Teleporting silently onto a beach on the newly restored planet of Saturn, Setsuna spared a moment to admire the rings still visibly circling the planet before glancing around for her new Boss. He wasn't even remotely difficult to find; he was standing on a rocky platform jutting out of the water with his black shirt off and a simmering ball of solar power writhing in his hand.
With a snap of his wrist, the softball-sized golden orb rocketed out to sea, far out to sea, vanishing from sight completely in moments. For a full dozen seconds Ranma's attack seemed to be completely innefectual, before a flash of light on the horizon, followed soon after by the thunderclap of noise that was typical of an explosion of that magnitude; powerful enough to devastate an average-sized prefecture, easily.
Strolling closer to the bare-chested teen, Setsuna took a moment to bask in his muttering irritation at having once again failed to limit the strength of his attacks before speaking up. "Very impressive, Ranma-sama."
Ranma sighed, bending over to pick up his typically black shirt and yank it on. "You're never going to stop calling me that, are you?"
The Senshi of Pluto beamed. "Nope!"
Rolling his eyes, the martial artist hopped easily from the stone outcropping to the sandy beach. "So, how'd it go?"
"With a little help from your mother and the Mercury computer, I've managed to acquire the rights to run this year's King of Fighters tournament, as you requested. The prize money has been taken care of, I've sent press releases to the various media, and I've even hand-delivered the invitations to the usual line-up of King of Fighters contestants...plus a few others."
Ranma frowned curiously. "Others?"
The red-eyed magical girl waved airily. "Oh, a few participants that dropped out of the competition over the years for one reason or another, alongside a host of fighters that generally stick to less flashy street fighting circles."
"Huh...they any good?"
"Some of them, very much so." Setsuna nodded firmly. "I daresay many of them would have been potential King of Fighters Champions if they weren't such loners, or had managed to scrounge a team together. Here's hoping they manage it this time around."
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Ranma frowned. "How many future demon hunters do you think are in the bunch?"
The greenhead pndered briefly. "Quite a few, though half of the competitors were only invited to give the 'heroes' of the bunch more bodies to fight. In any case, you should have no difficulties finding enough willing and able warriors to have a Senshi and Guardian for each world, and that's not even including the men of the bunch."
The pig-tailed martial artist grimaced at that; it'd been a noisy couple of day of girls begging for and fighting amongst each other to have the good-looking male fighters assigned to their worlds. Minako and Makoto's fight over the pretty-boy Benimaru had almost turned into a magical brawl before he'd put his foot down and insisted that only women would be assigned to worlds besides Earth; any men 'hired' would draw their power through the Earth, like Endymion and his Generals.
Clearing her throat to catch the Solar Avatar's attention, Setsuna continued. "Since all that's left to do is set up the arenas and accomodations, your jobs, if I remember correctly, then I think it's time for you to uphold your end of our arrangement, if you don't mind."
Ranma nodded easily. "Right, right...Haruka passed along your message, and I think I can handle your request, so..." He held up his hand toward her, fingers ready to snap theatrically as Setsuna's eyes widened.
"Wait, what mess-"
Ranma's fingers clicked, and Setsuna's Senshi outfit flashed once and was replaced with the new Guardian outfit she had 'requested through Haruka'; sleek, calf-high leather boots. Dark red tights, with even darker red symbols of Pluto covering them. A tiny, nigh-backless black leather bodysuit that was a thong down below and only barely rose high enough to cover the tops of her nipples and exposed an awesome amount of cleavage. Elbow-length fingerless gloves of the same material as her tights. Finally, a slender pair of black bat wings sprouted from her back, with a smaller matching pair jutting from the sides of her head. The Garnet Orb was now set in the handle of a length of whip wrapped around the the tanned woman's waist.
Scratching his head, Ranma gave the newly appointed Guardian of Pluto the once-over. "Uh...are you sure that's what you want?"
Guardian Pluto's hands twitched threateningly before she calmed herself. Somewhat. Then she smirked. "...this will be fine for now, Ranma-sama. I can change it later if I want, correct?"
The Sol Avatar's eye twitched at the honorific, but he nodded. "Sure, whenever you like."
"Excellent. If you could excuse me, Ranma-sama, I have...other things to do." Barely waiting for a nod, Setsuna teleported back to Earth.
Back at the Outer Senshi's residence, Michiru sat down at the kitchen table with a freshly-made cup of tea and made to pick up the day's newspaper before the stack of folders detailing various fighters that Haruka had been hoarding caught her eye. Curiously, the aqua-haired Senshi plucked the first folder off of the stack and flipped it open. "...King...oh my..."
Out in the garage tinkering with her car's engine, Haruka shivered as a chill trickled down her spine. "...okay, that can't be good."
Mai Shiranui stared in shock at the black envelope sitting innocently at her usual place on her low, traditional dining room table. More specifically, she stared at the stylised golden sun that was sealing the black envelope shut. With dawning comprehension she dashed from the dining room to the master bedroom, slamming the door open, crossing the room to her dresser, and hurriedly flipping open the jewelery box atop it.
There, positioned in pride of place right in the centre of the jewlery box, was the ornamental hairpin Mai's mother had given her before she passed away. A hairpin that was for the first time in millenia glowing with a soft, golden aura.
The kunoichi gasped softly. "...the Emperor..."
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(Posted Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:00)
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