Insertion

Part 48: Angelic Interlude!

by Sean D'Anna

=====

Ranma walked through the wasteland with Hotaru, both were moving in silence as 
they contemplated their next move. 

"Hey Ranma," commented Carrot as they walked.

"Huh?" replied the thing.

"I just figured something out."

"What's that?"

"This sucks."

Hotaru looked at him in confusion for a moment. Ranma was strangling himself 
again. This had happened several times over the course of their trip.

"Idiot. You keep forgetting that I'm not inside you anymore, so that doesn't 
work. Besides, we don't need to breathe anymore anyway. Already dead remember?" 
said Carrot.

"Shut up," grumbled Ranma irritably.

"I haven't said anything," replied Hotaru in confusion.

"Um..." Ranma realized that he had said that out loud. "I wasn't talking to you. 
Sorry."

"Oh. Right, the other guys," said the woman cheerfully. "I'd almost forgotten."

"Well, there's only one now," he muttered irritably. "And he's just now figured 
out that this sucks."

"Smart guy," said the woman as she turned away and continued walking.

"I didn't mean right now. I mean in general," said Carrot inside his host's 
head.

"What do you mean?" grumbled Ranma.

"This whole fusion thing bites."

"You're tellin me?" growled Ranma.

"Oh come off it," snorted Carrot in retort. "Look, I'll admit it's inconvenient. 
However, up until this point, I've been having a pretty good time of it. I just 
realized that I'm not anymore. It blows."

"What the heck kind of idiot are you?" snapped Ranma. "How could you say all 
that was fun?"

"We had it pretty good for a while there. I'll admit the whole hell thing really 
sucked, but otherwise, think about it. We were rich, handsome, and stronger than 
anyone else alive! We had lots of friends, and we had all kinds of adventures! I 
even kind of miss having Dan around."

"You miss that insane..." muttered Ranma in disbelief.

"Well, I'll admit I'm not all that upset over Pissant leaving, but you've got to 
admit Dan was useful at times."

"I guess so, but you two were always fighting," grumbled Ranma.

"Well, I suppose so, it was good natured though," replied Carrot cheerfully.

"You beat the crap out of each other on a regular basis!" snapped Ranma.

"Well...I..."

"It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't get beat up too every time you did it!" 
snapped the angry hellspawn.

"I didn't say I wanted him back Ranma, just that I kind of miss having him 
around a little," said Carrot irritably. "He had his uses. Besides, this hell 
bent revenge thing doesn't suit us all that well. I'll be glad when we kill him, 
and then all we have to worry about is becoming a demon."

"That isn't a good thing," snorted Ranma irritably.

"We don't have much choice," pointed out Carrot. "Like I always tell you, you've 
got to make the best of your situation."

"Making the best of our situation? How the hell do you think we got into this 
mess!?" snapped Ranma angrily.

"It wasn't all my doing you blowhard," snorted Carrot. "You had a hand in this 
as well, so don't go pulling a 'Carrot, because of you I've seen hell!' on me 
buddy."

"Right," grumbled the thing dejectedly.

"Look. All I'm saying is if we have to do this, we might as well enjoy it," said 
Ranma. "I'm tired of being all angsty. That's mostly your doing, I've been 
trying to have a little fun, but you keep ruining it."

"What the hell do you want us to do?" snorted Ranma.

"I dunno. We'll think of something," replied Carrot. "Anyway, I wonder what 
happened to the Masaki family? Ryoko isn't with them, she's probably dead."

"Pluto too, he'd have killed her if he could," pointed out Ranma.

"I wouldn't count on that. She's probably hiding out on Pluto," said Carrot 
calmly. "Can't be sure though, those starships may have been used to flush her 
out. Now that I think about it, you're probably right. He'd have destroyed the 
time gates, to prevent time travel."

"That's not good," grumbled Ranma.

"If he's allied with the Amazons, that means that time traveling mirror is out 
too," grumbled Carrot with a heavy sigh. "I'll bet he managed to destroy it."

"Those goddess chicks don't like us either. If they're even still around..." 
grumbled Ranma sadly.

"He wouldn't have killed them, I'm not even sure if he can," said Carrot. 

"Why not?" asked Ranma.

"Too risky. It might piss off the wrong people gods who might be able to 
overpower him too easily, he also might have lost Loki's support. Can't be sure 
about that though. No telling on how he'd react to a mortal killing a god."

"Wouldn't they have tried to fight him?" asked Ranma.

"Probably, but getting rid of them would be easy enough," said Carrot. "Just 
kill Keiichi. If he's gone, Belldandy would have to go up to heaven with him."

"Keiichi? You mean that mechanic guy?" muttered Ranma in surprise.

"Yeah. He made a wish that Belldandy be with him always, if he died, then..."

"She'd have to go wherever he went," said Ranma as he seemed to catch on.

"Right, she's probably not able to leave heaven anymore, not unless he tags 
along anyway," said Carrot cheerfully. 

"At any rate, we should figure out what we're going to do next," said Carrot as 
he changed the subject suddenly.

"Wait until they're alone and attack them one at a time?" asked Ranma.

"Well, it seems I was able to teach you a little," commented Carrot dryly. "Yes, 
but I don't know how we're going to manage that."

++++++++++++++

"Huh?" said Hotaru as she turned to look at her companion.

"When can we find them alone. I mean individually?" repeated Ranma as he stopped 
and crossed his arms.

"What do you mean?" muttered Hotaru in confusion.

"I'm not stupid enough to take them all on at once. I'm going to need to get to 
them individually."

The woman nodded at this and frowned. "I'm afraid I can't be of much help then."

"Huh? You should know of something," he pressed.

"Well, no actually. Mistress Nine kept to herself. All of them are like that for 
the most part. The only time I ever saw the others was when Ranma summoned us 
together, or sent us out on a mission with one another. We didn't particularly 
care who did what other than that."

"Each having their own agenda," muttered Ranma with a small frown.

"Right. Mistress Nine's plans were disturbed when Ranma destroyed the planet 
with those lasers. She couldn't collect enough power to resurrect Pharo 90. 
Plus, he basically prevented her from doing it with other means."

"Oh?" asked Ranma as he arched his eyebrow.

"Yes. You see he kept her busy. She was probably the one he sent out the most, 
but he usually limited her missions. If she ventured off to collect a little 
power, he punished her."

"Seems like she'd try to do something about that," commented Ranma.

"He was stronger, and faster than she was. There wasn't much she could do to 
him. Plus, he was very careful with her."

"She's plotted against him several times?" asked Ranma.

"Yes. He was planning on using my final attack to actually destroy this planet 
when he was finished. Pharo 90 would have just wiped out everything, the whole 
system."

"Saturn couldn't supply enough power to do it on her own?" asked Ranma.

"No," she said with a small shrug. "She needed more power. Once her direct 
connection to me was severed, she had to find other means of supplying the power 
she needed. Basically, you foiled her plans twice. Once when you repaired Saturn 
and separated the three of us, and once when the other you killed most of the 
life on the planet."

"What about the talismans?" asked Ranma.

"Ranma killed the owners. You can't take the talismans from a dead senshi. You 
can kill them to steal them, but it's impossible to get to them without the 
senshi being alive."

"So...you're the only Outer Senshi left then," said Ranma with a short nod.

Hotaru merely nodded.

"This just gets better and better," grumbled the thing with a heavy sigh.

++++++++++++++++

Kuroi sat in front of a large view screen on the deck of the large starship that 
orbited Earth. He smirked as a familiar figure dressed in the robes of the 
Juraian Royal Family appeared in front of him. He still looked like a young boy 
of no more than nine years in age.

"Ah, Prince Tenchi. To what do I owe this unexpected surprise?" he said to the 
image in front of him.

"I've come to take a last look at the Earth," he replied diplomatically. "It is 
my home planet after all." His voice was laced with venom as he said this and 
glared at the boy.

"Fine. Keep your distance, I'll allow you as close as Venus," said the youma 
calmly.

"Very well," said the prince calmly.

"Do not worry young prince. Soon Metallia's link to this dimension will be 
severed completely."

"Monster. Destroying a whole planet..."

"Is quite necessary I assure you. I'm sure the Juraian officials have explained 
this to you in great detail," said the youma.

"I will never forgive you for this," spat the boy.

"Well, you aren't Emperor yet. I'm sure Yosho feels the same way, but by the 
time you are, it would only be a pointless war. Something I'm sure neither of us 
wishes to happen. So many would die for a dead planet."

Tenchi growled at this.

"Metallia's link to the dimension is Earth, and the life there. Once it is gone, 
we'll be quite safe. I've been suppressing her attempts to escape her prison 
thus far, but it won't hold out forever." The evil youma smirked at him. "That 
is why all of the Youma were localized in Japan. That is where her grip is the 
firmest."

"Why not just destroy that place then? Why the whole planet?" snarled the angry 
prince.

"Because it would not destroy her link, merely weaken it for a time. Her grip 
would be on an empty patch of water, rather than an island," replied Kuroi 
calmly. It was obviously an old conversation. "She'd just have to send her Youma 
a little farther away to gather what she needs. The population control is one of 
the safeguards that we created to prevent her from gathering energy easily."

"It isn't worth it," snapped Tenchi hotly.

"I could have just killed you and your little family you know. I graciously 
offered the Jurai Government the chance to take you away, however forceful that 
might have been."

Tenchi turned his head away shamefully. "..."

"How are those lovely wives of yours these days? Enjoying them? Ryoko is quite 
rude, she never calls her father anymore."

"Shut up," snapped Tenchi hatefully.

"I know what you're thinking, Washuu was a liability my boy, she would have 
attempted to stop us, as would you. Had you been allowed to remain on the Earth 
that is; you'd be dead too, if you had remained."

"Tsunami out," said Tenchi as he cut the communication off.

"Keep an eye on him," said Kuroi as his face fell into a frown. "If he tries 
anything, send the entire fleet after him. Tsunami or not, he's not dumb enough 
to try and fight off our entire navy alone."

"Sir!" replied one of the men who worked on a console nearby.

Kuroi smirked. Ranma was indeed the perfect man for the job he'd given him. 
Keeping entire families alive for their military was a stroke of brilliance. 
There were no men working for them who had lost any family, so they had much 
less fear of revenge driven morons attempting to disrupt them internally. They 
were also treated well, and told of the reason for destroying the planet. Of 
course, when they moved to the new planet, they would all be killed. None of 
them were aware of that though.

+++++++++++++++

Hotaru sat down on a tree stump in the middle of a dead forest. Ranma stood 
beside her and leaned against one of the dead trees casually.

"You're not tired?" she asked him.

"I don't get tired easily anymore," he replied calmly.

"Oh," she muttered to herself as she relaxed. "We've been walking all day."

"Yup," he commented calmly. 

Hotaru frowned suddenly and sat up. "What's that?" she muttered.

Ranma's attention was also focused in the same direction. "I'm not sure. You 
stay here and rest, I'm gonna go check it out."

Hotaru looked at him and frowned. "Maybe..."

"I think I know what it is. If I'm right, you won't be much help to me anyway. 
Just stay here, and I'll come back in a little while," said Ranma.

The woman nodded and seemed to relax a bit. "Don't take too long."

"Right," said Ranma as he started off in the direction of the power they had 
felt.

+++++++++++++

"Well, you've been doing well," said Mara as she appeared in front of him a 
short distance away from where he had first felt her.

"What do you want? I'm busy," he said calmly.

"I've come with a warning," she said calmly. 

"Oh?" he said with a smirk forming on his face.

"Yes. The gods have sent a hunter after you," she replied calmly. "You'd best be 
on your guard."

"An angel," he grumbled irritably.

"Yes," she replied with a slightly surprised frown. 

"I'll handle it," he replied as he turned away.

"Don't be so cocky," she said irritably.

"I think I can deal with one angel," he said as he glanced back at her.

"Well. Let's find out shall we?" she said with an evil looking grin forming on 
her face.

Ranma stepped back as the woman's body began to grow and distort. "Oh shit."

Mara's grin widened as she grew to over ten feet tall. Her body became gray, and 
four large horns that curled in front of her huge bug like eyes from the top of 
her head and the side of her face. Her body had become skinny and lithe, and her 
hands had grown into gigantic claws. "You think you're strong enough to beat an 
angel do you?" snarled the thing wickedly.

Ranma stepped back. "So, you're showing off for me eh?"

"Showing off?" she chuckled.

Ranma had moved back into a defensive stance to await the coming attack. 

"Come on little Spawn!" snarled Mara as she lumbered forward. "Show me how 
strong you've become!"

Ranma jumped forward, punching at her.

She swat him aside easily laughing as he crashed through one of the trees. 

"Damn," he grumbled as he stood up shakily.

"Weakling! You won't last five minutes against an Angel!" snarled Mara as she 
lumbered towards him.

Ranma jumped up, avoiding a strike from the thing's claws.

The chains lashed out, missing the thing's head as it simply shifted. "Ha! 
You're slow!"

"I didn't miss," said Ranma as he floated back, causing the chains to become 
tight suddenly.

"Eh?" muttered Mara in confusion as she glanced back. Her jaw dropped into an 
angry scream as a dead fallen tree slammed into her face, one of the twisted 
branches came through the back of her head. "Gluck..." stammered the thing as it 
staggered painfully.

Ranma landed on its back, bringing the chains up tight like horse's reins. "Come 
on bitch! Let's see how long it takes me to tame you!"

Mara roared in anger, jumping up and down and tossing him around violently. She 
tried to roll over on top of him, but he shifted aside and crawled onto the top 
of her head. She began to thrash more and more violently, attempting to smash 
him into the trees. He held firmly though and dug his heels into her sides. 

After about two minutes, she finally got some of her senses back and reached up 
to grab him with her claws. He nimbly jumped aside and landed on the ground, 
rolling through the dust onto his feet again. "Ready to go again?" he asked her.

She glared at him for a moment and bit through the tree, crushing the center to 
splinters. "That was impressive. I've never had such a young hellspawn give me 
such a good fight. You didn't even use any of your power."

"I'm going to need it if I want to kill the other me," he said calmly.

She shrank back into her original form and smirked at him. "We'll have to 
remember this game later," she said as she walked up to him and pushed herself 
against his chest.

Ranma frowned at this, but said nothing.

"Bye bye handsome," she said as she vanished into the shadows.

"Is she suggesting what I think she is?" muttered Ranma with a slightly sick 
look on her face.

"Hey. I might take her up on that, if she doesn't look like that thing again 
next time," commented Carrot.

"EEW!" exclaimed Ranma in disgust. 

"So, back to Hotaru then?" asked Carrot cheerfully.

"No. Back to hell with you," said a feminine voice from the shadows.

"Huh?" said the pair as they turned to see someone staring at them from a perch 
nearby. "Who the..."

She jumped down, clothed in a dirty brown cloak. "I've come to send you back 
where you belong, Hellspawn."

"You must be that angel," said Carrot as he backed away from her.

"Heh. Indeed," she chuckled as she glared at him from the shadows of her hood.

"Hoping to catch me in a weakened state, after fighting with that demon?" 
snorted Ranma. "I haven't even broken a sweat."

"Not surprising, seeing as all your pores have been burned off," she commented 
dryly.

"Look lady. I've got something to do here, and I don't want to waste my power 
tangling with you. How about we do this later?" said the thing as it looked her 
up and down. "You and I can fight all you want, after I've killed Ranma."

"I don't think so," said the angel coldly. "You'll fight now, and go back now."

Ranma frowned at her. "I'm not gonna be able to get out of this one."

"I'm afraid not. Die!" she snarled as the cloak flew off, revealing a stunning 
woman with long red hair. Her body was mostly hidden under the huge number of 
firearms that she wore.

"Oh fuck," said Ranma as his eyes grew wide.

The angel opened fire with an M-60 machine gun, blasting everything in front of 
her.

Ranma moved into the air, skillfully dodging bullets as she adjusted her aim. He 
felt a few of them rip into his body, but ignored them. They weren't doing 
enough damage to really hurt him as Carrot was absorbing the shots, and he'd 
only been hit six times. 

"What the hell is this!?" cried Ranma dumbly as he landed in front of her. She 
jumped back and pulled a pair of Uzis from her sides and trained them on him. 
"What the hell kind of angel uses guns?" 

"A smart one," snapped the woman as she opened fire. 

Ranma dodged by leaning back and flailing his arms, the bullets passed all 
around him as she fired on him.

"So...you've seen that movie too," commented the angel.

Ranma was standing in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest. "Yeah."

"It doesn't matter. You can't win," she snarled.

"Look lady..." started Ranma irritably.

"Die!" snarled the angel as she pulled a rocket launcher onto her shoulder.

"Oh man," whined Ranma as he staggered back.

+++++++++++

Hotaru arched her eyebrow as she saw the explosion in the distance. "What the 
hell is he doing?" She paused again as something else caught her attention. "Oh 
shit! Not now!" 

++++++++++

Ranma frowned as he glared at the sheet that covered Kuno's body. "I never liked 
him much anyway." The village that had once been home to the commune now smoked 
in the distance, little more than a series of craters in the earth now.

Chibi-Usa strolled up beside him. She looked to be in her mid-twenties and was 
wearing a long black evening gown. Ryoga stood wordlessly on her arm, his face 
almost as expressive as a stone mask. A dark smirk formed on her face as she 
looked down at the body. "He was useful though."

"Why do you think I kept that idiot around for so long?" he snorted casually. 

"No sign of Hotaru, or the mask sir," said one of the men who strolled up to him 
and saluted.

"Keep looking," he said to the man calmly. "An interesting way to die." He 
kicked the sheet-covered body and snorted in disgust.

"I almost wish we didn't have to kill whoever this is," commented Tochi as she 
floated down beside them.

"We'll use the computer back at the base to locate the mask. It would have 
survived. It's probably buried," he commented lazily. "Hotaru was probably 
incinerated, but make sure. I want a DNA check of the ashes, find her."

The soldier saluted him and turned away to pass out orders to his men.

"Something about this bothers me," said Tochi.

"Baka! We lost two of our people, they weren't weaklings either," said Ranma as 
he stared at her for a moment.

She frowned at him and turned away. "I think your over cautiousness may pay off 
this time."

"It usually does," he replied calmly. The group paused suddenly, looking off 
into the distance. "Who is that?"

"There's two of them, quite strong," said Chibi-Usa with a smirk on her face.

Ryoga gave a low feral growl.

"Behave yourself darling," she said as she smacked him lightly on the arm.

He looked at her for a moment and said nothing. His eyes began to glow with a 
strange power though.

++++++++++

Ranma frowned as he looked at the smoldering end of his cape and glared at the 
angel. "How much ammo does this chick have?" The ground was covered in shells, 
and she showed no signs of letting up any time soon. Each time one weapon was 
spent, she'd simply switch to another. This had been going on for almost fifteen 
minutes now.

"Die damn you!" she cried angrily.

"Stop it!" snapped Ranma as he dove by her and slashed with his claws. She 
dodged and fired a few more shots at him with the large pair of handguns she now 
sported.

Ranma managed to avoid being hit yet again, and rolled across the dust to his 
feet.

The angel frowned as the weapons in her hands fell into two clean-cut sections. 
She growled and threw them to the ground. "Damn!"

Ranma looked at her, she didn't appear to have any more weapons on her. 
"Finally!"

"I guess we do this the old fashioned way," she snorted as a large spear 
appeared in her hand.

"Haven't you had enough yet?" snapped Ranma irritably.

"You haven't seen the beginning of my power yet!" she snapped.

"Look lady, I don't have time for this. Could you just go away please..." He 
paused suddenly as he looked at the assortment of weapons that was lying around 
on the ground. "Wait a minute..."

She frowned at him as he looked at her again.

"I only no one person stupid enough to pull something like this!" said Ranma as 
he pointed at her.

"Huh?" muttered the angel in confusion.

"Dan! It has to be!" cried Ranma. "What the hell do you think you're doing 
asshole!?"

Dan blinked as she looked at the thing in front of her. A smirk appeared on her 
face as recognition seemed to sink in. "Hey. Pissboy, it's Carrot and Ranma."

"Well. I can see you didn't waste any time, you jerk," snorted Ranma as he 
frowned at the woman. "That must suck, having to be a chick."

"Is it them?" muttered Dan as she glared at the hellspawn in front of her. "Yup. 
You're one to talk brain boy, at least I can still take a piss."

"I thought it took three spirits to make an angel," commented Carrot irritably 
as he ignored the barb. "You and Pissant, but who else?"

Dan frowned suddenly. "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to do this?"

"Huh?" muttered Ranma in confusion as he found himself looking down the shaft of 
her spear.

"Oh man. Still an asshole," grumbled Carrot.

"Ha!" cried Angela as she dove for them, slashing wildly with her spear.

"Cut it out!" snapped Carrot.

"I'll send you to hell!" cried the enraged woman.

"You and what army?" snapped Carrot. "You forget, you're just the muscle! We're 
the skill and the brains! You can't win!"

Angela missed again, cutting a huge gash in the ground. "Hold still damn you!"

Inside Ranma's head, another conversation started while the angel was 
distracted. "We're gonna have to kill him!"

"No prob!" agreed Ranma.

"We can't overpower him, don't even try. He doesn't have the same limits we do. 
We're gonna have to take him down the hard way. We don't have the energy to 
spare otherwise."

"Damn, this won't be easy," commented Ranma.

"We're gonna have to try and outsmart them, not too much of a problem, but he 
can throw around enough power that it won't be as easy as it sounds."

"Quit talking to yourself and fight!" snapped Angela.


"Take this!" cried Ranma. He slashed out with his claw and managed to break the 
woman's armor, specifically her top.

Angela screeched girlishly and covered her breasts.

"Damn it! This is no time for that!" cried Dan.

"Shut up!" said a familiar sounding voice. "He might see..."

"Did see," corrected Carrot as he smirked at them with his arms crossed over his 
chest.

A new voice unfamiliar tone entered the angel's voices. "He's right. Stop being 
a baby and kill the demon."

"That was a woman," muttered the hellspawn as he uncrossed his arms slowly and 
glared at her.

"Perceptive, isn't he," she asked him as she forcefully removed her arms from 
her chest. It seemed to take a bit of effort.

"Very, he's a smart one," confirmed Dan.

"You'd better not be thinking perverted thoughts about us!" snapped Pissant 
angrily.

Ranma was about to reply to that when the woman intervened. "He couldn't if he 
wanted to. I've never seen a Hellspawn that could."

"Stop talking about that!" snapped Carrot irritably. "It ain't our fault it 
ain't there anymore! It got burned off in hell damn it!"

"Are you ready to die?" asked the woman coldly.

"Yeah! Bitch!" agreed Dan.

Ranma arched his eyebrow as he noticed the angel pinch herself on the leg. "As 
interesting as this is, we're about to have company," said Carrot as he looked 
over at the horizon.

"What?" said Angela as she turned her gaze in the same direction. Several 
figures were closing in fast. "Damn!"

"Heh. We can worry about this fight later, we don't have time to argue right 
now. We've got to leave, right now."

"Too late!" growled Angela hatefully.

Ranma turned his gaze upward again and frowned. Chibi-Usa was holding a wand 
over her head and glaring down at them. "Moon Killing Escalation!"

Ranma dove into Angela and pulled her to the ground before he even thought about 
it. Then, the energy wave hit.

++++++++++++++

TBC...