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

Chapter 22: The Revival of the Demon

"Damn, this place is disgusting!" Kyo yelled, looking at the blood, human blood, which was abundant on the floor. He had a hand covering his mouth so that he could at least avoid losing his lunch because of the unbearable stench of human flesh that was all over the place. "Not to mention that we seem to be going in circles!"

Terry was feeling the same way, so does Chizuru but the other three, Ranma, Iori, and Leona have stopped walking, turned their heads to the side and were now staring at a large room to their left. When Chizuru asked what was wrong, Ranma frantically tried telling her that everything was fine and there's nothing to worry about. Curiosity taking over, she took one glance over the ponytailed teen's shoulder and screamed.

It was Ranma's turn to support the priestess. He held her close as he hesitantly asked, "…they're members of the Yata clan, right?"

Chizuru let off a muffled sob and nodded as she grabbed onto Ranma's shirt tightly.

"How could anyone be so cruel?" Leona whispered, fists clenching in anger. Sure, she has killed when in the Riot of Blood and even during some of her missions, but the way these people were murdered…

"A fine piece of work, wouldn't you say so?" A voice casually said.

All of the fighters, except for the distraught Chizuru and Ranma, immediately went into their fighting stances when the large door in the middle opened to reveal a grinning Ryuji Yamazaki. He was carrying his favorite knife at one hand and he was carrying a small, black suitcase on the other. "How do you like it? Nice and clean, eh? Damn, she really did hate their guts."

"She…?"

"Mature. Eheh… never knew she had it in her to do this kind of thing though."

For her part, Chizuru was a bit surprised that she couldn't feel any sort of anger towards the Hakkeshu of Light. She went over to her murdered clan members and muttered a small prayer before turning back to an unusually calm and collected Yamazaki. 'I… I'm tired of this never-ending battle, this never-ending bloodshed…' "Why haven't you attacked yet? You are a Hakkeshu and it's your duty to stop us, right?"

Yamazaki laughed. "Ha! Duty? Don't make me laugh! True, I was hired by Mature to work with them to resurrect that stupid god of theirs. But I never did say for how long, eheh."

"So you're leaving, just like that? And you're not even going to fight us?" Terry asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Well, to be blunt, I hope they fail." He held a hand up and continued, "Why do you ask? Heh, think about it. I like this world as it is! This world is full of interesting people. People killing each other for reasons such as fame, fortune, and power, people that will stab you in the back the minute you put your guard down. Basically, this is my kind of world, a world full of greed and deception. Why would I resurrect a rather boring god that wants nothing but to destroy this paradise?"

The group was silent, despite Yamazaki's twisted view of the world, he raised a valid point, whether he wanted to or not.

Yamazaki tapped Terry on the shoulder as he walked past him. "Well, I'm off. They're at the very top, go into the room I came out of and take the second spiral staircase to the right, keep going 'till you reach the top. Oh, and that Kushinada girl is still alive last time I checked. You guys better hurry, they're starting something when I gave them the slip."

Ranma watched as Yamazaki slowly disappeared from view. He looked around and noticed the reluctant looks on Terry, Kyo and Leona's faces. He gritted his teeth and slammed his fist to a wall. "Goddamn it! We could just stay here and mope about what he said or we could stop the Orochi Hakketsu Shuu and their plan to kill us, our loved ones, our families and friends, well?!"

Yuki had to bear yet another deafening roar when a transparent multi-headed beast and its seven serpent heads arrived at the top. Said beast exploded, went to the top of the seven remaining pillars, and like the first serpent head, they quickly changed into purple flames.

"Is it finally ready?" Yashiro asked.

"Yes." Chris replied with a grin.

Mature, Vice, Shermie, Chris and Yashiro each went to one of the pillars, closed their eyes, and began to concentrate. The purple flames above the five pillars flared wildly, and it would've continued to do so, had it not have been for the crashing sound of the temple door located to their side. Ranma was standing in the middle with an arm stretched forward. He glared disdainfully at the five remaining Hakkeshu before he motioned for the rest of the group to enter.

"You're finally here! Took you long enough!"

Shermie looked at Ranma sadly. "So, you'll choose to fight against us and oppose Orochi's will no matter what…"

Ranma nodded as he looked her in the eye, then he turned his gaze towards Mature and Chris. "I know it's useless to try and talk you down, but if this is the only way to stop you and your plans then I will not hesitate to fight all of you. It's time to end this battle."

Yashiro just grinned at him. He looked up to the sky, raised his arms, and brought them back down, causing a huge earthquake as he did so. "That's it, that's the spirit! There's no choice but to fight! But even if you win, a living hell awaits you!"

"Mezamerou, daichi yo!" (1) Yashiro immediately stomped his left foot on the ground, causing the earth to rise as it heads toward a not so surprised Kyo.

Kyo rolled to the side, went to a kneeling position, and then dashed forward as he gathered his power to send his crimson flames forward. He had to stop though, when Yashiro took a few steps to the side and revealed that a tied up Yuki was lying right on the ground, just behind the Hakkeshu of Earth. "Yuk…!"

"Icchimai na!" (2)

Yashiro got down to one knee, held his hand up, and blasted Kyo with a light-blue projectile that was being surrounded by small pieces of rocks. He chuckled as he got up, yanked at his gloves, and smiled at the Kusanagi heir, who was currently imbedded to one of the stone pillars. "What will you do now, Kusanagi? You can't attack me because you'll end up killing poor Kushinada if you did so!"

"Yu… Yuki… damn it…"

"Maybe he can't, but I will!"

Yashiro was flung back when he received an energy-covered punch from Terry Bogard, who has already unchained the Kushinada girl as she clung to his shirt while shaking like a leaf. "Kyo, Yuki is safe! Go and finish him off, now!"

Kyo has already gotten up and dashed towards Yashiro the minute he knew that Yuki was safe. Reiko's words has come to mind as he relentlessly punched and kicked the Hakkeshu of Earth, they have inhuman powers but they can still be hurt and they can still be killed. He tossed Yashiro up, drew his flame-covered arm back, flames formed around his body as he waited for the blonde's descent. "This will… finish it! Die, Hakkeshu!"

"Oritekinasai!" (3) Orochi Shermie yelled as she raised both hands, brought it down to a fist, right before a lightning bolt strikes her body. "Prepare for your death, Kagura."

Chizuru held a hand up as she went into her fighting stance. "Unfortunately, I have no intention of dying just yet. Like Ranma said, we don't want to kill you but if that's what's going to take to stop your plans to resurrect Orochi, then you leave us with no other choice…"

Shermie merely smiled at that. She hunched over and her body trembled as a soft chuckle escaped her lips. Then she snapped her head up, held a hand up, and pointed to the Kagura priestess as she gave her a slightly crazed look. "Anata shinuwa." (4)

The priestess' eyes widened when electric arcs shot out of Shermie's finger. She ducked down to avoid the first one and rolled back to avoid the second. It was obvious that Shermie wants to keep her at bay, and the purple-haired woman was doing an exceptional job of it too. Chizuru hid behind one of the stone pillars, chanted a few words and then she ran around the place, leaving illusions to each one of the pillars, thus confusing her opponent.

"Do you think your illusions can stop me?! My Lightning, come forth! Destroy this miserable little cockroach!"

True to her word, Lightning bolts descended down onto the eight stone pillars, making them explode upon impact. Chizuru eventually got caught up in the explosion and was hurled back by the blast. What was left of the stone pillars was eight, four feet pillars, that was glowing with energy.

Chizuru slowly got up but Orochi Shermie was already in front of her. She tried to roll to the side but the purple-haired woman's following attack was so powerful that she also got caught up in it.

"Ankoku Rai Kou Ken!"

Shermie grabbed the badly burned Chizuru off the floor and gave her a crazed smile. She raised her free hand and lightning suddenly struck both her and Chizuru's body. Shermie laughed at the priestess' pain-filled screams as she said, "This is your fate… sweet dreams, priestess…"

"Deteoide, boku no honoo!" (5) Orochi Chris said with a smile, opening both hands as he summoned his purple flames. He looked at his sensei and couldn't help but give him an innocent look. "Why have you changed your mind, Ranma? You gave in to Orochi's will, didn't you? I thought you'd stay by our side and we could be together as a family… why did you choose them?"

"My flame, one last time…" Ranma muttered, calling out his own purple flames as it swirled around his arm. "I'm sorry Chris, but I simply cannot join you. I fight to protect, not to destroy, this has been my belief ever since I was a child."

Chris frowned. "Why sensei? Why fight to protect these humans? When I went into the awakening process, I only saw their sick smiles as they murdered our ancestors one by one. They pillaged their homes, beheaded the children and toyed with the women, are those kinds of humans worth protecting?!"

Ranma remained unfazed. "You were the one who told me that there are two sides to everything. When you had no knowledge whatsoever of your heritage, you accepted me for what I am even though most would run the minute they find out the truth. So I should ask you the same thing, why?"

"Yes, I used to think that way… that is until 'he' told me what happened to my parents. You had the chance to talk to him, right? He told me that the Kusanagi clan killed my parents. They hunted them down like animals even when they begged for mercy! Ranma, the two of us are the only ones capable of bringing him back here… and I for one want him to destroy the humans."

Chris paused as his lips quivered. "I admit, I don't want to fight you seriously Ranma but as you said, there are two sides to everything. I fight for my belief, you fight for yours. That's it."

"Yes, it all comes down to that, doesn't it? I don't want to fight you for real as well, and I'm going to be honest with you, I had hoped that after the tournament was over, I was going to ask my mother to adopt you so you can become my little brother…"

Tears fell from Chris' eyes as he smiled. "I would've liked that… if only things were a little different. But we can't go back. This is what we chose to do. I hope you're ready Ranma because I will not hold back."

"Asobi wa… owari da…! What?"

Iori stopped his attack when Vice and Mature simply jumped back and began walking away from him and Leona. He snarled and was about to blast them with his purple flames when the two looked over their shoulders and gave him a mischievous grin. "You're not fighting us?"

"No, we have other business to take care off. You can help your fellow fighters if you want. Frankly, we want to accomplish our own objectives without the four Heavenly Kings of Orochi! See you later!" Mature and Vice stated as they walked out the door and went down the stairs, leaving an irritated Iori and a puzzled Leona behind.

"The hell?! Have all of them had a change of heart all of a sudden?!" Iori cried out in frustration. "First Yamazaki, now those two Orochi Hakketsu Shuu? From my experience with them, they're certainly Orochi loyalists!"

Leona also felt like something was amiss but she put it off for now, she had to help the others first. Iori saw this and decided to help out as well that is until both their bodies were suddenly engulfed in pain. They tried to lean on the pillars for support but all it did was intensify the pain to the point that both of them passed out.

Orochi Yashiro screamed as Kusanagi's punch forced him to skid to the side of the place. Fortunately, he managed to grab onto the ledge to avoid falling to the ground below. Kyo stared rather coldly at the Hakkeshu but Yashiro responded by giving him a maniacal grin. "Well, what are you waitin' for? Do it! Kill me, like how your ancestors killed mine, even when they were defenseless! C'mon! Do it, Kusanagi!"

Kyo stood there for a few moments before he drew his arm back, closed his eyes, and then brought his hand back down. He could hear Yuki's faint gasp from the side as he offered his hand to the hanging Hakkeshu rather than strike him in anger. "I know I'm going to regret this later, c'mon, take my hand."

"You're really…" Yashiro paused, closing his eyes, and smiling widely. Then his crimson eyes snapped open as he grabbed Kyo's arm and yanked on it, almost causing the Kusanagi heir to lose his balance. "…the biggest idiot I've ever seen! I'll take you to down with me, Kusanagi. I'll take you to where our ancestors are waiting!"

Yuki frantically screamed for his name while Terry was busy helping Kyo from going over the edge. Yashiro's strength was more than both Kyo and Terry could handle, and they can feel that they were in a losing battle with the Hakkeshu of Earth. Just when they were almost pulled in, Ranma's voice echoed around the place as he shouted a very familiar move name.

"Hiryu Shoten Ha!"

Fortunately, the wind gusts that the hurricane produced swatted Terry and Kyo to the side, away from the edge of the temple. Unfortunately, that strong gust of wind also struck the ledge that Yashiro was clinging to. Oddly enough, the Hakkeshu just let off a low chuckle, closed his eyes, and waited for his descent to the ground below. 'I'm finally free…'

Yuki watched the scene with wide eyes. She screamed yet again before Kyo went over to her and hugged her tightly, trying to appease the shocked woman. Terry bowed his head but he looked back up when he suddenly realized that the hurricane was still a few feet behind them. He was about to go and grab Kyo and Yuki when he noticed that the hurricane was weakening. He wondered for a bit before he finally noticed the ponytailed boy that was standing at the middle of it.

Ranma yelled as the move was slowly starting to dissipate. He looked up in concern when the spinning body of Chris came crashing down to the center of the place. His eyes widened when he didn't notice any movement from the brown-haired teen for quite some time and that blood was starting to flow out of the boy's body. "No, please no… don't die on me Chris, please don't die!"

He slowly made his way towards his student but had to stop when his eye caught something from the side. His eyes widened even more as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists at what he saw. He called out his flames and jumped to his right as he yelled, "No!"

Meanwhile, deep below the temple of worship, Ash grinned as he gazed upon a large, greenish seal in the form of a gigantic serpent. (6) "This is the place she wanted me to place it, huh? I just don't understand women…"

He clasped his hands together and summoned his green flames. Then he held his arms up and he grinned as his flames shot out of his hands and began to engrave something on the ground. "Orochi, Gaia's chosen… so many people despise you yet so many also worship you. But I'm not like either one of them. I just want something that you have, something similar to what Chizuru Kagura has…"

His eyes narrowed when he sensed two people approaching the room. He quickly willed the writing on the ground to disappear as he hid from them.

"Vice, are you sure about this?" Mature asked hesitantly.

"Mature, we already discussed this a long time ago, remember? Besides, you took it to the next level when you brutally killed those Yata clan members."

Mature hesitated again before she finally nodded. Both women raised their hands in the air, a few moments before their bodies were suddenly filled with pain. Swirls of energy flowed out of their bodies and went straight to the green seal in the middle. Cracks soon began to form around it and soon enough, it shattered to pieces.

Vice staggered and took a few steps back before leaning on a wall for support. "It's complete, now the vessel shall finally be chosen, and there is not a damn thing Chris or Ranma can do about it."

Her blonde partner just laid down on the floor, totally spent. She slowly began to close her eyes as unconsciousness claimed her. Vice was next in line as she slumped on the wall as she slowly slid to the ground.

A few moments later, Ash stood between the women, looked at them, smiled and walked out of the room. "Thank you, you Hakkeshu are so predictable."

Orochi Shermie scowled when Chizuru vanished in front of her eyes all of a sudden. She gritted her teeth and let off a deafening scream as lightning bolts rained down on the entire area. When she calmed down a bit, she finally noticed Ranma, who was carrying the badly burned Chizuru, looking at her with a frown. "Why are you looking at me like that? You left us for the humans so you have no right to look at me like that!"

"Shermie, I'll only ask one thing… is this really what you want?"

"What…?"

Ranma sighed and carefully placed Chizuru down. "I said is this really what you want? Do you really want to destroy the human race? Do you really want to kill all those people?"

"No." she quickly answered. "I only wanted to be with you… that's why I gave up my humanity, thinking that you will be by my side when I joined the Orochi Hakketsu Shuu but you just had to believe in humans… and you just had to believe in that priestess… you just had to trust her… you just had to fight Orochi's will."

"Shermie… I…"

Orochi Shermie gripped the ponytailed teen's shirt. "I like you Ranma, I don't know if this is really love or not but I care about you, more than you'll ever know. Please come back to me, come back to Orochi, back to the darkness…"

Ranma took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "No, I will not go back. Yes, I have Orochi blood in me but I also have human blood in me. I accept that now and I decided to live among the humans. Some will shun me, I know that, but I also know that some has, or will accept me for what I am. Shermie, open your eyes. Our ancestors only saw one side of humanity, not the other, and if I recall correctly, our ancestors were once human…"

Shermie hid the tears forming around her eyes as she took a few steps back. "No, I can't go back anymore. I'm not as strong-willed as you Ranma. I can't fight his will like you can. I chose my destiny and I have to live with it but… without you… I don't think I could go on anymore."

Lightning bolts suddenly went down and consecutively struck her body, inciting an anguished scream from the twin ponytailed woman each time it connected. Soon enough, her body couldn't take anymore energy and it began to destroy her inside out.

"Stop it Shermie!"

Ranma got behind the screaming Hakkeshu of Lightning and drove his hand to the back her neck, pressing her shiatsu point. The barrage of lightning bolts immediately stopped as Shermie fell to the ground in an unconscious heap. Ranma knelt beside her and looked at her with sad eyes. "I can't… I'm sorry Shermie… I just can't…"

"Is… Is she going to be alright?"

The ponytailed teen looked up to see Chizuru walking towards them albeit slowly. "Yes, but you shouldn't be moving with those injuries."

Chizuru shook her head. "I'm fine Ranma. What was that move you did to her?"

"I only put her to sleep by pressing her shiatsu point, but I don't know if it'll only delay the inevitable or not because…"

"She's already too deep into Orochi's will." The Kagura priestess finished for him. She placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder and to her surprise, Ranma turned around and sobbed on her shoulder. She wondered why at first before she realized that Chris and Shermie were almost always near him these past few weeks. 'You love them as family, don't you? And you feel as if you're losing them one by one…'

Chizuru was about to wrap her arms around him when he suddenly clutched his head as he screamed in pain. "Ranma? What's wrong? Ranma!"

Flames swirled around his body as he stood up. It went on for a few more seconds before he let off one last scream when the flames vanished all of a sudden as he went back down to his knees. Chizuru immediately knelt beside him as she asked, "What happened? What was that all about?"

"I… I feel… drained…"

It was the beginning of the end…

Gloria Domino

The ground suddenly began to tremble, it was followed by a blinding light that came from each of the eight pillars around the area. Iori and Leona finally came to and quickly joined the rest of the group.

In Vita Mea

Lightning surged downwards onto the circular pillars, flames burst forth in almost every direction, and the tremor intensified as a pillar of light appeared and blew apart the center of the room, the place where the bruised and bloody Chris was currently lying.

Gloria Domino

In Vita Mea

A figure slowly floated upwards from the pillar of light in the center. He has white hair and a fairly muscled body. His eyes are closed and there is a strange tattoo that seems to be a symbol of some kind embedded on his chest.

Gloria Patriae et Filio, Da pacem.

His eyes snapped open. His pupils were reptilian in nature. His fiery violet aura sprang forth in the form of serpent heads. His power was so immense that it knocked most of the group out except for two people, Iori and Ranma.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc

et semper, et in saecula saeculorum

Ranma tried to stand up as he locked gazes with the white-haired man. Said white-haired man smiled at him while the ponytailed teen could utter only a single word…

"Orochi…"

Magnificat anima mea Pacem.

(1) – I command you, earth, awaken!

(2) – Go away! (I hate this move. This stupid, fully-charged, unblockable move…)

(3) – Get down here!

(4) – You will die.

(5) – Come out, my flames!

(6) – The last stage (Mukai) of KOF 2003

AN: The hymn was taken from Xenosaga; entitled Resurrection (Just thought it was fitting). Okay, so Ranma is not the Orochi (Or is he…?). In any case, explanations are in the next chapter, and who better to answer all these questions than Orochi himself.

Next Gaia's Herald

"Let us all return to nothing…"