Dreams of Destiny
Chapter 9
The stranger screamed as the egg hit his chest and flared with a sickly purple light as the daimon egg disappeared into the young man. He collapsed to the ground, curling himself into a ball as his aura flashed with conflicting colors and whimpering with pain. Everyone stared at him in surprise, especially Kaolinite. She had thought this was supposed to work. After all, the Professor had done a great deal of research on the daimon eggs and there should have been no difference between possessing a person and an object.
The young man managed to pull himself back to his knees and grabbed his head, letting out a scream that could be heard for blocks around. Suddenly, the egg flew out of his chest and smashed against the rubble of the school wall. There was a flash as the egg sank into a piece of the rubble as a blocky figure rose up. As the air cleared, the new daimon roared in rage and swept its arm to clear the rubble from around it. This new daimon was different than the others that the Senshi had seen before. All the others had been female, and were designed around the object they were possessing. This one had no distinctive sex, although it was stockier than the female daimons, and was entirely featureless.
The daimon lumbered forward as the rubble flew away and Sailor Mercury noticed that the strange young man lay unmoving on the ground directly in the daimon's path. Gasping in shock, she started forward, sprinting with all her might to reach the stranger before the daimon trampled him. Mercury stumbled to a halt as she reached the stranger and grabbed him by the shoulders. She dragged him out of the path of the daimon, thankful that the construction of this one made it a slow lumbering hulk.
Mercury's abrupt action broke the paralysis that had gripped the combatants. The watery daimon took the initiative and launched itself in a stream at Sailor Mars. She managed to dive out of the way just in time for the stream of water to fly past. It continued on, barreling straight into the rocky daimon. The viscous fluid spread out over the daimon and seemed to seep into the rock, causing it to glow again briefly. It roared and started to charge forward at the group of Senshi.
"Oh shit," Sailor Jupiter said flatly as she grabbed Sailor Moon, tossing her over her shoulder and breaking into a run. Venus ran off to on of the sides and Ranma went straight up over the monster in a desperate leap. The monster plowed through and started to slow as he made a wide, arcing turn as Ranma hit the ground, tumbling forward in a somersaulting roll.
Venus skidded to a stop, spinning to track the daimon as it made its turn. "Crescent Beam Shower," she called out, causing a barrage of energy beams to lance out from her hand. They struck the monster, rocking it slightly, but it continued to make its ponderous turn mostly unaffected. Venus stared in shock.
Jupiter dropped Sailor Moon unceremoniously on her rump as she turned to face the monster in time to see Venus's ineffective attack. Clapping her hands together, she formed a spaking ball of electricity between them. "Sparkling Wide Pressure," She called out as she lobbed it at the daimon. The ball struck the daimon in the side and electricity arced across the surface before grounding into the earth.
Sailor Moon stared, open-mouthed in shock as two of her comrades most powerful attacks struck the daimon with no notable effects. "Jupiter," she said as she got to her feet, "we have to keep that thing moving. Your attacks can buy me the time to blast it."
"Got it," Sailor Jupiter replied. She took off at a run, cutting across the daimon's path and throwing another ball of electricity at it. While it may not have hurt the daimon, it was enough to catch its attention and make it follow her. "Mars, Venus, we have to keep it moving!"
Sailors Mars and Venus nodded and the giant game of cat and mouse began. One would broil it, electrocute it or just blast it and lead it on a chase until one of the others hit it again. Ranma watched from the sideline with a macabre smile on his face. These girls may not be skilled fighters, but at least they knew how to work together. While the Saotome- ryu of Anything Goes emphasized individual fighting, Ranma'd had many opportunities to see how effective a coordinated group could fight at a couple of the dojos they'd visited. By knowing your teammates well enough, you knew what the others would do in any situation. Ranma had once seen a group of five brown belts defeat eight black belts at a dojo once when one of the new students had questioned the necessity of learning how to work with others.
These Sailor girls were a great example of that idea. Most of them didn't seem to have any real training, although a couple looked like they'd studied a little karate, but they knew each other well enough to make up for their lack. Ranma wondered how long they'd been fighting together. That kind of cohesion didn't come easily, and usually bespoke deep connections between them. Lost in thought, Ranma almost didn't see the monster lash out with an arm as he charged by. He twisted to the side, but wasn't able to completely clear the blow as it grazed his ribs. The force of even that glancing a blow sent Ranma flying back until he impacted with a tree. He slid down to the ground with a groan, clutching his ribs in pain.
Sailor Moon winced as the daimon sent Ranma flying out of the area, but she was glad he was out of danger now. Pulling her rod out, she began calling the power it let her access, keeping a part of her attention on the circle that the others were leading the daimon in. Reaching the end of her preparations, she called out, "Spiral Moon Heart Ache!" and sent the power flowing forth into a giant pink heart at the daimon. She watched as it turned to face the heart, as many monsters had, but was surprised when the heart struck the beast and it shattered instead of moving through him. Cracks appeared in the rock, and chunks had been ripped from the arms and legs, but it was still mostly intact.
Sailor Moon gaped in shock. Her attack had never failed to destroy the daimons, not since she'd first developed the ability to create it. A scream of pain pulled her attention back to the fight. She saw the strange boy who'd attacked Ranma writhing in pain and screaming. What was going on?
* * *
Sailor Mercury gasped as she saw her cousin flung off into a stand of trees and gasped again as Sailor Moon's attack didn't destroy the daimon. Reaching up and tapping her earring brought her visor into existence. With this, she should be able to analyze the daimon and find its weak point. It was hooked directly into the Mercury computer and had proved invaluable in many of their battles.
As she focused in on the daimon, Mercury gasped in shock. No wonder it hadn't been destroyed, she thought. It's drawing power from something to keep its integrity. Mercury searched around the park, trying to find that errant flow of energy that connected with the daimon. She couldn't help but wish that this fight was taking place at night, as so many of their battles did. Energy was so much easier to trace without all the interference caused by the solar radiation of sunlight.
The stranger's scream of pain drew Mercury's gaze to where he lay at her feet, and her jaw dropped in astonishment. She'd never seen anything like this before. The daimon was feeding off him! Somehow, it was tapping into the energy he produced, much like the Dark Kingdom had when they came on energy gathering missions, except she'd never seen this much life energy in a normal person before. As she opened her mouth to call out to Sailor Moon, her visor flashed a new energy source. She looked over to see Ranma, with an energy corona that looked like a city on fire.
* * *
Ranma pulled himself to his feet, staggering a little as a wave of pain rushed through him. "Definitely broke a few ribs," he muttered, "but I ain't gonna let no one take me out of a fight that easy." One hand across his damaged ribs, Ranma made his way out of the trees to see the girls still leading the daimon around in circles. The daimon's lumbering gate sparked an idea, so he called out, "Hey, you in the orange skirt, can you use that chain thing and wrap its legs?"
Sailor Venus glanced over at Ranma, startled. She'd thought he was out of this fight, injured, but apparently not. She nodded back at him and as the daimon took off after Sailor Mars, she whipped out her Venus Love Me Chain and sent it arcing at the daimon's knees. It wrapped around them and the daimon's thick legs strained at the links, wobbling as momentum tried to keep it moving forward.
Seeing the bind the daimon was in, Ranma took off at a run. He jumped into the air with a leaping kick that held all the force he could muster. As his foot impacted the daimon's back, it completed the job that the laws of inertia had started. The daimon toppled to the ground, causing a shockwave to travel through the park, making all the Senshi stagger for a moment. Ranma springboarded off the daimon's back into another leap to carry him clear. That wouldn't stop the thing long.
Sailor Venus watched in awe as the daimon plunged into the ground. She managed to keep her feet and her grip on the chain. A quick mental command had the chain start creeping its way around the daimon. She didn't have any illusions about how long it would hold, since she could feel how strong it was straining against them, but she hoped she could hold it for a little while by denying it leverage.
Sailor Mercury snapped her jaw shut as she noticed Sailor Moon preparing to launch another attack. "Sailor Moon," she called out. "Don't attack the daimon! You need to attack him!" Mercury pointed down at the young man writhing at her feet. "It's stealing his energy to keep itself alive. You have to break the connection!"
Sailor Moon nodded and sent another giant heart streaking at the young man as Mercury darted out of the way. It impacted the boy and he froze before slumping unconscious, the pain gone from his features. Meanwhile, the daimon's thrashing had begun to lose power. They were slower and weaker. Mercury nodded at Moon and she sent a final Spiral Moon Heart Ache at the daimon. This time it vanished, leaving a pitcher of water and piece of rubble to divest themselves of daimon eggs.
Ranma staggered past the remains of the daimon, wincing as he jostled his ribs. He got to the strange young man and knelt down, looking at his face intently. Sailor Mercury came up behind him and asked, "Do you know him? He seemed to have some kind of grudge against you."
"I think he's a guy I went to middle school with a couple of years ago," Ranma replied, his brow furrowing. "Ryouga Hibiki if I remember right. I don't know what kind of grudge he'd have. We were friends. I used to walk him home from school to keep him from getting lost. He has the world's worst sense of direction."
"He couldn't be that bad," Sailor Mercury replied.
"Trust me," Ranma replied. "This guy could get lost in a broom closet. We should probably get him somewhere where he can rest easier. Why don't you help me take him home, Ami?"
Sailor Mercury stared at Ranma flabbergasted, while her mouth worked soundlessly. "What are you talking about," she managed to get out. "I'm Sailor Mercury."
"Sure," Ranma said, nodding pleasantly, "but you're also my cousin, Ami. I don't know why no one can see that it's really you. Not much of a disguise after all. I guess it must be the short skirt effect. Come on and help me get him home. He's heavy and my ribs hurt."
Ami nodded wordlessly as she helped Ranma lift the young man and they started off towards the house, all the while her mind racing. Ranma had to be convinced to keep their secret, but how did he see through the magic that had always protected them? How?
To Be Continued
Author's Notes:
Wow, a six months bout of writer's block has to be one of the nastiest things I've had in a while. Hopefully I'll be writing more often now.
Chapter 9
The stranger screamed as the egg hit his chest and flared with a sickly purple light as the daimon egg disappeared into the young man. He collapsed to the ground, curling himself into a ball as his aura flashed with conflicting colors and whimpering with pain. Everyone stared at him in surprise, especially Kaolinite. She had thought this was supposed to work. After all, the Professor had done a great deal of research on the daimon eggs and there should have been no difference between possessing a person and an object.
The young man managed to pull himself back to his knees and grabbed his head, letting out a scream that could be heard for blocks around. Suddenly, the egg flew out of his chest and smashed against the rubble of the school wall. There was a flash as the egg sank into a piece of the rubble as a blocky figure rose up. As the air cleared, the new daimon roared in rage and swept its arm to clear the rubble from around it. This new daimon was different than the others that the Senshi had seen before. All the others had been female, and were designed around the object they were possessing. This one had no distinctive sex, although it was stockier than the female daimons, and was entirely featureless.
The daimon lumbered forward as the rubble flew away and Sailor Mercury noticed that the strange young man lay unmoving on the ground directly in the daimon's path. Gasping in shock, she started forward, sprinting with all her might to reach the stranger before the daimon trampled him. Mercury stumbled to a halt as she reached the stranger and grabbed him by the shoulders. She dragged him out of the path of the daimon, thankful that the construction of this one made it a slow lumbering hulk.
Mercury's abrupt action broke the paralysis that had gripped the combatants. The watery daimon took the initiative and launched itself in a stream at Sailor Mars. She managed to dive out of the way just in time for the stream of water to fly past. It continued on, barreling straight into the rocky daimon. The viscous fluid spread out over the daimon and seemed to seep into the rock, causing it to glow again briefly. It roared and started to charge forward at the group of Senshi.
"Oh shit," Sailor Jupiter said flatly as she grabbed Sailor Moon, tossing her over her shoulder and breaking into a run. Venus ran off to on of the sides and Ranma went straight up over the monster in a desperate leap. The monster plowed through and started to slow as he made a wide, arcing turn as Ranma hit the ground, tumbling forward in a somersaulting roll.
Venus skidded to a stop, spinning to track the daimon as it made its turn. "Crescent Beam Shower," she called out, causing a barrage of energy beams to lance out from her hand. They struck the monster, rocking it slightly, but it continued to make its ponderous turn mostly unaffected. Venus stared in shock.
Jupiter dropped Sailor Moon unceremoniously on her rump as she turned to face the monster in time to see Venus's ineffective attack. Clapping her hands together, she formed a spaking ball of electricity between them. "Sparkling Wide Pressure," She called out as she lobbed it at the daimon. The ball struck the daimon in the side and electricity arced across the surface before grounding into the earth.
Sailor Moon stared, open-mouthed in shock as two of her comrades most powerful attacks struck the daimon with no notable effects. "Jupiter," she said as she got to her feet, "we have to keep that thing moving. Your attacks can buy me the time to blast it."
"Got it," Sailor Jupiter replied. She took off at a run, cutting across the daimon's path and throwing another ball of electricity at it. While it may not have hurt the daimon, it was enough to catch its attention and make it follow her. "Mars, Venus, we have to keep it moving!"
Sailors Mars and Venus nodded and the giant game of cat and mouse began. One would broil it, electrocute it or just blast it and lead it on a chase until one of the others hit it again. Ranma watched from the sideline with a macabre smile on his face. These girls may not be skilled fighters, but at least they knew how to work together. While the Saotome- ryu of Anything Goes emphasized individual fighting, Ranma'd had many opportunities to see how effective a coordinated group could fight at a couple of the dojos they'd visited. By knowing your teammates well enough, you knew what the others would do in any situation. Ranma had once seen a group of five brown belts defeat eight black belts at a dojo once when one of the new students had questioned the necessity of learning how to work with others.
These Sailor girls were a great example of that idea. Most of them didn't seem to have any real training, although a couple looked like they'd studied a little karate, but they knew each other well enough to make up for their lack. Ranma wondered how long they'd been fighting together. That kind of cohesion didn't come easily, and usually bespoke deep connections between them. Lost in thought, Ranma almost didn't see the monster lash out with an arm as he charged by. He twisted to the side, but wasn't able to completely clear the blow as it grazed his ribs. The force of even that glancing a blow sent Ranma flying back until he impacted with a tree. He slid down to the ground with a groan, clutching his ribs in pain.
Sailor Moon winced as the daimon sent Ranma flying out of the area, but she was glad he was out of danger now. Pulling her rod out, she began calling the power it let her access, keeping a part of her attention on the circle that the others were leading the daimon in. Reaching the end of her preparations, she called out, "Spiral Moon Heart Ache!" and sent the power flowing forth into a giant pink heart at the daimon. She watched as it turned to face the heart, as many monsters had, but was surprised when the heart struck the beast and it shattered instead of moving through him. Cracks appeared in the rock, and chunks had been ripped from the arms and legs, but it was still mostly intact.
Sailor Moon gaped in shock. Her attack had never failed to destroy the daimons, not since she'd first developed the ability to create it. A scream of pain pulled her attention back to the fight. She saw the strange boy who'd attacked Ranma writhing in pain and screaming. What was going on?
* * *
Sailor Mercury gasped as she saw her cousin flung off into a stand of trees and gasped again as Sailor Moon's attack didn't destroy the daimon. Reaching up and tapping her earring brought her visor into existence. With this, she should be able to analyze the daimon and find its weak point. It was hooked directly into the Mercury computer and had proved invaluable in many of their battles.
As she focused in on the daimon, Mercury gasped in shock. No wonder it hadn't been destroyed, she thought. It's drawing power from something to keep its integrity. Mercury searched around the park, trying to find that errant flow of energy that connected with the daimon. She couldn't help but wish that this fight was taking place at night, as so many of their battles did. Energy was so much easier to trace without all the interference caused by the solar radiation of sunlight.
The stranger's scream of pain drew Mercury's gaze to where he lay at her feet, and her jaw dropped in astonishment. She'd never seen anything like this before. The daimon was feeding off him! Somehow, it was tapping into the energy he produced, much like the Dark Kingdom had when they came on energy gathering missions, except she'd never seen this much life energy in a normal person before. As she opened her mouth to call out to Sailor Moon, her visor flashed a new energy source. She looked over to see Ranma, with an energy corona that looked like a city on fire.
* * *
Ranma pulled himself to his feet, staggering a little as a wave of pain rushed through him. "Definitely broke a few ribs," he muttered, "but I ain't gonna let no one take me out of a fight that easy." One hand across his damaged ribs, Ranma made his way out of the trees to see the girls still leading the daimon around in circles. The daimon's lumbering gate sparked an idea, so he called out, "Hey, you in the orange skirt, can you use that chain thing and wrap its legs?"
Sailor Venus glanced over at Ranma, startled. She'd thought he was out of this fight, injured, but apparently not. She nodded back at him and as the daimon took off after Sailor Mars, she whipped out her Venus Love Me Chain and sent it arcing at the daimon's knees. It wrapped around them and the daimon's thick legs strained at the links, wobbling as momentum tried to keep it moving forward.
Seeing the bind the daimon was in, Ranma took off at a run. He jumped into the air with a leaping kick that held all the force he could muster. As his foot impacted the daimon's back, it completed the job that the laws of inertia had started. The daimon toppled to the ground, causing a shockwave to travel through the park, making all the Senshi stagger for a moment. Ranma springboarded off the daimon's back into another leap to carry him clear. That wouldn't stop the thing long.
Sailor Venus watched in awe as the daimon plunged into the ground. She managed to keep her feet and her grip on the chain. A quick mental command had the chain start creeping its way around the daimon. She didn't have any illusions about how long it would hold, since she could feel how strong it was straining against them, but she hoped she could hold it for a little while by denying it leverage.
Sailor Mercury snapped her jaw shut as she noticed Sailor Moon preparing to launch another attack. "Sailor Moon," she called out. "Don't attack the daimon! You need to attack him!" Mercury pointed down at the young man writhing at her feet. "It's stealing his energy to keep itself alive. You have to break the connection!"
Sailor Moon nodded and sent another giant heart streaking at the young man as Mercury darted out of the way. It impacted the boy and he froze before slumping unconscious, the pain gone from his features. Meanwhile, the daimon's thrashing had begun to lose power. They were slower and weaker. Mercury nodded at Moon and she sent a final Spiral Moon Heart Ache at the daimon. This time it vanished, leaving a pitcher of water and piece of rubble to divest themselves of daimon eggs.
Ranma staggered past the remains of the daimon, wincing as he jostled his ribs. He got to the strange young man and knelt down, looking at his face intently. Sailor Mercury came up behind him and asked, "Do you know him? He seemed to have some kind of grudge against you."
"I think he's a guy I went to middle school with a couple of years ago," Ranma replied, his brow furrowing. "Ryouga Hibiki if I remember right. I don't know what kind of grudge he'd have. We were friends. I used to walk him home from school to keep him from getting lost. He has the world's worst sense of direction."
"He couldn't be that bad," Sailor Mercury replied.
"Trust me," Ranma replied. "This guy could get lost in a broom closet. We should probably get him somewhere where he can rest easier. Why don't you help me take him home, Ami?"
Sailor Mercury stared at Ranma flabbergasted, while her mouth worked soundlessly. "What are you talking about," she managed to get out. "I'm Sailor Mercury."
"Sure," Ranma said, nodding pleasantly, "but you're also my cousin, Ami. I don't know why no one can see that it's really you. Not much of a disguise after all. I guess it must be the short skirt effect. Come on and help me get him home. He's heavy and my ribs hurt."
Ami nodded wordlessly as she helped Ranma lift the young man and they started off towards the house, all the while her mind racing. Ranma had to be convinced to keep their secret, but how did he see through the magic that had always protected them? How?
To Be Continued
Author's Notes:
Wow, a six months bout of writer's block has to be one of the nastiest things I've had in a while. Hopefully I'll be writing more often now.