Mighty Morphin' Sailor Senshi
By R-Kives
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Back on Earth, Juuban Ward, remaining portal
Boreal looked at Ranma and felt anger boil up from deep within her. The soul of Ryoga Hibiki, the Eternally Lost Boy, raged at her, telling her to attack Ranma. Boreal tightened her grip on her battleaxe, trying to stay in control. The forced merger between Boreal and Ryoga had proven to be more difficult then Beryl had anticipated. Boreal was in control of their body but only barely. She could now change into Ryoga's human male form and speak human in her youma form. Her newfound mastery of Ryoga's martial arts and his weapons were added to her own. She had foregone his weighted umbrella in favor of a heavy battleaxe instead. Her strength as a human was even greater then her youma form. It was easily ten times stronger then her true form. She also retained the innate ability that all youma had been created with, the ability to absorb life energy from living beings.
Boreal didn't use her new human form however because she found herself inexplicably getting lost whenever she did. The ability to drain life energy didn't carry over to her human form either. Boreal felt the gem beneath her newly acquired bandannas flare up and suppress Ryoga's soul. It was the only reason Ryoga hadn't gained control of their shared body. The dark emotions in Ryoga were comparable to those of some of Beryl's more deadly youma. His anger and willpower were matched only by his depression. She had almost been overwhelmed by those emotions when they had merged. She would have lost if Beryl hadn't intervened. Once she felt more in control again, Boreal brought her battleaxe into a ready position in front of her.
When he had first seen the youma step through the portal, he had been surprised by its similar appearance to Ryoga. The clothes it wore, the bandannas and even its face had reminded Ranma of Ryoga. A quick scan with his ki senses confirmed that it was indeed Ryoga he was now facing. Ryoga's aura had changed but it was still recognizable as his. Ranma wasn't surprised to learn that this creature in front of him was in fact a changed Ryoga. (1) After all the times Ryoga had returned from his travels with some obscure new technique or some form of magical item, it wasn't surprising to find that he had found a way to change his Jusenkyo curse. Now it seemed as if Ryoga was working with whoever sent those things that had attacked the ward.
Ranma gritted his teeth and glared at the pig-girl. The last time they had fought, Ranma had beaten Ryoga to a pulp before Ryoga had managed to get lost by crawling away from the beating Ranma had been inflicting on him. This time Ranma intended to finish what he had started. A purple aura (2) began to light up around Ranma as he prepared himself for the upcoming fight. A little more than half a year ago, Ranma would have been sickened at the thought of killing anyone ever again. The hate he felt for Ryoga had stolen that innocence away. Ranma had always thought of Ryoga as the closest thing he had to a best friend other Ukyou. It had been why he was always able to eventually forgive Ryoga for everything he had ever done to him.
What Ryoga had done all those months ago was something Ranma couldn't forgive. His psychiatrist, Setsuna, had helped him deal with some of his hatred for Ryoga but seeing him or rather now, her in front of him again brought all those emotions back to him. This was the person that was responsible for killing two people he loved, his mother and Akane, one of his fiancés. The smell of melting pavement registered in Ranma's mind. He looked down and noticed that the heat from his aura was beginning to melt the street he was standing on. He stepped forward even as he began using the 'Soul of Ice' to calm himself. An icy chill began to rise up from around Ranma and his normally cheerful eyes turned as hard as steel. A swirl of leaves, carried by the wind served as the signal to begin the fight.
Boreal grinned as she recalled some of Ryoga's memories and spoke her first words to the young man who stood ready to face her in combat. She rushed forward preparing to swing her axe at him as she shouted loudly, "Ranma, prepare to die!"
Ranma's eyes narrow at her words and he barely dodges the powerful swing of the axe in time. Ranma had expected some increase in Ryoga's abilities and had prepared himself for a tough fight. He wasn't prepared for how much faster Ryoga's change had made him. Ryoga was now faster then his female form although she seemed to have lost some of her natural strength. The punches that Ranma were forced to block when he wasn't fast enough to dodge were weaker then he expected. Ranma found that Ryoga's toughness had increased to compensate for his loss and he healed much faster then even Ranma did. The blows that Ranma landed on Ryoga didn't seem to affect her as much as they should have and the cuts and bruises that Ranma inflicted all healed within seconds. The added danger of the battleaxe made it more difficult for Ranma to go on the offensive.
Ryoga now had even less of a defense then he did after he learned the Breaking Point technique. Ranma took advantage of all the wide holes in Ryoga's defenses. Ranma delivered powerful punches and kicks to what should have been painful points on Ryoga's body. Ryoga ignored the attacks, letting his healing and toughness compensate for them. She concentrated on trying to cleave Ranma in two instead. Ranma back flipped from a downward swing of the axe. His danger sense enabled him to avoid the shrapnel from the sudden 'Bakusei Tenketsu' that Ryoga had used with her axe when it struck the street. Ranma landed next to a street sign as he came down from the jump he had taken to avoid the last attack.
Boreal kept her distance and watched as Ranma fell to one knee in front of her. The two opponents were a study in contrasts. Boreal looked as fresh as when the fight had begun, only the tears in her attire showed any results from their battle. Ranma on the other hand was looking like the loser of this fight. His breathing came in gasps and the aura that had flared so brightly around him was now a dim glow. Boreal smiled evilly at Ranma, her face showing an expression of triumph. She had been slowly draining Ranma's energy as they had fought. It was why she had let him land so many attacks. Now it looked like the fight was almost over and she would be final victor. Ryoga's soul seemed to warm her up from inside at the thought of their impending victory.
"I've won Ranma! There's no way you can beat me!" Boreal said to him triumphantly, "I, Boreal, as a general of Mistress Beryl, shall defeat you! Once you're gone there will be no one who can stop her from becoming the ruler of this planet!"
Ranma looked up at Boreal as he tried to get his breathing back to normal. "Beryl? Is that...who you're...working for now pig-girl?" He asked her scornfully, "I should...have known. You couldn't have been...able to improve so much on your own. You always gotta cheat yer way doncha?" (3)
Boreal snorted (appropriately enough) at Ranma's words. "It doesn't matter how I beat you, now does it? In the end, today is the day you will join your mother, Ranma." She smirked at the look of anger that flashed across Ranma's face before it vanished. "Do you know why you lost this fight? I'll tell you since it won't make any difference anyway. I can absorb your energy now, all I need is to touch you (4) and your energy will be mine! Every time you hit me, all you did was make me stronger while you got weaker!"
Ranma's eyes widened in realization at the information Boreal so arrogantly gave him. A few seconds later, he smiled at Boreal who returned a look of puzzlement at him. It had been noted by Nabiki once that Ranma's mind was like a high powered battle computer. If it had anything to do with martial arts and fighting then his brain seemed to absorb it like a sponge absorbs water. Ranma could come up with tactics, assess the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents and implement them, all within the span of seconds. Ami had spoken to Nabiki regarding this, after a few weeks of living with Ranma, and had agreed that this was true. Just like a computer designed specifically for battle, Ranma had difficulties processing any information that wasn't seen as relating to combat. (5) Everyone at the Juice Bar had laughed at her observation much to Ranma's embarrassment at the time.
Ranma grabbed the street sign next to him for support as he pulled himself to his feet. He looked at Boreal, smirking at her as he held onto the street sign. "So every time I touch you, you drain me right?" He said to her before he asked her a question, "So what about if I hit you without touching you?"
When he finished talking, Ranma grabbed the street sign with both hands and pulled it out of the street. He twirled it around like a bo staff before it came to rest nestled through the crook of his right arm and partly behind him. "Ryoga, Boreal, whatever you want to call yourself. You really got to learn to keep yer mouth shut. You talk too damn much..."
(1) At least that's what Ranma thinks is the truth of the matter. He's not too far off anyway, being possessed (sorta) is a change. So to Ranma, he's fighting Ryoga even though Boreal is the one in control.
(2) Ranma is normally shown as having a blue aura but with all the changes he's been through plus his current emotional state it's not too hard to believe that the colour of his aura would have changed as well. I'm not exactly sure but I think that it's ussually Green for depression, Blue for confidence and Red for anger. Red and Blue make Purple, right? Heh heh at least I think it does...
(3) Ranma is known for being a bit rough with his speech and even with all the help (read forced schooling) from Ami and her mother he'll backslide occassionally.
(4) I know that the youma that in the canon Sailor Moon didn't actually need to touch their victims since they would drain people using jewels or cd's or whatever but Boreal is a uh well early model youma I guess would be accurate. This also applies to Happosai which is why (in this timeline at least) he needs to grope women in order to steal their energy, it;s no wonder Beryl had him locked up...
(5) Like schoolwork for example
A.N: I had originally planned on Taro/Goldar making his appearance in this chapter but it didn't seem like the right time for him to show up yet. As for the scouts, they'll be brought back into the story soon (I hope) so don't worry, I haven't forgotten about them. I had set out with the intention of making this a somewhat humerous fic but it turned out more as a serious story with only a little humour involved. As a result I've changed the genre to better show this. Again, reviews and criticisms are welcome as long as the the criticism tells me what I've done wrong anyway. Don't be shy to tell me if you feel I may have made an error anywhere, I can't fix what I don't know is broken after all! Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and rest assured that the next chapter will be out relatively soon...well sometime before a month has passed anyway... heh heh (sweatdrops) I hope
