Welcome back! There is yet another chapter here, so that must mean that I have written more, ne?
Our computer only recently got to working again. It turns out that one of the piece-of-junk parts that originally came with the computer (from Gateway) burned out and messed with the rest of the computer. (I can't express enough of how much I don't like Gateway…)
Okay, enough dilly-dallying, on with the story!
~~~~~~*** THE END OF THE BEGINNING ***~~~~~~
As Hamill watched his target stand there, he asked a question. "What are you thinking right now, demon?"
The Demon Lord didn't waste a second with his answer. "I am wondering how you plan to harm me in my own domain?"
"I don't plan on harming you, I plan on destroying you."
"Is that so?" Somehow, this lost soul looked, at least to the Demon Lord, to be anything but lost. And even he could tell, this man knew what he was doing. "Well now, I can't allow that to happen, can I?" As he smiled madly, his eyes widened and his wings took on a dark glow. "I WILL TEACH YOU WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO STAND AGAINST ME!!"
Charging the human at lightning speed, he went for the most devastating blow he could. He aimed directly for the heart, where the soul itself was stored.
At the last possible second, the man moved out of the way while grabbing his assailant's hand and flinging him into a formless pack of dirt floating aimlessly nearby. Several souls found themselves relocated by the impact.
The hero watched his target climb out of the crater he had created in the disembodied ground.
"Satan, or whatever your name is, this is your final day. You will hold these people no longer!" A bright aura of deep purple surrounded him and bathed hell in a glow foreign to the reddened landscape. "By the strength given me by the people of Hell, I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!" Bringing both hands back, he prepared an attack of immense proportions.
"So... you are using their sorrow as your weapon." The Demon Lord laughed in realization of what this man was planning. "Indeed, there is quite a lot of it here for you to draw on." He stood threateningly, as if daring this man to attack him. Looking crazily at him and baring his fangs, he began mocking the poor soul. "DO YOU NOT REALIZE THAT IT IS THEIR PAIN THAT IS MY STRENGTH!!!??? YOU CANNOT HARM ME WITH THAT!!" He began laughing maniacally as the hero smiled.
"We'll see about that." The energy took on a slightly golden hue at the edges just as he fired his attack. "AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"
"AAAHHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!" It took a moment for the king of demons to register the pain he was feeling. "What? Augh! AhhhhHHHHH!!!" Like a thousand knives stabbing his heart, he felt the pain that reached to his very essence.
The attack ended, and the constant wailing that had long ago become background noise suddenly stopped upon hearing him shouting in pain. It was a sound that no one could place. The lord of hell, was in pain!
The sound of one voice rang out in the eerie silence. Even the sound of the greatest evil's pain had subsided when the hero spoke out. "Are you confused? After all, how could the people's sorrow, their pain, their desperation, how could those things that are your strength possibly harm you?" Smiling, he taunted the evil lord as he stared him down. "Well I have the answer. And it's not anything you've done or not done. Rather, it lies in what I gave in return for that energy."
He floated to stand in front of the fallen angel, arms crossed and confidence surrounding him. "I gave them hope. The hope that they could finally leave this place. And with that hope, I have cut you off from their energy."
As the Demon Lord looked at him with contempt in his eyes, he began the next stage. "And hope being a positive energy, I can reach out. Back to the living world." The dark angel's eyes widened in realization of just what he meant.
~~
The shrine of three swords erupted in sudden light. It called forth, bringing in energy from the farthest reaches of the world, recalling the energy lost to the world.
Like a hungry vacuum, it pulled it all in, and in the early morning hours, the valley of the fallen hero fell back to the light of the morning sun.
Leaving two particular people puzzled.
Ranma looked suddenly determined. "Akane, remember that thing I wanted to show you this morning?"
"Yeah."
"Well, let's go there now." As they headed off, they had no idea what was about to happen. They only knew that such an explosion was not normal.
~~
Seemingly out of nowhere, a stream of white light came to him, enveloping the hero in the light of life.
As he accepted it, before the Demon Lord's very eyes, he changed.
His flesh was restored as was his power. Calling back to the living world, he called back his own power to him.
As he stood there, his eyes changed from the blank yellow orbs to the lively blue eyes he had in life. His deep blonde hair came back, flowing like waves of grain in the wind, and his skin came back to full life, restoring his strength and adding it to the already incredible stores of power.
As the last of the energy flowed into him, a set of white robes surrounded him as his armor took its place beneath them. Across the front lay the symbol of the united Chritian Church, across which lay several other symbols from across the world.
The demon smiled knowingly. "I see." He may be evil, but he wasn't stupid. He was left powerless by this man's antics, and now he was drawing from energies of all types. From the deepest of the dark, to the brightest of the light. "So he's done it again. And it's quite the work of art this time, isn't it?" Shaking his head, he left the hero puzzled as to what he was talking about. "But regardless, I have to fight you with everything I've got!" 'In the off chance you don't realize exactly what kind of power you weild.'
The two superpowers collided in mid-air, floating in the sky-less space of the dark world. The shock of their fight was resounding throughout the corridors of hell as a white light bathed the area with every strike.
There was no such luck for the evil overlord. Hamill was a trained hero, and he knew exactly what kind of power he was in posession of, and there was no way to take it from him now.
'He's too slow. But I suppose that's for the better.' Hamill ducked under a piercing attack and pulled on the arm to bring his opponent into him with greater speed. Putting enough energy into his elbow to crush mountains, he rammed the dark angel down, leaving him battered on the ground.
"And now, the final moment comes for you. The chains of hell will no longer hold as the walls will crumble! The people's hopes will go answered as their debts have been paid." He put both hands above his head as he looked down in determination. "And with this final attack! I strike you down!"
A golden aura mixed with the violet and white energies he had gathered. "Dancing Golden Hearts attack... combined with Hope of Ten-Trillion Souls. DANCING GOLDEN HOPE OF TEN-TRILLION HEARTS!!!" A ball of power appeared above him, the outcast energy alone from it caused all of hell to shake and rumble in response to the energy being gathered. Within the outer golden ball were three smaller balls of energy, one purple, one blue, and one red, revolving around eachother until they melted into eachother to create a single ball. Several tentacles reached out of the central ball and seemed to latch onto the inside of the outer sphere.
The outer limits of the attack retracted until the entire ball was now no more than a meter across, where before it had been a total of a kilometer from end to end.
The fear written across the Demon Lord's eyes was suddenly lost. "Well, it appears that you were right. But I feel sorry for those still on Earth. They're going to find their world drastically changed." As he said this, the sphere of power hit him, absorbing him into itself as he screamed in a pain beyond anything known before. As the energy within ripped and shredded his body.
It even reached to his soul. A power so great that an immortal could feel pain that left a scar.
As his soul was ripped from his realm, the burst of power let loose in an explosion capable of destroying planets, bathing all of hell in a white light that ripped the foundation from its place.
~~
As Ranma and Akane watched the shrine, the center sword began glowing with a dull red energy. "Ranma, what's going on?"
"I don't know, Akane. But I think we may be finding out soon."
~~
As Hamill breathed his sigh of relief, he began hearing something he never thought he'd hear in such a place. So many people had seen him do the impossible, and now they were cheering.
As he looked over the formless souls of Hell, he suddenly saw something he thought he may never see again. The white wings of an angel were beating their way toward him.
He waited for him to close the distance before he adressed Horum. "Well, now what?"
"Now, you leave. The walls are crumbling. However, you are needed on Earth again."
"What!? Why?"
"Because." Seeing the human's look he started sounding like an angry teacher. "Now don't look at me like that! Besides, reincarnation is the only way that you can re-take the life you lost."
"Oh?"
"Yes. But look! See what you've done! All those souls getting their chance at peace!" As Hamill looked around he saw what he had been waiting to see for a thousand years.
White points of light floated through the air, headed toward a white hole that had appeared in the ground where his final attack had taken effect.
As he looked around, he saw more white portals begin to appear as more and more souls were let loose from their bindings.
"So it's done. But why am I still needed?"
The angel lowered his head. "Because, it's part of The Redemption. When the walls of Hell are taken down, good and bad alike escape. Those who will go to Heaven will go there, some will be reincarnated. But along with these are those who were never meant to leave. And the world will need a hero." He let loose a chuckle. "Most likely, they already have one, but that won't do a bit of good if they aren't warned of the danger. Which is why I took the liberty of providing you with a beacon."
"What?"
"A hero on par with yourself will be near your door, drawn there by your strength. You must warn him, and provide any help you can." Suddenly, a strange swirling mass of energy appeared next to them. "But before you go, there's a few things you need to know."
~~
Ranma was on his butt, right next to Akane who had a similar reaction. There was no hostility there, but it had surprised them all the same when that strange swirling mass of energy appeared right in the middle of the cave they were in. "Yep, here we go."
They watched the light for a while, backing away only slightly, but never leaving it out of sight.
After about five minutes the light pulsed, filling the area with a warmth that didn't strike them as hostile at all.
Rather, it felt... friendly.
The mass of light began to morph and change, first elongating, and then stretching four tentacle-like parts out in four directions.
They began hearing the pained grunting and yelling of a small child as the light took a human form.
"It's a... kid?" Akane looked mesmerized the small form twisted and moved in mid-air.
A set of red and blue clothes appeared in a shifting ring of light as it moved around the child's still-lit body.
As Ranma watched, he could feel an energy signature spark into life, and suddenly erupt into a raging inferno before his eyes. And in response, the child curled up into a ball, only to stretch out and shout in a herculean effort to contain it all.
The screams alone was enough to make their ears bleed, but the added effect of the energy blasted them backward as lightning arced through the air.
After a moment or so, the child floated there, seemingly stunned. And, as the aura dropped, revealing ruby red hair and bright blue eyes, the child fell limply to the ground before them.
Looking first to each other, and then to the child on the ground, they decided to help... him? her?
Deciding it wasn't important at the moment, they then took the child into their care.
~~
The child opened her eyes to find that she was staring at the top of a tent.
Looking around, she suddenly realized that she didn't know where she was.
For that matter, she didn't know WHO she was!
But she heard voices outside, maybe they would know what was going on?
"Who is she?" Well, that was one question they couldn't answer.
"I don't know. Maybe we can ask her?" Fat chance.
"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with that shrine-thingy?" Shrine-thingy?
"Probably, but I want to know why she looks so much like me..." Ranma looked over to find the girl in question sitting on the ground just outside the tent, listening in on the conversation. "Well hello. Are you feeling okay?"
"Hello. Can you tell me where we are?" The genuinely curious look in her eyes said that she was NOT joking.
"Uh... well. We're somewhere in China."
"What's a China?" Ranma managed to fall over while sitting.
"Okay, forget that. Can you tell me your name?"
The girl shook her head no. "Uh-uh. I was hoping you could tell me."
Akane had scooted beside the two and decided to speak up. "Well, we need a name to call you by. So... uh." She suddenly found herself drawing a blank.
As Akane sat with her mouth hanging open, Ranma turned to the girl. "Well, do you have any ideas?"
Looking at the strange girl across from her she blinked a couple of times as she imitated the action.
Ranma looked from one to the other, and then sighed as he massaged his forehead. "Great, I don't need two brain-dead girls around!"
"HEY!!" Akane responded immediately, and then looked blankly into Ranma's face. "What were we talking about again?"
Ranma promptly fell over backwards as the girl imitated the action, not really understanding why he did it, but finding that it was painful.
Ranma got back up again as did the other girl. He then adressed the child with a question. "Have you thought of a name?"
The girl blinked in thought for a moment, than looked him in the eye. "How about Har Lin?"
"Hairline?" Akane looked confused (again).
"No, Har Lin. What made you come up with that?" Ranma adressed the young girl again.
"I dunno. It was just the first thing to come to mind."
"Well, how about if we shorten it to Lin?"
"I guess that's okay." The girl smiled. "Besides, I don't think I want to be called Hairline!"
Akane laughed at the mild humor. "Okay, so, um, do you know any martial arts?"
"Any what?"
Ranma sighed. "I guess that's a no." Smiling, he waved at Lin as he pulled Akane along by the shoulder. "Can you give us a minute really quick?"
Lin didn't really understand, but she didn't see any real reason to say no. Not that Ranma gave her the chance to.
"Ranma! What's this about!?"
"Akane! Did you feel that power she put off earlier?"
Akane found herself quieted just a bit.
"You did, didn't you?" Akane shook her head no. "What?"
"No. I could see it, but I couldn't feel it."
Ranma was shell-shocked. "You can't be serious! You chased me halfway across lower China by just my energy, but you couldn't sense THAT!?"
"That's right Ranma! YOUR energy! I know your energy!" Dropping the scowl just a little, she decided to get Ranma to get to the point. "But I can tell that it was big. And you're going to say something about that."
Fighting back his frustration, Ranma nodded. "Yes. She's got a lot of power. If you had sensed it, you would know that it's about a third as big as mine." His gaze became serious as he looked at the girl behind Akane, who was currently staring in rapt awe of a butterfly. "But..."
As a hundred or so thoughts ran through Ranma's mind, Akane finally became impatient with him. "But WHAT Ranma!?"
"But, she's got no control. If something were to happen, or she became too emotional... She could cause problems."
~~
Ranma and the girl were training in form. Ranma was doing his best to teach both Akane and Lin simultaneously. Akane was doing rather well, but Lin kept on falling over.
"It's okay Lin. You'll get the hang of it. Akane's already been doing something like this for years!" Ranma helped the small girl off the ground as she frowned at her inability to remain standing while spinning.
"Let's try some punching instead for now. Then we can move on to kicks."
Lin nodded. Punching sounded easier than kicking.
~~
Ranma ended up finding fault in Lin's form, but was quick to help out. He then wa also able to find fault in Akane's punches. He gave her tips in such, and she did improve noteably.
Well, to Ranma it was noteably. Lin couldn't see what was different.
Lin did, however, do her best to do as asked. She wanted to do her best for these nice people. She didn't care if she messed up a lot. So long as she was giving it her all.
~~
The three of them sat around a fire. "So Lin. Did you have a good time today?"
Ranma looked inquisitively to the small girl accross from him. As she thought on the question, she put one hand to her backside. Nodding, she responded, "Except for the part when I hit my butt. Yes."
Akane started laughing good-naturedly, and Ranma found it contagious. After a little while, and a few moments of staring at the two of them curiously, Lin started laughing too.
'Why are we laughing?'
Akane managed to calm down enough to speak. "He-yeah. I remember first starting out with Anything-Goes. I fell on my butt a lot too."
"You still fall on your butt a lot!" Ranma began laughing even more now.
Lin started laughing the moment Ranma did, and stopped when she noticed that Akane was now standing.
Standing as well, she copied the other girl as she stalked dangerously toward Ranma, who was laughing at his own joke.
Ranma noticed their silence too late to save himself.
He saw two sets of angry eyes staring down at him. He knew what he had done to Akane, but what did he do to Lin? 'Oh shoot.'
As Akane chased her 'Sensei' around the surrounding forest, Lin imitated the actions. "GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!!"
"AAH! AKANE! I DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING BY IT! REALLY!"
"Yeah! Get back here you coward!"
"SEE? LIN WANTS YOU TO COME BACK TOO!"
"Yeah! See? Lin wants you to come back too! I do?"
"See!? She's just copyin!"
"She's just copyin! Ranma? What's copyin mean?"
"I'll tell ya later! Akane! Watch where you swing that thing! Aah!" Ranma found his head to be the part of him on the recieving end of a mallet strike.
He quickly fell to the ground, hitting it by the top of his head.
Akane watched the little redhead imitate the pose Ranma had landed in, trying to balance on her head and have her legs out at the same time.
"No Lin. We stand like this while we laugh at the stupid boy on the ground!" As she looked in the small hole, she noticed something awry. "Hey? Where'd he go?"
"Right here!" Ranma put his hands around Akane's eyes.
"Hey! Let go of me!"
"Have you worked the violence out of your system?" Ranma's voice was suddenly serious.
Akand stood for a moment, then nodded vigorously.
Ranma removed his hands from her eyes. "Girl, we gotta work on that temper of yours. Or else it's gonna get you in trouble one day!"
Akane (and Lin) only huffed indignantly.
~~
Lin was the first to fall asleep. Ranma sacrificed his own comfort to give the girl his sleeping bag.
As he sat in the surprisingly warm night at the edge of the tent, he wondered about the girl they had picked up earlier that day.
With all they had gone through on just that one day, it seemed like it should have been longer than it really was.
That girl's tendancy to copy everything and the constant smile already seemed like it should have been a part of his life from the beginning.
And the familar red hair and blue eyes. She looked just like him! Well, his girl side anyway. But why?
With these thoughts swimming in his head, he managed to fall asleep just behind the tent door.
~~
The next morning they started training bright and early. "But why before light-time?" Lin was rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she stretched her arms out.
Ranma smiled. "Because this way we can tell our bodies to not get tired. Then we can practice more and more."
"And besides, if Ranma doesn't get up early, then I'll get cranky." Akane was rubbing the sleep from her own eyes, giving a subtle warning to the pig-tailed boy.
From there they practiced. They practiced through the morning, eating when hungry, and sitting to breathe whenever Ranma felt they had pushed far enough for long enough.
During one of these times, Lin started a conversation. "Hey Ranma?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you know where I come from?"
Ranma looked down silently for a moment before shaking his head no. "No, I don't. And niether does Akane." He motioned to the girl who was now on the ground, sprawled out and breathing as if snoring.
"Then... can you tell me how you found me?"
Ranma smiled. "Well, I could tell you now, or I could show you later?"
"You can show me?"
"Yea... you really don't remember, do you?"
"Uh-uh. It feels really weird, but... I know how to walk and talk, but that's all I know. I don't know anything else and as hard as I try, I can't remember anything."
Seeing Lin look sad sorta hurt Ranma... so he suggested something. "Well, my pops always said something at times like this. 'When you don't want to think, beat the living daylights out of something!' Let's get back to our training and you'll feel a lot better!"
Akane sat up and eyed Ranma. "Did he really say that?"
Ranma laughed loudly. "HAHA!! No, at least I don't think so. But that's sure the way he acted! And it works, don't it?"
Akane smiled darkly. "Well, it sure works for me."
Ranma cringed as he looked at her. "Uh... hehe!"
It was at that point that a familiar voice called out. "RANMA!!!"
"Oh, man! Not him." A familiar fanged boy stomped out of the forest with vengeance in his eyes.
"RANMA! YOU SHALL NOT TAKE AKANE!"
Ranma sighed and stood to adress the lost boy. "Ryoga, we're kinda busy right now, so if you could just leave?"
"Damn you Ranma! Because of you, I have seen HELL!! Do you think I will leave Akane in your care!?"
Lin's eyes went wide as she began backing away in unseen fear. She began shaking and fear began seeping into her voice. "No..."
"Lin, are you okay?" Akane began wondering what was wrong the moment the girl stood.
But she didn't hear Akane's questioning. She simply continued to back away slowly. "No... no-no-no-no-no-NO! I WON'T GO BACK TO THAT PLACE!!!"
Now she even had Ryoga's attention. "So, Ranma, you have even shown a CHILD what Hell is like!?"
"Hey! Now wait a minute!"
"Ranma, you disgust me. NOW LET ME SHOW YOU THE HELL THAT YOU HAVE SHOWN ME!!!" He went to punch the pig-tailed boy, but hit air as his target dodged behind the heavy-set boy.
Ranma was about to kick Ryoga away when he felt it. That same energy he had felt before.
Turning around, he saw Lin, standing there, bathed in a bright white light and she appeared to be rather angry about something.
Ryoga looked her over, noticing the amount of energy she was producing. 'What is this?'
Lin began growling out at the lost boy, an anger stemming from unknown places fueling the waves of power the three were feeling from her. "You do not KNOW HELL!!!" She slowly began to walk toward the lost, and now confused, boy. "You do not know the feeling. The feeling of hopelessness, of sorrow, the feeling of pure desperation! You have not seen, or felt the constant torture! You do not KNOW of the way that every second spent there holds a new kind of pain! Pain that stabs to the SOUL! You have not heard the desperate, constant wailing of trillions of lost souls calling out for mercy!" She balled up one fist as the white light grew brighter and a second, deeper voice joined her own. "You have not felt the HATE boiling in the deepest pits! And you have not stared down the demons constantly roaming the fiery plains, valleys, and chasms searching for particularly evil men for their supper!" The young, youthful voice gave way completely as a brightly lit form of a man overtook the child-like one of a moment before. "AND I WILL NOT BE HAVING YOU WISH SUCH A THING ON ANYONE!"
Ryoga was backing away, suddenly not wanting to be there anymore. His voice was shaking as he spoke his concern, "W-what are you!?"
The strong voice of this man suddenly sounded sad for some reason. "I... am one who's heart heard that call, and answered it." He balled his fist as he regained his anger. "Hell is not a place for the eyes of the living, and even the dead shudder as they stand at the gates of other world, where the sounds of that place call out. But... if you want to see it, I can show you..." He walked slowly toward the boy, his hand flexing, stressing, then relaxing, and stressing again.
Ryoga backed away, looking a bit like Genma when cornered. Waving both hands in front of him and smiling, showing one fang, he shook his head no. "Ah, no, that's okay! No need, really!" Feeling the glare directed down at him, he covered his head, as if trying to protect himself from an attack.
But the attack never came.
Inspecting his hands to make sure they were still there, he looked up.
The man was still there, as was the aura that lit the area. But he seemed to be fighting himself over something. His glare was constantly shifting between anger and shock as he stood there, his hand mere inches from the lost boy's head, still flexed in a cupped position.
As Ryoga started sliding away, the man stood up straight, with both hands in fists at his sides. "I believe you get the idea."
As he calmed down, the white energy disipated as the form of the man suddenly seemed to shred, and disappear, leaving only the child behind. "Leave now. Please." Ryoga didn't take even a second to comply as he left the scene behind him, trying to forget the fear he felt.
'What kind of demon WAS that!?' Blinking, he noticed that his surroundings were nothing like what they were just a moment before. Sighing, he fell to the ground. 'I've never been so glad to be lost.'
Right then, Ranma was smiling as he looked at the girl, who just seemed to be standing there, staring at her hands as if they would speak to her if she stared at them long enough. "Wow! I've NEVER seen anyone scare Ryoga like that!"
The girl didn't respond, instead, she simply stood there and put her hands at her sides, as if giving up.
After an uncomfortable moment, she spoke. "My name, is Hamill." She turned around with tears in her eyes. "But I wasn't supposed to remember that for a while." Dropping to the ground, she began to sob. "And now I'm stuck this way. Stuck learning to live again with the memories of my old life, and of death." The two others there were shocked, they didn't know what to say. But she smiled. "Oh well, I suppose that means I can warn you that much sooner."
Ranma recognized that tone. That tone always meant something bad.
What he didn't know, was exactly how bad it really was.
~~~~~~*** End of Chapter 3 ***~~~~~~
Well, that's the end of that one. I'll just let you digest that for a while.
...
...
...
...
...
Been long enough? Well, I guess the story will begin in earnest now. Not that this so far wasn't a story, or part of the story, but as one chapter ends, another begins. So the end of the beginning is the point at which one ends and the next finishes the beginning. Confused? Good. I speak in riddles that can only be solved with very little thought.
Ouch, my stomach hurts. O.o Where did my stomach come into this?
Alex: Your stomach gets into everything! Hehe.
Alex Ultra: No, that's yours.
Alex: Hey! I can't help it if I've got a high metabolism!
Alex Ultra: Oh, is that code for 'I've got a black hole for a stomach.'?
Alex: O.O Um, I guess in my case, yes.
Alex Ultra: Oh geeze. [On the floor]
Alex: ^.^' I'm gonna order some pizza, kay?
Alex Ultra: Whatever.
Alex: ^.^+
Till next time.
Bringer of Hope and Creator of Worlds
Alex and Alex Ultra
LATER
