al709382@campus.ccm.itesm.mx
The Caller's Plight by Jorge Pratt
PART II, section B
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A successful ploy
Everything was peaceful in Nerima, only the sound of a few
dogs barking could be heard, together with the constant
muttering of a teenager who walked around utterly lost. An UFO
flew by, then a paperboy with a gigantic personal guard, but
that was it. This could be considered intense noise, though, if
one were to look into the dining room of the Tendo residence.
Ranma regained consciousness and looked upwards from the
floor, noticing the silence around him. He knew it was strange
for the nuthou-- er, the Tendo dojo to be so quiet. When he
looked upwards, he saw Phaeron facing his sister, who had a
nervous look on her face. Akane was locked in a gasp, and his
mother swallowed hard. The rest only watched in silence, not
having a single clue what Phaeron was talking about, even though
Nabiki listened intently just in case an opportunity arose.
"Do you remember?" Phaeron spoke again. Akane stared at
him in disbelief. He had gone through with it after all. Now it
was Ranko's turn.
"C-Cordis...?" the redhead repeated. A few solar systems
died during the time that passed before her answer came, "I...
Y-yes... I remember..." They noticed how hard it was for her to
say those words, as if she were afraid to disclose a great
secret.
"What are you talking about?" Ranma asked, getting to his
feet, "What's 'cordis'?"
"WHO is Cordis, you mean," Phaeron turned to him briefly
before speaking to Ranko again, "Then you do remember?"
Ranko swallowed hard, "Why... Why do you ask me this? You
know I can't... I mean, she's..."
"It's all right, Ranko-chan," Nodoka said calmly, "You can
tell them too."
"Auntie? You know about Cordis?" Akane asked, despite she
already knew the answer. Mrs. Saotome and Ranko were
incredibly close, she thought, the redhead told practically
everything to her mother.
"Yes," Nodoka said, "She told me right after Phaeron-kun
came back, while Seraphim-chan explained to you. I know all
about Cordis Fortitudo," she turned to her daughter.
"Who is Cordis?" Ranma asked again, tired of being left in
the dark.
"Cordis Fortitudo Angelum Femina," Phaeron revealed the
full name, "Guardian of Ranko-chan, Yuannyan and myself. She is
also the true reason why Coldfire wanted to kill Ranko-chan in
the past." He turned to Ranko again, a smile replacing his stern
demeanor. "It's true, then."
Ranko smiled timidly, "I remember her. But I don't think it's
a good idea to spread the news all over the place. She doesn't
like publicity."
"But if you remember her..." Phaeron was getting closer to
his real point, "Do you remember... do you remember the
medallion?"
Ranko's nervousism was replaced by confusion, "What
medallion?" Phaeron's smile vanished, "You don't remember about
that?"
The redhead became nervous again, not wanting to upset
anybody, "Wait, I'll try to remember. It's just that Jusenkyo
washed away lots of things from my mind. Give me a chance,
okay?"
Phaeron smirked to himself and just waved his hand
dismissively, "Don't worry. It's not important-- Huh?" Suddenly
they all turned to the dining room door. Seraphim was standing
there, half-wanting to smile but with a severe expression on her
face.
"He's about to strike," she said. Turning to Ranko, she
revealed her smile briefly, "It's a good thing you remembered
sister Cordis, we'll need her soon. Brother Phaeron, it's _him_."
"And we better get moving," Nadir said, coming up from
behind her.
* * *
"What's going on?" the siblings asked as they and Akane
followed the two Espers through the Ginza district. It had taken
them almost all afternoon just reaching this bright sector of
the city, although from all the lights it was hard to tell it was
nearly seven pm. The crowds didn't help much, either, considering
the troop was trying to keep a steady but fast pace.
"That murderer..." Nadir muttered, "He knows exactly where
to strike."
"Looks like this time he means it," Phaeron added, "Before,
it was just destruction. Now it's destruction and mass killing."
"Now what's happening?" Akane asked. "Who are you talking
about?"
"Someone else wants a shot at her?" Ranma pointed at his
sister with his thumb. "That's not funny, oniisan!" she smacked
him on the head.
"No, this has nothing to do with her," Phaeron said. "But
we still have to help here." They finally reached a clear amid
the crowds, "This is the place?"
Nadir nodded, "Right. This is exactly where she told us he
would srike."
"Who's going to--" Ranma lost his balance and fell before
he could finish. Before they knew it, the entire zone was
shaking, as in an earthquake. Phaeron and Nadir stood with
their backs to each other and adopted a defensive posture
towards the sky. Suddenly, a ring of clouds dispersed exactly
above them. A faint line of bright light came down from the
opening.
"This is it..." Phaeron called his Four Birds.
"We have to stop him!" Nadir's horns glowed as his body was
covered by a silver aura. Then, just as the crowds were
beginning to run away, Kefka's Light of Judgement blasted
through the sky and hit the exact spot where Phaeron and Nadir
were standing.
"Phaeron-kun!" Ranko called desperately.
"My God!" Akane stared in shock. Just then, defying all
expectations, a massive crystal dome rose from the ground and
countered the Light of Judgement. Both Espers were unhurt.
"You okay?!" Nadir asked. His friend made a pretty good
impression of Atlas as he held the crystal dome over his head.
"It's my turn, then! Astral Shock!" he aimed his hands upwards and
shot out a large ki blast that was shaped a lot like a star. It
didn't even faze the Light of Judgement. Instead, Kefka's magic
overpowered the Espers' and blasted into the ground, flinging
them several yards away. Then the Light of Judgement began
moving up the street, tearing the pavement open and heading
towards the panicked crowds.
"No!" Phaeron and Nadir jumped to their feet and followed
the beam, with Akane and the siblings close behind them. "Four
Birds of Fire Strike!" "White Arrows!" "RedBird!" "Flare Star!" None
of the attacks by the Espers seemed to affect the beam. It was
about to reach the people when Phaeron had an idea, "Nadir,
Esper Blitz no. 4!"
"Right!" Nadir nodded and put his hands above his head.
Phaeron morphed into the Phoenix and hovered above Nadir's
palms. Then, as the bird closed his wings, Nadir encased him in
a large telekinetic shield and blasted him towards the Light of
Judgement. Phoenix narrowed his wings and became a real ball of
energy, nearly as large as a car. He was completely unaware of
two people running in a helical pattern around the beam. Then,
as Phoenix entered the beam, he spread his wings again and
began emitting an intense aura, trying to cancel the pillar of
light. It was in that exact same moment that he heard two
shouts, one male and one female, and the strength of a
hurricane beneath him.
"HIRYUU SHOTEN HA!!" Ranma and Ranko shouted as they, in
perfect coordination, finished the helix around the beam and
punched upwards. Ranma's came out first, but Ranko's three
years of ki-based training made her own more powerful. Combined
with Phaeron's aura attack, the twin dragons ripped the beam
apart and cancelled it, then rose high into the air and hit the
dimensional rift that the light had passed through. The rift
took the full brunt of the ki waves and was torn into
microscopic, harmless wormholes.
"Whew..." Phaeron changed back and looked at the siblings,
putting his hands on his knees in exhaustion, "How'd you do
that?!"
"You're not always there when _we_ train," Ranma adopted a
victory pose.
"That's right," Ranko added, "We've developed lots of
techniques that involve both of us. Just like our Fire Dragon
and the Earth Void." She suddenly blinked, surprised at the
mention of those techniques.
Phaeron's eyes widened tremendously, "You remember the
Fire Dragon? _Our_ Fire Dragon? Why didn't you tell me?"
"What kind of technique is that?" Ranma asked.
"That's one of the techniques we developed before
Jusenkyo," Ranko was trying to remember more, "Just after..." she
gasped, "WE created the Hiryuu Shoten Ha?!?!?!"
"What?!" Ranma reacted just like his sister.
"It's a long story..." Phaeron smiled. Maybe Ranko was
finally regaining her memory after all.
"You learn something new every day..." Akane smiled at them.
"Well, at least we stopped that light, right, sis?" Ranma
patted her back. His statement activated Nadir's premonition
immediately, "Whoa, wait. Phaeron, we better go back to Nerima."
"What? What's wrong?"
"Kefka... He's going to strike there next!" Nadir levitated
himself, ready to blast off towards the dojo.
"Hey, wait!" Phaeron called, looking at the damage and the
wounded people nearby, "We've got to get the people to a
hospital!" In cue, another rift opened above them. Many strange
fireballs were shot out from the rift, each creating a small
hemispherical explosion when they hit the ground. "Wonderful,
now he's using Fire 3 to attack us!"
"But he's still going to fry up Nerima if we don't stop him!"
Nadir said as the rain of fire ceased mysteriously. Phaeron
was caught between staying and going with Nadir.
"Go with him, Phaeron-kun," Ranko said, "We'll take care of
the people here."
He turned to her, "B-but if I leave you alone then
Mireillia--"
"Don't worry about that! Take oniisan and go back home!"
she pushed him away.
Phaeron thought for a moment, then sighed and agreed, "All
right, be careful. You know what to do about those people." He
leapt straight up and morphed into the Phoenix. "Don't get
yourself killed, sis," Ranma said as he held on to the Phoenix'
claws. The trio then soared into the distance.
"Okay, let's get them somewhere safe," Akane said. At least
the fireballs were no longer dropping from the sky, but the
damage had been tremendous. There were no casualties,
fortunately, and only one gravely injured. "We can't get them
all to the hospital," Ranko said, lifting her fist, "Guess we're
gonna have to do this ourselves." She opened her fist and the
star-like glimmer of Cure 4 surrounded her hand. Akane stared
agape as the redhead aimed her hand to the crowd and those
with injuries were healed instantly. They both relaxed when they
saw there were no people wounded now. But then the rift above
boomed and a second wave of fireballs rained upon them once
again. "Uh oh..." Ranko stared as Akane gasped. The fireballs
hit nearby buildings and crashed into the bright billboards. One
of them even hit the power lines. "We've got to get them out of
here!" Akane called as the pair did the best they could to haul
the terrified people away from the site. They felt their hearts
stop when they heard a child crying.
"Mommy! Where are you, Mommy!" the small boy was sitting on
the street, rubbing his eyes. Akane was the first to dash for
him. Just as she reached him, though, the power lines finally
gave away and whipped towards them. A large billboard also
dropped on top of them. All that Akane could do was cover the
child with her own body.
"White Mountain Protection-Dome!" she heard a loud yell
before everything around her became white. She looked up to
see Ranko standing next to her, her eyes glowing as she
stretched her palms upwards. The power lines and the billboard
crashed harmlessly into the gigantic aura dome created by
Ranko's White Touch technique. Most of the other people had
been protected by the shield as well.
"Ranko?" Akane watched her grimace, then pull back her
hands and the shield was reabsorbed by Ranko's body. In a final
motion, the redhead used her regained power to fire off a Moko
Takabishya at the rift, causing it to seal permanently. Ranko
fell to her knees in exhaustion.
"I'll never get used to that..." she said under her breath.
"You okay, oneechan?"
Akane was staring at her in disbelief, "How... How did
you..."
"My baby!" a woman bursted out from the crowd, arms open.
The small boy detached himself from Akane and leapt into his
mother's arms. "Oh, thank you for saving Kaeru-chan," the
mother looked at Akane and Ranko with teary eyes.
"No problem," the redhead smiled at them. Definetely not
wishing to stay and find out what happened, the crowd slowly
dissipated, and ambulances arrived. However, they could see now
that two of the people who hadn't been protected by the shield
were unconscious on the street, due to the large amounts of ki
that Ranko had put into it. She gasped at the sight of them.
"No..." she mouthed. "No!" she ran towards them. They were
a stereotypical extra (the kind that always blows up into
anonymous smithereens in anime, manga and American comics,) and
a young gaijin girl with her red hair pulled into a _long_ pigtail.
Ranko kneeled next to them, desperately trying to awake them.
"It... It wasn't your fault, Ranko," Akane tried to console
her. "They're just unconscious."
"Excuse me, miss," a paramedic reached them, "We have to
get these two to a hospital. Would you mind stepping aside?"
Ranko turned upwards to him, "I... I'll go with them." She
helped get them into stretchers.
Akane blinked in confusion, "Ranko? Are you sure?"
"They're my responsibility," she said as she got into the
same ambulance as the girl, "Can you go home from here?"
Akane cleared her throat, "Um... Yeah, I guess so... I'll
stay here a little longer, to see if I can help. I'll tell
Phaeron-kun you'll arrive a little later."
Ranko smiled at her, "Thanks, oneechan. See you back
home." She shut the door and the ambulance sped away into the
distance, leaving Akane thinking.
"She's really changed since Phaeron-kun got back. I wonder
what happened in those three years she told me about..."
* * *
The ambulance was on its way to the hospital. Ranko was
sitting down next to the stretcher, looking at the girl. She
couldn't quite put a finger on it, but she didn't remember where
she had seen this red-haired girl before. That was strange, it
was a very beautiful young woman, maybe in her late seventeens.
She wore a black, long-sleeved cotton sweatshirt and also black
jeans. A faint silver glimmer peeked out from beneath the
sleeves.
"Uhh..." she slowly opened her eyes. Their iris were solid
black, like her clothes, but they showed a slight red hue when
they settled on Ranko. "Y-you..." she coughed.
"I'm sorry," the redhead said, embarassed. The girl fell
silent and eyed her carefully, then groggily got up on one elbow
and turned to the driver, "I don't think I need a hospital now.
Could you please take me to Nerima? There's a good doctor
there." The driver shook his head, but then the girl's eyes
narrowed and suddenly he nodded, tires screeching when he
changed the ambulance's direction.
"You know Dr. Tofu?" Ranko asked.
The girl smirked, "I know many people in Nerima. In fact,
there's a person I have to find there, but I haven't had much
luck."
The rest of the trek was spent in silence. Ranko still
tried to remember where she had seen the girl before, but it
was no use. Where had she seen her? Dammit, why did this have
to happen! Why had she lost most of her memory before
drowning?!
There was a thing that she _could_ remember: the look on
Akane's face when she used her aura shield a few minutes ago.
That made her smile. Akane would have never expected her to do
something like that, or at least not _this_ Akane. The twenty-
year-old from her own time would have expected this and more,
considering all the training under Cologne. Ranko smiled again
when she recalled the last fight she had with the old ghoul, just
a few weeks before she used the Caller...
* * *
The crowd was gathered at the soccer field of Furinkan
High school. It was midday, and a mild breeze brushed the grass,
causing a low rustling sound. The Tendos and Saotomes were
sitting at one of the sidelines, while most of their friends and
rivals hovered around them. Shampoo and Ukyou were taking
advantage of the situation and had set up small stands for
their respective businesses. There was also a strange ninja in
red uniform that stealthily followed Ukyou wherever she went.
And in the center of the soccer field, facing each other, were
Ranma-chan (they hadn't changed her name in that world) and
Cologne.
"Why do they have to fight here?" one of the students
asked. "I mean, all of them are already in college. Can't they
wreck their own school?"
"I think this is just for the sentimental value," one of the
older students answered, "I was a freshman when they started
their last year here, and you wouldn't believe the stuff that
happened with them around."
Meanwhile, a tall figure arrived at the scene, wearing
samurai garb and carrying a bokuto by his side. "Salutations,
comrades," they all groaned at the sight of (yeah, you already
know) Kuno.
"Yo, Kuno, what are you doing here? Mariko'll kill you if
she finds out," Ranma turned to him.
"I heard the pigtailed girl would do battle in our beloved
Furinkan. I could never forgive myself if I were to miss
attending this event." He sighed, "Even if dear Mariko loathes my
former love..."
"I still say I don't like this..." Ryouga restlessly bounced
his umbrella in his right hand, holding the end with his left.
There was a dark-haired girl glomping onto his arm, and a large
white pig sitting behind them.
"Oh, I forgot," Ranma said, mocking, "You still haven't gotten
over my sister, eh?" Ryouga turned deep red.
"Don't worry about Ryouga-sama," Akari said, "I'm with him
now." She tightened her grip on his arm, making him grin as
another reverie started.
At the same time, two other figures approached the group,
"Konnichiwa!" Yuannyan called happily.
Akane and Ranma turned to the couple, "Yo, Herb," Ranma
greeted.
"It's good to see you again," Akane said, "Where have you
been hiding?"
Yuannyan and Herb turned deep red, "Well, you know, it's
been only about a month since we got married, so..." Yuannyan
and Akane giggled while Ranma rolled his eyes.
In the field, the two figures were standing motionless. "I'm
very proud of you," Cologne smirked at her student, "You've
progressed far quicker and better than your brother. And you
also have already mastered nearly all of the techniques I have
to teach, even though you are still young."
Ranma-chan bowed, "Thank you, sensei." She was wearing an
Amazon outfit similar to Shampoo's but Ranma's was made of
scarlet silk, and had a leather torso and armlets. Her hair was
pulled up into a small bun, making her look just like her mother,
and there was a short staff placed inside a guard on her back.
However, her demeanor was completely different from what it had
been three years ago. It would almost seem that she had killed
her emotions during her training, as her face was stern and
expressionless. Even her eyes had lost all sparkle.
"But there is something that still worries me," Cologne
said, "The training I've put you through has been very rigorous.."
Ryouga winced when he recalled the one time she had trained him,
"...and yet you never complained. And you never did tell me why
you were doing this."
Ranma-chan sighed and shook her head. Cologne could
easily see her student didn't want to reveal her purposes. But
what could be driving her into doing this? Not even Shampoo, her
_own great-granddaughter_ , had been trained by Cologne like
this. Still, there was a small chance Ranma-chan was trying to
use the... No, that couldn't be right.
"Very well, then," Cologne took her staff, "Your goals are
your own business. But now I shall see how well you have
learned the techniques of the Joketsuzoku. Prepare yourself."
"Yes," was the simple answer. Ranma noticed there was not
emotion in his sister's voice, it was almost an automatic reply.
"I'm starting to worry about her," Akane said as the
combatants bowed to each other and assumed battle postures.
"She doesn't talk to us anymore, and from the way she's been
acting around the house it's almost as if she wanted to take
Kasumi's place."
"Well, she does help out a lot," Kasumi said, "But I have to
agree with Akane-chan. Ranma-chan has changed too much."
Nodoka sighed sadly, "Yes, even I'm starting to miss her old
personality. She used to be so full of life..." Genma held her as
a few tears ran down her face.
"Let us begin," Cologne said, and immediately shot over
Ranma-chan like a cannonball. She turned to her in midair and
shot out a flurry of small ki blasts. Ranma put her hand in
front of her and absorbed the shots with the Gray Touch, then
pushed with her other hand and used the energy to fire away a
large sphere that barely missed Cologne. The old woman landed
on the ground then rolled towards Ranma, sweeping her legs out
from under her with her staff. Ranma handsprung off the ground
and punched downwards, opening the ground and causing a
tremendous air pressure in the surroundings. Cologne fought the
pressure and shoved her staff upwards, dissipating Ranma's ki,
then spun the staff over her head. Ranma crossed her arms in
front of her face, defending from the whirlwind, but then spread
them outwards again and sent a wave of vacuum towards Cologne.
"You've advanced greatly with the use of ki," she said as
she ducked the wave, "but I have yet to test your skills. Get
ready!" She leapt at Ranma-chan, spinning her staff in front of
her as she descended.
"Chestnut Fist," Ranma-kun said under his breath, already
knowing what technique his sister would use.
"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguri-Ken!" Ranma-chan's 987 punches
were barely blocked by the staff, but then she shot out an open
hand instead of a fist and grabbed the wood, whipping Cologne to
the ground. She bounced away on one hand and darted at the
redhead again, this time using her own Chestnut fist to thrust
her staff 1503 times at Ranma. She blocked most of the thrusts,
then pushed the staff downwards with her hands and handstood on
it, then flipped forward and caught Cologne with her legs.
Nonplussed, the Amazon brought her staff upwards, pushing Ranma
along with it and slamming her face-first into the ground.
"Your techniques are still predictable," Cologne said, "That
leg-grip is one of your favorite techniques, which is why you
use it too often for your own good." Even though Ranma-chan was
on the ground, Cologne still darted the pointed end of her staff
at her neck.
"Ranma!" several calls came from the sidelines. The redhead
recovered just in time to grasp the staff with her feet and
fling it away, Cologne and all. Ranma-chan stood up and bolted
straight at the prone old woman, who simply pushed her staff
towards her. Ranma twisted to the side, easily avoiding the
thrust, then delivered another Chestnut fist barrage which
Cologne blocked with a small aura shield. Meanwhile, Ranma's
other hand was reaching for her own staff. At the end of the
flurry of punches, she took the staff firmly and thrust it
straight at the shield. Cologne gasped when Ranma's staff broke
straight through the shield, but then recovered and clapped her
tiny hands on its tip. The two warrior women struggled for a
few moments, as each tried to vault the other away. Then Ranma
switched hands and spun the staff around, hitting Cologne
squarely on the head. She reared back and thrust again, but
this time her teacher leapt away and grabbed her gnarled staff.
The two of them circled the other, until they both dashed for
the attack. Sounds of wood hitting wood came from them as they
traded blows which were immediately blocked. Then Cologne
switched tactics and thrust under Ranma's staff, pushed upwards
and tore the weapon off her student's hands. In less than a
second, she thrust again, the gnarled end forward, to hit Ranma-
chan in the gut. The staff never got there, though. Ranma had
simply poked the end of the staff with her index finger, stopping
the thrust. Nearly everyone around them gasped when Cologne's
staff disintegrated into tiny splinters.
"She... she did it!" Akane couldn't believe it. Ranma-chan
was actually defeating Cologne!
"This isn't over yet," Cologne grinned and bent down,
putting her hands on the ground. Several columns of energy
sprouted from the ground surrounding Ranma-chan, then the
columns fused into one and formed a huge sphere of energy that
came down crashing towards the redhead.
"Aura shield," Ranma-kun thought.
"White Mountain Protection-Dome!" she thrust her palms
upwards, creating a large ki blast-shield that surrounded her
and most of the soccer field. Cologne was blown away by the
energy released, then stared wide-eyed as her own ki sphere was
cancelled out the instant it touched the barrier.
"Hiryuu Shoten-ha, horizontal!" Ranma-chan punched forward
just as her body reabsorbed the shield. Cologne was caught off
guard and could barely counter with her own hurricane. A large
vertical tornado was formed where the two conflicting currents
met. Everyone in the area was blown away a few feet. Panting,
both Ranma-chan and Cologne got to their feet.
"You're better than I had expected," Cologne smirked.
"I have a great teacher," Ranma-chan smiled for the very
first time in months.
"Let's test that!" Cologne raised her palms, as if lifting
something. The pebbles and small rocks that had resulted from
the battle suddenly rose into the air, sustained by Cologne's
awe-inspiring ki. She pushed forward and all the rock shrapnel
darted towards Ranma-chan like a swarm of bees.
"Shiro-sho maximum!" she put her hands in front of her and
repulsed the rocks away and back at Cologne, who was struggling
against the White Touch herself. The old woman finally gave
away and used the pressing energy to leap out of the shrapnel's
way. Seeing her escape, Ranma-chan stretched her hands down
her sides and was enveloped by a strange white aura. Blasting
away from the ground, she became airborne and dropkicked
towards Cologne, who jumped to the side to avoid. But Ranma-
chan didn't touch the ground. The aura that covered her was
making her float in midair.
"Just like you, Herb-chan," Yuannyan turned to her new
husband.
"Impressive," Cologne looked at Ranma-chan, who was
stretching her arms outwards to keep her balance in midair. But
it was obvious that just mantaining the aura was draining her
tremendously, already she was grimacing at the effort. Then,
using her last energy, the redhead shot upwards and came down
with a massive ki-charged kick.
"Ryusei kyaku!" the ground was torn open when Ranma-chan's
Shooting-star Kick made contact. Cologne swallowed hard: it was
obvious Ranma had missed on purpose, otherwise it would have
been Cologne's head instead of the ground. When she looked back
to her student, she noticed she was completely drained. Ranma
and Akane were already running towards her, offering their help.
"That was very good," Cologne walked over to her and
smiled. "Now I have no problem admitting defeat."
Everyone stared at her, "Y-you what?!"
"You have to give Kiss of Death, great-grandmother?"
Shampoo asked, worried.
Cologne smirked, "No, I don't have to. When a student
surpasses the teacher, it means the teacher has done a good
job. All masters of the Joketsuzoku subscribe to that theory,
even when it comes to outsiders. " She turned to the redhead,
"You have become very strong, Ranma."
"Thanks, Granny," Ranma-chan smiled as she climbed out of
the crater she had made. "But it's you who deserves the
praise." She didn't say more as she staggered to her feet,
helped by her brother and Akane. They began walking to the
sidelines, where Yuannyan was eager to heal her sister, when
Ranma-chan thought to herself, "I'm ready. Now I can use the
Caller. I'll bring you back, Phaeron, just wait."
* * *
The ambulance finally came to a stop. "Thank you," the girl
said politely and removed her spell from the driver. The girls
got off from the ambulance and found themselves in a deserted
street, a few miles away from the dojo.
"Where are we?" Ranko looked around. This was nowhere
near Dr. Tofu's clinic.
The girl waited until the ambulance had vanished in the
distance. Then, without turning to Ranko, she said, "I don't know
where we are, but... ugh!" she suddenly fell down to her knees,
clutching her gut tightly.
"You okay?" Ranko asked, true concern in her voice.
"You... you want me to take you to Tofu-sensei?" she put a
hand on the girl's shoulder.
"No..." the girl's eyes turned blazing red when Ranko touched
her, "I want you to take a good look at your surroundings..." the
redhead did as indicated, "Because this is where thou wilt die!"
the girl's right hand darted for Ranko's throat. She stood up
and brought her arm upwards. She was taller than Ranko, she
easily lifted the small girl right off her feet.
"Uhh... who..." Ranko grimaced, but then the girl tightened
her grip on her neck. Ranko's lungs immediately stopped
receiving air and the redhead began gasping desperately. She
kicked the girl as hard as she could, but it was no use. Ranko
put her hands on the girl's arm, but couldn't detach it from her
neck either.
"My name is Apeiron Mireillia Nix," the girl said, an evil
smirk appearing on her face, "and I'm certainly not at thy
sevice."
The perfect target
Four dark figures walked down the streets of Nerima,
towards the dojo. Even in the darkness of the night, their
shapes could be easily discerned: a tall, armor-clad man, and a
girl with Chinese clothes and a pigtail who walked beside him.
Behind them, there was a muscular man and a short teenager with
a sword on his back.
"Are you sure about this?" the tall man asked.
The girl giggled, "C'mon, what's wrong with a little joke?"
she tugged at her pigtail, "They'll sure be surprised, though."
"Yes, your new look will certainly wreak havoc in the
household." As the pair smiled to each other, the group
continued walking towards their destination.
Back at the Tendo dojo, the two Espers and Ranma had
already arrived. They all seemed lightly injured and severely
worn out, Phaeron and Nadir had to use their healing spells on
Ranma as Kasumi, Ukyou and Nodoka did their best to treat the
Espers' wounds. Still, they were becoming impatient. Akane and
Ranko hadn't arrived yet, and Nadir was practically melting in
sweat.
"I'm home!" they heard somebody call from the door. The
three of them immediately bolted to their feet and made a break
for the hall. Akane was nearly trampled as she looked at them
in akward surprise.
"Uh, hi," she said, a drop of sweat forming in her head.
"What's going on?"
"Akane, where's Ranko-chan?" Phaeron asked, still looking
around for any signs of his friend.
"She hasn't come back yet?" Akane was surprised and even
mildly frightened.
"Lord..." Nadir looked as if he had just suffered a heart
attack, "Mireillia!"
"Christ!" Phaeron turned to the dining room door and spread
his arms, ready to turn into the Phoenix... until he suddenly
felt a familiar pair of arms around his neck and two small hands
cover his eyes from behind.
"Hiya," came the voice. Phaeron relaxed tremendously in
relief as he heard Ranko behind him. The rest of the people in
the room also breathed easily.
"Now, I wonder who it is..." Phaeron smiled. "You really had
us worried, you know."
"And why is that?" Ranko looked at them perplexed, then
thought, "I wonder what's going on here. Why could they be
worried?" She happily skipped back to the hallway, "I've got
something to show you," she smirked mischievously before Herb
came into the room. "Herb?" they looked at him, surprised. Then
they were simply frozen in shock when Ranko and Herb embraced
each other in a _long_ kiss.
Still thinking of Ranko as a part of himself, Ranma
immediately felt the urge to thow up. "Oh my," Kasumi was the
only one who could speak. Finally detaching from each other, the
couple turned back to the statues in front of them, grinning and
very red.
"Surprise!" Yuannyan said happily. "We fooled you, didn't
we?" Herb rubbed the back of his head. "We'll be staying in town
for a few weeks, so we decided to drop by and visit!" Yuannyan
said.
"I think I'm gonna hurl... 'Scuse me..." Ranma skulked to the
bathroom but suddenly covered his mouth and made a break for
it.
"You little..." Phaeron smiled at Yuannyan, "It's hard for
you to give up a habit, isn't it? And what's with the pigtail,
anyway?"
Yuannyan shook her head gracefully, sweeping her new
pigtail around her head, "I look just like Zhaodi-chan, don't I? I
thought I might like this new look, and with these clothes we
really look like twins."
"That could be a problem," Herb smiled and put an arm
around his fianc�e, who giggled in turn.
"Oohh maaan..." Ranma came back, still looking a little green
under the eyes. "You baka," Akane smacked him upside the head,
"Why do you have to overreact to everything?"
"Don't talk to Ranchan like that," Ukyou said, "He's still
very worried about Ranchan," once more, she blinked at her
akward statement.
They looked at each other frightfully as realization hit.
"Yuannyan, have you seen Ranko-chan?" Phaeron asked, way past
worry by now and entering desperation.
"Ranko? Who's... Oh, I remember. That's how you sometimes
call Zhaodi-chan. No, I haven't seen her, why?"
"That does it," Nadir took out a single arrow from his
quiver and charged it with magic as Akane and Phaeron explained
to Yuannyan. "Let's split up and look for her. If Mireillia's on
the prowl then she's in real danger." He took the arrow with
both hands, holding it only with his fingertips. Then, ever so
slowly, he moved his hands apart and a ghost-like image of the
arrow appeared between the fingers of his left hand. When the
image and the arrow separated completely, the image became solid
and turned into a perfect duplicate of the original. "What was
that?" Akane asked, awestruck.
"This? Oh, this is just something that all Espers can do.
We call it 'twin-phasing,' and it's really handy. Here, take this
one," he handed the original arrow to Phaeron, who "twin-phased"
it as well. "Let's go," Nadir said, "If you find her, just light
the arrow like this..." he scratched the arrowhead against the
floor, like a big match, and then it _did_ light up like a match.
The bright azure flame of the arrow lit up a large area. "This
is called Elf Fire, and Espers can sense it very easily. If you
find Ranko, light the arrow and wait for us. But if you also
find Mireillia, don't even try to fight her, just call us and
shout as loud as you can." the Espers dealt the several "twin-
phased" arrows.
"Ok, let's go!" Ranma and the others ran out the door.
Phaeron simply turned into a ball of fire and shot out after
them.
Lime and Mint stood in the street for a minute before
realizing what was going on. Then, grinning to each other, they
marched happily down the street, singing, "We're looking for a
girl, we're looking for a gi-irl..."
* * *
Ranko's legs had stopped kicking a while ago, even though
she was still clutching Mireillia's arm with as much strength as
she could muster. The female Esper smirked at her prey, sensing
how the redhead's heartbeat was starting to slow down after
having sped up tremendously a few minutes ago. This wouldn't
take long now.
"Ngh... Ahh..." came the soft, weak gasps from Ranko's
throat. Her eyes began to bulge out slightly, her face was red.
It had been almost two minutes since the last time her lungs
received any air. Suddenly, her hands lost their grip on
Mireillia's arm and dropped limply, just as her eyes rolled upward
and a final gasp escaped her mouth. "It's over," Mireillia said.
"Zhaodi..." she heard a delicate voice when the trees
appeared faintly before her eyes. "Raanmaaa..." the voice called
again, this time using the other name. Ranko saw a blurred
figure before her, a female with large wings on her back,
completely obscured by the mist. The silhouettes of a broad
shield and a sword were easily discerned on the angel's hands.
Ranko couldn't believe her eyes. It was... No, it couldn't
be... Or was it? She felt frightened and overjoyed, anguish and
happiness at the sight of the angel, for it was a view she
hadn't expected to see again. A name worked its way up from
her throat. A name that inspired great strength in her. A name
she never thought of addressing somebody with.
"Cordis?" she called. "Cordis Fortitudo?"
"Don't come here," Cordis said, "You've already been here
twice, but you have a lot to live for back there. Go back."
"B-but she's..."
"Don't worry about Mireillia, just get out of here!" Cordis
finally came forward and out of the mist. But just before Ranko
could get a good look at her Guardian, her soul left the Gates
once more.
"Unhh..." another slight moan came from Ranko. Mireillia
stared at her in disbelief. How could she have survived?! It
was impossible for a human to survive an Esper attack!
"I... C-Cordis..." Ranko managed to say softly. Almost
immediately, an eerie ghostly aura surrounded her. With great
effort she brought her arms upwards again, clenching her fists
and spreading her arms to the sides.
"She's... she's becoming too heavy..." Mireillia winced
briefly. "I do not know what her strategy is, but I must put a
stop to it before she escapes!" With that she moved her left
hand to her right. The moon-shaped ki blade appeared around
her open hand once again. "Coldfire made a great mistake by
attempting to skewer her. I shall not repeat the mistake, by
slicing her in half instead! Nightmare Pend--"
She was suddenly run over by a large red sports car,
making her lose her grip on Ranko. The small girl fell to the
ground, nearly drained of energy.
"Watch it, Bean!" a woman inside the car yelled at the
driver, "I think we just hit somebody!"
"Comes with the job," a man with a striking resemblance to
Stallone replied. The red car sped away, leaving a trail of
dust.
"Curses..." Mireillia pulled herself out of the large crater
in the ground.
"Th-thank you, Cordis..." despite her raspy voice, Ranko
smiled at her Guardian's last-minute save. Using Cure 4 on
herself, she got to her feet, still rubbing her neck. Damn,
Mireillia's grip had been so tight her neck would be covered in
bruises by next morning.
"That was pointless," Mireillia said, standing up, "Not even
thy Guardian wilt be able to keep me from achieving my goal."
She was suddenly covered by a solid crimson light.
"And who says I'll just sit around and wait?" Ranko coughed
before assuming a fighting stance. "I don't have the slightest
idea why you want to kill me, but I'm going to put an end to
this!"
"Thou can try!" without warning Mireillia darted at Ranko
with a ki-bladed spear thrust, which the redhead barely avoided.
Not giving time for a counter, Mireillia kicked backwards and
caught Ranko on the chest, knocking her into a wall on the side
of the street. Then she leapt into the air and came down with
a massive energy blast that was narrowly blocked by an aura
shield. Mireillia bounced away and pushed both hands toward
Ranko. Suddenly a tremendous wind current carried her into the
wall again, but this time Ranko hit it feet-first and bounced at
Mireillia with a somersault rolling-attack, her body completely
surrounded by a White Touch barrier. Mireillia shot out a small
ki-blast and knocked Ranko out of the air, and then charged her
right foot with glowing orange energy.
"Single Hoof!" she jumped up and delivered a front
roundhouse in the air. The energy in her foot left an arc of
light that shot out towards Ranko. She barely ducked as the
arc of light blasted the telephone post behind her into tiny
splinters. Taking the advantage, Ranko used the post's
descending momentum and aimed it at Mireillia, trying to hit her
with it, but then the Esper sliced the post with her left hand.
It didn't take another second as Ranko punched downwards, hoping
to use the same pressure attack she had used on Cologne. Just
as her fist hit the pavement, Ranko's aura flared and expanded,
then came down and flattened nearly every vertical structure
within a ten feet radius. Mireillia just aimed her spear-hands
upwards and the pressure ki passed harmlessly around her, sliced
by her own inner energy.
"What the heck is that?!" Ranko pointed behind Mireillia, who
refexively turned around. "Roga shuhai-tai!" Ranko pounced
towards the Esper. However, Mireillia didn't even turn back as
she grabbed Ranko's hand and twisted it upwards, pleased at the
girl's grimace as she tried to endure the pain. But not even
Mireillia was ready as Ranko's other hand darted for her head,
then clutched her hair tightly and pulled. Mireillia shut her
eyes as now she was the one enduring the pain, then Ranko used
her hold on her and tossed her into the wall. Seeing Mireillia
screech off the wall, Ranko rubbed her wrist and elbow, still
gritting her teeth.
"You fool..." Mireillia hissed, "Don't you know I can--"
"So I'm a fool, aren't I?" Ranko interrupted, smirking as a
plan formed in her mind, "Well, at least it's better than being a
coward." She became surrounded by a white aura.
"A _coward_?!" Mireillia scowled at her, "A COWARD?!?!" She
darted at Ranko with a double-bladed scissor punch. The redhead
only had to move aside to avoid it. "Multiple Hooves!" Mireillia
leapt up and delivered a hurricane kick, sending dozens upon
dozens of arcs of fire in all directions. Ranko saw an
opportunity and ran around Mireillia at such a high speed all the
arcs were pulled into her wake.
"That's right. You're the biggest coward I've ever seen!
That's why you tried to murder me during the night, and why you
waited until I was alone to attack me now!" Ranko kept hurling
insults at Mireillia, still running around her.
"Silence!" Mireillia tried to hit her, but she was becoming
too angry to concentrate.
"And now that I think about it, I can't see why Phaeron-kun
and Nadir were so afraid of you!" Ranko was closing in on
Mireillia. Her helical movement around the Esper was causing a
powerful heat wave around them.
"I wilt show thee why they wert afraid!" Mireillia blasted
out a ki ball which missed by a mile. Still, she could notice
Ranko's spiraling trajectory around her. She recognized the
pattern immediately. How... How dare she! Using one of Phaeron's
techniques as if it were her own!
Ranko noticed how much more upset Mireillia had become, and
smirked. Her plan was working, Mireillia was full of hot ki.
"Little harridan!" Mireillia called, "Nightmare Pend--"
"You've showed off too much!" with that Ranko suddenly
stopped in front of Mireillia, ducked under the flaming fist, and
reared back to deliver the uppercut, " Now you'll se _my_ power!"
Ranko punched upward.
Esper versus Esper
A stop sign skipped happily through the streets of Nerima,
a bouquet of red roses attached to it somehow. Not even
noticing the loud screechings of tires nor the honking of car
horns behind him, Tsubasa Kurenai bounced towards Ucchan's with
a big grin on his face. It had been a while since he saw his
beloved Ukyou, plus he had heard rumors that pleased his ears.
According to those rumors, Ranma and his female side were no
longer the same, which could only mean one thing...
Tsubasa grinned even more as he recalled how he had felt
when he first met the "pigtailed girl," even though she had
turned out to be a man. However, if they were no longer the
same then he could still have a chance at winning her heart,
just as he tried to do long ago. He would always cherish Ukyou
above all things, but if she spurned him once more then at least
there could be somebody else he could turn to. Absent-mindedly
changing out of the "stop sign" disguise and into a fire-hydrant,
he walked around the corner, taking a shortcut to his goddess'
restaurant. The street was deserted and dark, probably
concealing a delinquent or two, but Tsubasa steeled himself and
went down the street, convincing himself that it was all for
Ukyou-sama's sake. He failed to notice the stray dogs that
were close on his fire-hydrant heels until a cat suddenly
appeared in front of him. He collapsed as the dogs all chased
after the cat by running over him, squashing a perfectly-good
costume. Annoyed, Tsubasa climbed onto a trashcan and hoisted
himself up on top of the fence on the side of the street. From
that position, he could already locate Ucchan's with ease. Now,
all he had to do was--
"HIRYUU SHOTEN-HA!"
Tsubasa gasped and turned around immediately. Knowing
from his dear Ukyou-sama what those words meant, he expected
to see a hurricane flaring upwards any second now. However, all
he could see was a blinding flash of energy coming from a few
blocks to the south. And then, nothing. But he stared widely
as he recognized the voice. Not giving it a second thought,
Tsubasa leapt onto the opposite fence and began looking for the
source of the shout.
* * *
After the initial blast receded, Ranko opened her eyes.
She felt her blood freeze in her veins when she noticed Mireillia
was still there, no worse for wear, even though her top had
been completely torn away and her pigtail had been loosened.
Now Mireillia was standing in front of her, her torso covered by
a bronze, mail-like ninja armor and the mechanical armlets
glimmering in the moonlight. Her hands were crossed in front of
her face, palms facing downwards and covering Ranko's fist. The
redhead tried to shove her fist upwards again, but somehow
Mireillia had effectively cancelled her Hiryuu Shoten-ha just by
blocking it.
"Impossible..." the word escaped Ranko's lips even before she
realized it.
"Fool!" Mireillia suddenly took Ranko's fist and swung her in
a circle, sending her crashing into a few trash cans.
"How... How did you..."
"Entangle Rings!" Mireillia shot out several rings of light
at Ranko. The redhead couldn't avoid them, once they surrounded
her body she was completely paralized.
Mireillia looked at her with hatred and disgust, "How dare
thee use one of Phaeron's own ki techniques against me?" she
asked, resembling Death herself for an instant.
"Well, it's mine as much as it is his!" Ranko said,
struggling to break the rings' hold. "We developed it together!"
"In thy dreams!" Mireillia spread her right arm outwards,
leaving a trail of energy from which three long shafts sprouted,
"Piercing Arrows!"
"Yow!" Ranko barely had time to break out of the rings and
avoid the faster-than-light energy shots, but could easily see
them cut deep into the wall behind her.
"Piercing Arrows!" Mireillia shot out again, this time even
faster.
"Moko Takabishya!" Ranko joined her hands and blasted out a
_large_ bolt that cancelled the Arrows and smashed Mireillia
against the wall.
The female Esper hissed as she stood up again, "Thou hast
been very foolish throughout this encounter. Hurting me only
increases mine anger, and now thou shalt hurt me no longer!" her
hands were blurred as she sent out myriads of Arrows at Ranko.
They were too fast this time, even for her. One of the Arrows
cut her deep on the right arm and another opened a gash in her
left thigh. A third one barely missed her right kidney, but
didn't miss the flesh of her right side. Ranko winced in pain and
immediately felt the warmth of her blood pouring out of the
injuries. Involuntarily, she fell to her knees.
"This is thy end," Mireillia loomed over her. "And thou
better accept the idea."
"I won't give up!" Ranko retaliated with a blind uppercut...
right between Mireillia's legs. She gasped when she realized
where she had struck. Mireillia simply stared at her wide-eyed,
since the punch had hurt considerably despite her not being a
male.
"Th-thou..." she stammered, "ART _DEAD_!" she leapt
backwards, her body engulfed by a massive violet light. Ranko
stood up and gulped. "Um, sorry about that..." she tried to
apologize.
"'Sorry'?! 'SORRY'?!" Mireillia crossed her arms, the palms of
her hands facing downwards. "Thou wilt pay dearly for this
outrage!" her open hands were charged with energy of hatred.
"DISRUPT CROSSBOW!!" Mireillia spread her arms, shooting out
a single Arrow of energy straight at her opponent.
Ranko never saw a thing. The Arrow had been at least five
times faster than the others. She only felt a light blow to her
gut as the shaft was absorbed by her body, an odd ripple
forming in the flesh where it had struck.
"No..." she whimpered as she fell to the ground, clutching
her gut tightly. Not a single drop of blood came out, though.
All the Disrupt Crossbow was designed to do was pass through
objects and distort their inner structure. Of course, this was
rather painful when it came to living organisms.
"Thou wilt still be alive for only an hour or so," Mireillia
said, "But now I shalt finish thee off..." she crossed her arms
again, this time aiming for Ranko's brain.
"Stop!" came a voice from above. Mireillia reflexively
turned upwards and saw a fire-hydrant burst open and a blonde
girl in a sailor suit jump out of it. The girl then landed in
front or Ranko, kneeled with her back to the redhead, and spread
her arms, shielding with her own body.
"Who are you?" Mireillia blinked, her personality returned
to normal.
"No... Tsubasa..." Ranko tried to push him out of the way.
"She's... g-gonna kill you if... if you don't... go..."
"I will not let anybody hurt a friend," Tsubasa glared at
Mireillia. "If she wants to do so she'll have to get through me
first."
Mireillia smirked evilly, "That wouldn't be such a large
problem..." she heard Tsubasa swallow hard, "But I don't take
pleasure in disposing of innocent bystanders. Very well, I shall
depart. But hear this, Ranma Saotome: those who cross me do
not live long. Do not come close to Phaeron again or you will
find out what I mean by that." She turned away, sweeping her
long hair as she did so. Before she left, though, she laughed
quietely, "Of course, I don't expect you to live through this..."
"Wait..." Ranko managed to get out, "Just... who are you...?"
Mireillia stopped, turning back with a devilish smirk, "I am
_the_ Nightmare."
Then, with a light cackle, she vanished into the darkness.
"Cordis..." Ranko said, her injuries making her enter
delirium. "Phaeron-kun..." she mumbled faintly, then her eyes
rolled upward as she fainted.
"I've got to get her to a hospital," Tsubasa thought,
changing into another disguise in less than a second and
carefully taking her in his arms. "I'm sorry, Ukyou, but right
now she needs me." Wasting no more time, Tsubasa ran as fast as
he could towards somewhere safe.
But there was still only one place he could think of.
* * *
"Raanchaan!" Ukyou called for what seemed the hundredth
time. It was already nine o'clock and they still hadn't found
her. She didn't know how the others were doing, but Ukyou was
very worried by now. It wasn't like Ranma, nor Ranko for that
matter, to just vanish like this.
"Where are you?" she thought, bouncing the arrow on her
hand. It wasn't too safe to be on the streets at this hour, but
if Ranko could do it so could Ukyou. Besides, she had her
trusty spatula with her. If anybody tried anything funny...
Wham!
Wait a minute. An idea occurred to her. Maybe Ranko
herself was looking for help, and if she hadn't already arrived
at the dojo then it meant she was looking in other familiar
places. Maybe even... her own restaurant. Hopeful, Ukyou sped
up her pace and headed for her restaurant. At this hour, there
was no other place, aside from the dojo, where she could be.
She just _had_ to be there.
But when Ukyou arrived, there was nobody there.
Everything was silent, she seemed to be the only person on that
street. Sighing, she turned around, retracing her steps. Maybe
somebody else had found h--
"Ukyou-samaaaa!"
She grimaced when she recognized that voice. It was him,
all right. And at a time like this, no less! Didn't he have other
things to do?!
"Tsubasa..." Ukyou coiled her fingers around the grip of her
spatula, "...GET LOST!!" she swung her utensil around, but dropped
it immediately when she realized who Tsubasa was carrying.
"Ranchan!" Ukyou looked at the small girl in shock. She and
Tsubasa fell to their knees, placing Ranko gently on Ukyou's lap.
She was even more shocked when she saw the injuries, dark blots
in the faint blue moonlight. Ukyou hoped it was the moonlight
what made Ranko look so pale.
"How did this happen?!" she turned upwards to the large
Neko figurine-- no, Tsubasa, in front of her.
"I don't know for sure," he said, "but I think she was
fighting with some other girl before I got there."
"What?!" Ukyou gasped in fright when she recalled what she
had heard about Mireillia. No, she wouldn't... She _couldn't_
have killed... She couldn't have killed Ranko!
"Please, we have to get her to an hospital," Tsubasa tried
to fight his own fear as he saw Ukyou falling in shock, crying
and staring at Ranko while her body became paralized. Then, out
of the farthest reaches of her mind, her conscious self recalled
the arrow she had been given by Nadir. Without any further
delay, she took the arrow and with a strong heave scratched the
floor with it. The entire area was bathed in a bright azure
light.
"Here, hold her," Ukyou stood up and ran back to the dojo,
arrow in hand like a torch. She turned back to Tsubasa, "Don't
just sit there, follow me!"
"Yes!" he stood up and, carrying Ranko in his arms, followed
Ukyou's mad race towards the Tendo Dojo.
* * *
"Where is she?" Phaeron and Nadir burst into the living
room, a few sparks from the Blazing Bullet still sizzling on them.
Everyone else had already returned, and they looked silently at
the Espers when they arrived. Phaeron and Nadir became frozen
when they saw Ranko, on the floor, with several saturated
bandages covering her wounds. For some reason, there was a
faint light whirling right over her gut.
"No!" they both dashed towards her.
"I've called Dr. Tofu," Kasumi said, astoundingly calm, "He'll
be here any minute."
"What the hell happened?!" Phaeron asked, already knowing
the answer.
"I found her like this about five minutes ago," the Neko
statue said.
"Then he found me and we brought her here," Ukyou finished.
"We arrived just a couple of minutes ago."
"My baby!" Nodoka was stroking Ranko's hair gently, holding
her daughter in her lap. Akane was trying to comfort her, while
Ranma was about to become a ball of fire. Even Herb was edging
away from him.
"It's no use," Yuannyan said, her face streaked with tears,
"I can't heal Zhaodi-chan."
"This is up to me," Phaeron said, spreading his arms, "Dr.
Tofu won't be able to heal magically-done damage."
"Up to us, you mean," Nadir said, "I recognize that light
over her stomach. It was caused by the Disrupt Crossbow." He
took off his cape and stretched his arms upward.
"Right," Phaeron said, "Morph into an Esper, we'll need your
Lifeguard technique." With that said, he closed his eyes and
transformed into the Phoenix. He immediately covered Ranko with
his golden flames.
"Errrgghh!" Nadir grunted as he threw his hands downwards
and arched his back. His hair and horns grew longer and his
neck extended when he stretched his head to the floor.
"I... I can't believe it..." Akane stammered at the sight of
a large Kirin in her living room, with long green mane and tail,
golden antlers and silver scales. Its hooves were gold, the
eyes ebony black. Without a word, the Kirin darted its long
snake-like neck downwards and stood on its hind legs, like a
horse.
"Lifeguard!" he neighed, and a field of silver light spread
from his body and covered Ranko, melding with Phoenix' gold fire.
"I... I won't mock my brother again," Herb splurted when he
too saw the Kirin.
"What're you doing?!" Ranma crossed his arms in front of
his face, the two Esper auras causing a tremendous wind current
and a blinding light. Only Nodoka and Yuannyan could stay inside
the field without being blown away.
"Let's go!" Phoenix called. Nodding, Kirin used his Lifeguard
to gradually heal Ranko while Phoenix' Rebirth spell sealed her
wounds and kept her alive. Two layers of light covered her: the
faint green was caused by the regenerating spell while the red
was caused by the golden fire.
Nobody knew how long it took, for every second seemed to
drag on forever. However, they were relieved to see Ranko's
skin become colored again, and the whirling light over her
vanished. Even when the fire burned the bandages, they could
see her wounds had disappeared almost completely, leaving only
faint whitish marks. Phoenix and Kirin relaxed their auras when
she started breathing normally again. Gradually, they called
back their magic and slumped down, exhausted. The entire house
shook when Kirin hit the floor.
"Uhh..." they heard a slight moan come from the redhead.
They waited anxiously for her to open her eyes, and sighed in
relief when she did. She blinked rapidly a few times, trying to
focus.
"You're all right!" Nodoka didn't wait any longer to hug her.
Ranko felt her lungs emptying _again_ when she was squished.
"What happened...?" she asked, now aware of her
surroundings.
"Anyone home?" they heard someone call from the door.
"That must be Dr. Tofu," Kasumi stood up, "I'll go tell him
everything is all right." Just as she left the room, she noticed
the Neko figure for the first time. "How cute! This will look
perfect over here," she picked it up and placed it near the door.
"What?" Tsubasa blinked at what had happened to him.
"How do you feel?" Akane asked once Ranko was released.
"Like a piece of clay," Ranko stretched her arms after
being squeezed. She suddenly recalled what had happened, "How
did I get here? Where's Mireillia?"
"I found you," a large flowerpot said.
"And we brought you here," Ukyou said.
"I remember now..." Ranko said, then smiled at the pot,
"Thank you, Tsubasa. Guess I owe you one." He turned deep red
and murmured something inintelligible.
"Yeah, thanks," Phaeron said, "Who knows what would have
happened if you hadn't found her."
"Guess you're not that bad," Ukyou looked away. The
flowerpot melted in happiness before lunging for her, "Don't
press your luck," she removed her spatula from his head.
"What happened, Zhaodi-chan?" Yuannyan asked, still very
worried.
Ranko frowned, "That Mireillia is some crazy girl, alright.
First she tried to strangle me and she even withstood the Hiryu
shoten-ha without even flinching!"
"What?!" everyone but Phaeron was shocked. He simply
smacked his forehead, "Damn. I should have known..."
"I can't remember the rest, but..." Ranko suddenly opened
her eyes widely and pulled up her shirt, relieved when she found
no injuries in her gut.
"That's it," Ranma finally said. He stood up, a grim
expression on his face. "All I want to know is who exactly is
this Mireillia, and what we can do to stop her."
"Ranma..." Akane had never seen him so determined.
"What a coincidence..." came a voice from the dining room
door. They all turned slowly to the source and gasped. "I was
just thinking the same thing," scowling and already wearing the
Raven Armor, Coldfire narrowed his eyes.
* * *
Shampoo happily rode her bicycle towards the dojo, humming
her usual Chinese song as dreams of marrying Ranma passed
through her mind. It was a nice Sunday afternoon, the sun was
bright and a gentle breeze brushed her lavish hair as she
pedaled onwards. On a day like this, it was easy to forget all
problems, even what had happened over a week ago. Stupid
Mousse, why didn't he want to tell her what really happened back
then? Neither her great-grandmother nor herself could remember
a thing about being injured, or about how they woke up in a
hospital. Of course, he probably didn't even see what happened,
given his "excellent" eyesight. Shampoo giggled a bit at this,
but then gulped. She recalled that time when they fought in the
Mirror Chamber, in the battle against Coldfire. If Mousse had
been wearing his glasses back then, he would have hugged her
instead of Kodachi, and she would have allowed him to stay that
way. Stupid Mousse, she thought again. He had a once-in-a-
lifetime chance, and he had blown it.
Still, Shampoo didn't have to worry about that anymore.
She was on her way to date with Ranma. And now that neither of
them was cursed, what could go wrong?
She stopped briefly when she saw a girl in front of her,
with knee-length red hair. "Who are you?" Shampoo asked, proud
to have made some progress in Japanese.
"Would you be so kind as to show me the way to the Tendo
dojo?" the girl asked.
"Back off!" Ranko punted Nadir into the pond for the third
time. "I told you, I can take care of myself!" Irritated, she sat
down at the table, trying to finish her sherbet in peace.
"But I'm only trying to put up a shield around you!" Nadir
took out the carps from his clothes. "You let Phaeron do it all
the time!"
"That's because he doesn't try to glomp onto me while he's
at it!" she threw the empty cup at his head. "Sheesh! You're
just like Kuno!"
"My, aren't we jumpy today," Nabiki said, scooping her
sherbet.
"Give her a break, oneechan," Akane said, shifting P-chan in
her arms, "How would you feel if somebody were trying to kill
you?"
"Oh, I've felt that," Nabiki said, nonplussed, "For example,
there was that time when the race track bookie lost his job
thanks to me, when I pretended to be Ranma-kun's fianc�e, and--
No wait, at that time _I_ wanted to kill _him_..."
"Ha ha ha, Nabiki," Ranma glared at her, toying with his
spoon without really eating the sherbet. He turned to his
sister, "You okay?"
She fumed slightly, "I wish everyone stopped asking me that!
It's not like this is the first time an idiot tries to kill me!"
"Um, thanks," Coldfire said.
"Sorry," she said, "But you know I didn't mean you, right,
Phaeron-kun?"
"That's right," he patted Coldfire's back, grinning, "You're
not an idiot. You're just plain stupid."
"What did you say?!" he bashed Phaeron in a cloud of dust.
"They'll never learn," Crystallus smirked, then turned to
Ranko, "If it helps, maybe I could turn into the Crystal Armor
and cover you."
"Thanks, but I really can cake care of myself," Ranko
dismissed with her hand, "I'm not a baby, you know. I haven't
been training for over three years for nothing."
"What are you talking about?" Ranma asked. Everyone who
knew about Ranko using the Caller gulped and fell silent. "Never
mind," she replied in low voice.
"Well, I know there's something that can make you feel
better," Ranma smiled at her, "After all we used to be the same
person. What do you say, you want to spar with me?"
"No, thanks, oniisan. I don't think I'm in the mood for
fighting," she smiled back. Everyone stared at her wide eyed,
even Phaeron and Coldfire stopped quarreling.
Ranma took her by the shoulders, "Who are you, and what
have you done with my sister?"
"Can't you take a joke?" she grinned and stood, "C'mon, let's
go train. If you think you're up to it, of course..." she taunted,
sticking her tongue out.
"Why you little..." he smirked and pounced at her. They
rolled over in laughter as they engaged in a tickle war.
"Looks like he did cheer her up," Akane said. "And to think
he used to hate her guts at first." She smiled at the cloud of
dust.
"Yes, Ranma loves his sister very much," Nodoka smiled,
"Probably because he grew up as an only child. I remember,
before Genma took him on that trip, little Ranma looked at other
children who had brothers or sisters and I always noticed he
wanted one too."
"Look at them," Phaeron said, "It's like they don't even
remember about what happened last night."
"Maybe it's better that way," Coldfire said, "You can't face
Mireillia while you're angry or upset."
"Nihao!" they heard a familiar voice calling as a bike fell
on top of Nadir. "Hm. Shampoo need work on her aim, been
hitting other people lately."
"Y-yo, Shampoo," Ranko called, still laughing and laying down
on her brother's crossed legs as he tickled her belly.
"What going on?" she asked, blinking at the siblings.
"Nothing, nothing..." they sat up, still teasing each other.
"What brings you here?" Akane asked, glaring at her in
advance.
"Oh, Shampoo remember." She turned around, "Brought visit
to... huh?" there was nobody behind her.
Her presence reminded Ranma of something, "Shampoo, you
remember how you used to chase us, way back, when you thought
we were a girl?" he pointed at his sister.
"Now what are you talking about?" Akane turned to him.
"Well, it's just that I thought about that stupid Amazon law
that says 'if a female outsider defeats you, you must kill her,'
and that sort of thing. So I'm thinking, maybe that Mireillia
chick could be after sis because of a law or something like
that." Phaeron gulped as the famous big drop of sweat formed on
his head. Fortunately for his health, nobody noticed him.
"She might be yet another fianc�e of yours, for all we
know," Akane glared at him.
"Very funny, oneechan," Ranko said, "He doesn't have any
more fianc�es..." she turned to her father, "...does he?" Genma
reflexively splashed himself with cold water and rolled on his
back with a beachball in his hands. "Pop, is there something you
have to tell us?" Ranma and Ranko loomed over him.
"You told me there were no more engagements, dear," Nodoka
had somehow recovered her katana out of hyperspace.
"And there aren't!" he answered with a sign, then sweated
visibly. "I mean, there aren't," he said.
"That's a relief," Ranma said, backing up to the dining room
door, "If I found out I had another fianc�e, I'd..."
"You'd what, darling?" they all facefaulted when Mireillia
glomped onto him from behind.
"I knew it!" Akane plastered his face on the floor.
"I'm innocent! I'm innocent!" he protested, "Kill Pop instead!"
"I swear, I had nothing to do with this," Genma crossed his
arms, indifferent to Nodoka, Ranko, Akane and Shampoo looming
over him.
"Um, aren't we forgetting something..." Nabiki pointed at
Mireillia. Suddenly they all gasped and four different aura
shields and a crystal dome encased Ranko, much to her
displeasure. She wasn't a baby, for crying out loud! It was
enough with her own shield!
"So, I see you didn't heed my warning," Mireillia glared at
her.
"And you didn't heed _mine_," Phaeron stood forward, "It's
been a while, Mireillia."
"A while indeed, Phoenix," she scowled at him.
"Uh-oh," Nadir sweated when he realized what was about to
happen.
"So _you're_ Mireillia," Ranma crossed his arms and scowled.
"You better tell us--"
"Ranko!" came the voice of Ryouga as he bursted through
the wall, "I saw her!" he said, not even noticing Mireillia, "That
girl Mireillia was following Shampoo and was... coming here..." his
voice trailed off when he realized who was standing beside him.
"You!" he swung his umbrella at her. She idly leapt upward and
landed on its tip, "Yes, it is I. And I assume you all know my
intentions."
"We know that, all right," Coldfire said, "But why are you
doing this?"
"Of all people, you and Phaeron should know," Mireillia leapt
down from the umbrella and leaned back against the frame of the
door. She turned again to Ranko, "And the little harlot should
know as well."
"You call her that one more time..." Ranma, Ryouga, Phaeron,
Nadir and Coldfire said in unison.
"And what do you mean, anyway?" Ranko fumed greatly, "I
already told you I don't have the slightest idea."
"Oh really?" Mireillia crossed her arms, "And what can you
say about the events that took place 1501 years, two months and
one day ago?" Everyone stared at her.
"You're asking the wrong person," Ranko said, "you're talking
about something that happened the very same day I fell in
Jusenkyo, and I can't remember most of what happened back then."
"Then I suppose you don't remember... this?" Mireillia took
from her pocket a shining gold bracelet, beautifully crafted and
with an inscription on the inside.
"Ah! Th-that bracelet! Where did you get it?!" Phaeron
recognized it immediately.
Mireillia swung the bracelet with her index, "I went to
Jusenkyo before coming here. And I found out that four springs
had been dried recently. In the bottom of one of those springs,
I found _this_," she stopped swinging and clasped the bracelet
tightly, "Oh yes, I found something else there. An ancient
corpse of some sort. Revolting," she stuck her tongue out.
Ranko turned pale. Had it been her own drowned body?
"I thought I might keep this as a trophy," Mireillia put the
bracelet around her wrist, "Stylish, isn't it?"
Phaeron gritted his teeth, "You better return that to its
original owner, you..."
"Oh, hit a nerve, did I?" Mireillia smirked at him. "Very
well, then. How about we settle this, Phoenix?"
"Fine!" he said. "If it means you'll leave Ranko-chan alone,
I'll take you on!"
"Um, Phaeron, do you think that's a good idea?" Nadir and
Crystallus asked quietly. "She IS the most poweful Esper we
know."
"Not in all aspects," Phaeron muttered. "Let's go, Apeiron
Mireillia Nix."
"Please, let's take this outside," she laughed, "I wouldn't
like destroying this house like we destroyed Briandor in our
last encounter." With that she casually walked down the hall and
out the door.
"What's Briandor?" Ranko asked.
"That used to be Esper World's third moon," Nadir looked at
her nervously.
"So this is Mireillia..." Ranma thought, silently following
them.
"We're dead, we're dead, we're dead..." Nadir, Crystallus and
Coldfire shook their heads.
The Phoenix' Nightmare
Mireillia and Phaeron were facing each other in the street,
in front of the Tendo dojo. Everyone else was simply standing
at the gates, staring at them. An entrepeneur before anything
else, Nabiki had promptly taken out a few chairs and was
charging them at 500 yen the minute. Her business boomed when
other people arrived as espectators.
"Please, please let it be a Saldir,let it be a Saldir..."
Nadir was chanting.
"What are you babbling about?" Ranko asked. "What's that
'saldir' you keep saying?"
"Eh?" Nadir was taken out of his trance,"Oh, a Saldir is a
style of fighting between Espers. We have four styles: Mirnas,
which is simple hand-to-hand; Rymns, which also includes magic
and ki; Saldir, in which combatants are allowed to use only their
minds; and Esper's Ragnarok, which... you don't want to know what
a Ragnarok's like. This planet wouldn't endure it." He recalled
what happened in the World of Balance, a thousand years ago,
when the War of the Magi caused the first-ever Esper's
Ragnarok.
"Ragnarok? Isn't that the sword Phaeron used a while back?"
Akane asked.
"You're confusing it with the ESPER Ragnarok," Coldfire said.
"An Esper'S Ragnarok is the equivalent of a World War. In fact,
the sword was named that way because it helped separate the
two armies that were engaged in Esper's Ragnarok. But believe
me, you do not want to see two of us going head to head in an
all-out battle."
"But didn't we already see that?" Ranma asked. Crystallus
quietly said, "No, when Phaeron and Coldfire fought, neither used
his full power until Ultima. Phaeron didn't want to hurt any of
you while Coldfire thought nobody was worthy of using his full
strength. But the truth is, if an Esper's Ragnarok were compared
with a hand-to-hand battle, Ultima would be a simple jab." Ranma
turned to the bird in shock. No wonder Nadir was so worried.
"So, which will it be?" Phaeron asked. Nadir screamed
inwards, for he knew Mireillia always chose a Rymns battle.
"I don't know..." she cocked her head, "Maybe a Ragnarok
would be nice..." everyone facefaulted, "But given your own magic
power, then I think a Saldir should do."
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Nadir bounced around in relief until Ryouga
smacked him on the head.
"Very well, Saldir it is," Phaeron relaxed from his fighting
stance and stood upright.
"A battle of will between the Phoenix and the Nightmare,"
Coldfire said sternly. "You do realize why he's doing this, don't
you?" he turned to Ranko. She simply swallowed hard, unaware of
her face turning a very faint red.
"Begin!" Mireillia and Phaeron closed their eyes... and
nothing happened.
"No, wait!" Nadir called to me. "Look!"
Oh, that's right. Looks like I can explain what happened,
then. When they closed their eyes, a barely-visible beam of light
connected their heads. Slowly, the beam became wider. Bolts of
electricity jumped from one's head to the other's until they
became a bridge of electrical energy. Suddenly, their auras rose
tremendously, and gradually took the shape of their owner's
spirit. Phaeron was surrounded by a gigantic flaming Phoenix,
while a monstruous, ghostly Nightmare appeared around Mireillia.
"Those great special effects are courtesy of Industrial
Light and Magic! Remember, when you need liquid-metal robots,
dinosaurs or battling Espers, look no further than ILM."
"Cut the commercial, Nabiki!" Ranma said.
"Hey, they paid me for that, you know."
"What's going on?" Ranko stared at the two auras. Phaeron's
Phoenix was lunging at Mireillia's Nightmare with its beak, while
she tried to hit him with her hooves. It reminded her of the
time her father used his battle aura against Happosai. Still, the
auras couldn't hurt each other, as they only reflected what was
happening in their minds.
"How long will this take?" Akane asked.
"I don't know," Nadir said, "They can take all the time they
need to without even stopping for a rest. Maybe they'll--"
A loud shriek came from the Phoenix while the Nightmare
neighed in defience. Suddenly the firebird became even larger and
its body, made by Phaeron's aura, was subsituted by pure light.
The Nightmare stared wide-eyed at him.
"Yes!" Coldfire cheered, "I knew killing him would come in
handy!" Suddenly everyone bashed him.
"Rymns Battle!" Mireillia opened her eyes and recalled her
aura. Phaeron did the same. Nadir had a heart attack.
"Stop!" Crystallus was the only Esper who could speak. It
was too late, though, Mireillia and Phaeron were allready dashing
to each other.
"Piercing Arrows!" Mireillia shot out. Phaeron swatted them
aside and countered with a BlueBird which Mireillia simply leapt
over. She came down with a drop kick. Phaeron put up an aura
shield and blasted her away with the White Touch. She landed on
her feet and spun in place. "Multiple Hooves!" she yelled.
Crystallus had to create an aura shield around the audience to
keep them from being hit, but Phaeron just cancelled each and
every arc of fire with a flaming fist. "Random Fist revised!
Stardust Shower!" he delivered a barrage of 573 punches,
shooting a small glimmer of energy with each. Mireillia had to
activate her armlet's forcefield to block them all, but it left
her open to Phaeron's next attack.
"Comet Flare!" he dashed straight at her but then, using
the same tactic he had used when he first appeared before Ranko
long ago, he leapt over Mireillia and landed behind her, causing
his bright flames to confuse her. Taking the advantage, Phaeron
dashed towards her and dropped down, sweeping her feet with a
slide kick. She handsprung off the ground and leapt at him with a
jumpkick. He just ducked and delivered a roundhouse when she
landed behind him. She grasped his foot and pulled, then rolled
on her back and tossed him into the wall. He bounced off it
without receiving damage and turned into the Phoenix in midflight.
"Perfect!" Coldfire said, "he knows Mireillia can't morph into
a Nightmare during the day!"
"Blazing Bullet!" he rammed straight at her, narrowing his
wings to fly even faster.
"That was very foolish, Phaeron. Rasp!" Mireillia stretched
her hand at the charging bird... and Phaeron was forced to morph
back to a human, his ki suddenly depleted. "Random Fist!" he
stood and attacked. She simply put up an aura shield and
bounced away.
"Entangle Rings!" Mireillia shot out a barrage of rings of
light at him.
"Phaeron-kun, watch out!" Ranko tried to warn him, but the
rings had already covered his body and pinned him to the ground,
his limbs spread outward. He struggled to break their hold, but
this time Mireillia had used the full power Rings, unlike what she
had used against Ranko.
"Why you..." he strained himself by trying to break the hold.
"Are you happy now?" Mireillia smirked. "Now, if you were to
accept this quietly..." Everyone gasped as she used her
telekinesis to lift him and place him against a wall. From that
position, she would very easily slay him.
"Stop!" Ranko dashed towards them.
"Now, Phaeron..." Mireillia said softly, and put her arms
around him as she gave him a long kiss.
Coldfire turned green in disgust.
Nadir fumed like Mt. Etna.
Akane and Ranma stared in shock.
Nabiki made a break for her camera.
Ranko was frozen like a statue.
"What the hell is going on here?!?!?!" Ryouga found the wits
to yell.
"What, didn't you know?" Mireillia turned to them, a big
smile on her face. Phaeron looked like he was about to die. "I'm
Phaeron's fianc�e."
"You WHAT?!"
* * *
It was already dark, and they were still standing there,
staring at Mireillia and Phaeron in disbelief. Without a word,
Ranko broke out of the shock and silently walked over to them,
nonchalantly detached Mireillia from Phaeron, took him by the
collar and smashed him on the pavement. Even the energy rings
that covered him dissipated at the impact.
"So, you want to tell me something?" she asked in a
maniacally calm voice.
"Why Phaeron, don't tell me you hadn't told them," Mireillia
giggled. "After all, I've been your fianc�e for two hundred
years..."
"DON'T remind me, you shameless wench," Nadir scowled at
her.
"Now, Nadir, don't be so upset. After all, you abide by
Esper Laws as well as I do." Mireillia sighed and turned back to
Phaeron, "It seems you have a little story to tell them, dear
Phaeron. Alas, I know where I'm not wanted. I shall see you
again!" and Mireillia leapt straight up, vanishing amid the
moonlight.
"What are you waiting for, 'dear Phaeron'?" the look in
Ranko's eyes wasn't too far from dementia. "Will you explain
already?!" she shook him up and down, smashing him against the
pavement every time.
"Calm down, sis," Ranma said. "Let's get inside. _Then_ he
can explain..." he cracked his knuckles.
* * *
"All right, from the top," Akane was done putting band-aids
on Phaeron's face. Everyone else was sitting at the table,
waiting to hear the story. However, everybody was keeping a
considerable distance from Ranko, who for some reason was
glowing bright blue.
"Oh, all right," Phaeron sighed, "You ll know what happens
when a male outsider defeats a woman from the Joketsuzoku,
right?" They nodded, and Shampoo even glomped happily onto
Ranma's arm to emphasize the point. "Well, we Espers also have a
set of Laws, some of which are incredibly ridiculous, created by
our leader, Maduin."
"That's the same guy who engaged you to Seraphim?" Ranma
asked.
Phaeron nodded, "That was one of the Laws. In fact, it's
the same Law that has plagued me for a long time. You see,
Maduin has very strange ideas about marriage. And one of the
Laws he wrote on that subject is, 'If an Esper is found in
mortal danger, those who save its life, given that the rescuer
is of the opposite gender, will have the right to become its
spouse. Furthermore, if said rescuer opposes the marriage, then
the Esper in question has the right to aggresively pursue its
future spouse.'"
A long silence filled the room. And here they thought only
Nerima could see strange arrangements like that...
"And it doesn't end there..." Phaeron said, "The reason I was
engaged to Seraphim is because she saved my life hundreds of
years ago. _But_, a few months after that happened, I met
another Esper...
"I was already in Esper World when that happened. However,
I still hadn't asked Seraphim to show me the images of what was
happening here on Earth. But I was still very depressed at the
time, because I didn't have the slightest idea what had happened
to you and Yuannyan..." he turned to Ranko, "As it turns out, one
day I was in Phoenix shape, flying over the world, when suddenly
I saw the Tritoch --you should remember who he was--, and he
was chasing a girl with red hair. I nearly felt my heart jumping
out my mouth, because I started thinking, 'That looks like one of
the twins! But how did she get here?! I have to save her from
Tritoch!' And I guess you all know what happened after that. I
saved Mireillia, made an enemy in Tritoch, and became even more
depressed when I found out that I hadn't saved either of you."
Ranko seemed to calm down after hearing this.
"Oh, how much you suffered," Nadir said sarcastically, "She
was MY fianc�e before any of that happened you know, and it
wasn't because of some stupid Law. After you saved her, she
became fixiated with you, and never talked about anything else
even when I was with her. She even tried to kill Seraphim when
she found out you were engaged to her. She never reached her
goal, of course, but if it not because of Tritoch..." Nadir
clenched his fist.
"But what kind of stupid rule would make you marry the one
who saved your life?" Ranko finally said. "You never married
Seraphim-chan."
"That's because I think of her as a sister," Phaeron said,
"I can't marry my sister. Even if I didn't think of her that way,
I still wouldn't marry her. But since I rejected Mireillia, she
'has the right to aggresively pursue me' and get rid of anyone
who stands in her way. This, of course, clashes with the same
rule because I'm already engaged to Seraphim. But that has never
driven Mireillia away. There was a time when she gave up trying
to kill Seraphim, but now that I'm back on Earth... She thinks
that every woman I talk to stands in her way. And since Ranko-
chan IS my best friend, then...." he sighed and slumped down.
"But... But..." Ranko tried to say.
"Then that's why she wants to kill sis?" Ranma asked.
"That's crazy!"
"Hey, watch it," Nadir said, "That used to be my fianc�e."
He turned slowly towards Ranko and Akane, "Even though I have
two fianc�es now..."
"What?" Akane blinked in confusion, "But we never saved
your..." she and Ranko recalled the scene at the airport, "Oh, no!
Now you're engaged to both of us!"
"Yep," Nadir grinned.
"No wonder you act so weird around us," Ranko said. "I was
right: you're just like Kuno."
"But what can we do to stop her?" Nodoka asked, "She
wanted to kill Ranko-chan before, but today she didn't even try
to hurt her."
Phaeron slumped down again, "Because today she was coming
to meet _me_. But the only way to keep Mireillia away from her
would be to convince her of something that's already obvious."
"And what's that?" Ranko said, kicking Nadir into next week.
Phaeron swallowed hard, "You, uh, you're just my friend,
right?"
She gulped as well, "Wha..."
"The real reason Mireillia's after you is... is... because she
thinks you're my fianc�e."
A painful silence
One week. One week had passed since Mireillia presented
herself as Phaeron's fianc�e. And it had been one week since he
was voluntarily transferred from Furinkan to another high
school.
Everything was unusually quiet at Furinkan, aside from an
occasional sniff or two from one of the girls in Miss Hinako's
class. All the classes proceded quietly, with little disturbance.
And besides, Tomobiki had already seen worse before Phaeron got
there.
"You've been awfully quiet," Akane said to Ranko during
lunch. "Are you a feeling okay?"
"I've been awfully bored, you mean," the redhead replied,
digging into her bento.
"Then you're not worried about Phaeron-kun? It's been a
while since we saw him."
"Not really."
Akane stared at her wide-eyed, "Ranko! He's your best
friend!" she scolded. "He even offered to get transferred so
Mireillia didn't come after you again!"
"And it worked," Ranko said, indifferent, "He sure got her
off my back."
"Hmph. You're still an insensitive baka like your brother."
Akane stood up, taking her bento, and sat down at another table.
If Ranko wanted to act like this, suit herself. Akane didn't want
to be with a person who had no feelings. Especially a person who
disdained her best friend like that.
"Tomboy," Ranko muttered and stood up, headed for the
window. She silently stared at the yard beneath, then slowly
looked up towards the sky. A single sigh escaped her mouth, as
she slumped down slightly. Steeling herself, she took a deep
breath. "Hope he's all right," she thought, shaking her head.
* * *
Phaeron sneezed involuntarily before putting up another
aura shield around him. Really, if he was going to get
transferred he could have picked a better place. Tomobiki was a
madhouse! Aliens, strange priests, a pervert and that rich
showoff, everyone brewing up a concoction of lunacy. And
lunchtime was probably the worst time of day, as he constantly
had to avoid getting electrocuted, smothered, burned to a crisp
or buried under the desks that the girl named Shinobu kept
throwing at the pervert. And to top it off, even the teachers
were crazy! It was bad enough having to deal with Furinkan, but
this place needed Freud's help and fast!
"Daaarling!" Lum fried yet another innocent bystander as
she pursued Ataru through the room.
"I shall help you, dear Lum!" Mendo unsheathed his katana.
"Moroboshi!!"
"Get offa me you hentai!" Ryunnosuke punched Ataru from
one end of the room to the other.
"Oohh! Hello there!" he used his fall to glomp onto Ran.
"Kyaaa!" she tossed him towards Lum, who fried him in
midair. Ataru fell on top of Phaeron's shield.
"I sense a foreboding presence in this room," Sakura and
Cherry came inside, wielding Buddhist scriptures. Ataru was on
her in a flash.
"Darling, come here!" Lum sent him a few dozen zaks at him,
unfortunately hitting Sakura at the same time.
"What a loser," Ten crossed his arms. Suddenly a fly landed
on his nose, "Ah... ah... ah..."
"No, don't sneeze!" Shinobu called.
"AAHH... AAHH... AAAT... AAAAT..."
"Yo!" a female voice called as an airbike burst in through
the window, "Hey, Lum, it's me, Benten!"
"AAAT-CHOOO!!"
"Geh..." Benten stared blankly into space, the blast of fire
having missed her by an inch. However, the other people in the
room were not so fortunate.
"That's it. I'm out of here," Phaeron stood up and morphed
into the Phoenix. Everybody stared at him silently as he flew
out through the window. Without further thought, the madness
inside resumed.
Phaeron landed just on top of the roof, morphing back as
he touched down. "Jeeze, and I thought Nerima was a crazy place.
I've seen more strange things in the week I've been here than in
the 500 years I stayed in Esper World." He sighed and sat down
on the roof. "I wonder who they're doing back home..." he
surprised himself by thinking of Nerima as "home," but then
smiled and looked upwards, "I wonder how Ranko-chan is doing.
Mireillia did folllow me here after all, even though the chaos
here seemed to scare her off. But I'm sure she won't go after
her again. I'd still like to be back, though. I miss everyone back
home."
He sighed again and took out the medallion from under his
shirt. He looked at it sadly, especially at the inscription on its
back. He remembered the exact minute when he received the
medallion, a memory that was crystal-clear. He smiled at the
thought, recalling how he had felt at being given such wondrous
treasure. But then the memory brought him to recalling the
medallion's pair. Damn, why did Mireillia have to keep that
bracelet? Did she know it had been given to--
"Hm?" he looked around, hearing a low whistle from behind,
like something dropping. "What the... Urk!" his head made contact
with Nadir's as he landed on top of Phaeron. Both Espers
collapsed on top of each other.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Nadir got up on all his knees and
waved his arms, as if addressing somebody else, "I was just
trying to make you feel better!"
"Make WHOM feel better?" Phaeron asked. Nadir eeked away
from him.
"Don't DO that, you idiot!" he settled down and looked
around him, "Where... Where's Ranko?"
"Ranko-chan...?" Phaeron slowly stood up. "WHAT WERE YOU
DOING?!" he asked, pulling Nadir by the collar.
"Um, nothing!" he tried to say.
"Then why were you trying to apologize?!" Phaeron was
fuming tremendously by now.
"I, uh, I just uh... Look, that idiot Kuno does it all the
time. There's no reason to get all worked up about a simple hug.
But one thing's for sure..." he grinned, "I'll never wash this hand
again..." he looked madly at his right hand.
"How... come?" Phaeron asked.
"Oh, because this hand touched..." Nadir's common sense
cursed at his stupidity. When he turned back to Phaeron, he felt
impending Ragnarok. "Uh-oh."
"WHAT I N THE WORLD WERE YOU TRYING TO DO?!" Phaeron
bashed Nadir when he realized what had happened. When he
finished, he punted Nadir into the distance, imitating what Ranko
had done a few minutes ago.
"Hey, wait!" Nadir recovered in midair and used his mental
powers to fly back to Phaeron.
"What do you want?" he asked calmly, pulling a trio of
razor-sharp feathers up Nadir's throat.
"Don't you want to know what's happening back home?" Nadir
offered. Phaeron calmed down as if he had been shot with an
elephant tranquilizer. He immediately let go of Nadir's hair,
allowing him to sit down on the roof. "Gee, talk about over-
protective..." he muttered.
"What was that?" Phaeron showed the feathers again. Nadir
sweated visibly.
"Right, right. Sorry. Anyway, I've got some news for you.
First, one of the girls from your class commited suicide when
she found out you weren't coming back..."
"WHAT?!"
"Just kidding, just kidding. They do miss you back there,
though. Seraphim is hounded almost every day by people asking
about you. Coldfire's having the time of his life with you away,
but that's about it. Oh I almost forgot. That Ranko... Sheesh!
She's become a block of ice!"
"What do you mean?" Phaeron asked, not hiding the worry in
his voice.
"What do you mean, what do I mean? She only talks to her
mother and her twin, and now it looks as if she had no feelings
at all! She has ignored everyone including her brother!"
"She certainly didn't ignore you," Phaeron glared at him.
"I swear, I was only trying to help," Nadir solemnly lifted
his right hand. "But at least I snapped her out of that trance
she had gotten herself into. You should really go back, you know,
at least to cheer her up."
"I'd like to, believe me. But if I go back, Mireillia will
start hunting her down again. I'm worried as it is since Coldfire
looks exactly like me, and if she were to talk to him..."
"Look, there's nothing to worry about. You think I'd let
Mireillia hurt her again? But loathe as I may to admit, right now
Ranko needs to see you again. So, think about it, okay? See you
later." With that Nadir morphed into the Kirin again, then jumped
up.
"Wait, Nadir!"
"What?"
"Don't you remember?" Phaeron also morphed into the
Phoenix and flew up to him. "What about Kefka?"
Nadir was taken aback, "My God... I had forgotten about him!"
"I've been practicing so we could face him, but I haven't
told anyone back home about him. And the longer we delay here,
the greater damage he'll do to Esper World. After all, Valran's
defenses won't last forever."
"I know, I know... We'll discuss it when you get back, okay?"
He began galloping away, "Oh, and by the way, think about what
Maduin told you before you left Esper World." And Nadir vanished
into the distance.
"About what Maduin told me?" Phaeron descended onto the
roof and changed back. He tried to remember the lecture that he
had to endure before coming back to Earth. Most of it had been
useless babble about Espers not getting involved with humans,
but here was something that was seared on his mind. A question
that Maduin had asked him right before opening the portal from
Esper World to Earth:
"Phaeron, you, like most of us, were a human who was
transformed into an Esper by the power of the Three Goddesses.
But now that you have to make this choice, I ask you: Do you
want to live like a human, or like an Esper?"
Phaeron sat down, thinking about that question. He _was_ a
human, but he had the power and responsibilities of an Esper.
Nevertheless, his duties laid with the human world. And one of
his most important duties was to protect Ranko, especially from
the likes of Mireillia.
"I'm a human, Maduin" he thought as he leapt upwards, "I've
always been a human." Saying nothing else, he shot out towards
Maison Ikkoku.
* * *
"Are you sure you're alright?" Ranma asked to his sister
as they returned to the dojo.
"For the 149th time: I'm fine!" she said, irritated.
"Okay, okay!" he defended, "Sheesh, don't bite my head off."
"Just what's wrong with you?" Akane suddenly stopped and
pulled Ranko around. "I thought you loved your brother!"
"Just leave me alone, okay?" Ranko didn't make an effort to
hide her mood. "I think I'll take a walk before going home."
"Ranko..." Ranma said quietly, looking at his sister as she
walked away from them.
"Oniisan..." she said, not turning back. "I'm sorry about that.
But I'm not really feeling very well. I just need a moment alone,
alright?" she turned back to them, smiling warmly. "I'll see you
back home. Oh, and don't let Akane cook dinner." She giggled as
she went around the corner.
"Whew," Akane sighed, "She was beginning to get me worried.
She must have been holding back for a long time."
"Well, it's good to see her smile again," Ranma said. "I had
almost forgotten how she looked when she smiled."
Akane stayed silent for a while, then thought, "Maybe she
really does... Nah, couldn't be."
"So, you still plan to make dinner tonight?" Ranma asked,
putting his hands behind his head.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, it's been ages since I saw her smile. I don't want
her to die now that she finally recovered."
"Ranma... no BAKA!" she batted him away him with her new
weapon: a Louisville Slugger.
* * *
Ranko continued walking silently down the streets. There
was no preset route on her mind, she might have been walking in
circles for all she cared. She looked up at the orange skies of
twilight, and sighed. She hadn't felt this lonely since... since she
began her training under Cologne. It was exactly what she felt
during the time previous to using the Caller. Could there be a
connection?
She shook her head. Phaeron was just her friend. She
laughed at the idea of thinking of him in a different way. But
still, she would have liked to see him again. There didn't have to
be any words, she just wanted to see him.
Phaeron was walking on the fences, still shuddering at what
he saw back at Maison Ikkoku. Just what kind of misunderstanding
did the Loon Squad cause, to make Kyoko try to strangle
Yusaku? He was now starting to regret not being transferred to
another apartment house as he did high school. But it didn't
matter anymore. He was back home, and there wasn't a single sign
of Mireillia. Maybe she was still looking for him back at Tomobiki,
he couldn't be sure. He was glad to be back.
He was worried about one thing, though. He recalled the
time when Ranko had become emotionless, before she tried to Call
him. If she had indeed killed her feelings again, as Nadir had
said... He had to see her again. There didn't have to be any
words, he just wanted to see her.
Besides, she had already gone through this twice before,
Ranko thought. And a cowardly girl like Mireillia wouldn't scare
her off, anyway. Phaeron hadn't told her to which school he had
been transferred, but she could still find him. She _would_ find
him.
Ranko needed his help, at least according to Nadir. She
might be Cordis prot�g�e, but sometimes even an angel needed
assistance. And this kind of help was just what he was an expert
at. After all, she was his best and closest friend.
Ranko sighed again. She looked up to the sky, thinking
about him again...
Phaeron turned downwards to the street and sighed. He
really missed that tomboy.
Their eyes found themselves staring at each other.
"R-Ranko-chan?"
"Phaeron-kun?"
"What are you...?" they both stammered. Phaeron dropped
from the fence and stared at her. She fell silent for a moment.
"So, you're back," Ranko turned around, away from him.
"Yes," he said, crossing his arms, "Nadir told me you needed
help."
"Do I look like I need it?" she tried hard to sound
imposing, but her voice showed the exact opposite.
"From what I just heard, yes. You need help."
"Okay, so what? I can go talk to Mom or Yuan-chan if I
need anything."
"Are you sure that's the kind of help you need?" he said.
"Sometimes a friend can help in ways that the family can't."
"Is that so?" she still refused to look at him, "Then I
suppose that a friend who runs off without a word is the best
help I can get," she said sarcastically.
"But this is a friend that will stay close, regardless of a
certain pain in the back." He put his hand on her shoulder.
"How do I know I can trust that?" Ranko looked at him
briefly.
"You can trust what I said," Phaeron turned away, "because
it's the truth. I don't care about Mireillia anymore. If she dares
come close to you, she'll regret it." He expected an answer, but
she had fallen silent. "I'll always be here when you need me."
Now _that_ hit a nerve. Ranko gasped when she recalled he
was supposed to die in a little over one month. "Ph-Phaeron-kun,
I have to tell you something..."
"...That's a promise," he finished. Suddenly he felt himself
being hugged from behind. "R-Ranko-chan?"
"Welcome back," she said, smiling, with her eyes closed.
"Um, wasn't there something you wanted to tell me...?" he
stammered, feeling his blood starting to boil.
"It can wait," she said softly.
The counterattack
"We're home!" Ranko called as they arrived at the dojo, with
Phaeron carrying her on piggyback. They stayed like that even
when they came into the dining room. They all rose their eyes
from the meal to look at them wide-eyed. Nadir fumed greatly at
Phaeron.
"Well, hello again!" Kasumi said when she saw Phaeron.
"Welcome home, Phaeron-kun!" Yuannyan said, smiling. She
giggled when she saw her sister.
"So, what were you telling me back there, oneechan?" still
clinging to his back, Ranko turned to Akane.
"I'm sorry about what I said," Akane wasn't paying much
attention. She was looking at how happy Ranko was all of a
sudden.
"Well, it's a relief to see you're back to normal," Nodoka
smiled. Ranma agreed, "Yeah, that ice-cold attitude didn't suit
you."
"It's good to see the old Zhaodi-chan again," Yuannyan
winked at Ranko and Phaeron.
"Hm?" she looked at Yuannyan, puzzled. "Oh, that reminds me.
How long will you two be staying in town?"
"We haven't decided," Herb said. "Considering there's a little
surprise in store for all of you," he put an arm around
Yuannyan's shoulders. She snuggled up to him immediately.
"You two seem to be very happy," Nodoka smiled at them.
"I'm glad."
"Thank you, mother," Yuannyan said. Suddenly everyone in
the room, even herself, blinked in surprise.
"Et tu, Yuannyan?" Phaeron smirked at her.
"I knew this would happen someday..." Ranko finally came
down from his back, all the time smiling at her twin.
"Y-you called me mother..." Nodoka stared kindly at
Yuannyan. But why not? Ranko was her daughter, and if Yuannyan
was Ranko's sister then she was oficially her daughter too.
Besides, she was very fond of the other redhead.
"Um, yeah, I guess I did," Yuannyan turned deep red and
looked downwards. A little smile appeared on her face.
"I don't know if I can support three children," Genma said.
"But, as always, we shall have to make some sacrifices," he
smiled at Yuannyan. "Welcome to the Saotome family. Ranma, move
out."
"What?!"
"I said we would have to make some sacrifices, and since I
can't turn into a panda anymore I can't make money from
children's parties. But don't take this as a hardship, instead
take it as--"
"I'll take it as it is, Pop: You're an idiot," Ranma removed
the table from his father's head.
"But there's no need to worry about money," Herb said, "As
the Prince of the Musk Dynasty, I have access to our gold
bullions and jewel hoardes..." Nabiki became starry-eyed when she
heard about her two true loves.
"I don't know," Nodoka said, "If you're also my daughter, I
can't let you go to another country, especially if you're so
young."
"Mom?" Ranko looked at her, finding her statement strange.
"But I've been staying with Herb-chan for a long time..."
Yuannyan said, tightening the hold on his arm.
"And I don't think having _another_ person in this house
would be a good idea," Phaeron said.
"But it's no problem at all," Kasumi said, "We'd just have to
put another cot in my bedroom or Nabiki-chan's."
"I certainly wouldn't mind..." Nabiki said, already thinking
about how much money she'd make by selling Kuno pictures of
Yuannyan in a nightgown, sleeping, etc.
"Don't even think about it, Nabiki," Ranma and Ranko were
quick to protect her, "You're NOT going to take pictures of her."
"Then I suppose I'll have to find content in selling _your_
pictures," Nabiki turned to Ranko.
The redhead fumed, gritting her teeth while muttering
something, "All right, I'll make you a deal," she conceded, "I'll let
you take pictures of me and step up the price on two conditions:
one, you won't try to take Yuan-chan's picture. Two, you'll give
me half of your profits so we can afford having her here,
agree?"
"Right," Nabiki shook her hand slyly, "I will not take
pictures of the twin nor try to."
"Of whose twin?" Phaeron cocked one eye, recalling the he
had a double too.
"Rats," Nabiki snapped her fingers, "Okay, I won't take
pictures of _her_," she pointed at Yuannyan. "Happy now?"
"Not really," Ranko slumped down.
"Thank you, Zhaodi-chan," Yuannyan said, "I know how hard it
is for you to do this."
"Nabiki-chan..." Nodoka turned to her, "You _do_ know I don't
approve this kind of... let's call it 'business tactics,' that you
use. I'd be very grateful if you stopped."
"There's a name for what you're doing, you know," Phaeron
scowled at Nabiki, who ignored him completely.
"Sure, I'll stop someday. When Ranma-kun gives me the ten
thousand yen he owes me."
"Hey, I only owe you two hundred yen!"
"You better check my interest rates before asking for a
loan, Ranma-kun," she smiled coyly.
Herb sighed sadly, "Then I guess you won't be coming back
to the village now."
Yuannyan took his hand, "Don't worry, Herb-chan. It'll be all
right." To comfort him, she gently pulled his face closer to hers.
"They don't even know we're here," Akane said, smiling. She
suddenly noticed Ranma was sneaking glances at her, and both
turned red.
"This has been a really weird day," Ranko said, "But before
I do anything else, I better go change before I rip this uniform
to itty bitty pieces. Be down in a sec." She hurriedly rushed up
the stairs, leaving a faint trail of dust behind her.
"Guess everything's back to normal, then," Ranma said.
"I wonder how long those two can hold their breath," Akane
stared at Yuannyan and Herb, who still had their faces locked to
each other's.
Ranko didn't even bother to turn on the light switch when
she came into Akane's room. In one swift motion she tossed away
the jacket and skirt, then slowly began to unbutton her blouse.
She smiled to herself. It had been a while since she and
Yuannyan really lived as sisters, about 1500 years actually. And
since she had moved in with Herb, the twins had barely seen
each other lately. One thing was for sure: the Saotome clan was
growing in a rather strange way, where two daughters suddenly
pop out of nowhere.
She jumped slightly when she heard a loud crash downstairs,
followed by the inevitable, "NIHAO!" and Mousse's voice, "Shampoo!"
Ranko smirked, then couldn't supress a giggle any longer. Thank
goodness those two were no longer her problem, even though she
hadn't been able to get much sleep the first few nights after
being "split" from her brother, as she almost expected Shampoo
to relive her vendetta. But somehow the Amazon had completely
forgotten about that fight, or maybe she simply thought of
Ranma defeating her instead of Ranko. Anyway, it was good to
know nobody was chasing after her any longer, except Mireillia.
She frowned at the thought of that crazy Esper. Didn't she have
any honor or something like that?
Ranko fumed briefly as she removed her blouse and jumped
into her usual black trousers. Then, just as she brought her
yellow silk shirt over her head, two red eyes glimmered in the
darkness.
Ranko couldn't see a lightning fast kick to her gut and fell
backwards, pulling her shirt down just out of pure inertia. She
coughed several times, clutching her stomach. She tried to look
around, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Mireillia!" she called out, forcefully getting to her feet. "I
know you're in here, you coward! Come out and fight!" Her shouts
were so loud the people in the dining room were frozen in shock.
"Very well!" Mireillia immediately lunged for her. Ranko
stopped another kick with her own and hooked her leg around
Mireillia's, then completed the arc of her kick and slammed her
down on the carpet. Mireilla rolled over, avoiding a heel kick to
her face, and got up while spreading her arm at Ranko.
"Wha...?!" the redhead blinked and coughed at the smoke bomb
sent her way. Almost immediately a searing pain came from the
back of her head, as Mireillia yanked her braid and swung her in
a circle over her. Ranko's scream of pain over her pigtail being
pulled muffled the shouts from the stairwell. Meanwhile, Mireillia
was contemplating to which alternate dimension she should banish
her rival to.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!!" Ranko brought her arms to her pigtail and
clawed Mireillia's hand. She was released immediately and bounced
off the wall, landing on the bed. A few tears still coming from
her eyes, she touched the back of her head and was surprised
to find her hand immersed in a cascade of red strands.
Mireillia's pull must have been very hard, as it had torn Ranko's
hair loose from the pigtail. Gritting her teeth, Ranko got off
the bed and faced Mireillia. Both girls scowled viciously at each
other.
"Ranko-chan!" Phaeron burst into the room, and was trampled
by everybody else as they, too, burst inside.
"Phaeron..." Mireillia said softly, then steeled herself and
turned to Ranko again. "I will anihilate y--"
"I'll teach you to pull on a girl's pigtail!" Ranko dashed at
her and dove between Mireillia's legs, coming up behind her.
"Yaaah!" Mireillia screamed when Ranko pulled her _long_
hair from its roots, then she rolled on her back and threw the
Esper girl out the window.
Happiness as no other overcame Ryouga as he arrived at
the dojo. He thought he would never see it again, after being
lost in the Sahara for days. Even his deep tan disappeared at
the thought of his beloved Akane.
"Oh, Akane-san, I have finally returned..." he sighed, "Even
though Ranma is here, I only need to hear your voice again..."
His thoughts drifted away when he thought of Ranma. "Curse that
Saotome. But... But his sister is cute.... Aargh! What am I
thinking?! She's Ranma too, for crying out loud! And she-- Urk!"
He fell over when a large red and black object crashed into him.
When he opened his eyes, he could only see red hair in front of
him. "Yaah!" he thougth, "This is Ranko! She must have been hit by
someone!" He got to his feet, pulling the girl's arm as he did so.
"Are you okay?" he stammered.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Mireillia grabbed his arm and whipped him
to the sides, then tossed him into the wall and turned back to
the window she had flown out of. "How dare thee..." she hissed,
her black eyes turning red.
"You!" Ryouga's umbrella appeared in front of her nose, "It's
you again, that Mireillia who wants to kill Ranko and who nearly
killed ME!"
"Stay out of my way, pig-boy," she grabbed the umbrella and
threw him through the outer gates. Suddenly the door burst open
and out came Ranma, Mousse, Genma, Herb, Phaeron and Nadir, all
of them stepping on Ryouga in the process. "State your business
with me, humans," Mireillia said.
"I'll tell you what my business is..." Ranma cracked his
knuckles. "I don't like hitting girls, but for hurting my sister I
might make an exception with y--"
"Get off me!" Ryouga punched him upwards as he got to his
feet.
"And I shall take repayment for what you did to Shampoo,"
Mousse said.
"You seem a formidable opponent, but Herb of the Musk will
not be frightened by a coward such as you," the dragon prince
called his aura.
"Um, guys..." Phaeron tried to say. Nadir was getting ready
to cast lots of healing spells.
"We better stop them," Crystallus said, suddenly appearing
next to Phaeron.
"Attack!" Ranma and the others charged at Mireillia.
"Ryuusei Hisho!" Herb flew a beeline towards her. The Esper
closed her eyes and smirked.
"STOP!" Phaeron and Nadir called.
"Hah!" she efortlessly lifted her hand and the four fighters
became paralyzed, then she pushed forwards and they all crashed
into the wall, blown away by an invisible force.
"Damn..." Ranma tried to get to his knees.
"Such fearsome ki..." Herb staggered to his feet.
"Why, you..." Ryouga bounced up with the force of a tank,
"Shishi hoko--"
"Rebound," Mireillia lifted her hand again and Ryouga's blast
was somehow twisted back at him, knocking him unconscious.
"Kachuu Ten--"
"Entangle Rings," she pushed forward and suddenly Ranma
became paralyzed again, only this time he was trapped by the
rings of light.
"Keiran K--"
"Fool," Mireillia took out the AtmaWeapon and sliced all of
Mousse's eggbombs by spinning the energy blade in front of her.
She counterattacked by simply firing a chain from one of her
armlets, ensnaring Mousse.
"Hito ryuuzan ha!"
Mireillia _did_ respond to this. She barely jumped up in
time as the flying knife cleaved the wall behind her, then came
down with a ki-charged drop kick, knocking Herb into a large
crater.
"Herb-chan!" Yuannyan stared in shock.
"Now it's my turn," Phaeron said grimly.
"No, it's not. Entangle Rings!" she used the full power
version on the Esper, paralyzing him. She then pushed forward
and smashed Crystallus against the wall, encasing him in an aura
sphere afterwards. She immediately dashed back towards the door.
"Don't even think about it," Nadir said calmly, stopping her
short as suddenly a silver-headed arrow appeared one centimeter
away from Mireillia's nose. Nadir pulled back on the bowstring
slightly to realign his aim.
"N-Nadir," she was surprised at his reaction, "But you..."
"I will not let you hurt her," he simply moved the bow,
causing the arrowhead to slice Mireillia's front locks of hair
just by touching them.
"I'm sorry, Nadir," Mireillia scowled at him, "...but I can't
let you interfere. Entangle rings!" Nadir was completely taken by
surprise. Even his bow and arrow dropped to the ground as he
was nailed to a wall by the rings.
"Now..." Mireillia turned to Ranko, "As promised, Adder's
Death will befall you in short." A large, crescent-shaped ki blade
appeared on each of her hands. "Although an Esper shouldn't use
its power on a human, I will make an exception with you." With
the speed of light, she dashed towards Ranko, spreading her ki-
bladed hands with the shout of "Twin Moons!"
Ranko steeled herself, this time she wouldn't, _couldn't_
let Mireillia win. She immediately dropped down, hoping to duck
the attack. However, Mireillia didn't reach her. The Nightmare was
suddenly pushed away by a dozen black blurs that clung her to a
wall.
"Coldfire...?" Ranko blinked at the dark phoenix, who had his
palm outstretched towards Mireillia.
"What were you trying to do?" Coldfire asked calmly,
descending upon the walkway between the gates and the door.
"You should have not interfered with my plans, demon,"
Mireillia brushed off the black crystal feathers that were
nailing her clothes to the wall.
"Oh, really? Then I assume you will try to fight me now?"
Coldfire smirked. Crystallus finally broke free of the sphere and
tore off the Espers' and Ranma's bonds. Ryouga regained
consciousness and unwrapped Mousse.
"I would certainly hate injuring a person who resembles
Phaeron so much," Mireillia glared at him.
"I wouldn't mind fighting," Coldfire cracked his knuckles.
"Unlike bird-boy here, I see no problem at all in hitting a
female."
"Don't remind me," Ranko rubbed her gut, where Coldfire had
skewered her in the past.
"Coldfire, don't you dare," Nadir clenched his fists.
"There's no reason to worry, Nadir," she replied, "If this
miscreant wishes to do battle with me, then I shall teach him
why my first name is Apeiron."
"Fine, then," Coldfire's eyes glimmered, "Let us settle this,
here and now, in Esper's Ragnarok!"
Everyone screamed inwards.
* * *
As before, they were gathered in the dojo. Mireillia was
analyzing Coldfire with a stern demeanor on her face, as he
simply smiled at her in confidence. Soun was weeping for his
dojo, his house, his life...
"You better reconsider your actions, Coldfire," Nadir
scowled at him.
"Who are you to talk?" he replied, indifferent, "I thought
you were engaged to Zhaodi." Nadir muttered quietly at him.
"Be careful," Nabiki said, worry in her voice.
"Oneechan?" Akane looked at her incredule, "Are you
actually worried about them?"
"I'm worried about them destroying the house, because if
that happens I may have to chip in to rebuild it." Akane stared
at her.
"You do realize I did not intend to fight you," Mireillia
said.
"I know, I know. But I also know you're not going to hurt
Zhaodi while I'm here." Ranko blinked at Coldfire's statement. She
knew he was no longer her enemy, but to see him worry about
her? What had happened to Coldfire when he was reborn?
"Very well, then," Mireillia pressed a button on each of her
armlets, which came to life in a bright orange glow, "I assume
you are now ready to face a _permanent_ death."
"I'm ready," Coldfire smirked, "But seeing you activating
your armor then I guess I should do the same. Raven, come!" He
stretched his arms outwards as several gas tendrils rose from
the floor and circled around him, before solidifying around his
body in the shape of a navy-blue armor.
"Hmph. Showoff," Crystallus turned away.
"Before you begin..." Phaeron said, "Remember that you
cannot engage in Ragnarok. All of us Espers vowed to never,
ever repeat that mistake made by the Three Goddesses. So, you
have the choice of engaging in Mirnas, Rymns or Saldir. But we
will have to isolate you inside an aura dome to keep your power
from hurting anyone else. Agreed?" both combatants nodded, "And
you still want to go through this'"
Coldfire showed a wicked smile, "You know what my answer
will be, bird-boy. The Nightmare will soon learn how foolish it is
to face me, Coldfire, Phoenix of Gray, in combat."
"And I will show this boor just who is the strongest
Esper," Mireillia glared at him and adopted a fighting stance.
"Alright," Phaeron sighed, and lifted his hand. Nadir and
Crystallus created an aura dome around the fighters, "BEGIN!"
There was a flash of light... and the fight ended. Mireillia
was lying on the floor, blood pouring out the hole made by
Coldfire's claws, while all that remained of the black phoenix was
the small pile of ashes. They all stared in shock at what they
_hadn't_ seen.
"W-what in the..." Ranko was still staring blankly into space.
"Mireillia!" Nadir dashed for his former fianc�e, cradling her
in his arms. He turned around, looking for help, "An Esper can't
use magic on one of his kind. Can somebody help Mireillia?"
Akane rubbed her chin, recalling how she and Ranma had felt
when Coldfire had done the same to Ranko, "But how? You and
Phaeron-kun are Espers too, unless..." she slowly turned to face
Ranko and Yuannyan.
"We have to help, Zhaodi-chan," Yuannyan said, Ranko didn't
answer. "Zhaodi-chan?"
"Cure 4!" Ranko reared back and aimed both of her hands at
Mireillia, using every bit of ki she had available. Yuannyan
stared at her for an instant before joining her with her own
healing spells. Akane and Ranma were impressed: even after
Mireillia had tried to kill her three times, Ranko still found it
in her heart to help the Esper. In fact, she was straining
herself just by trying to seal her wound, considering Crystallus
and Phaeron themselves had worn out when they tried to bring
Ranko back to life long ago.
"Unhh..." Mireillia slowly opened her eyes. Nadir smiled in
relief, turning back to the twins. He didn't have to say anything,
the silent smile on his face was enough repayment for them.
However, his smile suddenly turned to a worried look when both
twins collapsed on the floor, exhausted.
"Ranko-chan, Yuannyan, are you alright?" Phaeron and Herb
kneeled by them. The twins simultaneously flashed a weak thumbs-
up.
"N-Nadir..." Mireillia's eyes regained focus and saw him,
holding her gently. When they noticed how they were positioned,
they quickly detached from the other, scowling. Nadir turned to
the pile of ashes, "Coldfire! Come back to life already so I can
kill you!"
"Hm?" they all remembered Coldfire had burned completely.
"He's DEAD?!" Ranma couldn't believe it.
"No he's not," Nadir scowled at the ashes. "Look. Fire 3!" He
shot his open palm at the pile, sending a searing fireball at it
and burning them in a small bonfire. With the sound of a
shrieking Phoenix, Coldfire appeared in the flames, even his
armor had regenerated.
"Oh, did I make you upset?" he grinned at Nadir. "You should
know she can't be killed, or at least not easily."
"Whereas thou can!" Mireillia got to her feet and darted
towards him. Again, a there was a flash of light before the fight
ended.
"Whoa, wait," Phaeron waved his hands at me, "The reader's
going to be disappointed if you don't even tell what happened
during the fight. Heck, only us Espers are fast enough to
actually see it. So, slowly, tell us what happened."
But then I--
"Do it."
Oh, all right. But the other characters can't really see a
light-speed battle take place,can they?
"Then take a literary license, or whatever," Ranma told me,
"We want to see what they're doing too, you know."
"That's right," Cologne popped out of nowhere, scaring the
wits out of everyone, "You are the writer of the fanfic, which
gives you the responsibility of telling what happened."
Okay, from the top. Mireillia dashed at Coldfire with a ki-
bladed spear thrust. He sidestepped and pushed her arm away,
hooking his foot around her leg and sweeping her off her feet.
She handsprung away and bounced back at him with a drop-kick. He
swatted her aside with an aura shield, then punched towards her
as the glimmering claws appeared on his forearm. She twisted to
avoid them, then grabbed his arm and slammed him to the floor.
He kicked upwards to repel her and flipped to his feet, turning
around to deliver another claw punch. She leapt up and charged a
ki blast in her hands, dropping it on top of Coldfire. He blocked
the attack and delivered his own Bird of Prey, knocking her away.
As she fell, she aimed her fists at him and her armlets suddenly
fired a massive heat bolt. He stopped the beam with his open
palms and sent out a hail of feathers, nailing her to a wall
once again.
"Looks like we found out who's the most skilled," he said
mockingly, stroking her head to insult her even more.
"Don't TOUCH me!" she broke free and blasted him away.
"Mireillia hates being touched by anyone but myself or
Phaeron," Nadir commented.
"Thou shan't afflict Mireillia ever again," her eyes were
shedding a fiery light. "Thou hast been foolish indeed."
"I don't think so," Coldfire got to his feet, no worse for
wear. "Do you really think you can defeat me, when it took
Phaeron and BOTH twins to do so in the past?"
Mireillia looked away, unimpressed, "Then that only proves
how weak they are..." Ranko and Phaeron glared at her.
"Considering I am the most powerful Esper in existence,
anihilating thee wilt prove easy indeed. Piercing Arrows!"
Coldfire laughed as the missiles passed harmlessly through
his body, crashing into the dojo's wall instead. "Dare I say... I
told you so?" he mocked. "Those Arrows were created by your
hatred towards me. How foolish of you to use such emotion
against _me_."
"Disrupt... CROSSBOW!"
"Ugh..." Coldfire reflexively turned away from her, clutching
his gut as he fell to his knees.
"Thou were saying?" Mireillia loomed over him, charging both
hands with crescent-shaped ki blades. "Now... Die! Twin Moon--"
"Red Touch technique!" Coldfire spun around and planted
both palms on her belly. Mireillia yelped in pain as Coldfire's
frightening aura penetrated her innards, making her body twist
and squirm. "Oh, darn," Coldfire mocked, "I cheated. Looks like I
broke my promise, Phaeron." A dark red glow surrounded Mireillia
as he stood up and stretched his hands above his head, lifting
her off the ground. Sparks of electricity ran across her body.
"Coldfire, stop!" he was surprised to hear the familiar
voice. It definitely wasn't Yuannyan, but why was Ranko defending
somebody who had wanted to kill her?
"Hah!" he hurled Mireillia away from him. She tried to stand
up, but the curse of the Red Touch was still in her body. She
steadily got to her knees, shutting her eyes.
"M-Mireillia, wait..." Nadir looked at her nervously. Phaeron
and Crystallus had a mild heart attack before both combatants
blasted out through the dojo's roof and up to the sky. The
crowd followed them as the fight continued in midair.
"ULTIMA!" Mireilla spread her limbs outward.
"What?!" the people who had already witnessed the spell
stared wide-eyed.
"STELLAR CRASH!" a column of energy was shot out up and
down from Coldfire's body, similar to the Shishi hokodan.
"What?!" Phaeron and Crystallus stared at HIM.
Without warning Coldfire's column grew wider at the middle,
where he was located. This swelling clashed with the blue sphere
of Ultima. Lightning was shot out from the place where the
conflicting powers met. Phaeron and Nadir were forced to cast
another aura barrier around them before the lightning damaged
the vicinity.
Suddenly Coldfire stopped emitting. With impossible power
Ultima grew three times larger and slammed him away. Seeing
Mireillia was recovering from the attack, Coldfire darted at her
and crashed into her gut. She was knocked down and fell on top
of the roof. Coldfire smirked and readied his claws, prepared to
drop on her with a skewering attack. Mireillia just got up on all
fours and smirked.
"This is the night... and I am the Nightmare!" she neighed as
her hair became blazing fire. Coldfire swallowed hard when the
black mare leapt from the roof and faced him. A large breath of
fire came out of her flared nostrils when she reached him.
Coldfire swooped below her, trying to get some distance, but she
delivered a massive horse-kick when he came up behind her.
Before falling to the ground, Coldfire shot out a last Bird of
Prey, with a 32-ft. wingspan, at the Nightmare. She took the full
brunt and also fell, involuntarily changing back into a human at
the same time.
"Mireillia! Coldfire!" Phaeron dashed to where they had
fallen, with Nadir close behind him. Mireillia's ex-fianc� managed
to gently bring her down on the ground, while Coldfire simply
splashed into the pond.
"Great. Now they knock each other out," Ranma said, rolling
his eyes.
"How... How did they manage to use Ultima and the Stellar
Crash without killing themselves?" Ranko asked, dumbfounded.
"Those were just controlled versions," Phaeron said, fishing
his double out of the pond. "Mireillia's Ultima was only twenty
feet wide at the center, if you noticed. Mine destroyed a
peninsula."
"Quit your gloating, will you?" Nadir didn't want to admit he
was worried about Mireillia. When she opened her eyes again, he
simply dropped her, miffled. She scowled at him in return.
"You okay?" Phaeron asked.
"Phaeron! You really worry about me!" she glomped onto him.
He heard Ranko, "Hmph!" and walk away.
"Let go of her, you jerk!" Nadir punted him into the
distance.
"Why, you..." Coldfire staggered out of the pond, with
Mireillia glaring at him. A small fireball of fury was formed
where their scowls met.
"Let us finish the-- kyaaa!" Mireillia suddenly found some
sort of disgusting creature clinging to her chest.
"Hot stuff!" Happosai rubbed his head against her.
"Where did _you_ come from?!" Ranma stared at the old
pervert.
"I think I'm in love..." there was a stupid grin on Happosai's
face.
"Don't touch me!" Mireillia tried to blast him away, only to
find him holding on to her backside. "Thou art de-- kyaaa!" She
shuddered in disgust when he rubbed his cheek against her face.
"You old per--" Nadir was blasted away by Happosai's
grenades.
"Typical," Cologne poked him with her staff, making him
release Mireillia. Happosai immediately clung to Akane.
"Get off me!" she punted him away... and right towards
Yuannyan.
"Don't even think about it," Herb blasted him away.
"And what is your name?" he somehow ended up in Mireillia's
chest again.
"That does it!" she morphed into the Nightmare. Happosai
stared in disbelief at the muscular creature he was latching
onto. "Where's the pretty lady?" he dropped and looked around.
Mireillia wasted no more time and turned around, horse-kicking
him into Coldfire and sending both of them into the path of a
low-flying plane.
"And here I thought things couldn't get any weirder..." Akane
shook her head.
Mireilla morphed back, still puffing in fury, "Now, where was
I? Oh, yes. I was here to get rid of that little harridan."
"She helped save your life, you know," Yuannyan crossed her
arms. Mireillia frowned, incredule, until she noticed the tear in
her uniform, right where Coldfire had struck with his claws. Then
that would explain the faint green glow that was covering her
and her enemy when she woke up...
"Perfect," Mireillia sighed, Ranko had saved her life, "Oh,
all right. I'll stop hunting her. But hear this: nobody will stand
between me and Phaeron. Whoever does so will be in grave
danger. Farewell." She morphed into an Esper and leapt into the
air, vanishing in the darkness.
Hidden behind a wall, Ranko crossed her arms and fumed,
"And so _who's_ standing between you?"
* * *
Happosai landed on a nearby town, still dizzy after the
kick. When he recovered, he came face to face with a stupid-
looking, brown-haired young man. "Who are you?" both asked.
"Moroboshi!" Sakura came up to them.
"Sweeto!" Happosai and Ataru lunged for her.
At war once more
"It's good to know nothing bad happened," Seraphim said as
the troop headed for school, on Tuesday morning. "I would have
liked being there, though, just in case."
"But why can't you do something to help us?" Ranma asked.
"Friday night was the third time she tried to kill sis."
"I wish I could do something," Seraphim looked downwards,
"But among angels only Guardians are allowed to fight, plus
Mireillia has always managed to hide her presence from us."
"It's okay, Seraphim-chan," Ranko said. "Besides, from what
I've seen, I can take her on."
"Wait," her brother insisted, "If guardian angels can fight,
then how come that so-called Cordis doesn't help us? I mean,
she's _her_ guardian."
Phaeron an Ranko swallowed hard, "It's not like she likes
fighting, you know," the redhead explained.
"I thought she did..." Phaeron smirked before Ranko smacked
him up the head. "Quiet," she whispered.
"You didn't answer my question," Ranma turned to his sister.
"Come on, Ranma," Akane said, "Nothing has happened so far,
and with what Mireillia said last night this whole business is
over."
"Don't be so sure," Phaeron muttered. "Mireillia's not one to
give up."
"But doesn't she have any honor?" Ranko asked. "She always
ambushes me, and when I'm alone."
"It's not that she doesn't have honor," Seraphim said, "she
just takes her ninja training too seriously. Besides, remember
that she did promise to stop trying to kill you because of what
you did."
"Let's just hope she doesn't forget it," Akane said.
* * *
"AAAHHH!"
"I can see you want them," Nabiki said calmly as Kuno
examined the pictures that he carefully held in his hands. His
desk seemed about to crumble under the constant vibration of
Kuno's anxious shivering.
"This is a gift from the heavens, " he sighed, rivers coming
down from his eyes. "To see my pigtailed goddess with twice her
beauty can only be the reward brought to me by my efforts to
win her heart." He looked into the picture once more: it showed
Ranko sparring with Phaeron, with Yuannyan watching from the
sidelines. Kuno's small brain was overwhelmed by the sight, as he
didn't know Ranko and Yuannyan were twins. And since they both
had pigtails...
"Such power, such skill..." he gazed upon Ranko's image, which
showed her coming down on top of Phaeron with a drop-kick. "And
the beauty, the innocence..." his eyes shifted to Yuannyan, who
sat on her calves while clapping her hands. She was wearing a
rather skimpy Chinese dress, form-hugging and sleeve-less. "It
can only be my goddess who can show both aspects of her glory
at the same time."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Nabiki took the picture from his
hands, "Two thousand yen each."
"What?" Kuno was still staring into his hands. "How dare
you agument the price of these enchanting treasures!"
"You said it yourself, Kuno-chan. If your pigtailed girl is
twice as lovely for you, then it's natural for the price to be
twice as lovely to me."
"But... But you have shown me at least a dozen pictures
such as this!" Kuno stammered, "I would be forced to make use of
the Kuno family bullions in order to pay for these!"
"Too bad..." Nabiki stored the pictures in her pocket, "Maybe
somebody else in this school would be interested in them,
considering..."
"'Considering'?"
"What, haven't you noticed?" Nabiki continued, "Only a third
of the men in this school is interested in Phaeron's sister or
Akane. The rest are after your goddess."
"What?!" Kuno rose from his desk, "I must not allow any of
those cretins to lay his hands on these precious treasures! I,
Tatewaki Kuno, shall acquire them regardless of the cost!"
"Even if it is 3 thousand yen each?"
"Even if it is 3 thousand yen each!" he reflexively took out
his wallet and bought as many pictures as he could, lamenting
his inability to buy any more at the time. Instead, he signed an
IOU to Nabiki and received the pictures. "My love, at last you
are close to me..." he held them to his chest, "Bwa ha ha ha ha!"
"Maybe I could start taking pictures of Mireillia..." Nabiki
thought. After all, the Esper was also quite beautiful, and many
guys in Furinkan would love having a snapshot or two. "Now,
where did I leave the negatives for those pictures I just sold?"
She took her schoolbag and rummaged through it. "Hmm. This is
Ranko's pack. She must have taken mine. But the negatives
were..."
"_N_A_B_I_K_I_!!" the entire school trembled at the shout.
"Darn," she snapped her fingers.
* * *
"Idiot."
"Harridan."
"Boor."
"Shameless wench."
"Miscreant knave."
"Back-stabbing harlot."
"Two-timing imbecile."
"Will you two SHUT UP!!" Ranma broke the chopsticks in his
hands. "I'm trying to eat here!"
"You two have been like that almost all day, give it a rest
already," Phaeron glared at Nadir and Mireillia, who had been
exchanging insults all throughout dinner at the dojo.
"Not until she realizes I'm correct," Nadir snorted.
"Until HE realizes the error of his ways, no dice," Mireillia
crossed her arms.
"But what's wrong with you?" Akane asked, shifting P-chan in
her arms. "I mean, a few days ago you still liked each other."
"Ask birdie here," Nadir scowled at Phaeron.
"Hey, you know I didn't want this engagement to begin with!"
he defended.
"What did you say?" Mireillia loomed over Phaeron. He
started sweating greatly.
"I, um didn't, eh, I didn't mean-- ugh!" he was punched into
the distance by Ranko. Everyone stared at her, incredule.
"Hey, it was bound to happen. He was just asking for
somebody to do it," she fumed greatly after sending Phaeron to
that low-Earth-orbit trajectory.
"Don't ever do that to Phaeron ag-- kyaa!" Mireillia
reflexively punted Happosai into the distance.
"Looks like you got used to the old freak," Ranma said,
trying to supress a snicker.
"Don't laugh!" she blasted him into his ricebowl.
"Oniisan!" Ranko fished him out and glared at Mireillia, then
smirked and laughed out loud when she saw Happosai was clinging
to the Esper's chest again.
"GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU FREAK!!" she smashed his face into
the floor before blasting him away.
"Can't anyone act like a human being?!" Nabiki was fed up
with all this nonsense.
"We're not human," Mireillia was quick to say.
"Speak for yourself, wench," Nadir scowled at her.
"Well, at least calm down," Nodoka said, "Maybe if you
stopped arguing you'd find out you don't really hate each other."
"That'll be the day..." Nadir turned away from Mireillia.
"...when we retire," she finished, turning her back to him as
well. "But this is all your fault, anyway," she turned back to
Ranko, surprised to find she wasn't there. "Eh?"
"Hey, where did everyone go?" Nadir looked around the
dining room, seeing only Kasumi and Nodoka, while Soun and Genma
were already setting up the shogi board. "Hmph. You probably
scared them off, you wench. Now I have two missing fianc�es."
"So, _I_ scared them off, you hideous Esper?"
"What did you SAY?!" Nadir snorted as he morphed into the
Kirin.
"Looks like you answered yourself," she backed into a
fighting stance.
"Oh my," Kasumi cleared the table in the blink of an eye
while Nodoka hauled her husband and Soun out of the room.
"Yaahh!"
"Tei!"
Both Espers dashed towards the other...
* * *
"Finally, some peace and quiet..." Akane laid back against
the roof, setting her bowl aside.
"This is the only place in the house that's quiet," Ranma
said, helping his sister climb up the ladder to join them.
Akane smiled and sighed as her gaze turned to the orange
shades of twilight. Mother Nature and the sun were really going
all-out that aftrenoon, the refined pastel colors spread over
the clouds with exquisite taste and harmony. Not even the bright
lights of the fight downstairs managed to deprive her of the
uncanny beauty of the canopy of heaven.
"This was a great idea, oniisan," Ranko said, setting her
back on the roof as well and putting her hands behind her head.
"You'd almost think _I_ had it," she winked at him.
"Yeah, yeah. You're still not over the fact that we used to
be the same, are you?" he smiled at her before continuing his
interrupted meal.
"It's beautiful out here..." Akane took a deep breath of
fresh, clean air, grateful that it had rained the previous night.
"It is, isn't it?" Ranko closed her eyes, deciding to get
some rest, "Oniisan and I used to come up here when we were the
same. Sometimes, by looking at this sky, you seem to forget all
your troubles."
"It's very strange," Ranma said, having finished his dinner.
He came to them and laid back next to Akane. "One moment we're
facing deadly monsters or martial-arts masters and then the
other we just forget about all that by this sort of thing."
"It's just that you always seem to attract strange people,"
Akane shrugged. "If you'd only stay out of trouble you'd--" she
sneezed when she felt a cold breeze hit her body. When she
opened her eyes again, she was very surprised to find two red
silk jackets covering her. "Ranma?"
"Eh?" Ranko blinked at what she had just done, "Oh, great.
Looks like I've still got some of your mind, oniisan," she turned
to him, almost immediately realizing what she had just said. "I
mean, not that you like tomboys or--"
"Don't worry. It's too late to fix it anyway," Ranma
dismissed with his hand, trying to glare at her with little
success.
Akane was starting to show the same shade as the sky,
"Ranma? D-did you...?"
"Oh, that's right," Ranko smirked mischievously at her
brother and Akane, "You two haven't said anything about whether
or not you want to keep the engagement."
"Well, uh..." both of them turned away from the other, trying
to come up with something to say. Ranko giggled amusedly at
their reaction. "Guess I better leave you two _alone_... " she
laughed as she ran across the roof and went into Akane's room
through the window. They remained frozen even after Phaeron had
completed his orbit and fell back to Earth. They were completely
oblivious to him as he drunkenly made his way back into the
house, and was immediately blasted away by a stray ki-shot from
the fight.
"Great," Ranma found himself saying. "Thanks a lot, sis."
"She... she's just trying to help, Ranma," Akane said,
slightly turning to him.
"Butting into my business is not exactly help," he
replied,sulky. But he couldn't bring himself ot believe what he
had said. Deep down, he was thankful that she left them alone on
the roof. He smiled, "Ranko, you tomboy."
Akane only heard the phrase, but not the affectionate tone
Ranma had used, "She's not a tomboy."
"Akane, do I have a little sister or a younger brother?
>From the way she acts it's hard to tell."
"Very funny," Akane glared at him.
"See? She's a tomboy... Just like you." Ranma smiled.
"W-What did you say?!"
Ranma was about to say, "And I mean that as a compliment,"
when the roof tiles next to him were crushed by a mallet. He
looked nervously at Akane.
"Hm?" Ranko looked up from applying the band-aid on
Phaeron's nose, the ceiling had creaked for some reason.
"So, I'm a tomboy, am I?"
"Ah... Akane, you don't understand, I meant to say that--"
"You _meant_ it?!" she began glowing blue, "I used to think
you only said that to tease me, but this time you actually
_meant_ to say I'm a tomboy?!"
"No, you stupid!" Ranma dodged a swing of the mallet.
"What's going on?" Ranko and Phaeron peeked out from
Akane's window. "This is getting old," Phaeron shook his head.
"Those idiots..." Ranko said, then looked up and held on the
edge of the roof. Phaeron put his hands as footholds for her
and boosted her up, following her afterwards.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Ranma said, sticking his tongue out
at her.
"You jerk!" she wiped the mocking look on his face with a
bokken hit.
"Calm down, you guys!" Phaeron called.
"Oniisan, what happened _now_?" Ranko crossed her arms in
impatience.
"He was just buying a ticket for Akane Airlines!" Akane
said, batting him into the distance. "Now's your chance to go
back to China, you big jerk! Hmph!" Before Ranko or Phaeron could
do anything, she leapt down to the garden and idly punched the
tree. Gosunkugi fell off from the foliage, dropping his camera as
Akane stepped on him.
"She touched me..." Gosunkugi sighed.
"Why do they _always_ have to be like this?" Ranko shook
her head.
"Come on," Phaeron said, "You know as well as I how they're
gonna end up. Just give them some time."
"I know, I know," she said, leaping down as well. "But
sometimes I wish I _didn't_ know what is going to happen," she
turned to Phaeron, who had descended also.
"Do you say that because of what will happen when those
bird-men try to dry up Jusenkyo? You saw yourself how your
brother reacted when Akane tried to open the Phoenix Tap with
the Kinjakan."
[Author's note: refer to vol. 38 of the manga]
"But why does it have to take so much for them to accept
it?" Ranko said, "I mean, I know exactly how he feels for her,
and even I accept openly that she's like my sister."
"Just give them time, Ranko-chan. Everything will fall in
place soon."
She shook her head, "I hope you're right..." As she walked
back to the dining room door, Phaeron looked at her oddly. It
seemed those three years hadn't really killed her emotions after
all, but enlarged them instead.
"Don't they realize it?" she thought, "It's not as if they
had all the time in the world. Everything could just go up in
smoke in any moment. And I..." she looked back at Phaeron, "And he
only has one more month at most. He could still drop dead any
moment if Seraphim-chan became unable to keep him alive..."
Finally they came around the house, next to the pond.
Ranko was about to ask her mother about Akane when suddenly
two balls of fire, one white and the other black, shot out of
the dining room and right towards them. "Get down!" Phaeron
barely pulled Ranko to the ground and covered with an aura
shield.
"You insolent wench!" the Kirin challenged.
"Silence, cur!" now that night had fallen Mireillia could
easily morph into the Nightmare. Both creatures rushed for each
other again.
"You okay?" Phaeron asked, "Sorry 'bout pulling you down
like that."
"I'm fine-- eh?" Ranko's eyes widened when she noticed
Phaeron was badly burnt. The energy from Kirin and Nightmare's
fireballs was still sizzling on his skin. "Phaeron-ku--"
"Disrupt CROSSBOW!"
"Down!" Phaeron pushed her to the ground again, but didn't
have time to avoid the missile as it went through him. "Unh..." he
grasped his chest as he fell to the ground.
"Hey!" Ranko pulled him in and began casting a healing spell,
"Are you crazy?!" Kirin and Nightmare then morphed back to human
shape and fouught each other in a cloud of dust. No sooner had
Ranko finished when the cloud came on top of them. As before,
Phaeron covered her with an aura shield. "Oh, no, you won't!" she
stretched her palm and a small white dome covered him. The two
fighters rolled off the shields and splashed into the pond.
"Mireillia...!"
"Nadir...!" they stood, and faced each other. "Nightmare
Pend--"
"White Touch!" Ranko and Phaeron blasted both of them away,
succeeding in calming them down. "Crazy idiots," Phaeron muttered.
"You okay?"
Ranko fumed greatly at this. It wasn't the question itself
what angered her, but Phaeron's attitude towards protecting her.
"I'm not a baby, Phaeron-kun," her voice caused him to back away
slightly. "For the thousanth time: I can take care of myself."
Phaeron smiled, "I know that. It's just that it's kind of a
habit to--"
"Well, don't," she turned to him, "I mean, it was okay when
you first arrived here, but now it's driving me mad."
"Why do you say that?" Phaeron was honestly confused.
"Irate Despair... Harintu Attack!" Mireillia's voice came from
the background battle. Neither Ranko nor Phaeron noticed the
strange gas that covered the redhead.
Ranko slumped down in disbelief. Was he as blind as he
acted? "Because every time you do that I feel like an invalid,
that's why! Look at me! I've beaten nearly every idiot that has
challenged me, I don't need other people getting hurt because of
me! Right now, _you_ got hurt by trying to protect me, and
remember when Mireillia first showed up here! You nearly killed
yourself again!"
"B-but I was trying to keep you safe," Phaeron stammered,
not knowing why Ranko had become so upset about the shields.
"And get yourself killed in the process?"
"Of course not, I--"
Suddenly a fireball was shot out from Nadir and Mireillia's
fight. Phaeron immediately shielded Ranko with his own body.
"That does it! Gray Touch!" she put her hand on his chest
and he fell down immediately. She casually ducked the fireball
without breaking a sweat. "See what I mean?!"
"Aigh..." he stood up, recovering his ki, "But you never
complained in the past, before Jusenkyo.. I thought--"
"What are you talking about? You never did anything like
this when we were in China."
Phaeron was taken aback, "I... You don't remember, but I
can't tell you about that."
"That again... Why can't you tell me? Can't you see that I
want to remember?!"
"Hey, do you think it's easy for me to live like this,
without telling you everything about that?" there was a slight
touch of sadness, of nostalgy, in his voice.
"Then why don't you?!" her voice was rising now.
"Because... Because I CAN'T!"
"Then stop using those shields, for all you care!" she
turned away, "Some friend you turned out to be. I need to
remember and all you do is sit around, not helping me in the
least."
Phaeron sighed sadly. Somehow, Mireillia noticed and blasted
Nadir away, then quickly sent out the strange gas in Phaeron's
direction again. His common sense suddenly vanished, anger
crawled its way up his mouth, "And to think _I_ didn't say
anything when your _Cordis_ protected me..."
THAT had been cruel. Ranko immediately bolted around with
her hand extended. Phaeron idly stopped her from slapping his
face. Her other hand then darted for his gut, but he stopped it
as well. He couldn't block the knee to his groin nor the kick
that sent him flying into a wall.
"Phaeron!" Mireillia scowled briefly at Ranko but slowly
smirked to herself as she realized her technique had worked.
Phaeron, now that he was out of the strange cloud, staggered to
his feet. What had he done? What in the name of Esper World had
made him say that?!
"I HATE YOU!" Ranko yelled to the top of her lungs.
Phaeron's eyes widened like saucers, it seemed he had turned to
crumbling stone.
"Perfect," Mireillia flashed a wicked smile.
"R-Ranko-chan..." he tried to say.
"Don't EVER call me that again!" she was already glowing
white, "You insensitive..." his blood froze, "...selfish..." his heart
stopped beating, "...worthless JERK!" she took a sledgehammer and
sent him flying like a golf ball. "I don't KNOW why I killed myself
to get you back!"
Without another word, she dropped the sledgehammer and ran
back into the house, not turning back. She came out of the cloud
that Mireillia had previously sent. She suddenly stopped and
reconsidered what had just happened. Her heart stopped when she
thought about what she had said. "I... Why did I..."
"Ranko!" Nadir quickly followed her. He was promptly
blasted away by a Moko Takabishya.
Mireillia couldn't supress her laughter any longer, she even
began a little dance of celebration. At last! No more obstacles!
Her Harintu technique had proved useful after all!
"Ranma no baka..." Akane was fuming greatly, nearly melting
the furniture in her bedroom, oblivious to the yells that had
come from outside. Nodoka and Kasumi could still find no way to
comfort her. Suddenly Ranko burst into the room and angrily
punched the wall.
"Ranko-chan...?" Nodoka stared at her daughter in surprise.
"Ranma no baka..." Akane said again.
"Phaeron-kun no baka..." Ranko joined her, but with a
different emotion. "You know I didn't mean that..."
* * *
Phaeron hoisted the backpack, shifting the weight on his
shoulders. His face was dark and grim, it would seem he had
become emotionless. Nadir and Mireillia looked at him nervously,
they didn't know what to say.
"Let's go," Phaeron said as he walked towards them. The
street they chose was completely empty, nobody would witness
what they were about to do. The darkness of the night, combined
with the soft cold breeze that brushed them, seemed to reflect
Phaeron's own emotional state.
"I'm sorry, Phaeron," Nadir said.
"I assume I should say the same," Mireillia was sincere in
her words. "although I am not sorry about using my Harintu
Gas..." she said under her breath, smirking.
"Thank you," he said, standing between them, "But this has
helped me realize who are my real friends. I don't know if we'll
ever make it out of this alive, but I want to thank both of you
in advance."
"Don't worry, Phaeron," Mireillia took his hand, "You'll get
over this soon."
"Right," he said, walking a few yards ahead of them. Nadir
and Mireillia got into position, standing behind him and to the
sides. Phaeron stood upright and clenched his fists. Almost
instantly, large energy blades appeared on his arms. Like
Coldfire's claws, they were forward-swept knives, but there was
only one on each forearm and were considerably larger than
Coldfire's. Slowly, the three Espers reared back...
A large rift in space opened over the Tendo Dojo. When
they arrived, Herb and Yuannyan wondered why there was a faint
line of strange light coming down from the rift...
In outer space, relatively close to the Andromeda Nebula,
another rift opened, courtesy of Kefka. As her spaceship passed
by, Lum wondered what in the world that gigantic red urchin was
doing, for it seemed to be full of anger. Swerving to avoid, she
maneuvered her spaceship away from the urchin, staring widely at
how the creature's energy readings went off the scale. She
shuddered as a loud, gurgling shriek came from the beast...
From the Devourer.
"Phaeron, you, like most of us, were a human who was
transformed into an Esper by the power of the Three Goddesses.
But now that you have to make this choice, I ask you: Do you
want to live like a human, or like an Esper?"
Phaeron closed his eyes as he remembered those words. He
carefully brought his right hand to the medallion on his chest.
"As a human or an Esper..." he thought. "Maduin... I have been so
blind. Now I see that I'm no longer a human. I've been kidding
myself by thinking that I could ever regain what Jusenkyo took
away from me... I am no longer worthy of experiencing what a
human being feels."
He clutched the medallion tightly, a few tears coming from
his shut eyes. "I AM AN ESPER!" he roared, violently ripping the
medallion from his neck. "And as such I shall live... and die!"
He threw the medallion high up into the air. "Mireillia!
Nadir! NOW!" Without a turning back the three warriors dashed
forward at an incredible speed, already creating a vacuum in
their wake. Phaeron reared his arms backwards, the sharp tips of
the blades glimmering. "Barrier Penetrator!!"
With unbelievable precision, he punched forward, the tips
meeting in a single spot. The light was too bright for anyone to
see what happened, but suddenly the blades tore a wormhole in
space, then the portal became wider and shot out a wide beam of
light that engulfed the Espers. When the rift recalled its light,
the three of them were gone.
Gone to Esper World.
Just as the rift disappeared, a small gold and ruby
medallion hit the pavement. However, the sound it made was
drowned by a loud boom as the Light of Judgement fell upon the
Tendo Dojo.
End of the Second Test
... and Dysmerc begins.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Notes:
Okay, this is where the BIG crossover begins. Don't worry if you
don't remember everything about Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger,
'cause I'll introduce those games into this universe,
The TerBril
(Who wants to finish this once and for all. My poor computer, a
386 with Windows 3.0 and Word 2.x, can't take much more of this.)