At War With the Undead
Thanks to every one who reviewed my first chapter – your comments were valuable and taken on board. Special thanks to Teal Thanatos, Paks, Orifel, DeusExMachina and Tai Khan. I don't always agree with you but without you feedback I wouldn't have much to go off would I.
Ch2: Yes master
Ranma slowly executed one of the less stressful Kata's in his schools arsenal, working his sore muscles and stretching them in preparation for another day that would hopefully end with the death of Incognito. He was unsure what to make of last nights vivid nightmare which raised a possibility that he had pushed to the back of his mind. The possibility of him losing as badly as he had the first time when he met with the viscous monster. With the way he was feeling this morning he could have sworn that he had actually combated the fiend and lost, but if it had, did that mean that one of his most potent attacks had only managed to amuse Incognito?
It was almost inconceivable, Ranma didn't care what that monster was, nothing could be shredded to a fine mist and still survive. No it was safer and more logical to believe that he had dreamed the entire incident.
If he really had combated that freaky monstrosity last night then it raised some interesting questions. Ranma grunted as one of his muscles stretched painfully before resuming his scrutiny of last night's nightmare. How was it even possible for him to have transported back to Japan for the fight only to return back to London in time for morning? And were the powers that he had imagined for Incognito a demonstration indicative of his true strength.
Thinking about it the powers that Incognito used against him last night seemed to be further extensions of what he had used in Nerima. Ranma tried to blanket the image of Nabiki tumbling into Incognito's arms as if drawn by some unbreakable chain, her face dazed and unaware of the bloodbath around her. No, he was sure last night was a product of his fears, guilt and feelings of helplessness and not the unknown power of an impossibly strong enemy. His aches were just the result of his disturbed sleep, nothing more.
As he neared the end of his morning workout, Ranma begun to feel a little more confident that when he finally found Incognito their meeting would end very differently to his broken nightly encounters with the fiend. He had often been told that having been defeated once so badly, often it was the hardest thing a person could do to reface the one responsible.
No, it had to have been a dream he didn't care what you were, nothing could survive being completely shredded like that. Even Saffron had finally succumbed to that desperation move and Ranma had had plenty of time over the last week to brood over more destructive and painful variations. The Tendo's would have their revenge; he would be their living instrument.
He couldn't help but wonder at the outcome of the battle over the Hellsing manor though, if the rumours he had heard were correct and from what he had seen when he had entered the mansion he had no reason to doubt what he had heard. Then the Hellsing organisation was responsible for hunting down ghouls vampires and other non-human threats to society.
When he had stolen into the manor, which clearly served as their head quarters however they were under attack by the very beings that they reportedly hunted. Their roles had quickly been reversed leading Ranma to the conclusion that Incognito's challenge to fight him on his own ground was a lot more dangerous than he had originally imagined.
Not that it mattered, once taken up Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes school of martial arts did not back down to any challenge – particularly one fuelled by revenge. Rummaging through his pack and extracting the book he had taken from the Hellsing library Ranma started from the beginning. As dangerous as this was he would need all the information he could get and after last night he had some possible attacks to find counters to.
Opening to the first page Ranma frowned at the inscription:
"The vampire may be an escape an escape of all the limitations of human reality. In our own minds, we can make the vampire whatever we wish it to be...." - Martin V. Riccardo, Liquid Dreams of Vampires
He hoped the rest of the book was more helpful in telling him what he was fighting than that. Slipping to the next page Ranma grinned at the short description contained within. It seemed that the first part of the book was dedicated to describing vampiric powers, how people became vampires and common ways of combating vampires. Only the last section was dedicated to their movement into and around Japan over the last thousand years. For a history book this was going to prove very useful.
Starting on the description of vampiric powers Ranma's grin widened, 'It seems for all Incognito's boasting he is only a vampire. True undead – what does that mean, a vampire I can beat," he mumbled so ingrossed at the books description that he quickly devoured the next few pages. Not noticing the sun moving across the sky, the growing number of people occupying the park or his increasingly complaining stomach Ranma's thoughts remained on revenge and Incognito's defeat.
Reading further, the gilded book turned to descriptions of people becoming vampires, how it would help in the immediate defeat of his opponent was uncertain but it preceded actually combating the monsters so he persisted. It struck him as strange that a mother who did not eat enough salt during pregnancy could cause her unborn child to become a vampire though, by that reasoning there should be a lot more vampires running around than Incognito. 'If that were the case why haven't I heard of one till now? Well, they're the expert' Ranma thought momentarily dismissing his misgivings and moving onto combating the beasts.
'This book is terrific – I'll beat Incognito for sure with this,' thought Ranma going through the list of possible ways in which to defeat Incognito. His grin gained a strained look as he continued reading before finally throwing the book away in disgust.
Take a stake and hammer it through his heart. Then, decapitate him
and fill his mouth with garlic.
He doubted that filling the mouth of Incognito's decapitated head would make any difference to the out come of any fight between them. Incognito's grinning head flashed before his eyes before disappearing into a cloud of dust and blowing leaves. "Aggghhhh!!!!! The sooner I can get out of this cursed city the better," Ranma growled in disappointment and frustration at the book which had once held so much promise. Grabbing his pack and running from the park, Ranma finally succumbed to the growling of his stomach.
The elaborate gilding of the book he had stolen from the library flashed in the midday sun as it lay discarded in the middle of the park. The Japanese characters slowly changed, giving way to English ones before the book faded completely out of existence. Its demise went unnoticed in the crowded inner city park and the books former owner had long gone, holding little interest in anything but filling his stomach and killing Incognito.
Forcing himself to slow down lest he attract unwanted attention, Ranma ignored his growing despair. Every night Akane's death played itself out like a recorded scene from a horror movie along with his futile attack and effortless defeat at the hands of Incognito. Screams of pain and despair of those he knew echoed in waking and sleeping and all the while he felt that Incognito was only playing with him, leading him around by the nose. Just when he felt that he was making some progress in his quest for revenge his hopes were dashed and all leads disappeared.
Lack of sleep and proper food were taking its toll. He could feel his body breaking down and for the first time he was starting to question the wisdom of setting out to hunt Incognito on his own. Certainly when Cologne had heard of the attack and come to investigate she had refused to accompany him to London, even going so far as to forbid Shampoo from following.
In all seriousness she had told him that unless he returned soon she would assume his death and return to China. Rarely had he seen the old woman so deadly serious but he had been wounded and lost in rage and the need for revenge. Even the imminent solution to his fiancé problems didn't cheer him as much as it should have.
Only now did her words echo in his mind, "Son in law, be careful of the path you walk lest it end somewhere infinitely worse than where it started." In a gesture of impulsiveness, despair and frustration Ranma slammed his hand down onto the concrete footpath revelling in the feeling of the concrete crumbling beneath his fist. The sharp pain of concrete shards digging into his skin refocussed his mind and rallied his spirits.
"Food," he declared with a jovial smile ignoring the shocked looks and whispers of the other pedestrians. While he had thrown away the Hellsing's book on vampires as useless, one thing had already struck him as accurate if not perhaps in the way the author no doubt meant it 'In our own minds, we can make the vampire whatever we wish it to be...' Already it was proving a challenging opponent, but then his tracking skills had never been that good.
Picking a restaurant with a number of escape routes Ranma repeated his raid quickly sating his hunger by eating his fill with stolen food. With a full stomach things didn't look nearly as bleak as they had that morning in the park. His nightmare took on an entirely different perspective, it was just another chance at studying Incognito's fighting style, nothing more. His fighting style seemed entirely dependant on his opponent not being able to damage him enough to even be a threat.
"Now all I need is…" Ranma trailed off as the sound of gunfire scattered the pigeons from the gutter he had been resting under. "What is it with the British and their guns and private armies," he muttered quickly probing the area with his aura in case there was anything that might interest him. It was a habit he had gotten into over the last week scouring the city for any traces of Incognito. There was too much crime and not enough time for him to get involved in everything, all his efforts went into trying to locate Incognito and obtain his revenge.
Grabbing his pack in one hand he started running in the direction of the gunfire. His probe had brushed across spots devoid of any Ki – a sure sign that there were ghouls in the area and where there were ghouls there were vampires. Any Vampires he met or fought could know where Incognito was and that information interested him a great deal. The single shot he had heard quickly turned into a torrent of automatic gunfire. Arriving on the scene he could see why, an army of animated copses were pouring from one of the cities many subway exits.
With the amount of firepower focussed on the entrance to the underground, Ranma doubted that even with his stealth he would be unable to sneak his way in. Luckily he knew of an entrance not too far away that would not be as heavily guarded as this entrance. Not wanting to waste any more time lest the fight be over by the time he got there, Ranma turned down a nearby alley and took off at a sprint.
He had enough of trying not to attract attention, of creeping around trying to gather information on his opponent and sitting around while he imagined Incognito massacring other families while waiting for Ranma to come and provide an entertaining 'distraction'. Ranma spat in disgust at the thought of other people going through what he had, he increased his speed towards the other entrance – the sooner he found incognito and killed him the sooner he could disappear and forget about everything. Besides, with such a significant lead so close he found it impossible to resist.
As he suspected the second entrance to the London underground wasn't as heavily guarded as the first. Only one heavily armoured truck with three armed personnel bunkering behind some sand bags provided any obstacle to gaining entrance to the underground. Spotting the Hellsing insignia on their green fatigues Ranma nodded in satisfaction. It seemed even an army of ghouls led by vampires could be defeated and if an army of relatively untrained soldiers could defeat them then he with his long years of intensive training should have no problems even if they did use weapons.
Feeling a burst of confidence Ranma slipped underneath the soldiers notice and entered the London tube. Edging through the hauntingly empty station it quickly became apparent that he was in the right place and a vampire had been through recently. Ghouls munched noisily on the dead and dying citizens who had found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Surveying the atrocities even now taking place Ranma grunted as another flash back forced its way painfully into his brain.
"Ranma, what's going on I heard gunfire," Ranma dragged himself up the side of the building he had been learning on and spat the blood which had been pooling at the bottom of his mouth. "Ukyo," Ranma grunted trying to regain his breath and some of his strength, "get out of here."
"No way Ranma," Ukyo announced with bravado as she hefted her battle spatula. "Whoever did this to you we'll beat together." She announced turning around in a guard position in front of her wounded fiancé.
"Watch out!!!" he yelled in deadly urgency spitting another mouthful of blood and doubling over in pain. "Their…"
Before he could finish his warning however the three reanimated copses which had been slowly stumbling towards them jumped at Ukyo to attack. He closed his eyes as a shower of blood and maggots sprayed him followed by the sound of frenzied feeding. He hadn't expected Ukyo to get more than one of these demons – a battle spatula wouldn't have done more damage than some of his more deadly techniques and he had found them surprisingly hard to kill. It was he tried to get here array, somewhere safe. "Your girlfriends are weak human and not worthy my time," announced Incognito as he approached Ranma.
"Bastard!! Your fight was with me, why involve her?" His anguished entreaty echoed through his head as he lashed out utterly destroying the ghouls covering the train platforms. He had since learned of more effective ways of destroying the ghouls than his previously wasteful eruption of energy – it was very effective but overkill for such lowly minions. "Why Ukyo, she wasn't even meant to be there," jumping on the tracks with a new found determination he started heading in the direction of the previous entrance.
The distant light of a stationary train illuminated his way as he cautiously approached through the tunnel along a track. The echoing sound of bats caused him to pause his approach in caution, why would there be bats in the London underground? Ignoring his uncertainty Ranma continued along the long passage toward the stopped train. The sound of gunfire followed by an insane laughter joined the echo's sounding in the tunnel causing an amalgamation of sounds.
Speeding his approach towards the train lest he miss the fight Ranma suddenly paused as pain snaked through his body. "What the," he grunted continuing up the tunnel only to stop again as the pain increase. As minute as it was, the pain would hamper him from fighting at his potential, something which could prove deadly against Incognito. Spotting a suspicious series of posters nailed to the tunnel walls with oversized knives he tore one down to get a closer look when the pain decreased slightly, smirked superiorly Ranma blazed his aura burning the strange posters from the wall, "heh – not a problem." With the pain gone he continued his approach.
"Magic – I hate magic," Ranma announced in disgust remembering the final moments of his fight with Incognito. "You've impressed me human, the slaughter and destruction – I live for noting else." Ranma couldn't move, his clothes were shredded and bloodstained, he was thoroughly exhausted physically and mentally. Looking around he could only hope his death was quicker than those bodies that surrounded him. From Incognito's expression he could do little but tense for a debased ending to this butchery.
He found it ironic that he found himself once again back in the dojo, the place his fight with Incognito had started. Ranma had found himself overpowered from the beginning as the fight overflowed to the areas surrounding the Tendo property and beyond. If Incognito hadn't been enjoying himself so much he was sure that the fright would have ended a long time ago. Now they was back where they had started and Ranma was sure it was the end for him, he almost welcomed it after he had witnessed what his fight had brought to the area.
"For alleviating my boredom you deserve a final gift," he had begun to loath the sound of Incognito's laughter. "Behold the power of sorcery from the dark continent," Ranma screamed as flaring purple blinded his eye's and pain coursed through his body like molten steel. "I look forward to meeting in London human."
"Mwhahahahhahahaha!!!!"
It had been the last he had seen Incognito but that hadn't stopped him looking as soon as he could move. Whatever else Incognito had done to him his dark sorcery had cured his curse. How he had dreamed of his curse being cured but to have it done in such an atrocious manner and to have had to pay such a staggering price, had quickly turned his dreams to ashes.
Stepping onto the train the sound of maggots crunching beneath his feet spoke louder than words. "I'm too late, Incognito – I will kill you." Ranma's words echoed flatly along the darkened tunnel which had clearly been the scene of a destructive fight recently.
"What's stopping you human?" At first Ranma thought he was imagining or hallucinating Incognito standing in front of him, his smirking face and red eye so close to his own. The sudden lack of Ki in the area surrounding the image quickly convinced Ranma otherwise. "Heh," he drawled out matching Incognito's smirk with one of his own. "I've been dreaming of this moment for over a week. INCOGNITO!!!!!!!" Ranma's aura unleashed itself wildly, forming a dangerous maelstrom of energy swirling through the broken train carriage – itself already a witness to one devastating fight.
"Hehehheh hahahahahahha!!!! Oh yes human, let me feel your pain, your anger but most of all - let me feel your lust for REVENGE!!!" Incognito announced discarding his trench coat and displaying his naked asexual body to the world. Ranma's eyes narrowed at the purplish patterns that started appearing over Incognito's body. Events were playing too closely to his dream for his liking – "time to shake things up a little."
Ripping his massive pack off his back and throwing it at Incognito Ranma leapt from the train and back to the floor of the tunnel so as to gain more room to fight. He idly tracked Incognito nimbly dodging the pack while maintaining the distance between them. His bulky pack tore through the side of the already damaged train and lodged itself into the tunnel wall raining mortar and dust onto the two combatants in a reminder that they were fighting underground. If he didn't want to end up buried in a few tons of rubble then he would have to be careful about which attacks he used.
Trying to create some space between them, Ranma shot a flurry of vacuum blades at the vampire being careful to limit their power so that they wouldn't travel much further than the huge train that loomed over them. Ranma sighed in relief as the tunnel walls were barely pitted by his attack, the last thing he wanted to do was destroy the structural integrity of the tunnel. Both Incognito and the train were sliced to pieces by his attack but while the train collapsed in a groaning heap of twisted metal Incognito only grinned while his body regenerated.
"We've been through this human - your pitiful attacks are futile and wasted on the true undead. Show me that you haven't pursued me out in the false belief that you can defeat me with those same useless techniques. Show me that my gifts weren't wasted on you!!!!" Ranma watched in horrified fascination as something beneath the skin of Incognito's right arm and hand began to writhe and snake, expanding and gradually taking the taking shape of a hauntingly familiar gun.
"Lets let the fun begin shall we," Incognito grinned bring his gun up and shooting in Ranma's direction. Even though Ranma had started to move as soon as he recognised the significants of such a large gun in Incognito's hands in an attempt not to get shot, he felt a sharp pain rip though his shoulder. 'Just a graze,' Ranma grimaced. 'If it had hit me then I wouldn't have am arm left.' The concussive blast of the tunnel behind him exploding from the cannons shell knocked the air out of his lungs causing him to choke and gasp on finely ground concrete dust which obscured most of the tunnel in a cloud of dust.
"Arms Corps 40mm MGM with multi-shot projectiles forged using dark sorcery," Incognito announced cheerfully striding out of the dust cloud that had obscured the visibility in the tunnel. "But then you have been introduced haven't you," laughed Incognito as Ranma frantically dodged another exploding shot which collapsed more of the tunnel. He had a sinking feeling that even if the tunnel completely collapsed, Incognito would still survive – he doubted if he would.
Determining to end the fight as quickly as possible Ranma closed the distance between them. His previous strategy had been rendered redundant by his left arm which hung uselessly at his side. Taking control of the raging aura which surrounded him and focussing it into his good hand he slammed it into the smirking vampire. Flaring his aura wildly in times of crisis gave him access to a boost in raw power but for this attack some more finesse was required.
Holding the pain he felt at being forced to watch as this beast violently shattered his life, the frustration of having his revenge delayed and the fury and hatred he felt towards Incognito Ranma condensing it and forged a lethal projectile of his aura. It was this that he slammed it into Incognito watching dispassionately as it turned the naked vampire into a fine mist. Standing in the middle of a partially collapsed underground Ranma couldn't feel relief that it was over or satisfaction at the bloody revenge he had taken. All he felt was a deepening dread at the eerie connections between how events had played out and his nightmare the night before.
"Don't think me so easily defeated human," announced Incognito hauntingly as purple ruins ignited along the floor and walls of what was left of the tunnel. "I already told you the same tricks wouldn't work against me twice." Ranma stared at Incognito's silhouette before him in disbelief – It was only a dream, surely just a dream. "Alas it now has to end, I've had me fun but our little fight is attracting the wrong attention and it's entirely too early to play my hand."
Assuming the strongest defensive stance he could devise Ranma readied himself for Incognito's final attack. The last thing he expected was for blades to shoot out along the glowing ruins which covered the floor and walls with blinding speed. He hardly felt the purple blade which severed his spine and fatally wounded him. All he could do was sag in disbelief – he had hardly started to fight, how could it end like this?
"You know, it doesn't have to end like this." Incognito's voice seemed strangely seductive to his fading hearing and increasingly jumbled thoughts. "You could live forever, only ever increasing in strength. It doesn't have to end here - you could still achieve your vengeance."
"Yes," Ranma mumbled almost inaudibly as blood leaked from his mouth and pooled beneath him. He knew that it should be painful but he felt no pain, only an increasing dullness and a feeling of losing himself. "Yes, give me time." 'What was I agreeing to again,' Ranma thought idly, 'and why am I just lying here'
Incognito just smiled down at the dying figure at his feet. It was incredible that he had lasted this long, far longer than he expected. He looked forward to seeing what he would be able to achieve as one of the undead. As the last of Ranma's life fled from Ranma's body Incognito knelt down almost gently cradling his broken body and started to drink.
"Sooooonnnnnnn," Incognito breathed triumphantly.
Ranma sat up suddenly as the sun shone strongly through his closed eyelids disturbing his sleep. He felt better than he could ever remember, his body felt vibrant and well rested. It was if the past week had never happened, 'no' he decided he felt better than that stronger than that.
Ranma smirked and turned north from the inner city park he found himself in, "my master."