Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½™ or Sacrifice™ or any related characters, terms or concepts.
Part 28: The Return of Cinder
It was precisely five days since the "incident" and things were just starting to settle down. Mousse and Nabiki had been missing for the whole day after Blight doused them with that love elixir, and Soun had just started to have one of his patented panic attacks when Nabiki had interrupted him by finally getting home, walking onto the scene wearing a "cat that got the cream" smile and dragging an unconscious Mousse behind her, wrapped up in his own chains. She hadn't said a word but had simply smiled enigmatically throughout her father's inquiries and, after having a bath –during which she had left Mousse hanging upside down from the ceiling via his chains- had gone straight for her room, taking Mousse with her.
Soun, who had apparently been drinking with Genma during the attack, had actually rounded on Blight, remembering a split-second too late precisely who he was dealing with. Luckily for him, Blight understood his reaction and didn't blame him for it; he was positive that Mousse would have been able to avoid Nabiki even with his physical capabilities reduced. Soun had tried to "prevent Mousse from defiling his daughter, but Nabiki had responded to him "interrupting her privacy" by launching a barrage of Mousse's throwing daggers at him.
Blight had managed to calm Soun down by stating that Mousse was clearly unconscious and incapable of doing anything to Nabiki, and also that the potion would not cause sexual desire; merely obsessive love. Mousse's initial actions had born out the truth of this statement; the moment he'd regained consciousness, he'd tried to escape, though Nabiki had immediately set off after him and, eventually, succeeded in recapturing him. Since then, whenever he got the chance he'd try to escape, though Nabiki always managed to recapture him. Storm was positive that Mousse was actually starting to deliberately make the occasional mistake, as though he was actually letting her capture him on purpose. He had to wonder; was it possible? Could Nabiki's affections, albeit magically induced, be provoking reciprocated feelings from Mousse?
Storm hoped not; not only for his own sake –even with his new powers, the idea of having one of his rivals (former rivals anyway) actually living in the same house as him was not an attractive one- but also for Mousse's sake; he was positive that once the love potion wore off in two days, Nabiki would not only revert to her normal coldness towards Mousse but would go beyond it into outright hatred of him as a result of what she had done. Storm didn't think Mousse's fragile heart could take it if he finally had someone who actually loved him, only for them to then start hating him for no fault of his own.
Out of concern, Storm had spoken to Blight about his fears. Other than being gobsmacked about the idea that Mousse might actually fall for Nabiki, Blight had no idea about what the after-effects might be. He'd expected –and admitted as such- that Mousse would be able to evade Nabiki's effects easily enough, but that she would harass him constantly and thus make him realise precisely how annoying his methods were. The two of them had gone to the Cat Café to tell the now-young Cologne and Shampoo about where Mousse was. They had expressed some minor sympathies but were otherwise too distracted to care; Cologne's new body seemed to attract the customers as well as Shampoo's did and the Cat Café was doing marvellous business.
Of course, Shampoo herself was mortified about the way men would actually flirt with her great-grandmother- and the way she would actually encourage them. And of course, naturally, Blight had to mentally scar them all again by warning Cologne that if she wasn't careful, she could end up giving Shampoo a new great-aunt. Shampoo had almost fainted at that. Perhaps because Cologne's most enthusiastic suitor was Tatewaki Kuno, and the interest seemed to actually be mutual- much to Shampoo and the Ranmas' disgust.
It was really turning out to be a week for romance; there was Mousse and Nabiki –though Storm doubted that couple would survive the fading of the love potion, especially given how Soun seemed ready to go ballistic; only fear of Nabiki's wrath currently prevented him from doing anything about expressing his feelings- Cologne and Kuno –and the universe resounded with the sound of countless souls crying out their disgust in perfect unison- And, finally, Kasumi and Herb.
It had turned out that the reason Kasumi had been absent from the siege was because Herb, who had apparently rented an apartment nearby to live in while he wooed the eldest Tendo Daughter, had asked her out on a date before the monsters had reached the Dojo. However, she seemed strangely oblivious as to Herb's intentions, and Storm made a mental note to talk to Sooth about it when he next came back.
You see, Storm had finally finished repairing his Altar the day after Nabiki had drug an unconscious Mousse home, and Sooth had been the very first to request to be sent home. However, rather than simply disappearing like Storm had expected, he'd warned Storm to accept the fact that his counterparts would now pop in on him whenever the mood took them. Blight had finished studying and gone to take his test yesterday, and Storm was wondering how he had done. No sooner had the thought fully formed when his Altar suddenly flared into life, a portal opening and then closing behind an ecstatic looking Blight, who eagerly cartwheeled towards Storm.
"I take it from that little display things went well?" smirked Storm, Blight simply grinning so widely in return Storm wondered if the flesh of his face was about to rip.
"Oh yeah, passed with flying colours- there's a big party to celebrate soon, so I came to borrow some fancy clothing for myself before I let my lovely brides-to-be know."
"Well, I seriously doubt you'll find anything Necromancer-fashionable here- and wait a second, what do you mean brides to be?"
Blight looked sheepish, he looked in all directions, by means of twisting his head 360-degrees, before answering in a soft voice.
"Well, I guess you would have been let in on the secret sooner or later. You know how all of us have managed to choose between the fiancées to decide the woman we wish to marry?"
"Yes" replied Storm, trying to avoid letting any bitterness show- all he had managed to accomplish was to keep the fiancées from treating him like a trophy, and only at the expense of practically terrifying them out of their wits.
"Well, when it came time to my choice, I found a conundrum. You see, I had begun to return the feelings my dimension's version of Shampoo felt for me, the feelings she continued to posses despite knowing what I had became. But there was another. You see, when I had first returned to the Tendo Dojo, it hadn't been to a warm welcome like the rest of you received. My world's version of Akane attacked me, like she always had, though this time with even more venom. She was fortunate I had already sated my bloodlust –and my appetite- on the Kunos and the old lech, or I would have killed her. As it was, I used the Hope Shattering Claw Strike to put an end to her bullying and bragging once and for all."
Here Blight trailed off, lost in his memories with his face twisted in a faint, strangely disturbing smile. Storm blinked at him and then shuddered internally; no matter how obnoxious Akane could be sometimes, he still didn't hate her. Or at least he didn't hate her enough to consider permanently erasing her martial arts skills. He pondered that conundrum as Blight finally snapped back to reality.
"I was about to follow in Cinder's footsteps –though I didn't know of his existence at the time- and leave the Tendo Dojo forever, my father having been officially disowned by me in retaliation for his various sins, when something happened that stopped me, something that no other member of our little group has witnessed."
"What? What was it already?" snapped Storm, who was growing very sick of this twisting labyrinth of riddles and non-answers.
"Soun Tendo actually grew a spine and stopped acting like a pathetic caricature of a man, that's what happened. He actually told Akane off for once, telling her that she had been acting in a manner unfit for a martial artist and that she deserved to lose her abilities. Of course, he had no idea at the time the effect was permanent, but still. Then he apologized to me, and told me that although the Saotome Honour demanded I marry one of his daughters, he would release me from that contract if I so desired."
"Very touching, but it still doesn't answer exactly why and how you have two wives-to-be."
"I'm getting to that! To this day I don't know why, but I actually agreed to give the Saotome-Tendo arrangement another chance. Maybe Soun's display of an actual backbone impressed me on some sub-conscious level, maybe it was just the side-effect of whatever toxins Kodachi had internalised and which were circulating through my systems at that moment in time. My only alteration was that I would not be paired with Akane again. Naturally, he agreed to that change."
"So which sister did you go for? Kasumi?"
Blight started at that name, making a sound somewhere between a spluttered choking and laughter.
"Me? With Kasumi? Are you out of your mind? The same thing applies to her as applies -well, applied- to Nodoka. I'm not that heartless a monster I want to blight her happiness."
"So then who did you go with? I mean, if you broke up with Akane, and refused to get engaged to Kasumi, then that leaves…"
Blight nodded, face twisted into his now oh-so-familiar malicious smirk as Storm unwillingly completed the sum.
"How in the infinite hells could you possibly even consider getting re-engaged to her? Don't you remember what happened the last time?"
"Like I could forget. However, irregardless of the past, things actually worked out between us this time around."
"I'm not going to ask how, because I'm positive that I don't want to know the answer. But I will ask how the heck you can be getting married to both Nabiki and Shampoo."
"Simple. The Joketsuzoku tribe allows for polygamous marriage, as does Stygia. And as far as I'm concerned, the two of them make for perfect brides by Stygian standards; Shampoo to guard my back on the battlefield, and Nabiki to aid me in the political machinations that are so much a part of Necromancer life. Now come on; I need to pick up some new 'accessories' for the graduation party tonight, and I want to surprise my ladies."
"They'll be surprised alright; have you told them precisely what Stygian fashion is?"
"Oh yes, this is just going to nail the information home."
Storm didn't speak –he couldn't speak- and simply shook his head and exited the house, Blight trailing along behind him. Which was a pity; had they remained where they were for just a minute longer than maybe they could have prevented what was to occur. Untended and unnoticed by anyone, Storm's Altar flared into life and an entirely new figure, unknown by any of those who might have been present, steeped through the portal. It looked around its immediate surroundings for several seconds, before shaking its head and fleeing as fast as its legs could carry it.
It was about an hour later and Storm and Blight were finally heading "home" from the one place in Nerima guaranteed to cater to a Necromancer's tastes in fashion; the junkyard.
"Do you think I used a bit too much broken glass? I don't want to seem tacky after all."
"Nah, a crown of glass shards forced into the forehead, and a couple through the flesh of the cheeks, looks good on you; very spiky. It goes with those iron pitons you hammered through your right arm, and all the nails and screws you drilled into your flesh."
Blight grinned, the slits in his lips and the edges of his mouth exposing far more of his fangs than was normal, even for him. By Necromancer standards, he was dressed exquisitely. Which meant that by the standards of anyone else he looked like something out of a nightmare. He was dressed, if that was the appropriate word, in something that looked like a black leather bodysuit- one that had been cut into pieces until it was really little more than an odd-looking collection of strips, somehow managing to make Blight look more unclothed than he would have been had he actually been nude.
The clothing itself was weird, but it was the "accessories" that truly tilted the scale. Blight had taken a vast variety of glass shards and various piece of metal and thrust them into his exposed flesh. He had forced pitons in a "saw-tooth" pattern into his right arm, forming one row above the bone and the other below it. He had forced another piton through the back of his left wrist, so that the point jutted from his palm like some sort of twisted dagger, and had –in perhaps his most eye-wincing decision- hammered three more of them into a triangular pattern around his crotch. Finally, most of the flesh that hadn't been taken up with embedded objects had been viciously gashed, long and relatively shallow cuts forming strange, arcane-looking patterns.
"A pity I don't have the time to cultivate some vermin, but oh well; this should make them go green with envy."
Green with disgust more like…Naturally, Storm wasn't stupid enough to voice his thoughts. As they walked through the house towards the Altar, they were startled when it suddenly flared into life with a considerable deal more violence than was normal.
"WHERE IS IT!" roared a relatively familiar voice. Storm blinked and squinted through the glare to confirm that the voice's owner was, indeed, Cinder. But this was Cinder as Storm had never seen him; with his Mage's Aura fully unleashed.
He literally glowed with fury, his flesh darkened to an almost charred-black and streaked with vein-like lines of fiery orange. The air around him shimmered and danced as though he was radiating incredible heat, sufficient to scorch any foolish enough to touch him to the very bone. With every exhalation of breath a cloud of smoke and glowing cinders poured from his mouth and nostrils. When he spoke, his voice was like that of a forge given form; steel clashing against steel merged with the roar of flames working together to form a facsimile of a human voice. The overall impression he gave was of destructive fury.
"Where is what?" asked Storm, who had been shaken for barely a few moments by the appearance; his own Aura was just as impressive should he choose to unleash it. Cinder didn't respond to Storm's question. At least, not in a coherent manner- his reply was a snarling, screaming jumble of furious outbursts of pure noise and a few raging words that they could make out. Distinctly, those included "sabotage", "experiment", "traitor" and finally, and most disturbingly, "on the rampage". Working hurriedly, Storm managed to deduce a likely series of events from Cinder's ravings.
"So let me get this straight; that experiment you left to work on was sabotaged by a spy implanted amongst your work-slaves by a rival of yours, and now its gone on a rampage?"
"YES!"
"But why did you come looking here? I mean, what are the odds it would be here?"
"You are kidding, aren't you Saotome?"
Storm, Blight and even Cinder blinked at that sudden comment and turned to see Mousse –sans shirt and glasses- staring at them in disbelief. They returned his blank stare for almost half a minute before Nabiki appeared from out of nowhere and struck Mousse over the back of the head with his own "Fist of the White Swan", clucking her tongue and gently rebuking him for constantly trying to escape as she dragged him back up the steps towards her room. A nervous sweatdrop rolled down the back of Storm and Blight's heads- it would have happened for Cinder as well, but it evaporated before it could move. Their attention was recaptured when the television suddenly switched itself on spontaneously; an act they attributed to Cinder's Aura.
"We bring you this report live from downtown Nerima, where what can only be described as a giant mechanical monster is currently on the rampage across the city. As you can see-" the reporter was suddenly cut off in mid-sentence as the creature –they couldn't really see it- suddenly lunged at the camera crew; the screen went blank and the audio resounded with screams, roars and the other sounds of destruction. The television then switched itself off. Without even bothering to look at them Cinder bounded over the wall and headed downtown. Storm rolled a cautionary eye towards Blight.
"Don't say a word."
"Did I say anything? Was I going to say anything? Sheesh, and you call me paranoid."
"You are paranoid- you're a Necromancer!"
"Point taken."
Within a matter of heartbeats the trio were at the scene of the destruction. There, they could plainly see Cinder's creation towering over the skyscrapers. In form it was vaguely humanoid, though constructed massive plates of steel and bristling with what were undoubtedly weapons. Cinder screeched to a halt, heaving clouds of ash from his mouth as he evidentially contemplated the best way to attack the beast, Blight and Storm stopping just slightly behind him. As they stared at the creature in something very akin to awe, Blight muttered something under his breath, at which Storm partially turned his head towards him.
"What was that?"
"I was just wondering why it is that we keep running into these giant monstrosities? I mean, I haven't seen so many behemoth-sized monsters go out of control since a meat-slave of mine left a gate open during Hellmouth Breeding Season."
"Thanks for jamming that delightful image into my brain" moaned Storm. Blight smirked but didn't answer, instead surging forward in Cinder's trail as the shimmering Sorcerer suddenly charged the towering mechanical monster. Storm, not one to miss out on all the "fun", quickly followed.
Manifesting his Soul Blade, a war-whip with the lash formed of dripping magma and molten steel, Cinder roared with fury and lashed out at a gap in the beast's armour, through which could be seen a complex conglomeration of cogs and metal cables. The whip's lash scourged the strangely delicate construction, provoking a returned roar from the creature, succeeded by a blast of intense flames that engulfed the furious Sorcerer. Despite knowing instinctively that Sorcerers were all but invincible against attacks of flame and heat, Storm's heart still skipped a beat as Cinder become a writhing column of fire, only resuming its normal pattern when the flames died away to reveal an unharmed and still defiance-spitting Sorcerer.
Voicing a sound that may have been either insane laughter, deranged shrieking or some unholy cross between the two, Blight literally danced up the mechanical monster's body, savagely beating and kicking at the metalwork all the way up until he reached the thing's crotch, whereupon he kicked off into space as it brought one massive fist arcing down in an attempt to crush him. Its reaction to nailing itself was surprisingly human, and Storm's heart almost felt a twinge of sympathy for the creature. Though nowhere near strong enough to prevent him from launching twin spiralling bolts of ice and lightning magic at the thing's eyes.
It immediately clapped another hand over its eyes and roared with pain, it's free hand warping into a shape disturbingly reminiscent of a gun and moving in Storm's direction. Unfortunately for it, by the time the cannon discharged, hurling a bullet the size of a tour-bus and evidentially stuffed to the brim with explosives, given the size of the crater it left behind, Storm was nowhere near the spot targeted. He winced at the buildings destroyed by the explosion.
"That's not coming out of my pocket!"
Any further complaints from Storm about the possibility of depleting his store of personal wealth were cut-off as the creature lashed out at him with a fist. Storm nimbly dodged it, and then retaliated.
Three Hours Later…"This is getting monotonous" Storm complained.
"You're telling me; I mean, I like a good fight as much as the next sociopathic killing machine, but this has gone on for way too long. Hey coals for brains; isn't there any way to stop that thing?"
Cinder, no long raging in fury but panting from exhaustion –as were they all after three hours of non-stop battle- shook his head, whereupon Blight and Storm both scowled. Even Martial Mages could get tired, and three hours spent trying to keep Cinder's creation from moving its Godzilla act outside of this relatively small area were perhaps the most exhausting thing any of them had done. It seemed that no matter what they hit the thing with, it simply shrugged the attack straight off, while its own attacks had pretty much completely destroyed the area they were in.
As it turned out though, that was to be their key to winning this battle. As the creature lumbered towards them for another assault, it stepped into a massive pool of water, the result of a busted waterline. The instant it did so, it voiced a scream of pain and literally leapt backwards, frantically shaking its foot, much to the bewilderment of the Ranmas.
"What the heck is that about?" asked Storm. Cinder looked thoughtful for a few seconds and then smacked his open palm with his fist, his emotions visibly changing -as they tended to do- back into happiness as he solved the minor mystery.
"Now I remember; it escaped from my forge before I could apply the anti-rust treatments- that metal I built it out of is exceptionally tough but water corrodes it like acid."
"And you didn't tell us this before because?"
"I forgot" Cinder replied happily, eyes closed and smiling innocently. He opened his eyes to blink in confusion as Blight and Storm collapsed face-first onto the ground with enough force to make both craters and an audible crashing sound. With slow, deliberate movements, Blight pulled himself to his feet and walked straight up to Cinder until they were practically face-to-face.
"I swear, once we've kicked this thing back into whatever smelter it crawled out of, I am going to take the biggest, twistiest, sharpest object in my torture kit, and I am going to ram it, right up your…" Blight was cut off by Storm's hand falling on his shoulder.
"Business before pleasure Blight. I'll need you two to hold that thing off while I whip up the weather magic we need to deal with that thing." Blight continued glaring at the smiling Cinder for several seconds before turning and bounding towards the charging machine, Cinder easily matching him as Storm began summoning his namesake. Cinder lashed out with his magma-whip to encircle the beast's wrist and then used it's motion to hurl himself through the air towards its eyes, whilst Blight manifested his Soul Blade in its form of twin kamas and lashed out at the creature's injured foot, the mystical weaponry tearing easily through the weakened metal. As it screeched in pain Blight rushed around to the other leg and launched himself into the air, using them to help himself scale the thing's body like a mountaineer climbing a moving and very angry Everest.
Not that Storm could notice; he was far too focussed on the elemental energies currently flowing through his being and overlaying his vision. As the spell's power began to infuse his every cell, he held his hands, fingers splayed, so that they were about a foot apart. Pure magical energy surged through his arms and then out of his palms, meeting in the middle of the gap to form a crackling orb, which Storm then directed upwards as a blast of energy at the sky. It flashed upwards and disappeared with a sound like a thunderclap, jet-black storm clouds spiralling outwards from the spot where the "bolt" had "hit".
Thunder boomed again as twin lighting bolts lanced out from the epicentre, smashing into the rubble bare inches from the creature. Blight and Cinder quickly departed their positions on the creature as two more lightning bolts scored a direct hit on its chest, sending electricity coursing through its body. Gale-force winds began to howl and scream, roaring around Storm's body and thrusting futilely at the beast just as the sky itself seemed to burst, a torrential deluge of water pouring from the dark clouds and prompting hideous screams of agony from the metal monster. It thrashed and twisted frantically, trying to escape the water, but in vain.
Eventually, its jerking movements became too much for its decaying legs to handle; its feet broke off at the ankle, sending the behemoth tumbling to the ground. Cinder and Blight instantly leapt onto its chest and began rending the damaged metal apart, proving even worse screams from the creature as it felt its internal organs dissolve under the water flowing in through its wounds. Fortunately for it, Blight was evidentially not in the mood to enjoy it's suffering, as he simply smashed in its eyes and let the water dissolve the thing's brain after less than a minute of its tortured screaming. Once the creature had stopped twitching, Storm stopped the deluge, leaping forward to join Cinder and Blight at taking in the full scale of the destruction.
"I'm not cleaning this up" said Storm.
"Me either" answered Blight. The two of them turned to look at Cinder with a mutual calculating gleam in their eyes, which prompted the Sorcerer to take a few steps backwards with his hands raised in a half-hearted warding gesture.
"Come on now, what are you thinking?"
"This mess is your fault, so you can clean it up!" Storm snapped, jabbing Cinder forcefully in the chest. Cinder looked ready to argue for a second, but a quick glance at Storm and Blight's mutual expressions was enough to convince him of the futility of his efforts. He simply sighed and nodded, turning to examine the debris with a calculating expression as his two counterparts headed back to the Tendo Dojo.
Okay, I'm sorry this took so long to do. All I can say is that "damn, I hate writer's block!". Most of the reviews from the previous chapter expressed interest in my "plane-jumping death rally", but I got no suggestions for rides for the Ranmas or which planes for them to head to. Please post those suggestions if you want the race to start in the next chapter.
Also, just a final warning; I feel interest in this fic is beginning to wane. I will continue writing chapters only so long as people continue to express interest; from now on, providing a chapter receives at least 4 reviews, I will write a subsequent chapter. If it receives too few reviews –or no reviews at all- I will stop writing this fic. Naturally, if I receive more than 4 reviews, I will get the chapter written much faster.