RanSquares13 Realities Squared By Jim Robert Bader (Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi & Others, with ideas and personalities helpfully supplied by fellow fanfic writers Gregg Sharp and DB Sommers) Chapter Thirteen. Continuum #17046289 Roll Call: Lylac Tendo --17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Ekko Daitokuji --16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki --17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Veil Morisato --16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921 Lamyra Saotome --17, green haired daughter of Ranma and Megumi Native to this Continuum. Ranma Saotome --38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked by his doomed marriage to Akane. A Time Agent, Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of the god Shiva, the Destroyer. Ryoga Hibiki --38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage go Akari was both happy and fruitful. Time Agent/Troubleshooter linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver. Nabiki Tendo --38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher, Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current Iinazuke to Ranma. Toltir --Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient. Ranko Saotome --16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan. Watazashi Saotome --16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo --16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo --17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome --17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno --17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki --16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Moroboshi --16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome --17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma, From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan. Akira Tendo --20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji --14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel. Kama Sutra Saotome --18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Tsuyori Saotome --18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox The Lord of Chaos went down hard and dug a huge crater in the spot where he landed. Ranma alighted on the edge outside of this crater and surveyed the carnage that had already been kicked up by their battle, then remarked aloud, "What a mess. Sure hope nobody sues us for all of this." "No one left to sue," Beast Ranma replied, "They did away with lawyers when they got rid of the rest of civilization." "And you don't call this place a paradise?" Timecop Ranma smirked before watching as the Lord of Chaos dug his way out from the crater, "Man, he's tough! And I thought Kuno was persistent in the old days..." "Never did know when to call it quits," Beast Ranma agreed, "Which is why he makes such an excellent servant for the Shogun." "With his kind of ego?" Timecop Ranma asked, "That's hard to swallow! The Lord of Chaos crossed his arms across his burly chest and suddenly the energies began to gather around him as the sky above darkened and became stormier. His huge frame began to glow and his eyes lit up with internal fires. With a bellow that shook the heavens and the earth he reared back and suddenly seemed to tower over everything, his mass filling out as his size increased to gigantic stature. "Whoah," Timecop Ranma murmured softly, "He really looks pissed now." "No fooling," Beast Ranma replied, "What was your first clue?" The Lord of Chaos grew to fifteen meters height, then forty, then a hundred, becoming as large as a mountain as he towered above the impudent insects who dared to challenge his might. The energies gathered within him rose to a fever pitch as he prepared to unleash his most devastating attack so far. Both Ranma edged away slightly, taking defensive stances and preparing for the onslaught. "Any last words, buddy?" Beast Ranma asked. "Yeah," Timecop Ranma replied, "Never eat before you go swimming." Despite himself Beast Ranma smirked, "I was gonna recommend the one about Akane's cooking, but I guess you already know that one." "Hell, I lived with her for two years before we were married," Timecop Ranma replied, "If I could survive that, then this should be a cake walk." "Wanna take a bet on that?" Beast Ranma asked one second before the wrath of Hell itself descended upon them... The battle that raged inside the underground complex was well underway with the Time-crossed kids on one side and a horde of evil undead on the other. Because they had been cautioned by Lamyra not to make physical contact with the enemy, so the Martial Artists had a silent agreement to inflict the maximum damage from a distance, which was why even Akira fought with a bo staff instead of using bare hands, as was his usual preference. Ranko fought with a Nunchaku that flew so fast that it was nearly invisible with the naked eye, but the effect it had was measured in the speed with which the bodies started flying whenever she got near to an assailant. Tachi Kuno had a similar effect with the speed of her bokken, which was backed with the skill and power of a trained Mistress of Nampo, which gave her wood the effect of steel, and thensome. By contrast Rinse's Butterfly Swords blazed a trail of real steel that carved havoc wherever they sliced, and with such great force that the undead creatures were propelled away from her before they even had the chance to commence with bleeding or falling apart in a messy kind of way. Those whom she did not slice were zapped by lightning bolts or fried by energy blasts by the air support that was covering her backside. Similarly a tri-sectioned staff being wielded by Tsuyori was keeping a dozen zombies at bay while her sister, Kama Sutra, wielded a Chinese straight sword with great facility, as uninhibited as they were unencumbered by excess apparel. This was a condition that many of the other girls fought under, such as Silver herself, who had only a bicycle to use for a weapon, which was hardly an ideal weapon but was all she had to work with. As was true of any well-trained Saotome, however, she made good use of what she had on hand, even though the flaunting of her well-toned flesh drew the hungry undead on like a dinner bell. Yet though her weapon of choice was unorthodox, it had a lot of heft and made a dent against anything that came within her reach. A lack of clothing did not inhibit Yuan-Yen or Watazashi, who fought side-by- side with long-range distance weapons-such as the latter's ribbon and the formers chains and other self-contained hardware that could strike from afar-and thus fell the fast-moving demonic creatures hanging back behind their bolder counterparts, insuring a thinning of the enemy ranks, while above their heads Tinkerbell discouraged any undead from pressing in too closely, her deadly axes reducing a rotting undead zombie or vampire to so much disintegrating kindling. Of those who did have either clothing or some form of protection, Lylac was doing her best to ply her steel tonfas like hammers to bat away the opposition, while Lamyra herself covered the purple haired girl's backside with a sharp- bladed katana that more than did the trick of protecting their quarter of the fight. This was more than matched by Princess Tenko, whose Juraian armor and energy blade tore a bloody swath through even enemies who were not within reach of a conventional weapon. But by far the most effective of the defenders was Ekko herself, whose outer clothing had been replaced by a compact form of forcefield-enhanced armor, and instead of weapons she used her gloved fists with deadly effectiveness, her blows backed by the power of a Titaness and her speed so great that she was not even a blur in the moment before her attacks. Unlike the others, she fought a more coordinated battle, shoring up weak areas and coming to the aid of anyone who needed her assistance, keeping the creatures from pressing in too strong and overwhelming the defenders. Lastly there was Kinko, the naked winged avenger, who-despite her youth-employed her metal claws with no less effectiveness than any of the others, snatching enemies from the air like a swooping hawk with such savagery and speed that there was never even a chance of reprisal. Holding back from the fray but no less essential to their defense was Tendo Nabiki, whose skills as a Lore Master allowed her to silently weave a spell of defense that she crafted upon summoning the elements that surrounded them. With perceptions more finely honed than those of an ordinary mortal, seeking the positive light amid the gloom and darkness of the chamber and drawing it into while her hands as they made complicated motions in the air. All at once she gathered the power in her hands and cast the spell as a Glyph of Air formed in the space before her, and all at once a wave of light shot out from her person to form a globe of radiance that engulfed both defenders and their attackers in the same potent incandescence. For the defenders it was like being enfolded into the warm and gentle arms of a mother, but for their enemies the sudden shock of positively polarized energy was like being bathed in the fires of creation, and they instantly began to fall apart as the negatively charged energies binding them together were dispersed, turning them from dead to undead as though the sun itself had erupted within the chamber. "Whoah," murmured Ranko as she-like all of the other human fighters in the chamber-reflexively closed her eyes to protect herself from momentary flash- blindness. A moment later the flash of energy subsided, leaving the somewhat confounded teenagers to blink and look around at the sudden loss of their assailants. In the sudden silence that prevailed, Lamyra called out, "Is anyone hurt? Did anyone make physical contact with the enemy? If you had any piece of them touched your skin you'll need immediate healing! This is serious, people...it's not just their claws and teeth that can hurt you, their saliva and blood carries an infectious agent that's very fast-acting, and only the Beast folk are immune to this toxin!" "Everyone check the person nearest to you," Nabiki called out, "Any rash or burns, report them immediately, and let's not be macho about this, people! Even a small scratch has the potential to be deadly!" The naked teenagers hastily set about scanning one another while Lylac had a somewhat more difficult time insuring that she herself had not made contact with some part of their assailant. As Tenko and Ryeka had been protected by personal forcefields there was not as much concern for their welfare, but after a diligent scrutiny everyone had been given a clean bill of health...everyone but Kinko, who found a wicked yellow scorching wound near to her left shoulder, which was badly discolored around the edges as though acid had been spilled on that portion of her body. "Gak!" Kinko shuddered as she felt the creeping numbness of her wound, "What the hell is this stuff?" "Hold still," Kama Sutra urged, coming to stand beside her and placing firm hands to grip the arm while Tsuyori raised her hands over the area and began to chant softly. "Here, let me use this," Tenko urged as she came up to join them, producing a vial in the palm of one hand, "It's one of Grandmother's inventions, and it's effective against all wounds, including the spiritual toxins that I sensed these creatures were comprised of." "Go for it, Sis," Ryeka urged as Tenko poured the contents of the vial upon the wound, then stood back while Tsuyori resumed her chanting, only now the discoloration began to fade as the substance seemed to flow into the skin. A moment later Tsuyori's hands began to glow faintly, and then the wound was bathed in this radiance, vanishing into the light for a moment before fading away, revealing healthy skin that had replaced the discoloration. Kinko gave a sigh of relief and said, "Thank...I needed that...Mmph?" she exclaimed as Tsuyori cupped her face in both hands and drew her in for a kiss on the mouth that sent a different kind of tingling surging up and down the length of her body. "And I needed that," the Miroku Ninja replied as she let the somewhat dazed Kinko go, "You should feel your strength return in another few moments. Fortunately the curse within the wound was expelled before it had time to merge with your own natural curse. Your resistance to the infection saved you, proving that you are an Angel in spirit as well as body." "Ah...sure thing," Kinko blinked her eyes, deciding then and there that she liked the Miroku way of saying thank you! "Is that it?" Ranko glanced around, "Nothing more's gonna pop out of the woodwork and bother us?" "I sure hope so," Silver replied, setting down the bicycle that she had half- carried in fear of another attack, "Mom and Dad are never gonna believe this one...matter of fact, if I ever even told them about it they'd probably ground me until I was older than Akira!" "Very likely," Akira nodded, blushing faintly as he had inadvertently glanced Silver's way and caught himself admiring her handsome profile, as well as breathing thanks that she herself had not been infected. "If you are quite done making all that unpleasant racket," said a lone voice that drew all of their attention, "I should like to get back to finishing this spell that I've been crafting" "So that's what you've been doing all this time, lady," Ryeka remarked as she glanced at the solitary Veil, who had been facing towards the machine the whole time of the conflict, "And here I thought you were just standing around while we did all the hard work." "You should know better than that, Sister," Tenko chided, the paused before saying, "Or should you? Do I take it you do not know Veil on your particular timeline?" "Well," the blue-haired Ryeka scratched her wild mane of hair for a moment before saying, "Not really...should I?" "Only if you want to know if there is a Kami-Sama," Lylac said in some amusement, "Veil happens to be his granddaughter." "Granddaughter?" Yuan-Yen scowled, "You expecting us to believe that she's divine or something?" "Heaven sent would be more like it," Ekko replied, turning an indulgent smile towards the slender girl with the wheat-colored hair, "Are you almost finished assimilating those equations, Veil-chan?" "I am almost ready," Veil replied, slowly raising her arms over her head and posing herself in a dramatic position. "This should be something to see," Nabiki mused, "Give the lady some room, people." "Why?" Tachi asked, "Do you know something we don't, Mother?" Nabiki gave a half-smile of amusement, "My dear...the answer to that would probably take a lifetime to recount, but let's just say I've seen her mother in action, and I'm willing to bet a month of your allowance that the next few minutes will be interesting ones, even by my fairly jaded standards." "Oboy," Tinkerbell blinked her eyes, "I sure feel something rising up in her!" "As do I," concurred Atari, "Whatever is about to happen, I think it would be best to heed the advise and stand away so that we do not interfere with the summoning process." "You do not need to convince me of the wisdom in this advise," Watazashi replied, then blinked her eyes and said, "Oh my...that certainly is something...!" Ryoga finished off the last of his playmates, sending the undead back to where they belonged among the restful dead, then at last he turned and surveyed the emptied chamber looking to see if there were any threats to await him. "Not too bad," Megumi complimented from where she hovered overhead, having shared in a part of the fighting while coyly watching the leather-clad Ryoga from above, "You're definitely a lot better than the Ryoga that I once knew." "Well, I've been through a few changes myself," Ryoga shrugged, "Nothing to boast about, but I've been partners with Ranma for a few years now, and neither one of us is quite the same way we used to be as kids." "So I've noticed," Megumi glanced to the side, "I just hope you've changed enough to handle what's beyond that door." Ryoga saw what she was looking at, a large iron portal that was ornately carved with the life-sized images of people writhing in torment being tortured by demons in one of the Hells of ancient mythology and asked, "What's beyond there?" "Hell itself," Megumi replied, "And the Shogun of the Dark." "I've been through Hell before," Ryoga's handsome expression darkened, "Both literally and physically, and it almost felt like home after a while." "Not like this," Megumi hinted darkly, "The Ryoga I knew would never have been able to brazen the sights and sensations that lurk beyond that dark portal. The question is, will you be made of sterner stuff?" "Guess there's only one way to find out," Ryoga said as he walked up to the iron portal, scanned it stoically for a long moment, then pressed his finger up against the metal and cried, "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" Instantly the metal fractured into a thousand different fragments which all flew apart mere seconds later, the different pieces somehow dissolving into writhing shades that fled into the ebony night-dark chamber as though they were the fleeing souls of the long tormented. Ryoga watched these spirits depart, then brought his hands together and gave a silent prayer for the departed. Megumi floated up alongside Ryoga and said, "That was pretty spectacular...but I thought that move only worked on stone." "I've had time to refine it somewhat," Ryoga replied, then stepped through the empty frame into the dark mouth of a cavern, where he halted in mid-step, seeing new sights beyond that defied his limited powers of imagination. The room they were now in had a reddish illumination and was as warm as furnace with writhing bodies all around, some human, some demonic. Naked women were being humped and stimulated by tentacled monsters, many bestial and grotesque creatures who boasted appendages where none should be present. It was a scene of carnal debauchery as the smell of heady sensuality, the mix of sweaty bodies and the ripe perfume of many orgasms assaulted the nostrils with the force of a mule kick, even as the sight alone caused Ryoga to reach for his nose to stave off an imminent bleeding. "Whoah!" Megumi said as she moved in time to catch him before he could faint, "Guess that answers that question! You're just like the Ryoga that I remember." "Wh-what is this place?" Ryoga gasped as he regained control over his faculties and forced himself to look away from the debauchery that was all around them. "Merely an Ante-chamber of the true Hell," Megumi replied, "These people won't bother us, they're too wrapped up in their own affairs to even notice." Ryoga managed to regain even more self-control, enough so that he could scan the ranks of the sex-obsessed creatures without feeling light-headed, (though the stirrings some of these sights inspired in him made him think fervently of his wife, Akari), "I don't get it...are these people being tortured by these creatures?" "Do they look like they're suffering to you?" Megumi smirked, "No one's actually being tortured here...these are the shades of women and men who have given themselves completely over to the Shogun and perform for his jaded amusement. They can't really suffer since they're already dead, but in the semblance of flesh that they've been given they can experience carnal pleasure...and some pain. This is what they do for fun in their off hours..." "Fun?" Ryoga repeated with a dubious expression. "Sure," Megumi shrugged, "Immortality's no fun if you can't break up the monotony once in a while, and when you can't really die any more, the only thing that can make you feel truly alive is to give yourself over to self-indulgence. It's one of the ways in which both Gods and Devils share a taste for tender young things as mortal women have a spark of the divine within them...which also applies to young guys, I might add, but I'm flexible enough and can go both ways myself." Ryoga turned to the hovering green-haired woman in the slinky outfit and said, "You mean you...have a lot in common with these creatures?" "Why be surprised?" Megumi flexed her arms behind her head, which shoved her ample chest forward, forcing Ryoga to take note of her cleavage, "We of the Beast Realms have our own ways of dealing with monotony, but that's neither here nor there right now. We have to get beyond this point in order to reach the Shogun."" "Right," Ryoga sternly forced himself to look away from the tempting Megumi and the even more distracting sights that surrounded them as he sought intuitively for the means of exiting the chamber. His normal lack of a direction sense actually became an advantage here since the weird otherworldly atmosphere would have confounded ordinary senses. His innate ability to sense strong and weak concentrations of energy showed him where the flow was actually headed, and so he set off in that direction, accompanied by the slinky Megumi, feeling the pull of warm sensualism give way to a much darker and foreboding sense of ennui that lay before them. The corridor they selected opened out onto a huge cavernous pit that seemed to go on for a mile downward in a spiraling staircase, at the center of which was a strange writhing column that appeared to be made of flesh stretching up towards the ceiling far overhead. Ryoga paused to gaze at this before asking, "That's...not actually what it looks like, is it?" "I'm afraid it is," Megumi said darkly, "That living mass is composed of the flesh of millions of people who died as a consequence of the Dragon's Ascension. Their life energy has gone into feeding Maelstrom's dark hunger as he hibernates and awaits his time of awakening, which is due any time now." "How horrible," Ryoga said in fervent abhorrence, "All those people died because of Gosunkugi?" "It gets worse," Megumi cautioned, "Their bodies are linked together in a mass, but their minds are filled with the images of Hell itself as projected into a thousand-thousand different aspects. These people are trapped in mind and spirit and prevented from evolving to a higher consciousness because of the power of the Hell Mount at the very base of the column." "Hell Mount?" Ryoga asked, "I don't like the sound of that..." "With good reason," Megumi informed him, "They're dimensional fissures that sometimes well up from the Chthonic regions of the Earth, literal doorways to other realms where the rules of time and space are very different from what you might call familiar. A Hell Mount is literally a gateway into one of the darker dimensions inhabited by creatures of the Abyss. It's the source of much of the Shogun's dark power (but by no means his only power source) and it was the reason that the Slayer was chosen to defend the Earth Realm at this particular juncture. Unfortunately Natsume failed in her ultimate mission and instead became a victim of the very event that the Shogun used to call upon the Dragon's ascension." "You keep mentioning a dragon," Ryoga frowned. "Maelstrom," Megumi whispered the name with obvious loathing, "He's the last of his kind...a truly dark and terrible being who hates and fears humanity and sought your race's ultimate destruction. Most Dragons are benevolent creatures, but Maelstrom is an ancient evil True Dragon who always saw humankind as his enemy and has sought dominion over the planet for precisely the reason of seeing to the utter annihilation of your entire species." "And what about you?" Ryoga asked. "Well," Megumi glanced away, "I'm half-human on my mother's side, but we Beasts have learned to live alongside humanity, as did most Dragons during the Age of Iron. The True Dragons were aloof to mortal affairs and sought to leave the world of men behind when humanity became too numerous and too many of their hiding places were exposed to human intrusions. Maelstrom believed that humanity would exterminate dragonkind if left to your own devices and urged his brothers to unite behind his quest, but they would have nothing to do with him, so he was left alone for many millennia and came to believe that he was the last of all True Dragons." "Is that why he went mad?" Ryoga asked grimly, "Because he was alone?" "Well, that and his ingrown personality," Megumi shrugged, "Not everyone goes mad from being alone, and most of us find somebody special who can make Immortality itself a whole lot more bearable, otherwise we might all be locked in our own private Hells...and you probably well know, being Ryoga." Ryoga considered that for a long pause of several seconds, then said, "The one who saved you from loneliness'...was Ranma?" "Bingo," Megumi smiled, "You're not as dumb as you-LOOK OUT!" "Wha--?" Ryoga started to ask when the sense of overwhelming danger caused him to move with blinding fluidity as a massive ax cleaved the space where he and Megumi had been standing. Had been because he grabbed the levitating beast woman and vaulted out and away from the reach of a huge and hideous creature shaped roughly like a three-meter tall bat-winged Boar standing upright in studded armor. Ryoga noted this from where he had come to a halt clutching Megumi in his arms and glancing back at the creature over one shoulder. "What the hell is that?" he asked, only semi-conscious of the buxomy woman he was holding close to his body. "Ah..." Megumi forced herself to ignore her own baser instincts to cop a quick feel and replied, "That used to be an Amazon named Mousse, only now he's the guardian of the gateway to the Abyss and the Shogun's personal lap dog." "A pig instead of a duck, huh?" Ryoga mused as he set Megumi down then cracked his knuckles, "At least this is a kind of evil I know how to deal with. The Shogun must be desperate to hire this loser to be his watchdog...uh...pig..." "But he's not human any more!" Megumi hastily cautioned, "The technical term for it is...!" Ryoga charged the creature, who responded by extending one arm from which rope- like appendages protruded, striking Ryoga full on and knocking the leather clad man out into empty space with the pit looming before him. "Balrog," Megumi finished lamely, "Oh hell!" She was airborne before the creature could turn to attack her, evading his tentacles with great ease as she was in no mood to be playful, accelerating to catch up with the plummeting Ryoga and catch him nimbly in her arms before he could collide with the pillar of flesh, and thus redirected their momentum in the direction that she had originally intended. Ryoga was not even badly stunned by the blow, so he was fully able to appreciate the descent as layer after layer of the Hell Mount was revealed to him, showing him various realms of the cursed undead. By the time they passed by the level where those who allowed rage to cloud their judgement he was fairly braced to witness such horrors as naked bodies locked in grueling physical conflict, thinking to himself how close to being a resident of that Hell he had come himself before being saved from his berserker mindset by the love of Akari. At last they neared the bottom of the seemingly endless pit of darkness, at which point Megumi set him down on the metaphysical floor, though the surface was so smooth and inky black that it was almost impossible to tell that it was there beyond physical contact. "Well, that didn't go too well for a first date," Megumi remarked as she remained hovering above the floor, "But next time don't take things for granted around here...especially down here! This place can kill you just by making you think you're dead, and even death isn't a sure end to the suffering here, as you can see from their example." Ryoga looked up from very near to the base of the writhing pillar and saw what had not been apparent from his previous vantage point. The pillar seemed to go on for miles but had a snake-like contour, and when the end became apparent it had a curious bulbous look that could either be seen as the head of the python or else... "You've got to be kidding me!" Ryoga winced, never having been fond of phallic references. "Who says Hell doesn't have a sense of humor?" Megumi said grimly, "The good news is that we can free those poor devils if we manage to pull this off, but first we have to deal with Maelstrom and his pet Shogun." "Right," Ryoga found it very easy to look away from the monstrous towering obscenity, "So...which way to we go from here...?" Before he could even finish the question he sensed the movement to their right and again pulled Megumi out of the way, only this time moving swiftly to step into the attack and position himself well within the reach of the huge battle ax, which seemed large enough to slice a house in half, but the part that Ryoga gripped was the shaft, having avoided the blade part. "Mousse, huh?" Ryoga said as he stared into the face of the struggling man- beast, "Gotta say, you've looked better." The creature roared its outrage, but this time Ryoga was prepared for the titanic strength of the creature and shifted his own weight, digging his heels in and exerting his own efforts to overbalance the creature, and in less than an instant sent him tumbling backwards. "That was easy enough," Ryoga remarked as he tossed the ax to one side. "Don't get cocky!" Megumi warned, "He has a lot more in his arsenal than just one weapon!" "Eh?" Ryoga started to ask when suddenly he was wrapped by jagged edged chains that bound his arms, yanking him off his feet in less than one second. Just a fraction of an instant following this, Megumi found herself under attack from behind, her arms and limbs being wrapped by tentacles as a second creature loomed up to engulf her in their prehensile grip and thoroughly immobilize the Beast woman, who struggled in vain to free herself from their power. "Oh great!" she groaned as she was born down to confront the horrific face of her assailant, "I hate blind dates! Ryoga?" "I'm a bit busy!" Ryoga snarled as he snapped the chains and rolled to one side, barely in time to avoid being skewered by a second attack hurled from his opponent, "I'll be with you in a moment!" "Well, don't take your bloody time about-MMMPH!" Megumi exclaimed as the Princess of the Beast world found her clothing was being stripped away and her every orifice was filled by one or more appendages. On the whole, she thought reflectively as she experienced the familiar sense of being raped by a multi- appendaged demons, it was looking to be one of those days, and her only ally in this affair was a cocky young man who reminded her a little too much of her husband... "Ouch," Time-Cop Ranma remarked as he picked himself out of the crater he had found himself digging with his face, "Guess I picked a bad day to quit shaving..." "You think?" Beast Ranma groaned, taking his own inventory to insure that all body parts were attached and in working order, "I guess we really pissed him off that time..." "Well, don't look now," Time-Cop Ranma said as he started to get up, "But I don't think he's done being pissed. I can see this guy isn't gonna go down without an argument, so I'd better get serious because this is taking me way too much time, and I'm worried about Nabiki." "Yeah, what's the deal with that?" Beast Ranma asked as he regained his own footing, keeping his attention focused upon the Lord of Chaos, who was slowly stalking in their direction, "You and Nabs are real tight?" "Yeah, imagine that," Time-Cop Ranma remarked off-handedly while preparing to meet the next attack head-on, "Long story, of course, but let's just say we've both changed a lot from those days when she used to taunt, torment me and sell nude pictures of my girl-half. Seems like a million years ago since that time she conned me into posing for that calendar..." "That happened to you too, huh?" Beast Ranma asked, "Imagine that." "She ain't the same woman, not by a longshot," Time-Cop Ranma flexed his leather-clad arms and growled, "I'd die again to protect her. She's all I got left of my old life." "Funny that," Beast Ranma remarked, "I had to kill my Nabiki after she got turned by the enemy." "Oh?" Time-Cop Ranma remained resolutely focused on the Lord of Chaos, but there was a slight twitching of one eye-brow, "Any special reason?" "Let's just say she had it coming," Beast Ranma replied, "I like your version a lot better." The Lord of Chaos came to a full halt only a short distance away, then roared menacingly and flexed arms the size of gnarled Oak trees. "Ohh..." Time-Cop Ranma fanned himself, "His breath!" "Tell me about it," Beast Ranma replied, covering his own nostrils. There was a gleam in the reddish eyes of the Lord of Chaos, and a curling of one lip that seemed so remarkably familiar that it suddenly gave Time-Cop Ranma an idea. In a low voice he asked, "Just how much of Kuno's personality is still in there?" "Almost nothing human," Beast Ranma replied, "Which technically does include Kuno. Why?" "I think you're wrong," Time-Cop Ranma smiled, arching his voice as he added, "I think there's a lot of the old Kuno in there. In fact, he even looks a lot like Kuno. Same puffed up pride, same pompous, preening self-importance, same conceit about his alleged popularity with women..." The Lord of Chaos made a louder cry of outrage and his hands were suddenly filled once more with the fiery column of light that resembled a massively oversized bokken. "Hey, you're right," Beast Ranma blinked, "Sounds like he does remember...and here I thought he had that Zen thing down to a science...y'know, the part about achieving a state of no-mind...he gets that without half trying." The Lord of Chaos squeezed his massive hands on the column of light and it narrowed down to form an oversized katana. "Say," Time-Cop Ranma remarked matter-of-factly, "You still turn into a girl these days?" "What, the curse?" Beast Ranma smirked, "Never did bother getting a cure...never seemed like much point after the world went to hell in a hand basket. Besides, Megumi kinda likes the fact that I can switch-hit with her..." "That's...as much detail of your sex life as I need to know right now," Time-Cop Ranma deferred, "Now all we need is some cold water." "That's all?" Beast Ranma grinned and snapped his fingers, "Why didn't you ask?" All at once the clouds above their head congealed, momentarily distracting the Lore of Chaos, who turned reddish eyes skyward, just before the sky opened up and started raining. The rain only lasted a few seconds, but when it passed instead of two black-haired and almost-identical looking men there were a pair of near-identical looking redheads, one in self-adjusting leather, the other in tight blue jeans and a tank-top with levis vest, exposing a bare midriff. "Neat trick," the leather clad redhead complimented. "It comes in handy on occasion," her Beast counterpart replied, then as one both girls assumed sultry and seductive poses that flaunted their sexuality, and in matching voices they said, "Hi there, Big Boy! You remember me?" The Lord of Chaos faltered, and the energy sword dissolved in his massive hands as his jaw fell open and he gaped from one redhead to the other. "Guess he does at that," Beast Ranma-chan remarked as she moved to one side, while her leather clad counterpart moved in the other direction. "Good thing he never was too bright about some things," Time-Cop Ranma-chan added as she assumed a flanking position, causing the Lord of Chaos to divide his attention, turning from one redheaded, beauty to the other. "But he certainly was predictable about one thing," Beast Ranma-chan smiled as she removed her vest and struck another sexy pose, "See anything you like, Kuno- chan?" "Or how about this?" Time-Cop Ranma-chan slipped her jacket partway off and exposed her short-sleeved, black-shirted body to partial view, providing just enough of a skin show to make the Lord of Chaos's reddish eyes widen by more than a fraction. Ranma-chan winced at him and made a pouting face as she added, "What can I say, I'm hot stuff!" "Accept no substitute," Beast Ranma-chan smiled as she bent down and pulled down on her tank-top to give a greater view of her cleavage, "I'm so hot over here...you wanna cum and cool me off?" The Lord of Chaos turned his head back and forth from one girl to the other, his expression almost comical as he tried to take both girls in at the same time. At last he cried out and covered both eyes with his clawed hands, roaring his despair to the heavens as if to bewail the fates for his own indecision. "Heh," Time-Cop Ranma-chan said as she assumed a fighting crouch, "He's so predictable." "Like taking candy from a baby," Beast Ranma-chan grinned as she, too, prepared to launch an attack. Unfortunately, before either one could take advantage of the Lord's seeming distraction, his massive body erupted with tentacles that projected out from both sides, whipping out to ensnare both redheads before either one had time to react to the unexpected ploy. "GAH!" Beast Ranma-chan cried out, "Tentacles! Why does it always have to be Tentacles!" "Hey, hands off, Bub!" Time-Cop Ranma-chan struggled in vain as she felt tentacles slithering up her leather jeans, the molecules of which flexed to accommodate their extra mass, "What are you doing down-MPH!" she screwed her eyes up to see the appendage that suddenly protruded into her open mouth. "Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after-GLMPH!" Beast Ranma-chan also found her ability to speak impeded by a raging Tentacle monster. Both women were lifted into the air as the Lord of Chaos stretched out his arms towards the heavens, and it was hardly imagination on the pair of either Ranma that it seemed as if his roar was saying, "I MUST HAVE BOTH!" in a way that was entirely too evident to both of them at the moment... "Wow!" Ranko exclaimed as she saw the gleaming structure take shape in the space formerly occupied by the dreaded and rusted Murder machine, almost crystalline in appearance though it slowly took more solid shape in an almost breathtaking beautiful configuration. Veil continued to chant in a sing-song manner as her hands made complex waving motions while the others looked on in awe and amazement. As the vision gradually solidified into a fully manifest piece of articulate machinery it took on an almost aesthetic beauty, gleaming silver and gold like some newly polished circular sculpture, albeit that it had a practical efficiency to its over all form an obvious function. At the last she concluded her spellweaving chant with a prayer, then slowly opened her eyes and gazed upon her handiwork, seeming to nod in both satisfaction and resignation at her achievement. "Neat!" Kinko exclaimed in delight, her eyes sparkling with appreciation as she studied the gleaming device with great interest. "I don't quite believe it," Nabiki murmured softly, her normally jaded tones showing rare awe, disbelief and wonder, "And I'm pretty sure I don't want to!" "Well done," Ekko nodded, obviously pleased with the restoration of the device in question, "I see you followed my calculations precisely and made the necessary improvements that I specified." "Yes," Veil replied, lowering her hands, "Your calculations were most precise and very helpful in altering this thing of death into the possible salvation of this dimension. If it works as it is supposed to then we will accomplish great things when it is mounted and fully activated. My Aunt Skuld would be both proud and appalled at what we have accomplished." "Whoah, hold up a bit," Silver looked askance at the two geniuses in their midst, "When it's mounted? You mean...like a horse? Meaning...us?" "We are the necessary components that will empower this device and insure its proper operation," Tenko replied, "That was our overall intent from the beginning." "We're what?" Ryeka looked askance at her fellow Masaki, "Oneechan, have you gone totally space happy? You mean you actually intend for the both of us..." "For all of us," Lamyra replied, "I'm sorry but there's no other way. I know it's a lot to ask of you, but..." "But it's all for the best, correct?" Watazashi glanced at Yuan-Yen, then at Tinkerbell, "In for a centimeter, in for a kilogram." "I guess we really don't have a lot of alternate options," Yuan-Yen said in resignation, "I just hope this thing works better than advertised. I'd look terrible sucked dry like a mummy." "This isn't a device meant to kill the Biological units that empower it," Ekko explained, "But I won't pretend that there is no element of risk involved..." "Swell," Lylac gave a sour look at the armored redhead, "You just love dragging me into compromising situations like this. If I didn't know any better I'd swear you had ulterior motives." "Moi?" Ekko asked innocently, in a wholly unconvincing manner, "On the contrary, Lylac-chan, I have always had your best interests close at heart, but I am sorry if you believe that I have arranged all of this simply to embarrass you. I merely thought that this was something that you and I could do together for the sake of Universal survival..." "That's it, lay the guilt trip on me," Lylac rolled her eyes, "I swear, sometimes you remind me of my fama..." "Biological units," Tachi murmured faintly, "Oh great...we've been reduced to "D" cell batteries for a Ferris Wheel-sized sex toy. I feel a con is in this someplace, but I just can't put my finger on it." "I know what you mean," Rinse agreed, heaving a sigh, "So...what do we gotta do?" "At the moment, nothing," Ekko replied as she banished her black armor plating with the touch of a button on her wrist, then set to work undoing her collar, "But the rest of us had better join you in getting sky clad for this stage of the operation. After all, no sense being overdressed for this party." "I just knew you were going to say that," Lylac growled as she began undoing the buttons to her Chinese style outfit. "Well now," Kama Sutra smiled as she watched the other five girls begin to remove their clothing, "This grows more interesting by the moment..." "Maybe for you," Silver remarked while Ryeka and Atari began making the sounds of a Vaudeville strip show in one corner, "But I'm not all that sure I want to go through with this." "What's to worry about?" Tsuyori smiled in a sultry manner, glancing down at the thing that Silver still leaned against, "For you, it should be no more difficult than riding a bicycle." "Hardehar," Silver growled, turning to Tachi as she added, "I'm all for riding a Bicycle, not being ridden like one! And you know I was only kidding about the it in the first place, right?" "Sure," Kinko grinned, from where she was studying the device in question, "That's what they all say." "One problem," Akira frowned, "What's my part in all of this? Am I just going to stand here while Silver and you others take all the risks?" "Not at all," Tenko replied as she finished removing her footwear and the last of her undergarments, then stood free as naked as her sister, "Your part is very essential to the proper workings of the device. Sixteen girls will mount the inner and outer rings, but one must be placed at the very center, where she is to be mounted by the chosen one, who is coincidentally the wielder of the device that links her to Yggdrasil." "Me?" Ranko blinked, her hand going to the pendant from sheer reflex. "It is a logical enough selection," Ekko replied as she casually tossed the last of her clothes to one side and revealed a taunt, well-endowed form that was rippling with dynamic tension in every sinew and muscle, "The Pendant no doubt chose you from a list of potential candidates after a careful and meticulous selection process, then severed your link to your old timeline so that you would be freed from all connections to the conventional timestream, making you the perfect facilitator through which Yggdrasil will guide the machine in making the necessary temporal corrections." "Wait a minute," Silver protested, "Akira's gotta have sex with her? Now wait just a dang minute..." "Oh?" Watazashi mused as she eyed the ash blonde Saotome with a sidelong smirk, "And I suppose you'd rather be the one occupying the middle?" "Ah...hah?" Silver faltered. "I'm not too keen about this," Lylac averred, "Having Ranko be roped into this doesn't seem all that fair...YEOWP!" she started as Ekko playfully swatted a hand against her bottom. "So, what does fair have to do with any of this?" Ekko smiled, "We do what we have to because we are the only ones who can do this." "I certainly agree that there are no better candidates that one could ask for," Lamyra smiled as she sidled up alongside Lylac's other flank and cooed, "If you want to back out now I certainly could not blame you, but it would indeed be a great honor for me to share a space with you in this moment of transition." "Ah...hah?" Lylac replied in an unconscious mimicry of Silver's own last dubious statement. "I dunno about the rest of you," said Tinkerbell in musical sarcasm as she floated above their heads, "But I get the idea that there's a Kami looking on right now laughing his head off at the stuff we're being put through." "Given the nature of some of the deities that I've had to work with, I would say that was a given," Nabiki finally spoke up, "As warm and ennobling as it is to stand here basking in the glow of heroic self-sacrifice that you kids seem bound and determined to go through which, I feel it necessary-as the token adult here- to point out that this is a screwy way to save a cosmos, but if it's the only one we've got for the moment, then I have one question...who is going to operate the controls while the rest of you ride your way to glory?" "Ah..." for the first time in long memory, Ekko showed a slight hesitation and seemed less certain than was normally the case for her, and with great reluctance she admitted, "Well...I assumed that perhaps maybe you might elect to choose that function, Auntie..." "Maybe if I were familiar with its basic operations," Nabiki replied, "But I've only guesswork to go by. I thought maybe one of you had thought this out in advance before putting your admittedly desperate plans into motion." "Er..." Tenko glanced at Ekko, then at Veil. "The device is meant to be self-operating and maintaining," Veil replied, "But I admit that it would be best if there were a trained and competent operator standing by in case that we have trouble." "In case that...?" Lylac rolled her eyes, "Wonderful! When you screw up, Ekko- chan, you don't kid around about it." "It was an admitted oversight," Ekko scratched along the bridge of her nose, "All of my other calculations seemed to check out...I can't explain how I could have overlooked the need for a Technical operator..." "Then it's settled," Nabiki said simply, "One of you will have to stand down and serve as an operator. That means we need a substitute to serve in her place, and I'm volunteering." "You?" Ranko blinked. "Ah...don't take this the wrong way, Auntie," Tsuyori remarked, "But I believe that the device was geared towards younger people who have the resilience of youth...not that I would ever imply that you are in any way lacking..." "She means that you do not have the proper XX count that comes with being at the stage of late adolescence," Ekko smoothly explained, "Though you are remarkably well preserved for a woman in her late thirties, the fact remains that your XX levels are waning..." "Listen, Daitokuji," Nabiki said firmly, "You may be an acknowledged genius, superior to either your mother or your...Fama...but I'm not over the hill just yet, and I can clean the clocks of the lot of you, because I'm older and more experienced, and you could use the services of a trained Lore Master..." "I do hate to pull seniority here," said the sly-toned Toltir, who had been hanging back watching everything for the past several moments, "But I have an alternative suggestion...one that satisfies the requirements for both the machine and giving a reprieve to the one of you needed to operate the hardware," he nodded to one side and said, "I submit my own hand-picked candidate, and her name is Cheetah." "As in Cheetah's never prosper?" Tachi reflexively quipped. "That's open to debate," purred a sensual voice that suddenly appeared directly behind her, startling Tachi with a sense of deja-vu that caused her to leap forward before the thought had even half formed that she had let someone else get the drop on her from behind. Rinse and the others turned to see a womanly form standing there looking smugly back at them with a pose that was so cocky and brash that they instantly knew she had to be a Saotome. The fact that she had body fur, belying her nakedness, and that her features were distinctly feline in tendency belied this impression as all who knew about the association of Ranma with cats could hardly be mistaken for having strong reservations. "Who are you?" Atari asked, hands at the ready as if she were about to hurl lightning. "I'm Saotome Cheetah," the cat-woman grinned, "And despite rumors to the contrary, I always prosper!" "Cheetah's from a timeline where Ranma fell into a different spring than Nanniichuan," Toltir revealed, giving them a grin like a Cheshire, "And before you ask, her mother's name is Kasumi." "Kasumi?" Nabiki asked dubiously, turning to look at the attractive feline girl, then shaking her head as if refusing to consider the implications, "Whatever. You know what this is all about, young lady?" "I do, Auntie," Cheetah assured her, "Uncle Toltir explained everything to me on the way here, and I overheard the rest just now, and when Uncle Toltir tells you something, you better darn well believe I listen! I'm ready to do my part in order to save reality as we know it, so go ahead and strap me in. It sounds like a wild ride, and I'm already dressed to party." "So we noticed," Yuan-Yen noted dryly, giving the feline girl a thorough study, "You always run around like that on account of the fur?" "Not always," Cheetah shrugged, "My mother insists I at least wear something when I'm outdoors, but since Uncle Toltir caught me when I was about to take a shower...and since none of you guys seem to be standing on formality at the moment..." "Right," Tachi glanced around, making an effort to recover from her earlier surprise, "Okay, I count eighteen heads, and only seventeen girls are needed, so who gets to be the lucky girl who sits this one out?" "Obviously that should be Tenko-chan," Veil replied, "She knows how to operate the machinery..." "Me?" Tenko replied, "You know even more about it than I do. I only helped design the schematics, you crafted the thing and made the needed adjustments." "But the very fact that I called it into being means that I must share the risk along with the rest of you," Veil said simply, "It would not be fair to you otherwise..." "Fairness issues aside," Toltir spoke up again, "I go with the Princess on this. Besides, if anything did go wrong, I'd never hear the end of it from your mother..." "If?" Lylac asked with a slight quivering in her voice. "Not to worry," Ekko nodded, "I will be there right beside you. "That was going to be my next line," Lamyra grinned, leaning closer to Lylac in an altogether intimate manner. Lylac glanced from one side to the other and softly murmured, "Why don't I feel reassured? This is another fine mess you've talked me into, E-chan." "No use complaining," the redhead smiled, "You knew the risks the same as I did..." "Actually I didn't," Lylac growled sarcastically, "Because somebody forgot to explain them to me along the way..." "Look, can we just decide and get on with it?" Kinko asked impatiently, "I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I definitely want to try this thing out!" "Try it out?" Silver blinked her eyes, "Are you kidding?" "I think she is serious," Watazashi replied, "And I must, reluctantly, concede that I find a certain morbid fascination with yon device as it promises to be more interesting than standing around here waiting for another attack to happen." "You would," Ranko noted, but her tone belied her sarcasm. Akira turned to Nabiki and Toltir and said, "Are you really sure there's no other way to go about this?" "What's the matter, kid?" Toltir asked, "Afraid to come off with the redhead, or are you afraid you're gonna make your real lady love jealous?" "My what?" Akira blinked, "Uh..." he exclaimed as he suddenly felt the eyes of Silver boring upon him. "I have a very bad feeling about this," Nabiki murmured to herself. "Can't be," Toltir replied in the same stage whisper, nodding to the machine as he added, "You're not the one who's gonna be riding that in another moment." "That's supposed to reassure us?" Ranko asked, but sighed, glanced around at her fellow teens and said, "How do you get into those stupid harnesses?" "We'll show you how it's done," Tenko replied, and with that the debate ended and the kids each chose a place around the Ferris wheel-like structure and prepared to get down to basics by risking their lives and bodies for the greater good, some muttering under their breath words to the effect of calling their agents or consulting their lawyers... Continued. Comments/Criticisms/Circular Reasoning: shadowmane@ridgenet.net What has gotten into these girls (Bother figuratively and literally, that is) and what is about to happen next? Tune in again next time for a Hentai show that will make the Gods buy prophylactics. Be there!