Heir
to the Empire
By
Ozzallos
A
Fukufics (dotcom) Production
"NOOOOO! Let me go! I'll roll over every single pathetic planet in that pissant little corner of space they call an empire!"
The Princess of Pluto jockeyed for position, holding her best friend in life back as the moon cat advisors looked on in terror. Their Queen glowed black, her eyes nothing but spotlights of pure, undistilled fury. The platoon of Alpha Guard standing watch in the secure chamber was at full alert and their armor mounted communications arrays chattered with emergency traffic. Outside, another dull thud sounded, remnants of the high explosive warfare echoing throughout the room.
"Mikahal, bring me The Key. NOW!" The monarch raged, tears streaking down her face. A sharply dressed officer hesitated a moment under her glare then folded, lifting the rectangular box shackled to his arm.
"Mikahal, don't bring her The Key." Pluto countermanded, still holding the trembling woman back. The officer paused with indecision, looking back and forth between the two women.
"Dammit, Puu! They killed him!" She screeched, sobbing. "The spinless Zann fucks assassinated him! They'll suffer! They'll ALL suffer!" the Queen lurched forward in an attempt to bypass Setsuna and collect the rectangular attaché case, which was immediately blocked by her friend's full body restraint.
"Senny, NO!" She hollered, but the attempt continued. The last thing in the world any of them needed at this point was for the Queen of the Empire to get her hands on was "The Key", a device that held the launch sequences to every last one of the Crown's strategic intergalactic arsenal. This cocktail of total annihilation, included, among other weapons of mass destruction, the infamous XA-505. Whereas the Z90s were fleet born, mid range tactical singularity weapons, the 505 was designed for system to system bombardment, independent of a host vessel.
It was also informally dubbed 'The Nova Bomb' for good reason.
Pluto blocked another hand that snaked past her, groping for the officer and decided that this wasn't going to work at all. She half turned, keeping the raging Queen out of reach. "Everybody, outside!" The feline advisors, Crown tactical advisor and several military chiefs of staff blinked. The Queens elite guard acted as if they hadn't heard the order. "I SAID CLEAR THE ROOM!"
Had the order come from anybody else, it would have been ignored entirely. As it was Setsuna Meiou was the Princess of Pluto, chief architect of the Silver Millennium after the Queen and her best friend. She didn't have an official rank, nor did she need one. Her authority was beyond question and as such, the room emptied. Even the heavily armored Alpha Guard gave only the slightest pause before abandoning their posts to set up an external perimeter.
"Get back here! I'm going to torch every last one of the lizards!" She continued to rage, pausing only for a breath before turning on the green haired Princess. "Dammit Puu! Don't do this to me! I want them all---"
SmaaCK!
The hand crossed her cheek and the Queen of the largest star empire known to man fell silent, momentarily dazed. Pluto held the stunned woman's attention with her glowing red eyes. "That's enough, Senny!"
"But… But they killed him, Puu…" The slap seemed to have sapped a large chunk of Queen Serenity's venom, leaving behind a receptacle of despair and loss. "I loved him and they… they…"
Pluto simply held the most powerful woman in known space as she lapsed into sobs. The event had been nothing less than devastating for her, as a simple ground breaking ceremony turned into all out chaos. It was a well planned assassination, Setsuna noted as an afterthought. An attempt on the Queen's life was likely to fail. After all, you just didn't get past five layers of air-ground security and her elite guard. Even if you managed to do that, you were then faced with the formidable task of bringing down the Queen herself. Short of landing an entire moon on the woman, there was just no way that was going to happen.
But an attempt on her fiancée, however…
It was a highly coordinated event that sent three hyper velocity shots in from distances ranging between four and eight kilometers. The first one was plucked out of the air by an orbiting gunship, its launcher promptly zeroed and destroyed via guided missile salvo. The second got closer, but a Sergeant of the Queens 8th Alpha saw the blip on his heads up display and reacted with reflexes only cats or demons had any right possessing, taking the missile with his own body. He was already in line for a posthumous Order of the Crescent Heart. The third and final warhead had no gunship to interdict it, no heroic marine to throw himself in front of the mach five projectile. It wasn't even a direct hit, but it was enough. Shrapnel went everywhere, and the love of Serenity's life went down with thirty-eight other innocent bystanders. Worse still, a reptilian body equipped with a Hyper Velocity Field Launcher and reloads were found at each launch site, thus explaining her Monarchs desire to wipe every last Zann from the face of the galaxy with star bursting weaponry.
"We've got to wait for the intelligence to come in, Serenity-chan." Pluto advised softly to the still weeping queen. "We can't just open Hell's gates on first impressions."
"But… They…"
"No, we can't." Pluto countered in the same soft tone. "Hell, their ambassador is totally denying involvement. We have to get more information, end of story."
Serenity pulled herself from Setsuna's shoulder and looked and stared with swollen eyes. "If he had been yours, you would want the same…"
"If he had been mine, you would be putting me in my place just like I'm doing now." Setsuna replied gently. She held the Queens gaze for a moment before the woman turned away. Pluto knew of her friend's legendary resilience. You didn't get to be the ruler of a galactic empire without knowing the time and place for emotion, and she demonstrated it now with a deep breath, wiping the tears across her sleeve. Setsuna watched the transformation from distraught lover to galactic monarch take place in that small space of time.
"Alright." She paused, collecting her final bits of sanity. "Get the advisors and joint chiefs back in here. If it's the Zann, they roast. If it's not…"
Setsuna nodded. "Fair enough, your Highness." She stepped to the armored door, allowing the Crown's staff entry back into the compartment. They gathered around the queen, unsure of her current state. Fortunately, she solved that problem for them.
Commander Adon, status." She ordered in a no-nonsense tone, one leached of any and all emotion.
The Queen's Eighth Alpha Guard stepped forward in his bulky field plate power armor, snapping into a crisp half bow. The soldier literally looked like a miniature humanoid tank, dwarfing his monarch easily. "We've swept the area. A fourth position was found and eliminated, your Highness. There were… Anomalies."
Pluto stepped to her friend's side. "Anomalies?"
"Yes, M'Lady." He addressed Setsuna with the same formality as he had the queen. "Another Zann body was found, this one without weapons. In fact, the munitions were in a separate section of the building we secured."
"Meaning…?"
"We're running DNA right now, but I suspect we'll find it is still born replicant, your Highness." The trooper replied in the same, stone cold tone.
"A clone?" The white feline blurted off to the right and the Alpha Commander nodded.
"We suspect it was a backup attack site that we dropped on before they could set up shop." He continued. "Whoever was staging it is long gone, but left the place in a hurry."
"Chances that the Zann perpetrated this attack?" The Queen asked, her eyes flashing with the need for vengeance.
"If the DNA comes back, positive, I'd have to say low." The Commander replied. "Of course, my information is limited solely to the field, but it looks like a cover up to me. Attack, run and leave a few mangled Zann corpses behind to cover their tracks."
"Chances that the Zann would actually commit this atrocity, Luna? Artemis?" Pluto directed the question at the moon cat advisors in order to ascertain their current foreign relations with the neighboring empire.
"Small." Luna replied succinctly. "Give our knowledge of their race, they are far too logical to ignore the tactical disparity we possess over their empire."
"In short they know we could erase them from existence but refrain from doing so solely on our good will." Artemis elaborated. "This attempt seems rather… obvious given that fact."
The Queen frowned, and Setsuna knew why. There was no obvious target to direct her rage, and if it wasn't the Zann, then it could be… any number of factions, Setsuna admitted to herself truthfully. They had all made plenty of enemies on their way to the top. Even as she and the Queen silently considered the implications, one of her Defense Advisors, a shorter, bald man in an immaculate uniform cleared his throat. Serenity nodded at him.
"If I may, your Eminence…" The officer began hesitantly. "The Zann Emperium is… concerned with heightened alert of our forces along their boarders and have begun to move strategic assets to their initial strike positions. They also continue to categorically deny involvement in the incident."
Serenity sighed, her body finally feeling the aftereffects of adrenaline saturation with nothing or nobody to expend it on. "Alright. Pull them back until we have more definitive information. What hyper assets do we have in the area?"
Pluto mentally winced. She still wasn't letting go of the Zann possibility. The officer made a quick check of his data pad. "The Lassiter and Durandal."
The Queen nodded. "Keep them on station. I want first strike capability on them if it turns out they are responsible."
The Defense Advisor made the note. Both the Lassiter and Durandal were part of the Hydra class line of capital ships, capable of piercing the curtain of hyper space. This ability rendered them both invisible and untouchable to conventional normal space interaction, but at a price. Any hyper-capable vessel required massive amounts of power to operate, which in turn added exponential amounts of mass to their hulls, making them ill suited for normal space warfare. They simply couldn't maneuver, putting them at a sharp disadvantage versus normal ships of the line. What they could do was mount large stores of strategic ordinance, and they would use that ability to drop into hyper-space for months at a time, emerging only to re-supply or unleash their deadly arsenal on an unsuspecting world or outpost.
With that in mind, Pluto stepped in to keep her Queen's thoughts from dwelling too long on the lizards. "Sweep every attack site. If it wasn't the Zann, we want to know who perpetrated this act. Quickly, people." Because your Queen has an itchy trigger finger, she added mentally.
The room cleared for the second time, leaving Pluto and the Queen alone once more. The air of authority drained away from Serenity, leaving a hollow shell. Somehow, she found a padded couch and fell into it. Setsuna joined her, pulling her friend into a comforting embrace. The sobbing began anew.
"Dammit, Puu… I loved him…."
"Is true Grandmother!"
The Matriarch of the Joketsuzoku Amazon tribe looked at her great grand daughter skeptically. Not that it wasn't an unbelievable tale… As described, the events that her purple haired charge and disgruntle compatriot described were indeed par for the course here in Nerima. Ranma locked as a girl? Sure, why not. A change in hair color? Big deal. Magical girls? Throw in a few demon hunters, cat girls and succumbi, and it might have actually been interesting. No, the discrepancy laid in the ancient Amazon artifact that was supposively the catalyst for these events, specifically, the fact that the Joketsuzoku had no such treasure in their possession.
The elder took a long stare into her grand daughter. She had felt the power being thrown around half the day, but again, this was Nerima. She hadn't thought it was Ranma's and even if it was, she couldn't go running every time the boy punted some challenger across the horizon. She had a business to run. Chasing the grandson around was Shampoo's job, anyway.
"So the magical girls arrived," She confirmed and both Shampoo and Mousse nodded. "Then what?"
"It was very odd." Shampoo considered. "The Meow-girl and my love talked- not fiancée talk -then the meatball girl came up and called her… Mother! Ranma passed out." Cologne blinked, and looked to the raven haired Amazon boy behind her, who nodded. This caused the Elder to blink. Ranma was many things… A mother was certainly not one of them. It was supremely laughable, in fact. Not a physical impossibility given the martial artist's unique condition, but she was sure there would be a snowman laughing its ass off in hell were it true.
"Obviously the girl is insane." The old woman concluded. "Anything else out of the ordinary?"
"The meow-girl called Ranma Serenity." Shampoo replied. "Even called her a queen." She watched as her words turned the Elder to ice.
"What did you say?"
"The red eyed girl called Ranma a queen." Shampoo clarified, and Cologne shook her head.
"No, before that."
Shampoo looked on her uncharacteristically still great grandmother carefully. "Serenity?" Cologne flinched and Shampoo became even more concerned.
"Beware when
Serenity comes nigh,
She is the enemy on
high;
Demon of the moon,
Her passage marks
your death;
It comes swift and
soon."
The Elder Amazon mumbled, causing both teens to stare at her with wide eyes. Never had they seen her so deathly serious. She had lived nearly three hundred years after all. There wasn't much to surprise the old bat and now she was nearly ashen gray.
"And I thought it was superstition…" She whispered, and turned to the younger Amazons. "I will need to confirm this omen for myself. The store is closed for tonight. We will investigate this at dawn's light tomorrow."
Preferably when the moon isn't out to give the demon its power, Cologne mentally groused, recalling the rest of the superstition. Sure it probably was just ancient Amazonian myth, but she hadn't lived to nearly three centuries without erring on the side of caution, and Lord only knew what was possible in this God forsaken suburb of Tokyo. With that thought firmly in mind, she retired to the Neko Han Ten basement to do some serious research.
Akane Tendo lifted the bucket from the bathroom sink with a certain satisfaction, normally a satisfaction reserved for a predator about to pounce on its prey. Last night had been… unsettling to say the least, and this was her therapy; filling one wash bucket full of icy cold water. Having Ranma beat up on her idol was more than irritating enough, but to watch women she actually used to respect bow at his feet? Then her idol had to go off and call Ranma her mother, demonstrating how poor her choice of magical girl idols actually was. Things went downhill from there. The Inner Senshi were herded home by Pluto after Ranma passed out while the three Outers refused to leave the silver pigtailed girl's side. Her fiancée had been escorted to the upstairs guestroom, where only Kasumi was allowed access.
What did all of this mean?
It meant that Ranma Saotome, her fiancée had been up in the room alone with three attractive magical girls all night long and she was about to give him his customary wakeup call. The youngest Tendo avoided the third creaky step on her way up the stairs, ensuring that her approach was as stealthy as possible. She paused only momentarily at the guestroom door before throwing it open with a battle cry poised on her lips.
SssPlitch!
The battle cry never made it out as she found herself face to face with a crouched short haired blond, glaring murderously at her. She tried to move back and found that she couldn't. It probably had something to do with the glowing short sword sticking into her gut and out the back of her spine. Red droplets ran from the blade and the bucket fell from Akane Tendo's hands, unspent. Her eyes widened slightly and she herself slid off the blade, falling to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Dead potatoes.
Michiru recovered from her attack stance just behind the blond, looking over her shoulder. "Um, Haruka… Did you just kill one of the Queen's friends?"
The Princess of Uranus twitched as at the body in the doorway, slowly draining of blood. "It's not my fault! You saw how she surprised us!" She hissed and took a step back. "Dammit, the Queen's SO gonna kill me…" All three Outers took a look back at their Monarch who was still sleeping soundly. Michiru and Haruka looked from her, to the body then back to one another, coming to the same conclusion simutaneuosly.
It was another hour before Ranma Saotome woke up, and she was dismayed to find three magical girls still standing guard over her. "Uhhhg… God, my head feels like it's been kicked a few times…" She rubbed the scruff of silver hair. "Don't tell me you've been here all night…?"
"Rotating watch, you Highness." Neptune commented, glancing nervously over to her partner. Saturn kept a carefully neutral expression.
Ranma was feeling sufficiently drained not to even bother protesting the 'your highness' crap, let alone inquire how much of last night had been real or imagined. She was certainly hoping the blonde's "mother" comment was part of the latter. Heck, she was feeling so out of it as to skip this morning's practice. "Look, whatever. Gonna take a bath." She stepped out of the room and her escort followed. Ranma stopped short. "And ya ain't getting in with me." All three body guards nodded, taking up positions outside the door Ranma was opening. She gave them one last look and shook her head before entering.
The wash down went without incident until several dull thuds were heard outside the door. Ranma paused in her scrubbing and watched curiously as the door slammed open half way, and her father's frame attempted to gain entry. One disembodied arm had him in a headlock while two others had and arm and a leg respectively. "Dammit! The boy missed his practice lemmee--erk!"
"Erk" Signaled Genma Saotome catching sight of his suds covered son turned daughter, which in turn gave the groping hands the advantage, pulling him back out of the restroom. The door was left ajar, giving Ranma a clear impression of the violent beat down that followed. A minute later, Saturn stuck her head back in discreetly. "Our apologize for the disruption, your Highness." Before Ranma could reply, the head was gone, leaving Ranma to wonder. Not that she didn't appreciate the intervention. She couldn't count the number of days where she would've loved to have delegated her father's ass kicking to somebody else. The soaking was remarkably incident free aside from the random thud at the doorway. It allowed the martial artist the relative peace necessary to think through the fine, fine mess she had somehow gotten herself into.
First on the mental checklist was the bath itself, which she was talking in female form. Not surprising. The rock, which had been absorbed into her, was overriding the curse. Wouldn't be the first time either, so it was a relatively minor detail. The sliver hair… Now that was an oddity, but not majorly so, having been exposed to hair-type curses before. Still… Ranma untied the dragon whisker and stared into the tub mirror mounted in the corner. To say it was exotic was a serious understatement, she thought as she ran her hands through the silky mass of silver. Ok, weird, but not that big a deal. The memories… Those were by far more disturbing in nature. Very little was coherent at the moment, but there were moments of clarity, and they were frightening. They were visions of times, places and peoples she had never seen or known, like a guided tour of somebody else's life… Somebody that was like her, but not… Another disturbing fact was those life and times were entirely female from what she had been able to discern through the flashes, which would go a long way toward explaining why the body felt more at home than usual.
Too at home.
She was a guy, dammit, and while she wanted to append a mental exclamation point to that statement as was custom, she just couldn't put the usual force of disgust behind it. That was a problem. The girl form was beginning to feel more comfortable; at least as comfortable as his male form, which she would have never believed to be possible. If she could have bared it, she would have just chucked the rock and taken the easy way out. That, however, was an impossibility. She still didn't know much about it, but she knew that it represented sacrifice… More sacrifice than she had ever seen in this lifetime. And it was her burden to somehow bear that sacrifice. It wasn't simply a concept; it was a matter of honor. All in all, it was one hellva vicious circle to be trapped in; one that bore entirely too much resemblance to her already complicated life.
Ranma lifted herself out of the tub and dried off, having mentally prepared herself as much as she could possibly do so before shit hit the fan as it inevitably did on a daily basis. Minutes after dressing in her usually red and black silks, she was out the door with her escort behind her, which brought up another interesting topic of conversation… How in the world did she rate magical girl bodyguards? The smell wafting throughout the house quickly drew her away from that particular topic and she quickly found her way to the dining room, where everybody was already eating.
They promptly stopped on sight of her.
"OH MY!" Kasumi's eyes glittered. She halted serving a bruised Genma and stepped to Ranma's side, who almost took a step back on reflex. Such an energetic display from the eldest Tendo was quite unusual. A gentle hand quickly found the damp silver hair, which glistened spectacularly in the morning's rays pouring through the window. "It's… absolutely beautiful, Ranma!" Kasumi stood transfixed for a moment, before looking on the martial artist with wide eyes. "Do you think you could give me silver magical girl hair?"
"Uh…" It was the only answer she could come up with before her brain finally caught up to her mouth. "Um, when I find out how I got it, I'll let ya know Kas-chan."
This seemed to satisfy the awed sister for the moment, who promptly turned her full attention to serving Ranma instead of her father, which only served to brighten the martial artists mood further. She ignored the remaining stares and reflexively tied her hair back up into a pigtail before sitting down. Her hands paused before hitting the chopsticks, and she looked back up at her escorts. "You want somethin' to eat too?"
All three shook their heads. "Kasumi-chan was gracious enough to provide us with sustenance earlier, you Highness." Michiru replied and Ranma shrugged.
"Suit yourself." She started for the chopsticks once more, but paused once again to stare at the youngest Tendo who was pretty pale at the moment. "Uh, you okay 'Kane?"
Akane flashed a look up to the waiting Senshi and back at Ranma, producing something close to a weak smile. "Uh, just not hungry, that's all… yeah…" Another look up at the Senshi and she found her feet and began to leave. "Didn't sleep well…"
Ranma arched an eyebrow and looked from her, to the Senshi she was staring at. "Rez sickness is a bitch." Saturn shrugged. The two other Senshi flashed her annoyed looks. Ranma simply rolled her eyes. Akane and her magical girl idols…
"So, Saotome," The middle Tendo sister interrupted in the haughty tone that so many people loathed. "Does the carpet match the drapes?"
Soun Tendo practically choked on his tea while his best friend twitched rather obviously. Even Akane stared at her sister, unable to believe the question she had just forwarded. Had she been looking in Kasumi's direction, she might have thought it was a tad creepy that her oldest sister seemed to be awaiting the answer eagerly. Ranma's fingers hovered above the chopsticks and an annoyed expression crossed her face. It was the look of patience exhausted; the look of having been on the short end of the stick too many times. But there was more beyond that. It was the actual realization of those two concepts for perhaps the first time since her stay at the Tendos. Somehow they had moved from simple faceless events in her life to pinpoint scrutiny. She turned one of her colder looks on Nabiki who found her own breath caught up in the scrutiny.
"Yeah. It does. What of it?" Nabiki opened her mouth, but for once nothing came out. It was a stinging barb designed to embarrass the recipient, not be answered directly. "T'day's not the day, Nabs."
Surprisingly, Nabiki stayed silent for once. Whether it was Ranma's cold stare or those of the Senshi behind her acting as an extension of her displeasure was up for debate, but the results spoke for themselves. Unlike the Panda, Nabiki was far from stupid. Something had happened between Akane and the Ranma's magical girl escort, something that had sapped a large chunk of the girl's ever-present aggression, and it wasn't something she was looking to experience herself. Escort or no, some things never changed, however.
"Boy! I demand you change back at once!" Genma growled. "You're turning entirely too gack!"
Now the word 'gack' normally wasn't a staple part of Genma Saotome's vocabulary, but today was a notable exception to the rule as the smallest of the Outers brought the edge of her Silence Glaive down in a flash to lightly rest on the father's throat.
"You were already warned."
Genma affected a weak smile and moved the exotic pole arm off his throat slowly with a single finger, while Soun restrained the shiver that vibrated through his soul on seeing the deadly seriousness of the small, black-haired girl. "Eh heh heheh eh heh…."
None of this stopped Nodoka from speaking out, being the one person in the room besides Kasumi with an all but assured 'get out of violence free card'. "Exactly how long do you plan on staying in that unmanly form, Son?"
Had she have asked that question yesterday, the silver haired martial artist wouldn't have had an answer. After a day of reflection, chaos and all around mind-bending, Ranma had an one. It was as vague as the memories floating around inside her skull at the moment, but it was more than she had before.
"Long as it takes, Mom." She answered matter-of-factly, causing the mother to frown. "It's a matter of honor."
"But it's a matter of honor for you to marry--"
Nodoka's objection was quickly parried. "This matter of honor precedes the engagement."
"You were engaged to marry a Tendo girl at two years old." The chestnut haired matriarch stated flatly.
"Exactly." Ranma replied in the same tone. The two starred at one another for the next minute until Nabiki broke the stalemate.
"You do realize that makes no sense, right Saotome?"
Ranma shrugged, jabbing a thumb back to her escorts. "I got three magical girl bodyguards, silver hair, a bunch of memories that I shouldn't have, one girl calling me Queen, another Serenity and yet another Mom." She shook her head slowly, rubbing her temples. "You makin' sense of all that yet, Nabs?"
Nabiki shut up with nothing to say for the second time in less than an hour and Ranma simply stood up. "I need time to think. Anybody needs me, I'll be in the dojo."
Sailor Uranus stared on in amazement at the silver blur that progressed through a kata that eclipsed her best by several magnitudes. Saturn watched in neutral silence while Neptune was similarly awed. Their Queen was absolutely amazing. None of the three had complete memories of their Silver Millennium time, but Michiru didn't recall Queen Serenity as being the sort to engage in hand to hand combat. That fact didn't make her any less lethal; just that it was a sharp contrast to the woman they were now watching. Ranma blazed through another set before terminating it abruptly, freezing mid punch. She held the pose for a moment then relaxed, folding her arms and waited. The trio of Outer's began to wonder what had halted her practice and received an answer from the most unlikely of places.
"Very nice form, Son in-law." An old female voice crackled, causing the Senshi to spin around on target, finding a small, shriveled woman in green balanced evenly on a three foot staff that was as gnarled as she was. The Glaive flipped down and a glowing space sword slid from its sheath. Cologne frowned.
"Alpha, hold." Ranma commanded instinctively, and the girls froze, mirroring the well oiled military unit they used to represent. None of the three even questioned their instantaneous response to their Queen's order, much like Ranma herself didn't even think where the sudden authority was born from. "Whatcha want ya old…." Ranma's eyes gained a thoughtful glint. "Whattdya want, Cologne?"
The Amazon elder blinked. It was the first time in recent memory that the Saotome had actually used her given name. But that wasn't even her primary concern. That was the three magical girls in fukus watching her warily and how they had reacted to Ranma's order like a cohesive military unit. Even more surprising was the fact that it was Ranma who had ordered them. The last time she had seen that level of control was in her own Amazons. Of course, outside of Ranma, their performance left a lot to be desired. Ranma had sensed her approach. The magic girls hadn't, regardless of the power they were now radiating. They were a huge threat, but not an insurmountable one by any means.
"Just stopping by to see if the rumors are true." The ancient woman hopped forward, causing the Outers to tense up. She studied the martial artist for a moment. Like the girls behind her, she was radiating power but in greater quantities and her hair shimmered silver. Cologne smiled. "No artifact of Amazonian origin caused this level of change."
"Only if yer in the habit of listening to Nabiki." Ranma rolled her eyes and the Elder scowled.
"I told that child not to take the Tendo's words at face value." The staff hopped, and clicked the floor, as if emphasizing her annoyance. It held only for a moment before her face turn mirthful. "And should I call you 'your Highness' now, too?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes."
"No."
Ranma turned back to her bodyguard with an annoyed look. The girls themselves managed to avoid eye contact. She turned back to Cologne who couldn't help but to smile. "I ain't no queen."
"They seem to think so." Cologne pressed. "And what would be your queenly title be?"
Ranma's attention focused sharply on the Elder. She had more than enough combined experience with bother her and Nabiki's manipulations to know a probe for information when she heard it. "Whatdya want, Cologne?"
Not rising to the bait, the old woman thought as she stared at the transformed martial artist. It was amazing, she thought, how spectacularly things could backfire now, given their mutual past and how Shampoo's engagement had been handled. On top of that, she was herself directly responsible for the improvement of what may well be a potential adversary. Not just an adversary, The adversary. The adversary which had already eliminated Saffron, a rather large fish on the adversary food chain. If Ranma was The One, things could go bad in rapidly epic fashion depending on how she handled the next few moments.
"What do you know of the patron goddess of the Amazons, Ranma?" Ranma gave her a dry look which was promptly interpreted as knowing absolutely nothing. Cologne supplied the relevant information. "Thousands of years ago there was a great war, where upon the Goddess of the Earth fought to remove the yoke of slavery imposed by the Goddess of the Moon. The two battled, and the Goddess of the Earth used the last of her power to remove the Goddess of the Moon from existence."
Ranma cocked her head curiously, listening to the tale. It sounded vaguely familiar. Maybe she had heard it before. The Senshi behind her, however, had another take on the story and instantly arrayed themselves around Ranma.
"Your Highness, please step back." Michiru whispered softly as the slight hiss of metal sliding out of its sheath accompanied her words. Uranus' space sword drank in open air and Hotaru's Silence Glaive came down in a guarded position across her Queen. Ranma glanced from one armed girl to the other with a questioning look. Cologne ignored them.
"From that day on, the Amazons paid homage to their Goddess, the one who freed them from the Moon's shadow." She continued and Haruka growled. "Our goddesses' name is Beryl."
The space sword came up into a strike position and Saturn's pole arm flipped through the air with a grace the girl had never before displayed. The Elder simply stood there as Ranma reacted instantly, deflecting Uranus' blade upward with one hand and stopping the whirling Glaive cold with the other.
"I said HOLD!"
The Senshi froze in their positions even as Cologne stood there impassively. Ranma knew better. She had seen her ki levels spike and knew had she not intervened, things would get messy for the magical girls, especially if their past performance was any indication. Fortunately, the magical girls obeyed her command without question, though they weren't happy by the looks of it. Her gaze flicked over each of her bodyguards. "Wanna tell me what this is about?"
Hotaru chose her words carefully. "You are the Goddess of the Moon, your Majesty."
Ranma blinked looking from his escort to Cologne, who simply stood balanced on her cane, staring. Well, that certainly put things in perspective, she thought as she put two and two together. "So you're saying that I'm your evil moon goddess?"
"Indeed," Cologne nodded, and frowned. "Serenity."
Ranma flinched with the name. "I ain't enslaved nobody and I don't know why everybody keeps callin' me that."
Cologne sighed and Ranma felt her power slacken. "It does seem unlikely, son in-law, but I have not lived to this age by ignoring even the most impossible seeming events." She paused, staring at the young girl. "Nor do I detect that level of evil within you, though your power has jumped exponentially." Unsaid was the fact that she would not be looking forward to a battle with the girl at this point either. That power combined with Ranma's innate skill… She'd more than likely need a short platoon of Amazon elite in addition to herself to bring the martial artist down now.
"So whatdya have in mind? Ranma inquired and the Elder stroked a long white strand of hair at her tiny shoulders.
"I do not know, Son in-law, but others will not react positively to this news of your new association with our ancient nemesis." She elaborated cautiously and Ranma felt an icy pit develop in her stomach. Amazons that didn't react positively always seemed to fall into the polar opposite, reacting homicidally.
"I will keep you informed son in-law." We owe you that much for Saffron, she thought even as she hopped from the dojo.
Razor scythe claws flashed in and a lithe Amazon warrior went low, narrowly avoiding having her head taken off by the obsidian scimitars. Cologne rolled left, leaving behind wisps of purple hair that hadn't cleared the strike in time. Another claw came in and she brought the tip of her shuang tou qiang up just in time to deflect the claws in a shower of white sparks. The moment afforded her an excellent view of the pink scaled beast she was facing, too good she noted as it pushed down along the length of her weapon with its body mass. The eighteen year old resisted the pressure momentarily before rolling back completely in order to plant a foot into the monster's chest and push it skyward. Snapping jaws remained airborne only for a moment before crashing into the bamboo tree line behind the young lady, who promptly recovered into a fighting stance.
The natural entanglement allowed the young Amazon to take stock of the situation, which she quickly rated as decent, all things considered. Of course, those 'things' just happened to be several mud-caked lacerations, blood soaked combat silks and one lethal demonic beast approximately two times her size and ten times her mass. The demon, which could be loosely termed as female- if one were to use such descriptive loosely -snapped another thick shoot of bamboo in half and stumbled back into the clearing. It was still reorienting itself, and Cologne took the opportunity to rip a piece of silk from her pant leg, tying up a bleeding slash down her left arm. She gave the makeshift bandage a tight tug and winced with the pain before pulling her double bladed spear out of the earth and flipping it around, brining it to bear on the beast once more. One of monstrosity's eyes was already gone; a victim to that same spearpoint, but the remaining one quickly found the bothersome Amazon and snarled.
Maybe 'decent' wasn't the word after all, Cologne amended silently and braced for the inevitable charge.
The charge came and the Amazon girl gave it two lightning jabs with the spear point before sliding left like a matador courting her bull. The beast stumbled once again and its new wounds leaked a dark mist. That just made it mad, and the demon's spiked tail snapped at her as it went by, nearly taking off her leg. Cologne hopped over the tail, giving her enough altitude to bring the spear in an overhead arc and down into the thing's back. The blade point ran through the scaled dorsal armor, through several vital organs and out its chest. The Amazon warrior put everything she had into leverage, and pushed down on the shaft, causing the blade to eviscerate the beast from sternum to skull while magical plumes of energy accompanied the maneuver. It stood for a moment longer despite the damage, and Cologne was whipping the spear back around to an offensive guard when the gouts of streaming life force halted. The beast fell to the earth a second later.
The young woman stabbed the spear into the ground and she leaned into it panting while the monster began to evaporate at her feet. A resonate humming filled the air and she turned a weary head to the circle of monolithic stones she had been fighting around. The warding stone at the center came to life, glowing with indecipherable symbology. She smiled. The Rite of Ascension was hers now. She had slain the guardian and now all that remained was to take its essence to the stone and call upon their goddess. Cologne reached into the smoldering mist of the demonic remains and pulled a pink crystal forth. She stared into the primitively cut facets and pulled the spear out of the ground.
It was time.
A few short steps took her inside the ring of stone and power washed over her. This was definitely the domain of the goddess, she thought, and stepped confidently up to the warding stone and placed her hand on it. The same glow that pulsed around the stone now enveloped her, and she prepared to speak the words of ascension. From there, The Earth Goddess would determine her worth and either accept her ascension or… Cologne didn't worry about the 'or'. Her line had always been a strong one. Her mother had ascended as had her grandmother. Now the honor would undoubtedly be hers. She took a deep breath, and--
"Cologne-chan! Cologne-chan!"
The purple haired Amazon whirled around to find a small girl, no more than eight clear the tree-line, her short crop of light green hair bouncing eagerly as she ran closer. "You did it, Cologne-chan!"
The warrior's eyes widened. "Lint! What are you doing here!" The girl's pace slowed, but her enthusiasm was by no means diminished.
"Watching you!" The girl bubbled. "You were SO amazing, Cologne-chan!"
"You shouldn't even be here!" Cologne hiss back, temporarily halting the girl's advance into the ritual ground and stone wards. "You could have gotten hurt!"
"But I had to watch…" The girl pouted, and the Amazon warrior found it hard to keep her temper toward the child. Hard, but not impossible.
"This is the Rite of Ascension," She bit back. "NOT a place for little girls, do you understand!"
Lint frowned some more. "But I just wanted…"
"I know." Some of Colognes anger leaked away. "But you can't stay. Go."
"But…"
"NOW."
"Okay." The child turned partially, then bolted toward her. "But not without a hug!"
Alert screamed through Cologne's brain in that instant as the child closed on the ring of stones she was standing within. No! She can't cross the line! She's not old enough! If she does…! Lint sprinted over the line before her thoughts could translate into action, and the circle of stone, previously dead grey, began to power up, pulsing with energy. Nononono… Cologne though, horror filtering through her conscious. Goddess, no!
"GET AWAY!" She screamed as the child ran up to her, stopping upon seeing the fear stricken face. "Run! NOW! You aren't ready!"
The girls face was writ with incomprehension… Until the ground began to rumble. "Cologne-chan?"
"You foolish child!" The purple haired warrior shrieked. "Now it will test you! RUN!"
Instead of heeding her frantic command, the child stayed rooted to the spot she was standing as the earth parted behind her, revealing another demon all too similar to the one Cologne just fought. She cursed and stepped around Lint, bringing the shuang tou qiang back to the front. The purple haired Amazon warrior shook her head and readied herself as the new demon crawled from the earthen rubble of its entrance, noting that the situation had just turned to absolute suck. Lint herself was a massive combat liability, while she was nowhere near one-hundred percent after dispatching the first monster. Damn, damn, DAMN.
"If we survive this, Lint, I promise to tan your hide so bad you won't be sitting for a month." Cologne growled and the monster pulled up to its full height, focusing in on the little girl behind her. Lint shrank against the center stone, not sure who to fear more at the moment.
"Stay behind me, no matter what."
She didn't see the small girl's nod, nor did she care. Her entire focus was on the infernal being before her as it finally perceived her as an obstacle. She knew what was running through its limited intellect as easily as she could read its eyes…
Obstacle is for killing.
The fresh youma charged and Cologne barely cleared its path before razor claws came lashing in, skittering off her spear with bright flashes of lightening. Lint scampered behind her and the Warrior let a grim smile crept across her face as she rotated the great spear around, intercepting strike after strike. This was her grandmother's own spear and her mother before. Both had wielded it against the very opponent that now tried to force her guard, and the smile grew with feral intensity. This weapon in her family's hand was responsible for slaying no less than three of the beasts, ascending two of her line to godhood. Despite her condition, Cologne had never lost a fight yet and she was determined to bring another down and claim her place on high.
A pink tail sliced in and it managed to slice into her shoulder before her delayed reactions caught the penetration, deflecting the spike with the spear shaft and opening the demon's guard to counterattack. She stepped into the flaying tail and brought the spearhead down halfway into it, chopping the lethal appendage into a stump before the monster reacted by swatting her away into a stone with a hard crunch. Stars danced across her vision as her lungs grabbed for breath that suddenly wasn't there. She gasped and blinked the stars away, only to find the obsidian scythes inbound for her head. Cologne ducked quickly and the claws racks across the stone ward, leaving four precisely etched grooves in its wake.
The Amazon responded in kind, slashing the spear across beast's scaled breasts and bleeding it of magical energy with the gash. The other claw came down, but Cologne was already gone, rolling left and punching the spear into its ribcage before breaking contact. True to her word, Lint was on her like glue, never leaving her back and the relative safety it provided. The young woman was panting hard now and nearly every part of her combat silks were stained with dark blood. The beast wasn't faring much better, having sustained a slash to the chest, a punctured ribcage and hacked off tail, all of it leaking life force like a sieve.
For all the damage it had taken, Cologne was the best of her generation for a reason and she wasn't a fool. The demon had more power and stamina, while she was just as, if not more wounded. Her own reserves were running dangerously low and the Amazon instinctively knew that a protracted battle was a suicidal proposition for her. No. She never lost. She wasn't about to now. The monster found her once more and Cologne twirled the shuang tou qiang through a complex arc, burying its point into the earth before her and sheared it left in a trail of dust. Since bleeding it to death was no longer an option, she only had one choice-- A last stand. The best Amazon of her generation pulled every ounce of ki that remained in her weary body to the forefront and waited for the last charge.
BRAAaaaWW!
The monster tensed and bolted forward in a salivating mass of fangs and claws. Cologne brought the spear up and aimed. She would only get one shot at this. The beast leapt skyward and her spear-point tracked it through the arc.
Now.
"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!"
The spear blurred into near invisibility as it the beast fell into, hitting the demon at nearly three-hundred strikes per second. Another half second later and Cologne's strength failed her. Her body buckled as the massive strain of the technique sent her to the ground, spear flying across the clearing and into a nearby stone with a sharp 'twang!'. Her body may have failed her, but it was enough. Pieces of beast fell around her, smoldering in magical ruin. Body parts flopped to the ground and a sharp ting! cut through the sizzle of magical flesh decaying. Her vision, though blurred, easily picked out the pink jem that dropped before her.
She stared at it, laying limp for another minute before summoning the willpower to prop herself up to pull the stone into her grasp. Lint helped the young woman to her feet, using the spear as a crutch once more.
Two! She had defeated two of the infernal guardians! Godhood was surely hers now! Cologne hobbled past the ring of stones once more with girl as support, finding the central warding stone. What she saw- or didn't see, rather -crushed her spirit. It was no longer glowing.
"NO!" The warrior tripped forward, pressing her hands to the pillar, one pink jem in each hand. She closed her eyes, and drew a breath. "Goddess, I beseech thee! I sacrifice the guardian's blood and my own to join you at your side! Take my eternal soul into your hands!"
Silence.
"Take my eternal soul into your hands!"
The moment drug on, and a single tear fell to the alter. Cologne knew. She had missed her chance. Taken too long. Perhaps it was a test. A test she had failed. An impotent fist pounded against the rock. Yes, that was it. Her goddess had given her a dilemma… Take her hand in trust or distrust her divine will concerning Lint. She had distrusted and the Goddess of the Earth had withdrawn her favor. It couldn't be… Cologne brought herself upright, staring down at the stone while doubt continued to creep through her mindset. Was her faith so small? Of course her goddess would not leave the child to her own devices against the beast. No, it was a test and she failed. Dammit…
"Cologne-chan?" Lint tugged at the teen's silks. "Are you okay?"
Cologne took a deep breath. She had missed her chance to sit at Beryl's side, but perhaps that was not her destiny. Perhaps her destiny was here on Earth to strengthen her sisters… A ray of hope pierced the Amazon's depression leaded fog as she stared down at the two crystals in her hand. Not all were accepted to ascend and while she may have failed this test, but she would not fail another. The two crystals were honors in and of themselves, and would all but cement her standing within the tribe.
Yes… maybe- just maybe -she would be okay.
Usagi Tsukino stared at the book on the table in front of her and flipped another page without actually processing the information contained therein. Around her, the Inners were keeping close watch on her movements, and were worried. She had been like this most of the day and didn't show any signs of pulling out of the dazed slump she had sunk into.
"Sa-chan?" Ami poked her friend's shoulder, slightly shifting the dead weight before her. "Anybody home?"
"She's my mom…" the cobalt blue head of hair almost missed her friends whisper, her gaze never moving from the pages. "I've got two moms…"
"And one of them kicked your butt." Minako snorted, earning leaded stares from the rest of the Inners. The smirk died away. "Well she did."
"Senny-- I mean Queen Serenity obviously hasn't regained all her memories yet." Setsuna commented, trying her own hand at breaking the princess's depression with a dose of curiosity. "At least she wasn't serious."
"What do you mean she wasn't serious?" Makato stared. "She handed us our butts!"
"That's just it." The Princess of Pluto replied. "There's absolutely no way she even cracked a fraction of her potential yesterday." She paused, and a look of recollection clouded her face. "A lot more physical than I remember, though."
"Are you absolutely certain?" Usagi leveled her blue eyes on the Guardian of Time.
"Ami?"
It wasn't even a question and the Senshi of Mercury flipped out the clam-shelled Mercury link at Pluto's command. "DNA was screwed up all across the board, of course, but the power signature was an exact match with the archives I have access to. Add that to the fact that the Ginzuishou is in nearly perfect alignment with her life force- accurate to I don't even want to count how many decimal places -I'd have to say…"
"Yes." Setsuna finished off and Ami simply shrugged. "She knew things. Impossible things. Things nobody but myself should know." The green haired Senshi stroked her long flowing tresses. "Hell, she even knew Haruka's last name."
"Anybody could have known that." Rei countered, if only for the sake of playing devil's advocate.
"Not her given name from the Silver Millenium." Setsuna shook her head. "None of you can even tell me what your real last names were, let alone some redhead from God knows where."
"Then why doesn't she know me?" The hurt in her voice was transmitted crystal clear and Setsuna's hand fell on the blonde's shoulder with a sympathetic look on her face. The level of concern she conveyed shocked the hell out of the Inners.
"Probably because we've been best friends for damn near forever, Princess." Pluto replied softly. "It makes sense if it's coming back chronologically. Even then, she barely made the association."
Usagi stared at Pluto a moment longer and let loose a weary sigh. "So what do we do now?"
"We wait." Moon blinked. That wasn't exactly the answer she was hoping to hear and her track record concerning patience was well known. Setsuna elaborated with a slight smile. "I instructed the Outers to escort her here once things were less hectic at her place."
"The Queen is coming here?" Ami started with wide eyes.
Setsuna nodded. "And get Luna and Artemis. The more familiar faces we have around here, the better."
"Pigtailed Goddess! A word with you!"
Ranma Saotome groaned and her escort turned to find a young man in a hakama running down the street at a brisk pace. They tensed and prepared to power up from their civilian idenities when Ranma stopped them on sensing the power build up. "Don't bother. It's just that idiot Kuno."
Michiru arched an eyebrow. "But if he is a bothersome wretch, shouldn't we dispose of him?"
"It'd be a tragic waste of power." Ranma stated dryly. That, and the last thing she needed was to have magical girls suddenly appear at her side instead of the ordinary girls who had managed to con her into going with them. In truth, it was a welcome diversion from the drama currently stewing around the dojo, even if she was more than likely heading into another helping of it. "We'll see what the idiot wants before I let you have a crack at him."
Even as Haruka smiled evilly at the approaching boy, Ranma herself frowned. Same Kuno, same divorced from reality look, but something was different. Wait. His katana, specifically the fact that it was an honest-to-God blade, not the wooden bokken he usually sported. Oh this was going to get plenty interesting, she was sure of it. If he still wanted the rock…
"Ah! Here you are!" Kuno started with satisfaction, and the untransformed outers stepped around their queen protectively. "I was worried that my information had been in error!"
"Information?"
"Indeed," Tatewake nodded, eyeing Ranma's silver hair. "I have come to confirm certain rumors."
"Rumors?" The martial artist began to get a sinking pit in her stomach. Rumors were what were the bane of her existence as of late.
"Is it true that you are the empress of an ancient and noble empire?" The upper classman cocked his head, considering her carefully.
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes."
"No!"
Ranma glared at her magical girl escort, who were fortunate enough to be preoccupied by Kuno to avoid the burning look of annoyance. Kuno himself nodded, as if the preceding was a given.
"Of course, I should not have doubted my noble retainer." He continued, and Ranma immediately placed the retainer in question as Sasuke. When he wasn't tripping over his own shadow, he could be downright sneaky, and Ranma could easily see where he'd have missed him in last night's charade. Ranma sighed, wishing the idiot would say something that would give her the perfect excuse to punt him over the horizon. Maybe she would just nudge the process along a little bit.
"Ok, yeah, fine." She rolled her eyes. "I'm the magical-girl queen of an empire spanning three hundred and five worlds, one hundred thousand light years and nearly five hundred and eighty trillion citizens. So what of it?"
Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru simply stared at the girl before their attention was drawn away by the Kuno, who inhaled sharply.
"So it is true!" Kuno dropped to one knee and with Ranma's stomach plunged with it. This was going to be bad. Tatewake untied the scabbard from his side and held the hilt out to the silver haired pigtailed girl. "On behalf of the house of Kuno, I pledge my blade and my life to your cause, Empress!"
Ranma twitched, staring down at the upper-classman. "You have got to be kidding me."
"Nay, your Highness." Kuno looked up from his position and Ranma couldn't believe what she was seeing. Instead of the vacant, insane glitter in Tatewaki's eyes, she found something else… Oh, the insane glitter was still there, but the vacancy was gone. Gears were turning behind those eyes. "Please accept Kuno family blade as a token of our loyalty."
"Our loyalty?"
"Truly." He nodded. "My sister and I have discussed the matter at length and agree that this is the path of true honor."
He pushed the ordinate katana into her hand, and she couldn't help but to admire the craftsmanship of the scabbard, inlayed with ivory with dancing tigers dancing up the edge in gold trim. He pulled the silver blade halfway from its sheath and balanced it in her hand. While she wasn't an expert on forging per se, Ranma's martial art's training included blade proficiency and she could tell this was a formidable one. There was no way this was the usual bribe for a date. She slid the katana back into the scabbard with a sharp click. Ranma looked at the Kendoist again as he stared at her feet, leaving her at a total lose for words.
"Umm.. Tell ya what…" She began, choosing her next words as she possibly could. "Keep your katana. I, um, shall call upon it when your services are needed."
Tatewaki of House Kuno retrieved the blade with a determined look, fastening it back to his side. "Of course, your Highness! The House of Kuno and its resources shall henceforth be at your disposal." He rose and snapped into bow. "Please excuse me, your Eminance. Preperations must be made."
Ranma stared at the boy for a good minute before realizing that Kuno was actually requesting permission to depart. "Uh, yeah. Of course." With that, Tatewaki was gone, leaving one martial artist and three thoroughly confused magical girls in his wake. Then his words caught up with her stunned personage.
"Waitaminute… Preperations?"
Author's Notes
This story is getting
longer by the hour. I originally couldn't envision it past three
parts, but now I'm easily going to be filling five here. The Amazon
arc that was originally planned is taking a much darker turn than was
originally intended, as I was evolving them only as a kick around
convenience for Ranma, not a story in themselves. As it is, it will
be pivotal in Ranma's development. Hope you're having as much fun as
I am :D
Shuang Tou Qiang; A Chinese double bladed spear.
Hydra Class & Hyperspace; Simply put, these are the submarines of the Silver Millennium space combat. Instead of having hyperspace as a fast from of travel, I'm writing it as a dimensional curtain in which one side cannot interact with the other. Hyperspace vessels can penetrate this dimensional curtain, separating them from conventional detection and attack.
XA-505; The ICBMs of the Silver Millennium. Unlike the Z90, they are designed for system to system star warfare independent of a host vessel. These weapons destroy stars by penetrating their surface and destabilizing the nuclear reaction therein, creating conditions favorable to an uncontrolled nova event.
Special thanks to all of Fukufics (dotcom); Especially Yarrow, DCG and Trimatter.
Bonus! The original Heir to the Empire - This story wasn't the first incarnation of HttE. 01101000011101000111010001110000001110100010111100101111011101110111011101110111001011100111001001100001011010110110100001100001011011000010111001100011011011110110110100101111011011110111101001111010011000010110110001101100011011110111001100101111010010000110010101101001011100100110001001100101011101000110000100101110011010000111010001101101