Warning! Contains spoilers for Gold Digger Issue 64!
Rubbing the back of his head, Dreadwing stared, bewildered, as Ancient Gina dusted off her hands on the other side of existence.
“I said do not get in my way! Do not make me…how did my sister say it? Oh, yes…smack you up again, Beezatch! Our ‘game’ is over. You ‘lost’ from your very first, petty little ‘move’.” The white-haired uber-genius walked away, fading from sight. “Deal with it. And finish up your half of my machine!”
Alone once more, Dreadwing quivered with barely suppressed, yet still rising, rage. His Draconic blood roared in his ears, his eyes glowed like hellfire, his heart pounded, and every muscle was tensed with the desire to crush a certain Diggers sister’s throat. He turned, snarling, to face Negative Infinity. ‘If she wants Negative Infinity finished, then I’ll deny her! I’ll destroy it! Damn her ‘plans’, DAMN THE COSMOS!” Blinkblink! “…wait…” After a moment of rational thought, Dreadwing smirked, then chuckled softly. “You almost succeeded…‘Ancient Gina’. Negative Infinity already exists somewhere in time, and that’s all you need for the Infinity Engine! You wanted me angry! You wanted me to destroy my end of the chessboard! Hmhmhm…AHAHAHAH!”
With renewed determination, the Iron Dragon turned his attention back to the ‘Millennium Chessboard’, the eons of time and space between himself and Ancient Gina. Every major player in their little game was represented on the board, Dreadwing in a deep red, both Gina and her older counterpart were silver, and every other piece on the board was a shadowy gold. It took very little time for the Ancient Dragon to notice the painfully obvious; Ancient Gina had meticulously woven an intricate web of protection for her younger self, with true titans of almost every race and speciality surrounding the younger blonde.
Moments before Dreadwing moved to study the older Gina, another figure on the board caught his eye; a pigtailed werepanther wandering aimlessly across the board. The Dragon frowned in thought. ‘Odd. Every other piece is stationary, yet this one moves under it’s own power.’ He was so caught up in his thoughts, that he barely noticed Ancient Gina’s return, nor the frown of curiosity and concern on her face. Dreadwing grinned evilly as the black figurine approached younger Gina’s protection, then weaved effortlessly through the numerous bodyguards. Looking up, the Dragon smirked at Ancient Gina’s pale face, then took hold of the werepanther’s thread in reality. A twist here and there, and the pigtailed warrior was turned from a neutral force into Gina’s mortal enemy. “He has already penetrated your defences, and now he wants you dead. I win, Diggers.”
Ancient Gina moved to check the future effects of this change, a look of horror on her barely aged face.
Laughing, Dreadwing followed close behind.
Deep in an underground cavern, a cave previously untouched by humanoid feet, Gina Diggers and Ranma Saotome fought for dominance. A struggle Gina was losing…
“Oh, God! Don’t stop, Baby!”
Dreadwing and Ancient Gina stared at the display. While there was certainly a lot of pounding going on, it clearly wasn’t the kind of pounding Dreadwing had planned on. “W-what is this! I did everything perfectly, I’m sure of it!”
“Wow, I sure was limber at that age, wasn’t I?” Now more curious than horrified, Gina took advantage of her ‘turn’ to push ‘Brianna’ into contact with her younger self and the werecat.
The scene was basically the same as before, with Gina on her back and Ranma kneeling between her spread legs. But this time Brianna was there, naked and pressed against the humping werecat’s back. Strangely enough, Brianna now looked to be a full-blooded werecheetah.
Casually tugging her sister’s shorts off of her dangling foot, Brianna tossed it over her shoulder before wrapping her arms around her furry lover. *PURRR!* “Make sure you save a little of that enthusiasm for me, Ranma-chan.”
Ignoring the faint blush on his opponent’s face, Dreadwing decided to change tactics. ‘If he wont attack her as he is, then maybe another one of Gina’s enemies will be able to convince him to do so…’ A nudge, and the martial artist shot across the board, slamming into Fauntelroy and his wives…
The werecat had clearly been changed by his former alliance with Fauntelroy. With his form completely naked, the platinum bracers wrapped around his forearms and shins could easily be seen. Spots of the same substance covered his knuckles, and armlets wrapped around his biceps.
Ancient Gina easily recognised the magic and substance of Ranma’s adornments. ‘Platinus.’
Platinus wasn’t all he’d claimed from the deceased Faunty… “I never thought I’d see a day when the great Ranma Saotome looked so helpless.”
The slender Debra frowned down at her husband. “Surely you have some energy left?”
Six pouted, poking her husband's limp equipment with a dainty finger. “Come on Ranma, we’re not finished yet!”
The weary werecat groaned, then froze as new energy flooded his body. As his aches and pains faded away, a soft giggle echoed through the room. “Damn you, Platinus!”
A snickering Ancient Gina forfeited her ‘turn’, allowing the snarling Dreadwing another shot…
The ruler of the wererat clans sighed, stretching her lean body while lying on top of her black-furred young lover. ‘I really don’t know what I saw in Iceron.’
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGHHH!!!”
As the Iron Dragon stomped off in a rage, Ancient Gina laughed uncontrollably. After some time, she finally caught her breath, climbing back up onto her seat as her giggles trailed off. Unsupervised by either herself or Dreadwing, the ‘Ranma’ piece was once more moving under it’s own power. Now the screen showed a young Tiffany being trained in the martial arts by her Grandmother Julia and her Godfather Ranma, while Britanny watched proudly from the sidelines.
Another step, and now Tiffany was being trained by her step-father Ranma, while Britanny watched from the sidelines and gently rubbed her obviously pregnant belly.
Step. Ranma and Julia, old rivals, trained and fought for centuries. Their friendship and mutual affection kept them together, the Healing Breath keeping them young.
Step. Elderly Arch-Aura Mage Ranma whacked a troublesome student upside the head with a gnarled staff.
Step. Battered but standing tall, Ranma roared his triumph as hundreds of spectators in the stands above chanted the name of the new Armsmaster.
Step. As cherry blossoms drifted around them, Ranma knelt at Archon’s feet. While the Kryn woman wept tears of happiness, the werepanther slipped an engagement ring onto her finger.
Step. Creeping through a previously thought abandoned dungeon, Ranma made several hand signals to the rest of the Edge Guard before moving forward.
Dispelling the screen, Ancient Gina leaned back in her seat. It hadn’t taken her long at all to figure out why this unknown (though admittedly studly) individual had only shown up now. In a game where the players had total control, there had to be a wild card. The one piece that no one could truly predict or control. But she wasn’t worried. Ultimately, though Ranma’s presence would change everything, it changed absolutely nothing. Her plans could proceed unaltered, and she would finally taste her 33rd birthday cake. All that had been changed was that somewhere there would be a werepanther that hadn’t been there before.
‘If I’m lucky, he’ll be waiting for me with open arms…’
“Ancient One, the Tournament of Arms has concluded, and I have located Gina Diggers as you requested.” The new arrival, a blue-robed Shadow Elf, blinked. “Ancient One…are you well? You look flushed.”
Ranma pressed his hands to his newly enhanced ears, gritting his teeth at the sound of the wailing alarms. “Crystal, can ya shut those damn alarms off!?” The alarms promptly cut off. “Great. Now, what was that all about?”
My sensors have detected…
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(Posted Mon, 27 Jun 2005 16:56)
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