Disclaimer: Sailormoon, Oh My Goddess!, and Ranma 1/2 all belong to
people other than me. I'm not making any money from this fanfic.
Warning: The author's notes section is really long this time.
Warning: Altaverse (Keiichi ain't here, and the senshi timeline is
all messed up.)
"words"
'thoughts'
A Time for Wild Horses chapter 16
by Jose Argao
"Who was that on the phone, Kasumi? Was it Nabiki?"
It had been thirty-six long minutes since Soun Tendo found
out that Nabiki had left Nerima to follow Ranma, and he was almost
going out of his mind. The note Kasumi had found in Nabiki's room had
said that she would call as soon as she arrived in Juuban, but the
phone had remained silent until a few moments ago. Kasumi was able to
get to it before he could, and she had spent a few minutes talking to
the person on the other end. He hoped it was Nabiki. She had never
left home to go to such a far away place unattended before, and he was
worried for her safety.
"I'm sorry, father, but it wasn't Nabiki. It was just Yuka
calling to say something about Akane."
Soun hung his head in sadness. What was taking Nabiki so long?
Why did she have to go and worry her poor father so? He closed his
eyes, took a deep breath, calmed his nerves, then started wailing as
loudly as he could.
Tears flowed freely from Soun's eyes as his imagination ran
wild with imagined tragedies. "My baby, all alone in Juuban! I've heard
stories about that place, you know. There's no telling what could have
happened to her by now! What if she's been hurt? What if she doesn't
have anything to eat? What if she's been abducted by aliens? Did you
see that special about aliens on television last week? They _probe_
you!"
A comforting hand appeared on Soun's and pulled him back down
onto his futon. He allowed himself to fall backwards into a lying
position and found himself looking at the visage of Nodoka Saotome.
He tried to open his mouth to explain further about extra-terrestrial
probing, but she shushed him with a stern look.
"Please calm down, Soun. I'm sure that Nabiki would never
allow herself to be captured and... er... probed. She's not that kind
of girl, you know."
Soun did not understand Nodoka's words in the least, but she
said them with such a calm voice that he couldn't help but feel better
about the situation.
Nodoka sighed deeply as she knelt beside Soun's futon. The
Tendo patriarch's tendency to cry like a baby had always annoyed her,
but there was little she could do but grin and bear it. Of course,
her own husband's tendency to turn into a panda and start playing
with a tire wasn't helping things very much, either, but at least he
was quiet. She hoped that Yuka had called to give good news. It would
do wonders for Soun if Akane would go home. She smiled brightly and
turned to Soun's eldest daughter.
"Kasumi, would you mind telling us what Akane's friend said?
Has Akane changed her mind? Is she coming home now?"
Kasumi shook her head as she replied. "Oh no, Auntie Saotome.
Yuka-chan just called to say that Akane went to Juuban with a strange
ninja to stop Ranma from going to heaven with two beautiful women."
*****
Juuban High's athletic field was normally a dark and deserted
place at night. With the exception of a few particularly adventurous
couples who liked the excitement of fornicating in a public place,
few people had any reason to go there at all. A breeze blew across
it, causing the grass to bend momentarily before returning to its
original position. For a few minutes, nothing moved. The field was a
picture of perfect peace.
Suddenly, a bright light lit up the field. The light quickly
disappeared, leaving a large group of people in its wake. In the middle
of the field stood Setsuna, who impatiently waited while her companions
figured out where they were. Seeing that they had more or less figured
out that they were still on Earth, she tapped her staff on the ground
and began talking.
"Everyone, please check your companions and belongings to make
sure that all the participants are present and accounted for. It would
not make for an interesting battle at all if someone were to die before
I could kill her."
Usagi nervously turned to Ami, who was scanning their opponents
with her visor. The young princess was visibly agitated.
"Setsuna's not really gonna kill anyone, is she? I mean, she's
just saying that to sound scary, right? I don't want to die, Ami-chan!"
Ami turned to Usagi with a determined look on her face. "I'm
pretty sure that Setsuna doesn't plan to hurt us. She's still a senshi,
and she'd never do anything that would endanger our lives. The same
goes for Mamoru, except he isn't really a senshi."
Ami paused for a few moments, her expression turning into a
scowl. "I have no doubt that they're going to go all out on this fight,
though. I've been scanning the others, and there isn't a single weak
person here. The girl with the coin is bursting with battle-aura. The
Mercury computer estimates that Lilith may have power equal to Setsuna
herself."
Rei's eyes grew large when she heard Ami's words. "As strong
as Setsuna? But Setsuna's one of the strongest among the senshi! What
about the others? Are they as strong as Setsuna too?"
Ami met Rei's gaze as she replied. "Well, Ranma's readings
are a little weird. It seems that the same abnormality that's causing
his aura to appear as though it's composed of two people is interfering
with the scanning software. Makoto is still roughly as strong as the
other senshi, as is Mamoru. As for Urd and Morrigan... well... the
computer crashed when I tried to read their power levels."
Usagi started hyperventilating. "The computer crashed? What
does that mean? Are they so strong that the computer couldn't handle
it? Do we have any chance of winning at all?"
Ami smiled at Usagi. "That's a possibility, but I doubt it.
They'd have to be gods to have power levels that the Mercury Computer
can't read. My guess is that it's just a glitch. The computer's been
acting unpredictably since I installed XP."
Usagi had no idea what XP was, but she nodded thoughtfully to
give the illusion that she did. She clenched her hands into fists. How
the heck was she supposed to win _this_ one?
Minako was just about to wring her hands in despair when she
felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and found that it belonged to
Ami, who smiled warmly at her.
"Hey, don't worry too much. We haven't lost yet. Don't forget
that Setsuna and Mamoru probably won't be fighting us, and that Makoto
and Ranma could be turned into allies if we can break whatever spell
was put on them. The purple-haired girl from before isn't even here, so
we can stop worrying about her."
Minako nodded slowly, her confidence returning. Ami's words
made sense. Their only real enemies were Morrigan, Lilith, the girl
with the coin, and Urd. All was not lost. She smiled as she used the
transformation pen to repair the damage that her uniform had sustained
in the last fight. When she finally won, she wanted to do it in style.
*****
"Ryoga-kun, are you sure we're going in the right direction?
We've been walking for a while, and I think we've already passed
through this street... twice."
Rose raised her eyebrows at her directionally challenged
companion, who was currently arguing with Mousse about how to read
the map they had brought along with them. It was supposed to help
them avoid just the situation that they were in right now, but
obviously it hadn't worked. Ryoga turned to her, then pointed an
accusing finger at Mousse.
"I know that! If we hadn't listened to this idiot and gone
straight ahead at the intersection instead of taking that last right
turn, we'd be at the Tendo's by now. He's the reason we've been going
in circles!"
Mousse pointed right back at Ryoga as he . "That's not true!
The real reason we're lost is that _this_ idiot made us turn right at
the bakery when we should have turned left!"
Rose shook her head in defeat. When they finally arrived in
Nerima, she had thought that it would be easy going. However, things
turned out a bit differently. Ryoga had almost led them out of the
district more than once, and it looked like he was going to do so once
more. Mousse was still missing his glasses, so he wasn't much help
either. She could hardly believe that these two had ever been to Nerima
at all, much less actually lived there for a time. It looked as though
she would have to do things herself once more. She quickly snapped the
map from Ryoga's hands, looked at it for a few seconds, then put it in
one of her pockets.
"We should have gone straight ahead at the bakery and turned
left at the intersection. It doesn't matter now, anyway. Just follow
me."
Rose sighed as she walked in front, followed by her two idiot
helpers. She wondered not for the first time why she had saved them to
begin with.
*****
"Ranma-kun, Lilith and I will take care of Urd. Can you handle
the rest of them?"
Ranma turned to Morrigan, his face expressionless. "Of course,
mistress. I shall destroy them completely."
Morrigan shook her head. "No need for that, dear. Just knock
them around enough to get them unconscious. Lilith and I will take
things from there."
Ranma nodded slowly. "As you command."
Lilith looked closely at Ranma's face. She waved her hand in
front of him, getting no reaction. She turned to Morrigan and pouted.
"What happened to Ranma? He's all boring now! I don't want him
like this."
Morrigan smiled as she lovingly stroked Lilith's face. "There's
nothing to worry about. I've put a couple of controls in his mind, and
they're interfering with his emotions. After a few weeks, when his mind
has become completely dependent on us for direction, I'll take them out
and he'll be back as he was before I put them in, except he'll still be
under my control."
Lilith frowned. "A few weeks? What if the controls are taken
out before then?"
Morrigan raised a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "I'm not
sure, actually. Such a thing has never happened before. The control
process might still work, and if that happens he'll still be under my
influence. If it fails, he might regain his freedom. He might also go
insane."
Lilith's eyes grew large. "Insane? I don't want him to become
insane!"
Morrigan grinned. "Don't worry about it. The controls I've put
in are completely unbreakable. No one can take them out but me."
Lilith sighed. "Well, if you say so, I guess it's okay."
Morrigan nodded. "Of course it is. For now, all you need to
worry about is kicking Urd's ass."
Lilith gave her sister a thumbs up. "Roger!"
*****
"Mmmmm... Peorth-san... we mustn't... you can't... oh my!"
Belldandy awakened suddenly from her sleep, her breath coming
in deep gasps. Despite the fact that her office was air-conditioned,
her whole body was practically soaked in sweat. She blushed bright red
as her thoughts drifted back to the strange dream she had been having.
It had been very... graphic, to say the least.
Thinking that it was probably just stress, Belldandy decided
to just forget about her dream and get back to work. She got up from
her bed, changed out of the pajamas she was wearing and stretched her
arms, yawning as she did so.
"What a restful sleep. I really needed that! What should I
do now? Let's see...."
The last thing she could remember was using her computer to
look for the whereabouts of Skuld, but that didn't explain how she had
ended up sleeping on a bed in the middle of her office, wearing a set
of pajamas that she had never seen before. She turned towards her
computer, and found that it had been turned off.
"Oh my!"
Belldandy dashed towards the computer and pressed the power
button. After waiting for a few seconds for the computer to boot up,
she opened the search program and checked the log to see if the
computer had found her sister before it was turned off.
"Oh my!"
The log indicated that Skuld had gone to China with Ukyo.
Specifically, they had gone to Jusenkyo. It was a buggy area that
the search program had trouble searching through. The fact that
she went there would explain why it took so long to find her.
Belldandy read the rest of the computer's report, nodding to
herself as she read of how Skuld had gone off chasing after bugs,
determined to wipe them out from the area. She stopped nodding when
she got to the part explaining what had happened after that. The
next few words she uttered came out of her mouth before she could
censor them, something that only happened in emergencies.
"Oh shit."
*****
Delinquents, all of them.
Hinako crossed her arms in front of herself as she waited for
her opponents to announce the beginning of their battle. She actually
wanted to start immediately, but they weren't ready yet and it would
have been unfair of her to do so. It's not like she was a delinquent
herself, after all.
Hinako turned towards the strange man wearing a tuxedo, finding
that he did in fact look a bit homosexual. She certainly couldn't be
considered an authority on the subject, of course, but he just looked
a bit too... clean. In her experience, all _real_ men were dirty to a
certain extent. It could almost be considered as part of their charm,
the way they walked around town without spending even an hour combing
their hair.
Soun Tendo was the best example of a man that Hinako knew of.
He usually looked as if he hadn't bathed in weeks, though smelling him
would reveal that it couldn't have been more than three days since he
had done so. It was probably because he was always crying and getting
splashed with water from the koi pond. He probably figured all that
water kept him clean.
It was kinda cute, actually, if a little disgusting. In any
case, Hinako figured that he would change for the better once Ranma had
finally settled down. It was usually Ranma that was causing him to cry
or get splashed.
Now Ranma, there was a _man_. An annoying delinquent of a man
who liked to cross dress from time to time, but a man nonetheless. Ranma
was also usually dirty, from fighting, playing, flirting and all the
other delinquent acts that he usually got up to. Still, even when in
his female form, you just couldn't look at Ranma and not be overwhelmed
by his amazing maleness. Not unless you happened to be Tatewaki Kuno
of course.
Come to think of it, Kuno was a bit dirty too... if not in his
hygiene then certainly in his thinking. He was also prone to staring at
her breasts whenever she transformed into her adult form, something
that a homosexual would probably not do. That would make him a man as
well. Not a manly man by any stretch of the imagination, but still a
man.
Then again, Ranma didn't like to stare at her breasts. Could
it be that Ranma actually wasn't too manly after all? It couldn't
be, since despite his reluctance to gaze upon her breasts he still
liked to grab them from time to time, ostensibly to deactivate her
powers but probably just to cop a cheap feel. He didn't like to do
anything with them, though. He just grabbed them and that was it. The
experience usually left her feeling cheated somehow.
Which was further proof that Ranma was truly a delinquent!
If he was a _real_ gentleman, he wouldn't just grab her chest
then leave her unsatisfied. He would've finished what he started! Such
a delinquent... just thinking about him was leaving her all hot and
bothered with the desire to change him for the better.
Cracking her knuckles in front of her, Hinako prepared to
fight for the right to educate Ranma.
*****
"Hello. I would like to speak to Ranma Saotome, please. It's
very important."
Kasumi smiled at the person outside the door, a woman dressed
in funny clothes that she had never met before. With practiced ease,
she took a piece of paper from a pile on a table by the door and handed
it to the woman.
"I'm sorry, but Ranma can't meet you right now. However, if
you would just provide us with a copy of your name, telephone number,
a recent photo, the date of your engagement, and the circumstances
surrounding it, you'll be notified in case something comes up."
Rose took the piece of paper without looking at it and stared
at the girl in front of her. She had no idea whatsoever what the girl
was talking about.
"Excuse me?"
Kasumi continued smiling at the woman. She hoped that this one
wouldn't suddenly decide to get violent. Ranma and Akane were both out
of the house and her father was in bed so things could get out of hand
if she did. Kasumi really didn't mind, but some of the neighbors were
complaining about the devastation that Ranma's fiancees usually left in
their wake. Well, there wasn't much she could do about it. She hoped
that this latest addition would be friendly.
"Ranma is out right now, so you won't be able to meet him. If
you would just give me the requirements I told you about, though, I'll
be sure to get in touch with you as soon as he's decided whether you're
the one for him. The requirements are listed on that paper I gave you,
so you don't have to worry about memorizing them. You can just put them
in the mail box later, if you want."
Rose frowned. She looked at the piece of paper and skimmed
through its contents to find a clue as to what the girl was talking
about. She had no idea it would be so hard to talk to Ranma Saotome.
A few seconds later, she found what was wrong.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not here to marry Ranma. I came here to--"
A loud shout interrupted Rose before she could continue, and
both women turned towards the gate to find Ryoga and Mousse standing
below it. Mousse clenched one of his hands into a fist as he glared
daggers at Rose.
"You left us! I can't believe you just went here and left us
wandering the sewers for hours!"
Rose rolled her eyes. "I didn't leave you, you disappeared.
You were supposed to be following me but when I turned around you were
gone. What was I supposed to do? Besides, even if you were somehow able
to get yourselves into the sewers, you couldn't have been wandering
for hours because it's only been about forty-five minutes since we were
separated. Anyway, it's good that you're here. I'm having a bit of
trouble here. This girl seems to think that I'm--"
"Oh my, I didn't know that you were a friend of Ryoga and
Mousse! My name is Kasumi. Please come in."
Rose turned back towards Kasumi, who was now holding the door
open for her to enter. She gestured for her companions to follow her as
she made her way inside.
*****
Mamoru regarded his opponents with a bit of apprehension. He
was not accustomed to fighting women that were not visibly attracted to
him. Then again, he also wasn't accustomed to fighting women that were
visibly attracted to him, either. Actually, he just wasn't accustomed
to fighting.
He had survived this long by taking pot shots at enemies who
had their back turned to him, then acting cool and aloof as if actually
taking them on in face to face combat was too good for him. It was a
very effective method of fighting, too. It gave him a dark, mysterious
aura to add to his arsenal that left his enemies guessing whether he
was some sort of fighting god who could level them with a flick of his
wrist, or just some kid who liked to play with flowers.
Not that he actually _liked_ to play with flowers, of course.
He'd never done such a thing. Not more than once, anyway. Except on his
birthdays and a few other special occasions.
Tuesdays were special occasions, right?
Anyway, the important thing was that he wasn't gay. He just
liked to use roses as darts because the senshi's attacks were so girly
and he wanted to fit in. It was a lot like the hazing he was subjected
to when he entered the flower-arranging club last year; something that
he didn't necessarily enjoy but nonetheless tolerated because he had
no choice in the matter.
Mamoru stood straight as he observed his soon to be opponents,
a move he had practiced in front of a mirror and was sure to make him
look manly. They were certainly all very pretty, even prettier than
Usagi and her little friends. The silver-haired chick with dark skin
was particularly attractive. He could hardly wait until he had beaten
her into loving him.
Of course, that would sort of put a damper on the whole 'marry
Usagi and save the world' thing. Then again, that course of action had
begun to seem less and less attractive in the past few days. His loss
of affection for her would almost be the strangest thing to happen to
him recently, if only he hadn't been having strange dreams about women
with red hair and pigtails.
Not that he'd never had dreams about pretty redheads before,
but those mostly involved beautiful, anonymous women who liked to...
well... never mind.
Mamoru took a deep breath, then smiled to himself. Soon, he would
be enjoying the affections of an exotic babe with silver hair. Life was
good.
*****
"Are you getting tired, Ms. Akane? We can take a break if you
want."
Konatsu continued running in front of Akane, easily outpacing
the slower girl with his speed. He was really starting to get worried
about her. She didn't look too good. Akane, however, simply ignored
his offer.
"A break? How can we take a break? We've wasted enough time
going to the train station without any money. There's no telling what
Ranma has gotten up to already!"
Konatsu blushed. He had assumed that Akane would have money
on her, which was one of the reasons he had gone to her to begin with.
Apparently, women were _not_ bottomless stores of spare cash, as he
had previously thought.
"I'm really sorry, Ms. Tendo, but the Ucchan's hasn't been
making any money lately and I'm all out of cash."
Akane struggled to answer Konatsu as she raced to keep up
with him. Where did he get all his energy?
"It's not your fault, Konatsu. I left my wallet at Yuka's
because I thought you already had a way to get to Juuban. It's all
Ranma's fault. If he hadn't tricked those poor girls into becoming
his latest conquests, none of this would be happening!"
Konatsu frowned as he tried to imagine Morrigan and Lilith
as helpless victims of Ranma's charm. He couldn't.
"Uh... Ms. Akane, I don't really think it would be appropriate
to call those women 'poor girls'."
Akane shook her head. "Don't be fooled, Konatsu. Ranma may
_seem_ to be just a dumb jock, but he's much, much worse. You have no
idea what he's capable of. The things he can do. He can make any girl
fall in love with him, then he'll play around with other girls right
in front of her! He's such a... such a jerk!"
Konatsu nodded thoughtfully while he ran. "Any girl, huh?
That's quite a talent to have. It's a good thing _you_ can see right
through him then."
Akane nodded as well. "That's exactly right. I'm the only
thing that stands between Ranma and his having a harem of girls doing
anything he tells them to!"
Konatsu smiled. "That's nice to know. But why are you standing
there, exactly?"
Akane frowned. "Standing where? I'm running right now. Are you
telling me that I'm too slow? I'm not! It's you! You're running way too
fast for a normal person!"
Konatsu hurriedly shook his head. "Oh no, Ms. Akane. That's not
what I meant at all! I was just wondering why you even bother to stand
between Ranma and his harem, since there isn't any chance of you being
in it anyway."
Akane opened her mouth to answer, but no sound came out. She
slowly closed it again. Konatsu, thinking that he just hadn't heard her
reply, decided to ask her what she had said.
"Ms. Akane, I didn't get that last thing you said. Could you
please repeat it?"
Akane never even heard him. She was seething with anger. Ranma
had just given her the ultimate insult. Not good enough to be a wife,
was she? Not even good enough to be in a harem, was she? She had always
known Ranma was a pig before, but this brought him to a whole new low.
Even lower than a pig. A rat, maybe. Or a cockroach. Certainly he was
something small and disgusting. She became angrier and angrier the more
she thought about him.
Konatsu, seeing that she hadn't heard him, asked again. "What
was that last thing you said, Ms. Akane?"
Akane glared daggers at Konatsu, sending shivers up his spine.
"Just shut up and run."
*****
"Please sit over here on the couch. I'm terribly sorry, Ms.
Rose. I had no idea you were friends with Ryoga and Mousse. Normally,
we'd run a background check first to see if you really are a fiancee,
but in this case I think we can just skip to the interview. Mrs.
Saotome should be here any moment. Would you like some tea?"
Rose sat down on the seat and smiled at Kasumi. She had so
far been unsuccessful in conveying the message that she did not want to
marry Ranma, and Ryoga and Mousse weren't helping things by continuing
their argument as if they weren't in somebody else's home. Perhaps she
would be more successful if she just spoke to Ranma's mother.
"Mrs. Saotome will see you now. Please follow me. Ryoga and
Mousse can stay here and eat cookies while they wait."
Rose slowly stood up and followed Kasumi. It was all very
strange for her, being mistaken for a fiancee of all things, but Kasumi
acted as if it were a normal occurrence. She had dismissed Ryoga's
stories about Ranma's eye for women before, but now she wasn't so sure
that she was right to do so. They eventually came to a closed door,
which Kasumi opened for her.
"Please come inside. Mrs. Saotome is waiting for you."
Rose entered the room and found that it was sparsely lit, a
single lamp providing all the illumination in it. A woman sat on a
small chair in the middle of it, and another one was positioned in
front of her. The woman gestured towards the chair in front of her.
"Good evening, Ms. Rose. I am Ranma's mother. Please have a
seat."
Rose smiled at the woman as she sat down. Ranma's mother
seemed to be friendly enough. It didn't look like she would have much
trouble explaining herself. Before she could say anything, however,
the woman had already begun to talk.
"Before anything else, I think you should know something. I
want at least five."
Rose blinked. Was this woman talking about what she thought
this woman was talking about? Was this some joke?
"Pardon me?"
Mrs. Saotome replied quickly, an eerie smile adorning her
face. Rose found that the smile made her feel very uncomfortable,
though she could not tell exactly why.
"Grandchildren, I mean. If you become Ranma's wife, I want
five or more grandchildren. At least two boys, but preferably more.
Their names will be left entirely up to you, of course, but I would
like to play a part in their upbringing as well. Oh, and I don't
believe in artificial formulas so breast-feeding will be required.
If you don't think you can fulfill those requirements, then we have
nothing more to talk about."
Rose stared slack-jawed at the woman in front of her. She
could hardly believe she had just heard what she did. She started
to explain herself in a bid to head off any more talk of nursing
infants, but Mrs. Saotome was too fast for her again.
"You should know how to cook and clean, of course. I'll not
tolerate having my son doing women's work around the house. Knowledge
of how to give massages is also a plus, since he would probably have
sore muscles from martial arts. It would probably help him get into
the mood as well. Not that he wouldn't be every night, manly as he
is. It wouldn't hurt to get into some fun in the mornings, though. I
hope you don't mind being tied up. Tell me, do you know how to belly
dance?"
The last comment was simply too much for Rose to take, and her
mind decided to take a break from reality to recharge itself. Her eyes
closed and she began to fall forward as she lost consciousness. Nodoka
was barely able to catch her.
"Well, that went rather well. This was the fastest one I've
brought under so far. I must be improving!"
Nodoka Saotome giggled as she dragged Rose's body onto a bed.
This certainly beat the usual mess that they got into whenever a new
fiancee showed up to claim Ranma as her own.
*****
Urd stared at her finger with a feeling akin to disbelief. She
was bleeding.
She had successfully dodged the sneak attack from the woman who
called herself Morrigan, but the very tip of her left pointing finger
had briefly gotten caught in the aura that surrounded the bladed wing
that Morrigan had attacked her with. The brief contact had left a small
cut on it, and blood was slowly flowing out of it.
The fact that she was bleeding was of no great concern in and
of itself. She could heal herself instantaneously if she wanted. It
would take such a small amount of energy to do so that just a sip of
sake would probably be enough to power such a spell. She was in no
danger of bleeding to death anytime soon.
Much more important, however, was the realization that whomever
this Morrigan was, she had enough power to cut into Urd's skin. Such a
feat was not an easy task when she had her battle aura out. Urd had
fought succubi before, and they had never had anywhere near the power
that Morrigan had displayed when in the real world. They were mostly
weak but pretty demons who fed on the lusts of weak men because they
couldn't get energy any other way. Morrigan, on the other hand, was on
an entirely new level. Not only had she remained undetected by Urd's
aura until right before she attacked, she had also succeeded in drawing
first blood. Morrigan was at least as strong as Setsuna and probably a
lot more considering that she and her companion had managed to bring
the tall girl under their control already, not to mention Ranma.
What the hell was Ranma doing under the control of a succubus
anyway? She had raised him to be better than that!
Surrounded by girls all his life and fawned upon not only by
the girl next door but by practically every female in the district,
his resistance to succubus mind-manipulation tactics should have been
incredible! However, the fact that she could see strains of Morrigan's
aura all around his own indicated that he had already given in to her
completely. How could this have happened so fast? It would have taken
a normal succubus _years_ to gain control of even the weakest, most
pathetic forty year old virgin. This was impossible. It just couldn't
be true!
'Oh, but it is.'
Urd immediately turned towards Morrigan, whom she found was
smirking at her. Things were just getting worse and worse.
'How are you getting through to me? I have blocks all over--'
Morrigan giggled, interrupting her train of thought. Succubi
had a natural talent for doing that. It was one of the reasons that Urd
had never liked them.
'It's been quite a while since we last met, Urd. Do you even
remember who I am?'
Urd wracked her brain for some evidence of who this Morrigan
really was, but came up empty. Had they really met before?
'Of course we have. It looks like they sealed your memories
away, though. Your boss likes to do that a lot. Maybe he doesn't really
trust his own goddesses?'
Urd glared at Morrigan, even as doubts surfaced in her mind.
Her memories couldn't have been sealed away, right? That kind of thing
was only done to emotional types like Belldandy. She never allowed her
emotions to affect her work, had she?
'Don't worry, love. I can jog your memory a bit....'
Immediately after receiving Morrigan's message, Urd felt a
crushing pressure come upon her brain. She closed her eyes and held
her head between her hands as she struggled to fight it off, but the
pressure just kept increasing and increasing. Finally, when she felt
that her head was about to burst, the pressure suddenly dissipated.
*****
When Urd opened her eyes, she found that she was no longer at
Juuban high. No longer on Earth, in fact. It looked like she was back
home, sitting outside Odin's office waiting for her name to be called.
"Goddess Second Class, First Category Limited Urd, Odin will
speak to you now."
Urd felt very small and helpless as she entered the large,
sprawling chamber of Odin. She could see that Freya was standing beside
him, as always. She could never understand how the older woman could
be so comfortable in that position. She was thrown out of her thoughts
by the loud, booming voice of Odin as it echoed throughout the room.
"Good day to you, Urd. I hope that you are feeling better
now. The events at the last banquet have left me feeling a bit...
concerned for your well-being."
Urd immediately blushed. She had gotten drunk at the last
banquet and attempted to do a lap dance for no less than six different
gods. When none of them accepted her offer, she went ahead and did one
for Belldandy. It had taken Skuld twenty minutes to pry them off of
each other. It was a moment in her life that she was very proud of, but
somehow Odin's presence made it seem a lot less impressive and a lot
more shameful.
This was not going well. She was up for a promotion, and this
conversation wasn't highlighting her better qualities as a goddess.
Odin was staring at her, seemingly expecting an answer. She tried to
smile at him, and succeeded in bringing out a hideous lopsided grin.
Odin continued to stare at her, and she stared right back.
This was bad. Her whole body was shaking. She had seemingly
lost the ability to speak. She had to say something. Anything at all
would do!
"Mu... muh... mueh."
Well, that was a start. Freya turned to her with a frown, the
first sign that the other goddess had even noticed she was there. Odin
sat on his throne, a puzzled look on his face. He cleared his throat
loudly before speaking once more.
"Well, you certainly look a lot better. I think clothes are
very becoming on you. You should wear them more often. All the time, if
possible."
Actually, she _had_ worn clothing to the banquet. It was just
that, through circumstances entirely beyond her control, she had lost
them a lot earlier than she planned to. Odin continued to speak.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here. It's about
your promotion, actually."
Urd's breath caught in her throat. Her lower lip started to
tremble. What was wrong with her? She _never_ felt this way!
"Ga... gaah."
Odin paid no heed to her babbling. He continued as if she
hadn't said anything at all. "I know that you've been passed up several
times in the past already, and I think it's about time that you were
rewarded for your contribution to our team."
Urd's jaw dropped. Could it be? Was she really going to get a
promotion? It's been so long since the last one, she was starting to
think she'd be second class forever.
"There's a small task I want you to do. I'm sure you've heard
that the war on the Makai realm has ended. The heir of Berial has
finally decided to accept her responsibilities. I want you pay her a
diplomatic visit to establish good ties between us, that's all. If you
do your job well, there'll be a first class unlimited license waiting
for you when you get back home. How does that sound?"
Urd could hardly believe it. The only thing standing between
her and a first class license was a few nights of socializing with a
few demons. It was like a dream come true! She closed her mouth,
afraid that she would say something stupid and blow this chance.
Thankfully, Odin didn't seem to mind her silence. He just kept right
on talking.
"I have an important meeting to attend now. Freya here will
inform you about the details of your trip. I'm expecting great things
from you, Urd. Don't let me down!"
*****
'So, do you remember me now?'
Urd opened her eyes and found herself back in Juuban. She
looked all around her and found that everyone was still getting ready
to fight. Morrigan was staring at her with the same smirk.
'You still don't remember, do you? Don't worry, you will."
Then the pressure was back. Urd clutched her head in pain
once more. She fought to hold back tears as she closed her eyes.
Sure enough, when she opened them again, she was in another place
altogether.
*****
"It has been a pleasure having you here, Urd-san. It is too bad
that you have to leave tomorrow. For now, though, let us have a toast
to our good relations!"
Urd laughed and picked up her goblet as she raised it along
with Morrigan and the other guests. Morrigan had invited everyone who
was anyone in the Makai realm to the farewell dinner in her honor.
Her visit had gone much better than she could have dreamed, and she
was going home the next day with her mission a success. All things
considered, life was going great for her.
Suddenly, as everyone was raising their goblets, a hole was
blown through the roof of the castle by a giant axe of light. It spun
through the air with amazing speed and force and ended up embedded in
the middle of the dinner table. Morrigan stood up and called out to
the roof.
"What is the meaning of this? Who dares attack the Aensland
home?"
The answer came in the form of a loud voice coming from the
outside.
"Morrigan Aensland, we have you surrounded. You cannot escape.
If you wish to stay alive, you must relinquish your claim to the throne
and hand over leadership of the Makai realm to Demitri Maximov."
From the hole in the roof, Valkyries and Einherjar swarmed into
the room. They quickly cast about nets of light, catching Morrigan by
surprise and easily subduing her.
The large doors to the dining room were suddenly opened, and
none other than Demitri Maximov himself made his way inside. He was
surrounded by valkyries in full battle garb. He smiled at Morrigan, who
glared daggers at him. From behind him, a female figure approached the
dining room.
"There is no way for you to win, Morrigan. Relinquish your
throne now or be killed."
Urd recognized that voice. As the figure strode into the light,
she found that her guess was correct. She stood up and ran towards the
figure, grabbing the figure's shoulders when she could reach them.
"Rind! What are you doing here?"
The battle goddess simply smiled at Urd. "You have done a good
job, Goddess Second Class, First Category Limited Urd. Your mission is
over. You may now go home. I will take things from here."
Urd's eyes grew wide at the implications of what she was hearing.
"What are you talking about? What are you doing here?"
Rind simply shrugged. "Morrigan Aensland has been deemed a
threat to the security of Asgard. As such, we are removing her from
power."
Urd slammed her fist onto the table. "But I was sent here on
a diplomatic mission! Why are we moving against her if we wanted better
ties?"
Rind shook her head. "That strategy has been abandoned.
Morrigan's rule is no longer to be tolerated. You may now go home."
Urd was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by
Morrigan's loud shout.
"I do _not_ relinquish my power. You will have to kill me if
you want it!"
Rind sighed. "If that is your wish."
Then, faster than Urd could react, the battle was joined.
Morrigan cut through the nets around her with her wings and flew out of
the room, Rind hot on her heels. Demitri soon followed. The only people
left in the room were Urd and the confused guests.
*****
Author's Notes
So what do you think? I've been watching too much Dragonball on
TV, and I think it shows in the fact that it took so long for the fight
to actually _start_. Actually, I've been almost done with this chapter
for weeks. I just haven't gotten around to adding the finishing touches
for a really long time. The reason for the delay can be summed up in
three words, actually.
Final Fantasy Tactics.
You see, I bought and finished the game more than five years
ago, but I've forever been annoyed by the fact that I not only let go
of an important character (Worker 8) by mistake, I also missed getting
a really cool secret (Ultima)! Aside from this, I also trained my team
in the wrong way, resulting in a final save where Orlandu, Agrias and
a few more of my characters were really powerful.
I decided to redeem myself by doing the game over.
So I played the game, training my people to get all the best
skills (coughbladegraspcough) and making sure to snag all the secrets
(getting an FS Bag was _hard_). In short, I lived my life like a hermit
for three weeks doing nothing but playing FFT.
Now, as I stare at my file with all propositions successfully
completed, all characters at level 99 exp 99, all unique characters
retained, at least one of every item, powerful setups for all of my
characters that allow any of them to clear a deep dungeon level all
alone, and all brave at 97 with faith at 84, I feel almost done. The
only thing left is to do the level down/up trick, but I'm not planning
to do that for a while.
Anyway, all that playing prevented me from working on ATFWH,
and I'm sorry. Hell, I haven't even been answering my email!
As for anime viewing, I'm done watching Azumanga (HUGE thanks
to Francis, who sent me the whole series. I would never have felt
guilty enough to work on this chapter without him) and am working on
finishing Fruits Basket. It's taking a while because I have to stop and
rest every few episodes to recover from all the homosexual innuendos.
I've started on Full Metal Panic and Sakura Wars, but I'm not done with
them yet. I'm also done with Mahoromatic season two (what was up with
that freaky ending?).
I'm done reading Flame of Recca as well. I even helped out
in creating a Recca/Neon lemon which, unfortunately, no one outside
my immediate circle of friends will ever read.
In any case, the response to the last chapter taught me that
my reader base is an untapped resource that can find anything I want on
the net. I'm going to attempt to tap that resource now. I am looking
for a place to download the following, even an mirc channel will do
so long as you tell me what server and channel to go through since all
I know on mirc is how to leech. Private replies, please.
1. The new Saigado dojin (?? Bear, something like that)
2. Dojins by Big Boss (I'm missing the Ema special, Motoko
Happy End, the Narusegawa Special, and a few others)
3. Any D'Erlanger dojins (I's!)
4. The Hanaukyo Maids manga (couldn't find it anywhere)
5. Mogudan dojins (I hear there's a Rei 4?)
6. Handmaid May
7. Steel Angel Kurumi
8. Cat Girl Nuku Nuku OAV
Remember that I will probably spend countless hours searching
for these, so if you go ahead and point me in the right direction, I'll
have that much more time to write. Great deal, huh? You also get to be
mentioned in the author's notes like this:
THANKS A LOT FOR THE AZUMANGA EPS, FRANCIS!
Er... where was I? Oh yeah. Some of you might notice that Odin
is different here than in the AMG movie. Well, I didn't like the whole
voice thing they had going on so I fused the Valkyrie Profile throne
room into this. Cool, huh? No? Oh well.
Watch for more exciting stuff to come (and for the darn fight
to finally start) in the next chapters!
I would like to thank Egan Mandreck, Chester, Kevin Henry, Griever,
Tonyloco, Nathan Diederich, and Vex for all the help they have given me
on this chapter.
Please send C&C to ukyo_rulz@edsamail.com.ph
Visit my homepage (www.geocities.com/ex_fuk) for new chapters.
people other than me. I'm not making any money from this fanfic.
Warning: The author's notes section is really long this time.
Warning: Altaverse (Keiichi ain't here, and the senshi timeline is
all messed up.)
"words"
'thoughts'
A Time for Wild Horses chapter 16
by Jose Argao
"Who was that on the phone, Kasumi? Was it Nabiki?"
It had been thirty-six long minutes since Soun Tendo found
out that Nabiki had left Nerima to follow Ranma, and he was almost
going out of his mind. The note Kasumi had found in Nabiki's room had
said that she would call as soon as she arrived in Juuban, but the
phone had remained silent until a few moments ago. Kasumi was able to
get to it before he could, and she had spent a few minutes talking to
the person on the other end. He hoped it was Nabiki. She had never
left home to go to such a far away place unattended before, and he was
worried for her safety.
"I'm sorry, father, but it wasn't Nabiki. It was just Yuka
calling to say something about Akane."
Soun hung his head in sadness. What was taking Nabiki so long?
Why did she have to go and worry her poor father so? He closed his
eyes, took a deep breath, calmed his nerves, then started wailing as
loudly as he could.
Tears flowed freely from Soun's eyes as his imagination ran
wild with imagined tragedies. "My baby, all alone in Juuban! I've heard
stories about that place, you know. There's no telling what could have
happened to her by now! What if she's been hurt? What if she doesn't
have anything to eat? What if she's been abducted by aliens? Did you
see that special about aliens on television last week? They _probe_
you!"
A comforting hand appeared on Soun's and pulled him back down
onto his futon. He allowed himself to fall backwards into a lying
position and found himself looking at the visage of Nodoka Saotome.
He tried to open his mouth to explain further about extra-terrestrial
probing, but she shushed him with a stern look.
"Please calm down, Soun. I'm sure that Nabiki would never
allow herself to be captured and... er... probed. She's not that kind
of girl, you know."
Soun did not understand Nodoka's words in the least, but she
said them with such a calm voice that he couldn't help but feel better
about the situation.
Nodoka sighed deeply as she knelt beside Soun's futon. The
Tendo patriarch's tendency to cry like a baby had always annoyed her,
but there was little she could do but grin and bear it. Of course,
her own husband's tendency to turn into a panda and start playing
with a tire wasn't helping things very much, either, but at least he
was quiet. She hoped that Yuka had called to give good news. It would
do wonders for Soun if Akane would go home. She smiled brightly and
turned to Soun's eldest daughter.
"Kasumi, would you mind telling us what Akane's friend said?
Has Akane changed her mind? Is she coming home now?"
Kasumi shook her head as she replied. "Oh no, Auntie Saotome.
Yuka-chan just called to say that Akane went to Juuban with a strange
ninja to stop Ranma from going to heaven with two beautiful women."
*****
Juuban High's athletic field was normally a dark and deserted
place at night. With the exception of a few particularly adventurous
couples who liked the excitement of fornicating in a public place,
few people had any reason to go there at all. A breeze blew across
it, causing the grass to bend momentarily before returning to its
original position. For a few minutes, nothing moved. The field was a
picture of perfect peace.
Suddenly, a bright light lit up the field. The light quickly
disappeared, leaving a large group of people in its wake. In the middle
of the field stood Setsuna, who impatiently waited while her companions
figured out where they were. Seeing that they had more or less figured
out that they were still on Earth, she tapped her staff on the ground
and began talking.
"Everyone, please check your companions and belongings to make
sure that all the participants are present and accounted for. It would
not make for an interesting battle at all if someone were to die before
I could kill her."
Usagi nervously turned to Ami, who was scanning their opponents
with her visor. The young princess was visibly agitated.
"Setsuna's not really gonna kill anyone, is she? I mean, she's
just saying that to sound scary, right? I don't want to die, Ami-chan!"
Ami turned to Usagi with a determined look on her face. "I'm
pretty sure that Setsuna doesn't plan to hurt us. She's still a senshi,
and she'd never do anything that would endanger our lives. The same
goes for Mamoru, except he isn't really a senshi."
Ami paused for a few moments, her expression turning into a
scowl. "I have no doubt that they're going to go all out on this fight,
though. I've been scanning the others, and there isn't a single weak
person here. The girl with the coin is bursting with battle-aura. The
Mercury computer estimates that Lilith may have power equal to Setsuna
herself."
Rei's eyes grew large when she heard Ami's words. "As strong
as Setsuna? But Setsuna's one of the strongest among the senshi! What
about the others? Are they as strong as Setsuna too?"
Ami met Rei's gaze as she replied. "Well, Ranma's readings
are a little weird. It seems that the same abnormality that's causing
his aura to appear as though it's composed of two people is interfering
with the scanning software. Makoto is still roughly as strong as the
other senshi, as is Mamoru. As for Urd and Morrigan... well... the
computer crashed when I tried to read their power levels."
Usagi started hyperventilating. "The computer crashed? What
does that mean? Are they so strong that the computer couldn't handle
it? Do we have any chance of winning at all?"
Ami smiled at Usagi. "That's a possibility, but I doubt it.
They'd have to be gods to have power levels that the Mercury Computer
can't read. My guess is that it's just a glitch. The computer's been
acting unpredictably since I installed XP."
Usagi had no idea what XP was, but she nodded thoughtfully to
give the illusion that she did. She clenched her hands into fists. How
the heck was she supposed to win _this_ one?
Minako was just about to wring her hands in despair when she
felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and found that it belonged to
Ami, who smiled warmly at her.
"Hey, don't worry too much. We haven't lost yet. Don't forget
that Setsuna and Mamoru probably won't be fighting us, and that Makoto
and Ranma could be turned into allies if we can break whatever spell
was put on them. The purple-haired girl from before isn't even here, so
we can stop worrying about her."
Minako nodded slowly, her confidence returning. Ami's words
made sense. Their only real enemies were Morrigan, Lilith, the girl
with the coin, and Urd. All was not lost. She smiled as she used the
transformation pen to repair the damage that her uniform had sustained
in the last fight. When she finally won, she wanted to do it in style.
*****
"Ryoga-kun, are you sure we're going in the right direction?
We've been walking for a while, and I think we've already passed
through this street... twice."
Rose raised her eyebrows at her directionally challenged
companion, who was currently arguing with Mousse about how to read
the map they had brought along with them. It was supposed to help
them avoid just the situation that they were in right now, but
obviously it hadn't worked. Ryoga turned to her, then pointed an
accusing finger at Mousse.
"I know that! If we hadn't listened to this idiot and gone
straight ahead at the intersection instead of taking that last right
turn, we'd be at the Tendo's by now. He's the reason we've been going
in circles!"
Mousse pointed right back at Ryoga as he . "That's not true!
The real reason we're lost is that _this_ idiot made us turn right at
the bakery when we should have turned left!"
Rose shook her head in defeat. When they finally arrived in
Nerima, she had thought that it would be easy going. However, things
turned out a bit differently. Ryoga had almost led them out of the
district more than once, and it looked like he was going to do so once
more. Mousse was still missing his glasses, so he wasn't much help
either. She could hardly believe that these two had ever been to Nerima
at all, much less actually lived there for a time. It looked as though
she would have to do things herself once more. She quickly snapped the
map from Ryoga's hands, looked at it for a few seconds, then put it in
one of her pockets.
"We should have gone straight ahead at the bakery and turned
left at the intersection. It doesn't matter now, anyway. Just follow
me."
Rose sighed as she walked in front, followed by her two idiot
helpers. She wondered not for the first time why she had saved them to
begin with.
*****
"Ranma-kun, Lilith and I will take care of Urd. Can you handle
the rest of them?"
Ranma turned to Morrigan, his face expressionless. "Of course,
mistress. I shall destroy them completely."
Morrigan shook her head. "No need for that, dear. Just knock
them around enough to get them unconscious. Lilith and I will take
things from there."
Ranma nodded slowly. "As you command."
Lilith looked closely at Ranma's face. She waved her hand in
front of him, getting no reaction. She turned to Morrigan and pouted.
"What happened to Ranma? He's all boring now! I don't want him
like this."
Morrigan smiled as she lovingly stroked Lilith's face. "There's
nothing to worry about. I've put a couple of controls in his mind, and
they're interfering with his emotions. After a few weeks, when his mind
has become completely dependent on us for direction, I'll take them out
and he'll be back as he was before I put them in, except he'll still be
under my control."
Lilith frowned. "A few weeks? What if the controls are taken
out before then?"
Morrigan raised a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "I'm not
sure, actually. Such a thing has never happened before. The control
process might still work, and if that happens he'll still be under my
influence. If it fails, he might regain his freedom. He might also go
insane."
Lilith's eyes grew large. "Insane? I don't want him to become
insane!"
Morrigan grinned. "Don't worry about it. The controls I've put
in are completely unbreakable. No one can take them out but me."
Lilith sighed. "Well, if you say so, I guess it's okay."
Morrigan nodded. "Of course it is. For now, all you need to
worry about is kicking Urd's ass."
Lilith gave her sister a thumbs up. "Roger!"
*****
"Mmmmm... Peorth-san... we mustn't... you can't... oh my!"
Belldandy awakened suddenly from her sleep, her breath coming
in deep gasps. Despite the fact that her office was air-conditioned,
her whole body was practically soaked in sweat. She blushed bright red
as her thoughts drifted back to the strange dream she had been having.
It had been very... graphic, to say the least.
Thinking that it was probably just stress, Belldandy decided
to just forget about her dream and get back to work. She got up from
her bed, changed out of the pajamas she was wearing and stretched her
arms, yawning as she did so.
"What a restful sleep. I really needed that! What should I
do now? Let's see...."
The last thing she could remember was using her computer to
look for the whereabouts of Skuld, but that didn't explain how she had
ended up sleeping on a bed in the middle of her office, wearing a set
of pajamas that she had never seen before. She turned towards her
computer, and found that it had been turned off.
"Oh my!"
Belldandy dashed towards the computer and pressed the power
button. After waiting for a few seconds for the computer to boot up,
she opened the search program and checked the log to see if the
computer had found her sister before it was turned off.
"Oh my!"
The log indicated that Skuld had gone to China with Ukyo.
Specifically, they had gone to Jusenkyo. It was a buggy area that
the search program had trouble searching through. The fact that
she went there would explain why it took so long to find her.
Belldandy read the rest of the computer's report, nodding to
herself as she read of how Skuld had gone off chasing after bugs,
determined to wipe them out from the area. She stopped nodding when
she got to the part explaining what had happened after that. The
next few words she uttered came out of her mouth before she could
censor them, something that only happened in emergencies.
"Oh shit."
*****
Delinquents, all of them.
Hinako crossed her arms in front of herself as she waited for
her opponents to announce the beginning of their battle. She actually
wanted to start immediately, but they weren't ready yet and it would
have been unfair of her to do so. It's not like she was a delinquent
herself, after all.
Hinako turned towards the strange man wearing a tuxedo, finding
that he did in fact look a bit homosexual. She certainly couldn't be
considered an authority on the subject, of course, but he just looked
a bit too... clean. In her experience, all _real_ men were dirty to a
certain extent. It could almost be considered as part of their charm,
the way they walked around town without spending even an hour combing
their hair.
Soun Tendo was the best example of a man that Hinako knew of.
He usually looked as if he hadn't bathed in weeks, though smelling him
would reveal that it couldn't have been more than three days since he
had done so. It was probably because he was always crying and getting
splashed with water from the koi pond. He probably figured all that
water kept him clean.
It was kinda cute, actually, if a little disgusting. In any
case, Hinako figured that he would change for the better once Ranma had
finally settled down. It was usually Ranma that was causing him to cry
or get splashed.
Now Ranma, there was a _man_. An annoying delinquent of a man
who liked to cross dress from time to time, but a man nonetheless. Ranma
was also usually dirty, from fighting, playing, flirting and all the
other delinquent acts that he usually got up to. Still, even when in
his female form, you just couldn't look at Ranma and not be overwhelmed
by his amazing maleness. Not unless you happened to be Tatewaki Kuno
of course.
Come to think of it, Kuno was a bit dirty too... if not in his
hygiene then certainly in his thinking. He was also prone to staring at
her breasts whenever she transformed into her adult form, something
that a homosexual would probably not do. That would make him a man as
well. Not a manly man by any stretch of the imagination, but still a
man.
Then again, Ranma didn't like to stare at her breasts. Could
it be that Ranma actually wasn't too manly after all? It couldn't
be, since despite his reluctance to gaze upon her breasts he still
liked to grab them from time to time, ostensibly to deactivate her
powers but probably just to cop a cheap feel. He didn't like to do
anything with them, though. He just grabbed them and that was it. The
experience usually left her feeling cheated somehow.
Which was further proof that Ranma was truly a delinquent!
If he was a _real_ gentleman, he wouldn't just grab her chest
then leave her unsatisfied. He would've finished what he started! Such
a delinquent... just thinking about him was leaving her all hot and
bothered with the desire to change him for the better.
Cracking her knuckles in front of her, Hinako prepared to
fight for the right to educate Ranma.
*****
"Hello. I would like to speak to Ranma Saotome, please. It's
very important."
Kasumi smiled at the person outside the door, a woman dressed
in funny clothes that she had never met before. With practiced ease,
she took a piece of paper from a pile on a table by the door and handed
it to the woman.
"I'm sorry, but Ranma can't meet you right now. However, if
you would just provide us with a copy of your name, telephone number,
a recent photo, the date of your engagement, and the circumstances
surrounding it, you'll be notified in case something comes up."
Rose took the piece of paper without looking at it and stared
at the girl in front of her. She had no idea whatsoever what the girl
was talking about.
"Excuse me?"
Kasumi continued smiling at the woman. She hoped that this one
wouldn't suddenly decide to get violent. Ranma and Akane were both out
of the house and her father was in bed so things could get out of hand
if she did. Kasumi really didn't mind, but some of the neighbors were
complaining about the devastation that Ranma's fiancees usually left in
their wake. Well, there wasn't much she could do about it. She hoped
that this latest addition would be friendly.
"Ranma is out right now, so you won't be able to meet him. If
you would just give me the requirements I told you about, though, I'll
be sure to get in touch with you as soon as he's decided whether you're
the one for him. The requirements are listed on that paper I gave you,
so you don't have to worry about memorizing them. You can just put them
in the mail box later, if you want."
Rose frowned. She looked at the piece of paper and skimmed
through its contents to find a clue as to what the girl was talking
about. She had no idea it would be so hard to talk to Ranma Saotome.
A few seconds later, she found what was wrong.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not here to marry Ranma. I came here to--"
A loud shout interrupted Rose before she could continue, and
both women turned towards the gate to find Ryoga and Mousse standing
below it. Mousse clenched one of his hands into a fist as he glared
daggers at Rose.
"You left us! I can't believe you just went here and left us
wandering the sewers for hours!"
Rose rolled her eyes. "I didn't leave you, you disappeared.
You were supposed to be following me but when I turned around you were
gone. What was I supposed to do? Besides, even if you were somehow able
to get yourselves into the sewers, you couldn't have been wandering
for hours because it's only been about forty-five minutes since we were
separated. Anyway, it's good that you're here. I'm having a bit of
trouble here. This girl seems to think that I'm--"
"Oh my, I didn't know that you were a friend of Ryoga and
Mousse! My name is Kasumi. Please come in."
Rose turned back towards Kasumi, who was now holding the door
open for her to enter. She gestured for her companions to follow her as
she made her way inside.
*****
Mamoru regarded his opponents with a bit of apprehension. He
was not accustomed to fighting women that were not visibly attracted to
him. Then again, he also wasn't accustomed to fighting women that were
visibly attracted to him, either. Actually, he just wasn't accustomed
to fighting.
He had survived this long by taking pot shots at enemies who
had their back turned to him, then acting cool and aloof as if actually
taking them on in face to face combat was too good for him. It was a
very effective method of fighting, too. It gave him a dark, mysterious
aura to add to his arsenal that left his enemies guessing whether he
was some sort of fighting god who could level them with a flick of his
wrist, or just some kid who liked to play with flowers.
Not that he actually _liked_ to play with flowers, of course.
He'd never done such a thing. Not more than once, anyway. Except on his
birthdays and a few other special occasions.
Tuesdays were special occasions, right?
Anyway, the important thing was that he wasn't gay. He just
liked to use roses as darts because the senshi's attacks were so girly
and he wanted to fit in. It was a lot like the hazing he was subjected
to when he entered the flower-arranging club last year; something that
he didn't necessarily enjoy but nonetheless tolerated because he had
no choice in the matter.
Mamoru stood straight as he observed his soon to be opponents,
a move he had practiced in front of a mirror and was sure to make him
look manly. They were certainly all very pretty, even prettier than
Usagi and her little friends. The silver-haired chick with dark skin
was particularly attractive. He could hardly wait until he had beaten
her into loving him.
Of course, that would sort of put a damper on the whole 'marry
Usagi and save the world' thing. Then again, that course of action had
begun to seem less and less attractive in the past few days. His loss
of affection for her would almost be the strangest thing to happen to
him recently, if only he hadn't been having strange dreams about women
with red hair and pigtails.
Not that he'd never had dreams about pretty redheads before,
but those mostly involved beautiful, anonymous women who liked to...
well... never mind.
Mamoru took a deep breath, then smiled to himself. Soon, he would
be enjoying the affections of an exotic babe with silver hair. Life was
good.
*****
"Are you getting tired, Ms. Akane? We can take a break if you
want."
Konatsu continued running in front of Akane, easily outpacing
the slower girl with his speed. He was really starting to get worried
about her. She didn't look too good. Akane, however, simply ignored
his offer.
"A break? How can we take a break? We've wasted enough time
going to the train station without any money. There's no telling what
Ranma has gotten up to already!"
Konatsu blushed. He had assumed that Akane would have money
on her, which was one of the reasons he had gone to her to begin with.
Apparently, women were _not_ bottomless stores of spare cash, as he
had previously thought.
"I'm really sorry, Ms. Tendo, but the Ucchan's hasn't been
making any money lately and I'm all out of cash."
Akane struggled to answer Konatsu as she raced to keep up
with him. Where did he get all his energy?
"It's not your fault, Konatsu. I left my wallet at Yuka's
because I thought you already had a way to get to Juuban. It's all
Ranma's fault. If he hadn't tricked those poor girls into becoming
his latest conquests, none of this would be happening!"
Konatsu frowned as he tried to imagine Morrigan and Lilith
as helpless victims of Ranma's charm. He couldn't.
"Uh... Ms. Akane, I don't really think it would be appropriate
to call those women 'poor girls'."
Akane shook her head. "Don't be fooled, Konatsu. Ranma may
_seem_ to be just a dumb jock, but he's much, much worse. You have no
idea what he's capable of. The things he can do. He can make any girl
fall in love with him, then he'll play around with other girls right
in front of her! He's such a... such a jerk!"
Konatsu nodded thoughtfully while he ran. "Any girl, huh?
That's quite a talent to have. It's a good thing _you_ can see right
through him then."
Akane nodded as well. "That's exactly right. I'm the only
thing that stands between Ranma and his having a harem of girls doing
anything he tells them to!"
Konatsu smiled. "That's nice to know. But why are you standing
there, exactly?"
Akane frowned. "Standing where? I'm running right now. Are you
telling me that I'm too slow? I'm not! It's you! You're running way too
fast for a normal person!"
Konatsu hurriedly shook his head. "Oh no, Ms. Akane. That's not
what I meant at all! I was just wondering why you even bother to stand
between Ranma and his harem, since there isn't any chance of you being
in it anyway."
Akane opened her mouth to answer, but no sound came out. She
slowly closed it again. Konatsu, thinking that he just hadn't heard her
reply, decided to ask her what she had said.
"Ms. Akane, I didn't get that last thing you said. Could you
please repeat it?"
Akane never even heard him. She was seething with anger. Ranma
had just given her the ultimate insult. Not good enough to be a wife,
was she? Not even good enough to be in a harem, was she? She had always
known Ranma was a pig before, but this brought him to a whole new low.
Even lower than a pig. A rat, maybe. Or a cockroach. Certainly he was
something small and disgusting. She became angrier and angrier the more
she thought about him.
Konatsu, seeing that she hadn't heard him, asked again. "What
was that last thing you said, Ms. Akane?"
Akane glared daggers at Konatsu, sending shivers up his spine.
"Just shut up and run."
*****
"Please sit over here on the couch. I'm terribly sorry, Ms.
Rose. I had no idea you were friends with Ryoga and Mousse. Normally,
we'd run a background check first to see if you really are a fiancee,
but in this case I think we can just skip to the interview. Mrs.
Saotome should be here any moment. Would you like some tea?"
Rose sat down on the seat and smiled at Kasumi. She had so
far been unsuccessful in conveying the message that she did not want to
marry Ranma, and Ryoga and Mousse weren't helping things by continuing
their argument as if they weren't in somebody else's home. Perhaps she
would be more successful if she just spoke to Ranma's mother.
"Mrs. Saotome will see you now. Please follow me. Ryoga and
Mousse can stay here and eat cookies while they wait."
Rose slowly stood up and followed Kasumi. It was all very
strange for her, being mistaken for a fiancee of all things, but Kasumi
acted as if it were a normal occurrence. She had dismissed Ryoga's
stories about Ranma's eye for women before, but now she wasn't so sure
that she was right to do so. They eventually came to a closed door,
which Kasumi opened for her.
"Please come inside. Mrs. Saotome is waiting for you."
Rose entered the room and found that it was sparsely lit, a
single lamp providing all the illumination in it. A woman sat on a
small chair in the middle of it, and another one was positioned in
front of her. The woman gestured towards the chair in front of her.
"Good evening, Ms. Rose. I am Ranma's mother. Please have a
seat."
Rose smiled at the woman as she sat down. Ranma's mother
seemed to be friendly enough. It didn't look like she would have much
trouble explaining herself. Before she could say anything, however,
the woman had already begun to talk.
"Before anything else, I think you should know something. I
want at least five."
Rose blinked. Was this woman talking about what she thought
this woman was talking about? Was this some joke?
"Pardon me?"
Mrs. Saotome replied quickly, an eerie smile adorning her
face. Rose found that the smile made her feel very uncomfortable,
though she could not tell exactly why.
"Grandchildren, I mean. If you become Ranma's wife, I want
five or more grandchildren. At least two boys, but preferably more.
Their names will be left entirely up to you, of course, but I would
like to play a part in their upbringing as well. Oh, and I don't
believe in artificial formulas so breast-feeding will be required.
If you don't think you can fulfill those requirements, then we have
nothing more to talk about."
Rose stared slack-jawed at the woman in front of her. She
could hardly believe she had just heard what she did. She started
to explain herself in a bid to head off any more talk of nursing
infants, but Mrs. Saotome was too fast for her again.
"You should know how to cook and clean, of course. I'll not
tolerate having my son doing women's work around the house. Knowledge
of how to give massages is also a plus, since he would probably have
sore muscles from martial arts. It would probably help him get into
the mood as well. Not that he wouldn't be every night, manly as he
is. It wouldn't hurt to get into some fun in the mornings, though. I
hope you don't mind being tied up. Tell me, do you know how to belly
dance?"
The last comment was simply too much for Rose to take, and her
mind decided to take a break from reality to recharge itself. Her eyes
closed and she began to fall forward as she lost consciousness. Nodoka
was barely able to catch her.
"Well, that went rather well. This was the fastest one I've
brought under so far. I must be improving!"
Nodoka Saotome giggled as she dragged Rose's body onto a bed.
This certainly beat the usual mess that they got into whenever a new
fiancee showed up to claim Ranma as her own.
*****
Urd stared at her finger with a feeling akin to disbelief. She
was bleeding.
She had successfully dodged the sneak attack from the woman who
called herself Morrigan, but the very tip of her left pointing finger
had briefly gotten caught in the aura that surrounded the bladed wing
that Morrigan had attacked her with. The brief contact had left a small
cut on it, and blood was slowly flowing out of it.
The fact that she was bleeding was of no great concern in and
of itself. She could heal herself instantaneously if she wanted. It
would take such a small amount of energy to do so that just a sip of
sake would probably be enough to power such a spell. She was in no
danger of bleeding to death anytime soon.
Much more important, however, was the realization that whomever
this Morrigan was, she had enough power to cut into Urd's skin. Such a
feat was not an easy task when she had her battle aura out. Urd had
fought succubi before, and they had never had anywhere near the power
that Morrigan had displayed when in the real world. They were mostly
weak but pretty demons who fed on the lusts of weak men because they
couldn't get energy any other way. Morrigan, on the other hand, was on
an entirely new level. Not only had she remained undetected by Urd's
aura until right before she attacked, she had also succeeded in drawing
first blood. Morrigan was at least as strong as Setsuna and probably a
lot more considering that she and her companion had managed to bring
the tall girl under their control already, not to mention Ranma.
What the hell was Ranma doing under the control of a succubus
anyway? She had raised him to be better than that!
Surrounded by girls all his life and fawned upon not only by
the girl next door but by practically every female in the district,
his resistance to succubus mind-manipulation tactics should have been
incredible! However, the fact that she could see strains of Morrigan's
aura all around his own indicated that he had already given in to her
completely. How could this have happened so fast? It would have taken
a normal succubus _years_ to gain control of even the weakest, most
pathetic forty year old virgin. This was impossible. It just couldn't
be true!
'Oh, but it is.'
Urd immediately turned towards Morrigan, whom she found was
smirking at her. Things were just getting worse and worse.
'How are you getting through to me? I have blocks all over--'
Morrigan giggled, interrupting her train of thought. Succubi
had a natural talent for doing that. It was one of the reasons that Urd
had never liked them.
'It's been quite a while since we last met, Urd. Do you even
remember who I am?'
Urd wracked her brain for some evidence of who this Morrigan
really was, but came up empty. Had they really met before?
'Of course we have. It looks like they sealed your memories
away, though. Your boss likes to do that a lot. Maybe he doesn't really
trust his own goddesses?'
Urd glared at Morrigan, even as doubts surfaced in her mind.
Her memories couldn't have been sealed away, right? That kind of thing
was only done to emotional types like Belldandy. She never allowed her
emotions to affect her work, had she?
'Don't worry, love. I can jog your memory a bit....'
Immediately after receiving Morrigan's message, Urd felt a
crushing pressure come upon her brain. She closed her eyes and held
her head between her hands as she struggled to fight it off, but the
pressure just kept increasing and increasing. Finally, when she felt
that her head was about to burst, the pressure suddenly dissipated.
*****
When Urd opened her eyes, she found that she was no longer at
Juuban high. No longer on Earth, in fact. It looked like she was back
home, sitting outside Odin's office waiting for her name to be called.
"Goddess Second Class, First Category Limited Urd, Odin will
speak to you now."
Urd felt very small and helpless as she entered the large,
sprawling chamber of Odin. She could see that Freya was standing beside
him, as always. She could never understand how the older woman could
be so comfortable in that position. She was thrown out of her thoughts
by the loud, booming voice of Odin as it echoed throughout the room.
"Good day to you, Urd. I hope that you are feeling better
now. The events at the last banquet have left me feeling a bit...
concerned for your well-being."
Urd immediately blushed. She had gotten drunk at the last
banquet and attempted to do a lap dance for no less than six different
gods. When none of them accepted her offer, she went ahead and did one
for Belldandy. It had taken Skuld twenty minutes to pry them off of
each other. It was a moment in her life that she was very proud of, but
somehow Odin's presence made it seem a lot less impressive and a lot
more shameful.
This was not going well. She was up for a promotion, and this
conversation wasn't highlighting her better qualities as a goddess.
Odin was staring at her, seemingly expecting an answer. She tried to
smile at him, and succeeded in bringing out a hideous lopsided grin.
Odin continued to stare at her, and she stared right back.
This was bad. Her whole body was shaking. She had seemingly
lost the ability to speak. She had to say something. Anything at all
would do!
"Mu... muh... mueh."
Well, that was a start. Freya turned to her with a frown, the
first sign that the other goddess had even noticed she was there. Odin
sat on his throne, a puzzled look on his face. He cleared his throat
loudly before speaking once more.
"Well, you certainly look a lot better. I think clothes are
very becoming on you. You should wear them more often. All the time, if
possible."
Actually, she _had_ worn clothing to the banquet. It was just
that, through circumstances entirely beyond her control, she had lost
them a lot earlier than she planned to. Odin continued to speak.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here. It's about
your promotion, actually."
Urd's breath caught in her throat. Her lower lip started to
tremble. What was wrong with her? She _never_ felt this way!
"Ga... gaah."
Odin paid no heed to her babbling. He continued as if she
hadn't said anything at all. "I know that you've been passed up several
times in the past already, and I think it's about time that you were
rewarded for your contribution to our team."
Urd's jaw dropped. Could it be? Was she really going to get a
promotion? It's been so long since the last one, she was starting to
think she'd be second class forever.
"There's a small task I want you to do. I'm sure you've heard
that the war on the Makai realm has ended. The heir of Berial has
finally decided to accept her responsibilities. I want you pay her a
diplomatic visit to establish good ties between us, that's all. If you
do your job well, there'll be a first class unlimited license waiting
for you when you get back home. How does that sound?"
Urd could hardly believe it. The only thing standing between
her and a first class license was a few nights of socializing with a
few demons. It was like a dream come true! She closed her mouth,
afraid that she would say something stupid and blow this chance.
Thankfully, Odin didn't seem to mind her silence. He just kept right
on talking.
"I have an important meeting to attend now. Freya here will
inform you about the details of your trip. I'm expecting great things
from you, Urd. Don't let me down!"
*****
'So, do you remember me now?'
Urd opened her eyes and found herself back in Juuban. She
looked all around her and found that everyone was still getting ready
to fight. Morrigan was staring at her with the same smirk.
'You still don't remember, do you? Don't worry, you will."
Then the pressure was back. Urd clutched her head in pain
once more. She fought to hold back tears as she closed her eyes.
Sure enough, when she opened them again, she was in another place
altogether.
*****
"It has been a pleasure having you here, Urd-san. It is too bad
that you have to leave tomorrow. For now, though, let us have a toast
to our good relations!"
Urd laughed and picked up her goblet as she raised it along
with Morrigan and the other guests. Morrigan had invited everyone who
was anyone in the Makai realm to the farewell dinner in her honor.
Her visit had gone much better than she could have dreamed, and she
was going home the next day with her mission a success. All things
considered, life was going great for her.
Suddenly, as everyone was raising their goblets, a hole was
blown through the roof of the castle by a giant axe of light. It spun
through the air with amazing speed and force and ended up embedded in
the middle of the dinner table. Morrigan stood up and called out to
the roof.
"What is the meaning of this? Who dares attack the Aensland
home?"
The answer came in the form of a loud voice coming from the
outside.
"Morrigan Aensland, we have you surrounded. You cannot escape.
If you wish to stay alive, you must relinquish your claim to the throne
and hand over leadership of the Makai realm to Demitri Maximov."
From the hole in the roof, Valkyries and Einherjar swarmed into
the room. They quickly cast about nets of light, catching Morrigan by
surprise and easily subduing her.
The large doors to the dining room were suddenly opened, and
none other than Demitri Maximov himself made his way inside. He was
surrounded by valkyries in full battle garb. He smiled at Morrigan, who
glared daggers at him. From behind him, a female figure approached the
dining room.
"There is no way for you to win, Morrigan. Relinquish your
throne now or be killed."
Urd recognized that voice. As the figure strode into the light,
she found that her guess was correct. She stood up and ran towards the
figure, grabbing the figure's shoulders when she could reach them.
"Rind! What are you doing here?"
The battle goddess simply smiled at Urd. "You have done a good
job, Goddess Second Class, First Category Limited Urd. Your mission is
over. You may now go home. I will take things from here."
Urd's eyes grew wide at the implications of what she was hearing.
"What are you talking about? What are you doing here?"
Rind simply shrugged. "Morrigan Aensland has been deemed a
threat to the security of Asgard. As such, we are removing her from
power."
Urd slammed her fist onto the table. "But I was sent here on
a diplomatic mission! Why are we moving against her if we wanted better
ties?"
Rind shook her head. "That strategy has been abandoned.
Morrigan's rule is no longer to be tolerated. You may now go home."
Urd was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by
Morrigan's loud shout.
"I do _not_ relinquish my power. You will have to kill me if
you want it!"
Rind sighed. "If that is your wish."
Then, faster than Urd could react, the battle was joined.
Morrigan cut through the nets around her with her wings and flew out of
the room, Rind hot on her heels. Demitri soon followed. The only people
left in the room were Urd and the confused guests.
*****
Author's Notes
So what do you think? I've been watching too much Dragonball on
TV, and I think it shows in the fact that it took so long for the fight
to actually _start_. Actually, I've been almost done with this chapter
for weeks. I just haven't gotten around to adding the finishing touches
for a really long time. The reason for the delay can be summed up in
three words, actually.
Final Fantasy Tactics.
You see, I bought and finished the game more than five years
ago, but I've forever been annoyed by the fact that I not only let go
of an important character (Worker 8) by mistake, I also missed getting
a really cool secret (Ultima)! Aside from this, I also trained my team
in the wrong way, resulting in a final save where Orlandu, Agrias and
a few more of my characters were really powerful.
I decided to redeem myself by doing the game over.
So I played the game, training my people to get all the best
skills (coughbladegraspcough) and making sure to snag all the secrets
(getting an FS Bag was _hard_). In short, I lived my life like a hermit
for three weeks doing nothing but playing FFT.
Now, as I stare at my file with all propositions successfully
completed, all characters at level 99 exp 99, all unique characters
retained, at least one of every item, powerful setups for all of my
characters that allow any of them to clear a deep dungeon level all
alone, and all brave at 97 with faith at 84, I feel almost done. The
only thing left is to do the level down/up trick, but I'm not planning
to do that for a while.
Anyway, all that playing prevented me from working on ATFWH,
and I'm sorry. Hell, I haven't even been answering my email!
As for anime viewing, I'm done watching Azumanga (HUGE thanks
to Francis, who sent me the whole series. I would never have felt
guilty enough to work on this chapter without him) and am working on
finishing Fruits Basket. It's taking a while because I have to stop and
rest every few episodes to recover from all the homosexual innuendos.
I've started on Full Metal Panic and Sakura Wars, but I'm not done with
them yet. I'm also done with Mahoromatic season two (what was up with
that freaky ending?).
I'm done reading Flame of Recca as well. I even helped out
in creating a Recca/Neon lemon which, unfortunately, no one outside
my immediate circle of friends will ever read.
In any case, the response to the last chapter taught me that
my reader base is an untapped resource that can find anything I want on
the net. I'm going to attempt to tap that resource now. I am looking
for a place to download the following, even an mirc channel will do
so long as you tell me what server and channel to go through since all
I know on mirc is how to leech. Private replies, please.
1. The new Saigado dojin (?? Bear, something like that)
2. Dojins by Big Boss (I'm missing the Ema special, Motoko
Happy End, the Narusegawa Special, and a few others)
3. Any D'Erlanger dojins (I's!)
4. The Hanaukyo Maids manga (couldn't find it anywhere)
5. Mogudan dojins (I hear there's a Rei 4?)
6. Handmaid May
7. Steel Angel Kurumi
8. Cat Girl Nuku Nuku OAV
Remember that I will probably spend countless hours searching
for these, so if you go ahead and point me in the right direction, I'll
have that much more time to write. Great deal, huh? You also get to be
mentioned in the author's notes like this:
THANKS A LOT FOR THE AZUMANGA EPS, FRANCIS!
Er... where was I? Oh yeah. Some of you might notice that Odin
is different here than in the AMG movie. Well, I didn't like the whole
voice thing they had going on so I fused the Valkyrie Profile throne
room into this. Cool, huh? No? Oh well.
Watch for more exciting stuff to come (and for the darn fight
to finally start) in the next chapters!
I would like to thank Egan Mandreck, Chester, Kevin Henry, Griever,
Tonyloco, Nathan Diederich, and Vex for all the help they have given me
on this chapter.
Please send C&C to ukyo_rulz@edsamail.com.ph
Visit my homepage (www.geocities.com/ex_fuk) for new chapters.