Dark Titans – Arc 2 - Big Trouble In Little Tokyo
Chapter Eight
Enjoy if you will, Tolerate if you won't.
Brushogun watched on in awe as his four avatars rose up before him. Basking in abject joy, the Demon Lord of Ink leaned his head back, closing his eyes serenely. It wasn't darkness that greeted him, though, but rather a mosaic of sights. With his eyes closed, he looked down upon both himself and his opponents through a hundred different eyes; flitting, hovering minions lovingly crafted to let him watch every single aspect of the spectacle to come.
Of course, his many flying spies saw many inconsequential things as well. Literally hundreds of police officers swarmed nearly every adjacent rooftop for several blocks. Each one armed with the most advanced and most expensive equipment that the Japanese government could get its grubby little hands on. Further out, at about a kilometer from his chosen stage, military vehicles were gathering. The poor fools actually thought they could stop him if their champions failed. Their foolish pride made him want to laugh . . .
So he did.
But least trivial of all, were the news helicopters. Dozens of the hovering vehicles circled the area, packed nearly close enough for the pilots to exchange bottles of sake, but high enough to stay out of harms way. His smile widened, there were news companies represented from one end of the country to the other, not just Tokyo's own stations.
He had made very certain of that. He had spent several hours last night, contacting and tipping off every news crew in the country. Unfortunately, it meant that the authorities had had more than ample time to evacuate this entire section of the city. Thus, the innocent victims would be limited to those stubborn few that viewed their homes as their castles, or overly sentimental fools that refused to leave their precious pets behind.
After all, if he had just wanted to kill Saotome and his cronies, he could have done it without any effort. Killing them in their sleeps, poisoning their water, or any hundred other pathetic, unworthy and most importantly, anticlimactic methods that a common assassin might consider.
No, that just wouldn't do. He wasn't just here to kill Saotome; he was here to crush him. He would destroy him so utterly and with such casual contempt, that every single member of his world wide audience would be left quivering in stunned silence. After tonight, after watching a group of their bravest and finest being cut down by the most iconic powers of popular culture, all of Japan would bow before his power.
After that, the world would soon join them.
With great reluctance, Brushogun pulled himself back; back down from the clouds, down from his omniscient view of the city. For just a moment, he felt incredibly small, as if he were three pounds of meat being packed into a one pound bag. The world pressed in around him, the blackness crushing down on him. Quickly, he opened his eyes, wavering slightly as he readjusted to seeing through his own eyes once more. It was an odd sensation, seeing the world through a hundred eyes, but it was a sensation he was eager to embrace. After all, what kind of god was ever so limited to only seeing through two slippery orbs of meat?
Another moment passed before he was finally able to see straight once more, just in time to see the last of his Chosen take shape before him. Looking past them, past the enormous bulk of the neon mecha that he had summoned with his power, he gazed upon his enemies. Eagerly, he drank in the looks of fear and shock on their faces, especially on the face of his true, pigtailed rival. Obviously, Saotome was well versed enough to recognize most, if not all of his minions for what they truly were.
With a twitch of his finger, Brushogun willed the giant robot to take a single step forward.
"-cked," finished Saotome weakly. It was easily the harshest curse that Daizo had heard out of the kid yet.
Not that anyone present was going to disagree with that statement.
Daizo had no idea who the fruity looking kung fu guy, the cape wearing brat or the publicly indecent girl were . . . But who the hell cared about them when they had a twelve freaking story giant robot to deal with?
Some days it just didn't pay to put on the badge.
Uehara, along with everyone else, watched the four figures uncertainly. Who the heck were these people? Where on earth had their opponent summoned them from? How was a girl in a skirt that short supposed to fight anybody? Even more disturbing to the veteran police officer, though . . .
Saotome Ranma was easily the most horrifyingly powerful martial artist he had ever met. (The others didn't really count, after all, they'd come after and nothing ever compared to your first time.) The stormy eyed youth performed feats of speed, strength and skill that were simply beyond description. Now, Daizo was by no means a Christian, but one analogy had become trapped in his mind after meeting this exceptional youth. To him, watching Ranma in battle had been akin to watching an angeldescended from Heaven . . .
So, if Saotome was an angel . . . why was he looking at that gi wearing guy like he was God?
His rather unnerving ruminations would go unanswered, as the giant robot chose that moment to take a momentous step forward. The immense armor plated mass that was its foot crashed into the ground about twenty feet in front of their small group. The ground quaked under his feet as its indestructible heel crushed into the pavement, utterly ruining a section of street large enough to drive a sedan into.
Well, that pretty much did it for him. There was no way he was getting stepped on when he wasn't just a single day from retirement! Ranma seemed to have other ideas, taking a panicked step forward, before spinning wildly back to face them all.
"Damn! It's time for the Saotome School's Ultimate Technique-" His cry was cut off, though, as Ryu roughly pushed him aside with a heavily muscled arm.
"We don't have time for any stupid techniques! Everyone, run away!" he barked loudly. Without even a second's hesitation, Natsume, Kurumi, Thunder and Lightning all nodded quickly and burst into action. Each pair of siblings took off in a flash, back in the direction of the massive twin towers behind them, already splitting up. A second later, Ryu took off as well, though cutting down a side street much sooner than either of the two teams.
For just a moment, Ranma stood there, a look of such incredulous shock on his face that, in any other situation, Daizo would have laughed his butt off at the pigtailed kid. Of course, given the situation, he just turned tail and ran like hell to the nearest building. A second later, Ranma burst into motion, just managing to leap forward before a neon-purple boot big enough to move into crushed him flat. Then the Saotome boy was tearing off down the road at nearly three-quarters of the speed that he'd ran away from that Catgirl.
Not being near as inhumanly fast as his companions, the aging police officer just found the nearest doorway and ducked inside quickly. As soon as he was more or less out of sight of that Brushogun character, he turned back and peeked around the corner. The ground shuddered loudly as the robot took another monumental step forward.
Behind the robot, Brushogun and his three other minions stood, watching the fleeing warriors in perfect stillness. Then, the ringleader dramatically raised one of his overly long, clawed hands into the air . . . then dropped it rapidly on an angle, as if cutting the very air itself. The effect was instantaneous.
Suddenly, against all the laws of momentum and inertia, the skyscraping robot suddenly crouched down and exploded forward into a full sprint! It was all he could do to grab the nearby door handles to stop himself from getting sucked out of the shallow alcove he was hiding in by the massive vacuum left in the machine's wake. He'd never seen anything so large move so fast in his life!
At the same time, the three figures still at Brushogun's side also burst into motion. The sailor suited girl with the oversized can opener suddenly leapt up to one of the nearby rooftops, one of the fifteen story rooftops, and nearly vanished into a roof hopping blur in chase of the rapidly receding fighters.
The spiky haired boy with the blood red cape sprang forward, nearly gliding with unnatural grace. His first stride easily carried him fifty feet in the blink of an eye before his feet even touched the ground. After that, his speed only increased. Daizo could only shake his head, as unbelievably fast as his friends had been moving, his enemies were moving even faster. Heck, as for the orange gi wearing guy . . .
Hell, he just vanished!
As Brushogun's mad laughter filled the air, the Lieutenant slowly let out a silent breath of relief. Just like he'd figured, all of the bad guys had chased after the actual threats, his young boys and girls. He peeked around the corner again, seeing the lone figure of Brushogun, his head thrown back in evil delight. Looked like old Brushy had forgotten all about him already. That meant he had one good shot to do something . . . He looked down to the, suddenly woefully undersized laser cannon in his hand . . .
If only he had any idea what to do with that shot . . .
A slight shift of motion caught his attention, coming from low to the ground, right to his villainous opponent's side . . . The ebony figure was almost indistinguishable from the madly chortling demon, but he recognized it for what it was soon enough.
Hmmm . . . maybe there was something he could do . . .
Ryu skidded wildly before taking another sharp right turn. He was sure that if he kept up his speed, that he'd be able to circle around and attack Brushogun from the back before any pursuers could catch him. Not that he was overly worried about being caught, asides from the giant robot, anyway, none of the others had looked that impressive at all. However, he had no idea how powerful that Brushogun actually was, so a surprise attack was definitely the most prudent course of action.
In a matter of seconds, another city block flew by in a drab flash of grays and blacks. Another block and one more right turn, and he should be back on the street that he'd started on. Then, though it wasn't really his specialty, he could sneak up on Brushogun from the back and demolish him before he even realized what was happe-
A streak of red slashed through the dull hues of the twilight lit street. He might as well have been standing still as the slash of color moved up from behind, only to fly past him at dizzying speeds. It tore through the air, until it stopped abruptly a half a block ahead of him. As soon as it stopped its insanely fast movement, the red blur resolved itself into the young, cape wearing boy.
Ryu smiled, widely and malevolently. It appeared that he'd gotten lucky. Of all of Brushogun's lackeys to have to fight, the spiky haired kid before him was easily his first choice. The gi wearing guy looked like he might have known a few moves and been bit of a headache; fighting the girl would have been plumbing the depths of humiliation. He didn't even want to think about the giant robot . . .
The young man glared back at him, a scowl on his face and a deep growl on his lips.
Ryu just smiled wider.
This would be over fast.
"Well, that fight is gonna be over fast," chortled her diminutive genius with sadistic glee. "I don't know who the heck that scuzz-munching loser is, but he's so freakin dead it ain't even funny! No . . . wait . . . actually it is pretty funny!"
Nabiki rolled her big brown eyes, even as she watched the various news feeds herself. There were at least a dozen news firms covering this epic battle, which meant there were more than enough cameras present to provide her with a full picture of the unfolding battle.
"I don't know, Gizmo, Ryu there isn't exactly a slouch when it comes to fighting. He's actually one of the more powerful martial artists to come knocking on Ranma's door. I think he might surprise you," she replied smoothly. Not that she really believed it, but maybe she could sucker some of her boys into a little side action . . . betting wise.
Gizmo scoffed as loudly as she had ever heard him scoff . . . which was quite an accomplishment; he liked to scoff at things a lot, she'd found. The extremely young man turned to face her, a skeptical look on his face.
"Heh, I don't care if he can shoot atomic powered snot-blasts, there's no way he's winnin' this. He's up against freakin' Tetsuo . . . Tetsuo, boss!"
Hmm, so much for laying down any rigged odds now. One of her fine eyebrows arched in curiosity. "You've seen Akira?" she asked.
It was Gizmo's turn to roll his eyes. "Please, it's a movie about a dystopian future where science goes mad, of course I've seen Akira!"
Mammoth grunted loudly, breaking his way into the conversation. "Hey, ain't that that movie yer always tryin' to get me to watch? That Japanimation stuff?" queried their mammoth teammate.
Nabiki shot the boy a simmering glare. "We prefer the term, anime, thank you." She smirked happily as the five hundred pound slab of meat that could squeeze her insides out like a tube of toothpaste cringed at her words, then she turned back to face Gizmo. "And you're right, Ryu is a dead man."
It was about then, that the dishy brunette shook her head, still not believing the scene unfolding before her. What on Earth had Ranma gotten her family involved in? When he had made it obvious that he'd wanted to get into the hero business, she'd never imagined that he'd actually manage to find enemies even more bizarre than the ones he normally drew in. What was next, bird people from the dark heart of China?
Still, this latest battle did present her with a unique problem. Gently using her thumb and forefinger to massage the bridge of her nose, she watched her future brother-in-law and his companions dance around the monitors. "Honestly," she muttered darkly, "I know, I just know that I should make Ranma's life hell for getting my sister involved with this kind of insanity . . . but I honestly can not think of what I could possibly do that could be worse than being attacked by some magically powered Super Otaku . . ."
A red masked head ducked in the doorway, staring through goggled eyes to look at the many many monitors. "Hey y'all, what're y'all watchin' in here? Do ya reckon that I can watch too?" asked the heavily accented Billy Numerous.
Nabiki looked down to her empty hand, then to the red clad boy filling up her doorway. "Of course you can, Billy . . ." She smiled sweetly . . . for about three seconds.
"As soon as you get me my coffee."
Lightning soared over the many buildings, purposefully slowing his pace to allow his tragically slow brother to keep up with him. The occasions that his brother's slow and deliberate nature actually annoyed the electrically charged youth were few and far between (really, being limited to the speed of sound?) thankfully, this was not one of those times. After all, they wanted to be followed this time; if he moved as quickly as was his birthright allowed, then none of his opponent's would have been able to catch him.
As always, he relished the sound of the air ionizing in his wake, the sharp crackle of his energy, as he flew effortlessly through the air. The dull rumble of his brother's passage followed dutifully in his wake, just as nature had always intended. Ah, yes, life was good.
"Brother, which of the monster's followers do you believe we will engage in battle?" the rough baritone of Thunder's voice rolled over his ears like a peal of his namesake. Lightning took a moment to think about that. Really, the answer was obvious.
"I most certainly hope it is the metal behemoth! Surely only that great beast is a worthy challenge to our boundless power. Let our companions, with their meager skills, deal with those other, lesser, creatures," he stated proudly. As skilled as Saotome and Kumon were, their raw power paled in comparison to his own. He could hardly hold it against them, they were mere humans, after all, not Avatars of Nature itself! And truly, what opponent would require more raw power to destroy then the skeletal giant of steel?
A thoughtful expression settled upon his brother's face, a most common occurrence since their ill-fated battle with those Titans. "I have been thinking about that, my brother. Does it make sense for our enemy to summon four different entities, only to have one be so obviously greater in power than the rest? Perhaps, in the eyes of that demon, all four are equally dangerous . . ."
Hmm, a rather sound piece of deductive inference, that. It certainly hadn't been the giant beast that their comrade, Saotome, had been staring at with such dread. Of course, all that accomplished was piquing his interest even further. It seemed that the potential for fun was quite high this night indeed!
"Well, there is only one way to see, my brother," he replied excitedly, "I believe we have traveled far enough, let us see who possessed the audacity to pursue Thunder and Lightning!" Matching deed to word, Lightning careened madly to the streets below, crashing down to the street in a bolt of his namesake.
He realized, dimly, that due to their monumental speed, they had already left the evacuated area of the city. Indeed, they were now a mere stone's throw from the great bay this city encompassed. That, at least, was a mixed blessing. He was certain his comrades would be quite unhappy if they were to bring a battle down into an inhabited section of the city. At least this way they were in the relatively empty port section of the city, most of the sea workers having already turned in for the day. There would undoubtedly be some stragglers, working through the night, but he knew how to clear them out.
Still waiting for his brother to catch up, Lightning raised his hands into the air. Energy began to dance and spark between his outstretched fingers, he marveled at the sight for a moment. A second later, Thunder landed at his side, a peal of thunder crashing down with him. A good start, that. As soon as his larger brother landed, Lightning unleashed his gathered power back into the heavens.
A hundred lances of light exploded from his fingers, dancing wildly, intertwining and intersecting as they spread out into a massive cone before vanishing into the night's sky. For just a second, the entire city was lit by his power and every light within a hundred meters exploded into brilliantly glowing sparks.
He smiled, it was an impressive display, though diffusing his power over such a vast area would have rendered it mostly harmless against any enemy he might have faced. Not so for the feeble machines that surrounded him, though. He had always found that technology was a fickle and flighty thing, dependant upon his power to survive, yet given too much, it dies instead . . .
Well, if that didn't cause any lingering workers to flee in terror, then he doubted the gods themselves could move them.
Sadly, now they would be forced to wait . . . Oh, how he hated to wait! It went against his very nature, to strike in a flash, without warning, and never in the same place twice. At least . . . at least it would allow the people smart enough to flee the time to do so . . .
It was still unbearable!
A flash of movement from a nearby rooftop caught their attention! Lightning's discontented frown bloomed fully into a beaming smile. It appeared that their opponent was not so terribly slow after all!
The blur of motion touched down on the ledge of a nearby building, before launching itself skyward once more. After hanging in the air for a surprising amount of time (for those unable to fly, at any rate) the figure alighted on the pavement before them with the gentle ease of the ocean mist -
A second later, the haft of her mighty weapon crashed calamitously to the ground, shattering the pavement as if it were fragile glass. With a deep, grinding groan, the sailor suit wearing girl dragged her long, wicked glaive from the crater it had formed at her side; hefting the massive polearm with unnatural ease. The light of the newly rising moon reflected brightly along the sharpened length of her weapon, along the gentle curves of her tiara and over the massive jewel set in the center of her chest. All together, it produced a most striking image.
Lightning turned slowly to face his brother, his wide smile reverting slowly back into the frown it was borne from.
"Why must we always fight the pretty ones?"
Bumblebee dragged her companion through the halls of their very nearly complete tower with gleeful abandon. The smile that adorned her full, perfect lips was in due, partly, to the fact that they had a very nearly complete tower through which to drag each other. In the span of only a little over a month, with the help of a certain cyborg's tech, and a certain samurai's funding, their ragtag little team had gone from homeless to lavish!
Of course, most of the credit for her winning smile had to be given to said companion that she was currently dragging through the hallway. As much fun as it was towing the chisel featured young man around, a small part of her was taking a rather childish joy in the simple act of holding his strong (relatively speaking anyway) hand.
"Please, Karen, I beseech you! For what reason are you displacing my noble personage in such an undignified manner?" asked the samurai with the perfectly tousled hair. Sure, he was putting up a big fuss about being dragged around, but she could see the smile he was struggling so vainly to contain. She giggled to herself, not that it mattered, since even if he didn't actually want to be dragged around, she was more than strong enough to just toss him over her shoulder and carry him off.
Hmm, the idea tickled her funny bone nicely. The sword toting boy had to be the most socially outdated guy she had ever met. She bet that being tossed over the shoulder of a strong, modern woman would probably blow his mind completely!
"No, no, no," she teased lightly, "No spoilers, Tatie! Trust me, though, I swear you're gonna love it!" She knew he would, too! She had had to custom order it, but Cyborg had been more than happy to help a sister out. Heck, she bet the big bag of bolts had as much fun putting the order together as Kunou would have when he finally saw what she got for him.
Kunou rolled his eyes mightily, still bravely maintaining his put upon expression. This, of course, only made her smile wider as she continued to pull him along by his han-
A piercing squeal, sharper and louder than a wild beast being skewered suddenly assaulted them as they passed by the door to the main room!
She looked to Kunou, in shock, and he matched her surprised look. As one, they both turned to look at the door, then turned back to lock gazes again. As one, they reached the same conclusion.
"Ukyou!"
"The Chef!"
. . . Okay, not exactly the same conclusion . . . One of these days she was going to have to explain to her teammate that Ukyou was not, in fact, just the hired help.
A second later, they burst into the massive room that served as their operation center . . . only to see a sight even more disturbing than Bumblebee had imagined.
Ukyou was indeed in the room . . . jumping up and down hysterically while swinging her spatula back and forth fast enough that the winged girl wondered why she wasn't airborne.
"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! It's Sailor Saturn!" gushed the hyperactive okonomiyaki chef.
Bumblebee and Kunou both stopped, struck speechless by the display of fangirl glee gone mad. On the massive screen behind the bouncing girl, an aerial shot of what looked like some kind of port was displayed. In the center of the shot were three figures, one yellow and orange, one blue and black and the final one white and purple. What in the world was Ukyou watching?
"Sailor who?" she asked incredulously.
Her male companion dropped a hand on her shoulder. "A female champion of love and justice known well in Japan . . . Of course, it is also quite well known that she is but a fictional character, drawn from the pages of a famous manga. What she is doing battling in our tenuous world of reality, I know not."
She took a moment to sort through the jumble of words that was commonly interpreted as "Kunou speaking" and drew out what she figured his actual statement was.
"Wait a second! You're saying that some comic book character is fighting it out in the street with a couple of . . .," she muttered disbelievingly, only to stop in shock as recognition hit her like a ton of bricks.
"Hey! I know those two guys! They were in our files on the Titans. The little guy is Lightning and the big blue guy is Thunder!" she explained quickly. What in the world was going on there? Sure, they weren't anyone that she'd actually ever met, but she sure as heck knew they were real, so why were they fighting a fictional character?
".. . . the blue one . . . is named . . . Thunder . . .," at her side, Kunou was mumbling to himself.
No time to figure out what his problem was. Taking a decisive step forward, she grabbed the remote from Ukyou. "Hey, what the heck is going on here, Baker Brain?" she asked harshly.
Finally, her female teammate calmed down . . . somewhat. "Hell, I have no idea, BB, I was just channel surfing when I hit this. I figure it's some kind of Cosplay thing going on back home. Whoever that girl is, her costume is awesome. Don't know about those guys, though, probably homemade costumes, I bet," she replied excitedly.
Bumblebee rolled her eyes. "Ukyou, this isn't some fan service thing! Those two guys are real, as in fought the Titans real!"
Ukyou seemed to consider this for a moment, tapping a graceful finger against her narrow chin. She then turned to face her once more, a perfectly serious expression on her face. "Wow . . . that's so cool! Man, I almost feel bad for those bad guys, then. No one can beat Sailor Saturn," stated the girl, her words sounding just a little bit too happy for Bumblebee's comfort.
Bumblebee just stared at the girl . . . not quite feeling up to explaining the whole turning over of the leaf that had occurred. She doubted the giddy chef would even believe that her idol was the bad guy here . . . apparently . . . Why the heck did Ukyou worship this Sailor Saturn anyway? She just looked like some tarted up girl in a skirt that wouldn't even make a decent bracelet. Wait a moment . . .
Slowly, Bumblebee's eyes slid from the gleaming Glaive on the screen, to the gleaming Spatula that Ukyou held clutched to her chest. Slowly, her eyes slid back from Ukyou's polearm back to the sailor's polearm . . . Ah, sooooo . . .
Suddenly, Kunou burst back into the conversation, sputtering angrily, "Unacceptable! I must return to Japan at once! This outrage cannot go unanswered, honor demands it!" proclaimed her potential man in a most cryptic manner. "I will find this blue Thunder and defeat him myself!"
"There can be only one!"
Kurumi was nearly in tears as she frantically tried to keep stride with her older, longer legged sister. She hated being so frightened, so childish, especially when her sister was being so brave and strong . . . but, really . . .
They were being chased by a giant robot!
Why, oh why, did it have to be the giant robot? Why couldn't it have been the little girl? That wouldn't have been scary at all, she didn't have any trouble fighting other girls. Or that spiky haired boy with the cape, he'd actually been a tiny bit cute . . . in an angry, icky boy kinda way. Either of those two would have been good. Better than good, great even!
She could barely even keep her own footing, as the staccato beat of their impossibly fast pursuer set the entire world to shaking madly. The only thing she could do was chase Natsume, keeping her eyes glued on her sister's back, just so she wouldn't get disoriented and turned around. She didn't even dare to look back at the neon purple monstrosity that chased them.
Suddenly, her sister reached back and grabbed her hand, pulling her ahead just a bit. Kurumi double stepped quickly to avoid falling flat on her face and dragging her sister down with her at the move. She looked up into her sister's face, a questioning look on her own.
"Follow me, Kurumi!" shouted her older sister, just to be heard over the machine gun crashes bearing down on them. Natsume then turned her attention back ahead of them, to the massive twin towers of the government building that loomed before them. "I have an idea!"
"We just need to get to those towers!"
"Holy one-sided battle royales, Robin!" cried the emerald changeling. He ignored the glare that said birdboy leveled in his direction. "Those two hot chicks from before are gonna get totally stepped on by that Evanjellydonut!"
For some reason, everyone surrounding the Titan shape shifter groaned loudly and rolled their eyes.
Turning back to the dozen or so screens the main view screen was currently divided into, each one showing a mismatched battle to end all mismatched battles. The giant robot/hot girl fight still stood out the keenest to the green skinned changeling. Well, not that he could exactly call it a fight yet, considering the two girls were still running like heck. Hmm, all things considered, it's probably what he woulda been doing in their situation too. Really, what the heck did you do to hurt a freaking giant robot?
"They're called Evangelions, Beast Boy," Robin corrected him, sounding a little ticked off.
"And Robin would know!" Cyborg stated cheerfully, slapping a hand on the masked boy's shoulder. "I mean, what with him and Starfire dressin up as EVA pilots last Halloween! Man, you remember that, BB?"
Beast Boy howled hysterically as Robin's face suddenly glowed to match his shirt! Unfortunately, their fun was cut short by a dry, if somewhat irate growl from off to the side of the room.
"How can you be joking at a time like this?" muttered a more irate than usual Raven. "Ranma and his friends are in actual danger, if you hadn't noticed."
Ryouga, standing on the other side of the dagger glaring Robin nodded forcefully in agreement. "Yeah, I wanna know why the heck that pigtailed jerk didn't tell any of us there was some kind of epic duel going on tonight! Now he's in totally over his head and there's no way that we can get there in time to pull his butt out of the fire," growled the (much less handsome) fanged boy.
Robin stopped glaring just long enough to nod as well. "I don't understand why he wouldn't have asked us for help. After that last battle, he must have known something like this could have been possible. I can't believe how stubborn he can be," he grumbled.
For some reason, Raven pulled up her hood, apparently doing her best to vanish into its dark folds. Considering how innocuous she was being about it, Beast Boy would have sworn it was the dark girl's equivalent to whistling innocently. But that was just silly, what did Raven have to act innocently about? Anyway . . .
"Shyeah, right," he scoffed loudly. "You two are just jellin cuz Ranma is gonna take out big bad Brushy without your help."
The two boys looked at each other, then, and in a very rare moment of perfect agreement, they turned back to face him. As one, in creepy synchronization, they answered-
"Heck no!" Ooooh, stereo!
"We're jealous because he gets to fight-"
"-Goku! Anyone but Goku! Anyone but Goku!" he repeated his newest mantra over and over again as he frantically tore down the street.
He stopped just long enough to suck in another lungful of oxygen . . . and fire off a silent prayer to the gods above. 'Please let it be the EVA!' That'd be nice, wouldn't it? After all, it couldn't really destroy the world without all of the existential weird stuff that he didn't understand at all popping up everywhere. And, really, what was an AT field compared to anything else out there? Yeah, fighting a twelve story metal monstrosity would definitely be the best case scenario tonight . . .
For some reason, Ranma almost felt like crying.
Heck, he'd even take the sailor scout. After all, she could only destroy the world once, he was pretty sure he could handle that. And that other guy, he was pretty sure it was the guy from that really famous anime movie . . . what the heck was his name again? Meh, like it mattered, Ranma was pretty sure that guy was only capable of blowing up the city . . . that'd be pretty easy to deal with . . . wouldn't it?
"Anyone but Goku! Anyone but Goku!" he started chanting aga-
The pigtailed martial artist skidded to a stop, he could practically smell the soles of his shoes melting from the friction. A sudden surge of chi appeared before him, a fraction of a second later, the owner of that chi appeared before him. Somewhere, far, far, far, far in the back of his mind, he was reminded of the two other teleporters he had fought before and how he'd begun to find the ability's weakness. Unfortunately, the cognizant portion of his mind had absolutely no time to consider such trivial facts considering the sight before him.
Floating confidently before him, bulky arms crossed tightly across his massive chest, was-
"Goku!"
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! That was so completely just his luck.
The caped crusader watched the numerous monitors intently, studying the various combatants, analyzing the potential outcomes . . .
Or, at least that's what he was trying to do!
"C'mon, Batsie! Let's just go down there and clean this mess up, it's pretty obvious those kids down there are totally out of their league here," suggested the Flash, his voice nearly whining.
Batman let out a silent sigh and turned to face the rest of the room's occupants, though he was sorely reluctant to tear his gaze from the upcoming battles. It was a small group; most everyone was out on various other missions. The Flash was just a few feet behind him and to his side. Further back, the Man of Steel watched the various news feeds with a concerned look on his face and his arms crossed over the red 'S' on his chest. Sitting at a console further down, also watching the monitors, was Green Arrow; it was obvious that Ollie shared his interest in the combat skills these youths had demonstrated in their last televised battle. Finally, leaning against a wall at the back of the room, generally being ignored by everyone, was Booster Gold . . . for some reason . . .
Unhappy with the interruption, he leveled a flat glare at the crimson speedster, "You know the agreement. We don't interfere with the Titans unless they ask us for assistance," he stated in a low voice.
"Be reasonable, Bruce," implored the Kryptonian in the room, "This battle isn't like dealing with someone like Death Stroke or Brother Blood, this Brushogun creature is a serious threat. Besides, there aren't even any actual Titans down there."
"Yeah!" cheered the Flash, "Besides, I'd pay money to see Supe's get his butt handed to him by Goku!" He quickly ducked out of the way of Superman's glare, though, since in this case, looks could kill.
Surprisingly, Green Arrow spun around in his chair to join the conversation. "The kid's got a Titan signal on him, that's real enough for me. Besides, do you think those kids down there would actually be grateful if we just descended from the heavens to lend a helping hand?"
Batman nodded in a rare moment of agreement with his non-metahuman teammate. "Unlike a certain alien or Amazon princess, not all of us are going to be around forever. We need to let this new generation of potential heroes develop on their own. If we dropped down and took over every time we thought they were in over their heads, how would they grow? Remember, none of us had anyone there to hold our hands along the way. No, we wait until they actually ask for help," he stated with no small amount of finality.
Flash let out a loud groan. "Seriously, I don't get what the big deal is! These kids ask each other for help all the time. I seriously doubt any of them are actually that proud. Honestly, there's been so much back and forth going on around the world lately, that I can't even keep my fantasy superhero team straight anymore!"
Off to his side, the emerald archer just shook his head sadly. "You just don't get it, do ya? There's a huge difference between asking their peers for help and asking the League for help." The rather clueless expression on the Flash's face prompted Green Arrow to continue . . . after letting out another beleaguered sigh. "Look, Flash, these kids ask each other for help, so they can help each other in their battles. People don't ask Superman for help, they call Superman to be saved."
A rare look of understanding flashed across the speedster's face, his mouth forming into a tiny 'o' shape. Further back, the Kryptonian in question raised a finger, as if preparing to argue the point . . . then slowly lowered the digit back down. Batman hid his smile of satisfaction at getting his point across, even if Arrow had to do it for him.
Honestly, it was unlikely that Green Arrow or himself would actually be able to contribute much to the battle down below, except for knowledge and experience. However, if Superman or the Flash were to go down right then, they wouldn't help the group of warriors, they would take over instantly and finish the battle themselves.
"I don't get it, what's the difference?" grumbled Booster Gold from the nosebleed section.
Batman was sorely tempted to answer that question, but, being one of the founding members of the Justice League, a certain amount of respect and tolerance was expected from him. So, instead, he was more than content to field that question back to Green Arrow, who was under no such compunctions.
"Of course you don't get it. You're only in this for the money and fame. These Titans, old and new, east and west, are all doing this for just two reasons: their morals and their pride. Since you don't seem to have either, I doubt you'll ever understand why these kids need to fight their own battles . . ."
The caped crusader smiled, he couldn't have put it better himself . . .
Now, he just hoped these children survived his expectations of them.
Daizo held his arms tighter to his chest, his laser pistol held firmly in both hands before him. His back was pressed firmly to the wall of the alcove behind him as he took a few more seconds to steel his resolve. He took another long breath, feeling the gentle breeze in the air blow over him. It fluttered through the folds of his trench coat and teased the fringe of his fedora, even as the slight chill cooled his clammy skin. As far as last moments went . . . it was actually kind of nice, very Zen.
Finally collected once more, he took another glance around the corner, taking in Brushogun and his target once more. Hmmm, that was odd . . . not to mention interesting. Brushogun was still in the same pose he was nearly a minute earlier. The bizarre creature was still standing perfectly still, back arched, arms upraised and head thrown back in rapture . . . except there was no maniacal laughter this time. Brushogun was just . . . staring at the sky, except his empty, white eyes were closed.
Hmmm, indeed. The veteran officer had no idea what the circus freak was doing, but he knew an opening when he saw one. Letting out the breath he didn't even know he was holding, Daizo slowly slid around the corner. He stood there for a moment, completely exposed if his unstable opponent did so much as cracked an eyelid . . . but it never happened.
Feeling a little emboldened, but not about to go crazy here, he slowly began to slide towards the towering ebony figure, keeping his back pressed to the building faces as he went. It was slow, nerve wracking work and he froze several times at perceived twitches or tricks of the light. Eventually, after a seeming eternity, he was in position, pressed back against the wall directly beside his target. Only thirty feet separated him from the weakly gasping figure at Brushogun's . . . feet?
It took him nearly half a minute to build up the nerve to move from there. As tough as he was, he was still keenly aware that he was the Lilliputian in the land of giants. Just one look at those inky black scythes that Brushogun was trying to pass off as fingers was enough to remind him just how easily this thing could kill him if it really wanted.
Why, oh, why, did doing the right thing always equate to doing the stupid thing?
In a burst of speed that would have made Saotome slap a hand to his face in shame, Daizo pushed off from the wall. He ran as fast as his mere mortal legs would carry him, skidding to a stop right above his goal. Not even waiting to see if Brushogun noticed him yet, he knelt down and picked up his target . . .
The nearly unconscious form of one: Tendo Akane.
It was a bit hard to tell, what with the healthy coating of . . . black, but it was hard to miss the fact that it was definitely a young woman in his arms. He wasn't a detective, but it didn't take a large leap of logic to determine the girl in his arms was the missing fiancée of Saotome. Well, either that, or an evil doppelganger set out to kill anyone foolish enough to try to rescue the girl . . .
Damn, he sure hoped it wasn't that.
Well, screw it, too late to go back now. A quick glance up showed Brushogun still not paying attention to anything but the inside of his eyelids. What the heck was the guy doing?
He shook his fedora clad head, now wasn't the time to be worrying about that. He had a civilian to get to safety. Granted, it was a civilian that could wipe the floor with him if she was up and about, but still, it was all part of the job. Moving as quickly as his burden would allow, he made his way to a nearby alley and ducked inside. He made sure he got out of sight, at least twenty feet into the alley, before he finally set the girl down.
He gave her a quick once over, looking for any obvious signs of injury, but luckily didn't see any. Her breathing was still pretty shallow, but considering that Brushogun had been carrying her around in his pocket, that wasn't much of a surprise.
In a sort of gentle manner, he slapped her cheek, trying to snap her back to consciousness. After several ministrations, he was rewarded with a large wad of black sludge spilling out over his coat as the girl suddenly coughed up the last few dredges of whatever it was that she'd nearly drowned in.
"Hey," he whispered quietly, "Hey, kid, are you all right?"
The girl spent a few more moments coughing and gagging, but eventually her eyes rolled in his direction. They had never met before, but he was pretty sure that she recognized who he was, judging by the look in her eyes. Apparently not quite feeling up to talking yet, she just nodded weakly.
He let out a long sigh of relief at that. He wasn't about to be doing any fighting, but at least he'd gotten her to safety. Hmm, better make sure, though.
"Are you Tendo Akane?" he asked a bit tentatively.
The dyed girl stared at him oddly for a moment, before nodding weakly again. ". . . y . . . yes, I am."
He let out an even longer sigh of relief at that. Oh, sure, she could just be lying to him and just be waiting to disembowel him as soon as he turned his back, but, hey, he just wasn't that paranoid. "Alright, let's get you to safety then. My men are all around here, all we have to do is get you to some of them and they can get you out of here," he explained seriously.
Daizo stood up then, carefully pulling the girl to her feet with a hand on her arm. She seemed to be regaining her strength faster now. However, he seemed to be having some trouble with leading her to safety . . . namely the fact that he was completely unable to budge the young woman. Pulling a little harder at the girl's elbow yielded no better results, heck, she didn't even seem to notice his efforts. All of her focus was on the mouth of the alley.
"Um, Miss Tendo, you aren't exactly making the whole 'getting you to safety' thing any easier," he mumbled in annoyance.
That seemed to work, as the girl finally turned back to face him. Her expression was surprisingly serious, and more than a little angry. "We can't leave yet," she stated flatly, "I need to tell Ranma what Brushogun is. He might be able to figure out how to use it against him."
Hmm, well, that seemed interesting. "Well what the heck are you waiting for? Tell me now so I can figure something out, then you can tell Saotome the next time you see him. In case you didn't notice, all of your little kung fu buddies are getting chased down by murderous manga moguls," he said quickly.
Akane looked ready to disregard him completely for a moment and run off to find Saotome herself, obviously no respect for her elders, but soon enough she nodded. Turning back to face him, she carefully removed his hand from her shoulder. Gentle as a vice wrapped in silk, anyway, damn, she just did not look like she should be able to do that kind of stuff, and yet, she was Saotome's fiancée.
"Brushogun is a demon. But not just any demon, he claims to be a demon of ink, newly resurrected from its centuries long slumber," she told him seriously.
"Well, that doesn't sound any crazier than anything else around here," he muttered in disbelief. "How exactly does that help us, though?"
"It means that none of those people that Ranma is fighting out there are real, Officer. They're just facsimiles, they might look like the originals, but there's just no way that they can be as powerful as the real ones. Especially not those four. If I can tell Ranma that, he might be able to figure something out. Or, at the very least, he wouldn't be as worried about them as he must be right now," she explained carefully.
Still not overly helpful, but she was right about that last part at any rate. Plus, that first point of information gave him a very important amount of leeway in how he could deal with the situation. Taking a step closer to the mouth of the alley, he nodded to her seriously. "Alright then, I'll go . . . get Brushogun's attention. As soon as I do, you go find Saotome."
Rather than inquire as to his plan, the girl just nodded and together they moved to the end of the alley.
Yep, just as he expected. Brushogun was still just standing there, looking up like a turkey in the rain. A smirk formed on his weathered lips as he looked across the gulf that separated him from the Ink Demon. He then lifted up his pistol and played around with the settings, setting every single dial to its maximum setting: aperture, intensity, duration. He'd probably drain the damn thing dry in his first shot, but what the hell, no time to worry about that now.
Not being the overly dramatic type, Daizo didn't wait for some fallen leaf or drop of water to signal his charge. Rather, he ran out as soon as finished playing with his high-tech toy, which was already starting to hum worryingly in his hand.
He pounded the pavement between them, closing the space as quickly as he could. A few seconds later, he skidded to a stop right in front of Brushogun. This time, the inhumanly tall demon seemed to react to his presence, starting to lean forward slowly and uncertainly. Daizo smiled, 'Too slow this time, Brushy.' Now it was his turn to play rough . . . After all -
It's a well known fact that Demons are not entitled to due process.
"Eat this, you spectral anomaly!" he roared righteously.
With that, he lifted his angrily whining hand-cannon up before him and pulled the trigger. The weapon started to vibrate slightly in his hand, the whine increasing several octaves as a blinding red light began to build up at the end of the gun's barrel. A hundredth of a second later, the end of the gun exploded into a beam of coherent crimson light six inches in diameter!
The beam crashed into Brushogun's jaw, cutting through the skin like paper and scorching the bone to ash in seconds. The lance of energy carried on through the Brushogun's head, dissolving his face instantly and blasting out the back of the demon's skull, on into the depths of space. A half a second after that, heat akin to that of the sun boiled all of the liquid in his skull and his entire head exploded in a great gout of black ichor!
With a great thud . . . Brushogun's lifeless body collapsed to the ground, a steady stream of midnight black ink spilling out onto the pavement.
Daizo just stared down at the body in shock, eyes as wide as saucers . . . Wow, that hadn't been quite what he'd expected. Had . . . had he actually done it?
He continued to stare at the corpse of Brushogun, not quite sure what to do with himself. Finally, after a full minute, he let out a long, weary breath.
"Just get up, would you? I'm not gonna turn my back just so you can rise up dramatically behind me and strike me down," he muttered in disgust.
Like he was really going to believe that this fight was going to end that easily? His luck had never been that good, and it had been a hell of a lot worse since he'd met Saotome.
Much to his unsurprise Brushogun's headless body rose up from the ground . . . his motions seeming downright petulant. Within moments, stomach turning moments that would join the exploding Mecha-Boi and deflating Godzilla in the dark recesses of his memories that would return to haunt him in his nightmares for years to come, Brushogun's head reformed before his very eyes. If it weren't for the inhuman features of the demon, Daizo would swear he looked annoyed.
"First you spoil my entertainment, then you spoil my fun? Perhaps Miss Tendo was correct, people seem to know this story just a little too well," hissed the demonic entity.
Daizo stared at Brushogun, seriously beginning to doubt the demon's sanity. Then he shrugged, like he should be lecturing anyone on the merits of sanity. "Alright, then. Brushogun, you're under arrest. Do you want me to read you your rights, or do you already know those lines?" he asked with a sneer. He then raised his weapon up once more, highly dubious as to its functionality.
His demonic opponent seemed to consider his statement, apparently trying to construct some scathing and witty reply worthy of true, villainous banter. Unfortunately, then his demonic opponent seemed to realize that he was talking to an old man with a busted ray gun.
"Oh, shut up!"
Then Brushogun backhanded him . . .
Hard.
Akane winced harshly as she watched the Lieutenant's body go rag dolling through the air. A moment later, he crashed through a second story window of a nearby apartment building, sending a spray of shattered glass into the air. She certainly hoped he survived; he wasn't exactly a martial artist.
Unfortunately, she hadn't exactly taken full advantage of the Lieutenant's distraction, being so shocked by what he did that she'd been frozen herself. This, of course, had one notable and negative repercussion.
Brushogun began to slither in her direction, smiling malevolently indeed.
.
"Kaneda . . ."
Ryu stared at his young opponent, not sure what the heck the guy was going on about.
"What the heck are you going on about?" he asked, taking the direct approach. Rather than answer him, the caped fighter just started to glare at him hatefully. It was slightly unnerving . . . and were those dust particles starting to float up around the spiky haired kid?
"Kaneda," this time he hissed the name like it was poison. Slowly, the boy began to hunch down slightly, pulling his arms to his chest. Several veins began to form on the boy's massive forehead, pulsating dangerously.
Ryu took an unconscious step back. "Hey! I don't know who the hell this Kaneda guy is . . .," he stated slightly nervous for no logical reason.
If his enemy heard him, he paid absolutely no mind. Instead, the young man straightened out painfully, screaming at the top of his lungs, even as the pavement buckled and shredded around him in an awesome display of power!
"KAANEEEDAAAA!"
On a nearby rooftop, Private Kaneda curled up into a fetal position, rocking back and forth in panic.
"Oh, God, it's just like my dream!"
Half a world away, a diminutive genius jumped up excitedly, pumping a tiny fist into the air.
"TETSUOOOO!"
"Oh, shaddup!"
"HAAAAAA!" Thunder howled to the night sky as he unleashed the full fury of the power alongside his brother. They weren't here to prove their skill like their companions, this was a match of pure power, and none possessed more power than Thunder and Lightning!
Pushing out his glowing, rumbling palms with all of his strength, a lance of pure sonic energy exploded from his outstretched hands. Every window in a hundred yards shattered to dust, heralding the horizontal column of thunder given form. It tore through the air, unerringly seeking out the scantily clad female before them.
Side by side with the four foot diameter beam of his energy, his brother's bolt of lightning scorched the air with its passage. The air screamed as it was ionized and vibrated into unrecognizable molecules by the power of their combined attacks, the pavement shattered like glass, then melted into glass, the very heavens themselves roared in approval.
Rather than scream in terror and flee, as Thunder expected, the sailor suited girl simply lifted her great halberd before her, parallel with the earth. Just before the attacks reached her, the girl's lips moved in a whisper, her words lost to the din of the thunder.
Then she vanished. The entire world went white for several long moments, as they unleashed the true extent of their elemental powers. Buildings quaked to their very foundations and the city was once more lit up like day as they continued to feed their energy into the strike of annihilation. Finally, after many long moments, they were forced to cease their attack, both of them slumping forward, flushed with sweat and breathing like a bellows.
Revealing the completely unscathed figure of their nemesis. Lingering arcs of gold and azure danced along the edges of an invisible dome that encompassed and protected the girl perfectly. Devastation surrounded the girl on all sides, utter and complete, yet not even a single pebble had been disturbed within the confines of that impenetrable wall . . .
Then, the sailor soldier lifted the glaive up, above her head, its gleaming blade pointed to the heavens. Again, her lips moved, this time her words glided across the perfect silence that was the epilogue of their great attack.
"Silence Glaive Surprise . . .," the words were said in hardly a whisper.
With casual, deliberate ease, the lovely young women then lowered the tip of her long weapon to the ground before her and, almost as an afterthought . . .
She tapped it to the earth.
Natsume pushed her sister to the side as hard as she could, even as she leapt in the opposite direction. A fraction of a second later, a metallic hand of unbelievable proportions smashed to the ground between them. The pavement buckled and lifted around the edges of the hand, and Natsume used the rising slabs of infrastructure to launch herself into the air and move further away from the armored behemoth and its numerous attempts to swat them like the insignificant gnats they were.
The usually calm and collected sister let out a relieved sigh when she saw her sister mirroring her movements. This battle was nothing like the struggle against the great dragon a week earlier. That creature had been sluggish and clumsy, slow to strike. This beast was a creature of a different color completely . . . in more ways than one. Lanky and graceful, precise and quick . . . Frankly, it would be a miracle if the two of them could actually make it to the massive government buildings only another hundred meters away. Though it was a pitifully short distance, especially to a pair of world weary travelers, at the moment it was the longest stretch of land she had ever remembered seeing.
A moment later, she was at Kurumi's side, running headlong to their destination . . . Then she noticed something odd . . .
The earth had stopped shaking! She turned frantically behind her, to see if the giant had leapt into the air, attempting to crush them under its massive bulk . . . But, that was not the case. She and Kurumi stared in confusion as the skeletal machine sat on its haunches, recovering from its latest attempt to crush them to very small smears. It was very unnerving, as the machine almost appeared to be staring back at them, its horned head bobbing slowly from side to side.
"M-maybe it's tired?" muttered her not quite panicked sister. Natsume was proud of her, being able to maintain her composure against such a fearsome opponent, even if just barely. She couldn't imagine there was another girl in the world Kurumi's age that could boast the same iron will.
It was about then, that Natsume remembered her plan. Why in the name of the Gods were they waiting for it to chase them again? She began to back up, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder and gently pulling her along, though nervously keeping an eye on the great beast.
Then the robotic monstrosity raised its right hand up to the massive pauldron that covered its left shoulder, for what reason she could not fath-
With a hiss, the large piece of armor split in half, revealing a massive handle, which quickly angled itself to be gripped by the monster. The robot did just that, pulling out what appeared to be a small, butterfly knife . . . A small butterfly knife with a blade at least ten feet long! Then, even as the pauldron closed mechanically, the blade began to hum loudly, glowing with an odd, purplish aura for some indiscernible reason.
Really . . . as if the blade itself wasn't enough, did it really need to glow as well?
Needless to say, after seeing a giant robot pull a knife on her . . .
The chase was back on in full.
Ranma watched nervously as Goku slowly floated to the ground, a strangely non-threatening smile on the Saiyan's lips. As soon as the planet smashing alien touched down, he dropped back into a loose fighting stance, raising his fists up before him.
"Well, I guess we better get this over with. Can't have you running around doing whatever it was you were planning on doing," stated the alien in a most amiable manner.
Hmm, he sure didn't sound like a bloodthirsty monster. It was strangely reminiscent to when he had faced down Ryouga back in the States, when the boy's memories had been altered. It was like he was actually talking to Goku, and Goku thought he was the bad guy. Unfortunately, considering how Brushogun had just made the guy out of street sweepings, the odds of actually snapping the guy out of it seemed pretty slim.
So, an alternative plan began to form in his mind.
Goku shifted his stance, pulling his right fist back and preparing to lash out. Just as the impossibly powerful Saiyan was about to lash out-
"Wait!" Ranma shouted at the top of his lungs, "I have to ask you a question!"
Just as he'd hoped, the alien fighter actually stopped, in mid-step. Goku looked at him, confused for a moment, before straightening up and casually running a hand through his spiky locks.
"Umm, sure, I guess. What do you want to know?"
Ranma nearly let out an explosive sigh of relief that that had actually worked, but swallowed it at the last second. Thankfully, Goku was just as trusting as he was in the manga . . . now to see if he was just as naive. Of course, there was just one question he had to ask first . . . just for the set up . . . really. He vainly tried to hide his smile.
"Is my power level . . . over nine thousand?" He nearly choked on his own laughter as he shouted his question to the heavens.
Goku just looked at him for a moment, the expression on the Saiyan's face just screaming 'Is this guy completely nuts?'. A second later, Goku shook his head in confusion.
"What? No! Not even close, why would you even ask that?"
The pigtailed warrior snapped a pair of imaginary fingers in his mind. That would have been pretty awesome.
"Oh . . . well, ya know, I was just curi - Oh my God! Chi sucking Androids" Ranma suddenly shouted out the warning, pointing dramatically behind his opponent. 'Man, that wouldn't even work on Ryouga,' he thought to himself, even as he shouted out the desperate gambit.
"What? Where?" barked his latest companion, spinning around quickly to check for himself.
He didn't even take the time to smirk, as he ran forward and leapt into the air. The pigtailed warrior spun around three times in mid-air, before lashing out with the most powerful spinning jump kick he could muster. His limb crashed into the back of Goku's head with enough force to cave in a reinforced concrete military bunker . . .
A second later, he was back on the ground, hopping on one foot and clutching his throbbing shin nearly to his chest. Damn! He was pretty sure he hadn't shattered it, but . . . but just damn! As far as hurting like heck to hit, Goku was as far beyond Mecha-Boi, as Mecha-Boi was beyond Ryouga . . . was beyond a normal human!
Slowly, Goku turned back to face him, absently rubbing a hand to the back of his head, more than likely fixing his hair than tending a wound. There was actually a slightly hurt look on the alien's face as he stared back at him.
"Heeey," Goku nearly whined, "You fight dirty."
Yeah, well not everyone had world shattering ki blasts to toss around, oh so sorry about that . . . Jackass. Ranma gingerly lowered his stinging leg back to the ground and shrugged his shoulders.
"Can't blame a guy for tryin . . . can ya?"
Brushogun let out a grunt of annoyance as he felt a shoe repeatedly kick him in the ribs. It didn't hurt him or anything, but it was certainly distracting him from watching the battle vicariously through his minions. Once again, he pulled his consciousness back from his minions, melded the hundred different minds back into one, cohesive whole. It was coming more quickly now, but having just lost his head over it, quite literally, it was a weakness he would have to deal with sooner than later.
Once his brain was back in his head again, or at least that was how it felt, he opened his eyes to glare at his companion. Held tightly in his hand, her feet dangling several feet above the pavement, was Tendo Akane. Unfortunately, his recaptured captive was not politely quivering in fear and begging for her life. Rather, she was shouting obscenities quite loudly and kicking him in the ribs repeatedly. If it weren't for the fact that he was saving her for later, he would have been sorely, sorely tempted to turn her inside out.
"Miss Tendo, please! We've already been over this. I'm not actually controlling my minions when I am in that state, so distracting me as you are is not going to help your friends. All you're doing is ruining my entertainment. Really, how am I supposed to enjoy the deaths of your fiancé and his friends with you kicking me all night long?" he asked, clearly exasperated.
She just growled at him. The worst part, was that she was clearly aware that he was only saving her to kill later, so she obviously didn't feel any need to hold back on her rather pointed opinions.
"You expect me to believe that? How could you possibly make four such powerful people and not need to control them every second?" she asked in disbelief.
He rolled his eyes. "Now, really, that hardly matters at the moment. The real question you should be asking is how could I possibly make such powerful minions and not need to control them."
Akane just stared at him. "Ahh . . . I kinda just did there . . . nutjob," the last word was whispered, but he still heard it keenly. It just made him smile all the wider.
"I know, I just love seeing you make that face!" He laughed merrily at the shade of red her pretty cheeks took on. "But, seriously, it is a simple thing, really. You see, the secret of my power, which incidentally won't help you in the least," he paused for dramatic effect.
"Is source material."
Ryu tossed the collapsed wall off his body and rolled frantically to the side, just in time to see a ton of steel in the form of an automobile smash into the space he had just been occupying a second earlier. Not wasting the breath to gasp in shock, the Yamasen-ken master dove out of the shattered building and back into the street. Just in time, too, as the gutted shell of the structure suddenly collapsed in on itself, as if a black hole had opened at its center. He ran as fast as he could, even as he stared in awe as several metric tons of the onetime building were compacted down to a sphere several meters in diameter.
"I swear to God! I don't know who this Kaneda guy even is!" he shouted over his shoulder.
Gods, he had no idea who Kaneda was, but whoever he was, he had gotten this guy seriously pissed off! In the distance, the red caped figure just screamed the name again. The boy then swung back his cape, revealing the oddly metallic arm that had been hidin beneath it earlier. Ryu would have been freaked out by it . . . if it wasn't absolutely the lowest thing on his list of priorities at the moment. The mad psychic lifted the cybernetic limb over his head, this time uprooting three concrete light posts in the process.
Though the kid likely could have moved them with a simple roll of his wrist, instead, the enraged youth swung his arm forward in a furious baseball swing. The multi-ton light fixtures nearly tore themselves apart trying to obey his command, barreling through the air in a psychic imitation of a lumberjacks logjam. There was no way in hell that he could dodge three such massive objects . . .
So he didn't-
"Kijin Raishū Dan!"
He lashed out in a downward slash with his right hand, followed it with a matching movement from his left hand, then ripped his right hand back up through the air once more. A trio of tears in the fabric of the atmosphere roared to life and curved unerringly through the air to find his targets. The first vacuum blade slashed the leading lamppost neatly in half and sheared a good five feet of the end of the second. The next blade cut a diagonal slash through the second post, off center enough to send both slabs of concrete flying, now completely unbalanced, off harmlessly into nearby buildings. The third blade tore through the first post again and slashed the third column nearly completely length wise, the resistance of his attack slowed the post's flight enough to let him easily avoid it with a simple jump.
A second later, the concrete debris crashed down wildly around him, into the road, the sidewalk and several buildings. However, while his opponent's attack was foiled, his was just getting started!
The trio of blades continued their flights, barely hindered at all by tearing through enough concrete to build a small bridge. The Yamasen-ken master smiled wickedly as he watched his attacks fly true. A look of shock actually appeared on his unimaginably powerful enemy's face. At the last moment, the spiky haired kid threw his hands out before him, as if in a desperate attempt to ward off his attack with his bare hands. Ryu scoffed at the very notion . . .
Except that it actually worked!
Even Ryu's keen eyes couldn't see what stopped the vacuum blades. One second they were cutting through the air, the next, they splashed harmlessly over some kind of invisible barrier! Whatever the kid did, it was powerful enough to stop his most powerful attack dead in its tracks . . . almost . . .
Though no normal person would have seen it, heck, he doubted even Saotome could sense such trace amounts, but Ryu saw it clearly . . . it was his chi after all. Where each of his vacuum blades had crashed into the barrier, a ghostly afterimage had traveled through, carrying on for a foot or so before dispersing completely.
In a flash of insight, he realized what had just happened instantly. It was the true secret of the Kijin Raishū Dan, of his vacuum blades. It was possibly the most subtle aspect of the Yamasen-ken and he was certain it was only known to himself and to the fat oaf that had created the technique. It was likely the only reason that Saotome hadn't just copied it himself.
The secret of his vacuum blades, was that even as he used the rapid movement of his hands to create the vacuum, he channeled a small amount of his chi into each blade at the same time. After all, the very nature of a vacuum is to be filled. It was exactly the reason that Ranma's crazy "Demon Straw" technique had worked. If he didn't fill the vacuum blades with something, they would disperse as quickly as he made them.
Which meant one thing.
While the physical aspect of his attack, the razor sharp blade of air, was stopped by the barrier, his chi was actually able to pass through unhindered!
. . . Except . . . he had no idea how that could help him at the moment. Damn! He didn't have an actual chi blast to use, like Saotome. Maybe . . . maybe he could figure something ou-
"Kaaneedaaa!"
Unfortunately, his little moment of insight had made him waste valuable time he could have been using to getting the hell out of the way of his opponent's way.
It started small, hardly even noticeable, really. His cape wearing nemesis swung his arm across his body, aiming his outstretched fingers at one of the buildings off to his side. Though it was so small, Ryu noticed several bricks of the wall begin to collapse inward, being pushed by some invisible force.
"RAAUUGGHHHH!" The boy screamed in hatred, then swung his arm in a furious arc before him.
Instantly, the entire building he had been pointing at shattered, practically exploded upward! Not just the building, but the sidewalk in front of it and even the floor inside the building; it all didn't just collapse, either! The entire building, the road, all the debris began to float upward! Then, the building next to it exploded as well, following in the wake of the boy's furious gesture. Another building after that erupted into a floating fountain of shrapnel, stone and steel, this one almost right beside Ryu!
Then the destruction continued its arc, tearing into the road, a swath forty feet wide, with him right in the center! Ryu screamed in shock as the pavement tore itself to pieces and erupted up beneath his feet. The next several moments were a true lesson in the meaning of pain, as he was crushed/pummeled/ground to dust by a storm of asphalt and concrete slabs.
After a seeming eternity, he finally collapsed to the ground, half buried under the rubble that had just slammed him about so mercilessly. Absently, through a glazed over eye, he noticed the trail of destruction was still continuing on, tearing into three or four buildings on the other side of the street as well.
Only one thought crossed his mind, even as an unfamiliar shadow came to fill his fading vision.
'Now that is how it's done!'
'Yes!'
They had made it! The massive twin towers of the government building rose up before them. Unfortunately, Natsume and her heavily panting sister didn't have time to celebrate actually arriving at their destination. As one, they leapt forward, nearly horizontally, to evade the deadly humming blade the robotic monstrosity was swinging around. They might have been gnats to this creature, but she knew well just how annoying it could be to actually swat a gnat, let alone knife one.
"Kurumi, start climbing the east tower, I shall climb the west! Don't stop climbing till you reach the top." she ordered her sister. At this point, Kurumi didn't even question her. The younger girl just ran ahead and towards the looming structure before them.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building was truly an imposing marvel of engineering. Each tower stood over fifty stories high, though they were connected by an interposing structure for the first thirty or so stories. The top twenty stories of each tower were architectural masterpieces, almost as if someone had gripped the tops of the towers themselves and turned them ninety degrees from the lower levels.
My, but they were tall . . .
Natsume let out a small sigh, they had much climbing to do, it appeared. She had one thing to do first, though. She waited to see Kurumi start climbing the far tower, first, her sister easily cleared the first three stories, before landing on a ledge and launching herself further up. That, at least, was a relief, she should get to a safe distance soon enough.
Comforted by her sister's escape, Natsume turned to face the metal giant that stalked them.
Already, it was showing signs of confusion, as she'd hoped. It seemed torn between attacking her, the closest target, or going after the retreating form of her sister. She decided to make its decision much easier.
"Haaaaa!" She let out a war cry as she unleashed a powerful cyclone in the giants direction. The swirling windstorm tore a small trench in the concrete beneath them . . . before dispersing harmlessly against an orange tinted, hexagonal field. . .
What? This thing possessed some form of energy barrier as well? That was just ridiculous!
Slowly, the giant machine turned its horned head to gaze in her direction. Though it was just a soulless machine, she could almost swear it was looking at her hungrily. It was more than slightly disturbing. Well, now would be a good time to get back to her plan, before she started to panic and forgot it completely.
She whipped up another cyclone, this one much wider and less tightly concentrated than the last. As she planned, it sucked up all the debris and dust from the ground, forming a momentary smoke screen to cover her flight. As soon as she finished her swing, she was already running for the building.
Behind her, she heard the blade of the knife stab deeply into the ground where she had just been. Oddly, intense vibrations began to run up her legs, even as she ran, it was an . . . odd sensation. She pushed the irrelevant information to the back of her mind and ran. As soon as she reached the massive tower in front of her, she leapt for all she was worth, clearing the first four floors in her desperate bid to escape. As soon as she landed, she leapt again, clearing another three floors.
This time, she was forced to leap desperately to the side, only retaining her balance on the narrow ledge of the seventh floor by sheer willpower alone, as the massive arm of the giant robot dove through the glass and concrete wall of the tower, burying itself up to the elbow! Natsume scrambled to her feet . . .
Just in time to see its other fist flying towards her!
Lightning tentatively rose up from where he had landed. His breathing was shallow and irregular, almost as if his lungs refused to obey their master any longer. Small beads of perspiration, almost unheard of on his person, formed on his forehead, even as his heart continued its hectic pace in his chest, threatening to burst out at a moment's notice. With what could only be called 'morbid fascination', he gazed at the crater left by the sailor suited girl's attack.
Though, crater hardly seemed apt, it was better described as a trench! It was easily one hundred yards long, starting where the tip of their enemy's great weapon so gently rested on the ground and carried on far past them. It was easily twenty meters wide at its middle, tapering to points at both end, and was equally as deep, as if the Earth itself hadn't impeded the blast at the least. In fact, possibly due to the fact they were so close to the bay, the trench was already beginning to fill with water from some unseen source.
But the sheer amount of devastation she had created with absolutely no effort at all, that wasn't the worst . . . No, the most soul crushing aspect of her attempt to end their lives had most definitely been . . .
The silence! There hadn't been a sound! Not one! Not as the air was reduced to less then nothing, not as the earth was unmade beneath their feet. If ever he had imagined what it would be like to stare into the abyss, surely watching this slip of a girl deal out oblivion with such casual ease, was it.
Thankfully, he and his brother were not so slow as to be caught, even by such a monstrous attack . . . but it had certainly shaken the avatar of lightning to his very core.
'Such power!' Lightning had always believed that his was one of the greatest powers in existence. He had never met any that could match him, not even the Titan that drew her powers from the sun itself, though she had proved to be more than a match for his brother.
But this girl . . . she had turned away the full extent of his power as if it were nothing, then returned the favor a hundred-fold! This was true power, this was the power that he had always yearned for.
Desperately forcing his body to calm itself, he rose up onto shaky legs. A grim smile began to grow on his thin lips. Though his brother and he might die here, he could not imagine a more worthy opponent to pit his power against. His smile grew wider, and he winked playfully at the scantily clad girl before them, bowing slightly.
"Let the fun begin!"
Goku casually yawned as he used a single finger to block every single one of his opponent's frantic (but ridiculously slow) punches. The frustrated look on the pigtailed boy's face only increased as he leapt back and started shaking his hands, livid red marks nearly glowing right between the knuckles of both of his fists. Something wasn't quite clicking with the Saiyan warrior, something dancing around the edge of his consciousness that he couldn't quite grasp.
The young man leapt back a good thirty feet . . . not bad for a normal human . . . or was it? He'd been hanging around Krillin and the other Z fighters so long he wasn't too sure anymore. It was odd, the boy seemed to be extremely skilled in the martial arts, but he couldn't even do something as basic as fly!
"Mouko Takabisha!"
Goku raised an eyebrow at the glowing sphere of chi that came barreling in his direction. Hmm, maybe the kid wasn't as weak as he thought. Odd that he could do a chi blast but not fly, though, everyone he knew that could actually do a chi blast could fly. Almost as an afterthought, he swept his hand to the side, knocking the four foot sphere of chi off to the side. It crashed into a nearby building, smashing through the wall spectacularly.
Hmm, well, it had certainly looked nice, but it didn't pack any real power. Man, why was he even fighting this guy again? This kid couldn't have hurt him when he was half the kid's age.
Something else was bothering him as well, he wasn't quite feeling up to par himself, not even close to his usual power. It wasn't overly worrying considering who he was up against, but the absence was a bit strange, to say the least. Letting out a sigh, he knocked the double chi blasts that followed away with even less effort than the first.
"Ummm, I don't want to make you feel bad," he started out tentatively, "I mean, you have great form and everything . . . but I really don't think that's going to work. Don't you have any other moves you could try?" he asked a little hopefully.
The pigtailed boy looked about ready to erupt for a moment, his face going crimson with anger . . . then suddenly he calmed down completely. After a moment, the boy tilted his head curiously, then shrugged his shoulders.
"Ah, yeah . . . actually I do," declared the young man. "It's pretty much my best move, but it only works when my opponent puts out a hot battle aura. I can show it to ya, if ya really want."
Goku thought about that for about a half a second, before his face split with a wide grin. "Hey, that'd be great! You just need me to put out a hot aura?" he asked with great interest.
Hmm, he wondered why this move needed him to put out a hot aura? He'd never really experienced any techniques that actually relied on the opponent doing anything. Pretty much every technique that everyone he knew, involved some kind of variation on chi blasts or chi enhancements. This sounded like it would be an interesting demonstration indeed.
The pigtailed boy in front of him nodded eagerly, beginning to smile what could only be described as a half sneaky, half surprised smile. Shrugging casually himself, the Saiyan warrior clenched his fists to his sides and arched his back, bringing his power to bear.
Instantly, a whitish aura exploded around him, actually sending the pigtailed boy stumbling back a few steps. Odd, that, it wasn't even like he was using his super Saiyan transformation . . . not that he was even sure he could in his odd condition. It didn't take too much effort to heat up his aura to a nice, toasty temperature. As soon as he figured he was good, he smiled amiably and nodded to his opponent.
"Is this good enough?" he asked.
Rather than answer, the boy just started jogging slowly to the side. Goku watched the boy, wondering if he was getting ready to run off . . . but instead, the pigtailed fighter started to slowly circle around him. Well, it started out slowly anyway, but sped up quickly as the boy started to run full out around him. He watched this for several revolutions (starting to get a little dizzy) before he noticed something interesting.
His opponent was actually emitting a cold battle aura . . . possibly as a defense to counter his equally hot aura. Hmm, he wondered if the kid was just trying to confuse him or something, before attacking from an odd angle. It wasn't like it would work, but he sure hoped that wasn't it. He really hoped the kid had a good technique hidden up his sleeve somewhere . . . he just couldn't imagine what kind of technique would require so much set up . . .
He started tapping his foot impatiently, as his opponent continued to circle around him, drawing slightly closer with each pass. It went on like that for nearly a whole minute, until something finally happened-
The pigtailed youth skidded to a stop right in front of him, panting slightly but with an excited smile on his face.
"Surprise, sucker!"
Then his opponent threw a powerful uppercut, right at his chin!
Goku nearly yawned . . .
"That's the surpri-"
Except the uppercut missed him, by a good foot!
"No! This is! Hiryua Shoten Ha!"
Suddenly, Goku's world dissolved into a maelstrom of howling winds, and for the first time that night . . .
He actually felt pain!
"Um . . . excuse me?"
Brushogun's smile only widened as his captive's confused look only deepened as she tried to decipher his meaning. Brushogun was really beginning to enjoy this expository sequence. Now he could stun her with the dramatic revelation of the true depths of his power!
"I discovered it almost by accident, my dear Akane, and I assure you it was quite the learning process," he began earnestly. This seemed like a good a time as any to explain his plot to one of the heroes, besides, he'd been dying to explain it to someone after he had finally figured it out himself. He still couldn't believe that it had taken him so long to figure out himself.
"When I first became Brushogun, I instinctively created several minions. Since it was not really a conscious act, I simply created vague copies of iconic figures from my youth. These four, including your friendly jailor, Mecha-Boi, were suitably powerful for my needs, so I didn't think anything of where that power came from. After all, I was a demon newly born, so the obvious answer was their power was simply a reflection of my own.
"Of course, your nuisance of a fiancé proved to be too much for them, so I was forced to create a new minion. Deka-Mido, the giant lizard, if you recall. This time, since it was a conscious effort, I spent more effort creating him, molding him more closely to the creature which he was based upon. When he was finally finished, I found he was more powerful than any of my other minions, all of my other minions. His power surprised even myself."
He relished the shocked and intrigued look that dwelled upon his captives face. Despite how much she hated him, he knew she was captivated with his explanation. Of course, the memory of that particular battle caused his liquid smile to drop into a simmering sneer.
"I'm certain you remember what happened soon after that battle."
An angry nod, causing his smile to make a triumphant return.
"In a way, it was partly due to our conversation that I myself determined the truth. You see, after I left you, I spent an entire day trying to best determine how I would destroy Saotome. I wanted to do something original, you see, just as we discussed. However, when I tried to create a creature of my own imagination, one perfectly suited to dispatch your love . . . it had no power! Certainly, my beasts looked the part, horrors to freeze the soul . . . but they were empty inside. There was nothing to fuel them, nothing to give them strength . . ."
It had been a harsh realization for him, and painful as well. For an artist to realize that his own work was without merit, without use . . . He could create, but his creations were nothing more than smoke and mirrors, sound and fury, signifying nothing.
"I could not understand it, at first. I could create people, things, monsters, robots and aliens, anything I desired, and it was all real, all just as I imagined they would be . . . but only if I copied them from someone else! My original work, the sleek, elegant killer, designed solely for the purpose of slaughtering your fiancé . . . was completely impotent; yet the silly little caricature of Astroboy that had become Mecha-Boi, it could tear steel and melt flesh with the greatest of ease. Anything I created that was a copy, it possessed power, and the closer to the original, the more power it possessed."
Akane nodded slowly, understanding beginning to dawn. "That's why source material is your power . . . but why, it doesn't make any sense."
Brushogun frowned at that. He had thought she was a sharper girl than that, he was almost certain that she would have figured it out by now. Sure, it had taken him a few days, but still, he was practically spelling it out for her.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. My dear, foolish girl. How can you say it doesn't make any sense? It makes perfect sense. You see, when I say that my power is derived from 'source material' I don't mean it in a literal sense. I'm not carrying a stack of manga in my pocket to draw on their power, or anything as silly as that. I am a demon, after all, you really need to look at this from a more esoteric point of view," he chided her teasingly.
The Tendo girl seemed to gaze of into space, contemplating what he had just told her. He had to admit, he certainly hoped she got it soon, he was missing too much of the fight! He might have to actually just tell her, and what fun was that?
"B . . . belief . . .," she muttered quietly to herself.
A smile exploded onto his face, nearly splitting it in half. Finally!
"Exactly! I knew someone so interested in drama and literature as yourself would figure it out! The things I create aren't born from my power, but from the power of peoples' beliefs. If I were to create a samurai right now, it would be a samurai in every way, because people know what a samurai is, what a samurai represents. A samurai is not just a swordsman, it is an icon, people around the world know what a samurai could and should be able to do."
The wide eyed expression on his companion's face was quite entertaining. It seemed that she was beginning to understand just what kind of predicament that her fiancé was in.
"But wait a moment! Doesn't that mean, that if Ranma realizes that those aren't actually those characters, that they'll lose their power?" she asked, sounding somewhat hopeful.
It was all he could do to hold in his mocking laughter . . . not that he was sure why he did in retrospect. She just didn't understand, yet.
"A thousand years ago, when I was created from the fledgling imaginations of mere mortals, that might have been possible. But you do not grasp the magnitude of my power in this new world! In the old world, I roamed Japan, with only the thoughts and imaginations of a scant few hundred people to sustain me. Here . . . now, in this wonderful, digital world, with its satellite television and cable internet, with its global economy and international distribution; heh, heh, heh, the world has become such a small place, but so very many people live in it!
"A thousand years ago, I was nothing, a minor demon creating piddling creatures and pathetic men to do my biddings. But, in this world, I am a God! Man's imagination has grown so much, his need to entertain himself, swollen beyond belief. No, no, my dear Akane, even if your precious Saotome stopped believing in his enemies all together, there are still millions of people around the globe that still do!" Brushogun laughed madly in his joy. Perhaps now she would begin to understand just how hopeless her fiancé's situation was. Even now, his power was only increasing, as the foolish reporters above broadcast his message, live, to the four corners of the globe. Soon, as the entire planet continued to feed his power with their awe and fear, there would be none left with the power to stop him. No one at all.
He closed his eyes once more, and let his vision rise to the heavens once more.
Kurumi didn't know what to do! She'd done just like her big sister had told her to do. She'd managed to make it all the way to the thirtieth floor before she even bothered to look back down. So it was already far too late for her to do anything when she finally did!
For some reason, the metal beast was relentlessly attacking Natsume. Her sister was unable to even make it past the tenth floor, so busy dodging the monster's wild swings.
The giant robot swung again, it's frighteningly glowing dagger leading the way. It was a wide swing, probably trying to limit her sister's ability to dodge. Fortunately, Natsume proved to be just slightly faster. Her sister leapt nimbly up to the eleventh floor, even as the robot's humongous arm smashed fully into the wall of the tower. Kurumi gawked at the sheer power of the beast, as its swinging limb just continued on, practically unimpeded, before tearing a seventy foot swath out of the front of the tower's face.
Rather frantically, her sister began to sprint for the far end of the tower, easily keeping balance on the narrow ledge that would scarcely have provided a toehold for any normal person. A moment later, she lost sight of her sister, as Natsume slipped around the corner. The beast followed soon after, though, swinging wildly to catch her.
Kurumi chewed on the end of her ribbon in worry, even as she used her free hand to brace herself as the entire building shuddered under another blow from the metal giant. Why didn't her sister just jump up and climb to a higher level? That was the whole point of this plan, wasn't it? To get out of its reach by climbing to the top of this really tall building?
The building shuddered again, even more fiercely this time. It was obvious that this huge, ugly monster didn't care what it destroyed, as long as it got them. Once again, she wished they had got to fight the other girl instead. She felt so helpless fighting this giant robot, didn't even have a clue how she could scratch it, let alone beat it. If only she could be as calm and confident as her sister, instead of sniffling into her ribbon as she watched her sister vainly run for her life-
Speak of the devil! Her sister just reappeared around the corner. There was no way that she could see her face from nearly twenty stories away, but she could practically feel the nervous energy boiling off of her elder sister. Natsume was running along the twelfth floor this time, since most of the three floors below that were completely destroyed by the monster's wild swings by now.
Why wasn't she fleeing to a higher, safer floor now? Kurumi didn't understand! A few seconds later, she was shocked as a massive purple hand suddenly exploded out through the wall of the twelfth floor, wiping out pretty much everything from the corner to halfway through the face of the tower. Hundreds of chairs and desks and rubbish bins, and one or two Xerox machines, all were swept out into a freefall. The rain of office supplies tumbled down in a waterfall of insurance claims to the ground below. A moment later, the monster appeared, still buried up to its shoulder in the tower.
Kurumi couldn't take it anymore. Cupping her hands to the sides of her mouth, she shouted as loud as she could.
"Big Sister, get out of there!"
Why wasn't she getting out of there? Not that there was any possible way that Natsume could hear her, between the distance and the devastation . . .
Except, that she did!
For just a moment, Natsume caught her eyes and their gazes locked . . . just for a moment. But it was long enough, in that instant, though she had no idea how, she suddenly understood perfectly! She knew what her sister's plan was! She knew! And all it did was make her want to scream out again!
So she did . . . but her words were completely drowned out as the world was suddenly engulfed by the sound of hundreds of thousands of tons of steel and concrete groaning! Kurumi lashed out without even thinking, burying her hand into the concrete wall behind her. It was the only thing that stopped her from falling, as suddenly the entire building shifted wildly under her feet.
She watched her sister in horror, screaming at the top of her lungs, but not even able to hear herself. Though there was no way she should have been able to see it from where she was, she saw the resigned smile on Natsume's face as she looked back up at her.
Then the entire west tower tipped dangerously to the side! The giant robot was pinned instantly, as forty stories of office building suddenly dropped down onto its arm. It tried desperately to pull itself free, but then, in a hellish storm of expanding dust and debris, the entire west tower began to collapse down on its head. Kurumi lost sight of her sister instantly, as the tower tore angrily away from the connecting structure between the two towers. The rumbling and shaking of the far tower collapsing and freeing itself from the bonds of its twin very nearly dislodged her from her thirty story perch a dozen times in thirty seconds.
Somehow, she held on, though, watching every second of the collapse. Everything below the fifteenth story vanished into the expanding cloud of dust and shrapnel. The forty stories collapsed in on themselves like a huge accordion, forty becoming thirty, then twenty, forming a literal mountain of rubble and destruction on the west side of the building.
Finally, after a seeming eternity . . . it was finished. Miraculously, the tower on which she was clinging desperately, was more or less unharmed. The connecting structure that had run between the two towers was half buried and subsumed by the collapsed remains of the west tower. And where that tower had once stood so proudly, now a twenty story mountain of devastation existed. The destruction had also spread out to consume a somewhat smaller sky scraper that had been directly adjacent to the towering towers.
None of that mattered in the slightest . . .
Forgetting about safety completely, she started to scale down the tower as quickly as she could. As soon as she made it to the connecting structure, she jumped recklessly onto its roof and scurried across to the remains of the other tower. Several long minutes and a lot of leaping around finally brought her to the top of the mountain that was the ruined remains of a once proud tower.
She looked around for several moments, at a total loss about what to do. As much as she hated to think it . . . she couldn't imagine any way that her sister could have gotten out of there before the tower collapsed . . .
Tears sprang to her eyes, unbidden, and she did nothing to hide them.
"N . . . natsume . . .," she called out uncertainly.
It was silly, really, impossible even . . . but she could hardly care about something like that right then.
"Natsume!" she cried again.
Frantically, she leapt to a lower pile of rubble and started tossing slabs of concrete twice her size to the side, searching for any sign of her sister.
"Sister, where are you?"
She leapt again, dislodging more pieces of debris only to begin digging elsewhere. She didn't even notice as a jagged piece of shattered glass cut into her palm, spraying her blood all over the place. She hardly even cared when she slipped on an unstable piece of concrete and rolled twenty feet before catching herself. All she did was get up again, ignoring the scraps and bruises that were already forming under her ruined uniform.
"Natsume!"
Movement out of the corner of her eye stopped her instantly. There! A hundred yards away, a pile of rubble was shifting! Sure, it could have just been the building settling . . . but she just knew it was her! There was no way that her sister would die as easily as all that!
Faster than she had ever moved before, she nearly flew through the distance and dug her raw and bleeding hands back into the filthy debris and started to dig her sister out.
"Natsume! Don't worry, I'm here!"
She rolled another piece of rubble off to the side, letting it roll merrily down the mountain side. Again, the rubble shifted before her, making her heart beat faster in her chest.
"I'm almost there, don't give up, sister!" she called out again. Not that she had to worry about that, her sister never gave up!
More pieces of the collapsed building went flying as she dug desperately towards her sister. A chair, a desk, more pieces of shattered glass and what appeared to be a coffee maker, all tossed aside without even a second thought!
Yes! She finally saw something! Something that didn't look like more debris! She reached forward again, to grab the next piece of rubble-
"What? That's impos-"
She never got to finish her sentence, as the giant purple hand exploded out of the rubble.
Sailor Saturn looked up once more, a tiny frown adorning her lips.
Hanging in the air above her, were the two Youma, still alive and even smiling mockingly at her. All around her was complete devastation. Buildings were destroyed, by both herself and her enemies. Several ships out in the bay were sinking and a number of warehouses were merrily burning bonfires in a testament to the lightning Youma's power.
It wasn't that she was at all worried. As tenacious as these two beings were, they simply lacked the power to harm her. The same could not be said of their surroundings, though, or any of the other innocents that populated this city. She had to admit they were both very quick, using both their speed and distance to avoid her attacks. But that wasn't what was bothering her either.
It was the fact that they were enjoying this.
The smaller one especially, the smile on his face was almost frightening in its intensity. She had thought she had demoralized them instantly with her first attack, considering how shaken up both of them had been. Especially considering she had turned aside their combined power with no real effort. Except she hadn't . . . rather than panic and flee, making it easier for her to finish them off, they had begun attacking her again almost immediately. Instead of trying to overwhelm her, they were probing her defenses now, flying circles around her and launching attacks at her from every possible angle.
Again, it was nothing to worry about, her Silence Wall protected her perfectly, but their persistence was troublesome. If only the other scouts were here as well! She was sure they would be able to pin these two troublesome Youma down easily if there were more than just her present.
She stopped suddenly, an alien thought implanting itself directly to the core of her being.
. . . Yes . . . that made sense. If she couldn't destroy them with her Silence Glaive Surprise, she would simply have to use something more powerful, something they couldn't dodge.
A silly smile formed on her lips. Why hadn't she thought of that before? It made perfect sense, really. She couldn't let these two monsters harm anymore innocent people, she had to stop them here and now.
Another blast of thunder skipped harmlessly off her indestructible wall. She didn't even pay it the slightest heed. Smiling wider now, proud of her ingenious thinking, she raised her Glaive high above her.
She began to twirl in place, the blade of her weapon glowing with a brilliant purple light as she did. On her first spin, she noticed her opponents stop in mid-flight and stare at her uncertainly.
"Death . . .," she whispered quietly.
She twirled around again, the weapon's glow increasing several fold. In the distance, she could see thousands of purple ribbons winding through the air, flying towards her, filling the air with their elegant beauty. On her second rotation, she noticed to two Youma leaning towards each other, likely discussing what was happening. It hardly mattered, the fight would be over soon, it would all be over soon.
"Reborn. . .," she called out with more force.
She spun around one last time, bringing her weapon back slightly as she prepared to slam it back to the earth with all of the power of the Silence behind it. There would be no avoiding this, and then there would be nothing at all. All around her, the ribbons drew closer, within seconds they would reach her, and then she would finish it all.
On her third spin . . . she didn't see the two Youma at all. They were obviously trying to flee, they didn't know how hopeless their cause was.
"Revolution!"
And then everything . . .
Went . . .
White.