=========================================================== Dungeon Keeper Ranma Chapter 09: Showdown By A-kun =========================================================== Ranma looked at the castle forged from a mountain. Even on a map, he had to admit that the sight was very impressive. King Reginald could no doubt already see the army gathering around the mountain. "All right, this is where everything comes down. From what I've heard, Reginald has gathered every single person capable of fighting in his castle, but it's divided into two sections. The first is the castle above and the second is the inner sanctum. They both have gateways to allow his men to partol both the castle and the inner sanctum." Ranma began, "Which is why we're going to split into two groups and finish this fast and hard, just like we did with Butterscotch and Cherry Blossom. I'm going to take Horny with me, because those Stone Knights are probably going to be too much for anyone else to handle." Ranma motioned to Zenobia, Zachariach and Almeric, "Almeric is going to be in charge of the overall battle plan for the castle invasion. Zenobia will be in charge of coordinating artillery while Zachariach will be in charge of coordinating infantry. You three, I want to see as few corpses as reasonably possible. That way, we'll have less problems to deal with when this comes to an end." Ranma folded his arms over his chest, "But don't risk yourselves trying to capture a few people. If you need to, blast them into unconsciousness, then let an imp drag them to the prison," Ranma turned to Lunder, "Lundar, I want you and the monks of St. Cuthbert on hand at the prison to heal _ANYONE_ who's severely wounded or worse. Any healers not associated with the St. Cuthbert group will be at the rear of the invasion," Ranma turned to his two best blacksmiths, "Knud, Bloz, I want you and your kin to make some iron buildings for the injured to take refuge in." "Just take and hold the castle. I'll send word to Almeric of our progress every hour or so and vice versa. I want you all to do your very best, because this is the final battle. There is no pulling back and there is no stopping until we've captured the castle and inner sanctum, defeated the king and obtained the final portal gem." Ranma stated. "That's all." Ranma finished. As one, the various leaders exited the room. The only ones who remained were the princes and the princesses. "Something up?" Ranma asked. "Ranma, we need to discuss our father." Timothy declared. "I know what you're going to ask. I won't kill your father. Hell, if at all possible, I won't take his kingdom either." Ranma replied. The six siblings blinked. "What do you mean?" Mina asked. "This has never been about killing your father or conquering his kingdom. Those just happened to be side effects of gathering the portal gems so I can go home." Ranma told them, "A stupid perverted old man on my world cast a spell that wound up banishing me here. Why do you think I kept asking for the portal gems?" "You're serious about not wanting father's kingdom?" Honey asked. "I'm not a ruler. I've been helping out the towns and villages I come across, but ultimately, they're still the same towns and villages they were when they were under your father's rule. I just had to kill some of his lords." Ranma responded, "In any case, we've still got to deal with your father. Hopefully when I get the last portal gem and still offer his kingdom back, he'll understand too." Ranma left the room, leaving the six siblings to contemplate his words. They'd been dreading a fight with their father, but now... it seemed as though Ranma truly wasn't after the kingdom or their father's head, like all the other keepers. If that were the case, they would still fight beside him, this time, it would be without doubt. Zenobia felt it was strange seeing Princess Mina preparing a super firebomb to launch at her former home castle. It was nice to see that the Princess was just as honest as everyone else on the field, even if Zenobia knew that the princess wouldn't even be out of the torture chamber yet if she'd been at all dishonest in her changing loyalties. It just felt a bit surreal for all of Reginald's children to be in the lines of the army that would assault the castle. Had the keeper been anyone save Ranma, Zenobia sincerely doubted that the princesses would have given in at all. Throughout the entire army, nervousness and tensions ran through everyone's mind. Though they'd been a figurative tsunami in crushing the rest of the continent, this was the last battle and there were very strong possibilities that most of them would be wounded or killed. Indeed, having Horny on the battlefield would have eased these thoughts and tensions, but everyone understood that the Reaper was needed against a more powerful foe. The frontline knights were wearing the best armor forged. A line behind the armored warriors were the rogues and thieves, who were prepared to give the hero forces something to fear as they prepared for the acrobatics needed to flip over the knights in front of them and strike from behind at the enemy frontline. Goblins, salamanders, dwarves, skeletons and giants all stood ready behind the thieves, ready to fill in for any holes in the frontline so that the imps could drag the fallen back for healing. The archers, wizards, vampires, and other spellcasters, such as the mistresses who did not want to be on the front or fairies who were too afraid to go up close or even bile demons who had nothing else left to do, were high on nearby hilltops, preparing for their assault. The vampires wore magical cloaks that protected them from sunlight, the only problem of which lay in the fact that the cloaks only worked once a week. Zenobia knew everyone in the artillery understood where to launch their spells, but she felt it was important to reiterate, "Everyone, listen up. I know I don't need to repeat myself, but I want to stress this. Even if the frontline begins to crack, DO NOT FIRE near our frontline. Archers who know Guided Bolt, you are the ONLY exception and I want you to ONLY use that technique when helping out the frontline. Our boys on the frontline have enough to worry about." As one, the entire artillery unit nodded. "All right, fan out. Choose a spot, cast a barrier spell on yourself and if anyone manages to bust through or evade our lines, I want you all to pull back to me. If you feel an attack, but no one's there, pull back to me. If anyone who is not a fellow wizard or a dark angel approaches, shoot them on the spot. Don't worry, everyone on our side is very clear on that particular rule." Zenobia explained. The unit nodded in unison. With a nod from Zenobia, the group fanned out along the hill tops. Almeric appeared next to Zenobia, "Word from Ranma. He's found a massive torture chamber beneath the castle. He believes Reginald may have converted some evil creatures to his side. He also has the majority of Lord Pureheart's men. He might try and crush us with his army." "That would be suicide, considering how well trained we are." Zenobia explained. "Yes, but he has the entire Elite Royal Guard with him. Furthermore, it's repetition that we would least expect from the King." Almeric responded. "I don't think so. Even the Dragoons know better than to tangle with this many warriors at once." Zenobia disagreed. Almeric considered that, "Well, one thing is for certain, he's probably loaded the entire mountain with various traps. He'll want us to charge up in his defenses, which will weaken our forces considerably." Zenobia nodded, "We should send imps to check the mountain." Almeric agreed. Ranma was impressed with the winding layout and the number of staging posts that King Reginald had created beneath his castle so that his men could search the various areas for Ranma's Dungeon Heart. Ranma was no fool, though. He'd chosen his Dungeon's location carefully so that it was surrounded by solid rock on at least one side. That way, he knew which direction the enemy could NOT come from. His imps had already destroyed almost all of the advanced staging points. The only ones remaining were the ones that were around the king directly. Ranma knew there were others because he could sense gate energies still activating from time to time. No doubt the castle guard reporting on his army's positioning. There were only two things that were keeping Ranma from invading the castle from below and finishing the war. The first was the fact that he was outflanking King Reginald's forces to make certain his new forces weren't ambushed. The second was the insufficient training of his forces. They'd take another few days. Then, Ranma felt Almeric sending him a message requesting some expendable imps to set off the traps surrounding the mountain. Ranma glanced at the spare twenty five he had and sent them to Almeric with a notice that he'd send more as they were destroyed. Meanwhile, King Reginald looked at the two stone knights, Glynn and Erdrick. The line of Erdrick had lasted hundreds of years, possibly even millenia. Indeed, in even Reginald and his children lay the blood of Erdrick. Erdrick and his descendents were famous for hunting down and destroying evil. Glynn had been one of Erdrick's descendents who'd proven to be a great king as well as a great hero. Thus, the two stone knights had been named after the two legendary figures. The two knights stood around the final portal gem, guarding it against all who sought to capture it. It had been that way since the construction of the two stone golems. They could see through illusions and invisibility spells, they were immune to all attack magics and being solid stone, were not easily damaged. On top of all that, unless the stone knights were successfully destroyed within one hour, they would regenerate from all damage dealt to them. "Sir, Ranma's army gathers around the mountain base. They are using imps to discover traps and dismantle them." Armace declared, entering the room. "Then you have permission to fire at will. Slay anything that gets within firing distance." Reginald declared. Armace bowed. King Reginald looked at the two stone knights and wondered if there was anything he had done that his ancestors would have done differently. He shook his head. It was a little too late to do the second guessing. When a rain of two hundred arrows and fifty fireballs flew down on the imps, a blizzard of quarrels, arrows, lightning bolts, firebombs and fireballs flew up at the castle. Shortly following the descending arrows was rubble from the castle's walls and towers. It was then that the secret doors around the base shattered, allowing a horde of goblins, skeletons, mistresses, warlocks, bile demons, dark elves and dark knights to race out to meet the army, followed shortly by knights, guards and royal guards. Zachariach let out a war cry to match that of the enemy's, echoed closely by the entire frontline as they charged forth to meet their enemy. Just as the enemy frontline met that of Ranma's army, fifty rogues and thirty eight thieves leapt over both frontlines to strike at the enemy's back as long distance attacks were exchanged by the supporting magical and non-magical artillery. Bagor found himself on the frontline rather quickly as warriors on both sides dealt fast and heavy strikes. It was no longer a question of who had the most skill, it was a question of who could take damage and dish right back with greater feriocity. The relative strengths of both sides ripples like a wave and Bagor found himself in the center of a swarm of knights. He blocked and dodged as best as he could, but a blade found his stomach while another severed his right arm. The world turned into sky as Bagor toppled backwards to the unforgiving ground. He barely acknowledging the sudden steady tug on his leather armor or the distinct sight of an imp picking up his right arm and carrying it along. Michael and Lotus too found themselves in the center of the enemy's knights. Lotus blocked a sword while casting a lightning bolt straight into the knight's helmet. The knight screamed and stumbled backwards, allowing another knight to take his place. Michael grit his teeth as he slashed wildly. He felt his sanity slipping as his opponents scored more and more hits through his enchanted armor. As another blade bit into his side, Michael roared, smashing away every knight in front of him as if they were paper dolls before a tornado. With that, his strength failed him and Michael toppled forward onto the ground, his blood beginning to pool around him. Lotus took only a second to glance at her lover, but it was a fatal second as a firebomb struck her leg and a knight's blade buried itself into her collarbone. Lotus choked out a whimper as she fell back onto Michael's fallen form. Luckily for Lotus and Michael, they weren't standing when the torrent of gas missiles struck several of the knights who'd surrounded them square in the helmets. The smell rose quickly, causing all of the knights to keel over, emptying their stomachs on the dirt, just before seventeen arrows and quarrel struck down each of said knights. Twelve imps appeared, grabbing Michael and Lotus first, then the fallen enemy knights. The enemy knights were teleported to the nearest prison while Lotus and Michael were dragged away to the makeshift hospital. Maidel was on the wrong side of a swarm of enemy goblins, but that was not a problem for her as she gathered magical energy in on herself and unleashed a storm of lightning, striking down every enemy goblin within a thirty foot diameter. Zachariach and his fellow dark angels swooped down and cleared a path for Maidel and every other warrior who'd fallen inside the enemy frontline, using Skeleton Army and various other attacks at their disposal to widen gaps enough for the swarmed warriors to retreat. At least they did that until a figure wearing blazing red armor appeared in the sky, followed by five others, each wearing winged armor of a different color. The colors of the others were Purple, Green, Blue, Black and White. "I guess these are the Elite Royal Guards." Zachariach commented. The leader of the elite Dragoons, Dart, raised his sword in one hand while gesturing at the dark angels with the other, "YOUR EVIL REIGN ENDS HERE!" "Can you not say something that clichèd?" Zachariach requested. Dart growled angrily, his blondish-brown hair whipping wildly behind him as he dashed forward and slashed at Zachariach. The Elite Dark Angel blocked and was amazed as he was thrown earthward by the force of the strike. He managed to spin out of his descent and flew back up at his opponent, just as the white armored female Dragoon, who was armed with a bow, fired a shot into the sky and called out, "Star Children!" The Dark Angels were struck by hundreds of minute meteors, each with the force of a twenty pound sledgehammer. The ten flying warriors found themselves cratering the landscape below. "Good work, Shana." Dart told the white Dragoon. Shana blushed. The black female dragoon, Rose, spoke up as she pointed her rapier at the rising Dark Angels, "We're not finished yet. Don't pat yourselves on the back until we've beaten them." Honey helped Zachiarach up as her brothers helped up the various other Dark Angels. "I didn't think we'd be facing the Dragoons." Honey growled just as Mina teleported herself and Relena to the frontline. "Any ideas on how to beat them?" Zachiarach inquired. Mina spoke up, "The Dragoons are boosted by the souls of Dragons, making them that much more powerful when fully realized. We need to hit them with overwhelming power. We're going to be beaten back otherwise." "Signal Zenobia to attack them. We'll charge in just afterwards." Zachiarach told Mina. Mina fired a blue fireball at the Dragoons. Dart snorted and swatted it aside just before over a hundred similar spells started flying at the Dragoons. The group dove under the spells only to be forced lower by a hail of arrows and quarrels. So low, that they didn't notice that they were near the ground until a giant grabbed Green Dragoon's leg and slammed him into the ground. A swarm of giants surrounded the Green Dragoon and began stomping him and striking him with their heavy clubs. "ALBERT!" Purple Dragoon called out. Purple Dragoon dove at the giants in an effort to break them up, only to be bodychecked by Daniel. "Haschel!" Blue Dragoon cried, followed by Dart's panicked call of, "MASTER!" "MERU, DART! IT'S TOO STUPID TO GO DOWN THERE!" Rose shouted. Meru the Blue Dragoon and Dart dove as well, ignoring Rose's warning. Rose slapped a hand over her eyes in disgust as both Meru and Dart were ambushed by Timothy and Honey. "Sire, the Dragoons are engaging the enemy." Armace told King Reginald. "And what of the patrols around the Inner Sanctum?" King Reginald asked. Armace paused, trying to figure out how to best phrase it, "Um, they haven't reported in." "In over three hours?" King Reginald inquired, arching an eyebrow. "Um, we could send-" Armace began. "No. If they haven't reported in, that means Ranma is here. Gather up everyone not aiding in the fight at the castle down here. We make our stand here." King Reginald told Armace. "You can call them, but they won't come." Ranma responded. Armace turned, only to catch the butt of Horny's scythe in the stomach. The court wizard keeled over, coughing heavily, just before Horny struck him in his shiatsu sleeping point. King Reginald faced the boy who had conquered his kingdom. Ranma was amazed that much venom could fit into a single glare. "King Reginald, I hereby challenge you to a duel for the final portal gem." Ranma declared. King Reginald huffed as he pointed one of his two swords at Ranma, "I couldn't give it to you, even if I wanted to." Ranma arched an eyebrow, "How so?" King Reginald smiled for the first time in a long while and it was not a kind smile, "I've instructed the Stone Knights to defend the portal gem against ANYONE who tries to take it, even me." Ranma took that in stride, shrugging in an unconcerned fashion, "Eh. Then, I hereby challenge you to a duel for access to the Gate Room and for the complete surrender of your forces." King Reginald was almost awestruck by Ranma's audacity. If it didn't remind him of Nemesis' declarations, he might have openly gawked. "Very well. If I win, you leave this land and my children, never to return ever." King Reginald responded. Ranma nodded. The King lunged, slashing an intricate pattern that Ranma couldn't easily dodge. He had to leap backwards... Zenobia growled under her breath in frustration. Either King Reginald had managed to capture or recover EVERY SINGLE MONSTER that Ranma's army had crushed, as well as some old types of monsters that Zenobia had heard of, but never seen, such as dragons, giant beetles, giant flies, giant spiders, demon spawn, orcs, and tentacles (which were basically claws with four legs) or there was a lot of summoning magic known to the remaining wizards in Reginald's army. Who or whatever was summoning those creatures had to be a wizard, and a very powerful one at that. The problem was finding the wizard responsible. The fight against the Dragoons was getting worse and worse as the Dragoons proved themselves very resilient and capable of unleashing attacks, even when thoroughly overwhelmed. Even the Dark Angels found themselves wishing Horny was present to aid them. The Horned Reaper would have put all six Dragoons on the ground and kept them there. The annoying thing was that the armor allowed them to heal gradually. Further frustrating matters was that both Rose and Shana had the ability to heal the others, Shana by simply using healing magic and Rose by draining the health of a particular target. Haschel and Albert were down for the count, at least. Both warriors had been the first ambushed and thus, the first successfully defeated. If only the others were so easy. In terms of skill, King Reginald had all of his lords beat hands down, save for Lord Pureheart. However, had Ranma allowed himself all of the magical abilities and spells that he'd gained from his minions, he would have already won. Ranma slid under one of the crosscuts aimed at neck-level and launched a palm-heel strike that dented the old king's armor and sent the proud warrior stumbling back, but not before one of his blades nicked Ranma's forehead and cut some of his hair. Ranma was about to cast a healing spell, but he stopped himself. Healing the scrape would also revitalize him and that would be unfair to the King. Ranma wanted Reginald to feel he'd had a decent chance of actually hurting Ranma, which the king apparently did, as no one else from his forces had so much as scratched him. Ranma ducked and rolled away as Reginald nearly beheaded him. "You were distracted." Reginald noted. Ranma apologized, "Sorry, just impressed that you actually scratched me. Your other men didn't so much as hurt me. Save for your friend Pureheart, who managed to knock Horny around, I was getting to think no one was near the level I am at." "You're an arrogant brat and an egotistical monster." Reginald commented. "Hey, I'd understand the arrogant and possibly the egotistical, but I'm not a brat or a monster. True, I have killed some of your men, but I was trying to save as many as I could." Ranma retorted, dodging Reginald's dual swords and noting that had the king been faster, Ranma probably wouldn't have the leisure of talking while he dodged, "Besides, I've heard about the training you and your men underwent and I realized why I was beating you guys so easily." Reginald grew more and more angry as Ranma dodged his every strike with an inch to spare, "How's that?" "I've been training since I was able to walk. The level of training you went through at fourteen was the same that I went through at eight." Ranma responded. Reginald wasn't focusing on the conversation anymore. He was simply attacking Ranma as fast as he could. Ranma decided to shut up and focus on dodging, as Reginald's slashes became faster and more unpredictable. It wasn't long before Ranma found himself deflecting Reginald's swords with pokes or flathand chops at the flats of his swords. Growing more and more frustrated at the fact that Reginald's speed was steadily rising, Ranma shattered the sword in Reginald's left hand. Reginald tossed the broken sword away and continued slashing at Ranma with renewed vigor. Ranma had heard of second winds, but Reginald seemed to be having a second youth, as Ranma found tears in his clothing appear. Ranma grimaced as he noticed that the king was managing to nick him as well. Ranma decided that enough was enough. He spun and lashed out at the king with a powerful sidekick, sending the aged monarch crashing backwards into a wall. The king groaned, but did not get up. "Sorry about that, King Reginald, but I couldn't just let you kill me." Ranma responded, before turning to Horny, "Horny, time to get us the final portal gem." Erdrick and Glynn's eyes flared yellow as the two fighters approached. Ranma ducked Glynn's blade while Horny slashed at Erdrick. Horny's snarl faded to a sorrowful expression as Erdrick pulled the scythe away from the Reaper, then struck the giant demon, sending Horny spinning away. Erdrick charged Horny from behind, but the Reaper was more infuriated than terrified. He lashed out with a powerful mule kick that cratered Erdrick's chest as it catapulted the stone knight against a wall, where the golem shattered. Ranma danced around Glynn's blade. The stone knight was fairly quick for something made out of stone and had a resistance to even the Welcome Gate Iron Fingers technique (which only left three holes in the stone monolith) and the Demon God Assault Bomb (each blade sheered about a fingernail's thicknes off), however, it's speed was nothing to Ranma's, resulting in a temporary stalemate. At least until Horny charged and smashed the stone knight to be pieces. "Thanks, big guy." Ranma said, wiping sweat from his brow. He was more exhuasted from the number of Yamasenken techniques he tried against Glynn. Horny grabbed the final portal gem from it's pedestal and handed it to Ranma. Ranma touched it to the Gate Gem, completing the artifact. With that done, Ranma approached Reginald's fallen form. King Reginald blinked in surprise as he felt as though someone had not only healed him, but given him a spa treatment. He felt revitalized, he felt younger, he noticed who'd healed him. "Why?" King Reginald asked. "This may be hard to believe, King Reginald, but getting home was my only goal. Conquering this continent was a side effect. I never had, nor would I ever have, any intention of killing you or taking your throne. I'm a good Keeper, but that doesn't equate to being a good King. That's why you can have your kingdom back." Ranma responded. King Reginald stared into Ranma's eyes. Ranma had beaten him and the stone knights, taken his land, had his children as possible ransom and despite all that, he was giving King Reginald his kingdom back. The monarch sighed deeply, "I suppose you are right. I'd known that since Titus had sent word that you wanted to trade the rest of the continent for the other portal gems, but I was too proud." "Hey, I wasn't exactly understanding of your feelings either. Truce?" Ranma asked, offering the king his hand. "Aye." King Reginald took it and allowed Ranma to help him up. "Well, then, we'd better stop the fight outside." Ranma declared. King Reginald nodded, then paused, "Ranma, you're a good man. Would you consider staying on as a court advisor and general? I seem to be lacking a large number of worthy people." "Well, I'm going home using the Gate Gem..." Ranma began. "Then we'll just have to go back with you." King Reginald responded. "EH?!" Ranma asked. "This land is from another world anyway. And I don't think it wouldn't truly matter, your minions and the people would follow you anyway. I would have no kingdom." King Reginald responded. "Well, if everyone agrees..." Ranma replied reluctantly. "Then it's decided." King Reginald stated. The war was at an end. And though it wasn't exactly an ending everyone was comfortable with, it was an end nonetheless. Keeper Ranma became General Ranma and Lord Titus became General Titus. The vote was cast, and literally no one refused. Even the moody hermit trolls and the fireflies did not refuse. And as soon as the celebrations were finished, the Gate Gem was used. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hidden Puns Leichas, the Dark Angel who aided Nemesis, is actually Sachiel backwards (and the 'c' and the 'h' being swapped), who is a real angel, specifically, the Angel of Water. He's the first Angel seen in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Kain, the Royal Guard, who fights with Titus, is actually Kain, a dragoon from Final Fantasy 2 US (or FF4 in Japan). His jumping attack is actually an ability granted to all Dragoons in that series. To make the Royal Guards seem so much more powerful, all but the elites have been replaced with Dragoons from the FF series. Dart, Rose, Shana, Haschel, Albert, Meru, the Elite Royal Guard, are also Dragoons, but from Legend of Dragoon. Unlike other Dragoons, the LOD characters have Dragon Souls, which grant them the use of specific elementally-based magic and special charge attacks, as well as the ability to fly. However, these powers can only be used in combat. Erdrick and Glynn are from Dragon Warrior. Erdrick is never seen, but he's supposed to be the great hero that all the legendary stuff belonged to. Glynn is a character from DW2, the first ally you gain. Explanations Demon God Assault Bomb is one of the most deadly attacks in the Yamasenken. It unleashes a massive swarm of vaccuum blades, which were ultimately useless against the Stone Knights. Welcome Gate Iron Fingers is a technique meant to break locks or ribcages. Next time, on Dungeon Keeper Ranma! Homecoming.