[Episode 234165] [Episode 234165]The planet Tofunokoibito…
The booming howl was unlike anything he had ever hear in the more than an Earth century since he had undergone the Test of Life when he had just celebrated his tenth birthday over three hundred years before on the plains of Kyotos.
It was the scream of a god of war.
Or in this case, a goddess of war.
And a truly beautiful one she was.
As those of his entourage gazed in awed disbelief at the sight of a well-formed girl of Earth rip through rank after rank of Niphentaxian battle fleet personnel — not to mention those thrice-damned spies Ōgi used to purloin the diaries of innocent people that were marked as the "holy friends" of a selfish brat from Uru that had just been the latest in a long line of so-called "living divinities" to earn the warped interest of the natives of Phentax Two — the warrior prince could only make a feral grin as he watched his spirit-sister unleash true justice on those she had condemned — for what, he had no idea, but he would find out, of course — to fall at her hand. As another thunderous scream echoed through the central meeting hall of the Galactic Federation of Planet-States, he spared a glance at the assembled dignitaries from dozens of worlds on the main floor. Seeing many of them pale in sickened horror on seeing this unstoppable Angel of Death unleash her wrath on the followers of the Church of Lum, the prince sneered in disgust. What fools! Did they not know — did they not CARE? — of what Ōgi's mindless minions had unleashed on Lecashuto not five years before?
"Does she possess a lord?" Tizizko whispered from behind him.
"If she does, he must be the mightiest leader on all of Earth!" Sivko hissed.
"Silence."
Both men blanched on hearing the prince's snarled word, and then bowed immediately to him as they clammed up. By then, the slaughterhouse scene aboard a Niphentaxian destroyer that had actually played out some hours before had come to an end, changing to the scene of another woman seated in the captain's chair of a starship. Also Terran, she had brown hair and brown eyes on a tomboyish face. However, like the woman whose incredible rampage the prince had watched seconds before, this woman also wore a tailed silver jewel earring off her left lobe. And she looked quite incensed as another woman's voice — the prince knew whose voice that was — then asked, "Greetings. Do I have the pleasure of addressing the commanding officer of the Earth ship Haida?"
"In a way, I am," the woman on the screen answered. "Crown…"
"HOLD THE IMAGE!"
The playback froze as a spotlight shone down on a man dressed in a dark suit. "Behold, my friends, the true devil in this matter!" the Niphentaxian ambassador to this emergency meeting of the Galactic Federation said. "The Great Evil himself, Moroboshi Ataru of Earth! The man who shamed the Goddess…!"
"Excuse me, Ambassador," a woman's voice then cut in from the prince's left. "But I can clearly assure you of this: Honey is no woman."
Eyes locked on Queen Elle of the Rose Kingdom as she sat in her place of honour, she giving the flustering ambassador of the Niphentaxian Union an amused look. "We know of a friend of the Great Evil, Your Majesty. A fellow named Saotome Ranma. A man who possesses an odd metaphysical 'curse' that grants him the ability to become a woman." He waved to the image on the main screen. "Without a doubt, the Great Evil…!"
"I can disprove that."
Shocked whispers echoed through the chamber before a gavel came down on the lectern. "Silence!" Crown Princess-Regent Lupica, the nominal leader of the Galactic Federation as well as acting head-of-state of her own kingdom, barked out before gazing at the area where Neptune's delegation were seated. "Would you care to elaborate, Princess Pukaze?"
"Certainly, Your Highness," Pukaze said as she stood. As the prince gazed down on her from his position, he was quick to notice the other people in her delegation — King Fuyu, his wife Queen Samui, and their daughter Oyuki — all looked quite surprised by the field marshal's boldness in this arena. "Director Moroboshi — her name is 'Moroboshi Hiromi,' by the way — suspected there would be some confusion as to what she really was in relation to her brother. She specifically warned me that our honoured 'friends' from Phentax Two…" — few couldn't miss the derision in her voice when she said the word "friend" — "…would immediately seek to confuse the situation by drawing on Ataru's friendship with Saotome Ranma. The Director was quite willing — during the meeting we had aboard her flagship — that she was not her brother caught under the curse of the place that so badly affects Mister Saotome to this day. I am more than satisfied that Moroboshi Hiromi and Moroboshi Ataru are two separate people and have always been as such."
"And why was it your holy cousin was not allowed to attend this meeting?" the Niphentaxian demanded as he indicated Oyuki before he gave her an apologetic smile.
"Because we were meeting under Noukiite flag-of-truce rules," Pukaze calmly replied. "The Director considered my cousin — and considers her even now — an enemy of her brother's and a threat to her clan, to be exterminated if required." She gazed on a now white-faced Oyuki as she added, "I didn't wish to see my cousin hurt."
A sudden outburst from the crowd as people began to whisper to each other. Watching the crowd's reactions, the prince was quick to see looks of confusion and fear cross the faces of those whose lives had intersected that of Moroboshi Ataru over the last Earth year. Smirking on seeing a worried look on the face of the Karasutengu princess Kurama, he then nearly guffawed on seeing the stunned and lost look on the face of Lum's own father, who was co-head of the Urusian delegation present today. As he then took note of the delegation from Phentax Two all shivering in anger, the prince relaxed as Pukaze carried on, "During that meeting, I learned that Director Moroboshi — along with her elder sister. the Grandmaster Moroboshi Negako of their family's school of stealth combat; and Moroboshi Ataru himself — were the guests of Her Excellency, the Chancellor of the Noukiite Imperial Outmarches, the Lady Chancellor Nakkyek, on the planet Okusei for two months in the wake of the dispute between Uru and Elle over both Lady Redet's and Queen Elle's desires for Ataru's hand in marriage." As people continued to whisper and hiss at each other, she added, "During that time, given the swiftness by which Ataru's parents were willing to sell him off to Lady Redet to secure better jobs for themselves on Uru — a deal that is also quite forbidden in treaty — the Moroboshi siblings were adopted by Noukiite custom by two of the more well-known free warriors of the Imperial Dominion, the Ladies Suchhak and Tekch'a!"
Gasps escaped many in the crowd. "WHAT?!" Invader bellowed as he bolted to his feet. "WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?! WHEN WERE WE SUPPOSED TO BE TOLD ABOUT THIS?!"
Pukaze still remained calm. "Put simply, Captain, since the Director is also the Matriarch of her family, she decided it was NONE of your business!" She then stared at the shivering Oni warlord. "After all, the ONLY time Ataru tagged Lum's horns before last week's incident was during the Tag Race you forced on the Terrans a year ago. By your own laws, sir, whatever 'marriage' existed between them was not even LEGAL!" She quickly waved off Oyuki's grasping hand as she looked away from the shuddering Oni's face. "Thus, I hardly see why Lum should be so upset. She was never married to him, much less engaged to him as his parents had NO RIGHT to get him married to ANYONE!" As Invader awked on hearing that, Pukaze then glared at him. "And given the fact that your daughter CRIMINALLY put the entirety of EARTH itself under threat of a biological catastrophe thanks to the actions of the Yaminokuni woman Carla…"
All the Niphentaxians were instantly on their feet as Oyuki tried to get Pukaze to sit down. "How DARE you insult the integrity of the Holy Father, much less the Goddess Herself?!" the ambassador screamed out. "Apologise to him…!"
"SILENCE!"
Everyone froze as Lupica's shout thundered through the chamber. As people gazed on their host, the Tofunokoibito princess sighed. "Gentlebeings, we are civilized people. Let's keep this debate civilised," she then scolded them.
"Is such a thing possible?" Sivko rhetorically wondered.
The prince chuckled as Pukaze then sat down. "So why is it that this woman stopped our friends from sending their observers to Earth?" another of the Urusian delegates — Seq Yethis, the prince was quick to recognise — then asked. "They're under strict orders from President Ōgi to not do anything that could bring harm to any of the natives. Such an extreme reaction like this towards peaceful observers is never called for!" He then gazed in disgust at the image of Moroboshi Hiromi on the screen. "And where in the Maidens' Eternal Names did she get these ships anyway?! Intergalactic treaty forbids trade at such a level with less-developed — to say ANYTHING of non-planetary unified! — cultures!"
"Oh, Lady Pizalna preserve me!" Gizpizko groaned from the prince's right. "Izonba, does the healer have any sort of migraine remedy with her?"
"I can go ask, Lord Constable," the pretty part-Vosian captain of the prince's own personal guard force then said with a helpful smile.
"Do so, Izonba," the prince said. "And give the poor woman my apologies for calling on her services so soon. I fear we'll ALL need that remedy soon."
A bow. "Of course, My Prince."
"Princess Pukaze, did Director Moroboshi give you an answer to that?" Lupica asked.
Pukaze stood up. "Indeed she did, Your Highness. Two of her closest associates, Mister Ki Tsukihana and Miss Hakaru Ayami, were two of the many who had been kidnapped from Earth by the Ipraedies over the last decade or so. They escaped their detention, then lucked upon a giant space construction dock that, they now believe, was constructed by the predecessor race to the Maidens of the Eternal Voyager." As shocked gasps escaped many in the crowd, the Neptunian relaxed as she waited for silence, and then she added, "Given how upset both had become because of their forced kidnapping from Earth, they elected to take advantage of their good fortune and prepare a battle force of fifty star dreadnoughts — Haida and Bismarck being two of them — to protect Earth from all possible alien encroachment." She gazed once more on Invader as she added, "Mister Ki actually lamented to me that neither he nor Miss Hakaru had prepared any of the ships in time to intercept the Kashin during the lead-in to the Tag Race a year ago. If they had been prepared, no doubt, Captain Invader would have been made to return back to Urusian space at gunpoint."
Invader shuddered as a chorus of excited chatter escaped many in the crowd. That was quickly cut off by the Niphentaxian ambassador. "WHERE?!" he bellowed as he stormed over to glare at Pukaze. "Where did the Great Evil's minions find this factory?! We must locate it and liberate it from them so we can protect the Great Maidens from his foul grasp! You must tell us this, Princess! The honour and virtue of the Maidens…!"
"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that, sir," Pukaze said as she gave him a mirthless smile. "Once they were done using it, Mister Ki and Miss Hakaru sent the factory — and a rather large battle fleet of warships that accompanied the factory, including several vessels of near-equal size to the Voyager itself — back to their home world." Her eyes narrowed. "BEYOND the Galactic Barrier."
"Then we must not delay!" the ambassador bellowed. "We must muster an army to march on the Great Evil and destroy him before he unleashes his evil on all of us! You must let us use the Central Warp Chamber to bypass these ships so we may…!"
"Oh, that can't happen, I'm afraid."
Silence.
"WHAT?! WHY NOT?!"
Pukaze's smile turned lethal as she answered, "Because, given that the Director now considers ALL of the member-states of the Galactic Federation potential threats to her homeworld, I realised it was only the proper thing to do to entice better trust given the circumstances." She then scowled. "To that end, I had the Minister of the Chamber de-program ALL Terran warp coordinates from the Chamber's central computer and erased them FOREVER from memory." As Oyuki's jaw dropped in stunned disbelief and Fuku and Samui gaped at her, Pukaze added, "The nearest such an army could ever get to Earth will be Mars, the fourth world of our system. And I doubt such would not escape the Director's notice for long. To say anything of potential Noukiite interference should the Lady Governors Syechch'eng, T'uokch'eng and Tuongta take notice."
The Niphentaxian gargled on hearing the style names of the Three Princess Dragons of Noukiios. "But what about your need to remove snow from Triton?!" Yethis demanded.
"Oh, it's no problem at all, General Yethis," Pukaze said as she gazed in veiled amusement at him. "We'll just move it to Mars. I'm sure in a short period of time, the climate might change and become more habitable. Earth, sadly, does suffer from overpopulation, so they will need colonies sooner or later. Mars is a good first start." She then took her seat. "Again, the right and neighbourly thing to do."
"Fuyu, did you know about this?!" Invader demanded.
The elderly king of Neptune shuddered as he gave the Oni warlord a look. "Invader, my niece has been entrusted with the responsibility of protecting all my people from any potential harm. I will NOT second-guess her decisions in this matter."
Invader ducked that look as Yethis gnashed his teeth at the lack of ANY potential softness in the position the Neptunians had suddenly drawn for themselves. "What of Moroboshi?!" the Niphentaxian ambassador bellowed. "His insult to the Goddess must be punished!" He then pointed to the projection screen and the frozen image of Moroboshi Hiromi there. "And that MONSTER his wicked sister unleashed on the Goddess' Faithful must be hunted down and EXTERMINATED! The Goddess must have JUSTICE…!"
JUSTICE?!
The entire chamber went dead silent on hearing that thundering voice. As eyes snapped up to the upper gallery of the chamber, blood drained from the faces of many present as they locked in on the handsome, moustached and goateed, blue-eyed blond man with the metallic-tanned bronze-pink skin stretched over a VERY muscular body currently covered in a chainmail bodysuit that covered all save hands and head. That, in turn, was covered by well-forged armour plate dyed a deep magenta shade and decorated with crescent moon sigils. At his sides were two VERY big battle swords sheathed in metal scabbards. A short cape, also magenta in shade, was drawn around his neck. As people took that in, many began to whisper a name that was both respected and feared.
"Sheko!"
"It's the Mad Prince!"
"What's he doing here?!"
"Is it war with Yehisril?!"
"Your Highness, I apologise for not informing you of His Serene Imperial Highness' presence here today," Pukaze then cut in as she gazed apologetically on Lupica, who was also totally overwhelmed by the presence of the overlord of Kyotos, the largest principality of the Royal Kingdoms of Yehisril. "When I took note of Miss Ryofu's actions concerning the Niphentaxians, I sent my flag captain to Kyotos City to inform His Highness about this incident. After all, he is constantly on the lookout for exceptional warriors to help him in his ongoing vendetta against the Goa'uld that murdered his younger sisters a century ago." She then turned to smile politely at Sheko. "I trust, Your Highness, that Miss Ryofu meets your standards."
Sheko blinked at the Neptunian's words, and then he shuddered before a booming laugh escaped him. Around him, many of the people there all cowered in fear. "Meets them?! My dear Pukaze, this angel of war EXCEEDS them! I doubt that none of the Sisterhood that currently live among the Maidens of the Soultaker could match her in sheer power and brilliance!" As people quaked from his harsh cackling, he stepped up and leapt off the balcony to land perfectly on the main floor. Ignoring the panicked looks on many of the people there, he straightened himself as he walked over to stand beside Pukaze. "Tell me, my dear. What is this woman's name?"
"Her real name is Sebone Shikuko, Your Highness," the Neptunian said with a smile. "But she, like the Flower Youth of Noukiios, also takes a special battle name." The smile slipped. "As such, she is called Ryofu Hōsen."
Sheko hummed…
Meanwhile, at a school in central Tōkyō…
"AH-CHOO!"
As Hōsen moaned, Chinkyū Kōdai gazed at her. "Bless you, Ryofu-sama!"
The older tōshi groaned. "Someone's talking about me!" She then blinked before a grin then crossed her face. "I wonder if it's Ataru-kun!"
As Kōdai gaped at her, Sekitoma chirped in what had to be raucous laughter…
"You will not deny us!"
Sheko blinked, and then he turned to stare at the shivering Niphentaxian ambassador, who seemed in a conflict between bellowing down this imposing alien heretic and soiling his pants because said heretic was also one of the Slayers of the System Lords and the strongest and most experienced military leaders in the known galaxy. "Deny you what?" the prince of Kyotos snarled as his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Our justice! The Goddess' Justice! This animal…!"
A sharp ZZZING! echoed through the hall as the ambassador's words were instantly cut off by a flash of long-tempered steel whizzing past at the level of his neck. He seemed to remain still for a moment before his severed head rolled off his neck and dropped with a meaty thud! on the floor, that soon followed by his collapsing body. As horrified shrieks and dumbfounded looks filled the hall as the onlookers took in that gristly scene, Sheko calmly took a cloth from a smiling Izonba and cleaned his blade before sheathing it. "Niphentaxians do not have justice," he declared as his dark eyes fixed on the now-shaking delegation from Phentax Two. "All they have is stupidity. And an overwhelming abundance of that!" He then gazed on Hiromi's picture before smirking as he turned to glare at the assembled crowd around him. "So someone finally decided to call you all out on all your lies, half-truths and hypocrisy! Good for her! I salute this woman and all who fight under her banner!"
"My Prince?"
He looked up. "What is it, Sivko?"
The pudgy Court Sage of Kyotos rose up to gaze knowingly at his leader. "Given that the Lady Hiromi appears to understand many things in the classic mode of old Noukiios during their Tri-Kingdoms Age, my Prince, there is one other thing to consider."
"And that is?"
"Crown Princess Pukaze declared that this defence force the Lady Hiromi commands has no official sanction at this time from Earth's United Nations or its member kingdoms," Sivko mused. "Surely, she is a true hivm'gil laqu'r in the ancient ways of the ilfim'rim of old. Can we truly call ourselves warriors loyal to the ancient ways of our land if we just stand back and allow this one and her loyal blood-brothers and blood-sisters — especially someone possessing the Lady Shikuko's power and skill — to wander alone in unforgiving space with NO support at all?!"
Sheko blinked as he took that in, and then he nodded. "You are right, my friend. To do such would bring shame on all true warriors across the Universe!" He gazed once more on Hiromi before nodding again. "Very well. We will go to Earth and see if the Lady Hiromi is truly a battle princess in her own right, then convince her world's leaders to accept the great gift she and her friends bring to them all!"
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"
Sheko paused, and then turned to stare intently at Invader. "Who is going to stop me?"
The Oni ducked the Yehisrite's icy look as we…
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sat, 22 May 2010 05:14)
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.