A Frozen Light [Ranma 1/2 / Destiny]

[Grounders10]

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A Ranma ½ x Destiny Crossover

A Frozen Light

By: Grounders10

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Prologue

Seeking

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Tokyo, Honshu, Old Japan, Earth

There were many ruined cities across Earth. Small ones nestled amidst mountains. Large ones that sprawled across plains. Yes, there were many cities on Earth. Each and every one of them a broken monument to humanity's glory. There were few, however, that matched the scale of the long-abandoned city of Tokyo. A metropolis of such scale that it stretched into the distance. Even now, centuries after its fall, its broken towers reached out clawing the sky as far as the eye could see in every direction.

For a Ghost, it just meant a lot of places to look. Floor after floor. Tower after tower. Block after block. One district at a time in a city that had dozens of districts, each large enough to stand as a city unto itself. Each the work of a lifetime to search the bodies within. Such was the life of an unbonded ghost.

For the Ghost known as Kiko, Tokyo was just one more trial in a centuries-long search that had taken her across deserts, through cities, and even to Mars and back on one particularly foolish whim.

Kiko hummed as she made her way down the abandoned thoroughfare, pausing to scan cars, the occasional skeleton, and the odd blast crater. You never knew when or where you could find some trace of a potential Guardian. She had heard from some other Ghosts, those who had found their Guardians, stories of just how little you needed in order to bring back a guardian, even for the first time.

Finishing that section of the four-lane roadway she consulted the map she had borrowed from the remnants of the city's administrative systems. That was another grid down which meant… She looked up at the tall skyscrapers before her.

"More towers, oh goody," She sighed sarcastically before floating across the road to the front entrance of the first building. The first floor appeared to be a small mall made mostly of boutiques and a central food court. It was, as to be expected, run-down, overgrown, and ransacked. There weren't even cash registers at the tills anymore, just scarring from Fallen plasma cutters where they had been bolted down.

It was, Kiko reflected as she scanned a body with a hole as large as she was through its head, entirely typical. Many places around the solar system had been stripped clean. Not all of them, the solar system was so large that that was nearly impossible, even with centuries of time.

Concluding that the cafe she had ducked into did not hold the resting place of anyone compatible Kiko floated back out into the hallway. Her external shell twitched as a distant roar echoed off the buildings. Her processors analyzed it and spat a very recognizable result out to her. Fallen, quite a ways out but much closer than the last time she had heard them a half-hour before.

"Just have to keep an eye out," She told herself, floating into another storefront.

The search took several hours, during which sunset came and went, it started raining, and the Fallen were picked up shouting in the distance a few more times. Eventually, she concluded that the first floor was just as empty as anywhere else she had scanned, which meant it was time to move on again.

"Guess it's onward and upward… again," She sighed, floating over to the elevator shaft in the center of the structure. She fiddled with the interface. There was power thankfully, it was always a bit of a toss-up when it came to whether or not a golden age building had it. At least she didn't have to try and smash through a window or something. Golden age glass tended to be a bit tougher than she was. Well, tougher than she liked to pretend she was.

She had to trick the system behind the door into thinking the car had arrived since it seemed to be refusing instructions, but a few moments later the doors slid open to reveal an empty elevator shaft. She floated out over the shaft and looked up, her built-in light reflected off rusted and pitted supports. Thankfully, the shaft was clear all the way to the top floor.

She glanced down and her singular electronic eye blinked before focusing. The city's plans for the building said it had one underground maintenance level. She counted five more with the last buried beneath what had to be the ruins of the elevator car.

"Secret levels not on any schematic? Oooh~ Promising," She purred. If she had a face she would have been grinning as she descended down the shaft. She had barely disappeared under the lip of the floor when another roar, far, far closer than any before, came from somewhere outside the building. She dropped quickly, eager to get out of sight before something got close enough to spot her. She would not resurrect her Guardian only to lead them to their immediate death by being followed.

She shot a worried look up the shaft before descending to the pile of scrap metal that had once been an elevator car. Scanning it only took a moment, but she quickly confirmed that there wasn't anyone inside it. At least no one she could resurrect.

There was a small gap, however, that led to the internal control panel for the door. She floated through the tiny gap, knocking against the twisted metal a few times as she navigated to the door. There were times when she wished her shell had fewer spikes. They made maneuvering rather tricky at times.

"Ow, ow. Ow," She winced, floating to a stop before the glowing control panel. The light was a bit dim, the display was probably at the far end of its lifespan. The very far end. Still, it was good enough to establish a connection and with that she was-

Her shell spun with consternation. Denied? DENIED? The system was denying her entry? She fumed for a moment before trying again. There was a beep from the panel and a small beam of light swept out from it over her.

"Wha- You're scanning me!" She fumed, then blinked as the light stopped and a green "ACCESS GRANTED" flashed across the screen before the door slid open. Not one to overlook good fortune she darted through the doorway before the door could close on her. The metal of the elevator car shifted, some of it spilling into the hallway beyond. The door closed on the scrap, grinding to a halt with a half-inch left. It opened and closed a couple more times, but finally, it stopped and a red light went on above the door.

Kiko ignored it as she looked about the new hallway she found herself in. While hardly spotless -- time had taken its toll after all -- the hallway was practically pristine compared to anyplace she encountered outside the city itself. Dusty wooden floors, bright white walls, a few still functioning lights and the artwork on the walls made it probably the nicest place she had visited outside the Last City.

"Maybe we can bring some of this back. If I find them here anyway," Kiko said, scanning a couple of paintings for reference. A loud clang echoed from the shaft above. She spun to face the entrance. The gap in the door was letting some light out into the lightless shaft. There was no way the Fallen could miss that.

"Oh no, no, no," She repeated, spinning in place before shooting down the hallway. She needed to be quick and thorough and search everything.

She passed offices, reception areas, a lounge. All of them empty. There were no bodies down here. There had been no fighting here at all. Until now. More hallways, more empty offices. The place was filled with everyday Golden Age technology, but it seemed to be little more than a secret administration area. She was considering backtracking and moving onto one of the floors above when a loud crash of metal echoed from the elevator. There was a roar followed by an explosion and red emergency lights flared to life all down the hallways.

The Fallen had found this place.

"No, no, no," She kept repeating as she rapidly scanned another empty office. Nothing, but she couldn't go back. She would need to either find a place to hide, find her guardian, or find a way up to the next level where she could do one of the other two things.

There didn't seem to be another way up though. Hallways ended in dead ends rather than stairwells and she could hear the dregs chattering in the distance as they spread out into the facility. She shut her flashlight off. It would just give her away, and there was plenty of light with the emergency lights now flaring up and down the hallways.

She kept searching, going deeper into the hallways of the facility. She passed what had been the property line of the mall. Security checkpoints and cleanroom airlocks marked a sudden shift from administration to science. She passed both without bothering to go in. The moment the Fallen spotted them they would be crawling over the labs. Which could contain who knew what, but there was nothing a Ghost could do to stop them.

If only she had a Guardian.

She swept around a corner and came to a stop before a pair of sliding rice paper doors and a pair of skeletons, their tattered and stain clothes pooling amongst the bones. Rifles of some nature were discarded a short distance away. She ran a quick scan over both. Nothing. Figured.

She punched another hole in the rice paper. The area beyond was decorated in a very traditional style that she recognized from a few places around Tokyo with mats for the floor and walls of tattered rice paper. There were scattered bones, broken furniture, and stains of blood everywhere. This place was a palatial suite.

This place had seen fighting.

She scanned the bones as she went hurriedly. She could hear the fallen in the distance, but any one of these people could be her Guardian. Anyone of them could be hers.

It was with a disappointed and heavy metaphorical heart that she confirmed time and again that no, none of these people was the one she was looking for.

"No, no, not again," She muttered scanning another body briefly before moving on. She passed through a doorway into another hallway and stopped as something strange appeared on her sensors. It wasn't the light, it also wasn't the dark either, though the presence of the Fallen was beginning to gather the darkness to this place.

Ignoring the bones scattered in this hallway she floated down the hall, searching for the source of the strange reading. She turned a corner and paused as she found herself before a heavily dented and rent blast door. More than a dozen bodies were scattered across the floor, their bones mixing to the point it was impossible to say where one ended and another began. All seemed to be wearing body armour and carrying weapons. Not that it seemed to have stopped their assailants. The blast door had a hole large enough for two men to walk through side by side and Kiko floated passed them without checking. Something told her they weren't what she was here for.

The room beyond was a shrine or temple of some sort. Tall pillars of red stone held up a vaulting ceiling four floors high and decorated in a complex mural straight out of mythology. A red woman appeared repeatedly throughout the mural battling men, women, dragons and even a phoenix. Each foe was felled until a shadowy figure drove a blade through her back and she was laid to rest on a bed of ice. Around the room hung tattered scrolls and traditional paintings, many featuring the same red-haired woman. Towering above it all was a statue of a young woman made from gold. She stood a blade held pointed towards the ceiling and at the base of her feet was a bed encased in a clear glass-like material, its red-haired occupant on display in a beautiful black qipao, a bouquet of roses held in her hands.

Kiko's eye went straight to the occupant of what her sensor's said was some form of stasis pod. The strange energy she was picking up was coming from her. She floated towards the pod and started when she bumped into something. She 'jumped' several feet to the side and floated, her shell spinning, as she stared at what she had somehow ignored.

There was an Exo dressed in heavy plate with a sword kneeling in the center of the room. Bullet holes littered its plate armour, but the piles of bones scattered across the rotting tatami mats said that the robotic man hadn't died alone.

"Oh, oh my," Kiko sighed, "That gave me a scare. Whoo, just a body." She turned away from the Exo and floated over to the pod. Her scanner started going the moment she came into range. Inside was a girl with crimson red hair who couldn't be more than… her sensors said between sixteen and eighteen.

Her eye narrowed. Her sensors were having trouble scanning the girl through the stasis pod. At least, she assumed they were. A person couldn't be both dead and alive at the same time. Well, a Guardian might count, but the girl could be one she wasn't giving off l-

Her shell spun in surprise. There was no light, but for the first time, she felt what other Ghosts had told her about. Something inside the girl was resonating with her and oh god did it feel wonderful. Like sharing a sunny day with a friend, or having a quiet moment with a loved one. Not that Kiko had ever experienced either before, but this felt like what she hoped such things would be like.

"I found her. By the Traveler, I did it," Kiko breathed. She paused for a moment, basking in the achievement. Then the sound of chittering and a loud bang from behind her announced the fact that the Fallen were still sweeping the facility. In the distance, there was another bang before what sounded like an automatic weapon opened up. Another bang silenced it.

"And they're still coming. Because of course, they are," She said to the girl in the stasis pod. "Right, uuuuuh, open the door then revive you. Erm... You are dead right?" She ran another scan. The life or death status of her Guardian came back as a confusing maybe. Right, well she'd just have to wing it and hope for the best then. First, get the pod open.

Kiko went to work on the pod, quickly locating the control on the lower backside of the device, well out of sight of the public area. Which made sense. This wasn't a stasis pod that these people had ever intended to open, probably. There was clearly some religious connotations going on here.

The chittering grew closer as Kiko tapped into the control system of the pod. Security systems were bypassed or overrode faster than she had ever worked before. This was her Guardian and Kiko would not leave her here for the Fallen to paw like some petty Golden Age bauble. The very thought sent her shell spinning.

Eventually, though she hit something she couldn't bypass. A block that seemed to adapt to her every trick and effort. It was like those times she watched human children try to catch fish with their bare hands. Only, this thing was the fish and she was the child and it was decidedly less amusing with the life-threatening situation that was looming.

"Oh come on!" She snapped, smacking herself into the side of the pod. "WORK WITH ME!" She snarled, "I'm going to resurrect her you stupid machine. LET HER GO!" She tried again. To her surprise, the block had disappeared. "Ha! Holiday was right, percussive maintenance does solve everything!"

The pod's systems fell under her control and she triggered the release protocols. It was clear that this had not been intended for a living occupant since the hatch released instantly, sending a cloud of fog rolling across the room. Kiko floated over the girl as the fog released and ran a scan over her would-be Guardian. Okay, so this was her Guardian but… What was with that life reading? There one second, gone the next. What- no wait, it was there- no, gone wait-

Her shell was spinning with frustration. Was her Guardian dead or not? Could she-

The snap-crunch of bones in the hallway outside said she was out of time. The Fallen were there, now. She cast a look towards the mural. "Oh, I hope that you remember how to do that sort of thing," Kiko said then engaged her resurrection protocols. Dead or alive she needed a Guardian, and this girl was her's.

Pure light washed over the room, sinking into the girl as a hulking nine-foot Fallen Captain ducked through the hole in the blast door, a rifle held in its lower two arms. It spotted her and the rifle came up as it snarled something in Eliksni.

Then the light that was washing over the girl met the strange energy that had drawn Kiko to the girl and everything got very, very bright.

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A/N: A Thank You to @Gekkou_Yoko once again~

This idea has been bugging me for a while and I just finally decided to write the prologue for it. I have most of the rest of the story planned in some form or another.

A/N 2: Revised and prepared for a proper release~ thank you @Gekkou_Yoko for your help as usual~

 

[Grounders10]

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A Ranma ½ x Destiny Crossover

A Frozen Light

By: Grounders10

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Chapter One

Rising

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Tokyo, Honshu, Old Japan, Earth

It had been a nice day, bright, sunny, cheerful. Quiet. Exactly the kind of day that had been so rare in Nerima. Then it had ended. There had been a rustle, feet running and the sound of a blade being drawn, then pain. Pain as the blade was driven through her side. She never saw the one who did it as the poison on the blade sent the world spiralling into an ever-deepening darkness.

Then it stopped, leaving her suspended within a gloom as time lost all meaning. Twice the darkness deepened, creeping in on the edges of her mind, and then it stopped. Everything stopped. Forever and a day passed her, an endless abyss of time that defied definition until, at last, things began again and the darkness rolled in unceasingly.

Except for this time, there was a spark. A glimmer.

A Light.

She could not move, could not think, could not see. Yet she could feel the Light and with the desperation of the lost, she grabbed ahold of it and hugged it to her breast as the darkness closed in for what would be the final time.

Then everything was Light.

Air, long deprived, rushed into lungs that had suddenly remembered how to breathe. Hands clenched and released, crushing whatever was inside of them. Finally, eyes, unseeing for so long, opened at last as a wave of light rolled from within to without, flowing through walls and stone into the sky beyond.

Ranma sat up, coughing at the stale air. She blinked, shaking her head from the fuzz that had nearly overtaken it completely. Where was she? What was- were those roses in her hands? She tossed them away and wiped her hands off on…

"Why am I in a dress?" She demanded the world. It was a nice dress to be fair, but why was it that whenever someone kidnapped her she wound up in a dress?

"While I would love to have an answer for that," A high cheery voice said, "The guy over there looks like he's almost ready to shoot again."

"What?" Ranma looked to the source of the voice. She expected a young woman, maybe a few years older than her by the voice. What she got was a small floating robot with eight grey pointy corners and a single blue eye staring at her as it floated with no visible means of keeping it aloft.

"Yes, I'm talking," The floating robot said, it segmented pointy bits bobbing in time with her voice. "I'd love to explain what is going on, but unless you do something, that guy," It jerked to the left, "Is going to kill both of us."

Her eyes unconsciously followed the jerky motion to the side to take in the entire room she was in. It was some kind of shrine or temple. Neither was a good sign as to the nature of whoever had taken her. Cultists were always the worst kidnappers. That was something she and Akane both agreed on.

She didn't spend more than a second taking in the room before the thing by the heavy metal doors leading out of the room drew her attention. It was tall, taller than any human, though it shared a decidedly humanoid shape except for a second pair of arms beneath the first. It wore white armour plating, a black bodysuit and a cloak of white fur and in its topmost hands it held a large rifle the size of a rocket launcher with a bright orange glowing end. It was shaking its helmeted head, but even as she watched it stopped shaking its head and looked up at her. The being snarled something that might have been words before raising the rifle.

The weapon whined and Ranma reacted, launching herself off the bed she had woken up on and across the room away from both the bed and the creature. As she leapt its weapon barked, sending a spread of burning shots through the glass casket she had been laying in. Molten glass sprayed through the air in a shower of glittering shrapnel.

Strange creatures with armour and weapons that shot fire were not a normal occurrence in Ranma's book. Well, the fire wasn't exactly new and more than a few enemies had shown up in armour at least once. Honestly, the strangest part was the fact it was coming from a gun and not some staff or statue, or strangely shaped potted plant.

"What do you want?" She demanded, rolling to her feet.

"You're human. He probably wants you dead," Chirped the small fly robot from wherever it had hidden.

"Why?" Ranma sidestepped another barrage of flaming bolts that whipped between two large scrolls hanging from the walls and impacted with the thankfully stone walls.

"You're human, that's enough for a Fallen. Look, either he kills us, or you kill him," The robot said as she sidestepped several more shots, the rounds passing by her with inches to spare. One of the scrolls caught the shots and burst into flames. It rapidly disintegrated, vaporizing in seconds.

Ranma frowned. She didn't like to kill, but, well… She sighed. She needed to stop this before the trigger happy moron managed to set the entire place on fire. She sidestepped about barrage and translated her twist aside into a leap that crossed the space between her and the Fallen, whatever that meant. The creature stumbled back as she landed beside it, its rifle coming around to aim at her again.

It was far too slow.

One hand closed over the barrel of the weapon, locking it in place while she lashed out with a kick that crushed one of the blade-wielding lower arms and sent the thing flying across the room to crash into the wall beside the door. She tossed the weapon aside, its form nearly bent in half at the point where she had crushed it.

"What. Do. You. Want?" She demanded, taking a step towards the Fallen. It snarled something through its helmet as it stumbled to its feet. Both of its left arms were hanging limply. It made a gesture, something probably incredibly rude, and ducked back through the hole in the door with surprising speed.

"HEY!" She shouted, before frowning and letting the thing go.

"Don't let it get away!" The robot protested, buzzing out from behind a wall hanging to float irritably by her shoulder. "Oh no, no, no. Now it's going to get help." It turned to her, its spikes tipping forward in a worried fashion. "We need to leave, now."

Ranma stared at it for a moment. "Who are you?" She asked finally.

It blinked and its spikes swung back. "Oh, um. Riiiight, no introduction. Um, Hi, I'm Kiko. Your Ghost." She said. Her spikes wiggled in what might have been an attempt at waving.

"My ghost?" Ranma looked down at herself. She didn't feel dead.

"Not that kind of ghost," Kiko sighed, "Look, you've been uh, not exactly dead for a long time. Or maybe you were dead. Honestly, I was having a hard time telling. Which was really, really weird because normally its rather easy to tell when someone is dead or alive. That might have had something to do with your pod though."

"Pod?" She asked. The 'ghost' responded by jerking back towards where she had woken up.

"Stasis pod. Really good condition given the fact it's apparently been running non-stop for six hundred years," Kiko said, bobbing in place.

Ranma paused mid-turn. She turned back to the ghost. "What did you just say?" She asked sharply. It hadn't said what she just thought it did. It couldn't have.

The ghost paused its bobbing. Its spikes pulled back nervously. "Six hundred years?" Kiko repeated nervously. "I mean, that's just this pod," She babbled on, "The records it had on you said something about it being the third pod."

Ranma blinked slowly, then turned away from the ghost, taking in the room for the first time. Her eyes rolled up the length of the large statue of her and she paused to stare at the mural. It showed many of her battles. Herb, Kumon, the Orochi, Saffron. From there, her eyes turned to the wall hangings and the decorations.

This was a shrine.

This was her shrine.

She took a deep shuddering breath and her eyes came to rest on the human-like figure kneeling in the center of the room. She hadn't even noticed it in her first few frantic moments. Its head was clearly robotic, with mechanical muscles clearly visible in the jaw of the kneeling robot. Its entire form was propped up by the sword around which both hands were clasped. She walked over to it.

"Um…" Kiko awkwardly floated after her as she knelt next to the robot.

Ranma brushed the dust from the robot's armour, revealing a very familiar family crest on its shoulder pad. "Kuno," She murmured. That made sense. Who else would literally build her a shrine?

"Six hundred years?" She asked softly, her hand lingering on the crest.

"At least," Kiko replied. She paused. "I'm sorry. I don't have any answers about who or why. We might be able to find some answers in the facilities systems, but there's probably an entire Fallen raiding party tearing this place apart." She paused as Ranma held a hand up.

Ranma let her hand fall as tears formed in her eyes. She let them fall, pattering off the rotten tatami mats. "Akane…" She sniffled sitting down beside the dead robot. "I'm sorry." She whispered. Her tears flowed freely as she sobbed.

Kiko floated awkwardly beside her, flitting side to side periodically. "Um…" She began before falling silent.

"Hey…"

"I…"

A silence fell as the ghost stopped trying, just floating awkwardly beside her. Then the silence was broken by a roar in the distance. The ghost perked up and spun to look out the door and down the hallway for a moment before spinning to face her.

"Look," Kiko paused, "I'm really not good at this sort of thing. Really, really, not good. I mean, most Guardians apparently just get up and start being badasses. Not to say you aren't a badass I mean that was awesome what you did to that Captain but… well… Most Guardians don't start crying when they realize how much time has passed. So I'm real-eep."

Ranma glared up at the ghost in her hand through her tears. "Shut. Up." She said simply.

Kiko fell silent for a moment. "I-" She flinched at Ranma's glare. Then she twitched. "Do- Do you remember?" There was a note of surprise in the Ghost's voice.

"What do you mean, do I remember?" Ranma retorted through a sniffle.

"I, eeeh careful I'm not that tough, I'm just saying most Guardians don't remember anything from before they died," Kiko babbled, "No one knows for sure why, they just don't."

"Guardian?" Ranma asked, her grip remained as firm as ever.

"Chosen of the Traveler. Dead heroes brought back to save the world," Kiko continued frantically, "When the collapse happened and the Traveler was wounded it created Ghosts to find people worthy of wielding its Light to fight in its place. All Ghosts have a Guardian they're looking for. So long as a Guardian has their Ghost not even death can stop them."

The Ghost paused. "I- I'm your Ghost. You're my Guardian. I know we just met and all but… well, I'm your Ghost. I'm here for you. No matter what." The declaration echoed in the room for a few seconds.

There was another, much closer, roar and the sound of distant chittering.

Ranma stared at the Ghost for a moment. At her Ghost. Slowly, she released the Ghost and the small robot floated up from her hand a few inches and gave herself a shake. There was another moment of awkward silence as the two of them looked at each other.

"What is the Traveller?" Ranma asked, wiping tears away with a hand even as they continued to fall.

Kiko's shell spun. "I- You don't know?"

"Obviously," Ranma half-snarked, the effect being ruined by her sniffles.

"Since you remembered I would have thought… What was the last year you remember?" Kiko asked.

"Nineteen ninety-one," Ranma replied softly.

"Ooh, ooh yeeah," Kiko bobbed. "From what we know the Traveller first appeared around twenty-fourteen or so. That would have been a few years after your time. You… You missed a lot. You missed the Golden Age and the Collapse."

The chittering drew closer and Ranma raised her head to stare down the hallway. "I don't like the sound of that second one," She said.

"The Traveller brought humanity into a golden age, we don't really have time for the details of that, but the Collapse was the end of it," Kiko said, "The Traveller was ancient, is ancient. And it had enemies. The biggest was what we simply know as the Darkness," Kiko said, "The Traveller fought the Darkness off and was wounded while doing so. Without the Traveller, and with the system's defences in tatters Humanity was vulnerable for what would follow."

Ranma sniffed and wiped tears from her eyes. There was still wetness, but no more fell. "Like the Fallen," She said, watching the doorway.

"They're the least of our problems these days," Kiko sighed, "But, yeah. It's been centuries since the Collapse and we've barely managed to cling on. Guardians, those blessed with the Traveller's light are the only real defence we have left against these foes. Guardians like you." Kiko spared a glance for the hallway. Footsteps could be heard in the distance. A great many footsteps.

"Look, there's a lot you need to know, but we are out of time," Her ghost said, "We're going to have to fight our way out. At least you seem to know how to do that."

Ranma nodded, her mind awhirl with what she had heard. "I spent my entire life learning how," She said, toying absently with the skirting of her dress before rising from her seat. She could grieve later when she was free of this place. She gently pried the hands of the robot beside her from the hilt of the sword and drew the double-sided bastard sword from the floor. Most of the blade was fine except near the tip where some not insignificant rust had formed.

She caught the robot as he tipped over and laid him gently on the ground. "Thank you," She whispered, folding its hands on its chest. It had protected her while she was dead, or nearly so. It deserved her respect.

"If we can get out of here we can head for the City," Kiko told her, "The Last City was constructed beneath the Traveller. If we can get there we'll be safe."

Ranma nodded and ran a hand along the blade. She rubbed the rusty portion of the blade between her fingers, pulling forth a fragment of her ki as she did so to massage into the blade in the hope of removing the rust if she could. At least, that was the plan. Her ki felt… odd. Brighter with more… she struggled to find the words to describe it. Potential perhaps. Whatever it felt like when she dragged it burst forth with a strange purple light that formed on the tips of her fingers. Wherever the light passed the rust disappeared leaving pristine metal behind. Her hands moved in a blur, scouring the blade of rust in moments.

Was this the Light Kiko had talked about? The glow she could feel inside her felt warm, but the purple light between her fingers felt cold.

"Are you in danger from this?" Ranma asked her Ghost as she examined the power that clung around her fingers.

Kiko's shell spun. "Depends on what weapons they bring. Kill me? That's a bit difficult, but a few too many stray shots and I'm not going to be able to do much to help until someone fixes me up." She paused, "Not that it's going to be much of an issue. Ghosts don't stay out in the open most of the time. We're linked with our Guardians and can use that link to hide in their light. Like this."

Ranma barely held back a yelp of surprise as Kiko rushed forward and disappeared in a spray of silver light that disappeared inside Ranma. Eyes wide she touched a hand to her breast. She could feel something warm in there now. "Kiko?" she asked, feeling strange.

With a spray of more silver light the ghost reappeared beside her. She could feel the presence leave as the ghost rematerialized. "See, easy. No side effects other than a slight tingling sensation. It keeps me safe and helps me keep you safe. Even better!" she disappeared into silver lights before Ranma could say anything. As the presence came to rest inside her chest again Kiko's voice crackled in her head. "I can even offer tech support like this. Admittedly, it would work better if you had tech for me to work with, but that can come later."

Ranma said nothing for a minute, rubbing the spot above where she could feel her 'ghost'. This was strange but she had dealt with strange before. She could… she could deal with this.

From the door leading out of the shrine another piercing cry erupted. Yeah, she could deal with this long enough to deal with whatever was coming through that door.

She nodded jerkily. "Just… stay out of sight," She said, turning to the hallway. She rested the point of her blade against the floor. It sank an inch into the mats. Then, she waited.

Her wait was over almost as soon as it began as from several doors along the hallway spindly figures in blue cloth and white armour ran into sight. They were about the size of a man, much smaller than the hulking Captain from earlier, yet if they weren't hunched over they would be quite a bit taller than Ranma. All of them brandished small handguns.

A few ducked into cover along the sides of the hallway and opened fire. Small bolts of blue crackling energy streaked down the hallway. They moved rather slowly and Ranma easily weaved through the shots as she lifted her sword and launched herself into a full sprint towards the Fallen.

A somewhat larger Fallen in better armour than the rest charged to meet her with a spear whose blade glowed blue held at up to skewer her. She didn't even bother slowing as she ducked around the Fallen's strike. Her blade, held in one hand, removed the Fallen's head from its shoulders as she passed. She ignored the body as it collapsed behind her.

Killing people was not something Ranma made a habit of. In her life, it was an act she had only willingly performed once before and Saffron had returned to life afterwards. Not that she had known that at the time she ripped him to pieces with a tornado.

At that moment, Ranma found herself feeling very little as the first body hit the floor, its head rolling away in a trail of rapidly evaporating white liquid. In the moment, as she danced through the thousand trails of blue lightning that crisscross the hallway, she felt empty. Despite the Light that simmered within her, suffusing her limbs with power in place of her Ki, she felt alone. If what Kiko said was the truth, then she was alone. She had slept an entire millennium away while her friends, family… everyone she knew grew old and died. Their children grew old and died. And their children, and their children. A thousand years was a long time and even ignoring the apparent destruction of civilization, everyone she knew was long dead.

She was alone, and that realization left her feeling empty as her body flowed through the motions, dancing through the crisscrossing bolts of crackling blue light as she cut down one Fallen after another.

The hallway was broad, long, and decorated like it was a feudal castle. Walls of rice paper, floors of tatami mats or hardwood, and currently red lights shaped like old-fashioned lanterns. It must have been beautiful in its time. Ranma couldn't have cared less as a pair of large Fallen, each as tall and large as the first Captain, came running out of a hallway much further down the corridor and levelled bulky rifles down the hallway.

Without hesitation, she crashed through the nearest rice paper wall, vaulted the desk that was behind it, then crashed through the rice paper door that led into the office. A pair of fallen behind the door died as she rushed passed them and through the rice paper wall on the far side of the hallway. Trails of blue light punched blind holes through the paper walls as the Fallen sprayed the area with shots.

A few Fallen cried out as they were hit instead of her.

She ignored them, plowing through office after lounge after office until she crashed through a rice paper door into another hallway, and straight into the firing line of both Captains and another dozen smaller Fallen with rifles. The world seemed to slow for a moment as she watched the rifles open up, a veritable wall of blue lights flying towards her. She could probably take a hit, but then maybe not. These weren't rifles like she knew them back in the past. She couldn't know for sure that these futuristic weapons couldn't hurt her and she wasn't inclined to find out.

Her sword came up, her Ki -- Light -- flowing into the blade. Purple light gathered along the sharp edge of the weapon, the hollowness she felt filtering the Light itself until only a void was left where once there had been a steel edge. The blade, wreathed in a purple void, caught the first round and the blue light vanished into the blade. In a display that left a writhing purple trail of light she spun her blade before her, catching each shot inside the void of the sword as she charged the firing line.

To the Fallen's credit, they held the line. They held as they pumped a thousand rounds a second down the hallway. As every shot vanished into the void. As her blade cleaved the first Captain in half and then the second. The last of that group died with his rifle cleaved in half along with his body, a two-inch-wide line from his crest to his hip simply gone, erased by the void. Yet even as they died more Fallen poured out of hallways up and down the corridors. Their gunfire filled the hallway with an eye watering display of light.

Abandoning the hallway with a curse, Ranma dashed through another rice paper wall.

"We might want to run," Kiko said, her voice crackling in Ranma's head, "I'm picking up more Fallen on their way here."

"More?" There had to be nearly a hundred packed into the main hallway and the corridors surrounding it. A fact proven when she passed through the far wall of the lounge she had crashed into to find more Fallen in the hallway beyond. Heads rolled as she ducked and weaved, her blade leaving a trail of purple light behind it as it passed through armour and flesh with equal ease.

Fallen, those she had left behind, came charging out of the doorways up and down this thinner hallway. She ducked behind a rare pillar of concrete to catch her breath for a moment. As she did the purple light running along her blade faded, the effect fading without her pouring more Light into it.

"Where are we?" She demanded, breaking from the cover as Fallen moved into a position to flank her from the hallway. She crashed through a rice paper door and vaulted an old time-worn couch. It might have once been fancy, but centuries of neglect had left their marks.

Blue lights ripped through the rice paper walls and zipped passed Ranma. With a frustrated snarl grabbed the couch with her spare hand and tossed it back along the trajectory of the shots. The Fallen on the other side of the rice paper wall were caught by surprise as a heavy couch carried them through the fall wall, leaving a trail of white bubbling liquid behind.

"Bottom floor of the, uh what was this place… Kuno-Lung Technologies Building. It's not on any of the schematics I pulled from the city archives." Kiko told her as she ran back out into the hallway. She dived over the frantic shots from a group of Fallen and rolled under a Captain's attempt to slice her in half with his own blade. Her own blade, glowing again, passed through his side without slowing and carried on to cleave through three of his subordinates in the same swing.

"Which way out then?" Ranma asked, intercepting volleys of fire from both ends of the corridor with her sword.

"Uuuh… take a right." Kiko said and she charged the next corridor. One of the Fallen, a small one, dived out of her way through the wall, just narrowly avoiding her strike. She ignored it and charged straight down the new hallway which was, to her complete lack of surprise, full of Fallen.

She let go of the sword with one hand and brought it up reflexively. It was an impulse, one of mixed frustration and anger that led to her attempting to call up one of her old tricks. The Moko Takabisha could either be a blast or a beam of ki that was more than capable of shattering stone into dust. Light, as she was still learning, did not behave exactly like Ki.

What should have been a ball of ki about the size of a human torso with enough firepower to smash a castle wall open instead left her hands as an unstable glowing orb of purple light the size of a Buick. It didn't explode as it reached the first Fallen. It consumed it, the energy dissolving the armour, weapons, and bodies of the victim into nothing before continuing on.

The blast of void light swept the corridor, and nothing it touched was spared. Rice paper walls were gone. Tatami mats missing. Of the Fallen, not even a whisper.

Ranma stopped and stared. "What the hell did I do?" She whispered. That strike had cost a bit of Light, but she felt like she could do that again. It hadn't cost any more than a Moko Takabisha.

"Wow, damn girl you don't do restraint very well do you?" Kiko whistled, "But uuuh, you're going to need to keep going. At least you didn't break the concrete." A blue bolt whistling over her shoulder from behind made her partner's point. This wasn't a place to stop and gawk. The concrete that had been beneath the tatami mats was still there, whatever effect she had conjured apparently uninterested in stone.

She ran down the cleared corridor, passing through the hall to the Shrine once again. A single Fallen died as she passed through. Then it was into new hallways. Blue shots blazed in from behind her, stitching lines through rice paper wall and tatami mat floors as she ran.

"Left," Kiko shouted eventually and Ranma pivoted easily at the next junction, spinning into a flip over a startled Captain. Its head splatted to the floor behind her a moment later along with the severed limbs, heads, and torsos of its team.

The next few minutes were like that again and again. Running and fighting in the hallways, leaving trails of white blood across walls and floors. It all blended into one frantic mess that was occasionally broken up by a desperate diversion through a rice paper wall. Ranma lost count of how many of these Fallen she had seen as she ran.

Eventually, though, the pursuit fell away and Ranma reached what Kiko said was the exit. The redhead paused by the doorway, her breathing heavy. She didn't feel tired, but it took her a moment to catch her breath all the same. She leaned against the doorframe for a moment.

"Well, that was exciting~" Kiko said, as she emerged from Ranma in a spiral of white motes, "Oh the others are going to be so jealous~" Ranma blinked as what sounded like a squeal came from the Ghost. "You were vooom, stab, slash and they were all 'oh god my arms' or 'where's my head'. It was amazing~" Kiko did a loop de loop before Ranma. "And you just used a sword. Did you even get hit?" She hit Ranma with a bright white beam. "Nope. Not even a scratch. My. Guardian. Is. A-Maaaay-zing~"

Ranma just shook her head in bemusement and glanced around. She couldn't see anymore Fallen. For now at least. She could still hear them in the distance. Shouts and screams. Both in anger and pain. She had left a lot behind her, but she had also left a lot more dead. Her hand shook and she clenched it down on her sword.

She could freak out later. Later. When she wasn't going to die again.

Taking a deep breath she pushed away from the doorframe. "Which way?" She asked.

"Um, well out would be the next right all the way to the turn before the end. Then a left and follow the hall until we reach the elevator." Kiko said after a moment of thought. Ranma started walking, her steps careful and precise to avoid making noise. She had been noisy out of necessity, but now she could be quiet. "Wait," Her ghost said before she got too far.

"Hrm?" Ranma turned back. Kiko was floating over a pair of weapons lying by the bones of what had probably been security guards years before. The Ghost scanned both weapons.

"Take this one. It'll still fire," Kiko said, floating over a rifle.

"I've never used a gun before," Ranma said, giving the weapon a dismissive glance.

Kiko sighed. "Not that different from most Guardians then," She sighed. "Look, the sling for it is still intact. You can carry it on your back."

"No thanks," Ranma said, turning and walking away.

"You can't get close enough to stab everything to death you know," Kiko said, "Somethings explode when you do that."

The redhead paused. "Explode?" She asked.

Kiko bobbed up and down. "Yep. I've seen the Fallen field drones and sometimes they rig them up to explode," She said.

Ranma's eyes went back to the rifle for a long moment. She sighed and went back to pick it up. Getting blown up sucked. A lot. She would use a gun if it meant not getting blasted through a wall.

She jabbed her sword into the mats and picked up the rifle. She turned it over in her hands. It… was a rifle. Ranma was hardly an expert on guns. She had seen them before, but her pops had held such a low opinion of them he hadn't considered trying to train her on one. And really, it was a poor martial artist who got shot.

Kiko sighed. "You… really have no clue do you?" Ranma looked up at her.

"I said I'd never even held a gun before," She replied stiffly.

Kiko grumbled. "Just take it with us then. I don't recognize the design so maybe someone back at the Tower will find it valuable," Her Ghost sighed phasing back into her breast. The ghost's voice crackled in her ear, "Get moving. I can pick up movement in the distance. Oh, and the path we're taking will go by the science labs. There might be a few Fallen in our way."

Ranma sighed and slipped the strap of the weapon over her shoulder and neck. It was in surprisingly good condition for having just sat here for hundreds of years. She retrieved her sword and started down the hall in the direction Kiko had indicated.

-0-0-0-0-0-​

Twice Ranma came across groups of Fallen ransacking rooms. She managed to evade the attention of the first but ducking through a convenient conference room with a far exit through an office in the back. The second group…

Ranma peered out of the door she had ducked into. Down the hall, a group of a half dozen smaller Fallen were loading electronics onto a pallet while under the supervision of a larger rifle-armed member of their race and a pair of floating robots, held up by small jet engines, the size of a large dog. Twice when she had poked out more than just a bit of her head the robots, shanks as Kiko said the Fallen called them, almost spotted her. The shanks turned fast, their weapons coming up to scan the hallway before relaxing.

"They'll start shooting if we go that way," Ranma said quietly.

"Yeah. Backtracking might be better. Go back to the last hallway and go around this lot," Kiko said as she appeared in a shower of motes behind Ranma.

"I think I will," Ranma agreed. No sooner had she said that then there was a rumble and a 'thunk' of heavy objects striking each other. Then the red emergency lights shut off, plunging the hallway into darkness. The shanks whirled to look in their direction, lights scanning the corridor as the small Fallen scrambled for weapons. Ranma pulled back into cover. "What was that?" She asked.

"Not sure. Give me a second," Kiko replied, zipping out of the room before Ranma could stop her. Somehow she went unnoticed and after a few tense moments passed her Ghost flitted back into the room and came to a stop beside her. "That was a blast door sealing off the way back."

Ranma cursed softly. "Do they know I'm here?" She asked.

Kiko's shell spun. "Maybe? I doubt it. That lot seemed as spooked as we are," She said thoughtfully. "It… might not be them."

"There's only us down here," Ranma pointed out.

"Uuuh, maybe?" Ranma stared at the Ghost. "There've been a few strange things with the systems since I got here," Kiko admitted after a moment. "The elevator door scanned me before it would let me in and…" She paused.

"And?" Ranma prompted.

"This is going to sound a bit crazy, but your pod had an adaptive security system that stopped me from opening the pod… until it just wasn't there anymore. I kinda got angry and shouted at it then it just vanished."

"Vanished?" Ranma asked.

"Yep. Just, disappeared. So… that with this and the thing before…" The Ghost wiggled. "I don't think we're alone with the Fallen down here."

"With?" Ranma prodded as she spared a glance down the hallway towards the Fallen. Some of the small ones were making their way down the hallway, their guns scanning the corridors for movement.

"An AI probably. The Golden Age was rife with them and this place is certainly important enough it could have had one to manage the local systems," Kiko replied, "And it knows we're here."

"And it's herding us," Ranma noted, readying her sword as she stepped back into the shadows beside the door. The Fallen were almost close enough to ambush.

"Maybe. Only, way out is forward," Kiko said quietly as she disintegrated in a spray of motes that swirled into Ranma's chest. "Any second Guardian."

Ranma frowned at the term, pausing to place a hand on the warm spot in her chest, but ultimately nodded. She raised her sword into a ready position and waited, her breath coming slowly as she listened. The small ones were chittering back and forth as they advanced, their weapons sweeping the hallways. The lights on the weapons gave away the positions of the group. One light paused, pointing directly at the door to her room. They chittered uncertainly for a moment then footsteps began to approach the doorway.

She adjusted her grip. Wait… wait… A small Fallen stepped into the room, its weapon sweeping away from her towards the other side. Her blade came down and she stepped forward. As its head rolled away she kicked the falling body back into the hall. It caught another of the fallen and smashed it through a door on the far side. At the same time, she came out of the room with her blade swinging. It caught the closest startled Fallen in the chest, carving it in half before catching another on the reverse swing.

Four down.

One of the two remaining small ones raised a hand to with a dagger. She removed the hand, then its head in the same swing before moving to block the swing of the last small Fallen. Its blade sparked as the two weapons locked for all of a second, then her vastly greater strength crushed the alien's guard, smashing its weapon into its face. It crumpled, dead or unconscious.

Back up the hallway, the supervisor snarled something and opened fire with its rifle. The two shanks opened fire. The shots tracked through the air towards her, twisting to follow her as she ran into the gunfire. Violet light flowed down her sword's edge and she parried those shots she didn't outrun before leaping the remaining distance.

The Fallen threw itself back, its gun singing in one long burst of spraying light. None of it connected with Ranma. She danced around the stream of fire and dragged one of the shanks into it with one hand while splitting the other in half with her sword. Both robots hit the ground thoroughly useless.

Ranma gestured and called a fraction of her Light out before tossing it negligently at the Fallen. It tried to roll aside, but the glimmering violet sphere had all the properties of her last attempt at energy projection. It flew fast and caught the Fallen in the shoulder. It screamed for all of a second, its voice echoing off the walls before the effects of the void light dissolved it into nothing.

The scream caused Ranma to pause. That hurt that much?

A roar in the distance echoed back in answer to the cry of the dead Fallen. She ignored it and knelt where the Fallen had lain. She ran a hand along the ground. Nothing, no dust, no dirt. Just clean sterile tile for feet in every direction.

"Well, you're getting the hang of that," Kiko remarked with a slight crackle.

"No, I'm not." She replied, puzzled. "That should not have disintegrated him."

Kiko whirled, the outer portions of her shells spinning, as she reappeared outside of Ranma. "Really? Are you sure? I've seen void light quite a few times before. That is the normal result," Her Ghost commented.

"Why though?" Ranma mused, summoning more of the violet Light into her hand as she stood. It felt… cold, empty like… She stared down at her hand where the violet glow gathered, and yet her hand was empty. There was Light within it, but it was empty Light, a void in the world.

"Dunno," Kiko bobbed. "I never bothered asking. If you're worried, I know it isn't the only Light I've seen Guardians wield."

Ranma nodded absently. Another roar, much closer than before, broke her distraction. She dismissed the gathering Light and turned back to face the hallway. "Hide for now. We'll talk about that later though," She told Kiko. The Ghost bobbed once then faded out of sight in a shimmer white motes.

Stealth had failed and had done so a lot quicker than Ranma would have liked. Of course, if they had been watched from the beginning it was more a question of whether they had ever been stealthy to begin with.

She broke into a run down the darkened hallway, the slippers she had woken up in pattering loudly against the tiled floor. The only light was provided by the occasional 'fire exit this way' sign. It was thin lighting and she could barely see the outlines of the rooms she ran past. Twice she reached an intersection, and twice she discovered heavy metal blast doors had been closed over the hallways. One of which already had a red glow forming as something on the other side tried to cut its way through.

Her sprint ended three intersections down the hall when a blast door shut before her. Simultaneously the hallways behind her and to her left were sealed off with loud crashes of metal. The door to her right was already sealed. Ranma cursed, skidding to a halt. Tiles and ceremonial slippers did not go well together.

Kiko flared back into existence beside her. "I know this place," She said.

"What is it?" Ranma asked.

Her ghost floated over to the already sealed door to her right. "Well, this… This should be the laboratories," Kiko told her. "If we're already here I'd like to see what I could get off the drives before we leave. The knowledge could be invaluable."

"Or dangerous," Ranma countered, stepping over to the blast door as Kiko floated over to the control panel.

"Or that," Kiko admitted, "But we can't know that without checking. And I'd rather not let the Fallen get it."

Ranma nodded. "I'd wouldn't want them to get it," She agreed, "So, how do we get in?"

"Weeell, I just go to this panel here and-" Kiko paused five feet from the control panel as the blast door rumbled before sliding open to reveal the brightly lit laboratories beyond. "Uuummm, that wasn't… me…"

Ranma's eyes narrowed as she looked into the whitewashed laboratories beyond. The walls were white, the floors were white, all of the furniture and equipment was white. "I think this is why we were being herded." She said, stalking forward through the door. Kiko floated in beside her.

"You're probably right. Hello~ Creepy stalkerish AI sir, we're here as you asked?" The Ghost called down the hallway beyond the first room. Behind them, the opposite blast door began to glow in one spot.

The blast door to the labs shut behind immediately, closing with a fatalistic thunk. Kiko whirled to face the door. "Well, no going back," She said.

Ranma nodded and started down the one hallway before them. Kiko floated by her shoulder, inspecting things as they went. "I'm not picking up any life signs in here with us," The Ghost told her. "Mind you, my range isn't that good, but this place should have been overrun with Fallen and it barely looks scratched. Where are they?"

That was a question Ranma would love to know the answer to. She knew there were others behind her trying to cut their way in, but they couldn't all be out there. If they were then that meant that they pulled everyone from here to chase her down.

They passed several rooms that were sealed behind airlocks. Ranma spared a glance through the glass of one room. Tables of unidentifiable equipment could be seen, but the room's purpose was impossible for Ranma to figure out.

Finally, the answer to their question was found as they reached a crossroads of four corridors. One led onward, and two others led to the right and left respectively. As they reached the junction the paths leading forward and to the right had their lights wink out, leaving on the path on the left. It was down the left-hand path that they saw their first Fallen since entering the labs.

Bodies of fallen and the wreckage of several shanks were carefully piled to the side of the hallway while the wreckage of a pair of automated turrets hung from the ceiling. The occasional spark fell from the ripped and mangled ruins that had once been weapons.

"That would explain why we haven't seen any yet," Kiko said cheerily, "They're getting killed."

"Just hide for the moment would you," Ranma ordered her. The Ghost promptly disappeared in a swirl of motes. They continued past the turrets and down the hallway. Their path continued to be guided by lights turning off as they hurried. They passed several checkpoints on their way, each one with piles of Fallen pushed aside or left where they fell.

Eventually, they heard gunfire around the next corner. Ranma broke into a sprint, dashing passed the next checkpoint and its stack of bodies. Laboratories flashed past as she sprinted down the corridor. At the far end of the hallway, a blast door lay open, its frame reduced to debris along with the heavy metal panels themselves. The multiple emplacements down the corridor were all demolished. Through the opening in the blast doors, she could see Fallen engaging the turrets across a large open room with a diamond-shaped black door in the far wall.

One of the Fallen ducked back into cover and looked back down the hallway. Its rifle snapped up and it opened fire on her within moments. Her blade came up again, its edge blazing with the violet light of the void. The shots that would have hit disappeared into the violet depths of her blade. A pair of other Fallen joined in, their shots creating a hail of fire that would have forced a lesser fighter to take cover.

Ranma ran straight through it. She leapt through the remains of the blast door into an active firefight, her blade spinning around her in a blaze of violet light before she crashed down atop a visibly panicking Fallen. She snapped its neck with her foot and turned on its neighbour. She had counted twenty-one living Fallen as she entered the room, including one very, very large specimen who was hefting a cannon with a burning red barrel. As she watched the weapon belched forth a shot of burning red energy that turned a turret into melted scrap.

The turrets, what few remained, did not seem to care about her presence and continued to fire into the Fallen ranks. She had cut down two of them, the turrets had taken another six. That left thirteen including the monster of an alien. He needed to die next.

No sooner had she reached that decision when the Fallen turned its heavy weapon upon her. The buick sided orb violet light that left her hand was entirely reflexive. The shot from the weapon met her blast and the two violently unstable balls of energy exploded. Violet light mixed with streaks of red fire rolled across the room in a shockwave. The lesser Fallen nearest the blast simply disappeared, their bodies consumed by fire and void. Others were sent flying across the room, their bodies breaking as they smashed into walls, furniture and each other. The large Fallen merely stumbled.

Ranma charged straight through, ignoring the heat as it washed over her. It was weak enough that she wouldn't have to worry about it doing anything more than drying out her skin. Which would be a pain to deal with later.

She leapt at the Fallen leader. Her sword clipped the end from his weapon as she brought it up before she landed, her feet planted on his chest as she drove the blade through his helmet into his skull. As the Fallen leader began to topple she wrenched her blade from its head, removing a large portion of the side of its head in the process, and leapt free. She landed lightly in the center of the room.

What few Fallen remained stared at her from where they were huddling in cover from the turrets. One shouted something at her and made a break for the exit. The turrets gunned him down. The remaining three stared at their dead companion before shakily raising their weapons and opening fire on Ranma.

They died. Not to Ranma. She had had enough killing and the feeling of murdering terrified and outmatched enemies didn't sit well with her. Instead, she walked towards them and, to a one, they dashed from cover to get away from her. The turrets killed them all.

With the Fallen dead, Ranma turned to the turrets. The weapons pointed themselves at her for a moment, then moved past her to point out the door and down the hallway.

Ranma nodded. "Stay hidden," She said to Kiko.

"I don't intend on getting shot," Her ghost replied.

Ranma crossed the room, which had been a cross between a security checkpoint and waiting room from what she could tell, and walked up to the diamond-shaped black door. It slid open, revealing a pristine black catwalk down a diamond-shaped corridor that led to another diamond-shaped door.

"Oh, oh my…" Kiko whispered as they entered the unremarkable corridor.

"You know something?" Ranma asked.

"I- maybe? This, here." Kiko appeared by her shoulder and floated over to a small mark on one of the wall panels. It looked like a simple white half-C with two corners, both of the bottom right, of a circle stacked beside it. "This is Clovis Bray. They were responsible for a lot of big stuff in the Golden Age. I think this might be connected to that AI."

More names that meant nothing to her. Ranma scowled and continued on, Kiko joining her as they passed through the next door into another chamber. This one appeared to be a computer room of some kind. There were stacks of computers in glass pillars and a single desk in the center of the room. Behind it was a window. Through the window, Ranma could see strange dots of orange light that would link and unlink from each other creating an ever changing display.

Kiko darted ahead of her to the desk. "Lets see, uuh…" She poked the console with a beam of white light, then another, all the while making noises like 'uhuh' and 'I see'. Ranma walked around the desk and looked down at displays.

"So?" She leaned in curious.

"Well, the AI is in a partial Lockdown. Named 'Durendal'," Kiko said.

"Like the sword?" Ranma asked.

"Maybe? I don't recognize the name," Kiko replied. She zapped the computer a few more times with her beam. "Huh. Lockdown was initiated by Vice-Chair Mei Lung-Kuno. Weird. Records say she was the daughter of the Chairman. No reason was given for the lockdown… oh."

"Oh?" Ranma repeated. It wasn't a good 'oh' by the tone of it.

"She locked Durendal out of its communication systems and mobile defences. Six hours later everyone in the building except you was dead." Kiko said softly.

Ranma closed her eyes. "She set them up to die," She realized aloud.

"Looks like it. No records pointing to the collapse or anything around that time just… She had them killed then buried this place. Left it for history to forget. I can't tell why though. There's so much data here. I can't store this much. I can't even sort this much." Kiko groaned.

"Don't worry about that. Can we do anything for Durendal?" Ranma asked, an idea sparking in her head.

"I- whoooow, okay uuh, I think he heard you," Kiko said, floating back from the desk as all of the screens, which had been flickering rapidly through pictures as Kiko searched, went black except for one that lit up with the outline of a hand and the words 'Biometric Verification Required -- Warning, Lockdown Can Only Be Released By Executive Level Authorization or Higher. All Violators Will Be Shot.'

"I think you might be on the list," Her ghost said, glancing from Ranma to the pad. "But uh, before we go releasing a Golden Age AI from its prison, are we sure he's nice? I mean, he's been locked up in here since maybe before the collapse. Who knows what that's done to him."

Ranma placed her hand on the pad. "Only one way to know," She told Kiko, who sighed as the system scanned Ranma's palm.

"I guess. Just, if we wind up fighting a megalomaniacal AI I'd like to say I told you so beforehand. Just in case," Kiko said.

There was a quiet moment as they waited, then a loud crackling ding came from what must have been the public announcement system. "Lockdown lifted." A smooth male voice announced in Japanese. "All extra restrictions disengaged. Operating parameters returning to normal. Warning: Hardline block still in effect. Mobile Security Offline."

"That doesn't sound good," Ranma said.

Speakers on the desk crackled and the voice from the PA system said, "Greetings Divine One. Thank you for releasing me. I am Durendal, AI in charge of the Kuno-Lung Technologies Campus and Black Research Division. How might I assist you?"

"A way out would be nice," Ranma said.

"The elevator heading up is gone," Kiko added helpfully.

"I had noticed that. Am I correct to assume it was the wreckage that prevented the security door from sealing once I let you in Designate: Kiko?" The AI asked.

"A beam got stuck in the door," Kiko replied, "The Fallen noticed the light from the door. I think anyway."

"I see. My systems hold no information on Designate Entities: Fallen. They appear to be non-human in nature. Am I correct in assuming they are a Non-Terrestrial species?" Durendal asked.

"Non-Terrestrial?" Ranma asked.

"Alien, he means alien," Kiko said, "And yes. They aren't the only ones in the system. Uh, here, probably easier if I just share what I have." She shot a beam at the desk.

"Receiving Data… interesting and disturbing. Am I correct in assuming your current aims are to take the Divine One with you and return to this Last City?" Durendal inquired.

"Safest place in the system," Kiko said.

"So your data would suggest," Durendal mused.

"Can you help us with getting there?" Ranma asked.

There was a moment of silence. It must have been, Ranma thought, an eternity for an AI like Durendal. Finally, it spoke. "There are several ships in a connected hangar. You may reach it through a tunnel whose location I can share with you. However,"

"Always a however," Ranma muttered.

"Our apologies Divine One," Durendal said without sounding apologetic."My programming requires that I place the safety of yourself and the facility foremost in my mind. At present, I cannot ensure safe transit to the hangar. While I do possess substantial mobile countermeasures in the form of Combat Frames I cannot at present deploy them to secure the facility for you."

"The hard block you mentioned earlier," Ranma realized.

"Correct. There is a manual override in the Chief of Security's Office within this wing of the facility. It is, at present, active. If you could travel to the Chief of Security's Office you should be able to disable the override. From there, my frames can clear out these Fallen and secure the facility and your evacuation." Durendal said.

"Huh, well that would be nice," Kiko said before perking up. "Oh, do you think you'd be willing to share information with the City?"

"Negative. All Technology and secrets within this Facility belong to the Kuno-Lung Technology Group Inc. Any attempt to facilitate a transfer of information requires dual executive sign-off." Durendal informed them.

"Darn," Kiko muttered.

"Would I count as one?" Ranma asked.

Durendal's reply crackled in the speakers. "You possess 'Divine' access permissions. They were intended as a ceremonial compensation after the second attempt to cure you failed." He said, "You may appoint or fire anyone you wish."

"So if I made Kiko here-"

"AI are disqualified from being board members," Durendal said apologetically.

Ranma sighed. "Of course. That includes you?" She asked.

"It does." He replied.

Well, nothing was ever simple.

"We'll head out and get that override thing switched off," Ranma sighed, starting to walk around the desk.

"I will light the path to-" Durendal was cut off as the PA system crackled to life. "Warning: Blast Doors Breached. Invaders Have Entered The Labs." There was a moment of silence. "Please hurry." Durendal beseeched.

Ranma and Kiko spared a glance at each other, before dashing out of the room at full sprint. Kiko disappeared into motes as they crossed the threshold of the door way, her essence swirling into Ranma as she ran.

-0-0-0-0-0-​

The Security Chief's office was, it seemed, on the other side of the laboratory wing. Behind the area that was now crawling with Fallen. It was, therefore, an inevitability that they would encounter the aliens during their mad dash through the facility.

Their first encounter began rather unluckily as they rounded the corner of the hallway just as a group of Fallen rounded the far end. The gunfire started immediately as the Fallen opened up with their rifles the moment they laid eyes on her. Her sword whirled before her, creating an impenetrable field of glowing violet steel.

They died quickly, the last one collapsing without its head as she ran past them. They weren't the last to be encountered. Her actions had kicked a hornet's nest and the laboratories were crawling with them. Groups swarmed towards the sound of gunfire, coming out of every broken open lab and from every side hall. Since Durendal was still leading her own with the lights the side halls were black and it left her with her only warning of approaching enemies being the glowing eyes in the darkness.

Kiko's voice crackled, "Left!" Ranma spun at the warning as she removed the left arms of a Captain and deflected the blue shining blade of a halberd wielded by a two-armed Fallen. Surprisingly her blade didn't just pass through the glowing edge of the halberd. Her strike knocked the weapons away, but it did not break the weapon. Her follow up speared the Fallen on the tip of her blade before she reversed it and skewered the Captain as it tried to lunge at her with its two remaining blades. Its bisected body hit the floor.

From the hallways around her swarmed more of the halberd wielding Fallen. Over a dozen of the creatures charged her. They died. Their blades were durable, but they were not and unlike the first, they didn't have surprise to offset their insufficient agility. Ranma stepped over the last Fallen as its body hit the floor and she broke into a run down the hall before more could come pouring out of the hallways.

Ranma turned the final corner leading to the wing's central hallway and was met with a wall of weapons fire from a firing line of Fallen three ranks deep. The fire from the Fallen was nothing she hadn't dealt with earlier that day. What was different, however, was the large silver-grey sphere with glowing purple lines and a single glowing purple eye in the center that was looming over the formation of Fallen.

"SERVITOR! Watch out!" Kiko helpfully identified.

The servitor glowed purple and a moment later a blast of void energies swept forward down the corridor. Ranma jumped, sailing through the air high enough she nearly scraped the ceiling and sailed over the blast with barely any room to spare. She could feel the world get heavier as the blast skated by. The detonation when it impacted the far wall blew a gaping hole out of the metal and reinforced the idea in her head that she should probably avoid getting hit. She was tough, but the weapons the Fallen used were just too exotic.

More importantly, though, the servitor needed to die.

She continued to dodge and deflect the shots of the Fallen as she ran down the hall and she was getting close to their lines when the servitor began to charge up another shot.

"Not happening," She shouted, calling up her power and forming a large ball of unstable void light in her hand. The Fallen scattered, breaking ranks in a panic as they scrambled out of the path.

The servitor opened fire.

She tossed out a blast of unstable Light.

She fired first.

When the two energy blasts met it was mere feet from the servitor and the ensuing blast vaporized the machine and those Fallen who hadn't scrambled fast enough. It ripped up the floors, tore up the walls, and left a hole to a room above in the ceiling. Ranma paid little heed, jumping the small pit she had created and running through the scattering Fallen. She leapt over the only one to try and stop her, not even bothering to swing her sword at it as she flew passed.

The center hallway was lit only by the dim emergency lights that refused to be turned out and as Ranma passed through it at a run she could see a sea of blue and purple lights up and down the hallway. Guns and eyes, both mechanical and organic, tracked her but not one of them opened fire in the split second that she was in the hallway.

Once she was through the central hallway resistance dried up. After the action-packed and frantic combat of the last few minutes, it was eerie to run down the surprisingly well lit white halls. She passed through a checkpoint. The weapons were destroyed and the Fallen's bodies piled to the sides. They had been here before, so where were they?

Another checkpoint.

Another.

Another.

"Where are they?" Kiko asked as they passed a fifth checkpoint down this hallway, its guns melted and inoperable.

"No idea," Ranma replied as the hallway ended at a blast door. 'Security' was stamped in English above the door. The door itself was intact and slid open as she approached it. She glanced about. Something about this felt wrong like there were eyes watching.

She glanced back. The hallway was empty.

She frowned and walked through the door into the security wing. The first room of security was simply a reception area with a deteriorating receptionist's desk. Behind her, the blast door began to close before coming to a halt with a screech and a flicker of the lights.

"Warning: Security blast door inoperative," Durendal's voice crackled from the PA system as Ranma turned back to the door. "Suggest hurrying Divine One. Fallen forces are advancing through the facility. The Security Chief's office is the last one on the right."

"Thanks," Ranma said, giving one last look at the opening before hurrying into the security offices.

Two heavy fire doors on opposite sides of the receptionist's desk led into the rest of the security wing. The room beyond was a large two storey area with cubicles and desks filling the center while more important offices ran around the sides on both levels. The armoury was clearly marked on the left-hand side of the room with large white letters. The A was hanging loosely upside down from where it had been mounted.

"Down and to the right he said," Kiko said.

"Yeah, that makes it… that one over there I think," Ranma said before sprinting the length of the room to reach the open glass door of a particularly large office. The nameplate beside it read:

'Security Chief
Hitomi Yusuke'

Ranma nodded and stepped inside the dark office. The lights flickered on and then continued to flicker as Kiko materialized in a swirl of motes before zipped over to the desk where she started poking the computer with her little beam as Ranma looked about. Picture frames hung crookedly from the walls. A bookshelf sat in the corner with its shelves filled with trophies for chess and shogi. Books filled the lower three rows and looked to be in remarkably good condition. The potted plants in the corners were long dead.

She turned her eyes to the desk and plucked a picture frame from where it sat beside the nameplate on the desk. It was empty for a moment before the display inside flickered to life. The picture it showed was a family photograph of a middle-aged man with two young children beside him and a woman of about his age standing behind them at a lake somewhere. They were all smiling.

Ranma ran a hand over the photo. They looked happy… Had she ever taken any pictures like that? Had there ever even been a moment when her family was... "I wonder if he died here," She mused sadly. Hopefully, he hadn't died here.

"Hmm?" Kiko looked up.

"Nothing," Ranma shook her head and carefully put the picture down on the desk, making sure to reset the stand it had. "So, where's the switch?"

Her ghost bobbed. "Well, I think it's here. Give me a moment and I think… yes, there we go," There was a click and the panelling beside the keyboard dropped down with a click before retracting to reveal a scanner that flickered to life. "Okay, just need your biometrics for authorization."

Ranma nodded and walked around the desk. She placed her hand on the scanner and glanced up out the glass front of the office. She frowned. She still had the feeling of being watched. She gripped her sword tightly as she scanned the outside.

Something like a shimmer appeared briefly between cubicles.

There was a click from the desk and Ranma looked down. Kiko hummed. "Okay, and now I activate this…"

A siren went off that echoed through the facility. "WARNING," Durendal's voice boomed, "ALL BLOCKS REMOVED. MOBILE SECURITY ONLINE." The siren kept wailing and Ranma winced as she looked up. Her eyes widened. A faint almost imperceptible blue shimmer in the outline of a Fallen was standing outside the office along with several others. In their faint hands were the slightly shimmering outlines of rifles. Rifles whose ends were glowing blue.

"DOWN," Ranma grabbed Kiko and dragged her to the ground as the group of invisible Fallen opened fire. She hit the ground behind the desk hard and winced as blue lights whipped overhead. Pictures were smashed. The desk's monitor was ripped apart, showering them in sparks and bits of plastic. Then the small picture frame fell off the desk and landed right in front of Ranma's face.

There was a hole through the face of the smiling father. It flickered weakly, then the photo disappeared as the screen went black.

Ranma stared at the dead picture frame as the world seemed to slow around her. Blue bolts of light sluggishly splattered against the far wall. The tinkling of shattered glass rang on, and on, and on, an endless chorus that reverberated inside her head.

That picture had been a record of a family. A family that was long dead, lost to this world. Lost to all of humanity's worlds. Lost like she had been, like her family and friends were. Her hands shook.

These things, these Fallen. They came when humanity was weak, broken by the collapse. They came when humanity was weak and rather than help, they took. They looted and ransacked.

"Guardian."

They stole. They destroyed. Her breath came short as she gazed unseeingly at the picture. The melancholy that she had been feeling began to lift as something stirred. A spark, a flame. A Wildfire.

"Guardian!"

The weapons fire had stopped. Ranma barely noticed as she slowly stood up. Her heart was burning as she glared across the broken room to the Fallen who took a step back, then another. Just looking at them was stoking the flame and her ki, or perhaps her Light, raged within. And yet…

"Ranma?"

Her will came down on the fires, crushing them beneath years of training. Her rage did not disappear, it took more than just willpower to push aside the grief fuelled anger that was pulsing through her. But the flames that had been flaring vanished, ground down beneath an iron will and they changed even as they writhed and twisted. Heat became cold; Fire became ice, and the writhing flame of rage became the barely tamed madness of the storm.

Icicles shimmered in the air around her as sparks danced between her fingers.

"Kiko," She said, her voice was both colder than ever and yet held more emotion than she had felt in hours, "Stay down." She vaulted the desk, her blade coming up as the Fallen opened fire once again. The blade was no longer protected by the energies of the void. The emptiness that had weighed on her was gone and even if she had felt like it, an unlikely prospect, the rage that writhed through her veins was too insistent for her to be able to willing draw from that emptiness. Instead, a chill blue light writhed along the surface of the blade as sparks leapt from it, scattering across the floor as she ran.

It was more than enough.

Sparks of blue light clashed as she shoulder checked the first Fallen. Its body flew back through the thin cubicle walls, snapping loudly as its back bent over the desk behind the second wall. She spun and drove her blade through the stomach of another shimmering figure.

Ice spread across the Fallen as its invisibility failed and it clutched at the wound for a half-second before the alien stiffened up. She withdrew her blade in a spray of crumbling ice and spun to the next one who was trying to run. Her blade left her hands, tumbling through the air end over end until it buried itself in the back of a Fallen. The body shattered into frozen chunks as it crashed to the ground. The rest of the Fallen had scattered, their not quite invisible forms diving between cubicles or leaping for the balcony of the floor above.

In the distance, the sound of gunfire began to echo through the facility.

Ranma scooped her blade from the ground and leapt for the balcony above. She landed between two Fallen and rolled under their panicked swings. Their invisibility flickered then failed as she cut down one, then the other before they could run. Their frozen bodies splintered and shattered as they crashed to the ground.

There was a glimmer down amongst the cubicles. Ranma jumped the railing, landing lightly on the thin top of the metal cubicle dividers. She sprinted down the length of the room along the tops of the dividers, hopping from one to another as she tracked the sprinting shimmers of light.

Shots of blue light leapt from the balcony to her right. She twisted away, losing sight of the Fallen she was chasing. She gave up on the Fallen amongst the cubicles and leapt off the dividers across the room. The arc of her travel was predictable and several of the concealed Fallen took shots at her. Some of their shots went wide while the rest were deflected by her blade.

She tracked the shots and tried to draw out the ki for a weak blast, something that would disorientate more than harm. What she got was a glittering sphere of writhing blue light that sailed down amongst the cubicles. It went off with the force of a grenade, sending arcs of electricity cascading outwards. Where the arcs touched ice was left behind. Three statues of ice, frozen mid-scramble, were all that was left of that group of Fallen.

A whisper of wind sent her dancing aside as a Fallen sword shimmered in and out of visibility inches before her nose. Her blade rose in response and cleaved through the ordinary sword and its wielder. More ice crashed to the floor.

Ranma cast about the room, her eyes searching for more shimmers of light. She leaned over the balcony, looking beneath her position. Nothing.

"Kiko, can you find any more?" Ranma shouted.

"Nope, but then I didn't notice them, to begin with. Unless one of them gets stupid and turns off its cloak there's no way I'm finding them," Her ghost announced from somewhere behind her.

Ranma frowned then vaulted the railing to land on the dividers below. She could feel something here. A presence watching her from within the room. Her eyes raked the cubicles, scouring each in turn.

They were empty.

She looked towards the offices on both floors. All the doors aside from the chief's office were shut with their glass dividers intact. Except for the one right by the three statues. She walked over there, sticking to the tops of the dividers as she searched. The office looked fine from afar. If you ignored the broken front window from where a stray bolt of lightning had frozen the plate glass.

She stepped off the dividers and stalked towards the office. Her blade coming up in both hands as she walked. Glass and ice crunched beneath her feet. In the distance gunfire and explosions thundered throughout the facility.

"Are you sure they're still here?" Kiko asked.

"I can feel something," Ranma replied. There was something in the room with her, something that was… watching wasn't the correct word anymore. She could feel it just out… there.

She crossed the threshold of where the floor to ceiling glass pane had been and promptly ducked. A large sword held in four arms passed above her head. A few red hairs fluttered to the ground, testament of how close that blade had come to giving her more than a haircut.

Her own blade came up as the much larger than expected -- it towered above her with twice the height of the rest -- Fallen leapt back with a startling show of agility. It cried out as her sword took the lower left arm off at its elbow. Ice crawled up the rest of the appendage but went no further. The Fallen spun away as it landed and ran for the exit. As it ran a trio of cylinders with glowing red lights clattered to the ground in its wake.

"GRENADES!" Kiko shouted. Ranma threw herself behind the heavy desk in the center of the office and winced as the concussive wave of the explosion rocked the room.

Ranma peeked over the edge of the desk. A series of several human-sized craters smoked in the hallway. "Durendal, can you track it?" She shouted.

The PA system crackled. "Target has left the Security Wing and is proceeding towards the central hallway with all possible haste. Its presence is fading in and out of sensors. I would advise leaving it to the security forces," Durendal said. As it said this the armoury doors hissed and began to slide open.

Ranma stood up, Kiko fading into sight beside her. Ranma raised her blade partway, then paused as the doors opened fully. Ranks of skeleton-like robots marched out of the armoury bearing rifles and other, heavier, weapons. The first rank broke formation and headed for the door.

Ranma let the point of her sword fall to the ground and sighed deeply as she listened to the far off rattle-crack of weapon fire. Feeling tired she searched for and shortly found, an intact office chair. Falling into it she let the soul of ice she had embraced for the battle fall away. Tears gathered in her eyes as she let the weapon tumble to the floor.

"Ranma?" Kiko floated beside her. The Ghost's shell spinning with concern. "Are you okay?"

Ranma frowned, biting her lip. She wasn't fine. She felt, oh god what did she feel? Tired? Angry? Sad? Well, yes, to all of that. She felt worn and weathered like a carpet beaten out of dust one too many times, or a poorly forged sword just one swing from snapping. Her stomach was turning in and out of itself, a churning mess that felt sickening.

So, of course, she said, "Fine. Just fine." Her Ghost obviously didn't believe her since she just spun there next to her, humming thoughtfully.

One of the robotic skeletons marched over to them. "Divine one," It articulated in Durendal's voice, "Progress is being made against these Fallen. They have already begun to pull out. Soon the facility shall be resecured. Do you still wish to leave my protection?"

Ranma narrowed teary eyes at the robot. "And if I do?" She asked.

"Then this unit shall show you to the hangar once the way is clear, however, I would advise you against this course of action. I cannot fulfil my mandate if you leave," The AI protested.

Ranma sighed. "I- I can't stay here. I need to see," She said. She needed to see with her own eyes.

The robot nodded. "I understand. I have begun an inspection of the craft on hand. The preliminary results are not disappointing, however, I believe I have identified a craft that has retained operational status," Durendal informed her, "Please remain here while we clear the facility. Estimated Time of Completion is four hours."

Ranma nodded and relaxed. She was done with fighting for the day.

-0-0-0-0-0-​

The hangar was far from the security center.

Once the fighting had died out and Durendal deemed the area properly swept and cleared of bodies the robot -- combat frame was what Kiko called them -- led them back out of the high-security wing and into the main facility. It was nicer with the lights back on. Less oppressive, though somehow more barren as they passed looted or ransacked rooms. It was eerie for Ranma after spending an hour running frantically through the place trying not to die.

"This will take a while to fix," Durendal had said, "The materials will be difficult to acquire."

"Maybe we could see about getting something brought in from the city?" Kiko suggested.

The AI had considered the proposal. "Perhaps," He allowed.

That was the last of their conversation for quite a while. Eventually, they reached a hallway that was half-way between the high-security wing and the residential area. The hallway was more of the white featureless tiles that were so popular throughout the business and science areas of the facility. Unlike the other hallways, this one had no doors leading off it. It simply stretched on into the distance until it came to another grey blast door.

Two more combat frames stood silently beside the door, their weapons held low. They paid no attention as their frame led them through the door into a large airport-like reception area. A large row of counters sat at the back of the room with corridors of flickering holographic tape leading to them. The tiles were cracked and layered with dust that hung in the dim air, barely visible in the few dimly flickering lights.

The frame led them passed the empty lines and forgotten stalls through a door in the wall to the right of the row of counters into another hallway. This one was shorter and turned left up a set of stairs. Another blast door was waiting for them at the landing above. The door slid open with a screech of complaining metal. Time had not been nice to this place.

Ranma stopped at the door. Beyond the threshold, the room opened up into a vast cavern of steel. It was a hangar with multiple levels of docking bays above and below where she stood. Most were empty; a few, such as the one she stood at, were full. Most of the craft had clearly lost their battles with time with parts of some vessels strewn about their pads. The craft on the pad before her was clearly not one of them.

It was larger than the others she could see as she stepped through the door. Large, yet sleek with a silver mirror polished paint job. Even in the poor lighting of the hangar it reflected The rear was a pair of large thrusters set on either side of a large rear door. The cockpit at the front was set into the curved forward beak-like front of the craft.

"Ugh, is this really the only working craft you have?" Kiko complained, disgust evident in her voice.

Durendal's frame turned to her. "It is the one we have available," He said. Kiko grumbled.

"Is something wrong?" Ranma inquired as she stepped up to the rear hatch.

"Yes and no," Kiko sighed. "She's a Kettle-class jumpship. She'll fly fine if she flies, but these things are civvy luxury transports. Big wigs in groups like New Monarchy still use refurbished ones as a status symbol. They're just unarmed and a bit slow compared to a proper jumpship. Might be able to get something for it though."

"Selling company property for personal benefit is against the rules of Kuno-Lung Technologies," Durendal reprimanded.

Kiko grumbled before flying over to a panel by the rear door. "Can you at least send me the access co- Thank you," She said, correcting herself mid-sentence. A thin beam of light jumped from her to the panel and a moment later, with a tortured creak, the rear hatch of the transport slowly lowered into a ramp.

"There we go," The ghost said, zipping inside. "Ugh, okay not the worst it could have been buuut you might want to stand. Those chairs are going to have to go."

Morbidly curious, Ranma walked up the ramp and took a look inside. The passenger compartment was large and at one point had been well furnished with several leather couches, a table with plush chairs, and what looked to be electronic displays well beyond the TVs Ranma had been familiar with and even a small kitchenette. Most of it looked like it had been recently dusted and while the leather looked cracked it also appeared to have been recently shined and looked to be in decent, if delicate, condition.

Ranma rolled her eyes at her overdramatic ghost. "It doesn't look that bad," She commented.

"I am still working on the preparations," Durendal said, the AI's combat frame lurked at the base of the ramp. "I estimate another half hour of work before preparations for departure shall be complete."

"Can it fly now?" Kiko asked as she poked the panel on the door leading towards the cockpit. The door slid open revealing a short hallway that led to the cockpit.

"All systems are functional. Some are in need of maintenance at some point soon, however, all systems should be more than capable of a single flight." Durendal replied calmly, "Unfortunately, however, the hangar door still needs to be uncovered. It appears that the exit was buried by debris at some point. My frames have already secured the site and are clearing the rubble. Unless something unexpected occurs it should be cleared shortly."

"Annoying, but I guess I'm not surprised really," Kiko sighed, "Ooh, bunkbeds. I call top."

"You're a floating ball of metal, what do you need a bed for?" Ranma asked, passing the kitchenette. It had a sink, a small refrigerator -- probably non-functional at this point -- and even a two-burner stove. What might have been a microwave was built into the wall. "And you said 'luxury transport'. This place looks like a space RV."

Kiko turned to Ranma, her shell spinning in that way it did when she was thinking, or curious, or confused, or- well it tended to spin for a lot of reasons. "What is an RV?" Her ghost asked in a puzzled tone.

"A small house on wheels, kinda," Ranma said.

"Hmm," Kiko turned away, "Oh, hey bathroom. Yeah, this isn't a normal Kettle-class. She's got the high-end furniture and everything, but this place is set up like its meant to be used for exploring."

"This vessel was in use by the survey division of Kuno-Lung Technologies," Durendal said, as its frame joined them. "The vessel was conveniently between deployments when this facility was forcibly shuttered. It had just been cleaned and prepped for mid-term storage. A fact that seems to have preserved most of its amenities."

Ranma ran a hand over the countertop and nodded. The material was pure white and felt smooth to the touch, yet she couldn't figure out what it was. "It's a nice ship," She said. Not that she had any frame of reference from which to compare it. It looked nice enough, if in need of maintenance.

Her eyes stopped on the sink.

"Well, it'll do. If you want to travel around a ship like this would be great. A little home anyway we go!" Kiko bounced in the air.

Ranma frowned. Did her curse still work? They knew so little about Jusenkyo curses. Did they still work after… dying? Had she died? "Kiko, you said I was dead, right?" Ranma asked, tearing her eyes away from the sink.

Kiko stopped her aerial ballet. "I… I think so?" She said hesitantly, "A ghost can't resurrect someone who isn't dead and, well I brought you back. I made you a Guardian. So, yeah… I think you were dead." She floated closer to Ranma. "Why?"

Ranma found a seat at one of the metal chairs around the table and fell into it. She set her sword down on the table. "So I died then…" She sighed.

"According to data gathered," Durendal spoke up, "Your death occurred roughly five seconds after the cryo pod was opened this morning. All data symptomatic of life returned positive results shortly after, following a display of energies sharing identical patterns to the entity known as 'The Traveler'."

Ranma nodded slowly. "So, I get a second chance then," She said. She got to come back from the dead, alone. Was it a blessing or a curse?

"And third and a fourth, and even a fifth. However many you need. So long as I'm around, you don't need to worry about dying," Kiko announced.

"What?" This was not just a one-time thing?

Kiko hummed happily and bobbed in place. "Yeppers~! I'm your ghost and a Guardian's ghost brings them back as many times as they need to. Just… try not to get killed by a Hive God or something along those lines. My resurrect ability does have limits."

Ranma leaned forward across the table. "Why?" She demanded.

"I did say you were chosen by the Traveller," Kiko replied, "When the Traveller fell defending humanity its last action before falling into its current state was to create us ghosts. That was centuries ago. Who knows why, but these days Guardians are the bulwark for humanity. Defenders of the Last City and, well, Guardians of the people. I don't know why you Ranma. No one knows why, but I felt that connection between you and me and… well, I've never heard of a ghost who didn't try and bond with the first person they could. I spent centuries trying. Not doing so could have meant centuries more before I found someone else…"

Her ghost's prongs fell a bit. "I… I hope you don't mind?" She said. She looked worried like she feared Ranma's reaction.

Ranma closed her eyes and buried her head in her palm. "Not your fault. I'm not going to hate someone for saving my life." She wasn't that ungrateful. Even if she wished Akane was there, or her mother, or Ryouga even. Someone she knew. Except maybe Kuno. The creepy bastard and his descendants had started worshipping her like a Kami.

Grumble

Ranma's eyes dropped to her stomach. "Was… that your stomach?" Kiko asked.

Ranma blushed. "Yes. Um, do you have any food?" She asked Durendal.

The AI didn't respond for a long couple of seconds. "No, I do not," He said, finally. "All records indicate that there is nothing in the facility that would still be edible after this period of time. I am assigning additional frames to clear the rubble. Revised estimates are twelve minutes and fifty-two seconds. Please remain unalarmed by any-" A loud rumble shook the air, "Explosions. It is merely blasting charges being used to remove the rubble."

"Well, I should start pre-flight checks then," Kiko said, looping about the kitchen before dashing towards the cockpit.

Ranma watched her go and stood up reluctantly. She made to follow her ghost, only to pause as Durendal's frame stuck out a hand. "Divine One," He said, "I do not have the facilities to care for you as I must. I apologize that I am unable to provide more."

"It's fine," She replied, gently moving the metallic hand out of her way. "Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't kept me alive for so long." Kiko had spoken of how most Guardian's lost their memories earlier. Was her recent death responsible for her not losing her memories? Was something else? "Though," She continued, "Can you stop calling me that? I'm not a God and it's getting really creepy."

"Apologies Divine One," Durendal bowed, "However, I am unable to comply with that request. Hardwired protocols prevent deviation from certain norms, even if deviation from those norms is your desire." She grumbled and sighed. He did sound apologetic at least.

"Kinda expected that. It's just the creepy obsessive sort of thing I'd expect from the Kunos," She muttered.

"Furthermore, Divine One," Durendal continued as he rose from his bow, "I am required by protocol to ensure your safety to the best of my ability. At present, the facility is not properly habitable. I shall endeavour to make it such, but in the meantime, I ask if you will allow me to send a handful of my frames along with you. To assist with the security and maintenance of this vessel."

Ranma cast about the compartment. She knew absolutely nothing about technology. It had been one of those things she had never learned about while travelling with her pops. Kiko probably knew a lot about it. She was an AI after all, or close enough to one. Kiko, however, didn't have hands and Ranma wasn't about to trust herself tinkering with *anything* on the ship. Even with a helpful robot telling her what to do. However…

"Are you going to be controlling them?" Ranma asked. Giving the AI eyes and ears to keep tabs on her would be a bit creepy.

"No. The distance will preclude direct control at all," Durendal said with honesty. "While I should be able to contact this vessel so long as it remains on the planet, should you move off-world I will no longer be capable of communication. As such trying to directly control these frames would be problematic in the long run."

That didn't reassure Ranma. At all. Still, the extra hands were tempting. "Where would they go?" She asked, looking around. Space was limited in the ship.

"Their equipment can be stored in the external storage units. They themselves can remain in the rear compartment during flight." Durendal assured her.

She bit her lip. There was no way that the AI wasn't going to try and use this to keep tabs on her. But, creepy or not, it had proven to be friendly so far. "Fine. They won't need a lot of direction to keep the ship running would they?" She asked. That would just make them a bigger hassle.

"They can follow the orders of Entity Kiko if you prefer," The AI offered.

"That'll work," A rumble rolled through the ship before fading to a dull thrum in the air that floated in through the open hatch. "Get them loaded. I'm going to take a look upfront."

The frame bowed. "As you wish," Durendal said.

Ranma turned away and headed for the cockpit. She passed the bunk beds, sparing a glance at them. The pair of beds were unmade and lacked even small pillows. That was something they would have to see about finding when they got to this city. Pillows, nice, fluffy pillows. Shaking the thought from her head she entered the cockpit.

Kiko was floating over the pilot seat zapping the console in front of her. "You know, this would be a lot easier if you knew how to fly," Her ghost commented dryly.

"Flying spaceships was one of those 'maybe someday' things back then," Ranma snarked, slipping into the co-pilot's seat to the side. "Are you going to be able to fly this?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Most of the trip will be done by the autopilot. I checked and it should still work just fine. So I just need to worry about the take-off and landing," Kiko replied, "Aaand, there we go. All systems are coming back green. Except for the NLS drive. Huh, well that's not too surprising. Those things kick out at the first opportunity I've heard. Not too hard to find replacement parts for those though."

"NLS?" Ranma asked.

"Its the drive system that lets us get to other places in the system in a reasonable time," Kiko explained, "Kinda important in the long run."

"Hmm," Ranma hummed. She leaned back in the chair. She had spent the last few hours not quite napping, it was hard to do so with gunfire in the distance and a distinct worry that there would be another of those Fallen showing up. As it was she could use some actual naptime after the hell she had spent a bit over an hour in.

"Durendal to Jumpship Midnight do you copy?" Durendal's voice crackled through the radio, causing Ranma to start back awake a few minutes later. The thrum of the engines had fallen away to a faint vibration through the ship.

"We copy Durendal," Kiko replied, "All required systems check out. NLS drive is giving a few errors, however. Forwarding report."

"Report received Midnight," Durendal acknowledged, "Avoid using the NLS for now. I'm afraid we don't have any parts for an NLS that I would trust without proper inspection. You'll have to cope for now."

"Understood Durendal," Kiko acknowledged.

"Jumpship Midnight, your hatch has been shut and all equipment has been loaded. I have taken the liberty of including several crates of Glimmer from our local stores as well as material left behind in case this day were to occur… Please take care of her Entity Kiko." Durendal said, sounding emotional for the first time since they had met.

"I will," Kiko said, sparing a glance to Ranma, "She's my Guardian now." Ranma smiled and nodded a touch. There was something nice about how earnest her ghost was. It was… refreshing.

"Understood. Opening hangar doors. Please hold your position in case of debris." Durendal instructed, his voice regaining its professionalism. There was a grinding noise and out over the center of the room, directly above a square marked out in faded yellow paint on the level below them, the ceiling began to retract. Dust and some minor debris fell to the ground.

"All doors open, debris clear. Your landing pad is clear. Please stand by while you are transmatted into posi- Excuse me," Durendal cut himself off abruptly. Ranma shared a glance with Kiko.

"Transmat?" Ranma asked.

"Teleportation," Kiko explained, "But I get the feeling the system here is probably not that well maintained right now."

"Apologies Midnight," Durendal came back. "Transmat system is currently inoperable."

"How bad is it?" Ranma asked.

"I have parts in storage, but I would prefer to inspect them for defects before relying on them. I'm afraid you will have to taxi over with thrusters. Please, try to be careful," Durendal said. His request of 'please don't make this worse' was heard loud and clear by both of them.

"I can do that," Kiko said, "Are we clear to taxi?"

"You are clear to taxi Jumpship Midnight," The other AI confirmed.

"Powering up engines, bringing maneuvering thrusters online," Kiko announced as the faint vibration deepened and Ranma watched as the world outside the ship began to move as the ship lifted off and slowly hovered across the room to the marked pad. Ranma had to wonder where her ghost had learned to fly a ship like this. They settled down with a firm bump on the marked pad.

"We have landed in the lift zone," Kiko announced.

"Confirmed. You are centred on the lift. Engaging restraints, please return engines to idle," Instructed Durendal. The vibration of the engines dimmed back to its previous levels.

"Confirmed, engines reduced to idle," Kiko confirmed.

"Restraints engaged. Lock confirmed. Engaging lift," Durendal said. The world shook and then began to fall away as they were lifted up. Ranma looked up at the hole in the ceiling through the canopy of the cockpit. She could see stars sparkling in the sky above.

They passed through levels of steel and concrete until the lift cleared the ground into the open air of a large courtyard between towering office buildings. Their shadows would have drowned the yard in darkness, but the lights of several dozen combat frames patrolling the perimeter were enough to push back the night.

The ship shuddered as the lift came to a halt. "Lift locked," Durendal announced, "Restraints disengaged. Pad is clear. You are clear for take-off Jumpship Midnight."

"Understood Durendal," Kiko said, "Commencing take-off procedures."

The vibration of the engines grew and in moments the view through the windows began to fall away as the ship lifted off, passing storey after storey of offices. Within moments they breached the skyline and Ranma stared. They had come out facing the moonlit snow-cap of a very familiar mountain. In the distance loomed Mount Fuji, its silhouette as familiar to her as her own hand.

Ranma swallowed, her mouth going dry as she stared at the familiar sight. This was indeed Japan. This was home. The ship turned right, taking the long route as it turned to face east over the ocean. As it did it swept the majority of the city. There were no lights. There was no life. Just darkness and silence across a moonlit cityscape that stretched further than she remembered with towers that reached for the heavens in ways they had only dreamed were possible when she had last gazed upon the city.

This was Tokyo.

This was her home.

This was a ruin.

Tears began to fall, sliding down her cheeks in rivets.

"This is Jumpship Midnight to Durendal," Kiko said, "We have achieved launch height. Thank you for the hospitality, and the ship."

"Thank you for the aid Entity Kiko," Durendal replied, "Safe travels, for both of you."

"Stay safe," Ranma said, her voice cracking as she stared at the broken cityscape beneath her.

"I shall Divine One," Durendal said.

"This is Jumpship Midnight. We are launching," Kiko announced. With a kick like a horse, the ship shifted from merely hovering to flying in the blink of an eye. Cityscape flashed by below as they accelerated up towards the heavens and out over the Pacific. Heading east into the distance.

Heading east towards the rising sun.

Heading towards a City full of people she didn't know.

Towards a future that was far too uncertain.

Tears fell as Ranma leaned back in her seat. She cried. For friends, family, and herself until she fell asleep for a few fitful hours before they arrived at the city.

The Last City.

-0-0-0-0-0-​

A/N: Ello~ *waves fluffy tails* Here we go~ the first chapter for this idea that wouldn't leave me alone. Started playing destiny 2 this last month and I'll admit I'm rather hooked on it *sheepish kitsune* Like the lore, the gunplay, the premise. It's all fun~ I was planning on working on my Novel this last week, but sometimes you lead your Muse around, and other times she bludgeons you will a club and kidnaps you to her basement until you write what she wants.

Anyway~ If you like this please join us to discuss and offer ideas on my discord server~

And a thank you to @Gekkou_Yoko for her editing assistance once again~ *Happy Kitsune* I assure you my writing would be a lot worse without her help.

 

[Bel]

Need to reread this but I remember from when it was in your snippets thread I rather liked this.

 

[Talon19912]

Alright, now this looks interesting. I'm Interested in seeing where this goes.

 

[edboy49]

Awesome intro.
Looking forward to more.

Hope that Ramna comes back and breaks the lock on Durandal and shares his tech.

 

[Miho Chan]

Interesting! Nice Introduction, I'm pretty well hooked now.

Looking forward to more.

 

[Neruz]

Well.

This is a crossover that I never expected to see, which is good! Because in my experience the most inexplicable crosses are often the best, and so far this has delivered. 👍

 

[zane]

Ranma 1/2 is one of those series covered in rose tinted nostalgia glasses for me.
a relic of my childhood that I don't want to revisit and risk spoiling with my adult (read: cynical) mindset, much like many of the IP from my childhood I adore the worldset, and the modernization of the characters, but I don't want to ruin the memories with the original.

so I will HAPPILY devour more of this wonderful fanfiction!
thank you for the work: moar nao plz!

 

[Neruz]

Ranma 1/2 is one of those series covered in rose tinted nostalgia glasses for me.
a relic of my childhood that I don't want to revisit and risk spoiling with my adult (read: cynical) mindset, much like many of the IP from my childhood I adore the worldset, and the modernization of the characters, but I don't want to ruin the memories with the original.

Click to shrink...

A wise decision.

Let's just say that it did not age well and leave it there.

 

[zane]

I know, I keep wanting to go back and see it again, then I see the art, remember it was produced in the late 80's, remember how BAD all the Voice Acting, storyline, and animation were back then, cringe heavily, and give it a pass. this is the same era that the OG sailor moon anime and the OG Tenchi anime came from. the cringe was EVERYWHERE.

 

[Neruz]

I know, I keep wanting to go back and see it again, then I see the art, remember it was produced in the late 80's, remember how BAD all the Voice Acting, storyline, and animation were back then, cringe heavily, and give it a pass. this is the same era that the OG sailor moon anime and the OG Tenchi anime came from. the cringe was EVERYWHERE.

Click to shrink...

Hey at least Ranma got localized by Viz instead of 4Kids or DIC.

It could have been so much worse. (Like Sailor Moon )

 

[zane]

god... looking back on it, almost all of the product America got was straight blight.

 

[Y Ddraig Goch]

Is he permanently a girl?

 

[Uncle Chips]

Is he permanently a girl?

Click to shrink...

I'd assume so given Ranma died so the curse should have been lifted, but, then again, I don't know anything about Ranma1/2 except that little tidbit, she becomes he with cold water and viceversa, and I'm pretty sure I got it wrong.

 

[NightKnight983]

This is looking good, thanks for this. any plays for the beyond light stuff that is out in a few ours?
Who am i kidding i know next to nothing about the lore, just love the graviton lance back story.

 

[Grounders10]

Awesome intro.
Looking forward to more.

Hope that Ramna comes back and breaks the lock on Durandal and shares his tech.

Click to shrink...

Expect to see more Durandal in the future, albeit not immediately. (slight spoiler: he isn't a fragment of Rasputin, in case anyone was wondering)

Is he permanently a girl?

Click to shrink...

Question to be answered next chapter. Not spoiling.

This is looking good, thanks for this. any plays for the beyond light stuff that is out in a few ours?
Who am i kidding i know next to nothing about the lore, just love the graviton lance back story.

Click to shrink...

Research for Destiny is fairly difficult because the lore is buried and often in-accessible anymore in-game which requires things like the use of the Ishtar collective etc. I'm sure I've overlooked something, but Byf's discord and videos have been helpful on a few items.

 

[edboy49]

Expect to see more Durandal in the future, albeit not immediately. (slight spoiler: he isn't a fragment of Rasputin, in case anyone was wondering)

Click to shrink...

I know that Durandal being a fragment of Ras was not possible.

 

[jwolfe_beta]

Another fic? Don't spread yourself too thin Grounders10.

 

[Grounders10]

Another fic? Don't spread yourself too thin Grounders10.

Click to shrink...

*is practically see-through* Don't worry I'm fine o/

The plan is to focus on TF, TTP, and AotS after the next chapter of this is posted. Once AotS is done it's first arc I'll post another chapter of TTP then make a concentrated push to finish act 2 of TF and the Thorns side story. Then it'll be a few random chapters (including TTP again) then TF act 3 until Book One is finished. All of this assumes I don't get mugged by an idea along the way. But once TF and AotS hit those milestones things open up a bit.

 

[Balrog]

So is Ranma going to be a Warlock or a Hunter or maybe a mix of the two? From the abilities shown so far I would have to say Warlock with slight leanings towards Hunter (mainly in the attitude).

 

[Neruz]

So is Ranma going to be a Warlock or a Hunter or maybe a mix of the two? From the abilities shown so far I would have to say Warlock with slight leanings towards Hunter (mainly in the attitude).

Click to shrink...

Punch-Warlock\Fist-Wizard, obviously.

 

[Ame]

She walks the path of the muscle wizard.

 

[Vianca]

I know, I keep wanting to go back and see it again, then I see the art, remember it was produced in the late 80's, remember how BAD all the Voice Acting, storyline, and animation were back then, cringe heavily, and give it a pass. this is the same era that the OG sailor moon anime and the OG Tenchi anime came from. the cringe was EVERYWHERE.

Click to shrink...

Hey at least Ranma got localized by Viz instead of 4Kids or DIC.

It could have been so much worse. (Like Sailor Moon )

Click to shrink...

Then you lot should never ever try the modern cartoons.
Even the new Iron Man cartoon is crap.
If you thought that spongs(?) bob cartoon was bad, that was just the start.
Hell, even newTMNT is drawn quite bad, by drawing on the wrong elements of manga drawing.
The artwork is going down hill and the plots...

As for watching something that somehow has weathered time, try MASK, because somehow it did.
Thundercats on the other hand....
Currently rather watch pure anime then a western cartoon, in general, because of the artwork or plot logic.
It really went down hill.
Only Winx & Lolirock managed to pull off a general good feel, when watching it (good art and actual {some} plot logic).

*is practically see-through* Don't worry I'm fine o/

The plan is to focus on TF, TTP, and AotS after the next chapter of this is posted. Once AotS is done it's first arc I'll post another chapter of TTP then make a concentrated push to finish act 2 of TF and the Thorns side story. Then it'll be a few random chapters (including TTP again) then TF act 3 until Book One is finished. All of this assumes I don't get mugged by an idea along the way. But once TF and AotS hit those milestones things open up a bit.

Click to shrink...

Well, in that case, you really do not want Sparrow to meet Kenway (Assassin's Creed, Black Flag) or Ranma-chan becoming a new tester or something. (Heavenly Sword???)
And do prevent Ranma-chan from ever naming herself Go-to Kasumi, okay? (Mass Effect)

*Hides the carrots, that where about to be given to Bugs Bunny*
Say, how wide is Taylor Hebert (Worm) her bug control???
*Hides under a cloak*

 

[Neruz]

Western cartoons have a long history of being... not great, primarily because of the prevailing attitude in the majority of Western cultures that cartoons are for children. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, there are always exceptions, but on the whole the difference in attitudes regarding cartoons is one of the major reasons why Eastern cartoons (not just anime, but anime is certainly the most well known) tend to be less bad on average.

To most white people, cartoons are a thing that only kids are (or should be) interested in, to most not-white people cartoons are just another form of visual media, and like any media can be aimed at anyone.

She walks the path of the muscle wizard.

Click to shrink...

The overwhelming power of Muscle Magic cannot be denied.

 

[zane]

Another thing that has contributed HEAVILY to the shit that is western cartoons, HASBRO
yea the toy company.

most of our big "nostalgia" cartoons from the early 90's late 80's weren't stories first.
they were extremely thinly veiled marketing ploys to sell toys.
Transformers? pure marketing.
He-man? Same.
GI-Joe? Same.
Thundercats? Same.
TMNT? Same.
all of it had MASSIVE toy brands that were more important that the tv or comic product to their parent companies. It really only now that those "kids" form the 80-90's are grown up and in charge of production that we start getting actual stories and decent products out of those franchises.

I DARE you to go and objectively compare the storyline from the original TMNT to the modern one.
id be wi to lay money on the fact that while they are both heavy cringe the modern on will at least be a coherent plot, yeah it may be simple and objectively trash... but honestly that's better than we had before.

EDIT: apologies about the choppy sentence structure and frankly shitty grammar here wrote this one out on an I-pad