|
|
Chapter Two: Youma, Youma Everywhere
Suddenly, across the theatre, an explosion disturbed the battle.
"Halt evil-doer! For interrupting a peaceful afternoon and a Jackie Chan classic I shall punish you! I am Sailor Mars, and I shall punish you in high heels!" came a mysterious voice from the dust and debris across the room.
"Burning Mandela!" Mars screamed, launching multiple rings of flaming destruction at George.
Some of the rings hit George, others hit the walls, about two actually hit Ranma, who had gotten into the way. Spinning around to find out who had hit him with the hot stuff, he spotted the long-legged girl in red high heels, short skirt and white bodice. He spotted the ribbons. He spotted the collar and the tiara. He freaked.
"I didn’t do it! I didn’t do nothin’! It ain’t my fault! HE AIN’T WITH ME!!" Ranma screamed, trying desperately to avoid another fight with some short skirted girl.
"Huh?" Mars replied intelligently, totally confused and feeling quite out of the loop.
George took that momentary lapse in concentration to attack. He lashed out with his tail and knocked to two flying. Spinning back around, he spat some kind of acid at them. It hissed as it struck their clothing and burnt its way through.
Ranma and Mars climbed back to their feet and glared at George. Taking up their stances back to back they began their attack.
"Moko..." Ranma snarled, the ball of confidence energy building in his hands.
"Burning...." Mars chanted, gathering the fiery rings to her.
"TAKABUSHI!"
"MANDELA!"
They released their attacks simultaneously. The Moko Takabushi intertwined and otherwise meshed with the fiery rings as they blasted across to where George stood dumbfoundedly.
The super-powered attack, fueled with each other’s attacks, struck George and blasted him into ashes.
**********
Ranma and Mars stood there for a moment, trying to catch their breath. Finally, Ranma looked over and smirked at Mars.
"That was pretty good... for a girl."
In the distance, he heard oncoming sirens, signifying the pending arrival of the authorities.
"Come on. Let’s get out of here... wait! Rei-san! Where’s Rei-san!" Ranma yelped, racing over to the debris that Mars had come out of and beginning to dig.
Mars hurried over and grabbed his arm. "Come on, Ranma-san! Rei-san’s fine! I saw her leave just as I was coming in! Come ON!"
Ranma looked up at Mars, and his eyes narrowed slightly, but he allowed himself to be hauled from the wreckage of the theatre nonetheless.
**********
A couple of miles away, the two finally stop, feeling free of any possible pursuit where they rested atop a church spire.
"Where’d you learn to fight like that, Ranma-san?"
"I spent my entire life learning to fight. That was nothing. I could have handled him on my own, you know. I was just warming up."
"Oh yeah! Sure you could!" Mars’ voice dripped with sarcasm. "Of course, a simple martial artist could easily defeat a creature that the legendary Sailor Senshi would have trouble with!"
"Sailor Senshi? Never heard of ‘em. Besides, I ain’t no ‘simple martial artist’! I’m the best! I’m the best of the best!" Ranma growled, hitting himself in the chest repeatedly with his thumb. "I’ve faced down the Seven Lucky Martial Artists and won! I killed a GOD! I am the best!"
Mars just stared, "A god?! Yeah right! You could never even stand in the presence of a true god!"
Ranma’s eyes narrowed again. "You ever hear of Phoenix Mountain in China?"
"Phoenix Mountain? Uh.. I heard it blew up a while back. Volcano eruption."
"That was not a volcanic mountain. Phoenix Mountain was blown apart during my battle with Saffron."
"Saffron?"
"The Phoenix. The King of Phoenix Mountain. Whatever. He was effectively immortal. Able to heal himself instantly from anything. I tore him to shreds because he tried to kill Akane."
Mars could only stare, gape jawed.
"I don’t even know why I’m mentioning this to you. You couldn’t even be bothered to tell me the truth about who you were."
"Huh?!"
"Couldn’t even tell me, could you? Your own COUSIN! Why couldn’t you tell me the truth, Rei-san?"
"H-h-how..."
"The aura never changes."
"Huh?"
"A good friend of mine once taught me to look at auras. Every person’s aura is unique. Mine is a brilliant scarlet. Akane’s is royal blue. Yours is a lot like mine, it’s red, only it’s a bit lighter and brighter. Like a neon colour. Exactly like Rei-san."
"But you said that aura’s are unique!"
"Yes I did. You are Rei-san. Rei-san is Mars. Give me a break, Rei. I figured you out. Give up already. The aura gave you away. Besides, I’ve never been introduced to Sailor Mars. I mean, come on! I ain’t STUPID!"
"There’s no way!"
"Rei! GIVE IT UP! You LOST!"
"But... now... now everyone’ll know... we’re all lost..."
"Lost? Everyone’s lost just because I happen to know something? Come off it, Rei! I ain’t gonna tell nobody! That’s not my style! I don’t gossip on people!"
"B-b-but..."
"Hey, look, I’ll tell you my secret!"
"Your secret?!"
"Yeah. You see, while I was training... there was this place called Jusendo. It’s name means cursed springs... Anyways, Pop took me there to train. At first it was easy. Just don’t fall in the springs, right? Well, I kicked Pop a good one, and he fell inta one of the springs. What came out wasn’t Pop... it was a giant friggin PANDA! Anyways, that’s freaked me out, so I wasn’t paying attention. The Panda whacked me a good one and I went flying. SPLASH! I landed inta one of the springs. When I came up, I wasn’t fuzzy or nuthin so I thought I was ok, right? Wrong. Ya see, when I came up, I realized that I was... ya know, missin’ something? The Guide, that was this little Chinese guy that went around gabbling at us about something or another in chinese, well, anyways, he came up and was babblin’ something or another about a nannichaun or something, ya know? Well, turns out that I fell in the spring of drowned girl. Real tragic tale of girl that fell in spring and all. So whenever I get hit with a cold liquid I turn into a girl. A little red head with lots of... uh... talent..."
Mars was trying not to laugh, but she found herself actually believing his outrageous tale. It just seemed to fit in with everything else she had heard about him.
He went on for sometime relating some of his adventures growing up. After awhile, Mars relaxed and let herself fall into a sort of trance. She glanced over at Ranma after a while, allowing herself to see him with her inner eye.
What she saw shocked her.
Instead of Ranma sitting there on the spire, she saw an older man, but still young, sitting in his place. This older man was dressed in intricate golden armour and wore a golden sword belted to his hip with golden belts. Everything about him was golden, except for his tan skin, wild black hair tied back in a braid, and deep blue eyes. On the front of his armour, there in the middle of his breastplate was a strange symbol that she didn’t recognize at all. This man looked at her with a strange sort of affection that almost made tears come to her eyes.
She was beginning to understand that earlier touch of déjà vu now, thanks to a touch of second sight.
**********
A few minutes after that, Mars made her excuses and leapt away into the darkening night. She had to talk to someone. Who knew? Maybe Luna or Artemis could help.
**********
Luna and Artemis sat quietly and listened as Rei related her rather odd tale to them as best she could.
For a time afterwards, they talked quietly between themselves, then, finally, they came back over to Rei to offer what they knew.
**********
"We’ve been thinking about what you said, Rei. And quite frankly, there’s only one possible answer to this." Luna began.
"Really! We think that this Ranma fellow could quite possibly be the reincarnation of the Phoenix Prince! He was quite a helpful ally to have around!" Artemis broke in.
"Artemis! Anyways, Rei, the Phoenix Prince was your elder brother Shima. He had been groomed from birth to take over the War Throne from his father, but then the Phoenix came and chose him to be his Champion Among Mortals. Then he couldn’t be the War Throne’s Heir-Apparent. So that title was passed to you, his only true sibling."
"Ya know, I never though that Serenity-sama sent Shima along with everyone, Luna. That’s why I never bothered to look for him."
"Well, I don’t see why he couldn’t have been sent forwards. He was the Phoenix’s Champion after all. The Phoenix was certainly powerful enough to send one soul forward after all."
"That’s great! So, what do we do now? Introduce you and let you perform a lunar mind meld or something?"
"No, Rei. Nothing quite so simple as that."
"What Luna’s getting at, Rei, is that Shima was never a part of the Lunar Soul. Our mind meld wouldn’t work. No, Shima, or rather Ranma, was, is, a part of the Phoenix. He is the Phoenix Prince, the Champion Among Mortals. Only fire and death can rebirth the Phoenix. Only fire can bring back the memories of the Phoenix Prince. Only death can complete the process."
"So you’re saying..."
"That you must set Ranma ablaze with your Mystic Fires, Rei."
"What?! No! That’d kill him!"
"Rei! There’s no choice! It’s either that or let Chaos corrupt him! Would you rather lose him forever?!"
Rei can only sigh as she walks away disheartened from the discussion and consequent orders.
End Chapter Two