13: "Let's Go On A Date!"
We charged into Honnouji expecting an amazing battle: Satsuki with me and Mako, the Elite Four with Iori, Mikisugi with the last members of Nudist Beach, and the rescued COVERS captives now in Ultima Uniforms. We did not expect that our target, the Transmission Tower, would be covered by a Life Fiber shield which Mako said looked like "A giant rubber barrier." We also did not expect that Nui would be back with ultra-strong arms. And what we expected least of all was for Ragyo to appear in a new Kamui: Omnisilk Kouketsu.
Rainbow-colored light shone all around Ragyo, and all of us suddenly lost the power of our uniforms. This was Ragyo's "Absolute Domination" power. Omnisilk Kouketsu was apparently made from a rare subspecies of Life Fiber which caused all other Life Fibers to cower in fear. The Omnisilk could also send out reawakening calls to other Life Fibers, as well as summon nearby Life Fibers to it. Ragyo stripped us of our power by making our Life Fibers freeze in fear. She then used the summoning power and the Original Life Fiber answered her call!
Even as we bitterly realized that we had failed to kill the Original Life Fiber, some of us kept fighting. Mikisugi and Mohawk Man were quickly sent flying. Mako got too close to Nui, but when the little Demon struck, Gamagori took the blow. Mako knelt beside him, distraught and weeping. I realized it was time for me step up, and I think Senketsu realized it at the same time.
I took off Senketsu and fought Nui back, defending Mako and Gamagori. I knew that I was part human and part Life Fiber, and that the "Absolute Domination" would not work on such a rare fusion as my own body. Senketsu realized that he was part human, too: not only did he contain some of my DNA, but he also had a strong will of his own. He too broke free of Ragyo's power, and destroyed her heart, where the actual Omnisilk had been glowing.
At once, the rainbow-light vanished and "Absolute Domination" lost its hold. Satsuki and the rest were free to use the power of their uniforms again. I put Senketsu back on and Satsuki ran to join me where I stood in front of the shell-shocked Ragyo. Bakuzan had been broken again, but Satsuki and I each held one of the scissor blades.
"You're going to hate me for this," said Satsuki quickly as we crossed our blades and prepared to strike at Ragyo. "But it's the only way I know how to say I care about you."
When our blades came down for a strike, my face came suddenly close to Satsuki's, and without losing her cool in the slightest she kissed me lightly. The force of our blades made Ragyo step back, still weak as her body tried to regenerate her heart.
"Yep," I whispered to Satsuki, "you're seriously the worst sister ever."
Satsuki smiled at me and then quickly issued an order for the other forces to break the Transmitter. I vaguely heard them succeeding. Gamagori (still alive) broke through the Life Fiber shield and put a hole in the Transmitter. Then Mikisugi and Mohawk Man (also still alive) threw their robots along with explosives into the hole. The Transmitter Tower exploded magnificently.
Before the outraged Ragyo could make any move, Satsuki and I brought our blades straight through her. We sliced across horizontally and then down vertically, quartering her. We thought she was done for, but then came the strangest thing yet. Nui sliced off her own head, which was then absorbed into and made part of the Original Life Fiber. The huge bundle of Fiber quickly enveloped Ragyo's body, restoring her with Life Fibers so she could live, and covering her like a gigantic, living dress. Ragyo said Nui was "wearing" the Original Life Fiber, and Nui's voice appeared and said that Ragyo was "wearing" her.
"So even at the cost of her life," whispered Satsuki bitterly, "Nui maintains this disgusting relationship with her own mother."
"So says the girl who kissed her sister," I growled at Satsuki.
"Apparently," Satsuki smiled, "Nobody but Jakuzure appreciates my sense of humor."
Just then, with a mad laugh, Ragyo launched herself upward into the sky. The Original Life Fiber, or Nui, turned itself into a rocket launcher and literally sent Ragyo towards space. Inumuta told us she would be heading to the satellite herself, and with her heart regenerated she could use her Kamui's power to send the wake-up call to all the Life Fibers of the world. She didn't even need the Transmitter. She sent out the call herself, and Life Fibers everywhere woke up and started preying on humans.
I knew there was only one thing to do. I had to go after her. I was the only one with a chance of resisting the power of the Omnisilk Kouketsu. So I grimly announced that I would go after Ragyo myself.
It was Mako who broke the silence. "Ryuuko-chan, let's go on a date!" she exclaimed. "Listen up! Let's go on a date when you get back!" (Here she kissed me so quickly I had no time to respond.) "Let's dress in cute clothes, and cute accessories, and go shopping, and eat icecream, in a world where girls are free to wear whatever clothes they want! I'm sure Ryuuko-chan will create a world like that! A world like that! A WORLD LIKE THAT!"
So Mako had finally come out of the closet. Her enthusiastic antics forced me to smile. "You got it," I told her. I knew what to do next. "Everyone! Let me wear your Ultima Uniforms!"
With all the power of all the Life Fibers there, plus Senketsu, I became as powerful as Ragyo and her Kouketsu. Senketsu and I temporarily took the shape of a rocket and launched. Both Ragyo and I could somehow survive at the end of the stratosphere, which was rapidly filling with red Life Fiber cloth. Soon the planet would be covered and choked out. But I couldn't give up when I had a date with Mako to return to, so I battled Ragyo once more.
At first she beat the shit out of me. I had to regenerate faster than ever with her otherwise lethal attacks. Ragyo impaled my body with pure Life Fiber, and said that nothing made of Life Fibers could kill her because of her "Absolute Domination" power. Then I finally realized something critical.
All this time, whenever Senketsu and I defeated COVERS or people wearing Ultima Uniforms, we absorbed their Life Fibers into us. Why shouldn't we be able to absorb the Fibers of Omnisilk Kouketsu and acquire Absolute Domination ourselves? We could do anything! As my Kamui and I began to absorb the Omnisilk and negate "Absolute Domination," I knew victory was in sight. I shouted at my mother,
"We are neither human nor clothing!" And Senketsu added, "At the same time, we ARE human, we ARE clothing, and everything Else!" I followed him with, "Humans cannot become clothing! Humans are humans, and clothing is clothing!" And Ragyo quite reasonably broke down and screamed, "WHAT THE HELL KIND OF NONSENSICAL BULLSHIT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"
"That's just who we ARE!" I replied melodramatically.
I went to the tip of the satellite, activated Absolute Domination myself, and began sending the signal to Life Fibers to go back to sleep. Apparently, Life Fibers can understand my will just by hearing my words, so I shouted into the microphone on the top of the satellite,
"Listen up! People are people, and clothes are clothes! Return all of humanity into the people they once were!"
It worked like a charm. All the red cloth covering the planet fell back to earth. So did the people trapped inside. (I don't really know how they survived, but to be honest I didn't care. All I wanted to do was date Mako; I never said anything about saving the whole world.) Before going back to earth myself, I asked Ragyo, now naked, if she wanted to surrender quietly. After all, nothing spontaneously nurtures a daughter's love for her mother like fighting over world domination in Space. Ragyo decided she would rather die, and killed herself by tearing out and breaking her own heart. Well, at least she was honest about her feelings.
I was beginning to feel like a hero until Senketsu started acting weird on our way back down to Earth. He started saying the Omnisilk was more powerful than he'd expected, and that this ending was for the best, and that he was glad he got to meet me…
"You idiot!" I yelled at him. "I don't want your farewells!"
"Don't cry, Ryuuko," said Senketsu gently. "Girls must grow out of their sailor uniforms eventually. Now you may wear whatever you want… clothes much cuter than I could ever be…"
I shouted at him "Fine" and said I WOULD wear cuter clothes than him. I was quite angry that my best friend decided to die without warning. Senketsu faded away, and as I plummeted back toward the ground, I screamed his name one more time and lost consciousness.
When I woke up, I was surrounded by naked people. Many of them had worked together to catch me so I didn't die from the fall. I felt Mako's body resting just behind mine, and just when I started to get turned on by it, I realized that a naked Satsuki had her arms around me, and that she had been the one to actually catch me. This only pissed me off until I saw that Jakuzure was snuggled up behind Satsuki, holding her hips and looking like she was in Heaven. Satsuki really did have something with Jakuzure, and I had a feeling she would come to stop teasing Mako and sexualizing me in due time.
"Welcome back," said Satsuki with an honest, sisterly smile.
"Yeah, I'm home, Nee-san," I replied, relaxing at last. (I only called her a bitch silently, in my mind.)
Soon, Mako and I would go on our first real date.
(A/N: Chapter 14 will be the last in this story.)