PlE53 dOn'+ sU3.
Warning: messes up the formatting on my text files, so you may want to check this fic out at my homepage (address at the bottom) if you want it single-spaced and with scene separators.
Warning: Altaverse (Keiichi ain't here, and the senshi timeline is all messed up.)
"words"
'thoughts'
A Time for Wild Horses chapter 21 by Jose Argao
"Ramza Beoulve, prepare to die!"
Father Anderson's target avoided his lunge by deftly stepping to the left, but the priest's attack routine was far from finished. Upon landing, he quickly launched an arm towards his opponent, who avoided his grasp yet again by jumping backwards just in the nick of time.
"Well now, is that any way for a holy man to act?"
Ramza ran a hand through his long blonde hair and regarded Father Anderson with a look of amusement. He slowly drew two swords from behind him, one in each hand.
Father Anderson could feel waves of dark energy emanating from one of the weapons, even as the other glowed with holy power.
"Excalibur and... Chaosblade?"
Ramza laughed out loud. "Bravo! You've done your homework!
Two swords... one of them a holy artifact and the other a tool for
destruction. A powerful combination, don't you think?"
Anderson growled and brought out two blades of his own. "Do not speak to me of holy things, traitor. I know not how you were able to get inside this building, but you will not leave this place alive!"
The two combatants lunged at each other, meeting in mid-air with a flurry of blazingly fast sword strikes and parries. They landed on the ground face to face, their weapons pressing locked between them.
Ramza grinned. "You're pretty strong for a priest. Tell me,
just how many lives had to end by your hands for you to get this good?"
Father Anderson glared at Ramza and pushed harder, which was apparently all the smaller man was waiting for. Ramza allowed himself to fall backwards, raising a foot towards Anderson's midsection as his momentum carried him forward. In an instant, Father Anderson found himself flying through the air. He hit the wall with a loud thud and fell to the ground in a heap.
"I'm not done yet!"
Ramza vaulted to his feet, ran towards Anderson and slashed down at the fallen man with Excalibur. Anderson barely dodged his strike by rolling to the left before the sword came down on him.
Ramza raised Chaosblade into the air and brought it down with all of his strength, only to have it knocked to the side by one of Anderson's blades. This brought the priest's weapon parallel to the ground, and Ramza stepped on it to prevent him from using it further. Father Anderson attempted to stab his opponent with his remaining blade but Ramza was able to leap backwards and avoid the strike. Father Anderson stood up and adopted a defensive stance as he tried to decide what to do next.
The two men stared at each other from opposite ends of the room. Several moments of silence passed. Suddenly, both men ran towards each other and met in the middle of the room, hacking and slashing at each other with great speed.
The explosive confrontation continued for several seconds,
neither side able to get a clean hit in on the other. Every thrust
was expertly parried, every slash dodged or blocked. It seemed as
though neither fighter had the upper hand.
Suddenly, both of Father Anderson's blades snapped in two from the stress, their sharp ends flying across the room and rendering the priest weaponless. Anderson stared speechless at the remaining stumps in his hands. He angrily threw them both away, glaring at Ramza with hate-filled eyes.
Ramza laughed. "I guess they just don't make swords like they used to, huh?"
Anderson responded by reaching into his coat and retrieving half a dozen sharp blades from within its folds. The priestly warrior threw them all at Ramza, who avoided the barrage of projectiles by dodging to the left.
Exactly as Father Anderson had anticipated.
Faster than any normal man could see, the powerful priest
threw several parchment seals at his opponent, which quickly multiplied
into many more as they flew through the air. They swirled around Ramza,
covering him from neck to toe.
"Now you die!"
Anderson laughed maniacally at the plight of his opponent,
the sound of his demented guffaws echoing inside the room. He retrieved
another blade from his coat and dashed towards his opponent.
"Enough!"
Father Anderson had barely heard the loud cry when a large blade whizzed past his face, barely missing his nose. The large man stood up straight and turned towards his left in order to face the person who had so rudely interrupted him. His visage grew dark with anger as he started to speak.
"Ciel?"
A dark shadow on one of the room's corners started to move,
gradually taking on the shape of a cloaked young girl. Ciel frowned
at the priest.
"Lower your weapon, Father Anderson. Ramza is not an enemy.
He is on our side."
Father Anderson could scarcely believe his ears. "Our side?
This man is a heretic! He was exiled into the Deep Dungeon hundreds
of years ago! The mere fact that he yet lives is proof that he has
given his soul to the devil in exchange for a new lease on life. A
lease, might I add, that would have already ended were it not for
your interference."
Ciel raised an eyebrow at Father Anderson's declaration. "Do not be so hasty in jumping to conclusions, Father. The only life that would have ended back there was your own, unless you've recently developed an immunity to Ultima magic."
Anderson turned towards the wall to his right, where Ciel's blade was now embedded.Slowly, the space beside the blade seemed to fold into itself, becoming distorted so that the wall looked like it was being seen through a warped looking glass. The distortion grew more and more pronounced. Moments later, the image of a pretty young woman with auburn hair came into focus.
The girl was wearing a pink, long-sleeved dress that fell to her knees. One of her sleeves was pinned to the wall by Ciel's blade.
"So you've found me. I thought that was just a lucky shot.
I'm impressed."
A metallic sound to Anderson's left caused him to turn that way, where he managed to catch Ramza freeing himself his swords.
Ramza lowered his weapons. "Ciel-chan speaks the truth. Alma and I did not come here to fight you. We are, after all, members of Iscariot as well."
Ciel nodded her head. "Father Anderson, Ramza and Alma Beoulve are provisional members of Iscariot. They have been rehabilitated and no longer burn with a desire to expose the public to dangerous ideas."
Father Anderson was not convinced. "That still does not explain why they are still alive. I understand that Ramza and his party were sent to the Deep Dungeon hundreds of years ago."
Alma answered Anderson's question by retrieving a small purple orb from one of her pockets and showing it to him.
"This is Serpentarius, the final Zodiac Stone. My brother and I retrieved it from Elidibs at the bottom of the Deep Dungeon... at the cost of the lives of our comrades. Its power has kept us alive through the years and allowed us to escape our dark prison."
Three pairs of eyes turned to Father Anderson, who reluctantly put his weapons away and sat down on a chair. He regarded the Beoulve siblings with eyes of hate as he spoke again.
"Very well. I shall accept that explanation. Be warned,
however, that I shall respond to the slightest indication of treachery
on your part without mercy."
Ciel sat near the middle of Ramza and Anderson in an attempt to diffuse the tense atmosphere in the room. She motioned for Alma to sit across from her as she spoke once more.
"Well, now that we have that settled, why don't we get back to the task at hand. I'm sure that Ramza and Alma would rather not talk about their time in the Deep Dungeon. All those monsters... no light at all... and they must have spent every moment fighting..."
"That's actually not completely accurate." Alma sat down beside Ramza and wrapped her arms around his neck. "While it's true that we did a lot of fighting, we occasionally found time to... amuse ourselves."
Ciel blushed bright red at Alma's words. She removed her glasses and wiped the lenses on her cloak. Father Anderson turned away in disgust. An uncomfortable silence fell across the room.
Ramza was the first to speak up. "Well, that's enough about that. What's our new mission?"
At that, Ciel regained her composure and retrieved a small
device from her cloak. She pointed it at one of the walls and pressed
a button. The wooden paneling parted to reveal a large monitor.
Another press of a button caused the monitor to turn on and display
a video of news footage from Japan.
Ciel spoke as the footage continued to play. "Morrigan
Aensland, who was thought to have died many centuries ago, was spotted
recently in Japan. The circumstances surrounding her rebirth are
unknown to us at this moment, but the Vatican has decided that she
must either be killed or sent to the Makai realm as soon as possible.
The four of us have been assigned by the order to do just that."
"Bingo! That's Natsume-nee! Got it on the first try! But how about me? Do you remember me? Do you remember my name? Do you know who I am?"
Before he could even start to think of an answer, Ranma found himself holding a pretty, brown-haired young girl in his arms. The girl was smiling at him, looking expectantly up at his face. Ranma was easily able to recognize the little ball of energy.
Ranma smiled back at the girl. "You're Kurumi."
"Yay, he remembered! Whee!" The girl bounced out of Ranma's embrace and started running around in circles. Ranma realized he was in some kind of metallic prison cell.
The walls, ceiling and floor all seemed to be made of steel.
There was a door on one side made of the same material. Ranma turned
towards Natsume and asked the obvious question.
"Where are we? What are we doing here?"
Natsume shook her head as she answered. "I'm not really sure myself. Kurumi and I were walking around in a forest when these weird cloaked girls started attacking us. We tried to fight back, but there were too many of them. I got knocked out pretty quickly, and I guess Kurumi was as well. When we woke up, we were already in here. You were brought here a couple of days ago. We were afraid you weren't going to wake up!"
Ranma nodded slowly. "Sounds pretty much like what happened to me, except I wasn't fighting any cloaked girls. Have you two tried escaping?"
Kurumi stopped running and answered Ranma's question. "Of course we tried that! The walls and door wouldn't budge no matter how hard we kicked them, and there aren't any openings small enough for me to pass through. Finally, in case you haven't noticed, our weapons are gone!"
Ranma nodded slowly. "I see. Are there any guards outside?
Maybe they can open the doors. We can tell them you've got a fever
or something and jump them when they go in."
Natsume shook her head. "There's a guard outside that has the access keys, but he doesn't fall for any of our usual tricks. We tried the 'sick prisoner' thing but he just looked into our cell then walked away."
Kurumi went over towards Ranma's bed, where she sat between him and Natsume. She giggled and wrapped her arms around Ranma before falling asleep.
Ranma looked at Kurumi and frowned. He tried to pry himself loose of her grip but was unable to get enough leverage to do so. He raised an inquiring eyebrow at Natsume.
"Please excuse my sister." Natsume bowed in apology. "She seems to be under the impression that this is all some sort of game."
Ranma nodded. "It's okay, I don't mind. What we need to do now is figure out a way to get out of here."
Natsume smiled. "Actually, now that you're awake, I think I have a plan that just might work..."
"We've lost contact with defense squads one, two, four, six,
and eight. The remaining squads are engaging the intruders as we speak,
but they are barely holding their po."
Integra Wingates Hellsing frowned and tapped at the receiver
of her phone in an attempt to regain contact with the field commander
of her troops, getting a bunch of static for her trouble. She swore
under her breath before flinging the useless communication device at
the wall. It broke into three pieces and fell to the floor in a heap.
She raised a cigarette to her lips and was about to light it when an
especially powerful explosion rocked the ground and caused her to
drop the nicotine-filled cylinder to the ground.
'Wonderful. Just wonderful.'
The week had not gone well for the head of the Hellsing Organization. First, Seras had gotten herself taken hostage by Iscariot, then there had been sightings of Morrigan Aensland in Japan, and now this new attack on Hellsing headquarters was proving to be surprisingly difficult to repel.
"You wanted me?"
Integra felt the presence even before she heard the voice.
Her heart started beating faster almost immediately. The hairs on the
back of her neck stood on end. Though she was not afraid of Alucard,
he radiated a powerful, evil aura that always put her on edge.
"Two vampires have breached the outer defenses and are making their way towards the main building. Stop them."
Integra was able to silently count up to seven before Alucard replied.
"I... cannot."
Hellsing Organization's head turned towards her vampire and raised an eyebrow at him. She glared at him as she spoke.
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
Alucard's face remained expressionless as he responded. "It
means what it means. I cannot stop the intruders from advancing.
Their combined strength far exceeds my own. It would be best for
you to escape."
Integra could hardly believe her ears. This was the first time Alucard had ever let her down. It was something that she had previously not even thought possible.
"What if Seras assists you?"
As if in reply to Integra's suggestion, Seras Victoria's body smashed through the steel-reinforced walls of her study and flew across her room before hitting a wall and falling onto the floor. The room's occupants stared at the gaping hole where she had passed.
Two individuals stepped through the hole, one male and the other female. The woman was carrying a body over her shoulder. Integra recognized it immediately.
"Walter!"
The newly arrived man chuckled at Integra's visible distress.
"Do not worry about him. He will live to fight another day. It is yourself that you should be most concerned about."
"You! You told me you were gonna help me get hitched to Ranchan! You went running off by yourself! What is all this?"
Ukyo pointed an accusing finger at one of the new arrivals and glared at her, causing Skuld to shrink back behind Belldandy. She poked her head out from behind her sister and grinned nervously.
"Er... yeah. That trip to Jusenkyo didn't work out so well,
did it?"
Ukyo rolled her eyes. "Didn't work out so well? DIDN'T WORK OUT SO WELL? I'm sitting in the middle of a multimedia presentation room located in Asgard, wearing a dress that looks like it used to be a curtain in a previous life. There's a guy beside me who says his name is Odin and that he's the leader of the gods. It also seems that I've been hired for a job that I don't want and never applied for. On top of all that, I've contracted a Jusenkyo curse. All you have to say for yourself is that our trip didn't work out so well?"
Belldandy smiled warmly at the agitated Ukyo. "That dress looks lovely on you, Ukyo-san."
Ranma's cute fiancee blushed and lowered her gaze in embarrassment. "Well, I guess it does look kinda flatteDon't change the topic!"
At that moment, Skuld stepped out from behind Belldandy and bowed low in front of her. "I'm very sorry, Ukyo-san. I wasn't planning on any of this happening. Please don't be angry anymore. I promise that I'll help you get married to Ranma as soon as I get rid of our Jusenkyo curses."
Ukyo raised an eyebrow at Skuld's remark. "Goddesses can get cursed too?"
"Can't this wait until after the meeting?" Urd plopped down onto a chair and leaned backwards. "I want to get back to my terminal to see if it's found Ranma yet."
Skuld glared at her eldest sister. "Stop acting like we're such a bother, would you? This is mostly your fault anyway!"
Urd glared right back. "Look, I wasn't the one who took a dive into a cursed"
"Silence!"
The room became quiet as the booming sound of Odin's voice
died down. He motioned for the girls to sit down in front of a large,
white screen located on one of the walls. After they were seated,
he inserted what looked like a DVD into a small slot located beside
the screen. Pressing a button on a control panel underneath the slot
caused the lights in the room to dim as the screen came to life.
Odin cleared his throat and began talking. "You are about to watch a series of highly classified video surveillance captures of the events surrounding the Morrigan incident several days ago. Please refrain from asking any questions until after you've watched the video. You have all witnessed some of these events yourselves, but none of you have seen all of them."
The four women sat quietly and watched as the video opened with a scene showing Ranma fighting Ryoga and Kuno.
"Help! Someone help me! He's out of his mind! Get him out of here! Get him out of here!"
Peter "Vern" Burns rolled his eyes and sighed at the latest attempt by the new girls to get his attention. He set his copy of Sports Illustrated's new swimsuit issue down on the table in front of him and rubbed his temples. He shook his head vigorously before getting up from his seat and slowly making his way to their cell.
Any other soldier in the compound would have loved to be assigned to cell-block C. All the candidates for the new doll program were kept there before being sent to the conditioning center. Each and every single one of them was a perfect physical specimen of the female body, and there was nothing in the "Welcome to Shadaloo" handbook that prohibited taking certain liberties with the girls.
Of course, what the other men failed to realize was that
the main reason no rule against taking advantage of inmates was in
place was that such a rule was completely unnecessary. The girls were
all more than capable of taking care of themselves. The same beautiful,
toned bodies that made them so desirable also made them very strong
and athletic. Coupled with the fact that they girls were captured for
their potential as super-soldiers... well... he doubted that he would
last three seconds alone together with any of them.
It just wasn't right, letting a man spend so much time around prime female flesh that he would never be able to touch. It was sheer torture, even if you didn't count the fact that the girls liked to try all sorts of wild and crazy tactics to get him to open the doors to their cells.
Like this one, for example.
Vern peeked into the cell where the racket was coming from and groaned. It was the new guy. He knew there was going to be trouble from the moment he read the transfer order.
The girls in the doll program had always been kept separate from the other prisoners. That was just the way it was done. They were special, and there was no way to be sure that they wouldn't kill some poor enemy soldier out of boredom if they ever had to share a cell with a normal inmate. However, the transfer order specifically noted that this Ranma guy was going to be able to hold his own just fine. Vern never really understood how the guy would be able to do it, since he was unconscious when he was brought in, but as a member of the military Vern was trained to obey orders without question, regardless of his opinions on their validity.
At the moment, Ranma had one of the girls in the doll program
backed up into a corner and was apparently assaulting her. Another girl
from the program was in the opposite corner of the room, trembling with
fear. He recognized the girls. Brought in not long before the new guy,
their transfer orders identified them as sisters, though Vern couldn't
remember their names for the life of him.
"Please! He's got Natsume! You've got to help him! He might kill her! I'll do anything!"
Vern pumped his right fist in the air. Natsume and Kurumi!
Those were their names! Natsume was the older one busy with the new
guy and Kurumi was the younger one cowering in the corner. Vern
remembered sighing wistfully as he looked at their pictures. All that
hot, nubile girl-flesh right under his nose and he was never going to
be able to do anything about it. Vern shook his head and started
walking back to his post. He was assigned to prevent the prisoners
from getting out. There was nothing in his orders about protecting
them from each other.
'What the...'
Suddenly, Vern turned back towards the window into the cell and looked inside once more. The new guy still had Natsume pinned in the corner, and Kurumi was still crying in the opposite side of the room. For a pair of girls being eyed to be super-soldiers, they sure weren't acting the part. The new guy didn't look like he was all that strong, and Natsume was just flailing wildly like she couldn't escape his grip at all. Kurumi was just bawling and screaming and stuff.
You'd think they would at least try to go all kung-fu on the new guy or something... unless they couldn't.
There was talk that some of the girls in the doll program
weren't being trained to be fighters at all. They were going to be
strategists, scientists and researchers. Of course, that meant they
were going to be chosen for their brains instead of their brawn.
Judging from their weakness in the face of Ranma's assault, Natsume
and Kurumi looked like they couldn't fight off a lamb.
Vern looked at Ranma again. He was taking an extremely long time getting Natsume's clothes off, even though the girl was barely resisting him. He didn't look too tough. It would be easy to take him down. Afterwards, it would be even easier to take his place as Natsume's worst nightmare. When he was done with Natsume, little Kurumi would be next.
Vern's fingers trembled as he entered his password into the control panel beside the cell's door. Finally, he would be able to live out one of his greatest fantasies. This was going to be great.
"Oooof!"
He was too careless. Vern realized this even as he fell to
the floor. Of course the three of them were working together. He had
let his desires get the better of him. That promotion he was hoping
for was good as gone now. He crawled towards the cell's control panel
and struggled to reach it after falling to the floor and watching the
prisoners leave. He pressed the alarm button then fell to the floor,
unconscious.
"Your threats do not scare me, vampire. Just who do you think you are, coming here of all places?"
Demitri almost laughed at the human woman's bravado. There she was, a human female in the presence of three of the most powerful vampires to have ever lived, and she was the one making threats? This girl was proving to be quite interesting indeed. He bowed low in front of her before drawing himself up to his full height.
"I am Demitri Maximov, lord of the vampires. Curre"
"Arcueid Brunsteid at your service! I guess you could say I'm a vampire princess. Pleased to meet you! You really shouldn't smoke too much. It reeks in here!"
A large sweat drop appeared on Integra Hellsing's forehead.
She had thought herself prepared for any devious mind-games the
intruders would want to play, but she had to admit that she had no
idea how to deal with the giggly blonde vampire who was now humming
a nauseatingly happy tune with a bright smile on her face.
Integra wiped the sweat drop off with a handkerchief before replying. "Yes... well... I'll see what I can do about quitting. In the meantime, please put Walter down."
Arcueid dropped Walter's body onto the floor unceremoniously before leaping into the air and landing on Integra's table and patting her patronizingly on the head. "Aw... you're worried about him aren't you? That's so sweet! You really shouldn't, though. He's not gonna die or anything. I held back! Demi-chan told me that we weren't supposed to kill any"
Demitri grabbed Arcueid at that point and set her down on the
floor. "Yes... that's very good, Arcueid. Please stop talking. Anyway,
as I was saying, my name is Demitri Maximov and I am the current ruler
of the Makai realm."
Integra smirked at her unwanted visitor. "The Makai realm is under the control of Asgard."
A frown formed on Demitri's face. "That... may be accurate for now... but it will not be true for much longer."
The head of Hellsing raised an eyebrow at this declaration.
She stared straight into the vampire lord's eyes as she spoke. "I
suppose this would have something to do with the recent reappearance
of Morrigan Aensland?"
Demitri smiled and nodded. "Correct. You are well-informed for
a human. Seeing as you're in the business of erasing our kind from the
face of the Earth, I was hoping that you would consider joining forces
with me temporarily to eliminate the threat she poses. Afterwards, I
shall return to the Makai realm and the Earth will have two fewer elite
darkstalkers to worry about. It works out very well for both of us,
wouldn't you say?"
Integra regarded Demitri with a doubtful look. "You have a rather... confrontational way of proposing truce. How am I supposed to work with someone who has just killed most of my men?"
A weighty silence followed Integra's remark. One that was broken by a horrifying, indescribable sound of complete suffering that neither Integra nor Demitri had ever heard before in their lives. They quickly turned towards the dark corner of the room where the sound had originated.
Alucard clutched at his side and glared at Arcueid. His eyes glowed red with anger. "Stop that."
Arcueid giggled in response. "Yatta! I still know Alu-chan's ticklish spots!"
In a rather impressive display of self-control, both Integra and Demitri managed to refrain from laughing. Demitri cleared his throat loudly and resumed the conversation. "Anyway, I was going to say that neither Arcueid nor I killed any of your men. We simply incapacitated them. I thought that you would be more receptive to accepting our help if you really needed it."
Integra shuffled some papers that were on her desk, her mind refusing to work at peak performance. "Yes... well... I guess it can't be helped."
Demitri bowed in front of Integra once more. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Ms. Hellsing. I shall return later to discuss the particulars of my plan. Come, Arcueid!"
The two vampires disappeared into the shadows, leaving Integra and Alucard in the room with their unconscious companions. Two seconds of silence passed before Seras started to wake up. She opened her eyes and immediately winced in pain.
"Ugh... my head feels like it's been run over by a mountain and I can't feel the left side of my body..."
Alucard looked at the young vampire and shook his head. "You will heal in a few hours. Try not to move around too much until then."
At that point, Walter started to wake up as well. He looked around himself and realized that he was in Integra's study.
"What happened here?"
Alucard started to disappear into the shadows as he spoke. "It does not concern you. Do not mind it."
Seras was about to ask Alucard what he meant, but her master had already left the room. She turned towards Integra with an inquiring look on her face. The head of Hellsing merely sighed loudly before patting her pockets in search of something.
Integra groaned as her search proved fruitless. She stood up and walked out of the room, leaving the others inside.
"I need a smoke."
"Do you understand now, child?"
Shampoo stared at the ornate wooden box Cologne had just handed to her. She still had trouble wrapping her mind around the things she had been told. The secrets she was now privy to. She would never have guessed the truth. Not in a million years. The young Amazon still wasn't sure whether she should be happy that Cologne deemed her worthy of the knowledge she now possessed, or betrayed at the realization that she had lived most of her life living a lie.
One thing was for sure, though. The artifact inside the box would be the key to winning Ranma back. The next time she faced those accursed senshi, the results would be different.
Shampoo's eyes lit up with happiness as she replied to her great-grandmother's question. "Yes, Great-Grandmother. Shampoo understand."
Cologne nodded slowly. She would have wanted to wait a few
more years before revealing her plans to young Shampoo, but the Juuban
encounter had forced her hand. It annoyed her to no end that even now,
after all this time, Serenity was still messing up her carefully laid
plans. In the end, though, this minor setback would not do much to
stop her. She would have her revenge.
The Amazon matriarch turned away from her ward and started hopping towards the elevator to the surface. "Come, child. You have a lot of intensive training ahead of you if you are to be able to use my gift effectively. There is not much time left until Son-in-Law resurfaces. You must be ready by then."
Shampoo clutched the wooden box tightly in her hand and followed Cologne inside the elevator. The training would doubtless be far tougher than anything she had endured before, but she would go through with it for Ranma's sake. She would do anything for Ranma. She loved him like no other woman ever could. After this was over, he would realize that as well.
"Who are these girls?"
Ranma dodged a flying kick from the cloaked girl only to find another one about to hit him with a powerful backhand. He caught her arm and used her momentum to throw her against several more of the mysterious cloaked fighters. He grit his teeth in annoyance. The girls were proving to be more formidable opponents than the soldiers that they had fought so far. They had seemingly come from nowhere. One moment he was alone in the large hallway with the sisters and the next these cloaked females were swarming all around them.
"I'm not sure. I've never seen them before!"
Natsume blocked the kick of the girl she was fighting and
retaliated with one of her own. The cloaked female avoided her strike
with a nimble jump backwards, but did not see Kurumi as the younger
fighter unleashed a flurry of attacks at the girl from behind. She
was about to land the finishing blow when another cloaked fighter
came at her from the side and hit her with a backhand to the face.
She fell to the ground and held a hand to her cheek.
"Ow! That really hurt!"
Natsume ran towards her sister and managed to connect with a punch to the cloaked girl's face, throwing her to the ground. She turned towards her sister with a worried look on her face.
"How's your face? Can you still fight?"
Kurumi saw that the grounded fighter was already starting to get up, but she was too late to warn Natsume. The girl came at Natsume with a powerful sweeping kick. A loud scream involuntarily left Natsume's lips as pain exploded from her shin and she fell to the ground.
"Natsume? Are you alright?"
Ranma dodged his current opponent's punch, causing the cloaked girl to hit one of her comrades on the face instead. He somersaulted backwards and landed behind another cloaked female, hitting her from behind with a kick to her lower back.
He jumped into the air and landed near the sisters, fending off attacks from all sides. Finally, he unleashed a lightning-fast barrage of punches in all directions.
"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!"
Ranma's attack sent the girls around him falling to the ground,
but four more of were rapidly closing in on him. Ranma used his speed
to dodge their attacks, weaving from side to side to avoid getting hit.
They never even noticed that they were being led around in a spiral.
"Hiryu Shoten Ha!"
The powerful column of air sucked Ranma's remaining opponents into it and threw them around the room like rag dolls. He waited for the wind to dissipate before turning towards the direction where he had last seen the sisters.
Natsume turned towards him and winked. "We're okay, Ranma.
It'll take a lot more than that to beat us."
Ranma was about to reply when he was interrupted by the sound
of loud clapping. He turned to the direction where the sound was coming
from and saw three men walking towards him. One of the men was a large,
ugly black man wearing a boxer's gloves and uniform. Beside him was a
tall Hispanic man with long, blonde hair. An even taller man with a
large scar on his bare chest and a patch covering one of his eyes walked
slowly behind the two of them.
The blonde spoke first. "Congratulations on defeating the new team of dolls in record time! For a while there I thought they were actually going to win! That last technique you used really turned the tables on them, didn't it? The wind sucking them up throwing them around like that... it was beautiful."
Ranma glared at the newcomers. "Who are you people? What do you want with us?"
The blonde-haired man bowed low in front of him. "My name is Vega, and the boxer beside me is called Balrog. The bald guy behind me is Sagat. As for what we want"
"We have a proposition for you." Another man appeared from seemingly nowhere, walking quickly towards where the other three men were. He was very muscular, wearing a red military style uniform.
"You have done well to get this far, Ranma. By defeating my team of dolls, you have proven yourself worthy of becoming one of my men. In short, I am offering you a job."
Ranma frowned. The last battle had left him tired and drained,
and he wasn't sure if Natsume and Kurumi could still fight with their
injuries. Regardless of what this guy had to say, listening to it would
buy him time to think of a strategy. He stood up straight and nodded
for the man to continue.
"Okay, I'm listening."
"Hah! I knew all this was your fault! You're always
messing things up for the rest of us!"
Skuld glared daggers at Urd from across the table. Not only had Urd caused her to contract a Jusenkyo curse, the curse was one of the worst ones too! To turn into a succubus... was there any greater embarrassment? Goddesses were supposed to be pure and innocent and chaste!
Well, goddesses that weren't born half demon anyway. Except for those that had an affinity for roses and speaking French. The battle-types could be very loose as well from time to time. Come to think of it, Freya wasn't exactly a paragon of purity either. Ifurita would come on to any guy who could turn her crank. Rukia from soul society ran off with some guy she met on Midgard. There were also all those rumors of Tsunami getting it on with an Earth guy... and she didn't even want to get started with the girls who manned the main terminals with Peorth.
Skuld frowned. Apparently, she and Belldandy were some of the last members of a dying race of untainted goddesses.
But that didn't mean Urd was off the hook! Certainly not!
If anything, this would make her actions seem even worse. She was an
endangered species, after all.
Then again, it wasn't like she wanted to remain this way forever. She had plans involving a handsome young man sweeping her off her feet too. It's just that... well... she didn't exactly think that settling down with a guy on the basis of how much energy she could drain from him was such a romantic concept. Not that she didn't like Ranma, of course. He was okay. More than okay, actually. He was actually kinda hot.
Okay, so maybe it wasn't so bad with Ranma. But the things she did with Ukyo! She'd promised herself not to get involved with clients when she went down to Earth. Of course, Ukyo was a girl. And they were really only doing it because of the energy thing. It's not like she and Ukyo were a couple. Besides, Morrigan and Lilith were basically the same person split into two. The whole thing was totally innocent, just like the time Belldandy taught her how to kiss.
"Well?"
Skuld blinked and looked around her. Belldandy, Urd, Ukyo and Odin were all staring at her. Apparently, Urd had already replied to her accusations and the ball was now in her court. She smiled nervously and scratched the back of her head.
"Um... could you repeat the question?"
Ukyo slammed her fist onto the table and stood before Urd could reply. "Never mind that! How are you people going to take responsibility for my curse? It's going to be really hard to run the Ucchan's now that I can't touch cold water! You were supposed to be helping me!"
"Please calm down, Ukyo-san." Belldandy attempted to coax Ukyo back onto her chair. "I'm sure that we'll be able to do something about that very soon."
Ukyo gave Belldandy an incredulous look. "Very soon? Why not right now? You guys are supposed to be goddesses!"
Skuld bowed apologetically at Ukyo. "Please forgive us, but it's just not that simple when magic is involved. It'd take too long right now, but I promise I'll explain everything later. I'll also continue to help you with Ranma. We have a contract, after all."
Skuld's words were followed by a lull in the verbal exchange.
Odin took advantage of the opportunity to clear his throat and draw
everyone's attention to himself. "Actually, Ukyo's contract with Skuld
is no longer binding."
A confused look took over Ukyo's features. "What?"
Odin spoke again. "As I am sure you have noticed in the video,
Lilith is the physical manifestation of all the primitive instincts
that Berial attempted to remove from Morrigan when she was still under
his care. She and Morrigan are two sides of the same person. Two parts
of a whole."
Ukyo nodded slowly. "Um... yeah. I noticed that."
The leader of the gods continued. "Because of your curse,
you and Skuld have become the same person as far as the system is
concerned. Therefore, you are now a goddess. As goddess under the
employ of Asgard. Obviously, employees are not allowed to receive
wishes under the goddess relief program."
A large nerve appeared on Ukyo's left temple. "So you're
saying that not only have you botched my wish and gotten me cursed.
I have to work here now? That's not fair at all! I already have a
job! I never signed up to be a... a..."
A smile appeared on Ukyo's face when she realized something very important. "I'm a goddess now?"
Odin smiled back and retrieved another DVD from one of his
pockets. He slid it towards Ukyo. "Welcome to Asgard. You are now
Ukyo Kuonji, Goddess Second Class First Category Limited. This disc
contains all the relevant information about your functions. It also
has details about salary, vacation time, dental and medical plans,
and a copy of the employee handbook in portable document format."
Ukyo picked up the disc and turned towards the other goddesses in the room. They were all speechless, apparently just as stunned by this new development as she was.
Odin shook his head. "Well, it would seem that you all need a little more time to adapt to the things you've learned. Let's stop here for now. We'll meet again tomorrow night to discuss your new assignment."
"Allow me to introduce myself, Ranma. My name is Bison and I am the head of an international organization called Shadaloo."
Ranma nodded slowly. He was starting to get an idea of who had abducted him and why. He had heard the name on the news a couple of times. If he remembered correctly, Shadaloo was a terrorist group bent on world domination. Their main base of operations was supposed to have been destroyed months ago, though.
Bison continued to speak. "Shadaloo's aim is to wrest control of the world from the hands of weak-willed politicians and give it to more deserving people."
Ranma chuckled at Bison's words. "Deserving people? I suppose that means you?"
The head of Shadaloo smiled. "Among others, of course. I am only one man after all. My most trusted lieutenants will share control of the world with me. You could be one of those lieutenants, Ranma."
Ranma raised one of his eyebrows. "A lieutenant? What exactly does a Shadaloo lieutenant do?
Bison's smile grew even wider. "How were the girls, Ranma? Did they give you a challenge at all?"
Ranma was taken aback by the question. This Bison guy was supposed to be explaining a business deal to him, not quizzing him on how tough it was to beat his fighters. He decided to just answer. The more time he spent talking, the more time he had to think of a way to escape.
"They were pretty good, I guess. Very predictable, though.
They never changed their attack patterns and it was easy to get them
to follow my rhythm."
Bison nodded at Ranma's answer. He had expected that the new conditioning techniques would lower their ability to come up with new attacking styles. That was partly the reason he wanted Ranma, after all. He retrieved a small electronic device that looked like a from one of his pockets and spoke into it.
"Cammy, get over here!"
Ranma was only able to see a red blur fly through the air
and land next to Bison. The blur turned out to be yet another cloaked
girl. However, where his previous opponents all wore dark blue cloaks,
this girl wore a bright red one. She pulled her cloak back, revealing
a beautiful face with a mark on her left cheek that might have been a
scar. The girl's eyes were bright blue and her blonde hair hung in
braids behind her.
"Cammy White reporting for duty, Master Bison." When the girl spoke, her voice sounded completely devoid of emotion.
Ranma turned towards the cloaked girls that he had defeated earlier. Now that he thought about it, none of them had spoken a word during the entire time they had been fighting. Bison smirked upon seeing the young martial artist's confusion.
"The fighters that you fought before are members of Shadaloo's second doll program. Cammy here is the last remaining member of my first doll program, and acting leader of the Shadaloo doll unit. The doll program is a project designed to take advantage of advanced mental conditioning techniques to create perfect soldiers."
Ranma balled his hands into fists. "You mean you brainwashed all these girls into following your orders?"
Bison shook his head. "I wouldn't use those exact terms to describe the process, but you are mostly correct. The minds of the girls in the doll program are under my direct control."
Ranma continued looking at the unconscious bodies of the female fighters he had fought. "Why girls?"
Bison quick to reply. "The mental conditioning requires the use of hormones to affect the brain's functions. Only females respond to them in the manner required."
Ranma nodded once more. "It looks like you got what you wanted. What do you need me for?"
Bison turned to the girl beside him. "Cammy, kill Ranma."
"Go ahead. Say it."
Kasumi ignored Nabiki's words and continued washing dishes.
She hummed happily as she wiped one of the plates clean and put it
away. When two minutes had passed and with Nabiki still standing at
the entrance to the kitchen, she finally turned towards her sister
and spoke.
"I don't know what you want me to say, Nabiki. I have no idea what you're talking about."
Nabiki rolled her eyes and sat down at the preparation table.
She shook her head as she thought about Kasumi's reply.
"You're some piece of work, aren't you? If you're going to
gloat, go ahead and do it already! I couldn't bring Ranma back, just
like you said. I'd appreciate it if you'd just say 'I told you so'
and put this behind us. Anyway, it's not totally my fault that Ranma
disappeared. I would have gotten him home if Akane hadn't butted in
at the last moment."
Kasumi nodded thoughtfully as she set a steaming cup of tea in front of Nabiki. "Oh, that. Actually, I wasn't really planning on saying anything about it. I just thought that you were smart enough to know when I'm right and you're wrong. If you couldn't even handle someone as simple-minded as Akane-chan, how can you ever hope to go up against the likes of Shampoo and Ukyo? Ranma is a burden that only I can bear. "
Nabiki frowned. "I can handle those two bimbos just fine,
thank you very much."
The eldest Tendo sister smiled at her sister. "By renting
Ranma out to them at bargain prices? I heard about what happened last
time. Ranma told me about it while he helped me with dinner that day.
Nabiki dear, the idea is to keep your man."
"Look, I have my own ways of doing things. How I handle my affairs is none of your business." Nabiki finished her cup of tea and unconsciously pushed it towards Kasumi for a refill. Her sister poured her another cup without a word.
"Of course not." Kasumi stood up and went back to washing the dishes, humming another happy tune as she did so.
Nabiki started to get up. Apparently, this conversation was now finished. She tried to think of something to say as she took her cup and brought it to the sink to be washed. She couldn't let Kasumi get the last word in.
The middle Tendo sister smiled when she finally thought of something. "You're wrong, you know. I'm going to prove it, too. I'll bring Ranma back and have him fall in love with me so fast it'll make your head spin. Then there'll be nothing you or Akane can do to get him for yourselves."
"I can't believe this..."
Nabiki turned towards the entrance to the kitchen when she heard the words. Standing there, tears brimming from her eyes, was Akane. How long had her sister been standing there? How much had she heard? Nabiki opened her mouth, but no words came out. Akane ran off with her still grasping for words.
"Oh my. Now look what you've done."
Nabiki turned and glared at Kasumi with eyes of hatred. "This isn't over. I'll beat you yet."
Kasumi watched Nabiki turn away and run after Akane. She shook her head at the silly things kids did these days and went back to doing the dishes, humming a happy tune as she did so.
The speed with which the girl moved to comply with Bison's orders took Ranma completely by surprise. She was a fast one. Her cloak hadn't even fallen to the ground after she threw it off and she had already covered half the distance between them. However, it looked like she was following exactly the same attack patterns as the other girls Ranma had fought. He prepared himself to dodge the backhand that was sure to follow.
Only it never came.
Instead of the backhand he expected, Cammy came at him with
a lightning-fast kick to his face. Ranma blocked it at the last second,
but Cammy immediately jumped into the air and curled into a ball. Ranma
was unable to avoid her next attack as the nimble girl locked her legs
around his neck and flipped over, slamming his head on the ground. She
was on top of him before Ranma could even get his breath back, and the
girl had already nearly connected with a punch to his neck when he
noticed what she was doing. Ranma braced himself for the impact.
Only it never came.
Ranma opened his eyes. Cammy's fist was hovering a mere inch from his neck. Her fist was trembling and her eyes had a wild look to them.
"Cammy, return."
The brainwashed fighter had flipped off of Ranma's body and was back to her post beside Bison once more before Ranma could even get to his feet. He glanced at Natsume and Kurumi and saw that they hadn't recovered from their injuries yet.
Ranma grit his teeth. This was bad. That Cammy girl was on a completely different level from the other girls he had fought. While he was confident that he could easily beat her normally, he wasn't so sure he could do it when he was tired, especially considering that he had to protect the sisters as well. That wasn't even considering that there were four other fighters in the room that he had to deal with.
"She's something else, is she not?" The blonde-haired man called Vega laughed out loud after saying this and the black man joined him. Bison himself chuckled a little. Only the tall guy called Sagat remained silent.
Ranma glared at the head of Shadaloo. "What the heck was that all about? I thought you wanted to recruit me, not kill me!"
Bison shook his head. "I wasn't trying to kill you at all,
Ranma. I was merely trying to illustrate a point. As you've seen just
now, Cammy was unable to deal the finishing blow that would have
killed you. She disobeyed my orders. It's because her original mind
was strongly opposed to the idea of killing. It tries to reassert
itself whenever any of my commands come into direct conflict with its
deeply ingrained ideals."
Ranma rubbed his neck as he replied. "So your control methods aren't perfect yet? You don't control them totally? That's what you want my help with?"
Bison shook his head once more. "As I said before, Cammy is
from the first doll program. It was fraught with many flaws, the most
dangerous of which was the tendency of the mind to rebel as you have
seen. That issue was resolved by using more effective methods of mental
conditioning to bypass the original mind's thought processes. However,
those same procedures leave them unable to adapt to new situations,
since they aren't able to do anything but follow orders anymore."
The head of Shadaloo continued. "That's where you come in. I need you to replace Cammy as the doll unit's leader. As leader, you will lead my dolls into battle and come up with strategies for them to follow. The dolls will be put under your direct supervision and you will be reporting directly to me. You will be rewarded handsomely for your efforts, of course."
Ranma paused for a bit before speaking again. "I see. So basically you expect me to help you with your plans to rule the world after kidnapping me and my friends, putting us in a cell, and making us fight those dolls of yours?"
Bison nodded. "That's what I'm hoping for. Think about it,
Ranma. With my help, you can reach heights of power you've never even
dreamed of. Money... power... women... your heart's desires can all
be yours."
Ranma paused for a few moments before replying. "Could we have everyone in Japan say I'm the best martial artist there is?"
Bison frowned. "Yes... well... I don't see why we can't do that.
But why stop there? Think of the possibilities, Ranma!"
Ranma nodded. "Of course! We could have everyone in the world
say I'm the best martial artist there is!"
The head of Shadaloo sighed. This was going to be a bit tougher than he thought. "Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of you assuming control of a sizable tract of land... perhaps Australia?"
Ranma looked confused. "Why would I want to do that?"
Bison facefaulted. After getting back on his feet, he decided to try a different approach. "How about women, Ranma? Boys in their teens like girls, right? After the world falls under our control, you would be able to have any woman you wanted!"
Nerima's most eligible martial artist smiled as he thought of what he had just heard. Bison was too dangerous a man to leave here. He was going to have to kick the guy's ass before he left. The long talk had given him time to recuperate anyway, and he felt confident that he could take on four old fighters and come out on top.
"First of all, I don't need you to have everyone say I'm the
best. I am the best. Second, I'm already able to get any women I want!
Finally, there's no way in hell I'm gonooof!"
Ranma fell to the ground in a heap from the blow to his head.
Standing behind him, Natsume turned towards Bison. "Subject: Ranma
Saotome subdued to prevent refusal of membership in Shadaloo doll Unit.
dolls: Natsume and Kurumi now awaiting further orders."
Bison shook his head. Ranma's ability to adapt to any situation
would have made him a perfect replacement for Cammy. It was not to be,
however. He made the wrong choice. Forcing him to take the job would
not be feasible because it would make him an even more untrustworthy
option than Cammy.
The operation was not a complete failure, though. If Ranma was not interested in leading the new doll unit, he was more than welcome to join it instead.
"Take him to the labs and douse him with cold water to trigger the transformation. Put him in the doll program afterwards."
Natsume and Kurumi bowed as they answered him. "As you wish,
Master Bison."
Author's Rant
It's tough to be controversial.
No, I don't mean that the state of being controversial is a tough state to be in. What I mean is that the process of getting into that state to begin with has become exceedingly difficult over the years.
When I started getting into this whole fanfiction thing
several years ago, going against the flow was easy. People devoured
the anime they got whole and worshipped the obvious with a passion
that I myself found to be rather impressive. Nowadays, you can't even
get a good rise out of people when you say that teh Aka-nay suxxorz.
To the contrary, after my last rant my inbox quickly filled to bursting
with emails of support from other people who, like Kasumi, see that
Akane is really not that great a person. Surprisingly, a lot of other
people also told me that they support my stand on MST fanfiction and
share my opinion that readers aren't entitled to good stories since
they get the stories for free.
I was devastated.
What's happened, people? I long for the days when I'd post some little pro-Ukyo post on a forum and watch it quickly fill with a discussion of why Ukyo sucks, why I suck, and why Akane should be made queen of the universe. Now I go to forums and say "Akane is a selfish person who fails miserably at seeing situations from any perspective but her own" and everyone's like "Yeah, whatever. We know that already". Even these rants have been getting mostly positive responses.
That's partly the reason why I gave some serious thought to dumping my author's rants and just going with the normal author's notes that I used to do. I mean, if no one was going to violently disagree with me I didn't really see the point. Luckily, I happened to wander into the reviews section of my latest chapter on and read at least one review that expressed anger and frustration at my rants.
I almost cried, except I was in my school's computer lab and there was this cute chick sitting beside me that I was trying to hit on and I figured giving her a line with tears in my eyes wasn't a very good strategy.
Anyway, my drive to rant has been renewed thanks to that guy. I may not remember his name or what he said, and I may be too lazy to look him up, but I remember that he hates these rants and that's the important thing.
In fact, I'm so fired up that I'm going to go the extra mile and exert real effort into being as self-righteous, patronizing and condescending in this rant. As my prereaders all know, getting me to exert effort into doing anything is a commendable accomplishment in and of itself.
So let's talk about ATFWH.
What makes ATFWH... ATFWH? What is the essence of this series I've been writing for such a long time now (would you believe I planned this to be about eight chapters long)?
Is it the fanservice? The character-bashing? The silly, stupid,
bad fights that distract the reader from the fanservice and character-
bashing? The alarming tendency to randomly include characters from old
and obscure psx rpg games into the storyline? The generally low quality
of the prose?
Actually, even I myself am not sure. I find it amusing when readers tell me what they think gives ATFWH its ATFWH-ness. At least three different prereaders and five readers have given me conflicting answers to this question, each with equal conviction that they are correct. My inbox is regularly visited by such gems as:
Reader1: It's the fanservice, dude. As long as the chixxorz get nudexxorz it's ATFWH.
Reader2: Tis de funnay dat make de fic wut it be.
Reader3: Silly plots what ATFWH is. Serious and dramatic ATFWH is not.
Reader4: Would you like to refinance your home? Mortgage rates have never been lower!
Reader5: You can't fool me! You and Warpwizard are one and the same! If not, how come I've never seen you two together at the same time?
So why is it important to think about what ATFWH is? Because it let's you know when ATFWH is no longer ATFWH. Chester, bless his shonen-writing soul (whoa! a plug for another fic in my rant!), told me that this chapter was way too serious to really be ATFWH. It's so different from the other chapters in tone and content that I may just as well have put another name on it. The other prereaders like Shade and Beege didn't seem to have a problem with it, though. Well, Shade asked for more detail like he always does and I put it in so he doesn't tell anyone that I never bothered to bug him to write more.
Normally I just ignore Chester's mad ramblings and shake my
head in pity at how fabulously wrong he almost always is, but this time
I thought that maybe he had a point. Perhaps, for the first time evah,
he was actually onto something!
It figures that the only time Chester and I agree is when he
takes my words and makes them his own (can't really blame him, since I
find my words to be superior to anyone else's). You know those people
who aren't twins but might as well be because they're so alike? We're
the exact opposite of that. Basically he hates all my work and I hate
all of his work.. which makes us perfect for prereading each other!
There's no C&C like C&C from someone who thinks reading your stuff
is a waste of time.
So anyway I showed Chester and a few others a beta version of part of this rant. It was all about SMJ2X, and whether or not SMJ2X is really SMJ at all.
My sister and I had just finished watching the end of SMJ2X,
and I myself thought it was very good. The most well-made of the series
in fact. However, my sister bemoaned the fact that it wasn't at all
like the ones that came before it. She said that it was like watching
another anime with characters that looked like SMJ characters.
Even the values that the series supported were different in J2X. While the previous ones were all about teamwork and togetherness and learning to put the interests of the group over your own, the last one was all about individuality and being your own person.
So is that bad? IMO it is. When you make a sequel you are basically advertising it as "more of the same but better". When you take a sequel that's so completely removed from the original it might as well be a different series, you're basically trying to trick fans of the original into watching something they may not have wanted to watch otherwise.
Chester says that it's almost impossibly hard to consistently achieve better results using more of the same, but I don't see why that's relevant. If you can't improve on a series, why bother with a sequel? If you're going to do something different, then by all means make a different series!
I've been thinking about this a lot, and while thinking about it Full Metal Panic came to mind. The second season of FMP is one of my favorites, but what if I didn't like comedy? What if I liked the first season because of the cool mecha (Note: I usually hate mecha and mecha-centric anime) and bought the second season because I wanted to see more of the arm-slave in action?
Can you imagine it? I would have been duped into buying a series that I didn't like because it had a misleading name slapped onto it!
I've been told that the first and second seasons of FMP are actually focused on different aspects of the manga. That the first one concentrates on the action and the second on the comedy.
So... is either season truly Full Metal Panic? Is ATFWH still ATFWH? Is this a bad or good thing? I'm not so sure myself. Email me with your comments and opinions!
Enough about that. It's time to talk about me. I've been busy as usual lately, and I was hoping to cool off on the writing for a while until I had infinite free time again. Of course, that strategy didn't work out because Warpwizard decided to release a new chapter of his excellent pokegirl story.
As if that wasn't enough, he went and put me on the spot by mentioning that I was finishing this chapter up on his blog thing. What was I supposed to do then?
Anyway, I would like to formally announce here that he told me that he was gonna write more of his Shinji/Rei fic. Go bug him for it! A man who does not write lemons in a timely fashion does not deserve to eat a good steak!
So I've been playing Chaos Legion recently. Great game. Better than Devil May Cry, IMO. It also seemed to be harder than DMC... until I found out that Blasphemy rules all in a way that Thanatos only wishes he could. Fully-powered Blasphemy and Thanatos allowed me to easily beat the game. Tekken 5 is out, though I haven't been playing it enough to get a feel for the new engine. I suppose I could give Asuka a try sometime.
I'm very happy about the recent bannings in Magic: the Gathering. Affinity was dominating the metagame like nothing I've ever seen, and I've seen Necro decks in action baby! Affinity was like a bully in the playground forcing everyone else to play by his rules or die. I laughed in the face of UG Control players who would tell me that Affinity was a good matchup for them.
I have yet to lose to a UG Control deck with my Affinity deck. In the hands of a good player, Affinity can beat anything. It's the first aggressive deck I've seen that obsoletes Sligh. Faster than Sligh and more resilient to removal? Amazing. If you or a friend you know has a deck in standard that destroys Affinity, then you are either mistaken, playing a sub-optimal Affinity build, or playing Affinity wrong.
As for anime and manga, Bleach is still good. Likewise for Naruto. School Rumble rocks. Mai Hime's anime is still a confused jumble of different tones and genres trying to wrest control of the show from each other, though the manga is firmly entrenched in the love comedy with action genre. I read Rose Hip Rose but it ended just as it was starting to get good, so I didn't like it. I'm trying to read Rokudenashi Blues but Toriyamaworld won't let me download the chapters after chapter six. Do any of you guys have them?
I've managed to get a few new chapters of Eyeshield 21 on irc. Up to chapter 47 I think. Pretty good stuff. I also saw the OAV and liked it. The new AMG anime is good. I managed to get Cromartie episodes up to episode 23, but no more. That's a shame, since I think there are only a few more left. The Mahou Sensei Negima anime turned out to be a pathetic shadow of the manga. It was obviously rushed and not given a big enough budget, hoping the many girls would be able to carry it through. Ichigo 100 is getting silly. It's getting to the point where I don't even care what happens in the end anymore, as long as it finally ends.
There really isn't anything I want right now, so no want-list for this chapter. I suppose better scans of Rei 5 by Mogudan would be in there, but his work has gotten really terrible this time around so I'm only collecting it for the sake of completeness.
Finally, I would like to thank Chester, Shade, Beege, Helmut Steeg, Gordon, Michael Myers and David Andersson for all the help they gave me for this chapter. That's it for now. Till next time, keep bugging Warpwizard for Shinji/Rei action!
Please send C&C to my homepage (http:members. for new chapters.