Hello all you bitches! This is Yan (and Luke's) Hybrid Theory Paper Phallus
Recapping Special!

Of course, you'll just have to imagine that me and bro look like paper
phalluses... cause this stupid thing is in text only. Who reads fucking books
these days? You can't even see any tits! Except for that Yomiko chick. She reads
books and has great tits. Too bad she, and everyone else, is going to die soon!

Oh man, is the shit about to hit the fan this time! Rock on! First off, yours
truly, the inestimably cool Yan Valentine made his big reappearance last
chapter. I totally punked that stupid golden bitch V! I rock! Unlike that homely
chick Rip Van whatever. She couldn't kill V or Ukyou! Twice!

But we may get a rematch, which I am so going to totally win! First Ukyou runs
into a bunch of soldiers out in a swamp with number one virgin bitch Integra
Hellsing, then she finds out they've been inflitrated by a servant of some
stupid Dark Kingdom called Zoicite. And Ukyou, after learning all this... lets
Zoicite go!

AH HA HA!

Is she stupid or what? So, of course this guy immediately turns and sells out
the location of Ukyou to both the righteously evil armies of Millennium and
Bison. Oh, Bison is this guy I can kinda admire. Use my unstoppable psychic
powers to kidnap hot barely pubescent girls and turn them into my stripper
lesbian ninja hit squad? I would SO be there! Maybe there'd be a bit more
killing, but I could totally hang with Bison.

Anyway, I got kinda distracted, where was I? Oh yeah. Hot chicks. Turns out V is
having issues or some shit. But who cares? Also that little girl Hotaru is
having issues 'cause her daddy died and everyhting she cared about was killed.
And there's Sailor Pluto, who was also moping even though the girl that got
killed had nothing to do with her family. Course, she got her head back on
straight when this chick Chizuru showed up. That one kinda reminds me of
Integra, ya know. Hope she buys it this chapter. Geez, these Sailor Senshi do
nothing but mope around about their families getting killed. Maybe I should go
to America, pick off Usagi's mom and dad and send her their heads? That would be
awesome! Write that one down, bro.

Speaking of travelling the world, I think when I do I'll go find that Pink
chick. She is really hot in that creepy 'call me queen' way. Anybody whose goal
in life can be pretty much summed up as 'I am going to hurt everyone else so
badly they'll never forget meeting me' gets double As in my book. I hope she
turns on Akane like a rabid dog!

But really, the big thing you have to remember is that Ukyou confronted Big Red
last chapter, and he just confirmed that she is going to destroy the world. I
guess I can see it. But the girl has all the wrong attitude! If I was destined
to destroy all creation, I would be living it fucking UP! Personally I plan to
petition God. He did a totally piss-poor job choosing an antichrist. I think I
would make a much better final villian than Ukyou.

What do you think, bro?



			      C&A Productions Presents

                          A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion


                                   Hybrid Theory


                                Chapter 19: And One


	The summer wind blew down the streets of Tokyo. Today the sky was clear,
not a cloud in sight. The sun was rising bright and strong in the east, the
water of the bay turning a brilliant scarlet. The moon hung low in the sky,
ghostly against the azure air. According to the newscaster, today would be a
once in a lifetime event, a perfect solar eclipse. Already there were stands
along the streets, selling the box-glasses used to safely view the astronomical
miracle. Not miraculous so much because it happened, but because the scientists
and astronomers were baffled by why it was happening today.
	Akane brushed through the crowd as she walked down the street. Today,
even at this hour, the streets were filled with people. Children and teenagers
and adults, all laughing and joking. The city had adopted a festival air. As far
as they were concerned, the eclipse was an excuse to hold a party. For the first
time since she had arrived back in the city, Akane felt like the tension had
begun to lift.
	This was the spirit of Tokyo, of Japan. Monsters and demons and violence
in the streets? It would not keep these people down. Not for one moment.
	Akane was grateful not just for the chance to enjoy herself, but for the
opportunity it gave her to move about freely. With the streets so packed with
people, she did not fear being discovered by Chronos spies nearly so much.
Besides, she couldn't spend any more time in that house all by herself.
	Chris had left even before sunrise. He was looking for Chizuru, the
woman who could help him defeat Goenitz. Cologne had left shortly thereafter,
claiming she needed to explore the city. Akane could see that something worried
the old woman. When asked in private, Cologne had only looked at her oddly. 'I
sense a storm coming,' had been her words, then she had left.
	Akane had shrugged and considered asking Shampoo to come with her, but
Pink had grabbed the girl and ordered her to come along. She and her sister
had left before Akane, claiming to have 'errands' to run.
	Akane frowned at the thought of Pink. She needed to be dealt with. Akane
still believed that Chris could be saved. He just needed to get away from that
girl.
	And so she was out here, looking for Ukyou.
	Patoratsyu scuttled along in front of her, and Akane glanced down to
make sure she was still following him. Akane still remembered confessing to the
land octopus her admittedly sketchy plan. She hoped to find Ukyou. Ukyou had
been at least partially right about Chris, and she did have a tendency to at
least have a clear plan... maybe she could deal with him. More importantly,
maybe she could figure out what to do about Pink before the girl hurt more
people.
	Even more then that, it felt right. She had just woken up this morning,
her mind reeling from another nightmare. But she had woken up with the feeling
that she had to find Ukyou. No, not just the feeling, the certainty.
	Akane had been wondering aloud how she could find the girl, when the
octopus had grabbed her arm and started tugging her towards the door. She had
looked down at him, asked him if he could find Ukyou. He had nodded. Then she
had asked how. Akane was surprised that an octopus could stare at someone with
such open contempt.
	Then Akane remembered that he used to belong to a man obsessed with
finding Ukyou and getting revenge. She had felt pretty silly, right about then.
	Patoratsyu was leading her into one of the seedier parts of Tokyo. The
buildings were run-down, with rusted iron girders appearing through the broken
facades here and there. What walls weren't filthy were covered in gang signs.
The people lingering on the street corners gave her long, dangerous looks as she
passed.
	Akane met their gazes unflinchingly. She allowed her aura to flicker and
flare if any of them didn't look away quickly enough. They all turned away. A
few months ago, she would have been scared to be alone in a place like this. But
now... now she had learned to fight and survive. She carried a sword like it
belonged on her.
	A soft pained squeak caught Akane's attention. She looked down to see a
foot stepping on Patoratsyu. The foot was connected to a leg in a purple
jumpsuit. The boy in the jumpsuit was short and thin, with blond hair that flew
up from his head in a series of long spikes. He was grinning down at the
captured animal, his hands in his pockets.
	Behind him loomed a man larger than any Akane had ever seen. He was a
green mountain, with a barrel strapped about his immense midsection. But he
looked like a solid wall of muscle, with a face to match.
	"Heh heh. Look, Gan, lunch!"
	"Uh..." Gan scratched the side of his head. "Edge, I don't think..."
	"I've never been one for octopus sushi, but maybe I'll make an exception
today and..."
	There was a sharp hiss as Akane drew her blade. All eyes in the road
were suddenly on her.
	"Release him," Akane said with as much force as she could. The big guy
gulped and backed up a step. The little wiry one only seemed to grin.
	"Nice blade..." he said. His voice was high-pitched, slightly manic.
"Wanna see mine?" He pulled one hand from his pocket and with a flip of his
wrist readied a butterfly knife. It snapped into his palm with a metallic clack.
	Akane didn't want to fight this boy, but he was clearly asking for it.
She frowned and assumed a stance Shampoo had taught her. "I don't want to fight.
I just want you to get your foot off my pet."
	"Your pet?" Edge grinned and chuckled. "Maybe I should take him as
payment, for letting you walk through our territory with the blade-"
	"Edge! Leave her alone!"
	The new voice brooked no argument and Edge immediately stepped away.
Patoratsyu skidded back behind Akane now that he was free, rubbing his scalp and
glaring at the boy. The newcomer was even shorter than Edge, with the body of a
slender young man. He wore tight black motorcycle leathers with spiked shoulder
pads and a helmet emblazoned with a skull motif. He moved with the confidence of
a man three times his size.
	"I wasn't gonna do nuthin', Akira!" Edge whined.
	"What did Daigo tell you about picking fights?" Akira snapped.
	"But she can take care of herself!" He pointed at Akane with the hand
not currently holding a knife. "Look at her stance! She knows how to use that
thing!" Akane might have taken some pride in that statement, but she was too
busy staring at the newcomer.
	She should know him. She had seen him before. Akane could feel something
around her, like a pressure in the air. It was a deep tension, a rolling sense
of impending purpose. She realised dimly she had woken up with it this morning.
It had grown stronger, minute by minute. There was something here she was
supposed to do. She knew it.
	"Besides, Daigo said it's okay to fight if the other person agrees..."
Edge trailed off lamely under the hidden stare of Akira. He had his arms crossed
and was tapping his foot.
	"We don't have time for this, Edge," Akira said flatly. "With this many
people around, we have to step up patrols. Kyosuke's group is taking the day off
so they can actually attend classes for once, and we're going to have to pick up
the slack."
	"Geez, Akira, you're no fun anymore..." Edge kicked idly at a stone on
the sidewalk.
	Akira shook his head. Then he turned to Akane, unlacing his arms. He
bowed slightly. "I apologize for my friend's rudeness..." he trailed off. Akane
realised that he could feel the tension in the air too, now. The other two just
looked around dumbly, wondering why Akira had paused. "I... I'm sorry. I lost my
head for a moment. This really is a bad neighbourhood, though. If you want, I
can escort you to your destination."
	Oh great, a pick-up line. Akane smiled politely. "No thanks." She
sheathed her sword. "I'm actually looking for a friend of mine... my... uh..."
She blinked. Well, it had been a long time since she used this excuse, but it
would work just as well. "My boyfriend actually."
	"Oh?" Akira tilted his head to the side, the light glinting of his
visor. "And who would that be? I know most people in this part of town."
	"His name is Ukyou..." Akane trailed off as Akira suddenly stiffened.
Akane backed up a step, not sure what to think, as Akira stared at her. Then the
boy reached up slowly and undid the clasps on his helmet.
	When he lifted the helmet away, Akane saw that he was not a he. He was a
young girl, younger probably then Akane, with hair in a short bobcut and an
earnest face. "Did you say... Ukyou?"

*

	Ukyou woke up with a start. She was shivering. Her body was covered in a
cold sweat. She clutched her arms around her naked chest, trying to slow the
beating of her heart. It was the same dream. The same sacrifice. Again and
again, every night. But the shakes died down quickly. Her pulse returned to
normal.
	The tent she was in rippled slightly in the breeze. She reached out and
grabbed a shirt, slipping it on mechanically. Aaron no longer even cared about
her flesh. Months of living in her body, of living her memories, had dulled his
sensitivity to the strange sensations of her female physiology.
	Ukyou stopped, her pants halfway on. They were getting used to this. It
had been abhorrent to them at first. She had despised him, and all he
represented. She despised the concept of being 'unreal' with every fiber of her
being... but she was getting used to it. Aaron just couldn't seem to get that
niggling thought out of the back of his mind, that feeling that everything in
this world was from a fairy tale. That none of it was real. But Ukyou could only
see it as real. It was everything to her. It had been all she had ever known.
	But they were getting used to it. It chilled her to the bone. She looked
back, wondering when the last time she had cared, truly cared, about Aaron being
trapped within her had been. Weeks? Months? The wishing sword, surely? But no...
if she'd been as fanatic about a cure for her 'curse' as she had been at the
beginning, she would have taken the sword and damn the consequences. She had
been more concerned with other things. Ranma, and Hotaru, and Akira and Ran.
Defeating Vega.
	Ukyou doubled over, retching suddenly. Her hands curled up in front of
her and she stared at the palms of them. In her mind, there was a sound, a
deceitfully small crack, like a peanut being crushed. She hated that sound. She
hated what it meant. She hated it with all her being.
	But she was getting used to it.
	Her hands wouldn't stop shaking for a long time.
	When she exited her tent, it was dark out. Not that this was a surprise.
Most of the people in the camp slept during the day and worked at night. They
had to move slowly, limited by the darkness and their need to not use too many
lights. Not that this was a problem for Ukyou. She could see fine. Aaron
wondered idly if the chi they were focusing through their eyes could be seen.
Did Ukyou's eyes glow dimly in the darkness, like a ghost's?
	They shook aside such thoughts. With a thought, they scanned the web of
chi, the spiritual ebb and flow of energy that connected all things. Locating
the strand that would lead them to Integra, they set off. They had to meet with
Integra today, for a plan. Integra wanted to make a decisive strike. If Minako
could really kill any vampire, she suggested, they should strike at the very
heart of Millennium: the Major. Sneak into his flying fortress and give her the
opportunity to take out the fat psychopathic demagogue with one shot.
	It just might work. Who could say if the Letztes Battalion could survive
without its commander? But it was also a suicide mission. Even if they
succeeded, they would likely die. Integra didn't seem to mind.
	Ukyou was going to volunteer. She smirked. Of course, she had no
intention of dying. She would go because Ranma would go. Ranma would go because
he needed to protect someone, and to strike at the evil. She would go because
she would keep herself alive. It was all she was good at, after all. She had
driven away every friend she had. Even Ranma was cold and distant to her now,
for reasons she couldn't understand. Reasons that made even Aaron feel hurt and
betrayed. But she could survive. Jadeite, Pluto, Chris, Rose, Tethys... how many
times had she survived despite all odds?
	Ukyou was halfway to the table where Integra was sitting when she
paused. Aaron quirked their head up and to the side. He had heard something. It
was distant, but growing closer. It was a whine, a shrill shriek of tearing
air...
	His eyes focused, chi-enhanced vision cutting through darkness and
distance with disturbing ease. What he saw made his face drain of all color.
	"Incoming!" Ukyou screamed, running through the camp. The still-groggy
soldiers began to look at her. She saw B. B. Hood glance up from cleaning a
rifle. She saw Integra putting down her fork. It was all happening in slow
motion.
	She ran, and the people around her were moving in molasses. She dashed
forward, guided blindly by Aaron's senses. She saw Yomiko a second later. She
was with Hotaru. Hotaru looked up at Ukyou, and Aaron saw her face register
Ukyou's panic. Hotaru knew something bad was about to happen, but her expression
did not change at all.
	"Yomiko! A shield! Quickly!" Ukyou gasped out.
	"What?" the bookworm blinked, idly flipping back a lock of chocolate-
brown hair.
	Before Ukyou could answer, the first missile hit. The explosion drowned
out all sound. The shockwave of it hit Ukyou as she pulled on her coat. Yomiko's
mouth was open, she was screaming, her hands clutched around Hotaru. Ukyou
grunted. She had stepped between the girl and the blast instinctively. The heat
pushed against her back.
	Then sound returned, and everyone was screaming. Screams of panic,
screams of pain, screams of confusion... Aaron ignored them, filtering them out
one by one.
	"Yomiko!" he shouted.
	"R-right!" The woman threw a briefcase into the air. It snapped open and
for a moment it looked like it was snowing. Then she gestured and the floating
sheets of paper began to spin and twirl. With an elegant gesture she flicked
towards the camp, and the sheets began to expand into a dome. Aaron's heart
fell. She could never shield the whole camp.
	"To the left!" he shouted, "Seven o'clock!"
	Yomiko reacted instantly, and her paper dome moved. The next missile hit
it and there was another deafening blast. But this time the only thing sent
flying were harmless bits of flaming paper, not corpses. Aaron's pleasure was
short lived. A third missile struck in the trees nearby. Water geysered into the
air, flaming wooden shrapnel rained from the sky. A fourth missile struck just
north of the camp. Too far away to hurt anyone, too close for comfort.
	"What's going on?"
	Ranma was running up to them. Minako was trailing behind. Ukyou ignored
him, grabbing the golden-armored senshi's wrist and pulling her forward,
	"Minako, we need a shield! As large as you can make!" He turned to
Yomiko, who was staring at the carnage, making little mewling noises in the back
of her throat. "Yomiko, help her! Your paper isn't as tough, but it's more
malleable."
	Ukyou released Minako and started running again. She had no time to
waste seeing if her plan worked. It had to work. She had to trust that they
could stop the barrage. Or at least hold it off for long enough to... to...
	What?
	Aaron's mind went blank. He had no idea what.
	He ran blindly, finding Integra. She was hunkered behind the picnic
table, which she had thrown up on its side to serve as a makeshift shield.
Victoria and B.B. Hood were with her.
	"...provide cover fire," Integra was saying to the red-cloaked girl. She
grinned and nodded. Ukyou shuddered. That grin was devoid of compassion. B. B.
Hood might have be on their side, but she was not an ally Ukyou would trust.
Integra turned to Victoria. "Vampire, can you see where the missiles are coming
from?"
	Victoria peeked up over the table. There was a trinity of explosions,
but the golden net that had erupted over half the camp caught them, sending the
plumes of flame and shrapnel harmlessly into the air. Victoria narrowed her
eyes, looking beyond that.
	"Yes." She slipped back down. "An airship."
	"An airship..." Ukyou hissed.
	"This isn't a random patrol," Integra snarled. "This is an assault. They
wouldn't commit one of their flying fortresses to anything less."
	Aaron couldn't help but agree. But he knew there was more coming. He
turned to Integra. For some reason, he felt ashamed, looking at her. No, not
ashamed. Guilty. He felt guilty.
	"It's worse," he informed her. "We have incoming helicopters. Two dozen,
at least. Packed to the gills with vampires."
	Integra nodded grimly. She reached into her pocket and withdrew a cigar.
She tore the end off with a twist of her fingers and lit it in a small fire that
one of the explosions had ignited not far away. She took a long puff. "Then I
suppose we fight."

*

	Batsu frowned up at the sun overhead and shaded his eyes. Couldn't that
damn eclipse start already? It was too hot. For that matter, couldn't summer
break start already? He grunted and crossed his arms, trying to move further
into the shade. It was hard, considering there was nothing that really cast any
shadows up on the roof.
	Ah well, he might as well enjoy the fresh air while he could. Pretty
soon Hinata would be up here looking for him, dragging him to class. And if not
her, then Kyosuke. Couldn't those two appreciate the fine art of ditching?
	"Attention all students," a voice called out faintly beneath him. Batsu
quirked his head to the side, listening as the pleasant voice of the school
secretary called mildly through the PA. She sounded even more spaced-out than
usual. "There will be a school-wide assembly in the auditorium starting
immediately. Attendance is mandatory. That is all."
	Batsu was half-way to his feet when he blinked and smacked himself in
the head. "What am I doing?" he muttered and sat back down. His entire body was
sore, his muscles ached and his left side still burned from where that one
monster had tagged him. He had no idea where Kyosuke and Akira had learned about
those things, but fighting them was getting annoying. He rubbed his side and
sighed. At least it got him out of classes... well, except for today.
	Thinking about fighting always made Batsu hungry, and today was no
exception. He pulled his pack towards him with his feet and rummaged in it. The
box lunch inside was not the most appetising thing in the world. The chicken
looked burned and was all mixed in with the vegetables, and all the sauces had
coagulated in one corner. Batsu made a face and sighed.
	Really, Hinata wasn't a half-bad cook, he mused as he started into it
with fervour. It even tasted okay. She just really had to work on her
presentation. Mainly because she kept insisting on presenting him with these
lunches in front of everyone, and Batsu couldn't stand the looks of mingled
horror and pity anymore.
	Once he was finished Batsu stood up and began kicking around a bit.
Damn, Hinata was late. She should have been here before he was halfways
finished, then she would have yelled at him and he would have yelled back and
she could have dragged him kicking and screaming down to the assembly and
Kyosuke could have laughed at him and...
	"Aw, for crying out loud..." Batsu couldn't believe he was doing this,
but he actually started down towards the auditorium willingly. The halls of the
school were deserted. Batsu slowed down. It was eerie. There weren't even any
teachers around. Worse yet, there was no sound. He felt his body tensing up,
like he was about to be attacked.
	By the time he got to the auditorium he was sprinting again. Something
was wrong. He could feel it in his bones. The doors ahead were closed, closed
and barred.
	From the outside.
	Batsu pulled back his fist, channeling his chi. His voice began to
rumble deep in his throat as he focused. His fist began to glow faintly. Batsu
charged forward, ready to blast the portal into splinters with one strike.
	"It'd be stupid to burst in like that."
	Batsu skidded to a halt, his fist coming to a rest only a millimeter or
two from the door. He looked over his shoulder and saw a girl standing there.
She was Chinese, with long purple hair and wearing a form-hugging dress with a
skirt so short it made Batsu blink. Her arms were crossed and she was leaning
against the wall. On her back she wore a curved broadsword. She wasn't looking
up at him.
	"Who are you?" Batsu shouted. "What's going on in there?"
	"Look for yourself, but open up the doors like a normal person." She
smirked at some private joke. "The auditorium is packed. If you blow open the
doors like that, you'll hurt somebody."
	Batsu considered interrogating her more, but frowned and turned his back
on her. With a twist of his hand he snapped the mop-handle barring the door and
pushed them open.
	He coughed and fell back, covering his mouth. Red mist poured into the
hall, briefly obscuring his view. He felt suddenly exhausted, like he had spent
ten hours straight fighting, and all his wounds felt fresh. He groaned and fell
down, barely managing to land in a sitting position.
	The mist cleared and Batsu stared into the auditorium. The students were
all sitting around, most of them looking like they had been drugged. A teenage
girl dressed in green walked among them. She floated between the rows of seats
on clouds of scarlet, her fingers caressing the faces of all whom she passed. In
her wake, the people... changed.
	Batsu had never seen anything like it. They went from groaning and
struggling to just sitting there. Their eyes shone and their lips smiled. They
stared after the girl in adoration. She smiled back at them. Even Kyosuke, whom
she was just now passing, wasn't immune. Batsu would never have thought the dour
boy could look so happy, so filled with bliss.
	"What's... going on..." Batsu struggled to his feet, panting. The mist
had thinned and he could breathe easier now. His strength was returning, but
slowly.
	"She's enslaving them," the mystery girl explained, still not looking
up. "Everyone she touches is her slave."
	"What!" Batsu groaned and took a step forward. The girl in the
auditorium was closing in on... "HINATA!"
	Batsu was about to rush forward again, when he heard a hiss of metal on
leather and felt something cold and sharp press against his throat.
	"You..." he snarled.
	"I've been ordered not to let anyone in or out of that place," she
explained coldly. Then she smiled, a grim smile. "But I was never told I
couldn't help you."
	Batsu blinked, and she capitalised on his confusion to pull him away
from the door. She pushed him against the wall roughly, and he gulped as the
blade drew a bead of blood. "You want to save your friends? Rushing into that
mist will only sap your strength, and those students will kill to protect her.
All you'll do is play into her hands." She drew the sword away from his throat,
and with a flourish planted the tip into the tile floor. "But I can help you
save them. All you have to do is exactly what I say."

*

	Ranma felt his blood pumping, his breath coming quickly. Beside him,
Minako cried out and fell to one knee. Her hands were extended skyward, and
above them a great golden shield shimmered and flowed. It was made up of
thousands and thousands of tiny golden hearts. He could hear the explosions just
beyond it, five of them in rapid succession. But the shield held. Minako held.
	He couldn't stand there all useless. He had to do something. He snarled
and leapt to a nearby tree. His fist lashed out, his voice roared and the trunk
exploded under his knuckles. He darted under it, and caught the massive trunk
with both hands. It was heavier than he thought. His muscles strained, burning
as he pushed them.
	"Minako, make a hole!" he shouted.
	A second later, a hole appeared. Ranma took only a second to line up the
shot. He could see the next stream of missiles incoming. He roared again,
pushing everything he had into his arm. The tree flew straight and true. The
missiles caught in its branches, dozens of meters in the air, and exploded...
one explosion taking out another and another in turn. He grinned.
	"Good idea!" Yomiko cried. She too had been building a shield, but now
she tugged down and it collapsed into a rain of falling white. With a series of
sharp gestures, she grabbed pieces as they fell. She whirled gracefully, her
long hair trailing behind her, her brown trenchcoat flaring slightly, then she
snapped her hands up. A dozen paper airplanes flew from her fingertips, flashing
through the sky with the speed of bullets. The next barrage met with the same
fate as Ranma's. Minako smiled and slowly climbed to her feet.
	Then dark shapes flashed over the clearing. The wind blew up in their
wake, pushing everything down. Yomiko's paper scattered as she struggled to keep
it under control. They were huge, each the size of a city bus. The helicopters
were brown and grey, big boxy things with huge rotors and they did not move
especially fast. On their sides, some monsters had painted the Nazi swastika.
	Ranma was gawking, and thus he didn't react until the sides of the
helicopters unfurled like paper doors, revealing dozens of dark shapes inside.
They howled inhumanly as they fell from the sky. The air was filled with the
roar of their bloodthirst, the deafening drone of the helicopters and a small
buzzing sound. A sound that tickled at the edge of Ranma's memory.
	Minako dropped her hands, the shield vanishing in an instant. There was
no way she could have covered them from those things anyway. Instead, ten points
of light began to form at the tips of her fingers and she spread them into the
air. She would cut them out of the sky. There was no way this suicide drop could
work, not as long as Minako was alive.
	And the vampires had to know that.
	"CRESCENT BEAM SH-"
	"GET DOWN!" Ranma grabbed Minako by the back of her neck and pushed. A
moment later a small black shape shot through the space her head had been. Her
long golden hair was tugged violently to the side, and a dozen strands flew free
as the projectile cut them free. He landed next to her, hearing her cursing.
	Then he heard the monsters land. He growled and rolled to his feet. One
of the things was only a meter from him. It carried a more modern-looking
firearm than he was used to seeing them with. It was firing wildly into the
crowd of humans, laughing and howling. Ranma beheaded it with a single strike.
	He grabbed the gun before it fell from its nerveless fingers. He spun
the weapon along his fingertips, then launched it like a boomerang. It scythed
through the air and struck another vampire in the head. Ranma had not learned
the trick of making dull things sharp like his friend Ryouga had, so that
vampire survived.
	For about the two seconds it took Ranma to close on it.
	Then Ranma spotted him. The elegant pretty boy vampire from the mansion.
His long flowing blond hair and immaculate white suit. He had pinned a man
against a tree with one loafer, and was holding his ornate pistol against the
man's head. Ranma felt his heart racing further. He kicked a stray stone up. It
flew true, and struck the vampire's hand the moment he fired. The bullet tore a
good hole through the tree, but the man lived.
	Luke looked over at Ranma. His eyes narrowed.
	"Come back for more?" he asked.
	"No running away this time," Ranma told him.
	The vampire smiled, his fangs glistening in the light of the fires. "I'm
afraid I have another engagement. We have something special planned for you."
	Ranma was about to ask what that was when he felt it. His jaw clenched
tight and he felt his heart stop for a mind-numbing instant. He turned
mechanically and saw it.
	The airship was huge, a giant blimp as grey as a storm-filled sky. It
hovered only a few hundred meters away. Black shapes - more helicopters, Ranma
dimly realised - flocked about it. But Ranma barely saw any of them. His eyes
followed a seemingly tiny black shape as it fell from the bottom of the airship.
He could barely make it out with his eyes, but he could feel it. He could feel
its rage. He could feel its hate. He could feel its hunger.
	It crashed into the forest floor, and for a moment Ranma hoped it had
died. Then an ear-splitting shriek broke free of the forest. It wasn't human.
Nothing human could make that sound. Ranma backed up a step.
	"You can feel it, can't you?" Luke was saying. "It's magnificent. A
perfect killing machine. Of course, I don't plan on being here when she shows
up. They can't control her, you see. Not even with the chips." He chuckled. "It
didn't used to be this way. She was just another chip job until a few weeks ago.
Then... then one day, she just went mad. Tore her captors to pieces, nearly
killed Dok. Made quite a mess."
	Ranma looked back at him, and he could see the worry in the vampire's
features. Nearby he could see Minako and Yomiko fighting. Golden light and white
flashes surrounded them as they held the vampires at bay. But he could see that
this was what they wanted now. The vampires weren't trying to fight them, just
pin them down.
	So that it could find them.
	Ranma cursed under his breath and ran toward them. They couldn't sense
it. They couldn't feel it. They had no idea what was coming. He heard Luke laugh
behind him, but he ignored it.
	Just as Ranma reached them, the creature emerged from the woods. He
skidded to a stop, and both Minako and Yomiko stopped in mid-strike as well. Now
that they could see it, they could feel a part of its malice. It didn't look
like much. It was a young woman, medium height, athletic build. She had hair the
color of dried blood tied back in a topknot that flared in all directions. She
wore a green military vest and matching shorts, with military boots that rose
halfway to her knee.
	But her eyes, they were pits of red hatred. And her mouth was painfully
distorted, and like a shark's it was nothing but row after row of sharp teeth.
She was taking deep, body-shaking breaths, like a hunting hound panting slightly
after a long chase.
	"W-what is that?" Yomiko gasped.
	"I don't know, and I don't care!" Minako gestured and a golden heart
formed on her palm. "LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" She thrust her palm at it and her
attack flew forward like it had been shot from a cannon. The swampgrass parted
in its wake. The thing just stared at it. Ranma felt his body tense up. Closer
and closer the magical blast approached. Ukyou had said that Minako's magic was
the death of all vampires. Even a touch would kill it. The blast was moving in
slow motion, the thing just gazing at it idly.
	Then it vanished. Ranma's head jerked to the side, just barely able to
follow it as the woman blurred to the side, a millisecond before the blast would
have hit. She roared and charged.
	Minako's arm was still extended, her lips had not even closed from her
shout, when it reached her. Ranma somehow threw himself between them. The
thing's hands clawed out once, twice. Ranma smashed his wrists into its, and he
felt the bones there ring out in pain. But it had worked, the monster had been
rebuffed.
	Minako fell back, startled. Yomiko grabbed her before she collapsed.
Ranma could only concentrate on his enemy. For all her animal ferocity, she
fought with a skill and discipline that surprised Ranma. Her moves were tight
and controlled, vicious and brutal. He realised almost instantly that this was
not an animal. This was a weapon. A walking implement of death.
	He also knew, after the first three blows, that he had no chance against
her. He struck, and she faded back. He parried, and his arms bruised from the
pain. Even near-misses left shallow red lines across his flesh. When she struck,
streaks of purple light followed in the wake of her fingers, and those wakes
could cut and maim as easily as her limbs could.
	"I can't get a clear shot!" Minako screamed.
	"Ranma!" Yomiko called out in concern.
	"Get out of here!" he roared. But even that much distraction cost him.
The monster leapt forward, spreading her arms wide. A ball of violent light
formed in front of her and Ranma could only cross his arms and absorb it as best
he could. The blast threw him off his feet. He skidded across the wet grass and
fell into a pool of stagnant water.
	He coughed and rose to his feet. For a moment he was afraid, then he saw
Yomiko fighting the woman. She was good. Her movements were not those of a
martial artist, but of a person who had learned to fight the long and difficult
way... by painful experience. She wielded a sword and shield made of paper. The
shield was enough to balk the savage woman's claws, and the sword enough to keep
her at bay. But Ranma saw the weakness in her technique almost instantly, and
the monster was not far behind.
	It backed up, and Yomiko fell for the feint, stepping forward to slash.
The thing let the sword cut into her side. But then her hand snapped down,
catching Yomiko's wrist. Yomiko gasped. Her sword had cut halfway through the
creature's chest, a diagonal line starting at the hip and working up towards the
heart... but it got no further. With a smile and a hiss of pleasure the thing
pulled Yomiko forward, her other hand snapping past the woman's shield.
	Ranma's foot collided with the vampire's neck and she snapped back, her
claw halting bare centimeters from Yomiko's throat. He didn't pause, letting the
moment of his impact push him away. He spun, coming back instantly and striking
at the thing's hand. The blow knocked loose its grip on Yomiko. At the same time
he pushed at her with an open palm, adding just enough of a cushion of chi that
she was blown a few meters away. He allowed his hand to touch the paper sword
still imbedded in the body, but it disintegrated into harmless sheets at his
touch. He could feel an energy there, though, for just a moment. It was like the
energy Ryouga used to turn his belt hard, but different... more refined.
	The vampire reacted quickly to his assault. Still reeling backward, she
stabbed her elbow down. It caught him in the side and his ribs almost cracked.
He smashed into the ground hard. But he didn't pause. His legs scissored out,
tripping her. She fell, but caught herself with both palms. She flipped away
from him, and he flipped to his feet as well.
	The wound in her chest was healing. Purple fire was leaking from the
cut, and as it did, he could see the flesh reforming in its path. There was a
flash of golden light, and another. Both of Minako's shots went wide as the
thing bobbed and weaved between them. It was coming at him again. Ranma readied
himself to meet it...
	Then the creature halted and danced backwards. Ranma wondered why, until
he saw the spatulas embedded in the ground at its feet.
	Ukyou landed next to him, her long coat flaring behind her. For a
moment, he saw the battle behind him. The people were screaming, the vampires
were swarming over them. Integra and her two other soldiers formed a core of
resistance, with a couple of dozen other men around them. Anything that came
near them died, but those outside of their protective bubble were not doing so
well. He ripped his gaze away from them, but it was hard.
	"Leona..." Ukyou breathed. Ranma could feel the cold radiating from her
body, but her voice was soft. "I'm... I'm sorry. You deserved better than this."
	It took Ranma a moment to realise she was talking to the vampire. The
thing was crouched in front of Ukyou, its lips curled back from its long sharp
teeth and its fingers leaving furrows in the ground. But that's all it did. It
held itself there. It crouched and snarled, but was not attacking. What was it
waiting for?
	"Are you okay?" Ukyou asked.
	"Fine..." Ranma mumbled. Minako and Yomiko nodded as well. Then Ukyou's
eyes widened.
	"Where is Hotaru!?"

*

	Kusanagi ran along the rooftops, his coat snapping behind him. The trail
of his passage was a vortex of torn air and funnelled dust. Tile and shingles
flew up as his footsteps tore apart fragile roofing. He barely noticed.
	For weeks he had hunted. For weeks he had walked around the city alone,
trying to find her. Now... now he could smell her. His face was split by a
terrible grin. He had her scent now, and he was not going to let her go.
Straight downwind he charged. There was no way that bitch would escape now.
	Matsudaira. Not as good as the one who had actually done it. Not as good
as the bitch that had killed Kaede. But she was a traitor. She had led the evil
to her, allowed it to happen. Kusanagi would let her live long enough to get
where the witch was hiding from her, and no longer.
	He came to a park. It was full of trees and on the slopes of the hill
people sat about in small packs, laying on picnic blankets and sharing laughter
and jokes. He leapt, his bounds taking him from tree to tree as a red blur. A
few spotted him, and they began to whisper and murmur. They sounded afraid.
	Everyone was afraid of him now. They thought he was one of the monsters.
His smile tightened. Maybe he was. But he was a monster with a very specific
enemy.
	He landed in the middle of the park, his eyes scanning the crowd. It
took him only a few seconds to spot her. She wasn't even trying to hide. She was
standing under a cherry tree, her face dappled by shadows. She wore the clothes
she had worn in her previous life. He growled and flexed his arms, the blades of
his heritage tearing free of his limbs painfully.
	He stalked towards her, walking straight between a couple. He had never
trusted her. He had never liked her. She was one of the ones who had
experimented on Kaede, driven her away. She was to blame! She would have done
the same to Momiji... wouldn't she? It didn't matter!
	Matsudaira had spotted him by now, and she was turning to smile at him.
There were two other people with her. One was a leggy brunette with short hair
and a red dress that clung to her scandalously. But Kusanagi's eyes instantly
fixed on the other.
	He was tall, regal, European. He had short black hair and a blonde
beard. He wore a blue uniform with a high collar like a priest's. But Kusanagi
could sense a power from him, a power that made the very wind around him shrink
in fear. It filled the air like noxious mist. Kusanagi noticed that even
Matsudaira was stepping away from him, even she smelled of fear in his presence.
The man fixed Kusanagi with ice-blue eyes and smiled, a smile filled with
neither warmth nor caring but something that mocked both.
	"And what have we here?" he murmured. Kusanagi did not respond to him.
	"You're coming with me!" he growled instead, reaching for his target. In
a flash the man's hand snapped around Kusanagi's wrist. His grip was iron and
his touch burned like frost.
	"I'm afraid I'm not through with this one yet," the man explained in a
calm voice that carried within it hidden layers of menace.
	Kusanagi met his gaze. "Do I look like I care?"
	The man grinned, his white teeth flashing. Kusanagi pulled and the man
released him without a struggle, forcing the shorter man to fight to retain his
balance.
	"Kusanagi..." Matsudaira said, actually sounding relieved. "It's a good
thing you came."
	"Kusanagi?" the man said, raising an eyebrow. "Well, well... any
relation to Saisyu Kusanagi or his brood, by chance?"
	"Never heard of 'em," Kusanagi said, glancing from side to side. He had
backed off a step or two. His eyes narrowed. He could hear people beginning to
leave now, slowly. The park would be empty in a few moments. But he could sense
the caged animal fury in the air around this man, a smell like blood that filled
the air with its foulness. He would not keep up this pretense long, but Kusanagi
had to delay him for a few more minutes. "What do you want this witch for,
anyway?"
	The man smiled. Then he sketched a short bow. "How impolite of me. My
name is Goenitz, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi." He raised a finger
and pointed delicately at Matsudaira. "She, I have heard, knows where I can find
a god called Susano-oh. I wish to talk with her about it."
	"You can have her after I'm finished, then," Kusanagi growled. "Or
what's left."
	Goenitz's face darkened, and the air around him began to whip and flash.
"No. I think that I am very interested in this. And I also think I'm not going
to risk letting someone who just happens to be named Kusanagi and who just
happens to also be looking for the god live."
	Kusanagi felt something slam into him with the force of a bullet train.
He screamed the air out of his lungs and flew back, tearing a deep gouge in the
earth and crashing through two trees before he came to rest imbedded in a
chainlink fence. He groaned and staggered forward, coughing up blood. What had
hit him...
	A flash of instinct later and he was leaping away as a small cyclone
slammed into where he had been. It bore a perfect circle into the ground, like a
drill into wood. The wind... Goenitz controlled the wind!
	Kusanagi was transforming even before he landed. His power rippled, his
muscles surged, pain flooded his limbs and he felt his clothing tear away. When
he came to the earth he was in his full battle form. He saw Goenitz looking at
him in some surprise, then Kusanagi flew forward like a rocket. The grass flew
up on both sides of him and he screamed.
	The tree Goenitz had been standing in front of stood for a moment. Then
its top half began to slide from its bottom half, slowly at first then toppling
with a startling suddenness. Goenitz was nowhere near it. He was standing not
far away, on the remains of a couple's picnic. The people around him were
fleeing, most of them screaming. Matsudaira and the brunette were sprawled near
the tree, both having leapt away. But on Goenitz's cheek was a thin red line. He
reached up and rubbed his white gloved hand against it, then glanced
disdainfully at the blood on his fingertips.
	"Vice, guard the woman," Goenitz commanded, his eyes fixed on
Kusanagi. From the looks of him, he wasn't taking this nearly as casually
anymore. That suited Kusanagi just fine.
	"Kusanagi!" Matsudaira yelled as Goenitz fired a blast of razor-sharp
wind. Even as he did, Kusanagi returned with a shot of blue lightning. The
ground exploded behind him and Goenitz as they both dodged. Before the dust and
debris had settled they moved in, each striking at speeds that defied human
comprehension. Kusanagi's blades were deflected by some sort of skin-tight
vortex, and Goenitz's hands produced tiny slashes of wind that could tear stone
as easily as flesh. They both landed apart, covered in small scratches.
Superficial damage, nothing more. "We can defeat him if we work together!"
	"Shut up!" Kusanagi roared. He jumped back, powering up. He felt the
energy gather in the tines behind his head. It swelled and shrieked as it
scorched the air. With a roar he released it. A cerulean line crossed the
park: where it touched, the earth vanished into geysers of sod and rock and
shattered chunks of trees. Goenitz grit his teeth and threw out both hands. A
vortex formed between them and the beam caught there before shattering in all
directions. The lances of light peppered the park, reducing the pristine lawns
into a cratered wasteland in a fraction of a second.
	Kusanagi backed up, staring in horror. He could see bodies among those
craters. Then Goenitz hit him, a blade of air that nearly tore his arm clean
off. He screamed and staggered back, green blood spraying from his wound.
Goenitz was taking deep breaths, but he was smiling.
	"You are powerful, boy, perhaps even more than I..." He laughed. "But
your compassion is a weakness. I do not think you can fight full force against
me."
	Kusanagi grit his teeth, clamping one hand over the vicious wound. It
would heal, eventually.
	"Chemical Buster!"
	Goenitz leapt aside as a stream of acid flew at him. With a single wave
of his hand he deflected the acid harmlessly. Matsudaira paid for her attack as
Vice ran into her from behind. She clamped a hand on the back of the scientist's
head and rammed her into the dirt. Matsudaira coughed.
	"Oh no, none of that from you," the red-clad woman purred.
	"Kusanagi, I can lead you to her..." Kusanagi paused as Matsudaira
spoke, her words muffled by the dirt in her mouth but still comprehensible to
his enhanced hearing. "Just save me from these beasts, and I will take you to
the woman who killed Kaede."
	Kusanagi dodged another attack. He struck once or twice more, but his
heart wasn't in it. Goenitz could sense his hesitation, and he struck without
mercy or restraint. His power was awesome, it tore the park to shreds. It
blasted away trees and stones and people like they were made of paper. He was
nothing compared to Murakumo... but even so, Kusanagi doubted he could defeat
him with such a serious injury.
	When he struck, it was without warning. The sultry woman screamed and
fell to the side. She would live, the blade had only cut into her leg. But she
would not be walking anytime soon. He reached down and helped Matsudaira to her
feet. Goenitz had paused in his attack.
	"How do we beat him?" Kusanagi said. He thought of Kaede. He kept her
face in his mind.
	"Just get me close," Matsudaira answered, and for a moment a sinister
smile crossed her face. It was a smile of triumph. But it was gone quickly, and
Kusanagi chose to ignore it. "I just need to touch him once, on the heart... and
this will all be over."

*

	"I... I don't know," Minako said, her voice horrified.
	"You don't KNOW!" Aaron roared, spinning on her. Behind him, Leona
shifted and growled, but he knew he was safe. He had felt the power of the
creature Leona had become long ago, but had not been able to move away from the
other battle. The other vampires were bad enough, but Luke and Yan were leading
them and Ukyou had been forced to help Victoria and B. B. Hood fend them off.
	Yet here she was, because she had felt Ranma pushing himself. She had
felt his chi reaching a peak that it hadn't since his fight with Vega, and she
had felt him beginning to lose. So she had come, instantly.
	And Leona had taken one look at her, and backed down. Aaron could feel
her staggering power. He had never experienced anything quite like it. It was
rage and hatred and pain, an endless well of darkness. But underneath it all, he
had felt something else. Fear.
	Leona feared her. But even as the thought had crossed his mind as he
looked at her he realised that wasn't true. The thing Leona had become did not
know fear. The fear came from somewhere deeper, hidden behind the source of that
well. For some reason, the Orochi feared Ukyou. And because it knew fear, its
puppet did too.
	Ukyou had wanted to laugh, when Aaron reached that conclusion. But then
she had realised that Hotaru was nowhere nearby.
	"I... I just lost track of her..." Minako's knees were shaking, and her
face had drained of all color. Aaron wanted to yell at her. He wanted to accuse
her of being a fool. How could she lose track of Hotaru in this? He wanted to
strike her, and for a moment his arm twitched as if he would, then the anger
drained from him.
	"I think... I think she fled into the woods," Yomiko was saying. Ukyou
glanced at her. The woman was peering into the woods now, as if she could
magically make the girl appear.
	"No..." Ukyou moaned. A few minutes ago, Integra had given the order for
her soldiers to retreat into the woods. Out in the open, they were sitting ducks
against the vampire's superior speed and strength. But even as the first of the
men reached the treeline, dark shapes had burst out from them. The men had
screamed as the stiffly moving figures had dragged them to the ground. What
happened next, Ukyou would rather not remember.
	A quick probe of chi and Aaron had confirmed it. The woods were full of
ghouls. Hundreds of them. Thousands. For a brief moment, he had wondered how
they had been moved into position, then he saw that the ghouls were wearing
shiny black gear that covered them head to toe except for the face. Gear that
could protect them from the light of the sun, Ukyou wagered.
	Ukyou took a few steps towards the woods, her heart falling. But then
she smiled. She could feel Hotaru. She was in the woods, but she was alive. A
wall of ghouls were between Ukyou and her, but that was no barrier at all.
	Ukyou took two steps forward, when she felt Leona shift. She looked back
over her shoulder. The vampire paused and hissed at her, its red eyes gleaming
balefully. It had moved away from her, towards the heart of the larger battle.
The Orochi was not brave enough to have its servant attack Ukyou... so it would
attack something else. She could feel its frustration, its rage and pain. It
needed to lash out at something.
	If she left, Leona would start killing.
	"I'll hold her," Ranma announced.
	"You can't!" Ukyou turned on him. "You can't beat her!"
	"I..." Ranma ground his teeth. "I have to. If I don't, everyone over
there will die."
	"I can hold her!" Ukyou protested.
	"You have to find Hotaru, protect her." He grabbed her shoulder. "You're
the only one who can."
	"He's right," Minako said. "I don't know why that thing won't attack
you. But we can fight it." She held up her fist. "Together."
	"Yes..." Yomiko frowned and looked down. "The three of us, together. We
can fight it."
	Ukyou closed her eyes. They were right. She had to leave. Ranma had to
fight it. Ranma had to face it. She opened her eyes and looked at him.
	"Live," Aaron said, surprised that the word tumbled from his lips. Ranma
grinned, that arrogant Saotome smirk. The smirk that said 'Hey, I'm Ranma
Saotome! What else could I possibly do but be the best?' And just like that, as
they stood staring into each other's eyes for a long instant, the entire world
coming apart around them, Aaron realised he loved him.
	The thought struck him like a freight train, left him stunned beyond
words. This was not just Ukyou's feelings creeping into his psyche, or if it was
they had wormed their way so far in that Aaron could no longer tell the
difference. It helped, but only a little, that Ranma was at least female at the
time.
	But he shook off the thought. They needed to find Hotaru. And so he
turned and ran into the woods, running away from Ranma.

*

	Ryouga grunted and shifted his arm, pushing the debris off him. It
cracked and groaned and shifted to the side in an avalanche of dust. He stepped
forward, unable to see where he was going but trusting himself not to get lost.
He never got lost anymore, not since Nabiki had made her wish.
	He could feel it, on the back of his mind. A subtle urging, drawing him
forward. She only touched his mind lightly, not even enough to read his
thoughts. Just enough so that she could compensate for his own lack of
direction. He grinned oddly at that last thought as he stepped out onto the
street.
	The battle was going well for the heroes, he noted. The monster was
reeling back, half its crab-like legs missing. Its carapace was dented here and
there, sometimes so much that small rents appeared and leaked green fluid on the
asphalt. In the near distance the flashing lights of the police cars hemmed the
street in on both sides. Ryouga had to admit, they seemed to be getting good at
getting the civilians away from these battles now. The only person who didn't
look like she belonged here was Nabiki.
	She was crouched behind the remains of a news van. Her face was smudged
with dirt, and her blouse was torn. In one hand she gripped the wishing sword,
'just in case'. Her eyes were closed, but then she hardly needed them anymore.
Her powers had been growing steadily for the last few weeks. She had never
looked more beautiful to his eyes.
	For a moment he let his gaze linger, but then she frowned slightly and
her head turned in his direction. He grimaced and suppressed his thoughts,
buried them beneath his depression. Nabiki did not need his lust to pollute her
mind like he had polluted her body. In the last few weeks, he could almost have
begun to think that maybe she had forgiven him, but he knew better.
	She had started treating him differently. She gave him little
kindnesses. A 'thank you' here, a small present there. Lending a bit of her
concentration to make it so that he never had to get lost again. That had been a
miraculous feeling. She had simply looked at him and told him to wander Tokyo as
he would, and he had. He had visited places. He had gone back to his old house,
played with his dog. He had visited old friends from school. The sheer freedom,
the joy of being able to simply go where he wanted, had been overwhelming.
	But then he had returned to her, and he had seen the truth. She had
bought them a fancy dinner, and over the course of it she had started asking him
questions, strange questions. Questions about what he wanted to do with his
life, what his hopes and dreams were. She had never asked him about them before.
He had wondered why, until he had looked into her eyes and saw fear.
	It was always there now, behind her expression. She was always afraid of
him. He was not a stupid man. He could see what she was doing. She was trying to
get him away. To focus his mind on something else. She had heard that he wanted
to help the people being attacked throughout Tokyo and had started letting him
do that. She even guided him to the places he was most needed. Because she
wanted him away.
	He knew why. It had all changed that day, the day she had looked into
his mind. He knew that she had seen something inside him, something so awful
that it shook her to the core. Now she was afraid of him.
	Ryouga used these thoughts to fuel his power, until his chi was a
bonfire of green light around him. The asphalt cracked beneath his feet as the
weight of his aura multiplied. He rose his eyes.
	He was ready to fight.
	"DEEP SUBMERGE!"
	A blast of aquamarine light flashed across the street and into the giant
crab. It shrieked and staggered back, another dent appearing in its body. The
woman who had fired it was panting, her pretty face covered with a sheen of
sweat. Her partner dashed in at the staggering monster, her yellow-white sword
flashing in the sunlight. Ryouga knew these two, he had been at the scene of
many of these battles with them. He idly wondered where their other partner was,
the woman with the white coat and long black hair, then snarled and drove that
thought aside.
	The fight mattered now. Protecting Nabiki mattered now.
	He was already moving before he even finished the thought. The woman
with the sandy blonde hair got to the monster first. Her sword flashing out
once, twice. The thing screamed inhumanly, one of its legs cleanly severed. The
Sailor Senshi was leaping back, but the thing was swinging its large claw at
her. Maybe she would have gotten clear, maybe not. Ryouga made the point moot.
	He caught the claw with one hand, snarling. The thing fought his grip
and Ryouga placed his other hand on it, his fingers cracking the armour. Then he
roared and wrenched his arms, pulling suddenly and at the same time blasting out
with all his aura. The monster was pulled in two directions at once and its
joint was not up to the pressure. He snapped the claw free and with a grunt
heaved it over his shoulder where it crashed into the already destroyed
storefront he had been smashed into.
	The blonde landed next to him. She smiled grimly and nodded once. Ryouga
held up his hands, charging for a Shishihokodan, and acknowledged her thanks
with a similar smile and nod.
	The light came from the sky with the suddenness of lightning. It was
bright red and Ryouga's eyes burned as he staggered away. A moment later there
was an explosion and he was flung from his feet. He landed well, and was
standing again a fraction of a second later.
	When the smoke cleared he saw he had been blown away from the Senshi.
The place where the crab had been standing was nothing more than a smoking
crater now. Then a man-sized shadow fell from the sky and landed in the center
of the crater with a loud crash. Ryouga held up one hand, wondering if this was
friend or foe.
	"Well, well..." a mocking voice called. "Four birds with one stone."
	"Who's there?" the aquamarine-haired Senshi called out. She was standing
ready to launch another blast of torrential water.
	"My name?" The figure stepped free of the smoke. He was not tall, and
his hair was slicked back. He wore a pair of mirrored sunglasses and a skin-
tight navy blue bodysuit with yellow piping. A horrible scar crept down half his
face. "My name is Aptom, little Senshi."
	That certainly didn't sound like one of the good guys. Ryouga clenched
his fists and began to focus on his chi, building up a fresh charge. The blonde
stepped towards him, brandishing his sword.
	"You killed that monster, but what do you want?" she asked.
	"Careful, Uranus, I sense great evil from him!" her partner warned.
Uranus nodded.
	"Evil?" Aptom chuckled. "I guess you could say that." He stepped towards
Uranus. "I am an engine of death, and I have come for vengeance. Vengeance for
the brothers that your kind slew, and vengeance for the humiliation and pain I
was caused, vengeance on the whole world for being so sick and twisted that it
would produce a being like me!"
	Aptom snapped his hand up, and the flesh on his palm peeled back,
revealing a lens there. Ryouga shouted a warning and grabbed a convenient
street sign. With a roar he pulled it from the ground and swung, knowing he'd
be too late. The blast of crimson light lanced from Aptom's palm. The aquamarine
Senshi dove under it, landing roughly. The beam walked up the side of the
building behind her, leaving a molten line in its wake. The energy then vanished
like it had never been: the building stood for a moment, then shuddered and
exploded.
	Ryouga's blow struck just as the building sent a rain of plaster and
glass across the street. He hit just above the elbow, and he saw the arm deform
around the metal in a way arms were not supposed to. Aptom gasped as his arm
broke. Then Uranus was dashing past him, her sword flashing brightly.
	"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"
	Aptom gaped. Then slowly his torso slid away from his legs. He toppled
to the ground in two pieces. There wasn't even any blood, as her sword instantly
cauterised the wound. Uranus stopped and sighed. Ryouga lowered his sign.
	"Neptune, are you alright?" Uranus called.
	Neptune picked herself up slowly, but nodded. "I'm fine." She glanced at
Ryouga. "And you?"
	"Okay," he grunted. He was still staring at Aptom. The man looked dead,
but Ryouga still felt... something. It was the unease he felt just before an
attack. That lightning tingle on the back of his neck. It just wouldn't go away.
	"Let's get out of here, Ryouga," Nabiki said as she came around the
corner. He glanced at her.
	"Ah, there she is."
	Ryouga's eyes widened and he spun to face Aptom. The man was picking
himself up, despite being in two pieces! Neptune and Uranus also stood, stunned
for a few precious seconds. Then Aptom smiled and his broken arm snapped towards
the blonde Senshi. Ryouga tried to scream a warning, but it came too late. She
was too close, and Aptom's arm suddenly deformed and melted like wax, becoming a
slick tendril that wrapped itself around her shin.
	Uranus cried out in pain, her eyes closing. She staggered back.
	"Don't worry, girl," Aptom said slowly. "I could have killed you with a
single touch... but I don't just want your body!" He began to laugh.
	"Let her go!" Ryouga shouted. As he roared he pressed his hands forward,
a car-sized ball of brilliant green light erupting from them. Even as his blast
flew, the air also rippled as a blue orb smashed into Aptom from the other side.
His laughter cut off as his body was crushed mercilessly between the two forces
until there was nothing left.
	But Uranus was still screaming in pain. Ryouga stared in horror. The
tendril was still wrapped tightly around her leg... no, not just around. It was
IN her leg. The flesh of her shin was twisted, the veins pulsing and throbbing
as it merged horribly with the remains of Aptom. From her calf sprang a dozen
more tendrils, flailing and snapping before firmly encircling her body, pinning
her arms. Uranus screamed again and fell on her back. One of the tendrils
hovered above her heart.
	"Haruka!" Neptune screamed, charging forward. Ryouga heard Nabiki
retching behind him. He saw the legs of Aptom twitch and grabbed the Sailor
Senshi as she passed, pulling her back. "Let me go!" she screamed and hit him
with surprising strength. He actually felt it. "I have to get to her! Haruka!"
she stretched towards her companion, but Ryouga leapt back. He watched as the
legs began to stretch and distort, slowly regrowing the entirety of Aptom.
	Uranus was completely bound now, and the tendril above her heart had
ceased swaying. It shifted, and a black star appeared on its end. From that
star, an awful black light emerged. It struck Uranus in the chest, creating a
ripple of darkness above her heart. She shrieked, but only for a moment. Then a
eight-pronged crystal star, glowing with pink light, popped from her body. Her
eyes went blank. The tendril shot down, and a mouth formed on its end. It
swallowed the star without pause.
	"HARUKA!"
	"Ryouga!" Nabiki screamed. "We have to get out of here!"
	Ryouga glanced at her. She was backing away, slowly. He began to tighten
his grip on Neptune, ready to leap away again. The woman had gone limp, her eyes
staring deadly at the body of her comrade.
	"You leave..." Aptom said, "And I will kill every human in a two mile
radius."
	Ryouga stopped. Aptom was standing there, his clothes having regenerated
with his body, his arms crossed. Behind him, the body of Uranus lay limp. The
tendril were sinking slowly back into her flesh, until she was left unmarred.
For a moment, when she began to stir, Ryouga felt hope. But then it shattered as
her body changed. Her costume vanished, becoming the same bodysuit the other
Aptom wore even as her body also came to mirror his.
	"Let me down..." Neptune said hollowly. Ryouga did so without thinking.
The woman stood on her feet, her posture strong but her eyes blank. "You,
killed... you killed... YOU KILLED HER!"
	"And I'm going to do the same to you." The new Aptom raised both hands.
"WORLD SHAKING!"
	Ryouga leapt one way and Neptune leapt the other. The coruscating orb
of magical energy blasted a hole into the street, but otherwise did nothing.
That was, until Ryouga saw the first Aptom sprinting towards where Neptune would
land.
	"NO!" he shouted, and his hands snapped out. A dozen buzzing projectiles
spun through the air, passing through Aptom in a dozen places. His body
collapsed to the ground, cleft into chunks. But Ryouga paid, as the second Aptom
snapped out his hand, and a laser shot from his palm. Burning pain erupted from
his chest as he was flung back and through the van Nabiki had been hiding
behind. It exploded as he passed through, and he choked as he was forced to
breath flame for a fraction of a second.
	He groaned and rose to his feet. The front of his shirt was gone, and a
scorch mark had darkened his abdomen. Another second, and it would have burned
through. He ignored the pain and rose to his feet. Nabiki was rushing up to him,
her eyes concerned.
	"DEEP SUBMERGE!"
	Another explosion from behind the van, followed by another. Then a
scream, a woman's scream.
	"No..." Ryouga moaned. He smashed his fist into the ground, cracking it.
Wasn't he good for anything? Couldn't he save one person!?
	"Ryouga, we have to run!" Nabiki was saying. She was holding his
shoulder. "We can't win! I've seen into his mind! He's still toying with us!"
	"You're right, Nabiki Tendo."
	Ryouga pushed Nabiki behind him. Aptom walked through the flames, all
three of him. The one on the left was holding a blade of yellow light. The one
on the right held a hand mirror. The one in the center spoke.
	"I have come for you, today," he explained. "You're too much of a
risk, Nabiki Tendo. The fact I get to kill the man who humiliated me is only a
bonus."
	"Damn you!" Ryouga growled. "I won't let you win!"
	"Ryouga! Don't fight him!"
	"We can't run, Nabiki," Ryouga shot back over his shoulder. "He'll kill
until he's stopped. And if he found us once, he'll find us again."
	"Then..." Nabiki shifted her hand, touching the sword.
	"Ah ah ah!" Aptom sneered.
	Then the ground around them exploded. Ryouga shielded his face as a
dozen tendrils erupted from the ground all around him, waving in the air. Nabiki
gasped and pressed herself against his back, her warm body trembling. Ryouga
stared over the top of his arm, looking at Aptom's feet. He could see it, the
way the soles of his shoes melted into the ground. He could see the earth
twisting around beneath him.
	"I'm the perfect killing machine, Nabiki," Aptom explained. "One touch,
and you die. In the time it would take you to say 'I wish...' your body would be
mine. And my body is everything. This flesh. The rocks beneath me. I can
absorb anything I wish!" He threw back his head, laughing.
	Ryouga grit his teeth, but restrained from summoning his aura with
Nabiki so close. Aptom suddenly stopped laughing, and he looked at them sharply.
"But I don't just want your body, Nabiki. I want everything that is you. These
two... they know something marvellous and fantastic about a friend of yours." He
smiled. "Yes. Once I swallow your soul, I think I shall use that sword of yours
to find this girl Ukyou and perhaps pay her a visit."
	"Ukyou..." Ryouga hissed. What did any of this have to do with Ukyou?
	"But first..." Aptom smiled. "I think I'll play with you." The tendrils
shrank back, disappearing into the street once more. "Come at me, boy. Bring
everything you have."
	Ryouga needed no more invitation.

*

	The woods were dark, filled with a thick mist that clung to the trunks
of the trees like shrouds. Dark shapes moved among the trees, moaning, grasping,
endlessly hungry. Ukyou moved among them like a ghost. None of them saw her;
none of them even noted her passage.
	Hotaru was far from the camp. The swamp they were in abutted a mountain,
and the place Hotaru was was under the shadow of that mountain. Aaron felt
something familiar as he approached. It was an energy, like chi, but different.
It was pure in a way normal chi was not. It was cold, focused, intense... like
wind chi without any sort of balance. Whatever it was, it was next to Hotaru.
	Ukyou stopped just short of the clearing. Aaron enhanced their eyes,
their ears. It was a simple trick now. The clearing was almost eight meters
across, an irregular circle with moss-shrouded limbs stretching over it from
three directions and a wall of craggy rock leaning over it from the other.
	Rose stood there, her back to the rock. She was tall and regal, the very
picture of exotic beauty. Her long purple hair flicked restlessly in the slight
breeze, her scarf hung limply around her neck. One delicately manicured hand
rested on the shoulder of Hotaru. It did not hold her, but the restraint was
obvious.
	Hotaru was standing, looking forlornly up into the sky. The full moon
shone down from overhead, a beam of moonlight cutting through the only opening
in the dense canopy and haloing the two of them in it. The light caused Hotaru's
expressive purple eyes to shine softly as if from within.
	For a moment, Ukyou looked up, wondering what could hold Hotaru's
attention so. Aaron gasped softly. The moon... was vanishing. A sliver of
darkness crept slowly across its face, too slowly for the human eye to really
follow. But he was certain that earlier it had been full and now it was half
gone. And he felt something, a terrible tension. It was like the force of two
magnets, placed too close together, pushed and pushed despite their tendency to
repel, until the magnets shattered.
	"Powerful, isn't it?" Rose said into the empty air. Ukyou held her
position, trying her best to blend into the shadows. Rose couldn't have detected
her, could she? But where was Pluto? The two would never be that far from each
other. "You can sense the power up there. And I can sense it too. I wouldn't be
able to, except for the child. I can sense the darkness inside her. It is
responding to it, rising up to it, calling it. It has a terrible purpose." Rose
paused. "I can see why Pluto thinks she has to die. Sailor Saturn has the power
to unmake the world. One sweep of her Silence Glaive, just bringing it from the
sky to the earth, and all life here perishes." Ukyou said nothing. "This is what
Sailor Saturn was meant to fight. The darkness that is coming with that dark
moon. The darkness that grows even stronger now, far across the other side of
the world. Even if she weren't tainted, she would not hesitate to destroy the
world to stop evil. That is, after all, her purpose. The reason she was
created."
	"Leave her alone!" Ukyou cried out, unable to restrain herself further.
Hotaru was looking up at the gypsy woman, her face placid. But her eyes...
Hotaru knew what Rose was saying. And she was dangerously close to believing it.
If that happened, then all hope was lost.
	Aaron felt it a fraction of a second too late. The world around him
seemed to buckle and flow. It was like everything around him was slowing down,
while anything further away sped up. Time, he realized suddenly. She hid
herself in time. Even as he thought of it, he could see the weave of the magic,
how it knit a bubble in reality, a bubble in which time flowed the way Pluto
wished it to. A bubble separate from the rest of the world, something that
flickered in and out so fast he could not have sensed it. Then she was behind
him.
	Ukyou cursed herself for a fool. She had fallen right into the trap.
Hotaru had not been the bait, Rose's words had been. They only needed to know
where she was. She was trying to dodge, to pull her head down and away, but she
felt the strangely warm end of the time staff press flush against the back of
her head. There would be no avoiding this, no surviving it.
	Aaron screamed inside. It couldn't end like this! Hotaru needed them!
Ranma needed them! They couldn't die yet!
	And Pluto gasped, the staff suddenly quivering in her grasp. For a
fraction of a second, it moved a little away from Ukyou's head. The blast that
would have ended her never came. "Uranus... Neptune... no..." Pluto murmured.
	Then Ukyou's elbow caught her in the gut. Her words turned into an
explosive breath as the air blasted violently from her lungs. Ukyou's other hand
came up, catching onto the time staff. It felt warm, timeless and mighty. Aaron
ignored the feeling. Using his shoulder as a pivot, he yanked, pulling Pluto
from her feet. The stubborn Senshi refused to let go of her talisman until it
was too late.
	As Pluto flew up, Ukyou fell down and kicked with both legs. She caught
the green-haired woman in the back as she passed. The added movement flung her
through the air, straight at Rose. Rose had a choice: strike at Ukyou while she
was vulnerable, catch the plummeting Pluto, or restrain Hotaru.
	Ukyou screamed as the blast of soul power smashed into her side. It
burned up her chest, sending tendrils of icy pain shooting through her brain far
out of proportion to any injury the blast had caused. Ukyou crashed into a tree,
and it shook but remained standing. Rose was not so lucky: the impact with Pluto
had knocked them both to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
	Aaron grimaced and focused, and with a single sharp thought he focused
his chi through his void chakra. Just like he had once done to his hearing, his
sense of touch turned off like he had flicked a switch in his mind. The pain and
discomfort vanished. Ukyou seized the chance. She rebounded from the tree,
catching her feet instantly.
	Rose would have expected the attack to cripple Ukyou for longer. Ukyou
knew she had put more emphasis on the pain than on the physical impact this
time. It was an attack that had been meant to make sure she didn't escape. But
Ukyou had no intention of escaping. It was time to end this.
	Hotaru was in danger. Ranma was in danger. People were dying, every
second. No more. Once and for all, this was the last time she and Sailor Pluto
would face each other. Too many lives hung in the balance for Ukyou to let this
happen again!
	Rose extracted herself from Pluto with grace. She floated to her feet,
her shawl clutched in one hand. Her eyes widened as she saw Ukyou charging her.
Ukyou briefly saw her own form, her coat flowing behind her like a shadow,
reflected in the other woman's eyes. Her hand came up, and she slashed with her
shawl. The thin fabric glittered with psychic power, and Ukyou leapt up, over
it.
	They had no chance of beating Rose head on. She was just a level above
Ukyou. But Ukyou's target was not Rose. She spun in the air, planting her feet
against the rocky cliff. For a moment she hung there, in defiance of gravity,
like a fly on the wall. Then Rose was spinning around. Her shawl came up in a
long arc. The gypsy had filled it with tremendous power. It sang through the
air, glittering like a beam of light. Ukyou dropped and the shawl slashed
through the rock just above her head.
	The cliffside exploded in the wake of Rose's attack. Rock dust and
debris showered down and for a moment all Ukyou could see was darkness. She knew
some of the debris was hitting her, maybe even doing damage, but she felt
nothing. But Aaron could see. He could feel the position of everyone. He dashed
forward, pressed low to the ground.
	There was a blast behind them as Rose fired blindly into the concealing
dust cloud. But Ukyou ignored her. She emerged from the cloud with one hand
already outstretched. Pluto was just getting to her feet. Her red eyes flashed
wide, then Ukyou latched onto her shoulder like a vise. She cried out, and Ukyou
spun around her. Her free hand flashed out, and there was a flash of silver in
the vanishing moonlight.
	She stood up, holding Pluto in front of her. The razor-thin edge of her
throwing spatula brushed lightly against Pluto's neck. The woman stiffened. Rose
turned to face them, her expression calm. Ukyou backed up a step, keeping Pluto
between them.
	"You think this will stop me?" Rose asked.
	"You aren't firing," Ukyou replied grimly. "You could blow a hole right
through her body. Compared to us, Sailor Pluto is fragile." Ukyou chuckled
darkly. "But that wouldn't take me out. You might wish it, but you can't kill me
in one shot, can you?" Rose's eyebrow twitched, but her expression remained calm
and calculating. "And you just saw that I can resist your pain trick. There's no
guarantee that you could incapacitate me long enough to deliver a killing blow.
With Pluto dead, I might just get away. And then what?"
	Rose paused a long instant. "You're right," she said slowly, her voice
level. "I can't risk it." Then she raised her hand, and gestured toward herself
briskly. Hotaru flew from the woods, and jerked to a halt in mid-air. She
hovered there, above the forest floor, surrounded by a nimbus of purple light.
Her expression was a grimace of pain.
	"LET HER GO!" Aaron roared.
	"Why?" Rose asked, as if she genuinely expected an answer.
	Aaron was about to answer when he felt a surge of power in Pluto. He
snarled and pressed the blade against her throat just enough to draw blood.
"Don't even think it," he warned her in a whisper. "I can feel your power now.
If you try anything stupid..." He trailed off. He really had no idea what he
would do if she tried anything stupid. Could he kill her? Just lop her head off
like she was a doll? The thought revolted him, revolted them both.
	"She won't let the girl go," Pluto said softly. "And you know why."
	"Damn you..." Ukyou hissed. "Why do you have to be so stubborn? Can't
you just leave me alone!"
	"I can't." Pluto closed her eyes. "You know I can't. And you know why,
too." Neither of them answered. "You can tell what's happening now, can't you?
You know all about the prophecy... but more importantly, you BELIEVE now, don't
you?"
	"Shut up!" Aaron growled. Ukyou looked at Rose. "Let Hotaru go," she
ordered in a voice as icy as she could.
	"Or what?" Pluto asked. "You'll kill me? I don't think you have it in
you, Ukyou." The words stunned them both, and they almost lost their grip...
almost. "Surprised? I know you're a decent person, Ukyou. Even if sometimes you
don't believe it yourself. I've watched you. I can't always see your present,
but I can always see your past. I've watched each of your battles, each of your
struggles, over and over again. I've watched you gain friends and lose them.
I've watched you save lives, and end them. I know your heart, Ukyou. Maybe
better than you know it yourself."
	Aaron wanted to yell at her to shut up again, but the words wouldn't
come out. He could only listen, as Pluto's voice slowly grew in strength and
conviction. "You've seen it, the future. But not in some prophecy, not in some
dream. You've seen it in yourself. You know you can't fight it. You want to, but
it's Destiny. It is the hand of God. Oh, you know how this will all end, Ukyou.
You won't just snap one day. You won't watch horror after horror until your mind
simply can't take any more. This doesn't end with Hotaru's death, or Ranma's
death or Akane's death and you going insane and deciding to end the world.
	"It erodes you, from the inside. It wears you down, this world. You're
like a mighty stone in the path of a raging river. Every day a little bit more
of your morality wears away. A little bit more of the person you are vanishes
and you can't get it back, no matter how hard you try. It won't happen today, or
tomorrow, or probably for several decades, maybe even millennia. But it will
happen. You know it will."
	"That isn't true..."
	"Why do you think you came here, Ukyou?" Pluto continued mercilessly.
"Why are you fighting these monsters? You know that this battle is meaningless.
You can't defeat them. This battle itself... it means nothing! All you can do is
survive, Ukyou. If you kill every vampire here today, destroy every ghoul, it
will mean nothing."
	"Stop..."
	"You can't bring yourself to do what's right. That's why you're here.
You looked down at Vega's body and you realised you had it in you. You had been
clutching to that one belief so hard, that when it fell out from under you, you
gave up inside. You knew you could not win against Destiny. You had it in you to
do anything, even those things you swore to yourself you wouldn't do. Even those
things you knew you couldn't do. But you don't have the strength to put an end
to it."
	"Please stop..."
	"So you came here. You choose a battle you couldn't hope to win, against
an enemy that would not hesitate to kill you. You want to die, Ukyou. You want
to find an enemy who will kill you. One that will end your threat to the world.
That's why you came here. That's why you let Zoicite go, so that the Dark
Kingdom would come after you too. That's why you took me hostage."
	Aaron stiffened, but said nothing.
	"You did it because you know there is no way out of this for you. Rose
won't let you go, even if she does have to kill me. You can feel her soul - you
know she doesn't have the passion to care about me that way. She'll decide on
the needs of the many over her own preferences. No... you want to end this, and
you want us to do it for you. The only thing you want out of this, is the girl."
	Ukyou was shaking her head, but she couldn't deny it. She just... she
couldn't.
	"And if you let me go... if you do that, I will order Rose to let the
girl go. We'll even take her safely back to Ranma. He and Minako and the paper
woman can take care of her. I won't harm a hair on her head, Ukyou. All you have
to do, is surrender."

*

	The phone snapped closed with a dull snap. Akane glanced up at Akira,
who was looking down at the cellphone with an intense frown. One of the girl's
heavy boots was resting on top of her helmet, which had been placed on the
ground in front of them. Akane herself was leaning against the railing, holding
the two frozen treats.
	She felt oddly prosaic, standing here next to a park holding snocones.
The people were gathering now. The moon was drifting ever closer to the sun.
Vendors had set up stands, pitching everything from food to special eclipse-
themed toys.
	"Who was that?" Akane asked.
	"Mr. Kunikida," Akira explained. She slipped the phone into one of the
pockets of her nearly skintight riding leathers. Now that Akane looked closer,
she could see the hints of Akira's feminine curves, but the thick leather and
the spikes and the skulls emblazoned on it effectively hid her gender. In fact,
if you didn't look at Akira's delicate features and cute bob-cut you'd be hard-
pressed to guess the truth. "I was informing him that I wouldn't be able to
patrol today."
	Akane blinked. For a moment, she was struck by the startling similarity
between this girl and Ukyou. Not just the way both could pass so convincingly as
men, often more convincingly than some men Akane knew. Her posture and her tone
were also, for a brief moment, strikingly familiar. She had that same weary
gruffness to her voice. She had that same guarded humour in her expressions.
	Then, in an instant, it was gone. Akira was smiling and grabbing her
snocone. She swallowed the entire thing with one gulp. Akane stared. Akira
smiled back. Then her face turned slightly blue and her smile faltered slightly.
	"Good..." she said, her teeth chattering.
	"Right..." Akane took a bite of her own. "Thanks for the help."
	"Anytime!" Akira kicked her helmet into the air and caught it on one
finger. She skipped a little bit out from the fence. "So, where are we going,
anyway?"
	"I'm not quite sure..." Akane looked down at her half-eaten treat,
shrugged and tossed it towards a nearby garbage can. Akira intercepted it,
giving Akane a reproachful look. Akane gestured for her to finish it, and Akira
did so. "With Ukyou gone, my plan is kind of shot."
	Akira made a low sound of agreement, nodding despite her teeth
chattering. "At least I'm certain she'd be more than willing to help," she
offered cheerfully. "Given how much she told me about you, kept on referencing
your training when we were trying to study together, and... uh..." She trailed
off. "Well, I think, that is... she really regretted that things didn't turn out
better between you two."
	Akane nodded. "Yeah, me too..." She started walking, idly choosing a
direction that would lead them back to Chris's safehouse. "I think I'm beginning
to get over how she lied to me..."
	"She must have had a good reason," Akira asserted.
	"Yeah," Akane replied with wry amusement. "She wanted to make sure me
and Ranma wouldn't get married."
	Akira stopped dead in her tracks. "Uh..." Akane looked at her. "I
thought you said that whole boyfriend thing was a trick..."
	"Because she likes Ranma, dummy."
	"Oh..." Akira chuckled and rubbed her neck. "That makes sense! After
all, while Ukyou may dress and ACT like a boy... she certainly doesn't...
eheh... you know..." She dissolved into bouts of nervous laughter.
	They walked on in silence for a few more minutes, each lost in their own
private thoughts. Akane couldn't help but think about how strange things had
turned out. Not only with herself, but with Ukyou as well. And Ranma. And Ran...
	"Ran..." Akane sighed.
	"You knew her?" Akira asked.
	"I... briefly," Akane responded after a moment. "She... was nice." It
was hard to believe that someone she knew was dead. Even if Akane was becoming
intimately familiar with death. It seemed to linger everywhere now, just out of
sight. It was like that strange sense of purpose she had been feeling all day.
If there was anyone who should have been able to face death, it was her. She HAD
been dead. She had passed over and felt... something. Something humbling. The
thought of other people facing that filled Akane with a kind of nameless emotion
that caused the hairs on the back of her neck to rise.
	"You could go after her."
	"What was that?" Akane only realised she had been walking for a long
time, staring at the ground, when Akira snapped her out of it.
	"You should go after her," Akira reiterated. "If you still have any pull
with Chris, convince him to go to England with you." She paused, rolling her
helmet back and forth between her palms. "He doesn't even have to know why, if
you don't tell him."
	Akane blinked. "Akira, that's a great idea!" She pumped her hand once.
"Even if Ukyou acts like a bitch sometimes, she has a habit of... knowing what
to do." She nodded to herself. "She was right about him, at least partially.
They may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but they were friends once. Or at
least, that dead guy Aaron was Chris' friend..."
	"Who?" Akira asked sharply, but Akane ignored her.
	"If I can just convince Ukyou to get over her irrational hatred of him,
maybe she can get him to see what a monster Pink is!"
	"Wait, Akane..."
	"I bet Ukyou can even think of something we can do about her, too."
	Akane
smiled and increased her pace.
	"Akane, I really think..."
	"It'll work, Akira. He DID promise to do anything I say, so this should
be a snap. You worry too much."
	"No, Akane." Akira grabbed her shoulder and dragged her to a stop. Akane
blinked and looked around. There was a crowd in front of them, blocking their
path. They looked like high school students, with the occasional adult mixed in.
"I think we have a problem." Akira gestured over her shoulder, and Akane saw a
similar crowd catching up behind them.
	And in the side streets, more of them. And more still. There were
hundreds of them. They were all staring at the two girls. Their eyes were
intense, focused and dangerous. But that wasn't what disturbed Akane most. They
were all smiling. Not menacing grins or lustful leers, but happy complacent
smiles. She'd seen those smiles before.
	"I think I have a solution, over."
	Akane's eyes narrowed and her head snapped up and to the side. Pink
stood on the edge of the rooftop, her arms dangling loosely at both sides. Two
students were kneeling on the edge facing Pink. One was a girl with short brown
hair held back by a headband, wearing a uniform like all the other girls except
for her fingerless orange karate gloves. She was looking down at Akane and Akira
with the same blissful smile and intense stare as the rest of the mob. The other
was a much taller boy with neat reddish-blonde hair and an immaculate white
uniform that did not match any of the others. Pink was running a hand through
his hair, like you would a dog.
	"Kyosuke! Hinata!" Akira shouted. She took a step forward and Akane
barred her path with one arm.
	"I don't think that would be a good idea..." Akane advised, her voice
frosty. She was glaring up at Pink.
	Pink smirked, her gaze sweeping away from Akane and settling on Akira.
She looked the other girl up and down for a moment. "Ah, Akira Kazama. What a
coincidence! I was just about to go looking for you and your friends next,
over."
	"What did you do to them?" Akira demanded, but Pink's attention had
already left her.
	"Oh, Akane, setting up a little conspiracy, are we?" Pink tsked, waving
a finger on her free hand chidingly. "I know what you're thinking, Akane.
'Didn't she say she didn't care what I did?' Well, you're right." Pink laughed.
"I lied. I was planning on killing you anyway, and under the circumstances I
feel no need to waste such a marvelous opportunity." Her smile turned suddenly
predatory. "Kyosuke, Hinata, kill them. Make it painful, over."
	"Yes, Mistress Pink," the two said in eerie unison, and rose to their
feet. Overhead, the edge of the sun began to vanish.
	Akane growled and pulled sharply on the cord tying her weights to her
arms. They clattered to the street, and that was the signal for everyone to rush
at her at once.

*

	Chizuru thanked the young woman, who bowed politely and backed out of
the room. The room was well lit, the authentic ricepaper walls were painted with
traditional Japanese watercolors - scenes of rivers, cranes and fishermen,
mostly. The tea was good and the service even better. She inhaled the aroma and
knelt in silence before the low table, wondering what she was doing here.
	Well, she knew exactly what she was doing here. She was responding to a
letter, sent straight to her main offices and addressed to her specifically. It
said, 'I wish to talk to you about Goenitz and the Orochi. Please meet me at the
Green Turtle Tea House at ten o'clock. Thank you.' There were no subtle meanings
or hidden clues. The meaning was obvious, and her showing up was never really in
doubt.
	But hadn't she moved beyond the Orochi now? Pluto and Rose had departed
for parts unknown, and trusted her with a greater task. Haruka and Michiru had a
great destiny. Even if they weren't Sailor Senshi, you could feel it if you were
sensitive to such things. Guiding them and protecting them until they were ready
to accept the mantle fate had thrust upon them was an awesome responsibility. It
was made even harder by the fact that both of them were bound and determined to
fight, to challenge the monsters at every turn.
	Chizuru couldn't fault them for that. She had just been doing her best
to help them learn and develop, to protect them when they needed it. But she
supposed every child had to take steps on their own eventually. That was why she
was here. She could let Haruka and Michiru take care of the demons for one
morning while she dealt with the ghosts of her own past.
	As Chizuru took another sip of her tea, the door slid open almost
soundlessly and a boy stepped in. He was very young, no more then ten. Small and
cute, he had short milk chocolate hair and wore a leather jacket several sizes
too large for him. His jeans and t-shirt fit better, however. He moved like no
boy she had ever seen. There was something unmistakably adult about his
gestures. There was also something wrong with his eyes that Chizuru couldn't
quite pin down.
	He filled her with unease. No, it was something deeper than unease.
Chizuru shifted uncomfortably. Every instinct in her body was screaming for her
to do something. Something NOW. But she couldn't figure out what. So she sat
there, and stared at the boy as he walked over and knelt opposite her. Some
servant closed the door after serving him tea. He didn't so much as touch it.
	"Thank you for coming," he said, giving her a smile meant to break the
ice. His voice had the high pitch of a boy not yet through puberty, and it had a
pleasant musical quality to it. But his tone and expressions were those of a man
much older. Chizuru wanted to stare at him, to try and discern what was wrong.
Instead she took a sip and nodded.
	"I was honoured," Chizuru indicated. "It's not every day I'm invited to
speak with someone with so much knowledge at their disposal."
	He chuckled. "Yes," he said, waving that aside. "You'll have to forgive
my presumptuousness. I make it my business to know as much as possible about all
the important people in Japan. Plus, you are a hard person to get in touch
with."
	"A hazard of celebrity," Chizuru replied dryly. "But my manners desert
me. I am Chizuru Kagura. Pleased to meet you." She bowed slightly.
	He returned the bow. "My name is Chris." Chizuru smiled politely and
waited for him to get to the point. "Right..." he murmured slowly. "Well, I
don't want to take up too much of your time, so I'll get straight to business."
He shrugged a bit, adjusting his jacket. "In fact, I'm here to request your
assistance. I'm being pursued by a man of your acquaintance, one of the Heavenly
Kings of Orochi, Goenitz."
	"Oh?"
	"As you also have a certain hostile interest in him, I was hoping that
we might be able to pool our forces," he finished.
	Chizuru considered his words for a moment. They seemed straightforward
enough on the surface, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to trust
him. It wasn't his appearance. Despite his odd pallor and his expressionless
eyes, he was not that strange. Chizuru herself was familiar with the fact that
children could often act much older than one might expect, having been slightly
precocious herself. Nor was it his proposal. Truth be told, Chizuru may have
accepted a new position, but she had not abandoned her old quest. The Orochi was
one of the things she was certain her charges would have to help deal with. If
doing so led to her getting to watch Goenitz die for what he had done to her
entire clan, so much the better.
	It was that feeling. She tried to pin it down, but it remained elusive.
	"I see..." She drained the last of her cup to buy herself some time. "Do
you mind if I ask why he is pursuing you?"
	Chris allowed an almost cocky smile to cross his features. "That is
something of a tale..."
	Chizuru listened intently as Chris outlined a long and dark story. He
told her how he had awoken in this world trapped in a rotting corpse, how he had
been forced to exchange bodies to avoid the creeping rot. He told her how he had
sworn off killing, and been drawn to a certain woods in a search for a cure for
his condition. There, he had run afoul of Goenitz and the chosen incarnation of
the Orochi on the mortal plane. The boy had been accidentally killed in the
ensuing fight, while Chris had been occupied elsewhere. When his former body had
been destroyed, Chris had been forced to inhabit the incarnation's body, and
discovered he had inherited some of the Orochi power with it. It was easy to
piece together why Goenitz would be so interested in him, from such a story.
	And with each word he said, Chizuru's unease grew. She tried her best to
school her features, but from the way he kept glancing at her and pausing, some
of it must have slipped through. It was like something was missing...
	Exactly like that, she realised suddenly. There was no certainty. The
moment the boy had walked into the room, Chizuru had felt a strange sense of
vertigo, like she was walking a tightrope that stretched off into the distance
with no end in sight. Her entire life, Chizuru had always known that she had a
purpose. With the death of her sister, that purpose had only crystallised. With
Rose's visit, that purpose had changed, but it was still there.
	In fact, it had only grown stronger. Talking to Pluto, teaching the
Outer Senshi, it had all felt so right and good. Like this was part of her
destiny. Sitting here, in this room, she felt like the world was unraveling
around her.
	"Tell me..." Chizuru was surprised at how dry her voice came out. She
cleared her throat, and continued more forcefully. "How long ago, exactly, did
this confrontation with Goenitz happen?"
	"Three weeks ago, give or take..." Chris tapped his cheek. "I've been on
the run so much, I think I lost track of the date there for a few days."
	Three weeks ago.
	The blood drained from Chizuru's face.
	Three weeks ago when she had woken up from a nightmare. Three weeks ago
when the mirror had cracked. Three weeks ago when she had felt a god scream in
mortal terror.
	Chris looked concerned, he leaned slightly over the table. "What's
wrong?"
	And she felt it. The power around him. Pluto and Rose had taught her to
feel it. The wrongness of it. "The end of everything..." she whispered and then
jerked back. She wasn't certain what she was doing, except getting away from
him. She heard more than saw the table tumble to the side as she kicked it away
in her haste. She backed up against the ricepaper wall and stared at him. He was
kneeling there, stunned.
	"Chizuru, don't worry!" he said, trying to appear as small and harmless
as possible. "I have it under control. There's no chance the Orochi is going to
drive me insane."
	Pluto had to know. Chizuru stood up, slowly. Two of them. Pluto was
wrong. She didn't know the truth. There were two of them. God help them all.
	And that thought gave her strength. She took a deep breath. She had a
purpose again. She had to get out of here, and she had to make sure Pluto
learned about this abomination.
	"I'm not worried about that," Chizuru explained coldly, crossing her
arms. "But you will get no help from me." She frowned. "If I thought I could do
it, I would destroy you myself. Now get out of my sight." It was a bluff, but
Chizuru was used to intimidating people who technically had more money, power or
influence than she.
	Chris stood up, his expression a mixture of surprise and anger. "Listen,
Chizuru, let's be reasonable about this."
	"I don't reason with monsters like you and Ukyou." She let her arms drop
and assumed a stance. "However, I'd rather not destroy these expensive
furnishings."
	Chris stared at her for a long moment, his emotionless dead eyes boring
into her. Then his lip twisted into a sneer of disappointment and he left
without a word.

*

	Rip Van Winkle moved through the dark forest at the head of a pack of
ghouls. The battle was nearby, the last of the pathetic human resistance being
crushed like bugs. Even if the Valentine brothers were leading the offence, even
if that abomination Leona was defeating the human super-fighters, she still
found that thought enjoyable.
	But not enough. Her hand clenched around the shaft of her rifle. She had
to find her target. That woman, Ukyou. She mocked her. She had torn Rip's prey
away twice now. She had eluded her, deceived her, played her for a fool. She had
forced Rip to retreat in disgrace. Such insults could not be forgiven. Rip would
find her, and her magic bullet would end that woman's life tonight.
	She grinned. Even if Ukyou could sense it, she knew her magic bullet was
the superior weapon. After all, hadn't Major Krieg himself praised it? Hadn't he
told her it was a fantastic technique? That was why he had taken her with him.
	She had been nothing but a village girl, back then. During the War. Her
people had known nothing of politics or policy. They had merely come when Hitler
had called, like all loyal people should stand for the sake of their country.
All of them but her. She had always been the best hunter in the village. The
best eye. The best shot.
	But the fatherland did not need female soldiers. They had told her that
flat out. And so her brothers, elder, younger, all... had gone off and died on
some meaningless clump of mud trying to invade an arrogant little island nation
called England. And her rage had grown. She had trained. She had decided to show
them all. She had found her final inspiration in an opera, of all places. The
"Freeshooter". A tale of a young hunter and his deal with the demon-worshipper
Caspar to learn the technique of the Magic Bullets. Bullets that could be guided
wherever the shooter wished. But Caspar had betrayed the young man, and meant to
use the bullets to kill a princess and save himself from hell. In the end, true
love won out over all, and Caspar was thwarted. The demon king Zamiel rose from
the underworld, and Caspar was torn apart by wolves.
	Soon after, she had perfected the art of the magic bullet. Then, she had
snuck into the army, meaning to find any excuse, any way to get even with the
English pigs who had butchered her family. Then he had found her. He had seen
through her disguise instantly. And he had smiled, because he saw something
special in her. On that day, the Major had given her a new purpose.
	And she would not fail him now. She would fulfill her mission. She would
find Ukyou and kill her by her own hand!
	"Curse you, Ukyou!" Rip shouted, slashing out and cracking her gun
against a nearby tree. "Come out! Zere is no escape! I vill find you! I vill
KILL you!"
	"Kill her?"
	And suddenly Rip was afraid.
	She turned around, slowly, very slowly. Her fingers rattled. Her knees
shook. Her breath came in sharp gasp. The power she felt... it couldn't exist.
She had felt Leona's power, the unbridled animal chaos of it, but this put the
power of the beast to shame. This power was as primal as a volcano, as deep as
the liquid core of the earth. It was as cruel and merciless as a firestorm.
	She turned around, and saw him. Even though he was standing in shadows,
she could see him clearly. His body was outlined by a thin halo of light, blue-
purple St. Elmo's fire that traced the shape of his body. He wore a red uniform,
military cut with thick black boots and cuffs on the sleeves. The fabric
strained to contain his massive bulk, a wall of muscle that rippled visibly with
every breath he took. Over his shoulder he wore a velvet cape, which swirled in
the fog behind him, vanishing into the darkness. On his head was a cap with a
skull-on-wings emblem, the brim tilted so that the top half of his square-jawed
face was cast into shadow. Out of that shadow burned two blue sparks. His eyes,
a part of Rip vaguely realised.
	"Zamiel..." Rip breathed.
	Her ghouls moaned and charged the man, her control of them having
slipped. He didn't take his eyes from her. He didn't so much as blink. The
ghouls just vaporised, vanishing into swirls of purple flame that left nothing
behind, not even ash.
	"You mentioned Ukyou," the man said softly. "Tell me where she is?"
	"I... I..."
	His eyes narrowed dangerously and before Rip knew it, his hand was
around her throat. The fire of his aura burned into her, but her flesh was
unharmed. The pain raced into her mind, into her soul. She wanted to scream, but
could draw no breath. She felt him, his aura, leaking into her, burning a tight
beam straight into her mind. She couldn't keep him out. Sooner ask her to blot
out the sun.
	"You were going to kill her, weren't you." It wasn't a question. "But
that is not my will." He raised her up. "Your mind is so weak, so open. You
believe so fervently in your Major, don't you?" He grinned. It was a grin full
of malevolent joy, sheer insane glee. "Even now you are praying for him to save
you. To send help." He shook his head. "You foolish vampires, so petty. Your
ambitions, so shallow and meaningless." He turned and began to float through he
trees. "Allow me to demonstrate the futility of resisting my will."
	The world seemed to rip apart. One moment, she was floating along in his
grip, then the world and everything in it was gone. She floated in a sea of fire
and pain. Her world was lines of blue-purple light. She knew, instinctively,
that she was in his world now, the part of it he had claimed for himself. Then
she was back in the real world, with its cool, comforting mist and stable up and
down. Best of all, the fire in her mind was gone. He still held her, but only to
restrain her. There was no burning, unstoppable force beating at her psyche
anymore.
	They had appeared floating above the clearing. The battle rolled and
shifted below them. On one side of the field, the Hellsing witch and her vampire
flunky and some normal humans fought the Valentines. The humans were dying,
slowly, but the strength of Alucard's spawn and a small girl that fought with
her kept them from being overwhelmed. On the other half, three humans fought the
vampire Leona. She was a force of destruction, her movements crisp and brutal as
she beat down at the three of them. The short girl in the red shirt held her at
bay, while the other two tried to strike... but they were losing. Rip could see
this clearly.
	"That..." The man pointed at Leona. "That is a power your Major barely
understands. To him, it is but a weapon. Her kind may be a supervampire, her
blood may let him drown the world in flames and chaos." His pointing hand
uncurled the other fingers until he had a palm open towards the girl now. "That
power is nothing. I fought a man who claimed it could defeat me. He had one eye,
and this same power raged in his blood. It was too awesome for his frail body to
withstand, but he used it against me because he knew I would destroy him
otherwise. It was not enough." A tiny ball of purple light popped into existence
in front of his palm. A line of blue light shot from the sky, intersecting the
orb as it grew marginally bigger. Then another, and another. For an instant,
all action on the ground ceased. Everyone could feel it. Even those dead to such
things, even those blind to the power of the human spirit, could sense this. It
shot straight into some primitive reptile brain instinct. "I... I am Bison, and
I am the only power that will control this Earth!"
	The orb suddenly trebled in size, becoming as large as a medicine ball.
It shot forth from his hand like a rocket. The air screamed in protest. Leona
hissed and leapt to the side, and for a moment it looked like she would clear
the attack. Then it erupted into an explosion almost five meters across, then
another, and another. A series of blasts, each larger and more destructive than
the last, ripped apart the ground, sending loam and rock flying in all
directions. For a moment there was only the sound of the explosions.
	Then the flashes cleared from Rip's vision. She looked down. The only
thing left of Leona was an outstretched hand, the rest of her body having
vanished just past her elbow. Steam rose up from the severed limb. The three
women who had been fighting her were scattered across the ground moaning;
alive, but scorched and steaming from their proximity to the blast.
	"That is my Psychopower," Bison informed her. He snapped his fingers and
shadows emerged from the trees. Rip saw they were women, all of them young and
all of them with stunning figures. They wore skin-tight black leotards with
jaunty little yellow neckties. "Find the one called Ukyou. The others I do not
care about," he yelled over the clearing.
	Bison spun Rip around to face him. The hand not clutching her neck
reached up and grabbed her musket. It shattered at his slightest touch. Then he
touched her arms, each in turn. She felt the bones crumble in her flesh. She
whimpered, unable to scream due to the death grip he had on her throat. "Now go.
Crawl back to your master. Tell him Bison has claimed these humans for himself.
They are not for him."
	And he dropped her.

*

	Nabiki's mouth was dry. Her knees were weak. Her palms were cold and
sweaty. She knew the signs of terror well now. She had been kidnapped and held
hostage and threatened and shot and chased from her home by monsters. She was
familiar with panic and pain.
	But she had never been so scared in her life. Aptom was a demon. She
could feel them, the revolting emotions of his mind. Anger and jealousy and
hatred and a twisted sort of glee all wrapped around a central core of alien
darkness, a nihilistic impulse that made Nabiki sick just to be near it.
	But she was not only near it, she was inside it. She narrowed her eyes
and focused, willing her way into his alien mind. Surprisingly she found
defenses, for the first time since she had made her wish. His mind was shielded,
blocked from outside interference by some strange protean barrier. Nabiki's mind
slicked along the edges of this barrier, searching for a weakness that wasn't
there.
	Ryouga was fighting all-out. He struck with a speed and ferocity she had
only seen once before, back when he had defended her from Chris. His entire body
was covered in a thick aura of sick green light. The ground he ran across was
pockmarked with craters from where his feet tore gouges in it. The buildings
nearby were shattered and hollow. The eerie light of the half-devoured sun cast
the scene in sharp relief.
	Ryouga had struck first with his umbrella, sinking it into one of the
Aptoms' chest. But the monster had only sneered. Tiny creepers of his alien
flesh had snapped out, sinking into the weapon. Nabiki had screamed a warning,
but Ryouga had already leapt away. A moment later, the beast consumed the
umbrella like it was nothing.
	Ryouga had been trying everything, his attempts growing more desperate
with each exchange. His belt could slice them in two, but that only slowed the
triplets down. His bandanas barely slowed them. He grabbed lampposts, signs,
cars and chunks of walls, using them to bludgeon or drive back the three
monsters. Aptom never even stopped grinning.
	'Behind you!' Nabiki warned him telepathically. Ryouga got the perfect
impression of the Aptom reaching for his shoulder. He ducked under the blow,
spinning and landing on his back. Both hands thrust upward and with a roar he
unleashed the full power of his Shishihokodan. It vaporised the Aptom from the
waist up, but Ryouga was not finished. He yanked his hand down, dragging the
glowing sphere behind his palms. It crashed down into the sidewalk with a
deafening roar, the legs of the monsters disintegrating under the pressure.
	Aptom clapped as Ryouga rolled away, coming up breathing heavily. Nabiki
could sense Ryouga's desperation, his fatigue. It wouldn't be long now. It would
already have been over, had Aptom been going all out.
	"Damn you!" Ryouga screamed. He reached over, grabbing a van four times
his size with one hand. "WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE!" Ryouga spun, pulling all his
weight and strength into the effort. He flipped the van forward, towards the duo
of Aptoms. They only watched, smirking.
	'Ryouga!' Nabiki prompted mentally. 'The gas tank!'
	Ryouga received her mental instructions perfectly. He continued his
roll, and came up flinging one of his bandana's. It snapped through the van like
the van wasn't even there. A second later amber liquid began to pour out of it.
The Aptoms narrowed their eyes as it came crashing down on top of them.
	Nabiki was moving as quickly as she could. Her free hand came up, and
with a flick she snapped the lighter she kept in her pocket to life. It spun
towards the van and Nabiki held her breath. Please don't miss, she prayed
silently to whoever was listening.
	And it didn't. Just as the two monsters caught the van in their arms,
her lighter fell into the waterfall of gasoline. The van went up like a new
year's bonfire, flames exploding along its entire length in a second. The Aptoms
screamed as the fire raced down their bodies, consuming them.
	Ryouga relaxed, but Nabiki only stiffened. She did not feel pain from
Aptom. She felt amusement. And it was coming from all around them. Nabiki
informed Ryouga of this and he stood up slowly, looking around.
	The crowd was watching them silently, police and civilians that had been
forced out of their homes or otherwise drawn. They were all smiling, the same
menacing grin that Aptom always wore. One of them, a young woman, spoke with his
voice.
	"Did you really think it would be so easy to kill me?"
	"I am anyone I want to be," another said.
	"I am anywhere I want to be," a third said.
	"I am anything I want to be," this voice came from a nearby storefront
as the face of Aptom emerged from the wall.
	"You cannot defeat me, you cannot even hope," all the voices said in
unison. Nabiki fell to her knees, covering her ears and screaming. Ryouga placed
himself over her. She could feel something from him... something she didn't want
to register. "I think I've taught you enough about humility. Now... both of you,
prepare to die!"
	Nabiki had no other choice. She closed her eyes and let loose with all
her power. She had no idea what she was doing, or how. But she was not going to
die here! She would win this game! She gathered up every bit of her will and
lashed out in all directions, and the barriers of thought around her crumbled.
	Aptom's mind became an open book to her. She could see into the depths
of him. She could see everything that had led him to where he was. Down inside
him, she felt that part of him that was human struggling against the demon
Matsudaira had implanted within him. She knew the true Aptom would win in time,
absorb the monster into his being just as he had absorbed everything else. But
even if he won, it would be no help for them. Aptom himself was insane, a
product of year after year of abuse and the worst kind of enslavement. He felt
nothing but depression and rage. He wanted nothing more than to lash out against
those he judged responsible.
	But far worse was Ryouga's mind. Because she felt the same sort of
depression inside him. The same sort of need to lash out. Nabiki choked down her
own bile. She knew that she was responsible for that. It was her lies. It was
her desire to turn him into her slave. She had found something good and noble
about him and twisted it around her finger.
	Ryouga twitched. He turned his eyes down towards her. Nabiki's eyes
widened. "No..." she whispered.
	But then there was no time. Aptom was coming in towards them, from all
sides. Nabiki forced thought from her mind, and let herself serve as a conduit.
She could see Aptom's every thought, experience his every plan and strategy.
Even as he decided to strike here and there Nabiki knew it. And through her, so
did Ryouga.
	He dodged and weaved, avoiding attacks before they happened. He struck
back, his aura flaring and blasting. Bodies tumbled around him, trees and stones
and other shapes broke against his fury. He was one step ahead of the monster,
his aura held tight against his skin, the only barrier between him and the
thing's deadly touch. But there was nothing between him and Nabiki. She could
not hold back. Perhaps if she had been more skilled, more comfortable with her
new powers, she could have held some part of herself back. But she had to let
him see everything, learn everything even as she herself did. It was the only
thing keeping them both alive.
	Even it wasn't enough. Ryouga was tired. His energy was spent. He was
fighting on sheer willpower now, and even that drained away with every strike.
Aptom closed in from all sides, his bodies mutated and monstrous. Every sort of
horror from their nightmares was on display. reaching and grasping and striking.
Ryouga carried her in one arm, dancing between them. He leapt away as the ground
turned into a mass of writhing tentacles. He bounced off a car moments before it
grew giant hands that grasped at him. He came down in the center of them,
roaring and blasting outward.
	The explosion sent dozens of the creatures flying, dozens more were
vaporised instantly. Ryouga knelt in the center of a five meter wide crater, his
fist just touching the epicenter. He was spent. There was simply nothing left to
give.
	And as the sun vanished, and the entire world was plunged into twilight,
the shadows of Aptom fell over them. Nabiki fell as Ryouga released her.
By some miracle, he rose to his feet. Nabiki could sense his plan forming.
	"NO! Ryouga!" Nabiki screamed.
	"What do you care?" he shot back.
	"There has to be another way!" she said, and she realised she was
crying.
	"Another way..." Ryouga chuckled grimly. "No, Nabiki. This is it." He
looked at her, and in his face Nabiki saw nothing but hatred. He knew everything
now. Every lie and every scheme. "This is what you wanted, right? Somebody who
would die for you. Isn't it!"
	"Not like this," Nabiki's face fell. "I never meant for this to
happen... I never thought..." Hot tears fell from her cheeks onto her hands.
	"I wish you could get what's coming to you," Ryouga spat. "But I saw him
too. I saw him through you. He has to be stopped."
	Ryouga didn't say another word. He merely started walking up the side of
the crater. The Aptoms waited for him. Nabiki clenched her hand around the
wishing sword. The ground around her pulsed. Tendrils like veins throbbed all
around her. Aptom would not let her save him. Her mouth filled with a bitter
taste as she bit her tongue. She withdrew from Aptom, from Ryouga, from
everything until the only thing left was her.
	Ryouga was going to die for her. Even after everything she had done. He
would die for her. She stared up at him. She had to stop this.
	One Aptom had assumed his true form. He waited for Ryouga calmly. Ryouga
threw wide his arms and his aura dimmed, vanishing completely. The Aptom
laughed. "Yes boy, surrender is your only option!"
	The thing lashed out faster than Nabiki's eyes could follow. Its palm
struck Ryouga just over the heart and Ryouga screamed. It was a sound that
Nabiki knew would haunt her nightmares forever. Ryouga continued screaming as,
with a wet sucking sound, Aptom tore out his soul. Then, and only then, did
Ryouga fall silent. Aptom grinned as he held up the glittering multi-faceted
crystal star.
	"Ah, sweet revenge," he murmured. The star began to vanish as the
tendrils of Aptoms being coiled around and through it. Then they stopped as
Ryouga's hands snapped up, grasping the star between his palms.
	"You want my soul..." Ryouga's voice was soft, devoid of strength and
hope. His eyes looked up, and they were the eyes of the damned. Aptom had just
enough time to be afraid. "Then eat it all, you bastard! JISATSU BAKUHA!"
	"NO!" Nabiki screamed, even as the world flooded with light. The
explosion was so large, it drowned out sound. It turned night into day. She saw
the shadows of Aptom's horde, desperately running to escape. But this attack was
not physical. This attack was straight into Aptom's soul. Ryouga had known this,
that Aptom would swallow him, and their souls would briefly be connected. He had
taken all his anger and pain and hopelessness with him, directed it into that
abyss and turned it against itself. Aptom's own despair, his own rage only
fuelled the suicide blast. Like a chain reaction, it sprang from body to body,
to the ground, the walls, everything that Aptom had infected burst from inside
as the green light of the ultimate Shishihokodan consumed them.
	But Nabiki was not going to live with this. She would not have his death
on her conscience. She could feel her retinas burning as she stared into the
light, watching Ryouga's body disintegrate. Her hand raised high. The sword
snapped aloft.
	"I WISH HE WOULDN'T DIE!"

*

	The mob fell back after a few moments. They were no threat to Akira, or
Akane. But they just stood there, grinning. It was like they didn't even feel
the blows. Akira had bit her lip and struck back, glad she'd managed to get her
helmet on before the rush had hit. She had tried to go easy on them; most of
them weren't even trained. But her strikes didn't faze them, and she was
seriously debating whether she should step up the violence a notch when they all
suddenly withdrew.
	Now Akira knew why they had rushed. It was simply to keep her and Akane
busy while Kyosuke and Hinata closed in. Both moved steadily forward, their
auras just beginning to register on the naked eye. Akira glanced over at Akane.
The girl had yet to draw her sword. She hadn't even made a move to. She was good
at hand to hand, very good at handling the crowd, but Akira felt she had her
measure.
	She was no match for Kyosuke. She might not even be a match for Hinata.
Akira clenched her fists and made her decision quickly. Akane would just have to
be able to hold her own. There was no way the two of them could fight together
with the kind of skill Kyosuke and Hinata would. They had fought together so
much that it was habit. If Edge or Gan or Daigo had been here, Akira would have
trusted her partner to back her up. But Akane and her would not fight together
smoothly.
	So Akira roared and charged, pushing all her chi into her wind chakra.
Kyosuke was caught off-guard by her rush and she slammed into him like a freight
train. Students flew past them like tenpins as Akira drove them both through the
crowd and into a wall. The wall parted like water and Akira continued running
and pushing. She was halfway through the store when Kyosuke regained his wits.
	His hands came up calmly, grabbed her shoulders and he flipped her off
him with the casual ease he would wipe dirt off his lapel. Akira went through
the wall behind him, and this time she felt the brick and mortar part around her
painfully. She landed in a storage room of some kind. Boxes were piled here and
there. Mannequins were leaning against one wall, looking eerie in the half-light
that crept in through the hole Akira had created.
	She got to her feet slowly. The light dimmed as Kyosuke stepped up to
the hole. He placed one hand on the edge of the wall, and used the other to
adjust his glasses. He was smiling.
	"If you wanted to fight me by yourself, all you had to do was ask," he
said cheerfully. His voiced sounded lighter, brighter than she had ever heard it
before.
	"Kyosuke, you don't want to do this," Akira tried. Akane had explained
about Pink's so-called 'ambrosial thorns', but Akira did not believe her. She
did not want to believe her. She had been forced to fight friends before. She
had seen what people were like when they were brainwashed. Her own brother had
fallen to such mindgames before... but he had been brought back to himself.
	"Yes I do," Kyosuke said with a chuckle. "I have to say, this is
probably the first thing I've wanted to do in my entire life."
	But there was something wrong here. Kyosuke didn't sound brainwashed. He
didn't move like someone whose mind had been defiled. There was no mindless
drone to his voice, no violent intent in his eyes. There wasn't even the
fanatical gleam he had seen in the eyes of the Dolls. No, those eyes belonged to
Kyosuke and Kyosuke alone.
	He came at her quickly, dashing across the room. Akira spun, kicked off
the wall, came down at him with a cry. He caught her shin on his forearm, pushed
her away. She twisted, turning his parry into her punch. He caught her hand. She
twisted again, kicking with the leg that was only now leaving the wall. His head
swayed back. The cleats of her boots scraped along the rim of his glasses. Then
he thrust his hand and she was thrown back against the wall. She caught herself
with one hand, spinning herself so her head was once again aimed upward.
	"You're looking for the secret of what she did, aren't you?" Kyosuke
said. His palm came in, she dodged to the side as it broke open the wall behind
her. "You won't find it, Akira. I can't be 'saved' like that."
	"I refuse to believe it!" Akira stepped into him, her elbow connecting
with his ribs. He fell back, and his legs scissored up, catching her and sending
her into a pile of boxes. She threw them off her and backflipped to her feet.
"You're under her control, can't you see that?"
	The air between them was split by a flash of blue. Akira ran forward,
sidestepping the waves of chi as they cut into floor and ceiling. The air was
filled with ringing and a sudden downpour of water. She caught him with his arms
still extended. Her fist sent him flying into the mannequins.
	"You're wrong, Akira." Kyosuke rose up from the shattered bodies. "She
has set me free!" He leapt onto a mannequin and gestured up sharply. Akira fell
back as lightning suddenly erupted from where she had been. But the blast
sizzled and raced along the floor, spreading in all directions. The water, Akira
realised too late. The electricity hit her soles and she screamed as it ran up
her body.
	It was too diffuse to do any real damage, but it stunned her. He came
in, striking unrelentingly. Her body jerked and twitched as he pounded away, his
body a blur, his arms and legs hitting with impunity. And as he struck, he told
her things.
	"All my life, I've been chained by my own will," he related calmly, even
as his hand nearly dislocated her shoulder. "By my fear, Akira. I've always
known I was different than them, different than my brother, than all the other
children. But I couldn't stand the thought of them hating me. So I hid it,
buried my desires deep down inside." He stopped, holding her briefly. "But you
know all about that, don't you, Akira?"
	"W-what?" Akira coughed out. He threw her back against the wall, boxes
fell in her wake.
	"All about lies, don't you." He smiled. "But while I've been lying to
everyone else, I at least knew what I was inside. I never had a need to wear a
mask, unlike you."
	Kyosuke roared and thrust his hand forward. She deflected it with her
palm, and skidded to the side. "I don't lie to myself, Akira. I know what I am,
and I'm proud of it. I may not have chosen to tell anyone, I may have let my
fear keep me private and alone, but I knew how I felt all along. You... you just
sicken me."
	"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Akira shouted, striking at
him in a sudden fury. He backed up, his blocks and dodges becoming increasingly
desperate. She was like the waves, crashing again and again against him,
steadily wearing down his defenses. Sooner or later, he would slip.
	"Yes you do, Akira," Kyosuke purred, his voice calm even as his defenses
began to crumble. "I've seen the way you react to the boys. I've seen the way
you react to the girls. You think this is all about violence, all about playing
the perfect sister, don't you?" He smirked. "But it isn't. You're afraid of what
you are, of how you feel. How do you really feel about that girl, Ukyou?"
	Akira's heart skipped a beat. Her offence stalled for one split second.
Her defences dropped for the slightest instant. It was enough. Kyosuke's hand
flashed forward. There was a crack, like thunder, and she felt his fingertips
against her forehead. She jerked back, her instincts kicking in at the last
second.
	She fell on her back, scrambling away from him. Her helmet clattered to
the floor on either side of her, split in twain. Kyosuke withdrew his hand.
There was blood on his fingertips. Akira reached up, brushed her forehead. She
could feel the cut there. It was small, but deep. It bled freely.
	Another split second, and he would have cracked her skull just like that
helmet. Another split second and she would be dead.
	"No more masks, Akira," Kyosuke chuckled, and kicked away Akira's helmet
with his foot. "Now it's just you. Just a scared little girl, praying for her
big brother to save her." Akira couldn't speak, she merely backed away. "Praying
for him to save her from the bad men, from the bad feelings she has inside."
	"No..." Akira mouthed.
	"You don't think I haven't listened to him talk?" Kyosuke sneered. "The
'seven correct actions of the upright man' or some such nonsense?"
	He came in at her again, and Akira defended herself mechanically.
Kyosuke was better than her, she knew that. There was no hope for her to defeat
him. She could only delay it, the finishing blow. He had been toying with her
all along. More and more of his blows slipped through, and she felt her body
beginning to break under the onslaught.
	"I bet he had a lot of things to say about women too, about how they
should be." Kyosuke smashed Akira across the face, and she fell to the ground,
stunned. "They shouldn't feel the way you felt, right? They shouldn't like
motorcycles and grease and fighting. They should be there for their men. They
should accept their lot. And they certainly shouldn't stare at the other girls
and blush and think naughty things."
	Kyosuke grabbed Akira, lifting her up. She blinked drunkenly in his
grasp. "And that's the difference between us, Akira. I may have always been
afraid of what I was, about how I felt. I may have hidden my true self from my
brother, I might have let the distance come between us and helped him become a
monster. I may have hidden it from everyone, but never from myself. I was never
ashamed. I was never so sick of being who I was that I created a whole new
identity for myself, to let those feelings out!"
	He slammed her into the ground suddenly, viciously. Akira could only
gasp and moan. He had slammed her right next to the remains of her helmet,
forcing her to look at her own reflection in the cracked mirror visor.
	"THAT is who you are, Akira!" he hissed in her ear. "A scared little
girl, who can't take being what she is. So scared that you made this man, this
biker boy who could fight for you, and say the things you wanted to say but
never could." Kyosuke chuckled gr