Hello. Greetings from CHAPTER 38! I'm sorry it took so damn long…
I do not own Love Hina or any other properties that appear in this fic, except for my character mentioned two to three chapters ago. They are the respective copyrights of their owners. SO GET OFF MY KEISTER.
Chapter 38: Burly Brawl(s)! or Yami Shinobu's plan revealed.
Suichi: panting …dammit…how'd you get so powerful so fast!
Kaoru: You ambushed us. This is a fair fight. And you're going down!
Kaoru releases a burst of ki energy, dashes in (completely blurred), and slashes Suichi at the waist, causing his top half to fall off.
Suichi: …damn..
Himeko dashes in, and with her lightsaber, shoves it through his forehead, a look of surprise emblazoned on his face as he died.
Kaoru: Dangit, you got the death-blow….
Himeko: Speed up a bit, then. (grins)
Kaoru: (grins back) Let's catch up with the others.
Meanwhile, Kanako and Motoko were having some difficulty with the dark Jedi.
Motoko: (parries a blow) Dammit! They keep coming back for more!
Kanako: Well, we haven't really chopped them in half, so…yeah, they'll keep getting up…
Peter: (veinpops, and pulls out a gun as big as the BFG) Here's a little present from the Reagan Administration!
He fires the gun, and multiple radar-guided rocket propelled grenades hone in on the dark Jedi.
Dark Jedi #1: …oh, shi-
The resulting explosion detonates right in front of the dark Jedi, shredding flesh and bone with shrapnel. Fortunately, Motoko and Kanako got behind some of the pillars that lined the hallway, although they got cut up a bit by stray shrapnel.
Su: Geez…you used a prototype Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher from the mid 1980's? I LOVE YOU! (she glomps Peter)
Peter is turning red, half from being glomped by a hot girl, the other half because he's losing oxygen.
Motoko: Su, that's enough. He can't breathe.
Su: (let's go of Peter) Eheh…sorry. (sticks her tongue out)
Kanako: Let's just catch up with Brandon, Alex, and Barbara.
Peter: Me and Su should actually stay behind and clean up this mess. Knowing how strong Kaoru and Himeko are, they're already on their way, and we need as much help as possible against Yami Shinobu.
Kanako: (sighs) Fine then, you do that.
Motoko and Kanako go on ahead.
Outside the throne room, Brandon, Alex, and Barbara had found several terminals containing sensitive data regarding the true reason behind Yami Shinobu's creation of the base.
Barbara: HOLY SHIT. She's going to brainwash the entire planet! O.O…damn, that's kinky…
DrgnmastrAlex: You guys didn't know that? I thought I told you in the e-mail I sent you.
Brandon: ehhh… while Mutsumi was brainwashed, she corrupted the data.
DrgnmastrAlex: Oh, that makes sense. (gets chills up his spine) Uh oh…
Barbara: What's uh oh? (gets said chills) Oh, that…
Brandon: (got them too) Crap, biiiig evil coming…
The door to the throne room opens, with Shinobu in a leather cat suit and a lightsaber handle.
Brandon: Oh, no. Why this. Why her.
Shinobu quickly walks out into the command room connected to the throne room and confronts the three intruders. She then unleashes a massive psychic attack on Barbara, bringing her to the floor.
Brandon: Shit! Alex, is she alright?
DrgnmastrAlex: (searching Barbara's mind) ..she's going to be fine, she just got stunned. I'm gonna try to revive her-WATCH OUT!
Brandon turns in time to see Shinobu leaping in to strike him, and barely blocks the attack. In complete disbelief, he is barely able to keep in time with her strikes.
Brandon: Shinobu! Why the hell are you attacking me!
Shinobu doesn't respond, still concentrating on attacking Brandon. Brandon manages to gain his footing and the two of them get into a battle to be remembered. Brandon slashes for Shinobu's lightsaber handle, but she blocks, and redirects her blow for Brandon's side, which he parries, flips out of the way of another strike, and sends a ki blast in Shinobu's direction, which she parries with her hand. The two get into a ki blast volley against each other that would rival some of the greater battles in Dragon Ball Z. The two quickly close the gap between each other, and lightsaber to lightsaber, glare into each other's eyes.
Brandon: …Shinobu, why the hell are you doing this?
Shinobu finally responds: I am merely following my mistress's commands. Bring you to her alive by any means necessary.
She spins to his side, kicks his feet out from under him, causing him to fall on his behind. He raises his left hand up as if to do a ki blast, but without hesitation, she pierces his hand with her lightsaber right through his palm, leaving about half a foot distance between the point of her weapon and his face, as his lightsaber falls from his right hand in agony.
Brandon: GYAAHHAAAAAGHHHH!
Shinobu pulls out the lightsaber from his palm, deactivates it, and then gives a malicious grin.
Shinobu: Come now. You and I are on equal footing. Scratch that, I'm better than you, because I'm willing to harm you.
Brandon: (tears starting to well up in his eyes) Why…why do this…? This is completely unlike you…
Shinobu: I love you. However, there are so many distractions in our way. Himeko, Kaoru, Barbara…they are interfering with our love. I want you so badly, but I don't want anyone else to have you. That is why I struck up a deal with Yami Shinobu. She is me, and she agreed to let me have you, as long as she has just a night with you. And the plan you discovered will allow you and me to have each other without anybody getting in our way. We will be worshipped as gods. And feared. No one will be able to stop us from getting whatever we want. No one.
Brandon: …what you speak of isn't love. It's having each other as the other's possession. I love you, and I know you love me. But that future is not what I want for you and me. And our children.
He grabs her right hand, and gently but assuredly puts the emitter to his forehead, with her thumb on the button.
Brandon: …I won't live in a world ruled by domination and tyranny. I know you truly don't want that either. And I know, if we are to have kids, neither of us would want them to grow up in a world like that. So, if you truly wish to be with me, through better or worse, then please, be the Shinobu I fell in love with. If you wish to follow this path you've been forced upon, then you might as well press that button and kill me.
He stares straight into her eyes, as if he can see her heart and soul. Inside Shinobu, a great conflict grew. She desired him so, and was deeply in love with him. Yet, she couldn't imagine a world without him. And what he said grew heavier and heavier on her mind. Her eyes softened, and then tears began to stream down her cheeks, as she dropped the lightsaber into his lap and fell into his arms sobbing.
Shinobu: Ohh, God. I almost did it….I-I'm so sorry Brandon…I don't know how she did it, but she got me like that…I enjoyed it, relished in that feeling of power and lust…but…but I could never hurt you. You're right. I don't want people to suffer in a world like that. Especially if we were to have kids. I was so selfish…I'm so sorry…
Brandon: (holding her) It's alright. Everyone is confronted with that sort of temptation. You chose what was good for all over your own feelings. You did good, Shinobu. You did the right thing.
She continued to embrace him, crying her heart out, and he just sat there, with a relieved look on his face, glad to have his love back. But then a cackling drew from the throne room, and Yami Shinobu walked into the control room.
Yami Shinobu: Ohohohohohoho! Apparently you were right, Shinobu-chan! It seems that, no matter how deep you are in the darkness of your heart, you can come back out. With his help. You disgust me. Both of you. In half an hour, the mind control beam will warp everyone into my slaves, without any hope of reversal. It is….unfortunate, that I can't have a king that I genuinely like at my side, but that's what male concubines are for! OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!
Shinobu slowly gets to her feet, taking the lightsaber in her right hand and helping Brandon to his feet with her left hand. Brandon manipulates the ki around his lightsaber, and it comes to his hand. Meanwhile, DrgnmastrAlex managed to get Barbara back to consciousness and told her what happened.
Barbara: (smiles) …they were made for each other. I've made up my mind, I won't chase after him any longer.
DrgnmastrAlex: (smirks) Good to hear. But you'd better inform the others about the mind control device going off in 30 minutes. Get them here as soon as possible.
Barbara: Got it. (she teleports to where the others are)
DrgnmastrAlex: Now to watch a huge fight. This'll knock the socks off any of my readers.
Yami Shinobu activates her lightsaber, glowing a vivid red, while Brandon and Shinobu, back to normal, activate their green and red lightsabers, respectively.
Yami Shinobu: So, you'll go through a pointless tactic in order to stop me. Even if you do defeat me, you won't have enough time to stop the device.
Shinobu: Half an hour is more than enough to kick you ass, blow up the beam, and get a third of the way back to Earth.
Brandon: You pitted us against each other, and lost. Now, you will lose everything. As long as Shinobu and I are together, NOTHING CAN STOP US.
Shinobu and Brandon stare down Yami Shinobu, as Yami Shinobu leaps into the air…
HOLEEEEE SHEEEEET. Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, but I had to deal with various things. College, friends, chores, and the fact that my best friend of 14 years, my cat Harry, died. The thing is…he hasn't left. Apparently he's got such an emotional attatchment with our family, he's sticking around as a spirit. He's doing the usual ghost thing: appearing out the corner of the eye, making purring noises when I'm in my bedroom, and other kinda funny stuff. O.O Okay, that explanation may make some of you think I'm going screwy. Lol No worries. My parents have seen and felt him around the house, too. Well, I should be able to get the next chapter up in…meh, give me two weeks, and if it's not up yet, message me your complaints. I aim to please the fans of this fic, and if that means that I have to take a lot of shit, then I'll take it. As for my other fics, here's their status:
Love Hina: Shichinin no Naru: On hold until New and Old Faces is finished.
.hack/CRAZY: Currently coming up with the focus of the second chapter (they are one-shots, after all)
Yugioh: Legacy of Solomon: Third chapter is in the works.
Evangelion fic I talked of in Shichinin no Naru: NOT GONNA HAPPEN. I changed my mind.
Well, we're closing in on the end of New and Old Faces, Same Zaniness. Don't worry, there's still the resolution of the final arc, as well as Brandon and Shinobu's wedding and Naru and Keitaro's kids being born! (grins) There's still stuff to do as you see, and I have thought up the plot to a sequel to New and Old Faces, Same Zaniness! (as well as a possible side-story!) Be sure to review. Until next chapter, happy reading/writing!