Chapter 37: The Dreams of a Dragon King

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video.

All comments and criticisms appreciated. You can contact me at sommer@3rdm.net

What happened last chapter:
Casualties mounted as the Nerima crew took on the Eight Devils Kimone. The Devils were defeated, but the Shogun of the Dark successfully cast his spell, sacrificing his own life, to release the last of the Dragon Kings: Maelstrom. And now the final phase of Maelstrom’s master plan has begun…

This {} indicates telepathy

Happosai slowly pushed the boulder away from above his head. The girl he had saved felt as though she was okay. Her breathing was regular and there were no outward signs of injury. Still, she needed fresh air. Besides, Happosai had spent more than enough time buried under the earth, thanks to those two buffoons that he called students. And he still had not properly shown his gratitude for their generosity. Perhaps strapping explosives on them then sealing them in a cave for a decade would give them a new perspective on things.

He was about to drag the girl from the protective hollow he had formed by redirecting the falling boulders, when he sensed the tremendous amount of chi energy directly in front of him. He must have been truly exhausted not to notice it immediately. He turned his head to see…

…A huge green eye with a black vertical pupil in the center five times his height staring right at him.

The eye, and head it was attached to, backed up, allowing the old master to see what was before him. Over two miles of dragon that was so loaded down with chi energy it was threatening to burn out Happosai’s senses.

{SO, ONE OF THE HUMAN MAGGOTS YET LIVES!} The voice sounded in Happosai’s mind. It was not so much shouting, as much as forcing the words into the old pervert’s mind, overriding everything else.

Confronted with something that could accidentally kill him by sneezing, the old lecher did the only thing he could do.

“Please don’t kill me! I’m old and gnarled and would make a lousy meal!” He said in a  performance of groveling that would have made Genma proud.

Maelstrom examined him for a second, as though considering his words. For the briefest of moments Happosai felt something touch his mind, then the soft touch left as quickly as it arrived.

{YOU ARE SINCERE, EXCELLENT!} The Dragon King smiled, showing teeth over ten feet long, that unnerved Happosai further. {IT IS RARE ONE OF YOUR KIND SHOWS PROPER SUBSERVIENCE. CONTINUE TO GROVEL WELL AND YOU WILL BE ALLOWED TO SURVIVE FOR A WHILE LONGER. I WOULD HAVE A HARBINGER TO SPEAK OF WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY, THE DAY THAT MARKED THE DOWNFALL OF HUMANITY!}

Happosai could feel the satisfaction from the touch in his mind. If this dragon was telling the truth, then humanity might truly be doomed. Never before had he been confronted with… power. And that was what it was. Power! The size of the dragon. The chi it gave off. All of it made the creature invincible.

Happosai himself was far from full strength, after having used so much to destroy the undead, save Shampoo, and break down the doors to the Shogun of the Dark’s cave, he was nearly out of power. It was by far the lowest level he had been at for years. And even at full strength, or twenty times his normal power level, he would still have been unable to do anything to the creature before him. How had such a thing remained hidden? Anything that powerful would have been spoken of by others.

There was nothing he or anyone else could do. For the first time that since he was a young lad he was truly helpless. His mind raged as he tried to exert some control over his situation. “What’s your name?”

{MY TRUE NAME IS UNPRONOUNCEABLE TO YOUR TONGUE. MAELSTROM IS THE CLOSEST APPROXIMATION IN YOUR LANGUAGE. I AM THE LAST OF THE DRAGON KINGS.} Maelstrom gazed skyward, searching the heavens for something. {THERE IS STILL SOME TIME BEFORE I CAN IMPLEMENT THE LAST PART OF MY PLAN. NO ONE INTERFERED WITH MY APPROACH. NOT THAT I BELIEVED ANYONE COULD TRULY STOP ME, BUT IT WAS A NECESSARY PRECAUTION.}

Maelstrom turned his gaze to Happosai once more. {IT HAS BEEN FIVE THOUSAND YEARS SINCE I LAST TRULY ‘TALKED’ WITH SOMEONE. I FEEL THE URGE TO… BOAST ABOUT WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. THE SHOGUN OF THE DARK COULD HAVE FULFILLED THAT ROLE, IF HE WERE STILL ALIVE. HOW UNFORTUNATE HE DID NOT SURVIVE THE AWAKENING. PERHAPS I SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT?}

It was almost as though he was asking Happosai, but somehow the old man knew better. Did the dragon know of his role in the Shogun’s demise?

Maelstrom seemed to smile. It was hard to tell with the mouth as enormous as it was. There was no way to get a proper perspective from that close of a range. {BUT THAT IS FOR AFTERWARDS. NOW THERE IS ONLY TIME TO ACHIEVE MY GREATEST DREAM AND CRUSH THE PARASITE THAT IS HUMANKIND!}

Happosai continued to cringe, though his mind searched for some way out. Keep the dragon talking. That might be the best answer. “I’d be delighted to hear your story.”

Happosai heard the amused chuckle in his head. {YOU WILL MOST LIKELY RUN AWAY IN TERROR WHEN YOU FIND OUT WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO YOUR ILK. STILL, YOU MAY YET ENTERTAIN ME BY QUAKING IN FEAR WHEN YOU DISCOVER WHAT HAS HAPPENED WITH MY AWAKENING!}

Happosai felt images forced into his mind. It was more detailed that any dream he had ever had. It was almost as though he was living the scenes as they were revealed to him. The world transformed as Maelstrom began to ‘speak’.

{IN THE BEGINNING THERE WERE THE DRAGON KINGS. EVEN WE DO NOT TRULY UNDERSTAND HOW WE CAME INTO EXISTENCE. OUR ORIGIN WAS ONE OF THE FEW THINGS THAT ELUDED US. OH, WE DISCOVERED THE BONES OF A PREVIOUS SPECIES OF CREATURES, THE THINGS YOU CALL DINOSAURS, BUT THEY WERE FAR TOO INFERIOR FOR OUR KIND TO HAVE COME FROM THEM. NO. OUR BEGINNINGS CAME FROM SOMETHING ELSE ALTOGETHER.}

{BUT THAT DID NOT MATTER. WE WERE. WE EXISTED. THAT WAS ALL THAT WAS RELEVANT. THERE WERE NOT MANY OF MY KIND. LESS THAN A HUNDRED. WE SPREAD OUT ACROSS THE FACE OF THE EARTH, EACH ONE CLAIMING A SECTION OF IT FOR OURSELVES.}

In his mind. Happosai saw the other mile-long Dragon Kings. Each was unique and ran the full gamut of colors and scale patterns. There were no two that looked the least bit alike, and he could identify each one he saw by name, just as Maelstrom had. Somehow he knew that Maelstrom was only feeding him the necessary information. There were things he was keeping back, some huge shadow of vast knowledge that was more than Happosai could ever hope to learn. But in spite of his fear, some greedy part of him wanted to know everything, even if he could never have it.

Maelstrom continued, {THE MILLENNIA FELL AWAY AS WE DRAGON KINGS REMAINED UNCHANGING. WE LEARNED MAGIC, AND HOW TO CONTROL WHAT YOU CALL CHI. WE SEARCHED FOR KNOWLEDGE, BUT AT A SLOW PACE. WHY HURRY WHEN YOU ARE IMMORTAL? WE HAD ALL OF THE TIME IN THE WORLD.

{EVENTUALLY WE CREATED THE THINGS YOU CALL DRAGONS. THEY WERE LESSER VERSIONS OF OURSELVES, BUT COULD BE ENTERTAINING IN MANY WAYS. HOWEVER, AS TIME PASSED, THINGS RETURNED TO THEIR PREVIOUS STATE. IN TIME WE BECAME AWARE OF MAN. AT FIRST THEY WERE LIKE ALL OTHER LIFEFORMS, AND BENEATH OUR NOTICE, BUT IN TIME YOU BECAME INTERESTING. YOU DID THINGS THAT NO OTHER LIFEFORM BEFORE YOU DID. YOU EVOLVED. NOT SO MUCH PHYSICALLY, BUT MENTALLY. YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF HOW SURPRISING IT WAS TO SEE ACTUAL INTELLIGENCE IN SOMETHING NOT US. WE WATCHED YOU, STUDIED YOU FOR CENTURIES ON END UNTIL WE UNDERSTOOD WHAT YOU WERE.

{OR SO WE THOUGHT.}

Happosai felt more anger start to blossom with that revelation.

{I CAN ADMIT NOW WE UNDERESTIMATED YOU. AT FIRST YOU WERE OBJECTS OF FASCINATION TO US. THEN YOU BECAME TOYS. MORESO TO THE DRAGONS THAN THE DRAGON KINGS. ONCE THE FASCINATION WORE OFF, MOST DID NOT DO MORE THAN LOOK IN ON YOUR KIND ONCE EVERY SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS. ALTHOUGH THERE WERE EXCEPTIONS AMONG THE RANKS OF MY FELLOW DRAGON KINGS.

{EMPLOYING MAGIC, WE COULD CHANGE OUR FORMS TO WALK AMONG YOU. MOST OF OUR KIND DID NOTHING MORE THAN PLAY THE VOYEUR, BUT TO SOME YOU WERE AN EXPERIMENT. OFTENTIMES THOSE ONES WOULD INVENT THINGS AND GIVE THEM TO YOU TO SEE HOW YOU WOULD REACT. SOMETIMES THEY WOULD BUILD ARMIES, OR SET LANDS TO DESTORY ONE ANOTHER, CAUSE A WAR, OR BUILD A NATION. WE DID WHAT WE WOULD. IT WAS A GREAT GAME, AND YOU WERE NOTHING MORE THAN PIECES ON A BOARD.

{I THINK THAT WAS WHERE IT ALL WENT WRONG. I DO NOT KNOW WHICH FOOLISH DRAGON OR DRAGON KING TAUGHT YOUR KIND MAGIC, BUT THAT WAS THE MISTAKE THAT WOULD COST US ALL EVENTUALLY. YOUR KIND TOOK TO MAGIC TOO WELL. IT WAS ONLY A COUPLE OF CENTURIES BEFOR YOU GAINED ENOUGH MASTERY THAT THE STRONGEST AMONG YOU COULD ACTUALLY OVERPOWER DRAGONS WITH YOUR MAGIC, AND THEY DID SO.}

Maelstrom’s tail came by lightning fast, shearing off a stone wall behind Happosai. It didn’t seem possible that something that was nearly a mile long on it’s own could move at speeds that rivaled Happosai’s. He could feel the stronger stirrings of black hatred bubbling to the surface through the link as Maelstrom continued.

{AS TIME WENT BY, YOUR KIND BEGAN SPAWNING LIKE MAGGOTS ON A FESTERING CORPSE. YOUR NUMBERS INCREASED EXPONENTIALLY EVERY GENERATION AND YOU WERE BECOMING MORE POWERFUL WITH EACH PASSING YEAR. I TOOK INTENSE INTERST IN YOU THEN, AND STUDIED YOUR KIND BY TRAVELING ALL AROUND THE EARTH FOR OVER THREE HUNDRED YEARS. AT THE END OF THAT TIME I CAME TO UNDERSTAND JUST HOW DANGEROUS YOU WERE. SOMEHOW YOU HAD STUMBLED ACROSS MAGIC THAT WAS TAILORED TO DESTROY DRAGONS, AND SUBSEQUENTLY DRAGON KINGS. YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF HOW SHOCKED I WAS TO DISCOVER THAT YOU HAD ACTUALLY MANANGED TO KILL TWO DRAGON KINGS. SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE. SO I SUMMONED MY FELLOW DRAGON KINGS TO CONVINCE THEM OF THE TRUTH; YOU WERE TOO DANGEROUS TO BE ALLOWED TO EXIST.

{THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH IMMORTAL CREATURES SUCH AS OURSELVES. WE DO NOT MOVE QUICKLY. SO WHEN I SPOKE WITH THE DISAPPOINTING HANDFUL OF MY FELLOW DRAGON KINGS THAT SHOWED UP, AND TOLD THEM YOU HUMANS HAD MANAGED TO KILL OFF AT LEAST A HOST OF DRAGONS AND TWO DRAGON KINGS, AND OF MY ADDITIONAL DISCOVERIES AND CONCLUSIONS, I WAS CASUALLY DISMISSED. THEY CLAIMED I WAS EXAGGERATING THE DANGER, AND THAT IF YOU HUMANS MANANGED TO KILL OFF A FEW DRAGONS, THEY WERE NO DOUBT INCOMPETENT TO ALLOW SUCH LOWLY CREATURES TO DO AWAY WITH THEM. IF ANYTHING, THAT ELEMENT OF DANGER ADDED TO THE GAME FOR THEM.

{IF MY KIND HAS ANY FLAW, IT IS THAT WE ARE SELF-CENTERED AND CONCEITED. IF ONLY THEY LISTENED TO ME AT THAT TIME, WE COULD HAVE WIPED OUT THE HUMAN RACE WITH LITTLE DIFFICULTY, BUT THEY REFUSED. SOME THOUGHT I WAS UP TO SOMETHING, OTHERS SAID THAT HUMAN WEREN’T DANGEROUS, AND EVEN IF THEY BECAME SO WE COULD WIPE THEM OUT EASILY. AFTER ALL, WERE WE NOT DRAGON KINGS, THE MOST POWRFUL LIFEFORM IN EXISTENCE? HUMANS COULD BE STOPPED AT ANY TIME THE DRAGON KINGS FELT LIKE IT, AND AT THAT TIME THEY DID NOT FEEL LIKE IT.

Happosai watched the tail shear through some more boulders, indicating just how frustrated Maelstrom was.

{NONE OF MY FELLOWS UNDERSTOOD YOU. OH, THEY THOUGHT THEY DID, AND AT FIRST THAT WAS TRUE, BUT NONE OF THEM REALIZED HOW QUICKLY YOU CHANGE. IT NORMALLY TOOK MY KIND MILLENNIA TO CHANGE IN THE SLIGHTEST, BUT ALL IT TOOK FOR YOU WAS HUNDREDS OF YEARS, AND YOU DID CHANGE, ADAPTING TO THINGS AT AN UNBELIEVABLE RATE.

{AT FIRST I ENTERTAINED THE NOTION OF SLAYING YOU ALL MYSELF, BUT IT QUICKLY BECAME EVIDENT THAT THERE WERE TOO MANY OF YOU. AND MY FELLOW DRAGON KINGS DID NOT APPRECIATE ME DESTROYING SO MANY OF THEIR PLAYTHINGS. I WAS TOLD IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS TO STOP MY ACTIONS, OR ELSE THERE WOULD BE REPRISALS. IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE! HUMANS WERE THE DANGER, YET I WAS THE ONE THAT MY KIND THREATENED. SO I WAITED AND SEETHED, PLOTTING A WAY TO DESTROY YOUR KIND. BUT I COULD COME UP WITH NOTHING.

{I DON’T KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED, BUT EVENTUALLY, IN SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS, ONE OF THE DRAGON KINGS UNDERSTOOD THE TRUTH. IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT OVER HALF OF OUR KIND HAD BEEN DESTROYED BY THE HUMANS.

{YOU PROBABLY THINK THAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE, THAT WE COULD BE UNAWARE OF HOW MANY OF US WERE PICKED OFF ONE-BY-ONE. IT’S NOT. TO US, TWO HUNDRED YEARS IS THE BLINK OF AN EYE, AND AS I SAID, DRAGONS ARE INHERINTLY SELF-CENTERED. WE DID NOT COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER FREQUENTLY OR CASUALLY. EACH OF US HAD OUR OWN TERRITORY TO RULE. LITTLE COMMUICATION OCCURRED OR WAS EVEN DESIRED. BUT THE TRUTH WAS DISCOVERED, AND MY BRETHERN DECIDED TO FORM A CONCLAVE TO DECIDE ON THE FATE OF HUMANITY. AMAZINGLY I WAS OVERLOOKED, AND NOT INVITED. I FOUND OUT WHAT OCCURRED ONLY AFTERWARDS.

{SOMEHOW THE HUMANS FOUND OUT ABOUT THE MEETING AND GATHERED TOGETHER THE GREATEST ASSEMBLY OF DRAGONKILLERS THAT EVER EXISTED. ARMED WITH THE DEADLIEST OF ANTI-DRAGON WEAPONS, THEY AMBUSHED THE CONCLAVE BUT UNDERESTIMATED OUR POWER, AND WERE DESTROYED TO A MAN. WHEN THE DUST SETTLED FROM THE SMALL WAR, OVER HALF OF THE DRAGONS THAT HAD ATTENDED AND OVER A THIRD OF THE DRAGON KINGS HAD FALLEN. THE SURVIVORS TRIED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT ACTION TO TAKE NEXT NOW THAT THEY KNEW BEYOND ANY DOUBT THAT HUMANITY WAS A MAJOR THREAT. AND YOU KNOW WHAT THEY CAME UP WITH?

{NOTHING.

{TOO MANY OF THE DRAGON KINGS AND DRAGONS WERE DEAD. HUMANITY WAS TOO NUMEROUS, TOO POWERFUL TO BE WIPED OUT. THE CONCLAVE APPROXIMATED THAT, AT MOST, FORTY PERCENT OF THE HUMANS COULD BE KILLED BEFORE THE LAST DRAGON FELL. WE HAD LOST THE WAR BEFORE IT HAD EVEN BEGUN.}

The only pity Happosai felt over that information was that Maelstrom had not been included in that death toll.

{THAT DID NOT STOP SOME FROM TRYING. IN THE YEARS THAT FOLLOWED THE SLAUGHTER OF THE CONCLAVE, MANY DRAGONS AND SOME OF THE DRAGON KINGS RAMPAGED ACROSS THE WORLD. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF HUMANS WERE CONSUMED IN THE FLAMES, BUT CHAMPIONS AROSE TO COMBAT THOSE THAT VOWED TO SLAY HUMANITY. ONE BY ONE THEY FELL. SMAUG. STORM. TYPHON. PERHAPS THE MIGHTIEST OF US, FAFNIR, FELL BEFORE THE COMBINED MIGHT OF A HUNDRED EXTRA-DIMENSIONAL BEINGS THAT PROCLAIMED THEMSELVES GODS. WE LOST THE WAR, JUST AS WE KNEW WE WOULD.

{OTHERS BEGAN TO HIDE, EITHER UNDER THE HUMANS’ NOSES USING MAGIC, OR GOING AS FAR AWAY FROM HUMANITY AS THEY COULD, SEALING THEMSELVES IN CAVES AND THE LIKE, KILLING ANYTHING THAT DARED TO VENTURE CLOSE. BUT YOU MAGGOTS INFESTED YOURSELVES EVERYWHERE, HUNTING DOWN AND KILLING EACH DRAGON YOU COULD FIND. IT DID NOT MATTER HOW MANY OF YOU WE TOOK WITH US. FOR EVERY ONE OF YOUR KIND THAT DIED, TWO REPLACED YOU. DRAGONS TAKE A HUNDRED YEARS TO PRODUCE OFFSPRING, AND WE DRAGON KINGS ARE INACAPABLE OF PROCREATION. YOU WERE WEARING US DOWN OVER THE YEARS, INFLICTING IRREPLACEABLE LOSSES. YOU HUMANS LEARNED THE LESSON OF THE ANTS: STRENGTH IN NUMBERS.

{I SPENT EVERY MOMENT I COULD TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO KILL ALL OF YOU. THEN IT OCCURRED TO ME. YOU HUMANS ENJOY DESTROYING EACH OTHER ALMOST AS MUCH AS YOU ENJOYED DESTROYING US. WHY NOT USE YOU? NO NEED TO RISK A DRAGON IF WE COULD GET HUMANS TO CONCENTRATE ON DESTROYING THEMSELVES.

{I GATHERED TOGETHER A DOZEN HUMANS I COULD USE AND EMPOWERED THEM SO THAT THEY WOULD DESTROY EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING AROUND THEM. AND AT FIRST IT WORKED. A HANDFUL FELL, BUT MOST THRIVED. THE CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT WAS A QUARTET THAT DUBBED THEMSLEVES THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCOLYPSE. TOGETHER THEY SLAUGHTERED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS, THRIVING BEYOND MY GREATEST EXPECTATIONS. BUT JUST WHEN IT APPEARED THEY MIGHT TRULY BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE MY DREAM OF GENOCIDE, THEY TURNED ON ME! I WAS THE ONE WHO CREATED THEM, YET THEY SPURNED THEIR GOD AND TRIED TO SLAY ME. THEY MIGHT HAVE SUCCEEDED TOO, HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR MY MOST LOYAL OF THE EMPOWERED ONES. WENG CHANG, HE WHO YOU KNEW AS THE SHOGUN OF THE DARK. TOGETHER WE SLEW THE HORSEMEN, THEN KILLED THE OTHERS LEST THEY BETRAY ME AS WELL.}

Happosai watched as Maelstrom absent-mindedly crushed a five-ton boulder into dust without even realizing it. There was no way he was going to try to confront that kind of power.

{I BEGAN TO GIVE UP HOPE, AND WAS ALMOST ANGRY ENOUGH TO LAUNCH A SUICIDE ATTACK MYSELF, WHEN I REMEMBERED HE WHO WAS PERHAPS THE WISEST OF THE DRAGON KINGS. THE ONE CALLED HAVOC. OF ALL OF US, HE WAS THE MOST RECLUSIVE. I HAD MET EVERY ONE OF MY KIND THOUSANDS OF TIMES OVER THE MILLINNIA SAVE HAVOC, WHO I MET PERHAPS A HUNDRED TIMES. BUT EVERY OCCASION I MET HIM I WAS IMPRESSED BY HIS INTELLIGENCE. NONE HAD HEARD FROM HIM SINCE LONG BEFORE THE HUMANS BEGAN THEIR DRAGON KILLING WAYS.

{I TRAVELED TO HIS HOME DEEP IN THE MOUNTAINS OF WHAT YOU CALL CHINA. UPON UNCOVERING THE LOCATION OF HIS LAIR, I DISCOVERED IT VACANT, SAVE FOR THE BODIES OF SEVERAL UNKNOWN HUMANOIDS. EXAMINING HIS WRITINGS, I DISCOVERED THAT HE HAD BEEN TRACKED DOWN BY A GROUP OF EXTRA-PLANAR HUNTERS, AND THOUGH HE HAD KILLED THEM, HE WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED. WITH HIS LAST MOMENTS UPON HIM, HE WROTE OF WHAT HAD HAPPENED AND THAT HE WAS GOING TO TRY TO SAVE HIMSELF USING SOME KIND OF UNTESTED MAGIC SPELL. THE LAST THING ON THE PAGE WAS A LINE THAT SINCE SOMEONE WAS READING THE JOURNAL, THAT MEANT HAVOC FAILED AND WAS DEAD.

{HAVING NOTHING BETTER TO DO, I WENT THROUGH HIS BELONGINGS, GLEANING WHAT KNOWLEDGE I COULD FROM THEM. THEN I STUMBLED UPON IT. THE WAY TO MY HEART’S DESIRES.}

Happosai began to listen more carefully. If what Maelstrom had uncovered was powerful, maybe there was something he could use against the Dragon King.

Maelstrom continued. {AMONG A BUNCH OF CURIOUS INCOHERENT SCRIBBLINGS, THERE WAS MENTION THAT DURING A CERTAIN PLANETARY ALIGNMENT, AT A CERTAIN SPOT ON THE EARTH, ONCE EVERY FIVE THOUSAND YEARS ONE CAN SUMMON A THING OF VAST POWER, SOMETHING HAVOC CALLED CONTINUUM, AND BE GRANTED ONE BOON. IT WOULD TAKE A VAST AMOUNT OF CHI BUT IT COULD BE DONE. HAVOC INDICATED HE HAD DONE IT ONCE BEFORE, THOUGH WAS ULTIMATELY DISAPPOINTED WITH WHAT HE HAD ASKED FOR. HE HAD BEEN PREPARING HIMSELF FOR THE RAPIDLY ARRIVING TIME, AND IT WAS IN THIS DELICATE PERIOD, A PERIOD THAT HAVOC WAS MOST DISTRACTED, THAT THE HUNTERS ATTACKED.

{SO IT FELL TO ME TO COMPLETE THE SPELL. I HAD TO HURRY, AS THERE WAS ALMOST NO TIME LEFT FOR THE SUMMONING. I DID EVERYTHING THAT WAS DETAILED IN THE INSTRUCTIONS, PREPARING THE GATEWAY ABOVE WHAT YOU CALL MOUNT PHOENIX, UTILIZING THE SPELLS NECESSARY TO KEEP THE APERTURE OPEN LONG ENOUGH TO MAKE MY REQUEST. I HAD COMPLETED EVERYTHING WITH TWO HOURS TO SPARE. I SUMMONED FORTH ALL OF MY CHI AND USED IT IN THE MANNER INDICATED, AND NOTHING HAPPENED.

{IT TOOK ME YEARS TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HAD GONE WRONG. I AT LAST FIGURED OUT THAT THE SCRIBBLINGS THAT HAD SURROUNDED THE INSTRUCTIONS WERE NOT SCRIBBLINGS AT ALL. IT WAS A CODE. THE CODE WAS SO COMPLEX THAT IT TOOK EVEN THE GENIUS OF A DRAGON KING YEARS TO DECIPHER IT. BUT AT LAST I SUCCEEDED. FROM THAT CODE I DISCOVERED THAT A MAGICAL FOCUS WAS NEEDED TO BE IN PLACE TO HELP IN THE SUMMONING. AND THE CHI AMOUNTS LISTED IN THE NORMAL INSTRUCTIONS WERE HORRIBLY UNDERSTATED. IT WOULD REQUIRE FAR MORE CHI THAN EVEN A DRAGON KING COULD CALL FORTH.

{BUT THAT MATTER WAS TAKEN CARE OF FOR ME. ALSO WITHIN THOSE PAGES WERE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO CREATE A GIANT CHI RESEVOIR USING MAGICAL POOLS TO SIPHON OFF THE CHI OF OTHER CREATURES THAT ENTERED THE POOLS. IT WAS A PERFECT PLAN SAVE FOR ONE THING.

{I COULD NOT WAIT FIVE THOUSAND YEARS.

{MY HATRED FOR YOUR RACE KNEW NO BOUNDS. I COULD NOT WAIT ONE THOUSAND YEARS, LET ALONE FIVE. IT WAS TOO MUCH, AND EVEN IF I COULD FORCE MYSELF TO WAIT, THERE WAS STILL TOO GREAT A CHANCE OF BEING HUNTED DOWN AND KILLED LIKE ALL OF THE OTHERS. I NEEDED SOMEWHERE THAT I COULD SLEEP FOR FIVE MILLENNIA AND WHERE NONE COULD FIND ME, A LOCATION NEAR WHERE THE CHI RESEVOIR WOULD BE, FOR MY FATE RESTED ON IT AND I NEEDED TO BE CLOSE SO THAT I COULD SOMEHOW PROTECT IT. THEN I FIGURED IT OUT. IT WOULD BE THE AREA WHERE I WOULD PLACE THE MAGICAL POOLS. I COULD MASK MY ENTIRE PHYSICAL, CHI, AND MAGICAL SIGNATURES THERE. AND BY PLACING MYSELF IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE CHI RESEVOIR, MASK IT AS WELL. THE ONLY WAY ANYONE COULD FIND ME WAS IF THEY RANDOMLY STUMBLED UPON ME.

{I SET UP A SERIES OF ALARMS SO THAT IF ANYONE EVEN DETECTED THE RESEVOIR, OR ME, I COULD SEND OUT MY DREAM FORM TO STRIKE THEM DEAD, JUST LIKE THAT FOOL THAT STUMBLED UPON IT ONLY A FEW MONTHS AGO.

{UNFORTUNATELY I WOULD NEED TO BE ASLEEP THE ENTIRE TIME, AN ANNOYING BUT NECESSARY RESTRICTION OF THE MASKING SPELLS I WOULD BE USING. WAKING UP PREMATURELY WOULD RUIN THE ENTIRE THING AND I WOULD BE UNABLE TO REUSE THE MAGIC ON MYSELF. EVEN A DRAGON KING CANNOT BEND MAGIC TO ITS WHIM. IN ORDER FOR THE WORLD TO BE BLIND TO MY PRESENCE, I HAD TO BE BLIND TO THE WORLD. THEREFORE I REQUIRED SOMEONE TO PREPARE THE FOCUS AND AWAKEN ME AT THE PROPER TIME. THAT FELL TO THE ONE HUMAN IN THE WORLD I REMOTELY TRUSTED, WENG CHANG. TO TELL ANYONE ELSE WOULD INVITE DESTRUCTION. HUMANS CANNOT BE TRUSTED.

{I BOLSTERED HIS ABILITIES, MAKING HIM LITTLE MORE THAN A WALKING MAGICAL BATTERY, AND INSTRUCTED HIM TO WAIT THE FIVE THOUSAND YEARS FOR MY AWAKENING.  IN ORDER TO KEEP HIMSELF OCCUPIED AND NOT DIE OF BOREDOM, HE FERMENTED SEEDS OF CHAOS AND WAR AMONG YOUR RACE. HE HAS BEEN THE MASTERMIND BEHIND MORE DEATHS THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE OVER TIME. IT WAS ONLY DURING THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS THAT HE FADED INTO THE BACKGROUND, STORING THE NECESSARY ENERGY TO TRIGGER MY AWAKENING. I WILL BE THE FIRST TO ADMIT IT WAS A RISKY PLAN. ANY ONE OF A NUMBER OF THINGS COULD HAVE GONE WRONG, BUT I WAS DESPERATE, AND IT WAS THE ONLY WAY I KNEW OF THAT I COULD ATTAIN MY HEART’S DESIRES.

{SO I CREATED THE PLACE YOU CALL JUSENKYOU. DID YOU KNOW THE CURSES WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE A PART OF IT? THEY WERE NOT THERE, AT FIRST. I THINK THEY CAME ABOUT BECAUSE OF THE ADDITIONAL SPELLS I CAST TO DRAW PEOPLE THERE, OR PERHAPS IT WAS THE SOURCE, JUSENDO. IT WAS AN ODD PLACE. BUT IT DID NOT MATTER, FOR IT WORKED. IT DRAINED THOSE THAT TOUCHED THE WATERS AND STORED THEIR CHI ENERGY FOR ME. AT FIRST I WAS NOT CERTAIN ENOUGH PEOPLE WOULD BE SUBMERGED FOR ME TO HAVE SUFFICIENT CHI TO INITIATE THE SUMMONING. MY WORRIES WERE FOR NOTHING. BY THE TIME AZURA TOUCHED ONE OF THE POOLS, AND I ABSORBED PART OF HER CHI, I HAD MORE THAN ENOUGH. IN FACT…}

Maelstrom held his gigantic clawed hand out before Happosai. Whatever the gesture meant was lost on the old one, until he saw a scale flake off.

{THERE IS TOO MUCH POWER FOR EVEN A DRAGON KING TO HOLD FOR LONG. WITH IT ALONE I COULD EASILY SLAY MILLIONS. BUT IT WOULD NOT BE ENOUGH. MY DREAMS TRANSCEND THAT. WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW WHAT NIGHTMARES WILL PLAGUE HUMANITY IN THE FUTURE? WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW WHY THAT LEAVING YOU ALIVE IS NOT A BLESSING?}

“Not really,” Happosai answered.

Maelstrom gave a booming laugh, something that threatened to cause Happosai’s eardrums to explode. {I ADORE YOUR HONESTY. I BELIEVE I WILL LEAVE YOU ALIVE FOR QUITE SOME TIME. IT REALLY IS UNFORTUNATE MORE HUMANS HAD NOT BEEN LIKE YOU. IF THEY HAD ACCEPTED THEIR PLACE, NONE OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING.} 

Maelstrom gazed up to the skies once more, and Happosai could feel the anticipation build within the last of the Dragon Kings.

{HERE IS WHAT I WOULD WISH FOR. TOTAL CONTROL OVER EVERY LIVING THING ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. NONE WOULD BE ABLE TO ESCAPE MY WRATH!}

Happosai’s mouth went ahead of his thoughts. “Why not just wish to become a god?” As the last word left his mouth he realized the foolishness of what he had just said.

The giant dragon answered immediately. {I CONSIDERED THAT. BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT BECOMING A GOD ENTAILS. IF I WERE TO BECOME ONE, I MIGHT GO BEYOND VENGEANCE. I MIGHT DECIDE THAT THE DESTRUCITON OF THE HUMAN RACE IS NOT WORTH IT. I CANNOT TAKE THAT CHANCE. MY MOST FERVENT WISH IS TO DESTORY ALL OF YOU.}

Happosai now considered what that meant. “Why not just wish all of the human race dead then, if that’s what you really want?”

Maelstrom laughed once more. {BECAUSE HAVING YOU ALL DIE AT ONCE WOULD NOT BE SATIFYING ENOUGH. I WANT TO SAVOR YOUR DEATHS. I WANT TO SHOW HUMANITY WHAT IT DID TO US, THEIR TRUE GODS. I WANT TO DO IT SLOWLY, PIECE BY PIECE. I WILL HURT THEM IN THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE. I WILL GIVE THEM THE HOPE THAT THEY CAN OVERTHROW MY RULE, AND THEN I WILL CRUSH THE HOPE. THEN I WILL GIVE THEM HOPE AGAIN, AND I WILL CRUSH IT AGAIN. OVER AND OVER I WILL BREAK HUMANITY’S SPIRIT, UNTIL FIVE THOUSAND YEARS FROM NOW I WILL HAVE JUST ENOUGH HUMANS LEFT TO KILL THEM ALL AT ONCE, HARNESS THEIR CHI ENERGY, AND SUMMON CONTINUUM ONCE MORE SO THAT I MAY MAKE A SECOND WISH AND BECOME A GOD. I HAVE NOT DECIDED UPON WHAT TO DO AFTER THAT. I WANT TO CONCENTRATE ON SLOWLY SLAUGHTERING ALL HUMANS OVER THE COURSE OF FIVE THOUSAND YEARS.}

Maelstrom’s head snapped up. At last Happosai heard the voice in his head drop to a whisper. {It is time.}

Maelstrom stood up on his hind legs and looked to the skies. He expanded his wings and raised them high to the skies. Concentrating, he converged all of his excess chi energy and looked through the magical focus, aimed high above Mount Phoenix. It was just like before, save that he now had the right tools for summoning Continuum.

{NOW!!!}

And he released it.

Happosai watched on as enough chi energy to vaporize an entire range of mountains was released from Maelstrom and became focused somewhere slightly above the Dragon King’s head. It must have been funneled through the focus the Dragon King had been going on about. Surprisingly, only a small portion of it actually went through, the rest hung about the air, somehow lingering and giving everything a blue haze. Happosai knew now that the Dragon King had not been lying about having too much power. Precious little of the total energy had actually been used. Happosai could tap into it, use it if he desired, but there was no point. He could not control enough to hurt Maelstrom. The last Dragon King was still filled with his own personal energies, more than enough to fry Happosai; especially with the way his chest was hurting him. The whole experience was taking him to the limit, and his body let him know.

As the energy went through the funnel it seemingly disappeared in mid-air. And when the flow of blue stopped going through the funnel, that was when it occurred.

A vertical slit, almost as though it was a great eye, opened above Mount Phoenix.

In Heaven:

Skuld was double-checking the figures on one of her experiments, using the Yggdrasil computer system (and she would have insisted she was not using it without permission since she had filled out the necessary papers to use it for the double-check. They just hadn’t cleared yet. Of course they were going to be approved.) when the entire system shut down.

Skuld formed a huge sweatdrop behind her head, the moment of fear keeping her silent for only a second, when what had just happened finally registered.

“IT’S NOT MY FAULT!!!”

A hand found its way to her shoulder. Peace suddenly flooded her being as she calmed down. She turned to see the handsome face of one of the older angels, Lashael, smiling at her. He was wearing white robes that contrasted perfectly with his long black hair and green eyes.

“There’s no need to panic,” Lashael said in a calm voice. “It was not your fault. You did not exist the last time this happened. Continuum has simply seized control of the system.”

Skuld was confused. There was something besides Kami-sama that could control the Yggdrasil system? “What’s Continuum?”

“One of the conceptual entities that make the universe what it is,” he said softly.

“You mean like Death, Fate, Love, and all of those other weird things that are supposed to represent the embodiment of what their name implies? I know it’s said that they can take a form through which others can understand what they represent, but I thought they usually worked through more corporeal agents, like Fate using The Seer.” She thought she got the encyclopedia definition of conceptual entity correct. And Urd had accused her of not paying attention to those things when she was little. She had only heard of them, but they were supposed to be powerful enough to have absolute control of everything within their name. All of Urd’s stupid love potions were nothing more than extensions of Love, as was what Belldandy and Keiichi felt for one another, at least that was what the encyclopedia had implied. She had never seen one when it took a form that could be understood. Most of the time they simply WERE. And as a general rule they took no direct action in things. Something about the nature of what they were preventing that from occurring, although they could work through others. It didn’t really make any sense to her.

“Yes,” Lashael said in his soft voice.

“How come I never heard of it?” Skuld asked.

For the first time since he had approached her, Lashael showed a look of concern. “It is more subtle in its actions than others. However, you should know that it is what powers the part of the system that grants wishes. It controls reality. As to why it shut down the system.” The dark-haired angel stared at Skuld for a moment. “Someone is directly asking Continuum to bend reality to its own ends. That means the thing that is making the wish will be granted whatever it wants, no limitations.”

Skuld’s eyes widened. “But it has to go through Kami-sama first. All of the wishes have to be approved.”

Lashael shook his head. “Not in this case. Continuum has carte blanche powers.” He headed off Skuld’s next question. “I do not know why that is, it’s just the way kami-sama set things up. It is not my place to question or criticize the workings of the universe. I know enough to realize I will never truly understand how the whole thing works. In time you will come to understand that too.” He looked to the world tree computer system once more. “It will most likely reboot in time. As for right now…” He turned his gaze downward. “All of the angels in the Earth sphere are being recalled to Heaven and further contact is temporarily banned. All other currently running wishes are put on hold until this matter sorts itself out. Let’s hope whoever is making the wish is wise. Whoever it is now has something akin to ultimate power in their hands.”

Maelstrom was only able to look directly into the opening for a moment before he felt his sanity start to slip away. He had only moments to shut off his extra senses before his mind was consumed by the power of the place the hole in reality had opened to. Once that was done, he was able to simply look into the visual spectrum and withstand what he saw before his eyes.

Happosai felt something just at the edge of his senses. Something that threatened to rip his mind apart with power, and it was coming from the tear in fabric of reality before him. He tried to turn away, but at the same time felt himself helplessly drawn to it. It took most of his willpower to simply ignore whatever it was and concentrate on Maelstrom and what he was doing. The Dragon King seemed to be sending something into Happosai’s mind. It was almost like an emotion that was washing over him. Pure and clear of any hate. It was then Happosai understood what it was he was feeling. It was joy. It was the end of a five thousand year old dream of hate.

It was success.

Happosai heard the voice in his mind. It was similar to Maelstrom’s telepathic communication, but so very different at the same time. Happosai had thought the Dragon King represented the true face of power, but it was nothing when compared to the thing called Continuum. The voice said only one phrase.

*What is your wish?*

For one brief moment, Maelstrom’s mind went blank. Five thousand years of unending hatred was temporarily lost in gazing upon the face of true power. Anything could be his, and suddenly he did not want anything. For a lesser being it would have proven too much and they would have gone on staring until Continuum departed, but five thousand years of hatred would not be extinguished so easily. Slowly it came rising to the surface once more, piercing Maelstrom’s consciousness. Sluggishly the words escaped his thoughts.

{I… WANT… TOTAL… CONTROL… OVER… ALL… OF… THE… LIVING… THINGS… ON… EARTH… FROM… NOW… UNTIL… ITS… END.}

*Granted.*

And it was done. Maelstrom felt every living thing all at once flood his mind. He could cause an entire rain forest to simply stop producing chlorophyll. Or have every fly on the earth drown itself in the ocean. The humans could be made to kill one another, or never kill another living being ever again. The last Dragon King could even control the viruses in the air to do his bidding. There was nothing beyond his power now. And he could also feel that his wish had been granted exactly the way he wanted. The things that were being born every minute were also under his control. All of them, from now until everything was dead, were his. It was exactly what he wanted. And as soon as his mind adjusted to the true level of power he now possessed, he would play. Oh how he would play.

Happosai watched on as events transpired around him. It wasn’t right. It just wasn’t right that something so evil should be granted a wish. He was going to try something that he had not attempted for ages, but the situation seemed to call for it.

He was going to try to discuss matters calmly, and with a conceptual entity no less.

“Hey! You! The hole in the sky!”

Continuum did not respond.

“I said, hey you!”

Still nothing.

“HEY YOU!!!” Happosai screamed at the top of his lungs.

Still nothing.

“If that’s the way you want it.” Happosai said quietly, then gathered his concentration as he proceeded to absorb some of the ambient chi in the air. Suddenly he felt himself fill with more energy than he had his entire life. It flooded his senses and permeated his entire being. How had he lived before when he had been so weak? Only now did he understand how truly alive he was. The feats he was now capable of doing would make everything he had done before seem as though he was nothing more than a neophyte martial artist. Now he could really advance in the art. And not a single panty could escape his grasp.

He shook his head as he almost forgot what he had intended to do when he absorbed the additional energy. Instantly he called upon his ability to form a hundred foot chi version of himself. That should attract the attention of the thing in the hole in the sky.

As he shot up in size Happosai suddenly felt Continuum’s attention shift to him.

*We see you. What is your wish?*

That attracted Maelstrom’s attention, as well as his anger. {HE DID NOT SUMMON YOU, I DID! HE DOES NOT DESERVE A WISH!}

*Summoning is irrelevant. What is your wish?*

Maelstrom exerted his control over all living things to Happosai… and found his power blocked. {WHAT IS WRONG?! I AM SUPPOSED TO HAVE POWER OVER ALL LIVING THINGS!}

*It has a wish. It will be granted a wish without the interference of others. What is your wish?*

Happosai was stunned. He now had a wish. Something he had always wanted. It must have had something to do with the chi he had absorbed. That made sense. The thing was summoned using chi, something Maelstrom had enormous amounts of. Now that Happosai had absorbed some of the raw chi in the area, it could now sense him.

Now Happosai could have anything. He was about to fantasize what he would do with all of the panties in the world when he came down from the euphoria. There was something more important he had to do.

“Looks like I got you now,” Happosai taunted to the impossibly huge Maelstrom.

In answer Maelstrom unleashed a beam of chi-enhanced flame from his mouth, capable of cutting through anything on the planet. The bright white hundred-foot wide beam of plasma burst directly towards Happosai, straight for his body…

…and disappeared as though it had not existed.

*It will not be interfered with. What is your wish?*

“Heh! Looks like you’re really in for it now,” Happosai bragged to Maelstrom. He was going to smirk some more when he felt his hold on the chi suddenly slip. It had not come from an outside source; the disturbance had come from him. Deciding he had best not waste any more time, he spoke, asking for the first thing that came to mind.

“I wish Maelstrom had not made his wish.” Happosai felt pretty sure of himself. It was a good wish that would cancel out what Maelstrom had just done.

*Denied. One wish cannot counteract another. What is your wish?*

“WHAT?!!!” Happosai shouted as he felt his rage build. “You were supposed to grant any wish! I don’t remember hearing any limitations on making a wish! Did you remember anything about any limitations?” he asked Maelstrom.

The over two mile long Dragon King looked down upon the small figure before him. Happosai could end up ruining everything, and Maelstrom would only have himself to blame for not killing the human on the spot.

{WE CAN STRIKE A BARGAIN, HUMAN. I WILL NOT KILL YOU OR ANY ONE MILLION OF YOUR PEOPLE. I WILL LET YOU LIVE UNMOLESTED FOR CENTURIES, SPARED FROM MY WRATH.}

“Forget it!” Happosai shouted. As though he would let harm befall any one of the world’s cuties.

{THEN LET US TALK. SURELY THERE IS SOME BARGAIN THAT WE CAN REACH.} Yes. Maelstrom wanted to talk. Wanted to engage Happosai in conversation as long as he could. There was something that the last Dragon King was aware of that Happosai wasn’t.

The planetary alignment was almost over.

Continuum would be leaving soon, and if Happosai had not made his wish, he would lose it. Then Maelstrom would see to it Happosai suffered unendingly for five thousand years. All he had to do was stall the human, then his dream would at last be fulfilled.

“Nope,” Happosai insisted. He thought for a moment. “I’ve got it. I wish Maelstrom was dead.”

*Denied. Maelstrom controls all living things on this planet from now until the end of the Earth. What is your wish?*

“I wish he was dead before he made that wish.”

*Denied. One wish cannot interfere with another. What is your wish?”

Happosai was running out of ideas, and he would swear Maelstrom was becoming more eager with each passing second. Was the Dragon King up to something? It was obvious the evil reptile could not interfere with Happosai’s wish, so why did he seem so happy? Happosai had time to figure out…

Then the pain struck his chest.

It was worse than anything he had felt his entire life. It seemed to strike out at every cell of his body as the white-hot shards of agony sliced through his entire being. It was bad enough he almost let slip that he wished he were dead. The pain caused him to let his hold on his control of the chi slip as his hundred-foot form dwindled away to twenty feet in height, and continued to shrink. Instinctively he held onto the additional chi, although it became harder by the moment. It was so hard to even think. Barely he could hear voices as he began to pass in and out of consciousness.

Softly:

*You grow dim to us. What is your wish?*

Louder:

{YOU ARE DYING, HUMAN. I CAN SEE IT THROUGH YOUR USELESS EXTERIOR. IT IS YOUR HEART. IT HAS AT LAST FAILED YOU, AS IT COULD NOT TAKE THE STRAIN OF THE CONFLICT YOU HAVE JUST UNDERGONE. YOU WILL BE DEAD WITHIN MOMENTS, AND THE ONLY THING YOU CAN DO TO STOP IT IS WISH IT WAS REPAIRED. USE YOUR WISH NOW HUMAN, OR YOU WILL DIE. WISH FOR A HEALING TO YOUR HEART. IT IS THE ONLY THING BETWEEN YOU AND DEATH.}

“No,” Happosai gasped out.

Maelstrom watched on with an amused grin. The human was suddenly out of options. The human could waste his wish on saving his life, a life that Maelstrom would end the moment Happosai made his wish, or he could lose his control of the extra chi, which would disqualify him from making a wish at all. Or another minute could pass, and the planetary alignment would be over and Continuum would leave. It made no difference to the Dragon King. As long as he was allowed to slaughter the human race. The last obstacle was almost gone. He’d have to kill a billion humans in celebration. If he wanted more to kill in several decades he’d just order them to reproduce what numbers were lost. Soon. So very soon.

Happosai felt another stab of pain in his chest. It was not as bad as the first, but it still affected his control over the chi. It was almost gone and he was almost dead. One more, and even if it did not kill him outright, he would lose his grip on the chi, Continuum would fail to see him, and he would be dead. Instinctively he wanted to wish he would survive, but he fought the instinct. It was hard to think, but there was more to consider than just himself. He had to save everyone from Maelstrom’s insane dream. But how? How when he could not interfere with the wish Maelstrom had been granted? He had total control over every living thing until…

“Here’s… my… wish,” Happosai managed to gasp out.

Perfume staggered in the direction of Mount Phoenix. Something had gone off in her head while she was in her healing trance, and she found herself awake, and somehow instinctively knowing everything had changed. Then the huge form of Maelstrom flew overhead. One did not need to be a genius like her to know something big was happening, so she ran as fast as she could. She had managed to see the Dragon King land on top of Mount Phoenix and crush the top like a person would an anthill. She stopped and watched the giant creature seem to ‘talk’ to something at the top of the mountain. Then the giant eye opened above the mountain, and she heard Continuum’s voice in her head. That seemed to go on for a while, then there was a flash of light. Now there was nothing at the top of the mountain. No giant eye. No Dragon King. If it had not been for the obvious signs of destruction, she would not have been sure if she had not imagined the whole experience.

But she had. And it undoubtedly meant trouble for her allies. She discovered a blown out hole in the mountain. The markings made her think someone had employed the Bakusai Tenketsu to make an entrance. Perfume entered, hurrying inside to see if there was anything she could do. One Devil had fallen before her, and she still had the ability to see more of them die by her hand.

Hurriedly she traveled through the mountain, uncertain of where to go other than up. As she went through stone passageway after stone passageway, she heard the sound of a small detonation from up ahead. Bringing her naginata to bear, she proceeded cautiously into the large cavern with the damaged buildings. Upon entering her eyes fell upon the source of the noise. Ukyou was bending over to the ground and using the Bakusai Tenketsu to blow up tiny pieces of rock into even smaller pieces of rock. A brief glance revealed no obvious foes ready to fall upon her, so Perfume cried out to the chef.

“What are you doing?”

Ukyou did not respond in the slightest as she bent over and blew up another piece of rock. Perfume noticed the blood all over the girl’s face, and was about to risk getting closer, when she spotted Ai’s crumpled form off to the side. The blond cheerleader had an incredible amount of blood all over her back that had run down the side Perfume could see. The Amazon gave a small gasp of concern and raced to the fallen girl’s side. Now she could see the horrible wound along the length of her back, and that the cheerleader looked deathly pale. Perfume had no real hope when she searched for Ai’s pulse…

Which was why she was doubly shocked when she found a faint one.

Quickly Perfume examined Ai more closely. The only wound appeared to be the one in her back. Maybe she could do something, but she was going to need help. “UKYOU!!! Quit blowing up rocks and get over here! Ai’s still alive!”

Ukyou paused in mid-motion, as she was about to blow up another rock. The words seemed to cut through the haze as her hand began trembling. Alive? Slowly she turned her face, the mask of blood now dry, towards Perfume. The scar-faced Amazon was ripping off most of her shirt and tying it around Ai’s back.

“Quit making pebbles and get over here!” Perfume shouted again. “Hurry, damn it! I don’t know how much longer she has!”

The words at last fully sunk in as Ukyou rushed to Ai’s side and fell to her knees, crying. How could it be? “I… I thought she was dead!” Ukyou sobbed out, praying it was not some cruel joke that was meant to shred her heart once more.

“Did you even bother to check her pulse?” Perfume asked as she grabbed Ukyou’s sleeve and began tearing it off.

“Sh… she was bleeding so mu… much, and then she c… closed her eyes,” Ukyou barely managed to get out as her sleeve was torn off.

“You… ASSUMED she was dead?!” the Amazon growled in disbelief.

“I… I… she closed her eyes,” Ukyou insisted once again.

“Thank you for that thorough examination, Doctor Kuonji!” Perfume spat out venomously as she resisted hurting Ukyou for her oversight. “Remind me never to get a paper cut and fall asleep around you. Your ‘misdiagnosis’ just might have cost Ai her life, but at least you made a whole bunch of pebbles while your lover was bleeding to death!”

“I… I… I didn’t know.” Ukyou mind raced as she absorbed the new information, wondering if Perfume was right. Was it her fault Ai might die? Why hadn’t she checked Ai more thoroughly? If she died it would all be Ukyou’s fault.

“Shut up before I break you!” Perfume threatened. First the girl screwed up in assuming Ai was dead, and was now threatening to totally break down. The Amazon was going to have to force herself to keep from berating Ukyou for the moment until she helped Ai. “Tear off your pants legs. I need every bit of cloth I can get my hands on to bind this wound. I wouldn’t count on her making it. She’s lost a lot of blood. It’s amazing she’s even still alive, but I’ll try to save her.” Perfume tied more strips of cloth around Ai’s wound, then took note of the blood that covered Ukyou. “Are you hurt bad?”

“What?” Ukyou asked as she removed her remaining pant leg.

“You’re covered in blood but are moving around okay,” Perfume answered. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t hurt bad. How do you feel? That cut along your front doesn’t look too good.”

Ukyou took a moment to examine herself. “It doesn’t hurt at all.”

“What about your head wound?”

Ukyou examined her head. “I’m not injured there.”

Perfume appeared bewildered. “Where did the blood come from?”

Ukyou’s eyes glazed over as her voice took on a distant sound. “I don’t remember.”

Perfume shook her head. “Okay. Let’s try this. Why were you blowing up rocks?”

“I don’t remember,” Ukyou answered in a still distant voice.

“What do you remember?”

Ukyou tried thinking about that for a moment as she began to sound like her old self. “Ai was in my arms, then she closed her eyes and I thought she was dead. Then the rock guy said something.” She paused for a moment. “He must have done something to my memory. When I get my hands on him for what he did to Ai, I’ll kill him!”

There was something off about all of that, but Perfume did not have the time to try to sort through and understand it. She had to do everything in her power to help Ai. There were some very basic healing techniques that she could use on others, but she wasn’t very good at them and there was absolutely no way she could heal the kind of damage Ai had taken. The absolute best she could hope for was that she would be able to prolong Ai’s life until someone that was better at that sort of thing, like Cologne, could help. She and Ukyou would have to work hard and pray Ai would somehow survive.

Ranma slowly rose to his feet in great pain. He was rapidly becoming aware of parts of his body that he was unaware existed. They were now pleasantly making their presence known by screaming out in agony.

The pain was irrelevant. He shut it out as he hurried as quickly as he could up the mountain. He had to help the others. They needed his assistance, and he would be there to give it. Especially Shampoo. He remembered she had been unconscious in the room when he lost his own awareness. Now she was gone, no doubt in a world of trouble knowing her. She always bit off more than she could chew, and now it was up to him to keep her from making any fatal errors.

The tunnel was strewn with rubble. Ranma could tell it had been recently collapsed, which meant even more trouble. The debris was so thick in some places he was forced to crawl over the wreckage, barely squeezing through it at one point. But still he pressed onward, desire overriding the signals his body was giving that told him to rest. There were people that needed his help, and he was the only one that could give it.

There were several large rocks blocking the exit. He was forced to use all of his muscle to slowly move the boulders away, one at a time. His lungs seared with the effort as he shoved them out of the way and felt fresh air wash across his face. The light was so intense compared to the dark interior of the mountain that Ranma had to shield his eyes for a several moments before he could see. A dull blue haze was in the air, and he could feel the power of chi around him. What had once been a cavern was now nothing more than a collapsed ruin, debris and rubble strewn everywhere across the floor. A cool breeze whipped across his face as he surveyed the area before him. Just a series of rocks, that was all there was. Some unknown force must have collapsed the top of the mountain, causing an avalanche.

And Shampoo had gone up there.

Dread built up in his heart as he considered that possibility. NO!!! She had to be all right. He promised to protect her. It was an oath. He would never break his word. Not like that.

His ears perked up as a noise reached them. It was faint, but it was definitely real. He concentrated, shutting out all other distraction and focused on the sound. It was muffled and unintelligible, but it sounded like someone speaking.

Of course! It was coming from underneath the rocks. Somehow he found greater than human strength to aid him as he got near where the sound originated and began lifting boulders. Hundreds of pounds gave way to his subconsciously chi-enhanced strength as he shoved the rocks away, the noise becoming louder as he moved them to the side. There was one particularly large one he had to move. Placing all of the force he could muster, he shoved it to the side. The cries went from being muffled to clear. Now that he had a moment he realized that the way the rocks had fallen somehow made a protective cocoon around the person. And as his eyes lay upon the figure that had been buried under the rocks, the girl that had somehow miraculously survived the rockfall, it all became clear to him. It was the instant reaction of seeing her alive that made him understand. What had been the most agonizing choice he had ever been forced to consider was now over.

At last he knew.

Akane squinted at the bright light that had suddenly shown down upon her. She had been calling out for help from anyone, and then she heard the shifting of the rock. At first she had been fearful that the rest of the rocks that were just above her head were going to fall, smashing into her like the one that had fallen on her ankle. Then the last one was pulled away, and she shielded her eyes as she cried out in relief. She had been saved by a figure who was silhouetted by the sun. Her pupils dilated enough to screen out the additional light as she at last recognized the boy before her

Ranma had saved her, just as she knew he would. Just as he always would.

Akane observed a number of cuts and bruises all over Ranma’s face, but it didn’t matter. He was still the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes upon. She looked into his own pain-filled eyes, crying at him. No longer was she afraid to appear weak before him. It didn’t matter any more. He was on his knees in an instant, next to her asking if she was all right. The raw emotion in his voice made her cry even harder. It had been so close. There was pain in her ankle, enough to let her know it was at least sprained, if not broken, but it did not matter. Ranma was here and she embraced him

Ranma listened to her tell him through her tears about the ankle, but something else caught his attention. “You have blood all over you!”

She looked down at herself and it came back to her in an instant. Shame swept through her that she had been so scared that she had dared to forget about him. “TAROU!!!” she shouted at Ranma. “He was the one that saved me! He kept the rocks from hitting me, but I saw one,” her voice dropped as she understood where the blood had come from. “Oh, kami,” she whispered quietly. “One of the rocks hit him in the chest. I… I think it went through him, but he still kept the rocks from landing on me. There was so much blood, and some of it landed on me. I saw him spit…” Her voice trailed off, then grew louder as she remembered what had happened. “NO!!! We have to find him! He’s still under the rocks!”

“Your ankle’s all that’s wrong?” Ranma asked softly as he detached himself from her grasp.

“Yes!” she shouted back. “I’ll be fine. We have to rescue Tarou! Hurry, Ranma! He’s hurt bad!” She began crying again. He had been protecting her. HER! She was the one responsible for his being hurt. She had to make sure he was all right. He was too powerful to allow a mountain to kill him. When it came right down to it, he was as persistent as Ranma. Tarou had to be all right.

“Did you see Shampoo?” Ranma asked her.

“I think she was over there,” Akane waved in a general direction of where she had thought she had seen what might have been Shampoo lying on the ground. “We have to get Tarou first! He was right next to me! We have to rescue him!” She looked at the rubble around her. He had been next to her when it happened. Tarou had to be right there. It would be easy to dig him out.

She attempted to raise herself to her feet when she realized Ranma had wandered off. What was he doing? “RANMA!!! We have to find Tarou! Help!”

Ranma gave her one backward glance, a look mixed with pain and shame. Slowly he shook his head, then shouted out, “SHAMPOO!!! ANSWER ME!!!” Several times hollered as loud as he could, and hearing no answer, began to push the rocks by where Akane had indicated she had last seen the Amazon. It didn’t matter if he had to dig out the entire mountain. He would do it to find her.

“Ranma,” was all Akane could say. Somehow, she knew too. She at last understood what that glance had meant when she was first able to see the expression on Ranma’s face.

Ranma sifted through the rubble until his eyes fell upon several strands of purple hair near a boulder.

“SHAMPOO!!!”

He hefted the ton of rock aside as though it was a paperweight.

Cologne used her staff, and what was the last of her strength to heave the boulder off of her. She was out of power; only the barest minimum was left to help keep her alive. She had been almost to the cave of the Shogun of the Dark when the passageway collapsed. In less than a second she used a technique of the Earth School and her staff to make the rocks form a protective pocket around her. A piece of rock did manage to get through and stun her, she could still feel the blood drip from the cut on her forehead that it had produced, but now she was recovered and could help out.

She had heard the majority of the conversation between Happosai and Maelstrom, but had been too weak and out of it to do anything, at least until now. About the only thing she had missed was what Happosai wished for. Since all had been silent since then, she feared the worst as she looked towards where she had heard the voices through the rock. She slowly walked over several large boulders to a more flattened area. Sorrow struck through her as she witnessed the scene before her. There was no Dragon King. No Continuum either. The only thing present was Happosai, lying on his back, eyes closed. Even from where she was, Cologne could see the life had left his diminutive form. Still, she needed to check. She needed to know for certain.

She went over and placed one hand on him. Now she knew the absolute truth. There was no life left in the body. The founder of the School of Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, one of the greatest perverts of all time, the insufferable, irritating, and yet somehow at one time, appealing martial artist had passed on from this world to the next. He had saved everyone at the cost of his own life, and only those that were on the mountain would ever know the truth. No one else would believe it. Cologne scarcely could.

Then her mind turned to other matters of more personal importance. “Shampoo.” She hurried as quickly as she could back to where she had last seen her great-granddaughter.

Within a minute Cologne crested a large rock and was able to look upon the scene before her all at once. Akane was off to the side crying over something shielded from Cologne’s position. But closer to the elder, and more importantly to her, was Ranma. He was on his hands and knees, doing the one thing Cologne had not seen since her first meeting with the boy all of those long months ago.

Ranma was crying.

Despite knowing what was there, she approached closer. Again she had to see it with her own eyes. She had to be certain here too.

Her breath caught as she saw what Ranma had cradled in his hands. There was no need to check as she had with Happosai. The body of Cologne’s great-granddaughter was recognizable only from the red-stained purple hair that Ranma was holding. Feeling closer to a thousand years old than her three hundred, Cologne approached Ranma.

It was the longest ten yards in her life.

She watched Ranma, somehow ignoring the… condition Shampoo was in, stroke those strands, unmindful or uncaring of what he was doing. He sobbed softly the words Shampoo had wanted to hear for so long and would never be able to listen to:

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it before now.

“It was you.

“It was always you.

“I love you.”

Epilogue

Light returned as Maelstrom’s vision cleared. The little human had spoken so softly that even the Dragon king had not heard what the wish was.

But Continuum had heard.

Now Maelstrom found himself on a barren rock, devoid of everything. There was no atmosphere. Nothing. Only his powers as a Dragon King allowed him to survive the vacuum. He stretched his newfound senses out to find something, anything he could control, but there was nothing. Not even an amoebae.

{WHAT HAPPENED?!!!} the last of the Dragon Kings raged. {I WAS SUPPOSED TO RULE ALL OF THE LIVING THINGS ON THE EARTH. THAT WAS MY WISH. THE HUMAN COULD NOT INTERFERE WITH IT!!!}

*It did not.* A voice in Maelstrom’s head said. Immediately he understood this was something Continuum had left in his mind, informing him of what had happened.

{WHAT DO YOU MEAN?}

*Your wish was not interfered with. It is still intact.*

{IMPOSSIBLE!!!} Maelstrom screamed at the voice in his head. {I FEEL NOTHING. NOTHING! I CAN CONTROL NOTHING IF I CANNOT SENSE IT!!!}

*That is because there is nothing left to feel. Your wish was to control all of the living things on Earth until its end. You have. You see, that is where you are now. The other wished for you to be moved forward in time. That did not interfere with your wish. You still have the ability to control every living thing on earth. However, there are no living things on earth, and have not been for over one hundred million years.*

The booming of Maelstrom’s ‘voice’ was now but a shadow of its former self. {A… DEAD WORLD? THAT IS ALL I HAVE?}

*Not for much longer. The other wished that you be moved forward in time to a point right before the sun expands to become a red giant. It wanted to take no chances on you finding your way back. The sun has already done so. The expansion will char this planet into a cinder, and unquestionably kill you.*

Maelstrom felt the presence depart, leaving him truly alone. He looked to the sun, aware of the fact that it had already begun to expand and all he was seeing now was the light from it some eight minutes ago. At that point Maelstrom did the only thing he could do.

He laughed.

He laughed long.

He laughed hard.

After all. He had managed to outlive every human on Earth.

In the end, he had gotten his wish after all.

To be continued.

Special thanks to:

• Ryan Anderson
• Jim Bader
• Bloodblade
• Gary Kleppe
• Jason Liao
• Lord Talon
• Miashara
• Wade Tritschler

Webmaster: Larry F
Last revision: May 21, 2007