Chapter Five: Five New Allies
Ran-kun couldn’t see a thing in
the complete darkness that he materialized in. He blinked, trying to get
his eyes adjusted, but all that accomplished was being able to see three
patches of gray that could have been the others; then again they could be
his mind making up things. He held out his arms in front of him and walked
slowly towards one of them, and felt a great wash of relief to feel that
it was indeed another person, one who he recognized on an almost instinctual
level by mere touch. Without bothering to think he grabbed the arm he had
found and pulled he surprised body of Ryouga into an embrace and kissed him
on the cheek.
He hadn’t realized how worried he’d
been until suddenly he wasn’t anymore. Unfortunately the feeling lasted only
for a split second, then he noticed that rather than relaxing, Ryouga was
tensing up, and his arms still rested at his sides. He let go of the other
boy.
“Ryouga?”
“Erm… yeah?” His voice was strangely
nasal.
“You’re the wrong one, aren’t you.”
He amazed himself by how calmly he said that.
There was a pause, and when Ryouga
finally answered, his voice was even more muffled. “Yeah.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
The silence resumed. Ran-kun stayed
rooted to the spot, not daring to move. Ryouga didn’t move either; he was
too busy preventing an imminent nosebleed to do such things. Why would
that give me a nosebleed? he wondered, but refused to actually think
about it.
Ranma heard this exchange and had
to stifle a bout of laughter. He pushed all of that aside and let his serious
persona settle over his features and mind, essentially going into battle
mode. Using his heightened senses, he moved towards where the voices had
come from.
Ryouga heard as well and immediately
headed towards where he thought the voices were coming from. Quite miraculously
he didn’t go off in the completely opposite direction, but he also wasn’t
going even remotely towards the other pair and so, quite predictably, bumped
into the other person who was also moving a little too recklessly through
the darkness and probably would have noticed him if it weren’t for the fact
that it was nearly impossible to predict where Ryouga, any Ryouga, was going.
Ranma, after stumbling for a minute,
shot a totally useless glare to the person he knew to be the wrong Ryouga.
“Sorry,” that Ryouga apologized
in a genuinely contrite tone, much to Ranma’s surprise.
“S’okay,” he brushed the incident
off. “Here, let’s go find…”
Before he finished, however, the
room was filled with painful noise and bright, blinding red lights. An
alarm? was the immediate assumption of all four, and they seemed to be
right; the lights were strobing, circling the room – which they could now
see was very large – frantically, searching out the intruders, and the sound
was that of a shrill klaxon, high pitched and impossible to ignore.
The three fighters prepared themselves
even as they found themselves blinded yet *again* by the sudden change in
light.
A new voice shouted something, and
the noise suddenly stopped and the lights stopped flashing, filling the room
with an eerie, but at least steady, glow. Now able to see, they gathered
together, making a triangular defensive formation with Ran-kun at the center.
Ran-kun, for his part, quaked.
Oh, of course, it just *had* to be me… the center of all this trouble… brains
of the outfit indeed! I’d rather be the brawn right now… why am I here? Oh
yeah, you’re the big bad nexus-san, such hot stuff when all you know is the
best strategy for taking a multiple-choice test…
Another command was shouted out
by the newcomer who had shut off the alarm, causing the lighting of the room
to change to the bright white glare of fluorescents. Ran-kun was startled,
but retained his wits enough to turn and look at the source of the familiar
voice with a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. Oh no, not *another*
one… His eyes widened as his suspicion proved to be true.
“Akane?”
***
[AN: Surprise! Now you will be returned to your regularly
scheduled fanfic.]
***
Akane – or at least the person bore
a strong resemblance to the girl they all knew – looked just as bewildered
as them.
There was no recognition in her
eyes, however, until suddenly they widened with the revelation. “Ranma?”
she whispered disbelievingly. “Ryouga?”
“A world in trouble, huh…” Ranma
muttered in an aside to Ran-kun.
“She said we would have a guide…”
Ran-kun reminded him. Together they looked at the other pair. Both Ryougas
were in a state of complete an utter shock, and could only stare open-mouthed
at ‘Akane’.
Deciding that those two would be
useless, Ranma asked her, “Are you our guide?”
“Your guide…” she repeated somewhat
dumbly. Then she collected herself, at least enough to ask incredulously,
“You mean *you’re* the people sent to us as help?”
“Yeah… I guess so… um… Akane… maybe
you should change?” he suggested, with a tilt of his head towards the pair
of lost boys who were on the verge of passing out.
Akane looked down at her revealing,
skintight spandex costume disinterestedly. “Why?” she asked with a mild note
of curiosity, and seemed about to say more when they all heard the sound
of running feet and several shouts of concern, all in familiar voices. Four
people skidded into the room and took up defensive stances that became confused
when they, after long hesitation, recognized who had caused the alarm.
The two groups regarded each other
for a few seconds. Kasumi, Nabiki… Mousse and Kuno? What the…? They
looked close enough to the ones he knew, although he was almost afraid to
know how they, and this world, was different. The outfit Akane was wearing…
The other two girls weren’t nearly as shocking, but formfitting, one-piece
jumpsuits weren’t the sort of thing that he was used to Kasumi and Nabiki
wearing. The two males were wearing similar suits, light blue with green
and white triangles on the shoulders, knees and waist, only theirs included
open black vests. It looks like a uniform…
The first person to speak, strangely enough, was Kuno.
“Who are you two that wear the cursed body of my beloved?”
***
~Mordain
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