Insertion Part 21: The Best Made Plans... by Sean D'Anna ===== "What are you doing?" muttered the golden haired youma as she walked up to her dark haired companion. "Ah, Tochi. Are you well?" said the young boy as he turned to face her. He was sitting in front of a mirror with an image of deep space fading in and out of the glass. "Incredibly bored. Takibi is having all the fun," replied the woman irritably. "Hmm, you'll like this then," replied the boy. "What is it?" she said as she leaned forward, resting her chest on top of his head. "Did you ever wonder what happened to the imperial fleet? I mean, it wasn't destroyed, Serenity didn't have the chance to call it in to defend against that idiot Beryl's forces. Where did it go?" "What?" said the woman as she stood up and looked at him. "The answer is quite simple really, she sealed it away with the Senshi. Those seals are weakening, and now...ahhhh..." The boy's dark grin widened as the image suddenly became clear. There was a distortion in space, a blue swirl of power. In an instant it was over, and several large starships appeared out of nowhere. "That's it?" she muttered. The boy frowned at her and snorted. "Don't be silly. I couldn't pull them all through, besides, how many do you think we need? Those are Destroyer and Galaxy class starships." They looked like nothing more than seven gray slivers in an endless sea of stars. She smiled and nodded at him. "I see." "The thing is, it's going to be about six months before they arrive here," said the boy calmly. "We're going to play along with the senile queen until then. Understand?" She nodded and kissed him on the cheek. "You are a genius, Kuroi." "Where is Ekitai?" said the boy as he frowned at her and glanced around. "Oh, he's off doing who knows what," said the woman. "You know him." "Yes, he's powerful, second only to me. However, he's too easily distracted. That makes him our weakest link." As if on cue a short pink thing walked into the room grinning madly at the other two. It laughed and glared at them with its wild black eyes. A sort of tentacle like dorsal stuck up on top of its head and it jumped up and down excitedly. "Really Ekitai," said the woman with a bored expression on her face. The thing's face became serious suddenly. "The humans have become quite imaginative. I like this thing they call 'Anime'." "You're supposed to be watching Takebi," said Kuroi flatly. "Making sure that temper of his doesn't make him do something stupid." "Ha! I'm watching him right now," replied Ekitai flatly. He tossed a small piece of candy on the floor and shot a stream of liquid onto it from his palm. It grew into Takebi after a few seconds and the fire Youma sputtered angrily. "See," commented Ekitai. "How dare you!" snarled Takebi as he whirled around to face his tormentor. Flames danced across his body and he glared at him hatefully. The pink thing's body began to expand as well, and soon a tall and fit looking man dressed in blue appeared. He smirked coldly and crossed his arms over his chest, pushing aside his long blue hair as he did so. "What are you going to do?" The red haired youma growled under his breath, but backed down. "Ha! Your failure hasn't been forgotten," snapped Ekitai arrogantly. "I didn't fail. My mission was completed successfully," retorted the angry man bitterly. "It's a moot point, now you've got to figure something else out," said the female youma lazily. "It's not that big of a deal really. Those weapons aren't of any real use against us." "They hurt," snapped Takebi bitterly. "He does have the potential to harm us," said Kuroi calmly as he turned to face them. "That is not acceptable. He must be eliminated; Takebi should be well enough to do it now. Have him take Genaku out, and get those Senshi while you're at it. They'll make good practice. Don't be an idiot, and don't try it when they are together." "The senshi hate him as much as we do," pointed out Tochi. "They will work together if properly motivated I think," replied the boy calmly. "That is something we don't want. As Beryl has taught us, they are resourceful if nothing else. Dealing with them all at once isn't advised. Our best bet is to make sure they stay at odds, and ensure that they fight each other as much as us." "And how do we do that?" asked Takebi. "We don't have to, they're doing it themselves at the moment. I'll keep an eye on things though." "Right," said the three other Youma. "In six months time, it won't matter anyway," said the boy coldly. "The entire planet will simply be cleansed in a hail of fire from the heavens." "Then we can wake up Metallia?" said Tochi cheerfully. "Why bother?" replied Kuroi flatly. "The planet will be ours, what do we need Metallia for? She'll simply put us back where she got us. I like being out here, and I'm not going back." The three other youma blinked in surprise. None of them said a word in argument though. +++++++++++ Soun and Genma were staring at Happosai in horror. Behind the shriveled old man, Ranma stood with her arms crossed over her chest. She was grinning as she watched the expressions on the two men's faces. "M-master!" cried Soun. Genma stumbled back; pouring a glass of water over his head before the old man could notice him. "Thank goodness you're safe!" cried Soun as he pulled the man into a tight embrace. After a moment, he attacked the old man while he was still in his grip. A second later, Happosai stood on top of the beaten Soun smoking his pipe lazily. "This is funny and all, but don't you have something to do here?" said Ranma calmly. "Yes! Of course!" exclaimed the old man as he looked up at Soun for a moment. "You come over here too, Saotome. I've got something to tell the both of you!" snapped the old man angrily. "I'm just a cute panda!" said Genma's sign. "He knows about Jusenkyo pop," replied Ranma calmly as she leaned against the wall. "Traitor!" said the next sign. "Get your fat butts over here!" snapped Happosai at the two men. "Relax, I'm not here for revenge." The two men seemed to calm at that announcement, and cowered before the old man for a moment, bowing deeply. "What is it Master?" whined Soun. "I've come to train my true heir to the Anything Goes School," said the old man as he gave a sagely looking nod. Ranma stood behind the men, blocking their retreat. She grabbed them by their shoulders and held them in place. "What are you doing, Son?" said Soun. "Get out of the way boy!" said the panicked Genma's sign. "I don't think so," replied the redhead with a slight shake of her head. "I want to ask you something first old man." "What is it?" said Genma's next sign. "Is this really...the great and terrible master? The one you've been shaking in terror of for as long as I can remember? The horrible demon thing that tormented you for all those years?" "Yes! Now move!" snapped Soun desperately. "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!" Ranma fell over on the floor clutching his stomach. "You're scared of this little wrinkled twerp?" Happosai glared at the boy for a moment. "What did you call me?" "You've really got these two idiots terrified of you, you know that old man?" said the redhead with a small giggle. "And they should be!" snapped Happosai as he glared at them. "However, they won't be my heir. I need someone younger, and gullible...er...smarter." "Hmmm?" said the redhead with a slight smirk forming on her face. Soun and Genma were both breathing sighs of relief at that announcement. "Hey Ranma. Who's this?" said Akane as she walked down the stairs behind them. "Huh?" said the girl as she turned to look up at her. "Who?" muttered Happosai as he turned to see Akane Tendo. "You must be...Akane..." "Yeah. Who are you?" said the girl cheerfully as she paused about halfway down the steps. She was dressed in one of her black suits again and looked like she was about to go out somewhere. "Akane!" cried the old man as he jumped forward with his arms spread wide. The girl's eyes went wide as she jumped back and reached into her coat. Ranma jumped back away from the pair. "No! Don't!" A loud explosion echoed through the home and Ranma stared at the smoking hole in the ground dumbly. Akane had been thrown back to near the top of the stairs and slowly staggered back to her feet. Soun and Genma were merely staring at the scene in shock. Neither of them could speak. "You...killed him," muttered Ranma as he looked at the large hole in the floor and stared up at her for a moment. "What was that thing? Was it a youma?" sputtered the girl. Ranma blinked and looked up at her for a moment. "Um, yeah..." She turned towards their parents and frowned for a moment as they merely stared dumbly. "Shit, there goes that plan out the window," muttered the boy as he looked at the hole for a moment. "Master?" mumbled Soun. "Akane?" said Genma as he looked at the girl for a moment. Ranma reached into her shirt and took out his neuralizer. He put on his shades and Akane did the same. He flashed the two men and nodded towards the girl. She put the weapon back in her coat and frowned. "Jeez Akane, you didn't have to punch him so hard," said Ranma as she looked directly at the two men. "Um...sorry..." said the girl with a heavy blush on her face. "Akane...you killed the master?" said Soun as he slowly stood to his feet and walked towards her. Genma took a moment longer to snap out of his daze and shook his head. "Master?" muttered the girl in horror. "You mean...that wasn't a..." "Oh! You've made your father very proud Akane!" cried Soun as he rushed up and grabbed her in a tight embrace. "What?" said the girl. "You've freed us from that demon's torment! Oh! To have you as my future daughter in law!" said Genma with tears in his eyes. "It makes me so proud!" "Ranma, what's going on?" muttered the girl as she shook her father off. "Nothing, you just killed a demon is all," replied the redhead with a slightly faked smile. It was a small white lie, but enough to calm her down a bit. "Indeed!" agreed Soun. Ranma was in a slight state of shock. His plan had been ruined. Now she had to think of another way to beat convince Cologne to teach him the technique. She paused and looked up at Akane for a moment. "I'm gonna go change." ++++++++++++ Several moments later Ranma was walking down the street with a frown on his face. "That wasn't a demon was it?" asked Ranma. "No. Losing Happosai isn't that big of a loss, believe me," replied Carrot. "He was evil, and a real pervert." "We should have done something. He didn't deserve to die!" cried Pissant. "Yeah, he did," said Dan calmly. "We're not going to tell Akane what she did, she'd break down. We do need to do something so that it doesn't happen again." "We'll worry about that later. Right now, we've got to find a way to get that ghoul to train us." "We could just tell her what we need," said Dan. "That would compromise too much," commented Carrot. "Why?" muttered Pissant in confusion. "What? We just walk in and tell her we want to kill some fire monster? Get real," commented Ranma. They paused in the middle of the sidewalk and blinked. "You know. I never thought of that. It's not a bad idea," said Carrot dumbly. "What?" said Ranma in confusion. "We don't need to give her the particulars of the situation," explained Carrot. "Just tell her that some fire demon is trying to kill us, and we weren't able to kill it with what we knew. She still wants us to marry Shampoo, so that would be enough to make her help us. It would be a shame if we were to die." "Let's go to the Cat Cafe then," said Dan as he started moving foreword again. ++++++++++++++ Nabiki Tendo was in a state of shock. She was stepping out of her room when she saw her little sister blow away some shriveled up little troll. As soon as it had occurred, she had jumped back into her room before anyone noticed and watched the scene play out from a crack in her doorway. Now, she simply sat with her back against her door staring at the wall. "What the hell was that?" she mumbled to herself. Ranma, it had to be. But what though? She wasn't sure she wanted to know all that much anymore. The two had started talking about demons, and then did something to her father that made them forget what they had just seen. "I've got a feeling I'm in over my head on this one." Still, it involved her sister. Plus there was the thing that drove her, the little voice in the back of her mind that just had to know. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this." She swore it silently to herself, taking care not to finish the statement with: "If it's the last thing I ever do." +++++++++++++ Ranma was walked up to the Cat Cafe and looked up at the sign. "Well, we're here." "Not much of a place for your end, but that's also fitting in a way," said a voice from the rooftops. Ranma looked up and growled. "Takibi?!" "Yes. I thought it would be wise to finish you off," replied the youma arrogantly as he stared down at the boy and smiled. He was standing on the edge of the roof. "Didn't have enough last time?" snapped the boy as he moved into a combat stance. "I intend to pay you back for every blow," replied the thing coldly as his body burst into flames. "We're not wearing the shield," said Ranma to himself. "We're in deep shit." Takibi jumped down onto the street. Even the hardened residents of Nerima knew enough to vacate the streets. Soon Ranma was standing alone with the thing. "We're not strong enough to beat him yet. We've got to get away," he thought as he spread his feet a little and grit his teeth. "Die," said Takibi as he charged forward. Ranma was thrown back by a burning right hook and landed in a pile of garbage. He rolled away from a jet of flames from the thing's hands and pulled out his weapons. "Not this time," said Takibi coldly as he shot a concentrated beam of heat that struck the weapons. Ranma screamed in pain as he was forced to drop them and backed away. Takibi smirked as he melted them where they lay on the pavement. Within moments there was nothing more than a glowing red spot on a boiling puddle of concrete. "Now. You will not escape me." "Shit!" muttered Ranma as he backed away slowly. Takibi vanished and appeared behind him, thrusting his elbow into the boy's back. Ranma lashed out with a quick kick that merely bounced off of the youma harmlessly. "Not so much bite this time," said the thing coldly. Ranma rolled across the ground, putting out the flames on his back before he jumped back to his feet. "I'm not so easily killed." "That's why I'm going to enjoy this so much," replied the youma. Ranma rushed forward punching and kicking at the thing at top speed. His Kaio Ken attack barely allowing him to even stay close. Takibi chuckled as he dodged and blocked strikes, causing the boy's clothes to burn as he attacked. Ranma ignored the flames and jumped back. "Eat this! Moukou Takabishi!" A beam of energy shot from his hands and the youma vanished. The wall of a nearby shop was destroyed. "Damn! He's too fast!" snarled Ranma as he spun around just in time to catch a punch aimed at his face. "You're nothing. This isn't even sporting anymore. I think I'll just kill you and be done with it," said the Youma coldly. "Katsutenshin Amaguriken Special!" cried Ranma as he launched his strongest attack at the thing. Takibi was thrown into a wall and screamed in rage. "Damn you! That hurts!" he snarled as he jumped up again. He paused and looked around for a moment. The boy was gone. "I see..." +++++++++++++ Ranma staggered against a wall in a nearby alleyway and gasped for breath. He was beaten and burned. It wouldn't take long for Takibi to find him if he started looking. He glanced down at his watch and frowned, it was charred and broken. "Shit. We've got to keep moving and hope he doesn't look for us." "I wouldn't worry about that," said a new voice. Ranma turned to glare at the newcomer. "You!" Tsuki stepped out of the shadows and smirked at him. "You're hurt? Too bad." "What the hell do you want?" he snapped at her angrily. "Nothing much, I'm just going to finish you off. You're a threat to the future. I can't allow that," replied the girl coldly. Ranma stared at her. "You think you're strong enough to kill me alone?" "Normally no. I just got lucky and watched you fight with that monster back there. I never expected to actually find you today." The boy growled at her and staggered. "Damn." "You barely have the strength to stand up, much less fight me off. Lucky break for me." "Do you really have what it takes to take someone's life?" replied the boy coldly as he glared at her. She smirked and pulled a long sword from some magical pocket in space. It was huge, the blade was about five feet long and at least three inches wide at the base. It was also glowing with a red energy of some kind. "Let's find out." Ranma fell onto his back as he tried to step back and stumbled over a bag of garbage. He glared at her, staring her directly in the eyes. She smiled as she pointed the sword at his neck and slowly moved forward. +++++++++++++ "It can't end like this!" snapped Carrot angrily. "We've got to do something!" said Dan desperately. "We can barely move," said Ranma tensely. "Pissant. You're the only one not hurt, can you get us out of here?" said Carrot desperately. "Huh?" muttered the voice. "Do something you idiot! You weren't fighting that thing with us! You can still move!" "I won't hurt her," said the voice calmly. "Then don't! Just get us the hell out of here!" snapped Dan. "I can't move the body like you three can," replied the voice calmly. "Shit!" said Carrot as the blade touched their throat. "Can you use that chi of yours to heal us? Maybe we can escape!" Tsuki had frozen, her face growing very serious as she stared them directly in the eyes. "Maybe..." said the voice nervously. "We promise we won't hurt her! Just get us the hell out of here!" snapped Dan. Pissant went silent, and a warm energy began to form around them. ++++++++++++ "He hurt Mistress Pluto," said Tsuki to herself as she stared into the eyes of Ranma Saotome. She could see the mixed emotions of anger, fear, and anxiety in them. "He's beaten my friends, tormented them, and even threatens the future." She poked the sword a little further down, forcing him to lower himself all the way to the ground. A small trickle of blood ran down his neck. She looked deep into his eyes, not noticing the white glow forming around his body. "I can't do it." "Huh?" said the boy dumbly. "I can't kill you..." she said with a frown forming on her face. "I don't know why." The boy breathed a sigh of relief and the glow slowly faded from around him. She didn't appear to notice this. He laid his head back against the pavement and seemed to relax a bit. "That doesn't mean I can't get rid of you," she said with a smirk forming on her face. "What?" said the boy dumbly as he looked up at her face again. "I call upon the power of Pluto, as a defender of the time gate. I banish you into the past, too far to harm the events leading into the future of our world. I'll send you back a few hundred years or so, that should be enough." A staff shaped like a key appeared in her hand and she smiled at him coldly. "Shit!" said the boy as the white glow formed around his body once again. With a flash of light, he was gone. Nothing but a few small wisps of vapor gave any indication that he was ever there. Tsuki frowned and looked at the staff for a moment. "It seemed stronger than it should have been." +++++++++++ On a nearby rooftop, Takibi smirked to himself as he watched the scene play out. The young senshi vanished onto the shadows leaving him alone. "It looks like she did my work for me. Those generals are no threat to me," he chuckled as he turned away. "With only those pathetic senshi and the generals in our way, victory is assured. Heh." There was a small burst of flames, and he vanished as well. ++++++++++++ "Let me get this straight chap. I've got to get you a shrubbery before you'll let me pass?" said Ryoga as he arched his eyebrow and stared at the tall knights who stood in front of him. He was in a forest somewhere and really had no idea about the location. "Nee!" cried the knights before the largest one. "That is correct," said the head knight. "No," replied the boy darkly as he narrowed his eyes at them. "Oh come on. Please?" "I'm going through these woods, and you can't stop me," he said coldly as he started walking. "I shall say 'nee' to you again!" warned the knight. "Blow it out your arse," replied the boy as he walked through the middle of the knights. They parted and let him through. "Well, that wasn't very nice," said the large knight with a frown on his face. "Nee!" cried his cohorts in agreement. Ryoga calmly went on his way, a deep frown on his face as he walked. "Just you wait Ranma. I'll find you soon enough." He walked into a swirling vortex of some kind that had appeared in front of him, not even seeming to notice as he did so. "Well, can't say I didn't warn him," commented the knight with a shrug as he watched this. "Nee!" agreed the others. The vortex closed after they had spoken the word and left them alone in the forest. "Ooh! A traveling salesman!" cried the large knight as he noticed another victim walking through the woods towards them. "Places everyone!" +++++++++++ Next Time: Trapped in the past!