"Didn't really expect that from her."
"She's got her village to worry about, Kikuko-chan."
"Yeah, you got a point," Kikuko nods as she pulls the strings tight to close her backpack (originally Genma's). Ranma was already packed and ready to go. "Damn, feel a ghoul taking stuff from Kasumi and Nabiki not four days after they got killed."
"I'd think you'd like it," he notes.
She stares at him. "What the hell does that mean, Nii-chan?!"
"Well, you said you don't really like any of them, remember?"
Kikuko stops, pursing her lips for a moment as she considers her brother's comments, then nods. "Yeah, I suppose. 'Sides, it's not that they were ever really innocent of anything that happened around us. There was 'Miss Sweetness and Light' Kasumi fuckin' ignoring everything that was inflicted on us by her 'Oh, she's not so bad! She's just a violent maniac' sister when she was supposed to be the lady of the household! And there was 'Miss Would-be Yakuza' Nabiki, getting her fuckin' jollies from making all our problems worse! Hell, it surprises me that she didn't have much nicer clothes than what I found! Didn't she get enough cash from all those pictures she sold of me to ol' Bokken-for-Brains or what's the story?"
"Well, it won't happen again," Ranma sighs. "Ready?"
Kikuko ties up her bag, then nods. "Yeah, all set. Let's get out of this place."
They rise, stepping out of the guest bedroom. Seconds later, they dissolve into twin pillars of energy, leaving the Tendou residence for the final time...
Oh, my! Does Ranma-kun really think of us that way...?
Hard to say, Onee-chan. Surprises me that Kikuko didn't burn the whole place down...
Do ya think Ran-chan'll find the creeps that did this to us...?
If Kikuko doesn't talk him out of it, much less Moroboshi's sister...
Oh, dear. Look there...
"So Lum really cared for you, eh?"
Ataru stares at the stuffed doll Lum once made for her "husband" shortly after they became "engaged," it now having been sliced open by one of his mother's kitchen knives thanks to Tariko. Buried in the doll's body is a small transmitter/receiver unit, not so different from "bugs" used by intelligence agencies on Earth. "I..." his mouth flutters as the scale of what his sister just discovered sinks in, then he gazes at her. "How the hell did you figure that out, Tariko-chan?!"
"Tampopo-chan suggested I should check it out," Tariko picks up the doll's remains, then tosses them into a nearby metal garbage tin. "She suspected Lum might've pulled something like this on us to make sure we stayed 'loyal' to her," she grabs some sheets of paper, crumples them up, then tosses them into the tin. One struck match later, everything is set alight. "There we go," she smirks, then walks over to give Ataru's shoulder a squeeze. "Let's get the hell out of here."
Ataru remains in place, staring at the burning contents of the garbage tin for a moment, then he shakily nods. "Y-yeah," he rises, pulling a packed carrying bag full of clothes and other materials with him. "I bet you must be utterly ecstatic about this, Tariko-chan," he muses as they head downstairs.
"Personally?" she pauses halfway down the stares as she considers what Ataru just said, then she shrugs. "Somewhat. I mean, things didn't really seem to be getting better between Lum and us," she waves him on into the living room. "Sooner or later, she would've probably found some guy like Rupa, probably one without any annoying attachments like Carla barking up his ass, then Lum would've dumped us like a hot potato. You can't ask me to feel nice about her anymore, Nii-chan."
"I won't," he shakes his head as they head into the living room. "Still..."
"I know, I know. We should at least try to find out who did them all in," she finishes as they stand by the living room table. "But..."
"But what?" Ataru asks.
Tariko gazes at him. "I don't know what I'm going to do when we meet up with this creep, Nii-chan. Help you kill him or kiss the creep for doing that for us."
He gives her a wary look, then sighs. "Take us back, Ship."
"Acknowledged," the voice of the ship's onboard computer echoes around them.
In two seconds, they vanish forever from the Moroboshi home...
Tcha! How can that girl be so MEAN to us...?
She's Moroboshi's dark side, remember...?
Bitch! How dare she try to cloud Ataru's mind away from Lum-san?! Why, I hope...
Forget hoping, man. We can't do spit about it anymore...
I wish I never had him...
"Welcome back, guys."
"Strange as it sounds, it's good to be back!" Tariko tosses her bag aside as she and Ataru step into the alien ship's control centre. "Any problems in Nerima?"
"Nah," Ranma shakes his head. "Just said good-bye to Elder Cologne. You?"
"Just said good-bye to Tampopo-chan," Ataru reports as the Moroboshi siblings sit down. "If we ever come back this way again, we'll look her up."
"Will we ever come back this way again?" Kikuko wonders. "I mean, yeah, we'll want to find whoever killed everyone and settle that score, but we've got a starship now and the means to go wherever we want. Let's use it."
"Just disappear forever from Earth, you mean?" Tariko muses.
"Why not? We got nothing tying us back there," Ranma's sister shrugs. "Once Oyaji bit the big one, any outstanding marriage pact was flushed down the tubes. In fact, once he and Okofuro died, whatever responsibilities we had to the Tendous or the Kuonjis also got flushed down the tubes. And Elder Cologne effectively declared everything between us and her tribe settled. What's left?"
"It ain't that simple, Kikuko-chan," Ranma warns.
Kikuko sighs. "I know, I KNOW, alright?!" she glances over her shoulder at her brother. "But we don't have to bind ourselves to Japan anymore, Nii-chan! Hell, we don't have to bind ourselves to EARTH when you get down to it!! Let's find some place where we can go settle down and live life the way we want to live life, not according to what the stupid panda, his braindead wife or anyone else says!"
"She's got a point, you know," Ataru slowly nods.
"Yeah, I know," Ranma breathes out. "But what I'm saying is that we have to find out who did this to Akane and Lum and everyone else. If it happened to us, what's to stop it from happening to someone else, y'know? That's important, you know."
"True, but what would our chances be against someone who has the abilities whoever did this to us does?" Ataru counters. "What's to guarantee any sort of success for us in the face of all this?" he waves around him.
"That's true," Tariko nods. "And where do we start looking, for heaven's sake? Where do the people who built this ship and that clone factory aft..." she thumbs in the direction of the large chamber bearing the many incomplete human bodies, four of which had been used for the Saotomes and the Moroboshis, "...actually live? Who can we ask to help us out here? The Onis? After what just happened to Lum and her parents? Benten's people? Oyuki's people? Kurama or Elle, maybe?"
She shakes her head. "Okay, it's difficult, but I still say it has to be done," Ranma grudgingly nods. "But maybe first, we should take a chance to learn all about this ship. Go find some remote place and all that. Hey, Ship?"
"Yes, Ranma?"
"Got any idea where we could go to spend some time learning as much as we can about you and who might've built you?"
A pause, then, "I believe I have just the place. Shall I take us there?"
"Yes," all four teens nod...
Elsewhere...
"So they're on their way. About time."
"Don't you think that was a little too harsh, Nicole?"
The crimson-haired Scotswoman in her mid-twenties -- Nicole Carol Elizabeth McTavish was actually a lot older -- turns slowly around in her chair to gaze on her visitor. "Aye, I grant ye that the lad who controlled that ship at the start overstepped his bounds way too much when it came to all those people who surrounded Ataru and Ranma, but he's been dealt with. And ye got what ye wanted, Setsuna. The end of Musabetsu Kakutou-ryuu as a viable 'martial art'..." she makes finger-quotes, "...which removes one threat to Crystal Tokyo. As a bonus, ye get a unilateral, long-term withdrawal from Earth's solar system by the Onis, a race who wouldnae allow something like Crystal Tokyo tae arise in the first place. And with the Onis now out of the way, hiding under the sheets as they're doin' now, there'll nae be much interference from Oyuki's people when Crystal Tokyo is founded. Until it's too late, that is."
Sailor Pluto nods, the weariness in her deep crimson eyes at participating in yet another distasteful act to better guarantee Crystal Tokyo's emergence years in the future all too apparent to her host. "Yes, that is true, isn't it?" she whispers, then gazes anew at Nicole. "What of Ranma, Ataru and their sisters? What will you do with them now that they've severed all ties to Earth?"
"That, lass..." Nicole closes her eyes, then gazes intently at the guardian of Time, "...is nae any of your business. If you're smart -- and I know you are -- you'll nae think of Ataru, Ranma or their sisters ever again. If ye believe the Onis would've been a problem when it came to Crystal Tokyo, you've no idea what the sentients I'm now supporting would do to ye and your friends, Setsuna. Understand?"
Pluto takes that in, then nods before raising the Time Key and teleporting herself out of the Outland dimension. Once the guardian of Time is gone, Nicole sits back in her chair. From all around her, a feminine yet divine-tinged voice muses, You could've easily dealt with the geas that was inflicted on her from the future, Nicole.
"Aye, I could've. And if she presents any problems in the future, I'll deal with it then," Nicole nods. "But in the meantime, it's time to send our friends tae..."
(Posted Mon, 24 Feb 2003 00:31)
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