"Oh, by the way, Ayumu-chan . . . "
"Huh? What is it, Ranma-kun?"
"Where'd you send the creep, anyway?"
Ayumu blinked, and then she smiled. "Oh, I just teleported him to Apokolips. He actually came from that place, so it was only right to send him home."
Silence.
"Apokolips . . .?" Cologne wondered aloud. Despite her years of knowledge when it came to events on Earth, there were some things she was still ignorant of.
"A world of perpetual darkness -- or so it's citizens have moulded themselves to believe about themselves -- in a pocket dimension bordering our own," Ranma provided. "They call their dimension the 'Fourth World,' and ours the 'Third World.' Their sister planet is called New Genesis and it's the exact opposite of Apokolips."
"Oh, I'm starting to remember now," Yomi then spoke up. "Apokolips is run by some rock-faced creep who actually thinks he's a god . . . "
"Yomi-chan, in many ways, Darkseid is a god. And a very powerful one, too."
"I remember hearing that name," Cologne then said. "Didn't Superman . . .?"
"Once, not so long ago back in Metropolis," Ranma provided. "For the longest time, Darkseid's been after this thing called the Anti-Life Equation. It's a mana-affecting spell that, once it's put together and put into use, would give him total control over people's lives. If it's powerful enough, it could literally give him control of the whole Universe. And, for some oddball reason, he thinks the Equation's encoded in the DNA of every human living on Earth."
"So he wants to conquer Earth to get his hands on this Equation, right?" Kaorin asked, a shudder running through her.
"Exactly."
"Hideous!" Cologne spat out.
"So if this Apololips planet is Happousai's real home, how did he come to Earth then?" Nodoka then asked. "Did this Darkseid monster have something to do with it?"
"No, my wife. It was actually by accident that Happousai came to Earth," Genma answered. "According to Wysynski-sensei, he was a slave servant in Darkseid's army -- a 'hunger dog' as they're called on Apokolips -- when the fool attacked Yiziba."
"He attacked Yiziba?!" Cologne wondered. "Why?!"
"Simple reason, Elder," Ranma answered. "Yiziba's the total antithesis of everything Darkseid believes in. Unrestrained Chaos and Anarchy, with no way possible for a dictatorship like the one on Apokolips ever being able to rise there -- or if it ever did, it wouldn't last very long. So he felt he had no choice but to attack Yiziba to ensure that they didn't end up spreading their ways across the Universe."
"Ah!" Cologne said with an understanding nod. "So what happened?"
"The past Infinity nearly killed him," Ranma said as he waved to Ayumu. "He used his powers to burn out Darkseid's Omega Beams, then beat the bastard to within a inch of his life. And he would'a taken that last inch, too . . . "
"But that other me didn't feel it was right to take away Orion's destiny from him," Ayumu finished.
"Orion-san?" Yomi asked. "What about him?"
"He's Darkseid's son."
Silence.
"HIS SON?!" everyone else shrieked out.
In orbit over Metropolis . . .
"AH-CHOO!"
"Gesundheit!" the Flash called out after hearing Orion sneeze. "You okay?"
The Apokolips-born champion of New Genesis moaned as he rubbed his nose, and then he turned to gaze warily at the Fastest Man Alive. "I'm not sure . . . "
"So to ensure peace between their planets, Darkseid and this Highfather fellow on New Genesis actually traded their own sons to the other for them to be raised in the other's home society?" Genma demanded.
"That's pretty much it," Ranma confirmed with a nod. "Problem was, Darkseid didn't count on the idea of Highfather's son, Mister Miracle, rebelling against that in the long term. Since that technically 'broke' the pact between New Genesis and Apokolips -- which, in part, was put in to ensure either race didn't try to interfere in the affairs of other peoples -- Darkseid probably viewed that as the green light to go out and find the Anti-Life Equation. Which brought him eventually to Earth."
"Hideous," Souun declared before he gazed on Ayumu. "So why did the previous Infinity elect to defer to Orion-san when it came to this monster?"
"Prophecy on Apokolips says that Orion is the one destined to kill his father and overthrow his rule," Ayumu answered. "When the other me heard that, he felt it just wasn't right to take Orion's future away from him. So . . . "
The others in the room nodded. "Ah!"
"Well, I wonder how the monster we just dealt with feels now being home," Nodoka mused aloud as she gazed heavenward . . .
The black sky.
The disant glow of Fire Pits.
The nearly overwhelming stench of sulphur in the air.
The layers on layers of dirt scattered everywhere.
The destitute looks of the people around him.
All that told Happousai only one thing.
Apokolips.
A nightmare he had thought he had escaped during the war with the Unspeakable Race over three hundred years ago.
A nightmare he found himself in again thanks to his traitor students and . . .
Ranma.
Ranma?!
Ranma . . .
Ranma . . . was one of the Unspeakable Ones!
No . . .
No!
NO!
"What is this?"
That growling voice made Happousai spin around to see two Para-Demons glaring down at him, their weapons at the ready to ensure this old-looking Hunger Dog would behave himself. "You're supposed to be working!" one of the demonic winged humanoids snarled. "Get yourself up and into the work crew!"
Happousai shuddered before an inhuman scream escaped him. RANMA, YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME! YOU'LL PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY . . .!
In the Laurentian mountains north of Ottawa . . .
"Doctor, why let that happen to him?"
The Doctor blinked as he took in that question, and then he stared over his shoulder at Galatea. "He should have sooner or later expected something like that to happen, Tea," he declared. "Happousai, when he came to Earth from the battle on Yiziba, was, for the first time in his life, exposed to something that was completely alien to his whole world-view. He could have, if he so chose to, elected to embrace all that Earth offered to him. In many ways, he did: he would not have become master of a discipline like Musabetsu Kakutou-ryuu had he remained on Apokolips. But . . . " A frown turned his lips down as he gazed on the image on the viewscreen ahead of him. "He allowed too much of his old life's experiences on Apokolips to influence his new life on Earth. That seems to be the story of far too many I have heard of over the years, child. They who were once the conquered simply choosing, when given the chance, to become the new conquerors." A shake of his head. "Pity."
The clone of Supergirl -- in honour of her Kryptonian heritage, the Doctor had given her the name "Tea Zor-el," thus (in spirit) making her Kara Zor-el's adopted sister and Kal-el's adopted cousin -- nodded with understanding. She then found herself staring at the image on a side viewscreen. One displaying the scene at the Tendou doojou in Nerima, it centred on the very yummy image of Saotome Ranma seated with his adopted parents and friends after Infinity/Kasgua Ayumu had sent Happousai back home. Feeling her heart lurch as her eyes danced over his handsome features, the Kryptonian shuddered as her cheeks started to flame.
Noting this, the Doctor could only smile. Tea literally owed him her very life; he had rescued her and the Ultramen from Project Cademus seconds before they would have been destroyed after their last battle with the Justice League. Along the way, he had managed to expunge all of the programmed conditioning Emil Hamilton and Cademus' other scientists had forced on the poor girl at her birth. Remembering that, the Doctor then shook his head as he remembered the half-week of crying and screaming poor Tea had vented out after she had awoken and learned of how much she had been used.
"You desire him, do you not?"
Tea gasped as she saw those burning eyes gaze his way. "Um . . . I . . .!"
"Ranma?"
The blonde Kryptonian took that in, and then she gulped before a nod twitched her head, her cheeks flaming in embarrassment at being caught. Seeing that, the Doctor then smiled as he turned back to his other work. "Pursue him if you wish, child. Try not to let it interfere in your work, though."
Tea's eyes went wide. "Really?!"
The Doctor stared knowingly at her. "Tea, you know the answer to that."
Hearing that, she then nodded before she turned around and walked out of his work chambers. Once she had made her way to her private room, the blonde then closed the door and leaned against it, she taking a deep breath to calm herself before a grin slowly crossed her face. "Oh, you're gonna be mine, Mustang," she then vowed as a hand drifted over her well-honed abdomen towards her crotch. "If there's anyone on this planet who's gonna tame you, Ranma, it's gonna be me . . .!"
A giggle escaped her . . .
"AH-CHOO!"
"Bless you, Ranma! Are you alright?!"
Ranma moaned as he rubbed his nose. "Someone's talking about me . . . "
So now, we . . .
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Tue, 19 Sep 2006 18:07)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.