-+- Standard Disclaimer -+-
The characters depicted in this story are not mine. Sue me and you get nada, cuz that's how much I own. Blah.
-+- End of Disclaimer -+-
Unlikely Companions
A fiction novella by Dave Zhang (dzhang@its.caltech.edu). Comments and criticisms welcomed. Copyright 2003.
[This text is in English.] "This text is spoken." 'This text is thought.' =This text is telepathic.=
Chapter 9: Resurrection
Ami gasped. "He vanished."
"Did he notice that we were coming and teleport away?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe. A second ago he was in that abandoned lot two street ahead with one other unknown signature, and then they both disappeared."
"Let's go anyway, and see if there's any clues they left behind."
Unbeknownst to the Senshi, Cherry and Yuu walked right behind them, cloaked by Cherry's powerful invisibility spell. Why teleport away when you can stick around, invisible, and listen to your enemies' plans?
"Some parts of the ground look a little charred. Either a pyromaniac came around to play here, or this Yuu knows fire magic as well."
=Hey, Yuu=
Yuu jumped a little at hearing a foreign voice in his head, but fortunately retained enough control not to make any loud sounds.
'Is that you, Cherry?'
=Yeah, it's a telepathic spell. I'll teach you it later. I can pick up your thoughts, so you can just think about what you want to tell me.=
'All right. Do you have any idea who these girls are? They seem to be looking for someone, but I haven't seen them before.'
=Hm... I remember Ranma calling the blue-haired girl Ami.=
'That doesn't look like Ami to me.'
=Hold on, I have a sneaking suspicion. Let me cast a few quick spells.= Cherry made a few hand gestures, and a moment later, he communicated to Yuu again. =Just as I thought. These girls are under a magic disguise. The blue-haired one is Ami, the two shorter blondes are Minako and Usagi, and the dark-haired girl is the grand-daughter of priest we're staying with. I don't recognize the other three.=
'Grand-daughter?'
=Oh, that's right, you never met her at the temple. Her name is Rei. I think she's the girl you normally run away at first sight from.=
'Oh. They're definitely looking for me then.'
Around this time, the Scout finished making conjectures on the nature of the sources of chaos, and left.
'Should we follow them?'
=Probably not, they may have some magical artifacts at their homes that can detect us. I think they're far gone now.= "We can speak again."
"So, now what? I guess we can't go back to the temple anymore."
"True, true. Do you know of any other place we can stay?"
***
Cherry raised an eyebrow. "Fuji Love Motel? You're taking *me* here?"
"It's not like that," said Yuu sheepishly. "It's the only place I know of to stay at other than the temple. Come on, you got any better ideas?"
Upon seeing Cherry not respond, Yuu went ahead and checked into a room.
The manager, seeing the two of them walk up the stairs, sighed. "That boy's tastes are getting weirder and weirder. At least it's legal this time, so I'll not do anything."
***
"Hey!" said Minako to her friends after school the next day. "I had a dream last night!"
"Really? Me too!" cried Usagi happily. "I dreamed Luna fell into a dumpster and left Mamo-chan and me alone while we went on a romantic date to Ice Cream Land and then..."
"I don't think she was talking about that kind of dream!" said Luna huffily. "Go on, Minako."
"I was the Princess of Venus, and we were all in a great ball held on the Moon. I didn't show up with a date, and was about to go bug Jupiter when the most dreamy-looking guy wearing a military uniform with a big sword mounted on his back came up to me and asked me for a dance! We danced and danced and I was so happy, but then I woke up."
Ami tried very hard not to laugh, since she realized that this obviously had to be fabricated. She called up Ranma last night and told him about her involvement with the Sailor Senshi, as well as a brief history of the Silver Milleneum. Ranma took it in stride, and responded by updating his story, with how the group recently picked up the real Lancelot from Camelot, and how Cherry got some weird powers from a genie. As crazy as Ranma's story sounded, Ami tended to believe him--after all, the most unbelievable part about the Jusenkyo curse she already saw with her own two eyes.
To some extent, Ami failed, and a small grin emerged on her face. Fortunately, the others just took it as a supportive smile.
Makoto piped up. "Oh yeah! I had that same dream. I remember it too! You were starting to walk towards me, when that guy cut you off, and you being you, ran off with the new guy and completely forgot about your best friend. I was starting to get angry at you, but then a guy wearing fairly informal clothes came up to me with a drink, and offered to cheer me up. He was *so* gorgeous, and had the cutest pigtail. I think he was probably a palace guard or something."
Artemis nodded. "The one Minako mentioned sounds to me to like he's probably Thyst, the Dragoon Commander. As for Makoto..."
"Quiem. Definitely him. He wasn't a guard, though, although he sometimes like to pretend to be one around the balls." said Luna. "He was actually the Queen's most trusted Military Courier and Special Agent, though he and I didn't get along very well. For that matter, he didn't get along well with any females other than the Queen and Princess Jupiter."
"Yeah, that's right!" chorused Minako and Makoto. "They must be Lancelot and Ranma!"
"Very possibly," said Artemis. "Ah, I remember it like yesterday. We three would always go bar-hopping whenever Quiem came back from a mission..."
---
"Yo, Quiem! Back already? Where did you go this time?"
"Pluto. Had a nice 'vacation.'" 'Vacation' was Quiem's official cover story for being gone so often, but pretty much anyone who spent a decent amount of time in the palace knew 'vacation' for him meant mission. "So, Thyst, I hear you hooked up with Princess Venus?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Lucky man! You go, boy! And put in a good word for me if you don't think it'll work out."
"Quiem! You *have* a wife! Not to mention several mistresses on the side, one of which, I might add, happens to be the Princess Jupiter. Let Thyst have his without you messing it up."
"Mistress schmistress. I'll bet Venus puts out before any of mine do, even to old 'Ice-Block' over here."
"It's... it's not like that!" Thyst blushed. "Venus is a great gal; I have no idea how she got that awful reputation. Must be a lot of rumor bouncing. We're taking it nice and slow."
Quiem mock-whispered to Artemis. "Bet you twenty credits Venus is already sleeping around on him!"
"Venus Love-me Chain!" At that point, only Quiem's unnaturally high constitution prevented him from dying. But stuff like that never stopped him. Yeah, he seemed to upset all the other princesses a lot, some of it was actually pretty funny. Ah, good times.
---
A vein throbbed on Minako's forehead, "That's right, Quiem was an asshole! I should go tell that honest boy Lancelot to stop associating with Ranma right now!"
"Oh come on, Mina-chan," coaxed Makoto. "He's just a joker. When the cards were down and it really counted, Quiem was the man to have on your side. That's why Queen Serenity trusted him so much."
By now, the grin on Ami's face had morphed into a slack-jawed shock. She was very surprised, and a bit upset too, for two reasons. First and foremost, Makoto's trying to move in on her Ranma! She can't allow that! Ami mentally noted to be even closer to Ranma. And then, second, and more troublesome, she was absolutely sure that Ranma was *not* in the Silver Milleneum, yet everyone else now seemed to be remembering him. This must be how mass hyposis starts. Or perhaps mass delusion is more accurate in this case.
"I didn't think the Queen had enough powerful left to reincarnate them as well, but we shouldn't look gift horses in the mouth!" said Artemis. "After all, the Queen did reincarnate Endymion as well."
Actually, now that Ami thought about it, maybe Tuxedo Mask wasn't really in the Silver Milleneum either, and just kinda got made up. Hm... this needs to be looked into.
***
Over the next three months, Cherry and Miroku continued to ditch high school to avoid being hunted, and practiced magic discreetly in abandoned lots. Yuu kind of wanted to train martial arts with Ranma as well, but a harsh remonstration from Cherry stopped that. After all, Rei spends time with Ami, and Ami wants to spend time with Ranma, so being around Ranma would probably have lead to disaster.
The monsters continued to show up, but weren't much of a threat. After the close fight with the dragon monster, Ranma and Miroku and Lancelot insisted on showing up to every fight, and the three of them usually made short work of the monster. Tuxedo Kamen, meanwhile, became more and more upset at the newcomers. Don't they know that they're *supposed* to let the monsters start winning a bit, before going in and encouraging the Scouts? Going in at the beginning and beating the monsters up... no, that's not manly, not at all. It's much better to offer psychological help.
With the sudden disappearance of both of Lancelot's English-speaking friends, Minako found the perfect opportunity to get closer to 'Thyst' by teaching him Japanese. Despite some mistakes (some intentional and some unintentional), Minako was doing a good job, and Lancelot was beginning to be able to speak Japanese, though not very well.
The Ranma/Ami relationship during those three months was pretty much stagnated, because of both Minako and Makoto's constant interfering (attempting to cut him off from everyone else in the former case, trying to get back with her sempai from a previous life in the latter... ^_^), and because both Ranma and Ami were naturally shy to the other gender.
***
=Interesting... A maw fiend. I haven't actually seen one of those before.=
=But you know about it?=
=Of course. It's hide isn't very tough, but it's a very dangerous monster for two reasons: first because it regenerates extremely rapidly, and second because it spits very strong poisonous acid balls. Joyeaux will probably be able to handle it, but I don't know about those girls' weapons or armors.=
As Yuu and Cherry watched the scene, standing invisible atop a nearby building, Hotaru, Michiru and Haruka stood in their civilian forms some small distance away, also watching. They realized that their help might be needed when the fight wasn't finished in a few minutes, and was still being broadcasted live.
Ranma hit the monster's back with another chi blast, only to have the albeit rather large wound heal itself within seconds. Lancelot was attacking the front, with also little use, and his metallic armor had melted away in several areas from indirect splash hits from the acid.
"Back!" shouted Miroku, and Ranma and Lancelot quickly backed off, knowing that Miroku was going to use his trump.
"Kazaana!" Unfortunately, before the vacuum could start to affect the maw fiend, bits of poisonous acid in puddle nearer to Miroku got sucked in first. Miroku immediately collapsed to the ground and sealed his hand, his whole body shuddering from the deadly poison.
=Oops, looks like Miroku didn't know it was poisonous. That's not good; he's out of the battle now.=
Hotaru watched the battle nervously. "Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama, we should go help them now. They're losing!"
"Let's wait just a little longer," said Michiru. "That boy just pulled an attack we haven't seen before. Granted, it wasn't that useful against this monster, but maybe one of the other two also has a secret attack."
Hotaru watched the scene for another few seconds, before deciding she can't wait any more, and charged toward the monster from its back.
The monster, however, was extremely keen of hearing, and heard Hotaru's approach. It quickly turned its head and spat out an acid ball straight to Hotaru.
"Shit!" screamed Haruka as she realized that (1) Hotaru had not yet transformed, (2) Hotaru was too slow untransformed to dodge it, and (3) there wasn't enough time left before the ball hit to transform. Clenching her teeth, Haruka sprinted and dove in front of Hotaru, taking the full impact of the acid ball to her own untransformed body. She was dead before her body hit the ground.
"Neptune Planet Power Make-Up!"
Hotaru stared at the corpse of Haruka, stunned. "Haruka-papa! Haruka-papa! Wake up! Transform and let's go fight it!"
The maw fiend, seeing that Hotaru was still alive, spat another acid ball towards her.
"No!" Sailor Moon realized that Neptune was still in the middle of her transformation, and wouldn't be able to help Hotaru in time. She was a bit farther away, but decided in the moment that she had to try to save Hotaru. She ran towards Hotaru and pushed her out of the way, but then was hit by the acid ball just as Haruka was.
Thanks to the magical suit, Sailor Moon didn't die right away, but knew that her time was extremely limited, having accumulated too much damage over the course of the battle.
She shakingly stood up and called out her attack. "Moon Final Judgement!"
A giant beam of blue power pulsated from her body and shot toward the monster, disintegrating it entirely. Then Sailor Moon's transformation pen shattered, and she fell to the ground, lifeless.
=Come on Yuu, looks like it's time we show up.=
Cherry and Yuu dismissed their invisibility spells, and approached the group, who had huddle near the dead forms of Sailor Moon and Haruka. Cherry motioned for them to give him some room, and Ranma quickly complied, pushing everyone else back a bit.
Muttering some medium level spells, Cherry slid his hand over Sailor Moon's shattered transformation pen, and it was quickly reforged, without showing any sign of it ever having been broken. At this, the rest of the Senshi quieted down, in anticipation of Cherry would do next.
Cherry bent down and took one of Sailor Moon's hands in his own, closed his eyes, and then mumbled some very high level arcane magics. Both bodies started to glow red, and Cherry suddenly flicked out of existence for a millisecond before returning exactly to where he had been. He then fell to the ground, clutching his head with his free hand in intense pain.
Sailor Moon awoke with a murmur, and gently opened her eyes. The other Senshi quickly gathered around her, overjoyed to see their leader resurrected.
It was then that Tuxedo Mask chose to make his appearance. "Unhand Sailor Moon, vile fiend!" screamed he as he threw a steel rose to downed form of Cherry. Ranma quickly batted it away, and Sailor Mars fired a Flame Arrow at Tuxedo Mask's crotch. The said then ran away squealing in pain.
***
A while later, after Cherry partially recovered from the ordeal of his milliseconds in Hell, while Sailor Scouts were busily laying on thanks, Sailor Mars suddenly noticed Cherry's companion. "Yuu! Prepare to die!"
Hotaru leapt in front of Yuu, trying to shield him with her small body. "No! Don't hurt him!"
"Hotaru!? But he... he tried to... to hurt you!"
"No! He never hurt me! He healed me when a bunch of bullies from school beat me up, but Haruka-papa got upset at his powers, and beat him up. I felt bad, so I helped him into a motel where I healed him. But then the policemen came and took Yuu away. I tried to explain to Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama but they wouldn't listen!"
Rei stared down at the ground, very ashamed of herself. "Oh. Ah... Yuu? Um..."
Her attempted apology was cut off by Makoto, shouting. "Cherry's fainted!"
Ami nodded, "I would think resurrection is a rather difficult spell."
"But... what about Haruka?" Makoto turned to Yuu. "You know magic too, don't you? Can you resurrect Haruka?"
"I'm sorry, I've only been studying with Cherry for about three months. I haven't learned that spell yet." Yuu looked at the mutilated body of Haruka. "I can do this though."
Yuu waved his hands in an arc over Haruka's body, and the blood and marrow splattered over the pavement gathered and reformed into the hole in Haruka's side, eventually filling it, so that the body became pristine.
"I recovered most of the skin, so he looks normal, but he has some muscles missing on the inside. After Cherry resurrects him, he'll be able to regenerate it himself though. Let's carry him and Cherry back to the temple."
***
"I'm sorry... I can't."
"What? But you've got to! Just do like what you did to me!" pleaded Usagi frantically.
"The resurrection spell has an extremely high cost--it costs the caster his life. It's almost kind of like a trade-places spell. I was able to not die because I once had a genie grant me a wish that I'd be taken out of Hell right after I get there. But I was afraid that the genie would do something mean, like sticking me back into Hell a minute after I got back to the real world, so I added a clause that I can only go to Hell once a week."
"But... in seven days..." The rest of the sentence didn't have to be spoken as everyone understood that in seven days Haruka's body would probably be decomposed to where resurrection is no longer possible.
Cherry sighed as he and Yuu left.
***
Yuu stared up at the ceiling from his bed in the Fuji Love Motel. 'Damn! I would be celebrating that bastard's death, except he had to die saving that little girl.'
Yuu thought some more. 'That girl, Hotaru, called the boy 'Haruka-papa.' Funny, since he looks the same age as me. Must be a pet name or something. They must be really close, because he died for Hotaru. The asshole probably mis-interpreted when I was healing Hotaru and thought I was a pervert or something.'
'Ah, damn it. All those other girls seem to really like him, and want him back alive. Nothing anyone can do about it now though. Cherry can't cast it again for another seven days, and I doubt if anyone else has a deal with Hell like he does.'
'Well, I suppose someone *could* resurrect that boy, if he doesn't mind dying instead of Haruka.'
'Agh! But he died saving a little girl! As much of an asshole he was to me, he still wasn't a bad guy--definitely didn't deserve to die.'
'But he's dead now. It's not my fault.'
'...But it kind of is. If I had urged Cherry to help out earlier, maybe neither him nor Sailor Moon would have died. Or maybe just one of them, and then Cherry could resurrect.'
'Hm... What were the words to that spell again? Omttera... geedak? or was it geeduk?'
Deciding that there was no way he was going to be able to sleep that night, Yuu got out of bed and dressed, before teleporting out of the motel and to Cherry Hill Temple.
***
Yuu looked at the body of Haruka, almost lifelike, with a casual smirk in the corner of his mouth, and a slightly raised eyebrow over closed eyes.
The rest of the Senshi decided to stay over at the Temple while Haruka was in this... 'condition,' but everyone had gone to sleep, the time being three in the morning when Yuu arrived, leaving Haruka's body unguarded.
Yuu sighed yet again. 'Miki... I'll never be able to see you, or our parents again. I guess my life now really doesn't have much more meaning. I should use my life to trade for Michiru and Hotaru's happiness.'
'Even if this guy is a complete jerk.' Yuu punched Haruka's body squarely in the jaw. 'You owe me, bastard!'
Then, taking Haruka's hand in his, and chanting the arcane syllables that he recalled from earlier in the day, a warm feel spread through his body, and seeped out into Haruka's hand. Yuu felt his soul lifted out of his corporeal shell, and drifting away in the night, as if searching... searching... and finally he felt a small aura, solitary and gloomy, wandering about half a mile away. His aura touched it, and then confirmed that it did match to the residual signatures left in the body.
His aura then led Haruka's drifting soul back toward the Temple. Finally, when Haruka's soul touched her own body, trying desperately yet once again to squeeze back in, Yuu uttered the last word of the spell, and he collapsed into a sprawled form on top of Haruka.
***
The first thing Haruka noticed when she drifted back into consciousness was that her jaw and side hurt. A lot. The second was that someone was lying on top of her. "Aieee!! Pervert!"
She quickly flung Yuu off her, and upon recognizing his face, started kicking him viciously. That quickly woke up everyone in the house, and everyone quickly gathered downstairs in their pajamas.
"Haruka-papa! You're alive!" Hotaru ran at the top of her speed and grabbed Haruka into a tight hug.
"There, there, Hotaru. Of course I'm alive!"
Hotaru was smiling blissfully in the arms of one of the few people who truly cared about her, when her bliss was interrupted.
"Yuu?" said Rei, noticing the body by Haruka's feet.
"Yeah, this asshole was trying to get in *my* pants this time. Was sprawled all over me, and had his hand clamping mine and everything. If I had taken another fifteen minutes to wake up, I'd be the first of the Senshi to be de-flowered this time around." Haruka gently pushed Hotaru to one side so that she could resume kicking. "Asshole!"
"Stop," whispered Rei. When Haruka either didn't hear or didn't care, Rei said it again, in an agonized scream.
"Eh? Why? This bastard tried to rape you too." Haruka kicked Yuu's body again.
"He's dead," whispered Ami.
Haruka sneered. "I wish so, but there's no way. I gave him at least ten time the beating I'm giving him today three months ago when I saw him groping Hotaru, and he came off it without a scratch. Tough little shit."
Ami walked over to Haruka, and gently guided Haruka's right index finger over to Yuu's nose, where they confirmed that Yuu was indeed dead.
Hotaru, unable to bear this anymore, bent down and covered Yuu's body with hers, crying. "Haruka-papa, please. Don't kick Yuu. He... he only used his healing powers because I was really hurt by the bullies from my school. And then you hurt him a lot, so I felt bad for him and helped him to a motel so I could heal him. It's not Yuu's fault he has healing powers! He was a nice boy."
"But..." Haruka suddenly started feeling a bit guilty. "But I couldn't have kicked that hard... But the little shit still deserved it! What about Rei? And me tonight!?"
Rei paled. "He was just helping me recover from our battle with El Quehal five months ago. I was in a bad mood from the hangover, and automatically assumed the worst. But I figured he didn't have ill intentions when he rescued me the next time too, and left without police intervention."
"And the reason he's dead right now is because of you," said Ami stoically. "You were killed by the Maw Fiend Monster today when you tried to save Hotaru. He was clasping your hand to resurrect you. But resurrection costs him his life, and I'm guessing his body just naturally tilted forward when he died, and landed on you."
"But... but..." Haruka collapsed to the floor, whispering. "But it doesn't make any sense. Why would he trade his life for mine? Because of the misunderstandings, I kept beating him up and sending him to jail... why would anyone be so stupid as to save me after all that?"
Michiru gently signalled by Hotaru to come with her, and the others also left one by one, leaving only Haruka left with the body of Yuu.
--End Chapter 9--
// Maybe I should retitled this story '101 Ways to Denigrate Mamoru'