GUILTY GEAR

The Wedding Night

The Series

.

Conceived and Written By: Sheo Darren

.

           In the previous chapter:

           Battle lines are drawn between good and evil even as the ranks of the heroes are thinned and incomplete. The powerful Ultrasaurus and the Anti Sho Tsuzuku Alliance Task Force race towards the flashpoint, hoping to arrive before it is too late. Perhaps other heroes are hurrying as well. A hero falls before the fight can begin, struck down by a traitor's blade, and without their most powerful warriors the Guilty Gear fighters seemed doomed. But That Girl rises up to the task and with Lord of the Rings-style grandeur, leading the GG and SNK fighters into their fateful battle, a battle from which the world's fate will be decided, even as that mysterious woman watches....

.

Disclaimer

           I don't own anything here but myself, my created characters and the story itself. Word of notice: I will try to update every week or so, Friday or Saturday. Thanks for all the support.

.

The Wedding Night Series

"All Good Things Must Come To An End…"

.

Part Two of Five: Sorrow

.

.

Slightly beyond the battlefie  ld

            The latest incarnation of the Box of Doom glowered.

It and the Eternal Fighters Zero girls were watching the battle before them unfold. That Girl and her companions didn't have much of a chance to win against such powerful minions, much less against Sho Tsuzuku himself. The Box and company knew that very well, having been on the receiving end of the super villain's power all too many times before. They knew Yuuki knew that too, the latter having allied with Sho in what seemed to be a lifetime ago.

And yet she still foolishly thought to fight him.

What a waste.

"Master?"

It was Amasawa Ikumi. The vampire girl had reluctantly taken over leading the remnants of the EFZ girls after Misaki disappeared and Mai defected over to the other side. The first thing in order was to get new replacements for their lost members. Thus, the newest entrees to their team: The little girl in black sundress known only as Unknown and the final boss of the game herself, Kanna. The two new additions represented a lot of firepower, and thus the team was in battle terms stronger now than before.

But getting new members was just not enough. There was a pall hovering over the EFZ girls, an emptiness that drained away their morale and enthusiasm as surely as a vampire would its victim's blood. They just didn't have it in them anymore. The fighting spirit, the energy and eagerness, all were almost gone. Misaki's departure had been totally unexpected; Mai's defection was almost unbearable.

It was a dark moment indeed, the darkest in their lives.

"The battle has begun, Master," Ikumi reported. "That Girl and her allies are fighting Sho Tsuzuku's group. What should we do now?"

For a long while, the Box of Doom didn't speak. The girls were disturbed by their master's enforced silence.

"Master? What should we do?"

"The proper question," interjected a new voice, "Is not what the Box of Doom wants you to do. It's what you think you should do."

The EFZ girls all surrounded the Box of Doom protectively and faced this intruder. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"My answer to the first would be, 'Secret'. My answer to the second," the mysterious woman continued, "Is to help you."

"We don't need any help from other people," shot back Ikumi, "Least of all from some new insert character."

The EFZ girls all nodded and began inching their way threateningly towards the mysterious woman.

"Wait."

The Box of Doom had spoken. The EFZ girls all came to a stop.

"I may be a villain and a box, but I am not so stupid to refuse potential help from outside. Ikumi," it added, "Turn me around to face our guest."

Though the vampire girl was suspicious of this new character, she did as her Master willed her.

"Now," said the Box of Doom in as pleasant a manner as it could. "What do we have to discuss? What can you offer us?"

The mysterious woman smiled faintly. "Your pride."

                                                                                *         *         *

"Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising

I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing.

To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking:

Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!"

.

Eomer, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

.

            Though Ky Kiske was at the front rank of the group, she found herself beginning to lag behind a bit as if weighed down–which she was feeling so right now. Slowing down, she was thus became the first to be engaged by the Chapter of Ten.

Jam Kuradoberi decided that this blonde woman would be a proper enough foe. She'd joined Sho Tsuzuku's side specifically for one purpose: To get back Ky. Testament had hopped onto the bandwagon to get Dizzy back. But she couldn't see Ky anywhere, though her current opponent seemed to resemble him a lot. The thing was, with Ky's new girl form, Jam didn't recognize her/him at all and thought him/her as another person entirely.

A fact which honestly sucks…

Ever the gentleman (though right now he was stuck in a girl's body), Ky was leery to fight girls. Especially Jam. He still had bad memories haunting him where he saw tantalizing white that he shouldn't have seen. He was married, yes, but 'fan boy' syndrome still pursued him. Jam was a tough opponent; given her penchant for 'panty flash action', she was even more fearsome to Ky.

"Miss Jam," the knight began politely, "I do not have any wish to fight you. In fact, I will first try to convince you of the error of your ways in a peaceful and civilized–"

Jam made an insulting face at her, complete with "Pidaah!"

Ky sweat-dropped but decided to go on. "–Civilized manner. As I was saying, I would like to resolve this not through swordplay–"

Sho Tsuzuku smirked at that comment; at his side, Ranma Saotome again barely repressed a chuckle. The Frenchwoman glared evilly at the distraction before continuing.

"–but through careful and nonviolent diplomacy. In other words: Can't we talk about this over a cup of tea? I've got a lot of tea and tea cups at home, and Dizzy makes the best tea I've ever tasted–"

"You're all talk," Jam snapped angrily, cutting Ky short. "Put your mouth where your money is." So saying, she got into her Pakua fighting pose. She also 'bounced' as she did so, and Ky turned red to see that.

"Very well, then." Shaking her head, Ky drew Furaiken two-handed, did her pre-battle preparations pose and got into her one-hand fighting pose. "In the name of God, I will–eeep!"

It turned out that as well as being absolutely luscious, Girl Ky was also physically weaker than her true form. She nearly dropped the Thunderseal on her own foot; it was too heavy for her current strength to lift even with both hands, much less wielding it properly in battle.

"Okay," she muttered to herself. "This might be harder than I thought."

With a shrill cry that made everyone within range cringe, Jam ran forward to attack.

Ky had three seconds to get Furaiken up. All she got for her efforts was what remotely sounded like a popped joint in her shoulder and finding herself sitting on her butt. Furaiken's blade was half buried into the ground.

"By Kliff's beard," she murmured in dismay. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor in her case, Ky fled for her life.

Jam would not let her target do so. "No escape!" she yelled, quoting the SVC announcer as she charged up her chi power and focused it to increase her speed. "Asanagi no Kokyuu!" Then: "Ryuu Jin!"

Amazingly, it missed.

At the moment that Jam launched her attack, Ky had rather clumsily tipped over onto her right side and thus fell beneath the flaming flying side kick. As Jam flew over her, the knight got a look up into the former's skirt from beneath, turned an even deeper brighter shade of crimson despite the fact that he was a girl right now (or was it because she was really a 'he'? Confusing, ne?), and ran back towards Furaiken.

"Stand still, you! Hyappou Shin Shou!"

Fortuitously, Ky again lost her balance and tripped. The chi burst sailed over her head harmlessly while she was sprawled on the ground.

"Dammit! Ken Roukaku!"

Again, a miss, as Ky managed to roll out of the descending foot (and not without getting another look at something she knew she shouldn't look at). Again, Jam was livid (and did not notice she was giving Ky free 'flashes', she was so angry).

"I don't know why this is happening, but it's saving my life. Then again," Ky corrected herself as Jam cursed vehemently in Chinese and gathered up her Tension for a charged Overdrive move, "It wouldn't be too bad for a plot device savior."

"Chou Kyaku Houou Shou!"

One kick, then two, then four, then eight, then a whole barrage of them while the image of a flaming dragon was superimposed on them all came at Ky. The latter was luckily ready, Fortress Block solidly protecting against the Overdrive move. Not one kick got through.

Then she ran out of Tension.

"Oh, crap," Ky groaned in French.

"I've got you now!" Jam activated her IK stance and executed it. "Ten! Ga! Ten! Jou! Ga! Doku! Sen!"

But the 'Ain't I Wonderful' Destroy missed, because at that moment Ky took it inside her head to act like a real girl and suffered a five-second fainting spell, dropping limply below the first kick and lying on the ground, the safest place to be when someone was barraging away with mid-air martial arts kicks.

Screaming outrage at how her beautiful Pakua fighting technique wasn't working because her opponent was cheating somehow, Jam stomped on the very vulnerable Ky– and missed.

"AUGH!"

"She reminds me of Lucy from Peanuts," Ky thought as Jam blew her stack and began throwing a temper tantrum right then and there. "May's got a rival for the name Ultimate Brat…"

"Why can't I hit her?" the Chinese woman wailed as she pounded the ground with her fists like a little kid (or for an equally apt comparison, just like Xianghua in Soul Calibur). "I've fought far faster and more agile opponents before and easily hit them! Why can't I hit this girl?"

"I'm a guy!" protested Ky embarrassedly.

"That sounds like Bridget talking," said Dizzy.

"Is someone ripping me off?" grumbled Benimaru, who appeared out of nowhere.

"Someone is ripping me off," Xianghua rather tartly observed.

"The reason is simple, Jam." Sho Tsuzuku leered at Ky, and for good reason. "You are used to aiming at people who voluntarily dodge out of your way. But your opponent here is different. She evades by pure unpredictable chance. She does not mean to evade that way, but her body responds differently than she wants it. Thus, you cannot predict how she moves and you cannot hit her with any move you prepare."

"But how does she do it?" the Chinese waitress demanded, jumping up and down in rage, bouncing as she did so and thus drawing unexpected first blood in their battle: Ky nosebleeded.

Sho Tsuzuku was slightly interested. "This guy is married already and is stuck in a girl's body, and he still gets a fan boy reaction? What did Kliff feed this idiot when he was a kid?"

"You haven't answered my question!" Jam screeched at her erstwhile boss.

"Fine, fine." The super villain pointed at Ky's very healthy chest. "You see," he noted lasciviously, "she's a little unbalanced and top-heavy."

"Ohmygodthisissoembarassing," mumbled the badly embarrassed Ky, hugging herself and turning away in humiliation

"Don't make fun of Mister Ky!" Dizzy scolded innocently. "You should know that he's very handsome as a boy and very pretty as a girl! Plus, he's sexier than you and me and has a better chest than those girls from Dead or Alive!"

Ky buried her face into her hands in shame. "Kill me now. Spare me all this."

Jam stared at the blonde. "That's Ky?" she said, stupefied and feeling envious since she had fewer assets than Ky did in the latter's female form. "But– but she's a girl!"

"So? I do suppose you've sometimes wished Ky was a girl for some yuri fun," noted Sho Tsuzuku, "Kaiser Ryouga II or otherwise."

Aside, Kaiser Ryouga II thinks about it. "Why not?"

Jam blushed. "It's not like that!"

"Yes, it is. Now, go finish Ky off now. Then you can have fun with him all you want, especially the kind your lurid little hentai fantasies breed every now and then."

But Ky had a different look on her face now, a forceful look that gave Jam pause. "I hate to burst your bubble," the Frenchwoman said, "But I think this fight has gone too long."

"Why? I may not have any Overdrive available anymore, but you can't use Furaiken either. What are you going to do? Pull my hair?"

Ky sighed, shook her head, shrugged, said, "Yes," and then proceeded to grab Jam's long bound hair and tugged hard.

"OW! Leggo my hair! OUCH! You meanie! EYAOW!You're not Mister Ky, he's not this mean! OW! OW! OW! OW!"

Pretty soon, the beaten Jam was crying on the ground, her very long dark chestnut hair totally an undone wreck, untied as it was and draped over her head in a messy mass.

Dizzy had watched the spectacle with big unbelieving innocent Bambi eyes. "Wow, I didn't know Mister Ky could do that… that's a bit mean, though…"

"Pathetic, pathetic, very much the most pathetic finishing move I've ever witnessed ever since the Alien 9 Kumi-chan strike back in Chapter 9 or 10." Sho Tsuzuku was talking to himself of course, trying to rationalize his disbelief at the outcome of the fight. "Sheo, I have just seen how your mind works, and honestly I think you are far more messed up than I am."

Being a sore loser, Jam was sobbing and bawling her heart out. "Why? Why? Mister Ky, why did you hurt me like this? Now I'll never get you back at all."

"It's because you're wrong," said Ky sternly, an answer that made Jam pause in her tantrums. "You can't win my heart because Dizzy already has it. But I admire your dedication," she added softly, "And I think that whomever new person you come to love will be a lucky man indeed, even though it is not me.

"Miss Jam, I am happy with Dizzy. Please, I want you to be happy as well. I know you will get over me one day and find a new love. I should know, especially with the kind of woman you are." She smiled charmingly, just like her old form if he ever thought to loosen up and be normal for once.

Jam blushed and looked away, but she was happy.

Ky flashed Dizzy a V for 'Victory' sign. "Great, huh? No bloodshed except my own, and not too much of that, too–eh?"

"Mister Ky!" The half-Gear girl was gesturing frantically at his back. "Behind you!"

The warning came too late. Johnny was already standing right behind Ky.

"What the–"

"You're very pretty as a girl, cop, and you've got real hot assets, too. It's too bad I never got the chance to show you some of my better moves –but if we consider Blackheart ZERO's The Incredibly Zany GG Story… nah, you were a guy then. But what the hell? Die."

The katana came down in a stabbing thrust.

"Mister Ky!"

Five seconds later, Ky found herself unharmed and alive. That was because someone had shoved her aside to safety and had willingly taken Johnny's backstab attack in order to protect her.

It was Jam.

Sho Tsuzuku smacked his forehead yet again and grumbled, "Why are there so many people who are willing to die for their loved ones in this world? God just had to create human beings as naturally good people. Makes it all the more harder for me to have fun…"

Johnny jumped back, out of range of any retaliatory attack. But Ky ignored him, instead focusing her distress on Jam whom she held in her arms.

"Miss Jam! Miss Jam! Please don't die!"

She managed to open her eyes and actually smile. "Are you okay, Mister Ky?"

"Yes." The returning smile was bitter and sad. "Yes, I am, Miss Jam, and it's because to you, Miss Jam. All because to you."

Her smile grew broader. "That's nice to hear," Jam said, closing her eyes, sighing as she did. "It doesn't hurt too much, really. It doesn't hurt too much anymore."

Whether she meant the stab wound or the fact that she had forever lost her beloved Ky to another girl –perhaps the latter thought, indeed–, Jam never really did get to elaborate. Instead, she rested her head against her beloved's chest and lay very still.

A tear trickled down Ky's eye, a tear that was followed by a stream of them pouring down her cheeks as she held the lifeless Jam tightly.

Johnny was miffed that his second backstab of the day was a failure. "Damn, I should have stabbed first and talked later."

Then he caught sight of Dizzy.

                                                                                *         *         *

            Nearby, Rock Howard and the former Hotaru Futaba faced off against an equally deadly foe: Raziel, the vampire boss bad guy from Legacy of Kain.

"So." The malformed demon sneered at the two Garrou fighters. "What do we have here? Lambs ripe for the picking? Your strong souls will satisfy my hunger for quite some time. Give up now, and I promise your deaths will not be too painful to bear."

"I don't think so," returned Rock, not feeling the least bit of fear. "I'm not going to give my soul to some look-alike of Nemesis from Resident Evil!"

"I do not look like Nemesis," Raziel grumbled, starting to lose his 'villain cool'.

"STAARS," Hotaru said in imitation of how the RE bio-weapon snarls out the word. "STAARS…"

(Not so far away on the J-Ark, Jill Valentine gets the shivers for no apparent reason at all.)

That did it. "Argh!" Raziel brandished his soul-destroying sword in fury. "Do you really want to tick me off? You're going the right way as it is!"

Rock got into his battle pose. "Hotaru, I'll take care of this guy. You stand by out of harm's way."

"But, Rock!"

"No buts; I don't want you to get hurt. But," he did add with a roguish smile, "If I'm getting the worse of it, you can come in and back me up."

She grinned back at him. "Okay!" said Hotaru as she gathered up Itokatsu and scooted off to a convenient distance away. Rock turned to Raziel and gestured challengingly with one hand.

"Come on, Nemesis. I don't need the Knife to beat you."

Seething with rage, Raziel slashed at him, knowing only one hit was needed to finish the battle but rashly letting his fury get the better of him (out of character, yes, but what the hell...)

"For the last time: I AM NOT NEME–"

"Gotcha! Crack Counter!"

The Crack Counter is a reversal used by Rock that isn't a fail-safe defense like the infamous family patriarch's equally infamous counters. It's quite a good move, actually. The proper way of using it is to trick opponents into attacking you while in the reversal mode. Just as Rock did.

The Legacy of Kain boss angrily got up. "You will pay for this insult, puny human!"

"Don't you all say that?" challenged the blonde fighter.

Raziel attacked again and again. Again and again, Rock effortlessly countered every strike with the Crack Counter, and then when Raziel was vulnerable the young Howard followed up with either an Axe Kick or a Crack Shoot. Then he suddenly shifted gear into offense, used a Heavy Kick to set up his combo, performed a Standing Cancel, used Rage Run: Shift to teleport behind Raziel, executed the Shinkuu Nage command throw, 'braked' his attack –canceled the usual follow-up strike in order to follow up with a different move instead– and then Shine Knuckled the vampire into the wall! But that was not over yet; Rock then executed a Heavy Rising Tackle for the finisher to his powerful combo!

(Sheo Darren gave the readers a rather pleased look. "You can see that I've studied up on the move list and combo strategies for the characters, ne?")

"How? How is this possible?" Raziel could not believe that Rock had done such massive damage to him in just a short time. "You are not armed at all! You do not have any armor or protective gear! But how can you deflect my soul-destroying sword?"

Rock grinned. "You forget: Game physics. My Auto-Guard Counter move is invincible against any physical melee attack!"

"So… you really are your father's son… But that will not matter!" Again Raziel charged forward. Rock prepared to Crack Counter again–

Raziel disappeared.

"Eh?" Then Rock realized where teleporting opponents usually went to–

Raziel materialized behind him, grabbed him by the neck and began chocking him hard. The vampire was physically stronger than Rock; thus, his death grip could not be broken.

"I find like your lack of faith… disturbing," sneered Raziel as he raised his sword.

"Rock!"

Hotaru was coming in for the save. Rock realized his wife was in danger. "No! Hotaru, don't!"

Laughing sadistically, Raziel slashed at Hotaru with his sword. Swatted aside by the powerful blow, seemingly struck by the unholy killing sword, the blue-haired girl crumpled to the ground and didn't get up.

Rock's eyes were wide in horror at the sight of his wife lying on the ground. Was she–

"Raziel, will you stop being such an evil boss character and just kill off Rock?" Sho Tsuzuku ordered from afar. "That was how Fibrizo bought the farm: Being careless and arrogant. Do you really want to kick the bucket like he did?"

Itokatsu rushed to his mistress and nosed her frantically.

Hotaru didn't move.

Was she dead?

Something began to rage within Rock, something dark and evil…

"You have no sense of fun, Sho." But Raziel moved to do so as he was commanded, raising the soul sword to Rock's throat. "It's been fun playing with you, boy, but party time's over. Now, die–"

A hand caught the sword's blade before it could plunge into his throat. The hand should have withered away if it was a normal human one, but this was no normal hand. It was bathed in an evil mauve flame, canceling the substantial power of Raziel's sword and pushing its power back, even! Raziel felt the evil energy radiating right in front of him, from none other than–

His other hand gripped the clawed fist holding him by the throat and then squeezed with incredible force. In the first three seconds, it was merely pain. In the next three, bones cracked –no, shattered audibly. Raziel screamed with the pain of his broken hand, dropping his prey, prey that had just turned into the predator–

The fist that held the sword shoved it aside and snapped forward into Raziel's stomach, piercing the tough demon skin exterior and burying itself into muscle and vital organs, the lethal lavender fire consuming the weakest portions in its advance. Again Raziel screamed and dropped his sword, subjected as he was to pain he'd never though he'd know aside from inflicting it upon other people, pain from a power that now reached out to take him and destroy him utterly–

"No!"

The vampire burst into flame and disintegrated into dust. His slayer stood right in the middle of that conflagration but was unhurt, protected as he was by his reawakened aura of evil, the aura that was symbolized by the wings of amethyst chi that sprung from his back and the lilac flames in his hands and eyes.

Sho Tsuzuku clapped his hands.

"Impressive, Mister Howard. I'd never have thought that you'd be able to defeat Raziel so easily. Your evil power is interesting, indeed, far more interesting and promising than Raziel. Would you care to give me a personal demonstration?"

His dark heritage manifested fully, his gentle nature now aflame with the fires of evil, Rock Howard turned to Sho Tsuzuku with menacing eyes. "I'll destroy you."

                                                                                *         *         *

There is no need, actually, to describe how the battle between Makoto Shishio and Anji Mito ended, since the author has a bias against Anji and doesn't care much for depicting the latter's fighting style. Stopping Fans, yes; Outrage weapons yes; but they're still fans.

Anyway, Shishio beat Anji up. Laughing hoarsely like he does in the English dub, he throws the poor Japanese politician guy back to his wife and says, "The strong shall live and the weak shall die. Remember that."

"Shameless self-promotion," coldly returns Baiken. "If you think I'm going to say any crap about the strong protecting the weak, forget it."

Smiling calculatingly, Shishio waited.

Exhaling angrily and muttering as she did so, her every word dripping with sarcasm, Baiken declaimed: "You're wrong. The strong should protect the weak. Now I've said it, can we fight?"

"Baiken Seishino, the wandering swordswoman." Shishio considered his opponent. "You are one of the strong. Why defend the weak?"

"You seem to forget. One: I'm a Kenshin clone. Two: I already told you, I wasn't going to say the Kenshin lines, but you bug me so much."

"Convincing you, then, is pointless." Shishio got into his pose. "It is a shame I have to kill you. You could have been my new right hand, especially after Soujiro left my group."

(Cut scene to show Soujiro Seta cheerfully greeting the girls on the J-Ark with his trademark 'happy face'. He happened to be one of Sheo Darren's favorite characters –one of the very few men privileged thus to be aboard the Anti Sho Tsuzuku Alliance Task Force.)

So saying, Shishio lashed out with a blow that would have decapitated Baiken–

COUNTER!

"What?" The hitokiri could not believe it. This mere woman had parried his attack so easily with her sword!

"I don't suppose Sho Tsuzuku told you about me, did he?" Baiken decided a small sneer was in order. "I'm the local queen of Guard Cancel in Guilty Gear."

"You cannot defeat me! You are not Battousai the Slasher!"

"I don't need to beat you," she said with finality, "Though I could, if I tried. But I'm not going to even try."

"Die!"

COUNTER! COUNTER! COUNTER!

The two sword fighters were a blur of motion. Shishio was striking at Baiken with insanely fast and powerful blows. But the latter was faster still, and with two arms now to wield two swords at the same time, her defense was impenetrable (and no, it was not Fortress Blocking, just Auto-Guard Counters).

Shishio realized the new battle style Baiken had adopted, fighting simultaneously with two swords that she was. "You've perfected Aoshi Shinamori's technique: The twin sword defense formation!"

"So nice of you to notice at last, Makoto. Send my regards to Jinnai and the others."

"Argh! I am not that loser from El Hazard!"

COUNTER!

"Go, Baiken, go, go, go!" cheered Anji as his wife kicked ass. "Moral support, people!" The kawaii cheerleading team the Japanese had founded in Lone Wolf SIX's GG versus SNK appeared.

Kula: "Give me a B!"

May Lee: "Give me an A!"

January: "Give me an I!"

February: "Give me a K!"

March: "Give me an E!"

June: "Give me an N!

Anji: "What have you got?"

All Girls: "BAIKEN!" (jump into the air enthusiastically) "YAY!"

"Argh!" Shishio screamed at them. "Shut up! And why are the Jellyfish girls there, too?"

COUNTER!

"Dammit! I was asking a serious question!"

COUNTER!

Fourteen minutes later…

COUNTER!

"Why won't you attack?" Shishio screamed in fury. "You cannot beat me without attacking at all!"

"I did set out to beat you," Baiken said finally, smiling confidently as she did. "Anji!"

"Timer!" The now-recovered Japanese politician was holding a stopwatch. "Five… four... three…"

"Oh, damn..."

COUNTER!

"…Will you stop that! I'm about to die, and all you can do is–"

COUNTER!

"ARGH! I HATE YOU!"

"… Two… one!" Anji hit the Start/Stop button. "Fifteen minutes!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Shishio dramatically turned into flame and then ash. He'd fought too long and thus overheated himself, and without sweat glands to cool his body down, he burned up.

Baiken sheathed both of her swords, slugged a shot of her sake and did a thumb's down with her fist and grinned while Anji and company did their 'cheerleader' routine.

"No match."

                                                                                *         *         *

            Millia and Venom watched as Eddy and the shadow guy from Shadow Skill (Shadow guy from Shadow Skill: "My name is Darkness, stupid author! What the–where did that anvil come from?") beat each other up. They weren't helping their supposed ally, not one whit.

"Don't you think we should help Zato-sama out a bit?"

"Nah. Why waste the time and effort? Besides, Eddy and the shadow guy are equally matched."

"I suppose so." After a few moments of watching the entire area get Shadow Drilled, Venom said, "What was the rationale of waiting this out again?"

"Well, if Eddy wins, it's a win for our group. That parasite will also have been weakened so much that we can dispatch of him with ease. Ditto with the shadow guy (Darkness: "Damn it! My name is Darkness! Darkness!") from Shadow Skill if he wins: It's a win-win situation for us, not for them."

"And here I thought Johnny was the only backstabber in the group."

"Hey, if it means anything, we can cheer for Eddy."

"Let me see Anji and Baiken. Maybe they can lend us their cheerleading team."

"Good idea."

                                                                                *         *         *

           Sephiroth smiled grimly as he advanced on Faust and Zappa. Flanking him was 'Dark Bring' Lucia Rareglove. Both their swords were out, the weapons radiating evil energy in such amounts that they seemed to compete with each other to prove which weapon was more powerful an evil. The weapons themselves were bad enough; the wielders were, if anything, worse.

Before them was-Nou, the sultry rocker minion of That Girl, posed defensively though defense was the last thing on their minds. Behind her was Faust, so busy tending to the badly-wounded Zappa that he hadn't even noticed the threat approaching.

"Well, now," Sephiroth commented, the deadly lengths of Masamune and Kamigami out of their sheaths. "It seems that the great I-Nou stands all alone now."

"Where's your partner Raven?" coldly noted Lucia, his own sword bared. "He seems to have left you on a one night stand, has he?"

Indeed, Raven was very surprised when the time portal had just appeared below him, meaning that his past self Axl Lowe had caught up to this time. Now he was presumably in the future or past, depending where –actually, when the tempestuous Time-Space vortex brought him. I-Nou was stuck here all alone against two foes, each as powerful as or more powerful than her. She might have managed with Raven present, despite all her assurances that she didn't need her colleague's help.

Now, it seems, she had to eat her own words.

"We do feel a bit generous, though." Sephiroth went so far as to sheath Kamigami and Masamune. Though Lucia was still armed, the gesture on the ex-Soldier's part was unmistakable. "We've suffered casualties to our ranks, and there are thus slots open for new members. Care to join?"

"You'd be properly compensated," Lucia added. "Your own power will be increased. Sho Tsuzuku isn't an exacting master like That Girl. You can't even dream of the things he'd give you if you join us."

"All you have to do," Sephiroth said with an evil but companionable leer, "Is to kill them."

He pointed at Faust and Zappa.

"What do you say, I-Nou?" Lucia asked. "Will you accept our offer?"

She smiled slightly, sexily.

"I've something to say to you guys." Her green cat-eyes lighted up merrily, and she puckered her lips out of contempt. "You know and serve not out of loyalty, but out of fear. You serve Sho Tsuzuku because you fear his power, because he can destroy you and you would stand not a chance. But it's different with me.

"That Girl can destroy me easily whenever she wants. She gave me my powers, after all. She is not as strong as Sho Tsuzuku, but she is far stronger than I am. If she wants, she will destroy me with hardly an effort or thought. That thought alone is enough to make me serve her out of fear for myself.

"But I serve her not because she can destroy me if she wants to. I serve her not because I fear her."

I-Nou smiled foxily. "I serve her because I want to."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I meant, Sephiroth dearie." She put a hand to her hips, the better to accentuate her female curves and present her determination at hand. "When she was still just a normal human kid –a brilliant kid, yes, genius even; but still a kid– I was on her staff as the human woman I-Nou Megumi. I came to her not because she promised anything, but because she asked for help in her work. She wanted the best minds in the business; she got me and Frederick. She recruited us, but it was up to us to accept the offers.

"I accepted out of my own free will.

"It's interesting how Sheo Darren gave free will to That Girl, and in turn she allowed us to use it. I worked for her with my own free will. Frederick did, even though later he regretted it and thought to derail the project. That foolish Brit boy did. Raven did. Even her greatest creation, Justice, had free will to determine the course of action to take.

"You, on the other hand, don't.

"So don't try to be coy and talk like changing loyalty's a walk in the park." She tossed her head up to clear away an errant strand of hair plastered on her forehead, smiling. "It isn't. With Yuuki, I can do almost anything I want to do. With Sho Tsuzuku, you are forced to do only what he wants, nothing much else. It's obvious where a free-spirited gal like me would go."

Then emulating the former Frederick Mercury's most favorite expression –his Taunt, in fact– I-Nou flicked them the finger.

When Sephiroth got angry, he actually became outwardly less menacing but all the more deadly. "So," the nonhuman said smoothly and with an evil smile. "That is your answer, then. Lucia?"

The Dark Bring Overdrive nodded and got into his battle pose, even as his fellow Chapter drew both his swords out. The resultant release of evil energy sent a wave of dark purple/black chi I-nou's way. She batted it aside and got into her pose as well, giving Marlene one experimental strum even as with a cocky grin she got ready to rock and roll big time.

"Now, now, Mister Zappa," Faust was saying to his groaning patient, still unaware that I-Nou would appreciate any help coming from him, "Stay still for a second while I get the bandages… where's my gauze? I knew I put it here somewhere…"

"Though I fight alone," I-Nou began. "Though I fight alone, I won't fight alone…"

"And none fight alone," finished a new voice.

Surprised, I-Nou and Sephiroth and Lucia looked to the speaker.

It was Hotsuma, the ninja warrior from Shinobi, his very long red scarf flying in the wind, kunai throwing knives strapped to forearms sheaths, his feet balancing perfectly like all good ninjas do on the most convenient tall structure in the locality: Faust's paperbag.

"Why is it that I feel that something's up?" the mad doctor inquired to himself, not noticing that his head was being used as a floor. "Oh, well," he shrugged before he returned to tending Zappa.

"The lady I-Nou need not fight alone. I, Hotsuma, will fight alongside her, if she does not mind." The ninja hero considered something inside his head, and then he added, "Or even if she does."

The 'lady' in question broke into a smile. "I don't. Welcome to the party, boy."

"Yes, indeed. I believe the proper American term is, 'Let's rock and roll?"

"You got it."

"Indeed. Let's rock and roll."

They attacked.

                                                                                *         *         *

             "Sol-kun?" asked the girl.

"Yeah?" the guy in question gruffly snapped back.

"Are we headed in the right direction?"

"Yeah."

"Okay… I think we're lost, though…"

"Then why did you ask me for my opinion?"

"It's good to know Sol-kun has a positive outlook on life, even if we might be lost."

"What a totally out-of-character observation, kid."

"Hey, Sol," noted one of their companions.

"What is it, Austin?" the one named Sol grumbled.

"Maybe the kid is right. Maybe we are lost."

"Stone Cold makes sense, pal," volunteered a second guy.

"Did I ask for your opinion, Rock?" Sol growled at him.

"The People's Champ's opinion will not be denied."

"All for America and freedom and root beer!" cheered a third guy.

"Shut up, Mister America," said everyone except the kid.

"You cannot destroy America because America is a dream," the lone dissenter said.

"If you don't stop ranting like an idiot, 'Mister America'…" Sol threatened.

"What? America has no fear!"

"Kagura?"

"Hai? Nani, Sol-kun?"

"Say Mister America's real identity out loud. Please," he added in a sarcastic tone.

"I'll behave now," said Mister America penitently.

"I feel like censored Great Teacher Onizuka himself leading a bunch of censoredkindergarteners to the censored museum on the censored block. What a censored life…"

"Hey, Chief! Leopaldon and I found a shortcut! Right, Leo, huh?"

"Woof."

"What kind of life do I lead? I get a cute girl who turns into a pig, three wrestlers, a Brit hippie and the GG Isuka boss to command. Sounds easy?" The guy lit up his last Marlboro with his unusual sword. "Don't bet the censored ranch on it, bub…"

"You want a piece of me, bub?" asked a new gruff voice, even as his indestructible adamantium claws came out of his knuckles.

The first guy –the one called Sol– forced a groan away, even as the girl named Kagura swatted away his last cigarette and began a sermon on his health, the three wrestlers began comparing bragging rights with each other, the Brit came loping back on a big Saint Bernard Gear woofing with delight, and the last addition to their group was mentioning Cajuns and rookies while slicing and dicing the air with his claws.

"I'm getting too old for this, Sheo Darren or otherwise…"

                                                                                *         *         *

            At the same time in a different place:

"Can't you get more speed out of this nag?"

"Don't call Pegasus a nag! Say sorry, or else–"

"Or else what?"

"Or else you can find another aerial ride!"

"Um, girls? I was just thinking…"

"Says who?"

"Says me!"

"Girls?"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Make me!"

Cloud Strife sighed deeply, gathered his breath, and then yelled at the top of his lungs: "HEY!"

His exclamation caught the attention of his bickering companions, breaking up their emerging quarrel very effectively. "Eh?" Athena Asamiya and Justine Harrier asked with innocent demeanors and with rather googly eyes. "Nani, Cloud?" both girls fairly sang. "What is it?"

The blonde Soldier sighed again. It had been barely an hour since these same girls had tag-teamed together effectively to defeat him, barely an hour since they came close to death and thus realized their strengths together and formed a friendship. Yet here they were, arguing with each other over trivial matters not worth much consideration, ready to start a fight with each other in the most inappropriate of locations: On top of a winged horse flying at ten thousand feet altitude at a forward airspeed of perhaps a hundred knots and with him smack in the literal middle of it all.

If this was karma for his evil deeds, then God and the three Norns must have a very funny sense of humor.

(When Skuld sneezed, Belldandy and Urd began teasing her just who was thinking of their kid sister: "Sheo, perhaps?")

("Onee-chan!")

"If you don't mind," Cloud began, making sure that all attention was focused on him, "Can we remember who the enemy is? Last time we talked about this, neither of you was on the villain list. So don't tear at each others' throats yet, please; save that for whatever Sho Tsuzuku decides to lob at us. Okay?"

"Yes, Cloud." The ready and cute contriteness with which they answered him troubled Cloud for a reason he couldn't fathom at once. For the same reason, the way they looked at him so deeply when they thought he wasn't looking was also troubling to him.

"Now we've remembered what we're here for, let's go do it, shall we?" Cloud tried on a handsome grin, which got answering smiles from Athena and Justine. "Okay, girls?"

"Hai, Cloud! Ikuyo!"

"That's better!" Cloud looked forward into the horizon, straining already to fight their enemy, and so did not notice the happy looks aimed his way, looks of adoration…

                                                                                *         *         *

The meteor streaked through the coldness of the exosphere, the border between sky and space. It was no true meteor from the unimaginably far reaches of the cosmos, though. It was man-made; rather, it was artificial, made by a being that was man-made.

Now, even as they approached their destination rapidly, the being and his guardian slept in the way of their kind, dreamless sleep, soulless as they were in the human sense but having heart and soul that their creators could never have dreamed of exist.

They were real, very real indeed.

Now they slept, even as they rode closer and closer to ruin and world's ending– or the dawning of a new day.

                                                                                *         *         *

           Potemkin was the most powerful slave soldier in the ZEPP ranks, renowned for his unmatchable strength and impenetrable armor-like endurance. Slayer was the founder of the Assassins Guild, a powerful centuries old vampire lord. Both fighters were fearsome indeed, not just any person to dismiss, certainly not anyone to pick a fight with if you're in the right state of mind.

But they simply were no match at all for the Anything Goes martial artist who had –by way of so many fan fiction stories written by people who were bored or insane or addicted to Ranma ½ or all of the above– had picked up such a diverse array of powers ranging from Dragonball Z to Apocalypse from X-Men to God Himself with a flowing beard.

"Was that all?" Ranma complained as he dusted his hands from having just dusted Potemkin and Slayer. "I thought there'd be more challenge into it?"

The chill laughter emanating from behind his back made Ranma turn around in slight surprise. Almost immediately he was assailed by a rapidly expanding aura of cold evil that was in this story second only to Sho Tsuzuku, an aura of evil that had taken its sweet time to reappear after Athena and Justine and the Wanderer kicked its ass.

"Ah," hissed a malevolently raspy voice. "It is the great Ranma Saotome himself at last. I don't suppose you remember me, do you?"

Ranma glared at the intruder. "You…"

"Hey." The voice seemed to take offense at the glare. "That's my trademark look. I'm the only one who can glare around here like that, boy."

"Who –or what– the hells are you?"

"I? I?" The voice rose in pitch and volume. "I am the terror that rocks in the night! I am the bedbug that lurks in your bed! I am the bad smell that lingers in your socks! I am the cockroach that just won't die!"

"That's my fan fiction," Ranma protested. "And why are you ripping off Darkwing Duck?"

"I am the reviewer who flames this fan fiction! I was the ultimate bad guy–"

There was a brief moment of pause, as the speaker warily looked around it, just to make sure the Badguy wasn't around to take offense. But Sol didn't appear.

"Anyway: I was the ultimate bad guy on the block –until your boss came in," it concluded menacingly. "He dared to take away my rightful place as the antagonist in this story! For that he –and all of you– will pay.

"For I am the BOX OF DOOM! FEAR ME!"

"So you're the Box of Doom," scoffed Ranma. "You don't seem too impressive. Last time I heard, you were a TV with cable option. But what's this?" The pig-tailed fighter gave the ragged-looking carton box a condescending look and laughed. "A 'degrade'? I've never heard of people weakening themselves intentionally, but then again you're just a box. Correction; you're just trash."

Then, to the Nerida fighter's astonishment, the box smiled.

"Let us see," it said evilly, "Let us see who the 'real trash' is, shall we?"

                                                                                *         *         *

The blue-haired half-gear girl stood very still at first, but then began shaking with unmitigated fury at the senseless killing of her husband's old girlfriend by the very man she had once trusted and loved as a surrogate father. "Omae," she murmured softly yet forcibly, even as the bangs of her hair hid her eyes for the moment and masked her growing anger. "Omae… omae… omae…"

Johnny began to backtrack, rightfully afraid.

Even as her wings spread to their full span and the encircling red runes of her aura slowly came into focus, Dizzy's eyes snapped open, fully crimson and burning. "Omae wo korosu!"

She screamed, and as she screamed her slumbering power awakened and rose to levels far beyond her normal capability. Bidden by his mistress' rage, Necro materialized, grinning hideously as he drew his bow and opened fire with dozens of destructive flame arrow bolts that arched towards Johnny in ballistic paths, death from above.

Suddenly, a shield appeared around the hapless Chapter, stopping the Necro's Anger attack easily. The source was a little boy who had an exceptionally evil look in his face and eyes and power that came second only to Sho Tsuzuku's and Ranma's.

"Your power is great, little girl," the Mazaku Lord Fibrizo said, "And I can feel the evil anger within you. Why don't you join us instead, Justice's True Child? Under my tutelage and Sho Tsuzuku's influence, your power can reach limits all the others –even Sheo Darren– can merely dream of?"

But Dizzy wasn't listening anymore. Seeing Jam die in Ky's arms by the hands of Johnny had awakened the slumbering command Gear nature within her. That nature overwhelmed her now, stripping away her humanity as surely as her civilian garb transformed into her 'dominatrix' battle costume, and once again everyone knew why this gentle girl was once the most wanted creature on the planet. She was an angel, yes, but she was also a devil, and this devil nature of hers raged now for all it was worth.

The battle that followed was, in Magic: The Gathering terms, an exchange of cheese. The two combatants basically threw all sorts of projectiles moves at each other, blasting the landscape between and around them apart. The ground shook with the intensity of the firefight, as increasing levels of power was expended in an effort to destroy, the surroundings paying for it dearly.

Even as Fibrizo sent all of his power in one cataclysmic X-damage finisher, Dizzy had Necro open up with her own super annihilation move: Gamma Ray. The two attacks slammed into each other and detonated into a monster fireball of death and destruction that broke the ground asunder and rushed to take those who had created it into its destructive mass.

Dizzy flinched away from the inferno approaching her, even though there was no means of escaping. Her Tension was down to zero and she was exhausted. She watched the flames envelop Fibrizo first, the Slayers! villain virtually consumed by the blast. Then it was her turn.

Or perhaps not…

"Testament-sama!"

The former Gear was standing before Dizzy. He had thrown himself into the line of fire to protect her, using all of his energy to Fortress Block. But the blast had been so powerful that it had overcome the Faultless Defense. Testament had thus used his own humanized body to protect Dizzy from any further harm.

Again Sho Tsuzuku smacked himself on the forehead. "Why, why, why is it that so many people have such high moral fiber and romantic loyalty? Why?"

Testament turned to give Dizzy one last smile, said, "I'm sorry," and then fell down and didn't get back up again.

"Testament-sama!"

"How… sweet…"

Though now looking like a Shishio Makoto clone thanks to getting caught in the fireball from earlier, Fibrizo was still alive. "Sacrificing oneself for… a person you love…" His eyes glittered insanely. "You are… sickening… Now… you can join him… in Hell…"

He aimed his hand at Dizzy and Testament, cackling maniacally as he prepared one last fireball–

"Kyaaa–"

–but then Fibrizo gasped, staggered, and clutched at his chest–

"No… impossible!"

–through which a familiar hand was pierced through Fibrizo's heart.

"Miss Zio!"

It was indeed Testament's assistant succubus who yanked her hand free of its gory sheath. She had executed her master's Instant Kill to save Dizzy. Fibrizo somehow managed to stay on his feet for a few seconds, gurgled something unintelligible, blood on his mouth, and then fell down dead.

For the third time straight, Sho Tsuzuku smacked himself. "Just because you happen to be a cheesy super powerful boss bad guy who can wipe out the good guys with one hit," he complained, "Does it mean you can forget the attribute called 'intelligence'? Like looking behind your back every once in a while or using a little bit of 'common sense'?"

Zio hovered to Testament's side, sadness on her beautiful face even as the normally hawkish Necro fell silent in respect and love for her. She caressed the now-peaceful ex-Gear's face softly with her other hand, smiled forlornly and kissed him on the forehead.

"Be at peace, Master," she said softly to Testament. "Be at peace at last."

                                                                                *         *         *

We heard of the horns in the hills ringing,

the swords shining in the South-kingdom.

Steeds went striding to the Stoningland

as wind in the morning. War was kindled.

There Théoden fell, Thengling mighty,

to his golden halls and green pastures

in the Northern fields never returning,

high lord of the host. Harding and Guthláf

Dúnhere and Déorwine, doughty Grimbold,

Herefara and Herubrand, Horn and Fastred,

fought and fell there in a far country:

in the Mounds of Mundburg under mould they lie

with their league-fellows, lords of Gondor.

Neither Hirluin the Fair to the hills by the sea,

nor Forlong the old to the flowering vales

ever, to Arnach, to his own country

returned in triumph; nor the tall bowmen,

Derufin and Duilin, to their dark waters,

meres of Morthond under mountain-shadows.

Death in the morning and at day's ending

lords took and lowly. Long now they sleep

under grass in Gondor by the Great River.

Grey now as tears, gleaming silver,

red then it rolled, roaring water:

foam dyed with blood flamed at sunset;

as beacons mountains burned at evening;

red fell the dew in Rammas Echor.

.

            "Grey now as tears, gleaming silver, red then it rolled, roaring water: foam dyed with blood flamed at sunset; as beacons mountains burned at evening; red fell the dew in Rammas Echor."

The mysterious woman sat still for a long while, alone now, a hand upon her heart, unheard save perhaps for another heart that beats to her own rhythm. She watches the tragedies and the unnecessary death and the senseless violence and is saddened by it all.

For she, too, had once been like them.

She murmurs a name, murmurs it softly, a beckons, a summons, hurried and hasted.

She murmurs his name.

"Sheo."

                                                                                *         *         *

            "Hold on," Sheo Darren murmured, even as around him the battleship J-Ark and its escorts accelerated even more, pushing the envelope with every bit of energy that could be cranked out of their thrusters and engines; even as not quite so far away, his old titanic Ultrasaurus carrier Zoid lumbered onto dry ground now, the original set of his girls and Earl Osborne hurrying under the command of the Wanderer; even as the Badguy and his new flame and company was fast approaching the field of tragedy and glory; even as a Soldier and two girls also sought to arrive in time to help; even as the one being who stood out amongst his kindred flew like the wind; even as an enemy decides to be heroic for once; even as brave fighters fall, taking with them their enemies, and new fighters arrive to succor those who remain; even as the mysterious woman watched and waited for the world to turn once more and calls for him from the bottom of her anguished heart.

"Hold on just a while longer. The beacons of war are lit. You call for aid."

His eyes glint.

"And Sheo Darren will answer."

                                                                                                                              Itutuloy…