Before the King's question could be answered, the struggle between Teela and the stranger took a turn for the weird and mystical.
Flailing about in an attempt to free herself, Teela nudged the breakfast cart one of the maids had left by the door to Adam's suite. Glass and porcelain clinked and clattered at the rude motion, drawing the tall redhead's eyes to a full pitcher of cold water. While Ranma bounced and taunted, Teela's mouth drew back in an evil smirk.
"You wanna know who he is, sire? I'll introduce you!"
Ranma's bounding evasion had grown simplistic in his enthusiasm, beginning to follow a set pattern between the furniture and walls; as such, Teela knew exactly how long he'd take to wiggle his fingers and stick out his tongue. She flung the decanter at just the right moment to shatter against the wall above the displaced martial artist's head. The transformation here was instantaneous: first he was male, the next moment one bulge disappeared only to reappear doubled higher up on 'her' body. The aquatranssexual froze and quickly looked down. Teela just got a little mad that the transformation was so fast now and so agonizingly embarrassingly slow back in the washroom!
"What the-!?" Randor's hand flew to the pommel of his sword. "You!!"
"Stay back, Randor!" Duncan's armor activated and his mace electrified. "Teela! Get away from her!"
"Wha?" The long-haired redhead leapt back as a concussion blast from Man-At-Arms battle mace threw the gender changing martial artist out of the room. "What's going on?"
Randor drew his sword and charged after her with a yell of absolute hatred.
"Stay back, Teela!" Stupid fool, Duncan thought, so nice and comfortable with He-Man defeating Skeletor that you didn't see the obvious threat at first! The first captain of the Eternos Defense Militia scowled behind the metallic grate over his mouth. "Get out of the way, Randor!"
A line of lightening scortched its way across the carpet and slammed against the dust cloud underneath the crack in the corridor wall. Suddenly, a blur leapt out of the smoke before the energy attack struck and fingers dug into Duncan's blast-shield.
Ranma tore the metal off with his bare hands and crushed the side 'earmuff' of the Eternian's helmet with a well-placed palm strike. The older man landed against Adam's bed, a cut from broken glass bleeding over his eyebrow. Next, Randor came screaming in and the pigtailed girl deftly parried the heavy blade.
Adam rushed to Duncan's side, eyes darting from the strange girl holding her own against his father to the sheathed sword of power on his dresser. "What should I do, Man-At-Arms? Should I turn into He-Man?"
"Ugh." Duncan's armor whirred and rev'ed and clicked but the warped wreckage of his face shield didn't budge. His expression was grim.
A throaty trill caught his attention and he looked to the window. Zoar perched delicately on the rough-hewn stone staring down at him. As he watched, it shook its head. He understood.
"No Adam, We...we don't know the strength of the enemy yet, nor her powers. She hasn't used magic as she has in the past."
"In the past? Uh, didn't she just appear last night? Why shouldn't He-Man help my father?"
"The Enchantress has the ability to cloud men's minds, turn their very strength against them. If you were to change into He-Man..." Man-At-Arms left the rest unsaid. By the flickering fear in Adam's eyes he could tell the boy had never considered that his greatest asset could become his greatest flaw.
"She's the Enchantress?" Adam knew the stories of his grandfather, Miro, and his clashes with the wily witch of the Western Wood.
"Spitting image." Duncan tore off the chest plate of his armor and activated his secondary systems. "But she refuses to use magic, very strange..."
Randor's blade spun in the air and embedded itself in the wall. The warrior-kind stood stock-still, eying the redhead. "My family will never surrender, you should know that."
"Listen, man, I don't even know who the hell you are, let alone why I'm fighting you." Ranma flipped her pigtail behind her back. "Just stay down, will ya?"
"Never!" Randor lunged. Perhaps if the altercation had been against anyone other than the Enchantress (or at least what he perceived to be the Enchantress) Randor might've simply bided his time and struck at a more opportune moment, as it was he ended-up with his ass flat on the floor - unconscious.
"Serves ya right y'old fool!" Ranma had to admit - the clothes he was wearing hadn't been as tight or restricting as he's thought they'd be, in fact, he'd guess they were made for such exertions. She felt good, a fight never failed to improve her mood. "Who's next?"
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(Posted Mon, 26 Feb 2007 04:58)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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