Ranma looked at the scattered carnage laying before him in utter horror. There was blood and broken bodies everywhere it seemed. Women, children, old people, it didn't seem to matter to whatever being it had been that killed them. Some looked like they had been fighting the broken machines that were also scattered about; while others looked as though they'd been fighting and killing each other just as much as the machines.
"Wha- what happened here?! Who did this?!" asked Ranma in a horrified gasp. The scene was gory in the extreme, far worse than anything Ranma had ever imagined, let alone seen. It was so bad that the he nearly retched at the mere sight of the carnage. Ranma had no doubt that he would be having nightmares about this scene for quite some time after this.
"The truth," Prof. Nova, Ranma's guide and host replied enigmatically. Worse, Ranma couldn't tell if the man sounded delighted or disappointed as he gave the simple answer. At seeing Ranma's look of horrified confusion the scientist decided to explain a little further. "Tiphares has a dark secret. Or rather, it HAD a dark secret. When Tipharian citizens came of age, their biological brains were secretly removed and replaced with bio-chips during their right of passage into adulthood. I'm afraid that this is the result of breaking open the gilded cage of Tiphares and giving the people who lived within a chance at true freedom, Ranma. Sadly, neither they, nor their keepers, took the revelation very well," he explained solemnly.
"Did . . . did they all die like this? Are there any survivors around?" Ranma asked back, beginning to feel even more sick at what he was seeing. He wanted to shrug off Elf and Zwolf's comforting hands, yet couldn't bring himself to give up their attempts to reassure him either; so what if the two seemed to be borderline perverts. Prof. Nova shook his head in the negative. "No, not all of them. But the vast majority of Tiphares is as you see it now. According to what I know of the current situation, the adults with bio-chips and the children without them are struggling to survive each other. In addition to the killer robots programed by M.I.B. to kill anyone who knew Tiphares's secret; these two groups have inexplicably decided that the other group is 'the enemy'," he told Ranma in a quiet, far away voice.
"It may be that instead of freeing Tiphares from it's velvet shackles that I have sentenced them all to death instead. I suppose I should have anticipated it though. After all, this was the very same secret that shattered my own unprepared ego so many years ago, before I left Tiphares to study the mysteries of the human brain. I have, despite the opinion of some, recovered since that time. Only now the people of Tiphares will also need some time to recover from the knowledge of this dark secret," continued Prof. Nova.
Ranma wanted to lash out at what he'd heard, to make who ever had done this pay for destroying so many lives. Yet he wasn't certain who to blame, or who he could strike out at. Prof. Nova had just implied that he'd been the one to reveal the secret, there by triggering the massive slaughter. But was Nova the one to blame? Or was it the people who would go so far as killing an entire city just to keep some lousy secret? After a long internal debate, Ranma decided that he'd rather take on whoever was willing to slaughter people indiscriminately over a stupid secret than Prof. Nova. Not that he didn't blame Prof. Nova for starting this mess though.
"So, is there any way we can help them? The survivors, I mean," Ranma asked once he'd finally managed to come to a decision about who to blame. How he was answered would tell him just how much of the blame Ranma's host deserved as well.
"I don't know that they would accept our help, mine in particular, considering how I was the one to bring this catastrophe down on them all in the first place. However, I did plan to make a bit of a side trip to the medical core before heading up to Ketheres and from there to Ladder. While I'm there it would take but a moment to affect a more permanent end to the M.I.B. robot's killing spree's. Once that's done, the survivors of Tiphares will be free to rebuild their lives however they choose," Prof. Nova replied with a conspiratorial grin.
It wasn't exactly what he had in mind, but it was something Ranma could live with at least. "Then let's get to it, before anyone else has to die," Ranma declared, straightening up and gathering his resolve.
"Whatever, kid. I've got my own reasons for being here. Like defeating Alita and finally becoming my own person. You can stay here and cry your little heart out over these carcases for all I care, I've got my own life to live," sneered the battle scarred Sechs as she left to go her own way.
"Ooh! Sechs is taking on the original, now that I've got to see!" Elf cooed excitedly at the prospect of the fight. She didn't abandon Ranma exactly, but he could tell that this fight was something that the android really wanted to see.
Apparently so did Zwolf, "come on Prof. Nova, we've GOT to see this! I'm sure it won't take very long!" argued the other android in agreement with her look-a-like.
"Well, I don't know, girls; Ranma sounded pretty adamant about stopping the killer bots as quickly as possible," Prof. Nova countered with feigned hesitation. "However, since most of the killer bots are already deactivated, I'm sure a small delay won't make that much of a difference. Provided that Mr. Saotome here doesn't object," conceded the professor with a devilish gleam that was somehow visible through his face mask.
Ranma really didn't want to allow the delay, despite the chance at seeing a good fight. But if most of the machines responsible for the killing were turned off like Nova said, then it would be kind of hard to justify his hurry. So, predictably, Ranma gave in to the pleading looks of the two amorous androids. "Alright then, let's go find this 'Alita' person and get this over with. I don't like the idea of anybody else dying that don't have to," Ranma finally relented, against his better judgement.
"Ha, ha! Alright!" "Yes!" Zwolf and Elf cheered in tandem, grabbing Ranma into another one of their bear-hugs as they celebrated. As before, when Ranma had agreed to stick with them for a while, Ranma was embarrassed by the attention, but was too afraid of upsetting them to escape.
To the side of the trio, Professor Desty Nova cackled at Ranma's predicament for several seconds before interrupting the girl's celebration. "Well, children. Let's hurry along then, I don't think any of us wants to miss Sechs's meeting with Alita, now do we?" he announced, prompting them to hurry along and follow Sechs.
Ranma watched Sechs introduce herself to Alita and her companions from the lower balcony of the auditorium they'd tracked her to. Sechs's introduction consisted of a somersaulting, fly-by attack that grazed her target's check. "Heh, that was just my way of saying hello," Ranma heard Sechs sneer at a confused cyborg female. Although from where he stood, this Alita person looked more puzzled than shocked.
'Hmph, why does Sechs saying that suddenly remind me of Ryoga?' he thought with bitter humor as android confronted cyborg. Ranma had to wonder how good they were though, this Alita girl had some pretty good reflexes to avoid Sechs's 'greeting'. The alleged cyborg didn't seem too bothered by Sechs's attack either, as thought her challenger wasn't anything to be worried about.
Unfortunately Ranma couldn't make out some of the combatants' opening comments about each other. But he didn't need to be able to hear them to tell that this Alita girl didn't think Sechs was worth the time to fight. While he couldn’t quite hear all of what she said, the cyborg girl said something or other about Sechs being a replica of her.
It wasn't until Sechs unfolded and brandished that gigantic blade she carried around that her opponent took Sechs's challenge seriously at all. "AND AFTER I DEFEAT YOU, I'LL BE THE REAL ONE, ONCE AND FOR ALL!" Sechs shouted, charging her opponent head on. The fight began in earnest after that. They were surprisingly fast for having artificial bodies, yet Ranma's eyes followed both of them easily enough.
Ranma eagerly followed the pair's every move as their battle immediately took to the backs of the auditorium's chairs. The two of them could have been fighting on solid ground for all that the gaps between the chairs meant to them. Alita seemed to be having trouble getting past Sechs's Titan Blade to hit her, but she wasn't having any trouble at all avoiding it. The cyborg even caught Sechs's fiercely spinning blade at one point. Only to have Sechs use the torque that gave her to Kick Alita instead. The pair of them seemed to flip and spin around each other as much as anything else they did.
So far the two of them seemed to be using the exact same style as the other, despite the differences between being armed and unarmed. On the surface their style appeared to be an aerial combat oriented style, just like the Saotome branch of the Anything Goes style. Yet something about their movements seemed fundamentally different as well, something Ranma couldn't quite pin down consciously.
Then suddenly things stopped for a moment as Sechs nicked Alita with a follow up strike. "Heh, and I'm just getting STARTED!" Sechs bragged, spinning her blade into a ready position behind her. Then she gave her opponent a mocking grin. "What's the matter original?! Bit of more than you can chew?" Sechs taunted the cyborg further.
Seeing that grin on her face, Ranma tried hard not to remember that same look on Ryoga's face during that first duel after his Breaking Point training. If it wasn't for the obscene differences in their fighting styles, Ranma would almost swear that the two were soul mates or something. It was almost too bad that the two couldn't meet; Sechs and Ryoga would probably be perfect for each other.
Clapping and a shout of "Bravo" from the professor shook Ranma out of his eerie contemplation of the similarities between Sechs and Ryoga. Ranma almost couldn't believe that the professor was interrupting this kind of a fight. Still, Professor Nova was a bit off the deep end after all.
"You just never quit!" Alita yelled at Nova in open irritation. "So you’be been pulling the strings all along . . ." she accused him in the following breath. It wasn't hard for Ranma to tell that this cybernetic girl wasn't very fond of Ranma's host. Not that Ranma was too sure about the guy either.
"Tut! Such vicious slander!" Professor Nova countered, feigning hurt feelings. Only his smile returned far too quickly for him to have actually been bothered by the accusation. "I am but a mere spectator, my dear," he assured Sechs's opponent with a happy smile. "You see, I brought these children up from the surface to be my bodyguards. But they insisted, just insisted/, on meeting you!" Prof. Nova explained cheerfully. Although Ranma wondered why the professor had included him in the statement as well.
"I'm Zwolf" Zwolf announced, clasping hands with Elf and pulling close with her partner in another one of their showgirl poses.
"and I'm Elf", Elf added, matching her partner pose for pose. Both of their weird, one eyed little pets making an odd little chirping sound as the androids introduced themselves.
Ranma rolled his eyes at the their antics but avoided saying anything aloud yet. "M- master. Oh, master . . ." warbled Deckman 100 in his synthesized voice. Strangely, no one bothered to point out to him that he hadn't actually introduced himself just then.
Then it was Ranma's turn, well, sort of anyway. He did feel a bit out of place in all of this. "I'm Ranma Saotome, and I'm just along for the ride," he introduced himself. Although Ranma wasn't entirely certain why he'd felt the need to explain why he was with Nova and the rest of his group.
"Heh, you guys get to watch then . . ."Sechs laughed, turning back to face Alita again. "I WILL DEFEAT THE ORIGINAL! YOU'LL SEE!" She shouted before leaping at Alita again. Her target didn't bother to respond verbally and simply avoided Sechs's next few attacks.
'I swear, if Sechs acts any more like Ryoga at this point she's going to turn into a guy!' Ranma thought to himself as the battle recommenced. Apparently though, Elf and Zwolf weren't quite as impressed with the fight as Ranma was so far. "The original's moves are rather boring. Is it due to the period of inactivity?" complained Zwolf, stealing part of Ranma's attention for a moment.
"Maybe the body isn't functioning well?" Elf suggested, also sounding a bit disappointed with the fight. Ranma didn't know what was going on yet, except that the androids were expecting a bit more from this Alita person than she'd shown them so far. That was kind of a scary thought for Ranma though, mostly because his old self would have been hard pressed to keep up with either of these two. He could have done it, it just wouldn't have been easy.
"Not a chance! The Imaginos body is a mechanical marvel. Any flaws would have been revealed in the post assembly scan . . ." Professor Nova argued, defending Alita's performance for some reason.
'Wait a minute, he built that girl's body! No wonder Prof. Nova's defending her; he's defending the quality of his work!" Ranma thought to himself as his memories solved that little mystery for him. It really sucked being an outsider in all of this, because he really had no idea what was going on between everyone here, Ranma decided to himself.
"It is amazing how She anticipates and dodges all of Sechs's moves though," Zwolf allowed, giving Alita a little bit of credit for her showing so far.
"But Sechs hasn't gotten serious- yet," Elf countered, implying that she thought Sechs was holding back so far. After hearing her say that, Ranma was very glad that he'd been committing the moves of both combatants to memory. He didn't like the idea of not being the best anymore, even if this wasn’t his home dimension.
"So, you can see through those of my moves that are yours," Sechs complimented Alita after yet another inconclusive clash between the two of them. "That's to be expected from the prime architect of the Panzer Kunst," she finished, brushing off the achievement in the following breath.
"About a year ago, when the G.I.B. was wiped out . . . ten copies of you were left on the surface . . . the tuned AR series two!" Professor Nova explained to Alita, pausing several times along the way for effect. Ranma just decided that it was something else he didn't know anything about and listened anyway.
"Sechs found her raison d'etre in battle, and challenged her sisters . . . Defeating them all except for AR-11 and AR-12 here," he continued on to explain, indicating Elf and Zwolf. She continues to fight, but without a cause . . . . Remind you of yourself?" Prof. Nova finished with a slightly teasing question to Alita.
"No way!" Screamed an angry Alita. "Do you really think . . . that if you win, you– a mere replica can replace me!?" She demanded to know from her challenger. Ranma had to admit, he was beginning to wonder the same thing form the way Sechs was going on about defeating Alita to be 'real'.
"Not a word out of you professor!" Countered Sechs, pointing an angry finger at Prof. Nova before he could speak for her. She then turned that same aggressive gaze of hers on Alita as she answered the cyborg's question on her own terms. "Don't get the wrong Idea. To become real isn't to replace you, Alita!" Sechs explained with a fierce passion that Ranma honestly couldn't fully understand.
"Why am I here in this world? Because G.I.B created me? NO! That's not the answer!" she continued, without losing any of her passion. "If I can take down the original Alita then I've earned the right to exist . . . AS MYSELF! As a real . . . /WARRIOR!" Sechs finished dangerously, glaring at her opponent as she did.
"Something you should know, Alita . . . . The solid state brains of the AR series are bio-chips, just like the Tiphareans' brains! Professor Nova warned Alita before the battle could recommence. "Of course THAT'S a secret that not even bureau Chief Biggot knew! So hush, hush! Kya ha!" the professor finished, laughing as his revelation startled Alita for some reason.
"WHAT?!" yelled Alita in an audible mixture of shock and disbelief. Unfortunately Ranma didn't really understand what was going on either way, and no one was taking the time to explain it to him just yet either. Not that they had time to as the duel finally started back up again.
"It's time to get serious!" Sechs finally declared, bending low then springing into a forward somersault. As she did, Sechs twirled her weapon around her waist and legs as though it were just another part of her body, shocking Ranma and Alita both with the drastic change in styles.
"Panzer Kunst isn't everything you know," commented either Elf or Zwolf from beside Ranma, he wasn't sure which. "After a year of fighting, Sechs has developed her own battle style. . . She calls it Sechster Angriff!' finished Zwolf, literally taunting Alita with the information.
Just as Zwolf said this though, Alita leaned into one of Seshs's whirling blade strikes and let Sechs cut Alita's right arm off. One of Alita's own companions shrieked at the apparent mistake; on the battle ground, even Sechs didn't seem to notice that Alita had taken the injury intentionally. As evidenced by her gleeful scream,"ya, ha, ha! DIE you bitch!"
"You'll need more than that to beat me!" Alita yelled back as she snatched her severed arm by the biceps and dodged a follow up slice to her mid section. Just before bashing Sechs hard with the fist of that same severed arm. That was one move Ranma had no desire to ever have to use for himself, even if he was supposed to be able to grow it back on demand now.
Before Sechs could even land, Alita whipped her disturbing weapon around a few times like nun-chucks to build up momentum and then knocked Sechs into the floor as hard as she could with it. Several seats were demolished entirely by the impact of Sechs's body hitting the ground.
A flash of movement to his side warned Ranma that Elf and Zwolf had dropped to the main floor below. He couldn't tell what they were up to, but as soon as Alita touched down, and the seat back she landed on tried to topple out from under her, Ranma knew what they were doing even if he didn't know how they were doing it. Apparently, now that Sechs didn't seem to have the upper hand anymore, they were butting in. Their little trick of cutting the seat backs out from under Alita forced the cyborg onto the stage where Zwolf and Elf were both waiting for her.
"You got her to sever your arm so you could use it as a weapon!" Elf accused Alita in amused excitement. And for someone who'd only been a spectator until just that moment, she looked awfully smug as she flanked Alita on her right side.
"Sweet! They don't call you 'original' for nothing!" Zwolf added making an odd twisting motion with her right hand as she flanked Alita on her other side. As soon as she made the motion, Alita's severed arm was sliced into several smaller pieces, eliminating it as a possible weapon.
"Mono-molecular wire!" Alita cursed, recognizing what the girls were doing even if Ranma couldn't. But wether he knew what was going on or not, Ranma didn't like the fact that his would-be suitors were butting in on a serious duel.
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(Posted Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:45)
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