Bleach Fan Fiction / One Piece Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Dimensional Warriors: Assorted Stories ❯ A meet and Greet (Part 1) ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

This chapter contains material that I do not own, they are the property of one of the following: Akira Toriyama, Yoshihiro Togashi, Rumiko Takahashi, Tite Kubo, Masashi Kishimoto, Eiichiro Oda, and Yuji Naka. Please support these excellent artists.

I was glad to see Ryoga again. He was a good person, and having seen those things... I was worried, about my friends, about my family, about Ranma.

“We have someone coming in!” I heard Odin yell. “That or something...” I came up to see what they were talking about. There was a large dust cloud in the distance heading towards us. As it left the forest, all I saw was a blue blur; before it hit the foot of the mountain and sped straight up.

Blue fur, spines along the back, gloves and red sneakers. I hadn't seen anything like it before.

“Hey, you guys some sort of safe haven?” It spoke, dropping what seemed to be four or five unconscious people on the ground.

“Who... What?”

“Name's Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog.” It said quickly. “I won't be hanging long, just dropping some folks off, then I'm heading out again. It's a mess out there and I'm gonna head out and help. I'll be back if I find more folks.” He said, and within a moment sped off again.

“Okay, that was strange.” I said. Apparently, living with Ranma hadn't prepared me for anthropomorphic rodents that run at the speed of sound. I heard a noise coming from the pile of people that Sonic had just left. I realized they weren't all people. One of them was another anthropomorphic thing. It stirred, and I realized it was a she. She had brown fur, and hair, a small tail, a blue jacket and matching boots. Her eyes fluttered open, and she shot up.

“Sonic? Where am I?” She was a little dazed.

“Yer safe ma'am.” Odin said, picking up one of the unconscious bodies. Ryoga following suit. Upon seeing them she seemed to wake up.

“What happened? Who did this?” Odin gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

“They're alright, we don't know who did this, or how; but we're gonna find out. 'Till then we better bring them inside.” She didn't seem satisfied, and dug through her pockets for a bit; before pulling out what looked like some sort of calculator.

“Nicole.”

“Yes, Princess Sally.” The machine responded.

“Good to see you're okay.”

“It's just good I put a backup of myself in here.”

“You mean the city is...”

“It is gone, or more precisely, broken up into pieces. Most of it is in ruins.”

“How?”

“I cannot tell. However, there are more pressing matters at hand. Scans show these people are trapped in some form of stasis.”

“Can you break it?”

“No.” Sally sighed and looked around at us.

“So, Station Square citizens?”

“Where?” I retorted. She seemed a little shocked at this.

“I didn't think any humans were left outside of Station Square.”

“Yeah, and where I come from animals don't talk, don't use advanced machinery, and usually don't stand on two legs.” She seemed uncomfortable now.

“Maybe we should head inside and you can tell me what you guys know.”

We led her to what had become our meeting room, got her some ramen and explained everything.

“Okay, so what we know is, something happened, knocked everybody out; only some people are waking up, while others are not.” She said, slurping up a few remaining noodles.

“Right, and don't forget, we're also out of food.” Ryoga added.

“Right. Sonic was by here though, and before him some other guy named Goku.” Sally continued.

“Yes.”

“Alright, let's check on Nicole, see if she's found anything out about the people.” I nodded my head and followed Sally into the room where we had laid out the unconscious people.

“I believe I do have an answer for you Princess Sally.” The little computer's voice echoed in the silence. “The stasis is induced though some form of energy. Strong willpower will break the stasis. Otherwise my calculations state they will remain in stasis for three more days at the most.”

“Three days. I guess strength of will sounds about right. Sonic is definitely very strong there.” Sally said.

“That means anyone moving around right now is most likely very strong.” I added.

“Oy! More folks incoming!” I heard Odin call and rushed up.

Just breaking the forest's line was a young man, tall with bright orange hair. He was wearing a plain white tee and a pair of blue jeans; on his back were a couple of unconscious people. As soon as he hit the foot of the mountain, he didn't even slow down and just dashed right up; coming to a sudden stop when he reached the platform.

“You guys... Are a safe house right?” He was breathing heavily.

“Yeah, we're keeping people safe in here.” Odin said. “Lemme get those two for ya.”

“Thanks.” He said, laying down. “This is embarrassing.”

“I think it's pretty impressive, you ran that fast with two people on your back.” I said, trying to comfort him.

“I shouldn't be this tired. If I could use my powers, that would have been nothing.” I held my hand out.

“Akane.” I decided to cut formalities, since our lives depended on each other. He looked up at me hesitantly, then took my offered hand.

“Ichigo.” He took the offered hand and I helped him to his feet.

“I'm sure you'll figure out how to get your powers back soon enough.” I carried him inside and sat him at the table before passing him our last cup of noodles.

“It's not that simple. Usually to use my powers I have to separate my soul from my body. I can't seem to do that now.”

“Huh. That sounds strange at best.”

“You don't seem too surprised.” As he spoke Sally entered.

“This is the new guy?” She said, looking him over. He was just staring at her.

“There's a reason I'm not surprised.” I said, sighing.

Odin came down to put me on lookout duty while he checked on the unconscious people. Outside the wind had whipped up as the sun began it's afternoon crawl. The air was getting cold, I was starting to miss my winter clothes.

As the sky turned orange I noticed someone wandering below. He was a somewhat tall man, wearing robes. At his hip were sheathed three swords; he looked completely lost.

“Hey!” I called down to him, he dispassionately looked up. “There's an entrance right near you, come on up. We can give you some shelter!” I called down to him, after a moment he looked away and began wandering off. I followed him with my eyes as he circled the mountain and out of my sight.

“Hey!” I heard Ryoga call down. After a few seconds I heard him growl. “Don't ignore Akane!” I heard him clambering up the low railing, ready to jump and moved to stop him; but by the time I had rounded the corner he was already airborne and diving fist first. The other man just watched Ryoga fall with his one good eye.

An instant later Ryoga's punch was being held back by a sword the other man seemed to be holding casually out. He seemed surprised.

“Why didn't that cut you?” He finally spoke in a gruff voice. Ryoga meanwhile was shaking his hand violently, a small stream of blood seeping out of a thin cut along his fingers. “Devil's Fruit?”

“What?”

“Did you eat a weird fruit like thing sometime?”

“A what? Why would I do something like that?” The man gave Ryoga a closer look, as if sizing him up for the first time.

“Then I guess I should try harder.” He began drawing his second sword and I called down to him.

“Wait wait wait wait! You guys don't need to fight!” I had realized the type of person he was. “We've got sick people in here, and could desperately use someone as strong as you to help protect them from those armored things!” The air hung heavy for a minute while I prayed I had made the right move. He stared at me for a while, then smiled and sheathed his swords.

“If that's the case then I'm sure Luffy will be by here soon.” He said, more to himself than to us. Ryoga sighed and moved towards the mountain. I walked back to my post, but a few minutes later I heard Ryoga calling out from below.

“Akane! I can't find the entrance!” I sighed and went down to let them in.

Unfortunately, Ryoga quickly commented on the new guy not being able to use three swords. Rather than have him cut Ryoga up, Odin quickly pulled a large slab of limestone out of the ground.

A flash of light, and the light clink of metal touching metal. A few seconds later and the stone fell into six pieces. I didn't even see him unsheathe or sheathe his blades.

“Well, that settles that. I'm Akane.” I said cheerfully, trying to open up to him.

“Zoro.” He retorted.

“Eh! Another swordsman?” I heard Ichigo's voice coming from behind us. He was gripping a small black badge with a skull on it. Around the badge I could see black energy seeping out.

“You got your powers to work?” I asked, trying to defuse any potential hostility.

“Not yet, this is the best I can do.” He said, grimly looking at the badge in his hand. “That's why I came down to check out the new guy. He seems perfect.” I looked confusedly from Ichigo, and then spotted a curious smile playing on Zoro's face as well.

“What do you want?” He asked, his smirk dancing on his face.

“I'd like to spar with you.” Ichigo said quickly. “Normally when my power gets locked up, I need to face death to bring it back out.” Zoro's smile widened.

“So. You want me to kill you then?” A hand was already on one of his blades. Ichigo tightened his grip on the badge, holding it like it was a sword.

“If you can.” I backed away quickly, and moved to Odin.

“Well, you two could use the room downstairs, the walls are enforced with diamond; so they shouldn't break easily.” My mouth hung open.

“They're going to kill each other, and you're going to let them!?” I was just a touch below screaming at this point. Odin shook his head.

“They aren't going to kill each other. You can tell by the look on Ichigo's face. He knows what he's doing.” Ryoga nodded an agreement.

“Look, if you're really that worried, you can go with them and keep an eye out. There are some medical supplies near where the stream runs under the mountain. I remember seeing them there.” I made up my mind and followed the two downstairs to keep the damages down; I could hear Odin leading Ryoga back up to keep watch.

As I followed them down, we passed one of the rooms holding unconscious people; and I hear a noise come from one of them.

“Hang on, I think someone is waking up!” I said, grabbing one of the florescent stones near the entrance to see more clearly.

I heard a girl cough a bit, then sit bolt upright. Her short black hair hung around her face. She was wearing a black robe and rubbing her eyes trying to wake up. She jumped up the minute she didn't recognize her surroundings.

“Wait, where am I?” Then she saw me holding approaching. “Who are you?” Her hand grabbed around her waist for something. “Where is my sword?”

“Rukia?” Ichigo called in, now having reached the entrance.

“Ichigo?” She relaxed immediately. “Ichigo! Where's my Zanpakuto?”
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