cincinnati radio
station, decided that Tokyo was nearly as crazy a place as his brief stay in
Flagstaff Arizona had been. Except that no ancient Native American ghost
warriors attacked major appliances for no apparent reason in Tokyo. At least
that he'd seen so far. Once again he experienced a pang of nostalgia for his
days at WKRP, which had turned out to be one of the more sane periods in his
life.
Setsuna felt the magic building up around her, reached down with her left
hand, grabbed Grey's arm, and flew straight up at a high rate of speed. At
his squeak and suddenly wrapping himself around her, she realized something
she hadn't before: which was that he had been in the onsen. Naked. They were
currently alone at a height of 11,000 feet, well out of the dust cloud that
had made the onsen battle such a mess. Setsuna blushed brightly enough for
her face to qualify as an anti-collision light.
Which was actually a good thing, as the two of them slowly turned their
heads to see a large plane go by not too far away. Close enough that they
could see all the faces pressed up against windows as they hovered there,
water still dripping...
Grey, *not* able to fly, clutched onto Setsuna as if she were the only thing
keeping him from falling 11,000 feet to become so much bug splat on the
ground below. (She was.)
Flares of pink and silver light, lightning and fire, and explosions in the
ryokan below announced the battle was being renewed. Setsuna considered it
briefly. She wasn't detecting any signs of youma, and all of the attack
signatures were identified as being Silver Millenium oriented. Conclusion:
the good guys were shooting at each other. "C'mon, Grey-ch... SAN. I think
you've had enough dating for tonight, let's go home."
Grey nodded, not aware he'd just agreed to spend the night at Setsuna's
home.
----------
Mamoru Chiba sat back from his perch at the Hino shrine and watched the
moon. It was nice to be able to just sit back and appreciate the beauty for
once. No ancient evils out to devour mankind. No worrying about a Menace
From Beyond The Stars. Their current enemy lacked the armies of youma, much
less something like Metal'la as a backup. No monster turning up in the wee
hours of each every night. So far the only really bad one had been that
Virtual Beast.
A shape flitting across the moon caused the sometimes Tuxedo Mask to lose
that train of thought.
That had been Setsuna flying through the sky, a naked boy with *very* pale
skin clinging to her.
Mamoru blinked twice, slowly got up, then went to the front of the shrine.
(Jangle jangle) (clap clap clap) (rub rub) "Better him than me. VERY better
him than me."
--------
"Tanaka," said the woman, bowing politely.
Tiger Tanaka swirled the wine around in his glass idly, then made a slight
gesture towards the other chair at the table. "Do join me. It's simple fare,
but then the doctors tell me to stay away from the fancier stuff nowadays."
"Hmmm, fish and rice. Why am I not surprised?" The woman plopped herself
down into the indicated chair. "No sake?"
"Doctors," indicated Tanaka with some distaste. "I think I've had enough of
this battle, old friend. It is just unfortunate that none of my personnel
are ready to fulfill my role in this."
"The days of derring do, of spies who actually go out and spy, living by
quick wit like some swashbuckler of an earlier era, have passed." The woman
poked at the fish without any enthusiasm. "The days where your ninja could
pass like ghosts through the modern world faded in the 70s, and now are
growing ever more distant. Spies nowadays are computer operators, former
hackers and engineers, who sift electronic ghosts and streams of data to
find a pattern. You, my friend, are a relic of a time the world would like
to deny existed at all."
"When I pass," admitted Tanaka, "it is most likely an accountant will take
over the post. With the Cold War ashes, and Chinese security what it is, my
agency is now seen more as an expense than as useful. We are left with only
the shadows of former glories in this modern era. As our society has become
more technologically dependent, our society has itself become more like a
machine - cold and impersonal."
"Nature itself is often cold and impersonal," responded the woman. "As well
as thoroughly messy and frequently painful. Still, this is not what I came
here for, old friend."
"Ah, well, I'm old." Tanaka chuckled. "Old men are *supposed* to ramble, you
know. I'm entitled."
The woman nodded in response.
"Is it *that* time, then?" Tanaka raised an eyebrow. "I thought it wasn't
for another seven years."
"The beginnings of the end have already occurred. There are less than five
days remaining." The woman said simply. "It's about to become the busy
season."
Tiger frowned and pushed his plate away, his appetite fled. "Well, it
appears we will be meeting again soon."
"Soon enough." Mistress Death sighed deeply as if the weight of the world
were on her shoulders. "Too soon. I have walked with you most of your life,
Tanaka-san. The next time we meet will be the last."
-----------
Igneous ran, plans already forming in his head. Let the Queen cool down.
Then find a way to explain to the Queen that he had been serving her own
interests while shifting the blame elsewhere. Maybe to Sailor Pluto, since
she was already out of favor. Play to the Queen's jealousy and pride, tweak
her desires for the Kingdom. He'd be forgiven, it would just take some work.
And the eventual prize would be all the sweeter.
Igneous had always had an odd talent. He could lie, even under a truthspell
from the Imperial Crystal, simply by believing his own lies. When the Queen
checked, he would be telling the truth at least as far as his own mind was
concerned.
A glowing red dot stopped the running Igneous. Someone was here? On a lonely
mountain road near a ryokan that was still lit by flashes of Silver
Millenium attacks?
"Well, bub, the Queen gave you a second chance, and you blew that one too.
Do you know why she won't give you a third chance?"
Igneous barely kept his knees from knocking and a cold sweat poured off of
him, filling the night air with a sour smell. "It's not my fault..."
Obsidian flicked his cigarette out onto the road where it sent little sparks
floating briefly out. "Sehan, Sehan, Sehan. You can lie to the Queen, you
can lie to yourself. Lie to me? Not a healthy thing to do."
Igneous began looking around. He could still escape. He could recover from
this turn of events. He could hide where no one would expect him, like
Botswana.
Obsidian walked slowly forward, little smile in place. "I just remembered
one of my special attacks, Sehan. Look at the bright side, in another
thousand years maybe you'll be reborn again."
"No! I... please?" Igneous, aka Sehan, made another mistake. He turned to
run, figuring that as Obsidian was a hero, he wouldn't shoot someone in the
back.
------
The fight at the ryokan stopped as the dust finally died down and a
bloodcurdling scream could be heard echoing from the mountains.
"What was that?!" Sailor Jupiter asked nervously, referring to the scream as
well as the gurgling way it cut off.
Usagi's pigtails floated up from the hot spring where she'd submerged
herself, hiding instinctively when that scream had rung out. They were
followed a moment later by Usagi's head splashing up, currently an
interesting shade of scarlet.
"We don't know," said Serenity, looking down at where her long flowing dress
had become waterlogged. Basalt had been right, long ago, when he'd mentioned
the typical court gowns as being less than practical outside that court. Now
that the Royal Court consisted of a conference room and set of suites at a
Holiday Inn, it was becoming obvious that she would have to put away the
trappings of court for now. "Though it sounded like someone went off on
their own initiative and decided to remove a threat. Well, We shall speak to
the old wolf later."
Sailor Mars grumbled. "Well, so much for *this* date. What a night."
Nuku ran by, still pursuing a little pixie.
The pixie flew up now that the cloud was no longer obscuring vision, turned
and summoned her magic. "Let's see how *you* like this!"
The energy blast shot past Nuku Nuku, who simply dodged, bounced off a roof,
and finally caught the butterfly.
Two crows managed a startled cawing noise as the burst hit them.
Ayane limped off, not wanting anyone to see how much she'd gotten burned by
that pink light. It didn't show *physically* other than a lot of red skin,
but it still hurt.
Bounding to the roof, and then down to the top of a ceremonial rock jutting
from the water, Kasumi looked around, blinking. "Say, wasn't this your date
with Shard-san, Hino-san?"
"Yes," said Rei, still wondering why none of her dates went as she'd
planned. Trying to date Mamoru hadn't worked out. Now she had really messed
up. And just *look* what had happened to Phobos and Deimos now!
Kasumi "So where *is* Shard-san?"
"He's right..." Rei looked about and gasped. The last she had seen of her
date, he had been in the water. "AhhhhhH!"
----------
Dawn in Tokyo.
Michiru stretched happily and began her work. "Ze Hino Shrine, it needs be
tidy, no?" Michiru was *not* amnesiac, which was what Haruka believed. No,
she simply found her current transformation to be oddly acceptable.
Odd, because cleaning and polishing had never been so fulfilling prior to
that transformation. And she also knew that Haruka as a pixie was under
someone else's control. Haruka blamed Shard-san for the current
transformation, despite that it did not fit the boy's modus operandi at all.
Turning her into a French Maid who got turned on by domestic chores? It
*definitely* fit the tactics they'd seen so far of this mysterious Wizard.
Of course, she'd tried to turn into Sailor Neptune, but had wanted to wait
until after everyone was gone. That way if it was embarassing, nobody would
witness it. She had transformed, it *had* been embarassing, and that had
further proved that this enemy had some influence over Haruka.
Either that or Haruka's naughtier impulses had surfaced during those
transformations. Which, come to think of it, was *also* quite likely.
--------
Grey came awake as an arm flopped over his head. He puzzled over it
momentarily. Not *his* arm either. Slender, deeply tanned, dark green polish
on her nails.
Oh. Just Puu-chan. Grey closed his eyes.
Eyes shot back open, followed immediately by a "yeep" and rolling away.
Setsuna?! What the heck?! Where? How?
~Oh yeah, we came back to her place. i insisted she take the bed, i'd take
the futon. Then she had me wind her up again. She started arguing about how
she couldn't take the bed with my injuries, and ended up by her threatening
to knock me out if i didn't take the bed. i disagreed and... everything went
black?!~
Looking frantically for something to wear (besides a pair of pink pajama
bottoms borrowed from Setsuna) Grey realized something very very important.
Setsuna Meiou didn't bluff.
--------
Usagi suppressed a yawn. They'd done everything but drain the spring and
never found a trace of Grey. Two hours they'd gone over it. No sign, which
meant it was likely he had escaped or gotten kidnapped.
Old hat really. Guys who associated with the Sailor Senshi were *always*
getting kidnapped, turned into youma, targetted *by* youma, or having their
energy drained. Heck, look how many times things like that happened to Naru!
Usagi failed to supress the next yawn.
"Oneechan, you're getting all baggy-eyed," Shingo reported, making a face.
Usagi shrugged, feeling something odd in the air but unable to tell what.
Shingo looked disappointed but then that old brother-sister sparring had
been mostly absent for over a year now.
Usagi was just glad that at least it wasn't Mamo-chan being kidnapped this
time.
---------
Setsuna ignored the panic in Grey's eyes. If he were more certain of himself
or the relationship he had with her, she would engage in some good natured
teasing.
As it was she would go easy and gently, as one would handle a spooked
animal. It was easier to coax him, and he'd never gotten into the games of
dominance or one-upsmanship that some guys had been into. Or at least Nebula
had never been, and Setsuna saw a lot of Nebula in this incarnation.
"Excuse me, Grey-ch.. SAN. There's a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that
should fit you. As it is I've got some business to take care of, do you mind
locking up?" Setsuna listened to his fumbling acquiescence but her mind was
already racing ahead. There were two individuals she needed to speak with.
She'd have to call and leave messages to meet later before they left for
school. Ah, a busy day it promised to be.
---------
Minako, or Mineko as she was currently in catgirl mode, was confused.
Her mother had turned out to be (now that Minako was revealed to be Sailor
Cheetah) *against* the engagement. In fact, she now wanted her "little girl"
to go to a temple for purrification. Errr, no. All she had to do was get
near her iinazuke and she was purring. Purification. Then enrolled in a nice
school somewhere where they didn't have youma or sailorsuited warriors of
love and justice, etc, etc.
Her *father* had argued extensively and passionately at the other end of
things. Mineko was *already* involved. And as Mineko had already been
through two hours of a Shinto exorcism without any more effect than
irritability from having paper wards stuck to her for said period of time,
there was no reason to think Mineko would be seperated from Minako by a
Buddhist or Christian ceremony, was there? Mineko Aino might be the fast and
furrious Sailor Cheetah, but she had a fiance who was already understanding
of such things. And how many Japanese boys would tolerate an engagement to
someone hairier than they were?
So the argument had broken out and continued for most of a day and showed no
sign of anything being resolved soon.
Now her mother was checking out schools in Australia and Switzerland. Her
father was telling her to elope. Her mother had almost backed off her
position when her father had mentioned that Cheetahs were an endangered
species and that they had litters. So Minako might have between four and six
kits at a time. THAT had almost had Minako taking her mother's stance.
Switzerland didn't sound nearly so bad for once.
On the one hand, Grey-chan was nice. Moving to America wasn't as big a
concern for her, she could already speak the language and there was a chance
she could break into music *there* instead of Japan. Not as an idol singer,
but maybe into pop music. Why she could be the next Elvis Parsley! She had a
chance at him, which would break Danburite's curse of never being threatened
with a choice of love over duty. He was *still* the reincarnation of Basalt,
the Knight of Duty. As her father had pointed out, this was a guy who could
relate to her and accept her no matter what weirdness came down with her
current crimefighting activities.
On the other hand, she had friends - the Senshi whom she loved dearly (not
like the hentai press speculations!) and duties to protect her Princess.
While Serenity might have cancelled those obligations out by removing the
Sailor Venus identity, she had made those oaths and bonds in good faith.
Even without being Sailor Venus and the ability to contribute as part of the
Sailor Senshi, these were all dear friends whom she'd miss greatly. If she
went to Queen Serenity, apologized, and promised not to question her orders
again, Minako was relatively sure she'd be reinstated as a member of the
Senshi and her werecheetah abilities negated. She could return to being
Sailor Venus, beautiful soldier of love and justice!
On the other hand again, privately, she could admit the idea of being the
star of a smaller group had some appeal. American superheroes were unlike
the sentai teams of Japan, but it *could* work out. She was calling herself
Sailor Cheetah, a little costume change and she could be Quickgold or
something, and her sidekick Grey. Batman and Wondergirl, Supergirl and
Robin, Abbot and Costello, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Cheetah and Catboy!
She could do it! She could have a boyfriend, be a costumed superpowered
crimefighter, graduate (everyone knew the academic standards in American
high schools were pathetic), and pursue her singing career! Or even get into
NASA! Couldn't NASA use an astronaut with werecheetah strength and
durability? A singing sensation superhero space shuttle astronaut!
Or...
Minako deliberately shifted back to human and let out a deep breath. She was
*very* confused by all this.
If only Grey-chan had been cute. It would have been a no-brainer then.
--------
Setsuna watched from a distance. The age gap between herself and Nebula's
current incarnation made this difficult. Still the competition was stacked
up nicely.
Her main competition was Mineko Aino, and Setsuna felt quite a bit of
sympathy for the girl. If she lost to Minako/Mineko - she could bear it. In
almost every future she'd foreseen prior to losing her Sailor Pluto
transformation, Minako Aino had never freed herself from Danburite's curse.
Even in those futures where one or another of the Senshi had found love, it
was never the Venus Princess. (Usually it turned out to be Ami who had a
life outside the guard, though she'd seen a few futures where Rei and
Yuuichiro had turned into a couple.) Even trysts with her own gender had
been foiled by the curse.
No, Setsuna wouldn't be completely unhappy if Minako Aino wised up and
sought to claim Grey Shard's heart. He could do a lot worse himself, and it
was quite likely that his seriousness would compliment her carefree
attitude. Enough in common to relate, enough different not to compete.
Further back in this competition was the samurai girl. Setsuna was far from
an idiot and had seen the way he had looked at the proper and dignified
Sakura Shinguichi. Setsuna *was* fairly observant and had seen the
considering way that Sakura had looked at Grey when she had thought no one
was looking. She *was* quite pretty, and had a poise and mysterious attitude
to her that seemed likely to draw Grey in. Still, Setsuna wasn't quite sure
how to place the samurai and her relationship to Grey, would either of them
be good for the other?
Even further back, the handmaidens Phobos and Deimos. Yet these too could
Setsuna feel sympathy for. Bound to an unkind fate where they were reborn as
mere ravens, serving their mistress Rei Hino as they had served the Mars
Princess. If they had a chance to be heroes of their own merit, Setsuna
thought they'd do well, and tying their own stars to that of Basalt/Grey
would do for a start on that path.
She, herself, she placed somewhere between Mineko and Serenity.
The others, the ninja and her fellow Senshi, were unlikely. Serenity, also
unlikely. Basalt had been forgiving in that there were few hard feelings,
but would never extend his trust again after it had been abused. The only
chance Serenity would have would be either to prove that she would never
dismiss him again even at need (*how* Serenity could do this was uncertain)
or to re-invoke duties and oaths and force him to stand again as her
Consort.
If THAT happened, Setsuna felt it unlikely that Basalt's heart would ever
heal. There would be cold duty and he would fulfill those duties, in the
manner of a soldier who held duty and personal honor in the highest regard.
He would act the part, no doubt, and go discharge his duties with his usual
competence.
Setsuna would rather see the handmaidens marry Grey. She'd rather see USAGI
marry Grey. Well, maybe not that. Even if they weren't related in this life,
that was sort of creepy. And possibly not that albino ninja. But just about
anyone else on the fiancee list was fair game before she'd watch Basalt go
through THAT level of pain.
It was time to interview the front runners. If she herself was not chosen,
it was needful to find the one who could best heal his heart.
She was an expert on time. And time was running out.
===========
OMAKE OMAKe OMAkE OMaKE OmAKE oMAKE omake
"An Ultimate Technique?"
Genma nodded to Soun. "Yes. I had considered the Catfist, supposedly an
unbeatable technique which allowed the practitioner to fight with feline
agility and speed."
Akane frowned, unsuccessfully hiding her jealousy at the thought of learning
a special manuever like that.
"Unfortunately," Genma continued, "the next page not only described the idea
of training someone in that technique as a moron, but pointed out that the
technique is easily defeated by using indirect methods such as throwing a
cat toy out."
"Ah, I see," Soun nodded wisely.
"I considered training Ranma in 'Hyuri's Fury' - transforming him into an
unstoppable berserker," continued Genma again. "However, that technique also
has its flaws." Genma didn't state that his main reason for not teaching
that technique to Ranma was that most likely Ranma would be guilty of
patricide eventually. Which would seriously put a crimp in his father's
plans of living a comfortable and indolent retirement.
"I see," repeated Soun.
"There were many 'Ultimate Techniques' that I considered teaching Ranma.
Many were 'Instant Kill' methods like the Hokuto Shin Ken or Shiva's Touch.
The problem with those was that I couldn't find the current practitioners of
such techniques, much less uncover anything better than a first hand account
of having seen the results of the technique."
Soun nodded. This *still* didn't explain why Ranma was not present.
"There were evasion techniques like the Instantaneous Teleport and the
Shadowleap, but those evaded me as well. There were hints and rumors of
methods to awaken one's full chi potential, the power of magic, or psychic
talents within a disciple." Genma sighed deeply and tried to look stoic and
dignified.
Kasumi thought that Genma looked constipated and made a note to get some
high fiber foods.
"I tracked down rumors of strange and esoteric martial arts manuevers. The
'Hadoken', 'Limbic Kai', 'Drop Dead Gorgeous', 'Soul Fist', 'Sarcophogus
Surprise', and many others. Some I was able to have Ranma learn, and add to
the boy's arsenal. We travelled to Tibet and India where he studied under
masters of chi."
Soun interrupted eagerly. "Wait a moment. Did you learn these methods
yourself?"
"Uhm, no, actually. All of the various sensei refused to show me the secret
of their craft, and one of them used some manuever on Ranma so that he would
only reveal those secrets to a worthy heir."
Nabiki snorted. Well, from what she had seen so far of her father's friend,
she could see why some martial arts master would be reluctant to show Genma
their secrets. Ranma though must be pretty special or at least promising for
them to confide in his son.
"So did you succeed in teaching him an Ultimate Technique?" Soun pressed.
"Well, that would depend on what you mean by an Ultimate Technique..."
hedged Genma.
"An Ultimate Technique, also called a Combo, a Hissatsu Waza, a Finishing
Move, or a Special Manuever, is either a single manuever which bypasses the
target's defenses, or (more often) is actually a set of related moves which
are a next stage in martial arts," recited Kasumi with her eyes closed. She
read a lot. "They are as advanced above a regular martial art such as judo
as a judo master is above an untrained person. Often the Ultimate Technique
carries a price - either in difficulty in acquiring the technique, pain and
suffering in learning the technique, special bloodlines or ceremonies to
even begin learning the technique, mental instability or insanity caused by
the technique, demonic or divine possession, quests, an Epic Fate, or some
other great hardship which is laid upon the practitioner's karma."
Everyone spent a moment staring at Kasumi as she finished.
"Yes, well," Genma began.
There was a knocking at the front door. Nabiki brightened immediately and
began running towards it. This could be Ranma at last.
"Hello, are... you... Ranma?!" Nabiki stared at the tall, muscular, handsome
boy. No, not handsome. He was drop dead gorgeous!
The boy sighed deeply, reached down to the fallen girl, and used a pressure
point manuever to restart her heart. "Yeah, I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about
this."