A Ranma ½ King of Fighters crossover fanfiction
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ and King of Fighters characters. Especially some macho chick! That's built like a stick! Dumb as a brick! Thighs are too thick! Can't even kick! [WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!] Ugh… shutting up now… oi…
Flames of Destiny
By Insane Blight
AN: Mwahahahaha! I'm updating like crazy! I will finish this one as soon as possible and after that, I'll finish my other works too! Mwahahahahahahah! [WHAM!] Ugh… kawaiikune…
Chapter 18: Our purpose is to serve our god!
Leona got out of her room with a small smile. Ralf and Clark were still a bit dumbfounded by her behavior as of late. Who wouldn't? The cold, distant and emotionless member of the Ikari mercenaries was slowly being replaced by a cheerful, smiling, yet slightly shy part of her.
Heidern accepted the change in stride. He really didn't like the emotionless part of his adopted daughter and he feels that he is to blame for her turning out like that. He trained her to be one of them, willing to kill if need be, and willing to fight to their last breath. All in all, he liked the cheerful side of her daughter and he does not want it to change.
Ranchan was happy for her as well but that's something she hates at the moment. She was starting to move on but her best friend was not. He helped her get past the trauma of the Blood Riot yet he doesn't seem to be able to do the same thing for himself. A few days ago, he just killed a man, Wolfgang Krauser, and now that the tournament was finally returning to Japan, and he's more of a wreck than ever.
"He's closing up again, don't block us out Ranchan. We're trying to help you…"
"No, I'm afraid I can't allow that. A pity you still remain with your human friends… I guess I'll have to take care of you right now, we wouldn't want you to try and bring Ranma back to his 'human' side, now do we?"
Leona spun around but she couldn't anything as she found herself blinded by a bright light. Then she received a hard blow to the head, causing her to fall to the floor as she slowly loses consciousness. Last thing she saw was a familiar blonde woman looking down on her with a wide smile.
"After all, we need him in his current state for the resurrection to take place."
Shermie was still lying on the floor inside her room, with tears falling down her face. She frantically looked around the room in search for something, anything to make the pain go away. Lightning arcs were currently surrounding her body, causing her an extreme amount of pain every time she moves. That's why she was staying still on the floor, hoping that somebody can at least hear her cries for help. "Somebody… help me… please… help me…"
Ranma? No… she can't ask him for help, nor does she expect him to come to her aid. She doesn't even know if he cares for her just as much as she cares for him. She saw him hugging that priestess on the ship, which was before their forced date. She tried to gather enough courage to ask him about it, but she never could.
Funny, she never thought she would ever be captivated by one man. She thought that Yashiro had done it, but she soon realized that it was something else that drew her to him that fateful day at the music shop. Something she couldn't quite explain at the moment.
Ranma, however, was different from Yashiro. The feeling, the sense of déjà vu was there but she can't deny that her feelings for him were real. Yes, she loves him but Chris may have been right, perhaps it was already too late. Ironic, the first person to make her feel complete is the same person that will probably break her heart, and he isn't even aware of it.
But that's the least of her concerns at the moment. Why is this happening to her? She was just a normal girl! Okay, granted she may have been having a few freaky dreams as of late but everything else about her, from her friends to her love life is perfectly normal. So why does this sort of thing happen to her?
"So here you are!"
Shermie ignored the pain as she turned her head towards the door. Yashiro was standing there with a huge grin on his face. She would've breathed a sigh of relief if she hadn't noticed the differences in her teammate's appearance, that and the fact that he was carrying a bruised and battered Chris on his shoulder. The look on his face was reminiscent of the time when he lost it against the Art of Fighting Team.
"Y… you're not… Y-Yashiro…" she began.
Orochi Yashiro laughed. "Yeah babe, I'm not that loser… not anymore…"
"W-What do… you… mean…?"
"Let's just say that I have been reborn into something far more powerful that those pitiful humans." He gazed at the electric arcs around the redhead's body. "And it seems that you're the next one on the list." Orochi Yashiro said with a gleeful chuckle before he forcefully grabbed the redhead off the floor.
Shermie screamed in pain as those lightning arcs coursed through her body once more. A few fighters heard her so they rushed to her room but all they found was a few scorch marks on the floor.
Iori scoffed at his partner, who was currently relaxing on his bed while drinking a glass of wine. Bad enough he couldn't remember the outcome of his fight with Kusanagi, now he has to put up with this? "Your room is right over there, so I'm asking you nicely to get your Hakkeshu ass outta my bed."
"Good thing you brought it up, I have something important to say to you because you've been out since your match in Southtown, Yagami. The remaining Orochi Hakketsu Shuu has been found, and it will not be long until the vessel is chosen…" Vice trailed off.
"So? I told you last year that I don't care if your pathetic god lives or not. I only want Kusanagi! I want to kill him! But I have been denied that satisfaction once more!"
Vice took another sip of the wine before she got up and grinned knowingly at Iori. "I know what you mean. It was such a let down the way that fight was concluded." She poured another glass for herself as she walked towards the slightly irritated Yasakani clan member. "Unfortunately, you may never have another chance like that again… but right now, I'd like to do something for you…"
She took yet another sip of newly poured glass of wine but this time, she did not swallow it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the Orochi warrior full on the lips. Then she had a mischievous look as she began to force her tongue into his mouth, pushing onto him the wine she just sipped which he, in turn, instinctively swallowed.
Then all of it went straight to hell…
"Ah… wh-what… I… can't… breathe…" Iori sputtered out as he pushed the Hakkeshu back.
Vice chuckled slightly and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "Gomen ne… but I thought I'd give you something special to remember me by, and what better way to do that than to give you a kiss that I'm sure you'll never, ever forget."
Iori gasped for air once more as he fell to his knees. He looked up and glared at his smirking partner. "If… I'm going… down… I'll take… you… with… me!" He yelled as he tried calling out his flame but it proved to be a useless effort, not even a damn flicker was showing itself.
"Oh, my dear Yagami, have you forgotten that you've just regained consciousness? So it really is not that hard to see that you're still exhausted after two consecutive, grueling matches. Now then, I'm going to ask you one more time… join us, and I promise that you will be spared from Orochi-sama's wrath."
Iori's body fell limp on the floor but his eyes still had the same intensity in them. Vice kneeled beside him when she noticed that he was trying to say something but it was still too faint for her to hear. She leaned in closer but didn't like what she heard. Really, somebody should tell Iori that it's a not a very good idea to piss off someone that can easily rip your head off.
"Up… yours…"
Vice shrieked in rage, she quickly grabbed the paralyzed Orochi warrior by the neck and couldn't help but smile maniacally at him. "You should consider yourself lucky, Yasakani. We still need your power so rest assured that you won't die until your purpose is over." She leaned closer and whispered a few surprising words to him. "You and I are so much alike, hated by our parents, for something we had absolutely no control of…"
Then she slammed his head a couple of times more until she finally knocked him out.
Ranma stared at a wall inside his room with hollow eyes. He has killed yet again, he was forced to transform into that conscious berserker, just like what he did back at Nerima. Did he really have no other choice other than to embrace this side of him? Was there no other way to stop those two in harming his friends and family? Was there really no other way than to kill a man in order to protect a few?
He looked at his trembling hands and in his mind, he could still see Krauser's blood on them. It has been a few days after the fight and he knew that no matter how many times he washes them, it was still useless, the blood was a part of him now, a part of his ever growing sin.
'It was useless to believe that I can have a normal life… a human life… I guess there really is no such thing for me… no such thing at all…'
"What is wrong with you?"
Ranma looked to his side and saw a frowning Chizuru and a slightly hesitant Reiko standing by the door. "If you're here to kill the Orochi threat, that's fine by me. I give you my word that I will not fight back, just get it over with. It is your duty as a Yata priestess after all, to destroy everything connected to Orochi."
Reiko decided to stay outside while Chizuru flinched as she walked closer to the ponytailed boy. "I know I told you this before. As much as I hate Orochi, I have learned to not judge other people based on what clan they're from. And what happened back there in Southtown was clearly not your fault…"
"NOT MY FAULT?! I just KILLED a man, with me having complete control over my body! How is it not my fault, Kagura priestess?!"
Chizuru remained unfazed though. "What other choice did you have? They would've carried on with their threat had you lost the match. I knew it, you knew it, and the rest of the fighters knew it. No one is blaming you for what happened, you did what you had to do in order to protect your family and friends."
"It still doesn't justify the fact that I killed yet again! I wasn't taught that way… Terry didn't teach me that, and neither did that good for nothing father of mine." Ranma curled up on his bed, with his knees covering the lower half of his face. "To protect the weak, that was supposed to be my one and only duty, to protect the weak, and nothing more…"
The Kagura priestess hesitantly placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "I… I don't know what you are going through right now but I do know that it wasn't the real you that fought those two back there. Your reflection from my mirror is proof enough for me."
Those words did not appease Ranma one bit. He curled up tighter and bowed his face. "If you're not here to kill me then… then just leave me alone, please…"
Chizuru gently removed her hand and gave him a sad look before heading towards the door, where Reiko was watching their conversation with tearful eyes. Ranma looked up and gazed at the open door for a few minutes before bowing his head again. "I'm not human, I'm not human. What should I do? Mom, where do I go?"
"Aw, cut the crap will ya? Your whining and moaning makes me wanna puke!"
A thin wire wrapped itself around Ranma's neck just as he looked up to see who said that. Then he found himself being hoisted up in the air as Yamazaki yanked at the wire from outside the door. Ranma fell to the ground seconds later.
"Eheheheh, sorry for the intrusion Orochi boy, but I gotta do what I gotta do." Yamazaki chuckled, pulling at the thin wire with enough force to send Ranma sliding across the floor. "Stay still and die, I have an appointment with a couple of million bucks!"
Ranma struggled to breathe, he was slowly being choked out by the psychopath and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. It feels as if that his power, more specifically his flame, seemed to have abandoned him. It was either fatigue or some kind of seal he wasn't aware of. He was about to try and force his way out of it but he paused when he saw a familiar blonde standing beside the grinning psychopath. "Mature…"
"I heard your little talk with the priestess. It's really too bad, you still haven't accepted your true self even after your full awakening during our match with Geese Howard and Wolfgang Krauser. You leave us with no other choice but to try and use you in another way, a way in which you will never question us. A mindless servant who's only function is to kill…" Mature said albeit hesitantly.
Yamazaki scowled a bit. "Sheesh, and here I thought that I'd get to kill someone tonight."
Mature frowned. "We had an agreement, Yamazaki. Especially since your former 'boss' Geese Howard seemed to have gone into hiding like the coward that he is. Don't worry though, I promise that you'll get to do a lot of that tomorrow, where everything shall finally end."
"Not if I can help it!"
Ranma spun and kicked Yamazaki on the throat, forcing him to remove his grip on the wire. He placed his hands on the floor as he did a spinning top which knocked both Yamazaki and Mature down. Then he made a mad dash for the door but he received a very powerful backhand from outside.
"What are you two doing? This is no time to play around! Kagura must've already sensed the two of you by now! Get this over with!" Orochi Yashiro yelled as he stepped into the room.
Mature dusted herself off. "We know that, but I did tell you that we should not to take him lightly if he really is the one we are looking for. I hate to say this but Vice and I should've just saved Goenitz and then let him live for a few more days until he coughed up the whereabouts of the vessel."
"You think? Because of your rather poor handling of certain events, we don't know which one is which." Orochi Yashiro muttered angrily, alternating glances at the unconscious Chris and the downed ponytailed boy. Mature's face darkened but she kept silent.
Ranma tried to get up but Yamazaki stomped on his back as the psychopath wrapped yet another one of those thin wires around his neck. He looked up and froze when he saw Yashiro carrying a bruised and bloodied Chris and a badly burned Shermie. He struggled to get the psychopath off his back but Yamazaki quickly stopped him with a knife stab to his lower back.
"I told you to stay still!"
"Let… them… go! They have nothing to do with this!"
Orochi Yashiro and Mature laughed at that. "On the contrary, they have everything to do with this! Surely you must've known about the so-called seal by now, haven't you? The one in which the Orochi power shall be sealed by one measly stone so that the traitors can live off as normal humans."
Ranma's eyes widened in realization but it also strengthened his resolve to try and get the two out of harm's way. He screamed as he once again tried to call out his flame. Fortunately, he was successful this time around; Yamazaki's burning form was proof enough. "Let them go!"
He quickly got up but all he saw was a bright light that completely blocked his vision. It was followed by a powerful earthquake that sent him reeling and he was finally neutralized when Orochi Yashiro grabbed him by the shoulder and slammed him several times on the floor. The light vanished to reveal Mature leaning closer to him as he slowly loses consciousness. He gave her a cold glare as he muttered one last word, "Why…?"
Next day, Japan
The tournament ship has arrived back to Japan for the final match for the King of Fighters Tournament which will be held later in the afternoon. But Mature, Vice, Yashiro and Yamazaki were currently standing before a forest clearing high above a mountain, just a few miles from the place where the final match will take place.
Mature stepped up, took a short glance back at the rest of the group, and then gestured for the rest to follow her inside a cave, a cave in which Ranma has visited already. It's the place where it all started, Goenitz' hideaway, but in reality, it's the pathway to Orochi's temple of worship.
"Let's go, we have to complete this today."
After a few minutes, they finally arrived at the door with the weird markings. Orochi Yashiro placed a hand on it, causing it to open up. The group was now inside the temple where a bruised, battered and bloodied Ranma, Iori, and Leona were currently chained to a couple of large stone pillars.
Orochi Yashiro chuckled at the sight. "Well, well, well, the three persons who are tainted with that pathetic human blood. I'm gonna enjoy making these traitors scream!"
"Eheheh, let me join in on the fun too!" Yamazaki added in.
Vice laughed with them but Mature just shook her head and walked towards the next room, where a certain redhead was screaming for all its worth. The room was currently filled with countless electric arcs, Mature watched as Shermie continues to writhe in pain, there was almost some pang of regret in the blonde's eyes but it disappeared as quickly as it showed.
"It's no use trying to fight it, accept who you really are! Abandon all that is human in you and awaken as the child of our god, Shermie of the Violent Lightning!" Mature said with a slightly forced smile.
Shermie gritted her teeth, what could she do? What can she do? Yashiro allowed her to take one look at Ranma, chained to a wall as blood flowed down his body. Why?! Why is this happening to them?! Kami-sama, what did they ever do to deserve this? 'We're just normal people, we're just normal people… so why? R-Ran… ma… help me…'
Mature frowned when the redhead stopped screaming. "Hmph, passed out… no matter, you will soon realize that it is useless to defy our god."
"Mature, the altar has been set and Kushinada is already in place."
"Yes, now onto the final step, this time, Orochi shall fully awaken and the humans shall finally be destroyed!"
Ash crouched on a tree branch as he watched the four Orochi Hakketsu Shuu enter the temple of worship. "Ho-hum, took them long enough to get back here. Hmm, the appearance of two vessels does bother me, especially the older one, Saotome Ranma. This really isn't what was foretold… huh? Eheh, definitely not the one foretold."
His eyes narrowed upon noticing another figure watching the group. He blinked twice before chuckling when he got a good look at the figure. "I never thought that they'd move this fast. I guess they want the resurrection to take place as well but it will not go the way they had planned it… I'll make sure of it."
He smiled as he leapt down, dashed towards the figure's location, got behind said figure and then tapped its shoulder. "Quite a busy day ahead of us, huh?"
"Who are you?!" The figure shouted in surprise, the voice was obviously female.
The woman was wearing a cloak but Ash caught a glimpse of the clothing she had under it. "Heh, typical… I thought you guys would have developed some sort of fashion sense by now. Have you no shame? A dead animal for a scarf? A bra and a miniskirt in this time of day?" he asked in an amused tone.
"I see, so you're the one that he was talking about, the thorn in our side." She snarled, pulling out a few strings from her cloak and sending them towards Ash's smirking form.
Ash laughed as he evaded the attack with ease. He summoned his green flame and the smirk he had seemed to widen even more. 'Looks like the party will have to start a little early.' "Let's see what you've got, woman from the distant land."
This wasn't even a fight. Ash just evaded the strings the entire time.
"Sigh, I'm disappointed. From someone who came from a powerful race, you sure don't know how to fight." He demonstrated by dashing in and punching the woman in the stomach. "See? A normal fighter would have seen that one coming, so now I'm wondering why did they send you here, to scout the situation, perhaps?"
The woman stood up and raised her open hand in the air. Ash heard some noise near the bushes before he blinked when he saw several people step out carrying a few deadly weapons. He turned his gaze back to the woman only to find out that she has disappeared.
"Human puppets, quite fitting for a female puppet master."
Ash quickly disposed of the 'puppets', as he calls them. He dusted his hands, looked up to the dark sky and smiled knowingly. "Heh, its showtime."
AN: Just a short chapter, it only shows the gathering of the five remaining Orochi Hakketsu Shuu (Guidel and Goenitz are gone, remember? And Ranma is the third one) along with the abduction of the people with tainted blood. I'll take a rest for now… tired… fingers hurt… zzzzZZZ
Next Losing Oneself
"I… am… so… tired… so tired… of everything…"