A little help to the readers (more to come if needed):
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"Mouko Takabisha" Attack/ Technique „/Hello/" Panda signs
„\Hello\" Telepathic „/Hello\" Telephone
Part 17: ...SAOTOME RANMA!
The pigtailed boy felt pain coursing all over his body. The orchestra of a storm was nothing new to him and neither was the loving embrace of mud on his face. "I gave you ample opportunities to surrender, but you stubbornly refused." A familiar female voice caught his attention, but he didn't have the strength to open his eyes to see who it was. The sound of someone walking next to his prone body followed by a sharp kick to his side didn't help the situation. What caught his attention the most was a small group, five or maybe more people approach by the sounds of their footsteps.
"Do not toy with the beast. You know well what it is capable of even in such a state, we have all witnessed it plenty of times before." A man... drained, fatigued and most of all worried at least judging by his voice. Then again this fear was not baseless as Ranma could feel his strength returning as the seconds passed. Barely able to open his eye, he caught the sight of-"WAKE UP!"
A shriek stirred the pigtailed boy and the first thing he saw was a female looking creature. It was a strange cross between a human, a bird and a lizard. While its face and body looked humanoid, a lizard like tail danced behind her and the plumage that adorned the top of her head and lady parts gave her a rather exotic alien look.
The strange avian-reptile looking woman let out a sigh of relief as she looked into Ranma's eyes.
"For a moment I thought that you had a seizure attack." She tilted the screen to let the guest see it. It was full of charts, statistics, some sort of text kept rolling down as it recorded the information it needed.
"I am pretty sure that you won't understand most of what is on the screen. Don't feel bad for it because I barely do myself and I am supposed to be the medical officer on the ship." The woman seemed rather amused by the rather alarming statement. "You might not understand what I'm saying but it does feel better to talk to you. I feel like such a ditz for yapping to you about this. Anyway it was rather impressive how you..."
Not knowing where to put the girl and this conversation the pigtailed boy decided to assess the situation he was in.
"(Okay... first, I don't know where I am at the moment. Second I'm in a tub and floating in rather worrying cyan coloured liquid. Third I'm nude which isn't making things better. Fourth... Said tub has a transparent lid on it. Fifth I have to find Lum and... uh, Yukioh? Yeah that's it!)"
"... and to tell you the truth Raesso, Instra and Lalis were all shocked when you tackled them from behind! I couldn't imagine anyone would be able to beat the trio into submission that fast other than Naier. Then again he is a Mac-ska... and a rather remarkable one at that. A compliment to his species! It was rather strange seeing you get all nervous when you faced him... then again who wouldn't am I right?"
"(She's still talking?! I guess she could hold a conversation with a brick wall and be happy with that. I might be able to use it to my advantage, if I ask the right questions.)"
"To tell you the truth I wasn't sure what to think of you when they brought you here. You suddenly lost consciousness after Naier hit you! Maybe others would have done as well now that I-"
"Where am I?" The sudden question stopped the talkative woman's track of thought as she realised that the patient spoke to her.
"So you CAN talk! And you know the galactic common as well! What a relief. For a moment I thought that I was just talking to myself since you can't understand or talk to me. I must have bored you not letting you talk-"
"Where am I?" The girl blushed as she realised that she didn't answer the redheads question.
"Sorry about that, you are on board of a space vessel known as the Diamond Rain. It's owner and captain is Lord Himo. At the moment we are about to dock in a space station named Alafan Tha'ghur."
While she did answer the question, the answer was rather useless to Ranma.
"How far is that from the Solar System? The system you all kidnapped us." The girl was rather taken back by those words.
"We didn't kidnap anyone! Lord Himo gave you a chance to become much more than you could ever be on your home planet. And to answer your question we are about 32 qadranai away or 100 alumi, if we use the federation system.
The pigtailed boy turned girl was getting impatient and had to calm down the raging storm of fury in her chest.
"(For... FUCKS sake. She gives all the answers but I don't understand a word of it! But at least I know who our captor is.) When will you let me out of this tub?" The redhead tried her best to put on a poker face as she wanted to strangle the infuriatingly talkative chicken alien in front of her.
The sudden change of tone caught the alien by surprise but a rather welcome one as she pushed a few buttons on the computer.
"As soon as Lord Himo arrives to talk with you, after all he was rather surprised by your combat prowess. And more so after Naier mentioned that it was painful hitting you! Tell me, are the males of your species as tough as the females or are you an exception? A mutant of some sort?"
For a moment the pigtailed girl wasn't sure what she meant, then she realised that she was still in his female form. "(DID SHE JUST CALL ME A GIRL?!)" The fury was back with a vengeance and this time Ranma could not hold back. The alien girl jumped back as the redhead broke out of the machine. Her petite body trembled for a moment before her right fist broke through the transparent case with ease. The sudden force of the hit was enough to not only brake the case but also the lid it was on as the machine's hinges couldn't bare the power behind it and the lid (or what remained of it) impacted into the ceiling 4 meters above her. The girls screamed in fear as the redhead jumped onto her feet, while her stature wasn't much to brag about, the show of power made it even more worrisome.
The girl tried to run out of the medical room but to no avail as Ranma grabbed her by the collar of her uniform. "Did you just call me a girl!?" The poor girl was trying to say something but only gibberish left her mouth. A moment of clarity came to the pigtailed girl as she let the girl go. "Where is Lum and Yukioh?"
"Who?" Hearing the question Ranma let her fist to do the talking as it dented the steel wall right above the alien's head. "Where is Lum and Yukioh?"
Unknown to Ranma, in the other side of the ship the captain of the vessel saw and heard every moment of what happened.
"Impressive, her strength and speed is remarkable. With her on my side... yes, with her I could finally start my plan." Himo drank the remaining content of his cup. His eyes became distant for a moment as he looked on the screen. The plans of the future came to an abrupt halt when Ranma dented the steel wall. "Himo you fool! Don't start daydreaming when there is a situation on your hand!" After a few swift button pushing he opened up the comlink to the three soldiers.
"We have a situation on our hands. Go to the Medical Room right now! If possible try to lure the red haired girl into the central community room. There Naiere will join you and the four of you should be enough to pacify her. I need her alive so don't even think about killing her!" Not waiting for an answer he looked over to his cat servant who nodded and left the room.
Ranma was running down the corridor when she saw that yellow lights flooded ship. "This is not good... probably an alarm or something. I better hurry it up, from what that chicken thing said I have to go up four floors and go left when I get out of the elevator. But where is that damned elevator?" For a moment she played with the idea of just busting through the ceiling but in the back of her mind, a scene played out where she jumps into the middle of the engines. "Yeah... let's not risk it, if possible."
After a few minutes of searching the redhead found the elevator or at least the contraption that took her to the desired floor. As soon as the door opened she darted out and ran.
"(I don't know which room they are in but I guess it won't be that hard to find.)" As she reached a corner in the corridor the moment her foot left the shadow of the corner her danger sense signalled and she ducked back into cover just in time to evade the barrage of laser beams.
"(That was too close for comfort.)" She looked at the wall that had huge charred spots where the laser met the metal. "Ryoga would probably feel that so let's not get hit by lasers." Quickly taking a peek, she saw three female soldiers aiming their weapons at the corner.
Seemingly the captain of the trio caught her peeking and grabbed something hanging from her waist. "Listen up! I'll count to ten and, if you don't give yourself up like a good little girl, then I'll just use this pulse grenade and blow you to bits." While Ranma wasn't sure what a pulse grenade was, she was pretty sure it wasn't a nice thing. Not getting an answer the girl started counting."One!"
"(Not sure, if the endurance I built up to Happosai's bombs would help this time... think fast.)" She could try making a dash for it but the corridor didn't have enough space for her to jump around. "(The lasers would probably hit me, if I tried that. I could... act like giving up and knock them out when I'm in range... then again they might have back up for all I know.)"
"Four!"
"(WAIT WHAT HAPPENED TO TWO AND THREE!? SHIT! Maybe finding another route would work? But I don't know the layout and this might be the only way there!)"
"Five!"
Getting rather annoyed at the time constraint and not knowing what to do Ranma punched the wall in anger.
"(I could try breaking through the wall. They would probably hear it thou... that will be plan B at worst situation.)"
"Seven!"
"Why can't I just turn invisible and... Pops, I think I will have to break an oath today."
The soldiers looked at each other not sure, if Raesso is really going to throw the grenade. Then again, if they don't the girl won't take another bluff.
Instra, the grey skinned girl with the exoskeleton didn't like the silence. "Do you think she is still there?" Lalis, the girl with the horns on her head shrugged then looked at her bracer. "I'm reading a heat signal, so she is probably still there. Unless she can leave a heat signal and just leave." Raesso stopped counting as the two started discussing possible ways to capture the girl.
"Shut up you two! You are ruining my plan for fucks sake."
"Who died and made you commander?"
Before they could start bickering Ranma stepped out of the corner. The two instantly aimed their rifles on her just in case she tried something. "Finally! Maybe you aren't as stupid as I thought. Now slowly lay down on the floor." Instead of following her orders, the redhead slowly walked towards them. Not sure, if the girl went crazy or had some trick up her sleeve, Lalis and Instra fired warning shots. The girl wasn't fazed by it. On the contrary! She was running towards them!
Out of sheer panic the two aimed at her and pulled the trigger. To their dismay and utter horror the girl was like a ghost, phasing in an out as she dodged the lasers. One time the laser went through her head as if she was thin air!
As terror grabbed their hearts firmly, Raesso grabbed her blaster and started shooting. "(Himo will kill me for doing this but this bitch is dangerous! He doesn't know what we are dealing with!)"
Her shots slightly slowed the redhead down but before any of them could have acted, Ranma was already in lunging distance.
A swift palm strike and a kick unarmed Lalis and Instra, who were nursing their hands as Raesso pulled the trigger. The pigtailed girl fazed out of sight as the beams went through her. The still armed alien quickly found herself without her blaster and the grenade... and a lot of other stuff she had on her, like the ammo pouch was halfway on the corridor's floor. She screamed retreat and turned around only to find the floor coming towards her at a rapid pace.
"They are not here yet. What could be keeping them?" The cat man mumbled as the door leading towards the bowel of the spacecraft suddenly flew out of its designated place. From the corridor the somewhat expected redhead appeared. The cat man wasn't shocked by the sight before him. "You didn't disappoint me creature. But you should know that all this show of force was for nothing." Ranma took a step back at the sight of the giant bipedal cat.
"(Even without the nekoken... I-I have to- I have to find a way around it and quick.)"
Her sudden unease wasn't lost on Naiere.
"(Lord Himo was right. This female fears me for some reason...)" The cat man dashed at the redhead who put up a brave show. Naiere lunged at his target only to see the girl jumping over him! In any other circumstance this show would be enough to make him applaud... but now was not that moment. Using the momentum of the lunge, the cat man punched the floor, piercing the floor with its claws and without losing too much velocity turned around to catch the girl.
Ranma barely landed and she already had to dodge a clawed hand ready to tear into her. A quick sidestep was followed by kick that caught the cat-man right in the snout! While it was caught by the surprise attack Ranma jumped up in the air and did a donkey kick in mid air to rebound the her opponents skull. While this should have been enough to topple the creature the cat-man didn't seem amused by her antics. It didn't even nurse the wounds.
The cat glanced at its paw then back at the redhead.
"(If she is this powerful under the affect of fear I don't want to know what she is capable of!)" The damage wasn't something he couldn't shrug off considering its stamina and ability to soak hits, but after the last few moments Naiere wasn't so sure about his victory anymore.
While Ranma was a rather involuntary participant in this fight, she still attacked purely by reflex as Naiere came into striking range. The cat man stalled for a moment as the small fist came into contact with his jaw. The force of the impact was enough to daze it and as revenge it struck out and caught Ranma with the sudden snap attack. The girl yelped in pain as the clawed foot did more than just hit her thigh! Adrenalin rushing through her body as she felt the claw marks and jumped high enough to catch the cat off guard and did an aerial mule kick to its chest. The cat flew backwards from the sudden force but after a fit of coughing and grasping for much needed oxygen it was back on its feet again.
"(How is it this strong?! Why can't I take it down?)" Ranma was in a near panic, as she dodged a flurry of strikes. While moving out of the attacks she snuck in hits but the cat-man didn't seemed fazed by them! Her worst fear came when the cat man lunged at her once again but she couldn't find the will to move.
"So this is where it ends, huh? It's a rather poor show of you are capable of, Ranma."
The familiar voice caught her attention and the pigtailed girl's eyes opened to see Ranryu standing before the cat-man who was floating in the air.
"What? Ranryu? What did you do?" The silver hair man smiled at her and looked at the cat man.
"Nothing... yet. I'm rather disappointed in you. I take a little nap and you already get yourself into trouble." The pigtailed girl's expression changed from surprised to angry hearing that.
"So I try to talk with you numerous times and only NOW you show up, huh? Convenient... and what do you mean by nothing yet?!" The spirit wasn't amused by Ranma's words and instead studied the cat creature.
"Even I need some rest from time to time. And to answer your question, my actions will depend on what you will do." His eyes locked onto Ranma's and the redhead saw something in the ancient spirit's eyes. She wasn't sure what it was but it made her shudder.
"What I will do? You mean by beating this... thing and rescuing Lum and Yukioh?" Ranryu sighed at hearing the answer.
"I can see that you are doing a great job beating this overgrown feline. So when will you accept defeat and become whatever they want to do with you?"
"WHAT?! I can beat this ca-ca-THING!" The white haired spectre smiled at hearing those words.
"Is that so? Because from where I stand... you are not the one I would bet money on. On the contrary I would say that, if this battle continues for a few more minutes than your crippling fear will be your downfall." Ranma saw red as she heard those words.
"Well you are dead WRONG! Saotome Ranma never loses and I'm not afraid of anything!" With that she turned to face the cat man who got closer slightly while she was talking with Ranryu.
"If you truly do not fear this creature then why do you hold back? Are you just toying with it? No. Only the fear remains of the Neko Ken... something that only you can get rid of." The spirit lips formed into a smile that showed a bit of teeth and the deep laughter made Ranma shiver as an ice cold torrent ran through her spine.
"You know what? Before I intervene... I'll give you a chance to prove that I am wrong."
Without any warning time returned to normal and Ranma used that moment to juke her opponent and the cat man landed on the floor before sliding a good three meters. With some of her confidence emerging from the sea of terror that his creature caused her, the redhead dashed forward.
"Rise and shine my adorable guests. I have a little show for you two." A familiar and repulsive voice woke Lum from her slumber. She wasn't sure why she fell asleep but once it came to her it explained the slight headache she was suffering from.
"What do you want creep?" The caption/owner of the ship wasn't faced by such words.
As Oyuki slowly awoke from the forced slumber the first thing she heard was her friend Lum's voice as it spew profanities at the disgusting captain of the vessel.
"Now, now, settle down. I have a little show for you two. After my team escorted both of you on my ship I was rather... alarmed when an unknown third member appeared and started trashing my crew."
The green haired oni girl's eyes expended as the screen showed Ranma escaping from the medbay and trashing the ship on her way.
"So you know her then? As you can see, right now she is fighting my personal aid in the hub of the ship. And believe me when I say that she is a remarkable specimen in this boring sector of the galaxy... but this time she bit of much more than she could handle."
At the moment the redhead sported numerous wounds, some no more than scratches and bruises but the sight was not a pretty one. Just as she was about to turn her sight away Ranma got punched in the gut with such force that the girl made an imprint on the wall and now that the cat man cornered her the barrage of attacks didn't slow down.
While Himo enjoyed the variety of expressions Lum showed as she saw the redhead girl fight of the cat creature, Oyuki had other plans. Within a moment the room froze over as the Queen of Neptune got out of the rather comfy but revolting bed. It took a few seconds for the Oni to realise that the image stopped and she was staring at a black screen. Oyuki wiped Lum's eyes and cheeks clean of tears. At that moment Lum snapped back into reality
"We have to save Darling!" With that she jumped up from her position and rammed through the steel door leading to the corridor.
Oyuki smiled as she followed her friend and hoped that they arrive in time.
Lum's anger and fear for her loved one manifested in lightning bolts cascading around her as she flew down the corridor. Any guard unfortunate enough to get in her way as she followed the signs towards the hub got electrified by her fury. Those who got up after that had to face an even more dangerous adversary in the form of Oyuki who completely froze the corridors and rooms with everything and everyone in it that they passed.
Naiere's attacks felt like boulders hitting into her at a low level Amaguriken speed. Ranma could take the beating by defending her important organs, but even she had her limits.
"(Just a moment more... at this rate it will run out of steam!)" And just as the redhead hoped the cat man started slowing down and quickly cocked its right arm to give the last strike.
In that moment Ranma switched gear and started her flurry of attacks.
"(Faster! STRONGER!)" She screamed in her mind and started using more power and gaining even more speed. The cat man's mouth opened to give voice to its pain but no sound came out of its throat as the redhead's fists met its flesh hundreds of times per second.
After the barrage of attacks that lasted only a few seconds but to Naiere it felt like hours on hours of pain. One last devastating strike hit him in the chin and sent tumbling across the room.
Even gasping for the life giving air was painful as Naiere tried to push himself up only to realise that his whole body felt like the jelly he had for desert yesterday.
"(I... I can't feel... I can't feel my body!)" Trying one more time to push himself onto his knees at least, Naiere found out that even the most basic of movements caused him pain unknown before.
Ranma calmed down as the catman tried and failed to get up from the ground. Her legs trembled and fell on her knees as the adrenalin slowly disappeared. As she felt her fear of cats creeping back into the shadowy corner of her mind the door on her left opened. Ranma quickly got up on her feet ready to face the next challenger but to her surprise it was familiar faces.
"DARLING!"
Lum lunged on the redhead to hug her while Oyuki just smiled at her friend's antics. While the lovebirds were all over each other she took a quick look of the room and was rather interested in what she saw. Not far from them the mac-ska specimen on the ground, a door that was knocked or rather ripped out of its place... not to mention the signs of a rather violent fight. A smile formed on queen's lips as she could already imagine what they missed.
"Somehow I'm not surprised."
"What was that Oyuki?" Lum asked while she was hugging the Saotome girl. The Queen looked back at the two and found the redhead trying to get her head out of the Oni girl's bosom.
"I was just surveying the arena. While I do not enjoy observing fights for my own pleasure it does seems like we missed a rather interesting battle."
"That you did, indeed."
The trio turned towards the huge door where the owner of the space vessel stood. Ranma tensed up as she tried to get on her feet. Sparks started appearing around Lum as she was ready to thunderbolt the creep. Only Oyuki kept her cool but to the watchful eye one could see snowflakes appear around her.
Himo raised his hands in a defensive manner to calm them but his actions gained no such trust from his captives. "No need for any hostilities. I came here personally to congratulate the fiery vixen and to tell you that she just earned your freedom."
The two girls and the one part time girl looked rather confused at the nonchalant way the alien talked about the situation.
Before the more hot headed couple could say a word Oyuki quickly took over the conversation.
"May I inquire... what right do you have to take away our freedom?" Hearing this, Himo smirked and let out a rather feminine chuckle.
"A certain someone made a request to the Core Merchant League and they passed the job of to contractors... like me. Fortunately for you I was in the area to take it before any of the less civilized freelances turned up." Hearing this shocked the Oni and Yukionna but before any one of them could question his words a huge screen appeared in front of them.
"As you can see on those documents there is the seal AND was signed by the leader of the league!"
While Lum and Oyuki were looking through the documents to see any error or signs of false paperwork Ranma was rather annoyed at the whole situation. Not to mention that she saw Himo looking at her in a rather... disturbing way. Quickly pulling on her power reserves she found them slowly recharging to a tolerable level.
"(The fight with that thing took more out of me than I thought but I can still easily drop kick this creep into the next week and leave this dump.)" Once again her body tensed as she caught Himo's eyes staring at her... the way someone looks at a piece of meat.
"STOP STARING YOU CREEP!" This stopped the two girls from their search and the screen disappeared before they could have a word in the matter. Himo smiled again and took a few steps closer to the group.
"Forgive me for my rudeness. It is just... a rather rare opportunity that I find someone from this sector who can face and WIN against my dear little Naiere." Himo turned his head to look at the feline laying on the floor in pain. "I usually register him into rim world arena matches where the most colourful of creatures gather to entertain AND to be entertained." A smug smile crept onto the alien's face as it took a step closer to the trio.
"And to my utter surprise it wasn't only us of the rim world populace that enjoyed watching such... barbaric forms of entertainment." He stared at Lum and the oni girl felt violated just by the stare.
"ENOUGH!"
The redhead girl's voice boomed as she subconsciously let ki flow into her voice box. Before Himo could understand what was going on Ranma was already in front of him. The girl's very presence caused him to take a nervous step back as the ice cold blue eyes stared into his.
"I had enough of your mind game bullshit! We're leaving NOW!" The Saotome girl turned around and walked back to Lum and Oyuki who were surprised by the sudden force the redhead radiated. Looking at Queen of Neptune who was still trying to understand what just happened left a rather awkward moment as Ranma deflated with a loud sigh.
"Can you take us home? I'm tired, hungry and most of all... I REALLY need to use the bathroom."
Neither of the two alien girls was sure what caused the giggling fit but after calming down a bit Oyuki commenced to open her gateway.
While Ranma was keeping her sight on the disturbing kidnapper, she caught from the edge of her vision that Lum's expression changed to a troubled one. After shooting a 'don't even dare' look to the disturbing alien, the redhead look towards the oni girl.
"Something the matter?" Lum nodded gently.
"Oyuki can open up a gate in a matter of moments usually..." Before the green haired girl could finish Oyuki spoke up.
"It will take a few minutes to open the gate. Since I want to take us back to Neptune and NOT to somewhere in the Solar System... I first have to find the anchor in the palace." While this calmed down Lum it wasn't enough to work on Oyuki. "(I hope the anchor is still intact or functional!)"
"If I may intervene... until my dear queen finishes doing her part we could have a conversation." Himo voiced his thoughts that earned him two rather displeased looks from the redhead and the oni girl. "I know just the right thing to... haha, break the ice."
With that a table appeared between them, with what looked like
"A tea set?" Ranma was rather amazed that the beverage reached to space or that a similar plant existed out in space.
Himo raised his left eyebrow as he sat down. "I am not sure what this 'tea' you speak about is unfortunately. This is a dried kawka berry and while some find its taste bitter, I am one of the many who cultivate such fruits."
Not sure if she should accept the liquid offered, her parched throat was a good enough reason for Ranma to drink. Lum looked worried as the redhead took a sip.
"It's pretty good. Tastes like someone mixed coffee and tea." After seeing that there was no trick to be discovered... yet! The oni girl drank from the liquid.
"The example is close enough in taste but kawaka bushes are native to arid planets."
After a few minutes of discussing the similarities and differences between kawaka, tea and coffee Himo changed the topic of the conversation.
"While this cof-fe and tee sound delightful I would have a few questions to you, my dear ember child." Said redhead cringed at the amount of kuno in the sentence but nodded in response.
"Who are you exactly? You displayed commendable prowess against Neir and yet I have never heard of you before."
Ranma looked back at her drink, sloshing the liquid in her cup before taking the last sip and looking straight at Himo. "Ranma, Saotome Ranma." Lum arched an eyebrow at this reveal but with just her Darling's name, the mercenary shouldn't be able to do much with. Himo looked disappointed with the short answer which kind of unnerved Lum.
"I find you interesting, Ranma. The wild passion you displayed in saving the ladies. Are you by chance a bodyguard of miss Invader or Queen Oyuki? "
"I'm just a friend." The oni girl held back the need to remind Ranma but curiosity got the better of her.
"(Just is he playing for? Neir won't be ready to fight even with medical help. Maybe fishing for information he could use against us later? Oyuki... please hurry.)"
For a fraction of a moment Himo's smiling mask broke. Surprise showed before quickly settling back into the usual annoying smile.
"Well that is a surprise in this time and age. But now I understand your passion that mesmerized me, a passion that will turn out rather lucrative when the Arena gobbles up the footages."
Ranma was curious about this aforementioned Arena but before she could ask a surge of power rushed her. Looking towards the source her eyes found Oyuki standing near the gate. The queen patted down her neck and took a few deep breaths before turning towards them.
"I think it is time we take our leave."
The oni girl put down her empty cup and stood up from the table. "I hope that our next meeting will be a friendlier one" The forced friendly smile matched Himo's mask as the alien captain nodded. To Ranma's surprise Lum grabbed her by her pigtail and started pulling the redhead towards the gate where Oyuki stood.
"If you ever need a sponsor for the Arena think of me, my dear lady Ranma." While being pulled inside the gate she heard Himo's voice one last time before another voice entered her head.
"\DON'T GO IN THE GATE!\"