Author's note: Y'know, there's just something special about getting a review saying "More, please."
TOKYO
Chapter 12
Complications
Ranma looked on in horror as he saw Neifirst run Nei through with her claws; in the back of his mind, he knew that some of the magic they had might heal her, but that did nothing for the knot of fear in his stomach as he saw a drop of blood trickle down her back where the claws went all the way through.
And Neifirst laughed. "It's just like it was before, isn't it, my dear sister?" she said. "It's just as it was in my vision ... There, now you try to cast one last Technique at my face, and then get on with melting, so I can go and do my victory pose!"
Nei had managed to raise her hand to Neifirst's face, and touched her forehead. There was a sudden pearlescent glow.
"You're casting ... Res?" said Neifirst, puzzled. And then she abruptly laughed again. "Oh, this is rich! You're making my victory over these others more certain! You -- ackk!"
A grimace spread over both their features, as Nei seemed to squeeze on Neifirst's forehead. Her hands glowed, crackling with greenish energy.
"NO!" screamed Neifirst. "I won't let you do this! I won't ... let ..." Her ghostly double reached down to try to grasp at Nei, but the hand went right through her as if it was insubstantial ...
... which it was, but that hadn't stopped it before, had it?
Ranma's eyes widened as he saw the blue form start to ripple and shimmer, as if it was starting to lose power. Neifirst screamed, retracting her claws and clutching Nei's hand on her face, as if trying to pull it away, but it seemed almost as if it was fused on.
And then, like a snowball in a microwave, Nei's body fell away, and her body melted into a grey, gooey liquid. The blue glow vanished, and Neifirst fell backwards and collapsed.
They slowly got up, shakily (except in the case of Zero and Dita, who merely needed to realign their balance systems) at first, and Zero approached Neifirst's prone form, a look of fascinated horror on his face. Come to think of it, all of them had expressions like that -- even Rufus, though he was trying to hide it behind thoughtfulness, which didn't work.
Neifirst sat up, wincing as if she had a gigantic headache, and then smiled faintly. "I ... I did it!" she said, in Nei's voice.
"Did ... did what?" said Zero, throwing in some uncertainty for good measure.
She stood up, and something in her stance was ... different. In fact, if it wasn't for her outfit and the gruesome melting they'd seen less than a minute ago, Zero would have sworn it was Nei.
"I ... I took over this body!" she said, and let out a giggle. She raised her arms, in a pose of victory. "Yes!" she crowed, jumping for joy.
There was a pause. Then Ranma said, "Okay, what just happened?"
"Well," said Neifirst, "like I said, there were two minds in this body, but I was one of them, and it escaped and got a new body, but I was still in the first one, controlling the new body like it was mine, and now, uh, I've taken control of this body."
There was a pause. "I don't get it," said Dita.
"It's very simple," said Rufus. "Neifirst had the psychological syndrome known as 'multiple personality disorder', but unlike most people who experience this, both personalities were conscious simultaneously and only one of them had constant control of the body. One of them used what limited power she had to create a body of her own, which she then operated like a puppet -- still technically from within Neifirst's mind -- and saw and felt things as if it was her own."
"So what the hell's that grey stuff?" said Seifer, nudging the soaked purple leotard with his foot.
"Base genetic material," said Neifirst. "It was used to make clones, genetic life forms like me and ... like me, that sort of thing."
"And you used your power to mutate those cells to a recognizable form," said Rufus, nodding.
"So, which are you? Neifirst, or Neisecond?" said Zero.
She giggled. "Second," she says. "But just call me Nei. Even though the body was hers, I've sort of driven it out, and I'm in control now ..." She stretched her arms upward. "Mmm ... I feel so ... alive ..."
"NOT FOR LONG!"
They whirled. There was a blue, glowing haze in the air, surrounding the puddle that had been Nei's old body. The liquid rippled, and then suddenly rose up into the air, taking on a humanoid shape, acquiring color, eyes, a face ...
"Looks kinda like Shiva," murmured Seifer.
Neifirst stood before them, her face a mask of hate and rage; she seemed more muscular, powerful, her nude form -- devoid of any "interesting features," as Soma would have called them -- glowing blue. She extended her claws (not weapons, but actual feline claws) silently -- real claws don't make any sort of sound like snakt.
"She ... she did the same thing I did," said Nei, her eyes widening.
"Eh, don't worry," said Soma, drawing his sword. "The tables are turned -- you're the one with the real body this time around!"
"Let's take this one away from her," said Rufus, pulling out his shotgun.
Neifirst snarled, and swung her claws at them, seemingly pawing at the air -- but blue-green slivers of light flew from her hands, crashing into Seifer, Ranma, and Dita, knocking them to the ground in an instant, looking like their faces had been attacked by a psychotic cat on speed. Zero charged forward, saber drawn, and Neifirst parried with a glowing blade of her own that suddenly materialized in her hands. Soma vanished in a column of light and materialized across the room, throwing a blazing ball of energy towards Neifirst, but she easily dodged, throwing herself backwards, and the blast hit Zero instead.
There was the click, and she whirled, finding herself staring down the barrel of a shotgun. "Dodge this," said Rufus, and pulled the trigger.
Obediently, she dodged. The bullet flew over her head, and she kicked him in the stomach, then raised her claws to run him through ...
... and then screeched as Nei's claws impaled her from behind.
"I'm not gonna let you hurt anyone else!" she said, and then withdrew her claws, before plunging them into her back, going right through her heart.
A look of surprise and shock crossed Neifirst's face, and she waved her arms wildly -- and then she slumped forward, falling off of Nei's claws, letting out one last gargle, before the blue glow dimmed, and her eyes lifelessly closed.
Nei sighed, retracting her claws. "It's over," she said quietly.
"Not yet," said Rufus, getting shakily to his feet. "We still have to defeat Zio."
"First, let's get everyone back to working condition, all right?" said Zero, starting to get tired of Rufus's casual disregard for things like "morale" and "physical condition of allies."
"That would be wise," said Rufus. "Nei, do your healing Techniques work on mechanicals such as Zero and Dita?"
Nei frowned. "I don't think so ... but ..." She raised her hand towards Dita, and there was a pearlescent glow. The scratches vanished, and she sat up, blinking in surprise.
"That was actual magic," said Soma, walking over to them. "And it was ... really powerful, on top of that."
"Interesting," said Rufus. "The power used to sustain your old body's shape must have been phenomenal, or else you would have been as powerful as she was, and now the situations are reversed. I wonder what you'd be capable of without ..." He stopped when he realized that no one was paying any attention to him, since they found the fact that Nei was healing everyone with a flick of her wrist to be far more interesting.
"So ... it seems that Neifirst has lost," murmured Zio. "Ah, what the hell, I'm starting to sound like some comic book supervillain." He grinned. "Time to unleash the monsters!"
The Air Palace rested on a gigantic chunk of mountain. And at Zio's command, the very bottom broke away, plummeting towards the outskirts of the city. It smashed into a warehouse and exploded, shards of rock flying in all directions ...
And when the shards landed, they transformed.
The first thing Zelgadis heard was the crash downstairs. "Uh-oh," he murmured. "Vash? Check that out, will you?"
"Um ... Yes, sir!" said Vash from another room, apparently trying to sound like a soldier being sent to what he knew was his doom. Zelgadis heard footsteps, and then silence.
A moment later, a dark shape loomed over the bed. "Aheh heh heh ... I have you now, Zelgadis," it said in a dry, inhuman voice. "You survived the wrath of Zio once ... but now it's time for you to die."
"And you are?" said Zelgadis, looking up at the robed and masked figure before him.
"I am called D-Elm-Lars," it said. "Heh heh heh heh ... time to die, chimera!"
There was a click, and then D-Elm-Lars whirled around. "Oh, come ON," it said, and then, with a thunderclap, a greenish mist exploded out from the back of its head. Its robes collapsed as if there was nothing in them, revealing Vash, his gun raised, a hard expression on his face.
"Interesting," said Zelgadis. "I thought your interest in 'love and peace' might make things difficult ..."
Vash shook his head. "I have no remorse for inhuman monsters," he said. "And that wasn't even alive -- just a puppet of Zio's." He aggressively kicked at the fallen robes.
"I see," said Zelgadis, sitting up. "What's going on outside?"
"Monsters," said Vash. "Lots of monsters. The streets are swarming with them."
"Oh well," said Zelgadis. "Do somethign about the ones in the immediate area, would you?" Vash nodded and left the room.
Zelgadis reached over behind the bed, felt around a bit, and produced a small vial. "Hmm ... this may become necessary ..."
He waited until he heard Vash's gunshots outside, as they moved up the street. Then he heard the sound of breaking glass, and monsters moving through the shop. "You won't survive this time, Zelgadis!" he heard the screech of another D-Elm-Lars.
Won't I? thought Zelgadis. Ah, well -- there's always a possibility.
He twisted around to face the headboard of his bed, and pulled it down, revealing a wall panel that he then moved aside, revealing a vertical tube. He opened a hatch on the tube, then undid the cork on the vial and tossed it into the tube, hurriedly closing the hatch, the panel, and then moved up the headboard.
The vial plummeted into the depths of the store, a green plume of smoke pouring out of it, and it bounced off a box marked "DANGER VOLATILE CONTENTS!" The ensuing explosion destroyed the entire storefront. This triggered a temporal reversion spell, bringing the store back to its state immediately before the monsters had broken in ... except for the monsters themselves, of course.
"There we go," murmured Zelgadis, relaxing in his bed as he heard the expiring curses of the D-Elm-Lars as the caustic burning magical substances began to devour it. "Now it's just up to Vash and the others and, Gods help him, Rufus Shinra ..."