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Description
Coreline Challenge fic 5

Corn Country Conundrum

Or

Bloodsuckers Block Party Blues

Well for this tale of the endless random insanity generator disguised as a verse that is Coreline we’re for once not looking to Chicago and it’s myrid and often rather strange sorrows but to a more unexpected area, that being the state of Iowa. Being one of the quiter states around at least in terms of Super Villains, with most in the state only there on a temporary “too much heat back home time to lay low for a while” bias. However there are enough things going on that there’s at least one Champions branch there, and this one specializes in more external threats, ie alien and extradimensional invaders, who for reasons that baffle most of the few people who are still trying to figure out how these things work, have an odd tendency to show up in these less active areas to set up shop. Like most branches their membership is interesting, a Kamen Rider, A Space Sheriff, an Ultra family member, a space cop and said space cop’s body sharing partner due to circumstances (and the two humans who together where the Ultra warrior’s alter egos, it’s…complicated.). Another factor that makes the Iowa Champions is their HQ, which instead of the usual structure was actually a space ship, owned by team member Rei Ayanami/Space Sheriff Gavan 4th. The ship was actually part of her standard equipment, used mostly for dealing with the odd pocket dimensional realm the standard enemies of the Sheriffs tended to have access to and moving battles to when things go against them and, thanks to the odd technology involved (and a lot of bargaining between Stingray inc and the Galactic Union Patrol organization to keep the tech from being copied) was surprisingly easy to maintain, usually little it switch to it’s dragon mode and allowing it to eat defeated enemy tech, plus the occasional stop back at the home world for a check up was enough. As for why they didn’t try to use the ship to get the hell out of Coreline, since this should probably be addressed it was simply because it’s extra dimensional capabilities are limited and even experienced dimensional travelers have found the Coreline verse an easy place to get too accidentally but it’s damned near impossible to get out of, and only a little easier to get to intentionally.

Anyhow this particular day starts onboard Dolgiran, the aforementioned ship/base of the Iowa Champions, which was currently doing some clean up from a recent battle with some aliens who had set up shop under the Mississippi River, and by clean up I mean having the ship in it’s dragon mode eating the remains of the base. Currently Rei and Commander Ritsuko “Kamen Rider Super 1” Akagi were in the control bridge alone with Shinji “Cipher” Ikari, the group’s main non-combatant but his language cracking abilities came in handy very frequently.
“Well,” said Ritsuko, “That’s one for the vaults.”
“Yes.” Said Rei with a nod.
“At least this bunch didn’t mutate any of the fish,” said Shinji, “Took a month to figure out how to reverse that last one. And no giant monster this time, that’s always a plus.”
“I’ll bet Ranma and Asuka enjoyed that particularly they’re always having their…well Ace’s head going through ceilings after all” remarked Ritsuko. “Where are they anyway?”
“Probably either the mess or the gym.” Said Shinji checking his watch. “Probably the gym, you know Ranma sometimes gets a little antsy after a fight.”
“Yes,” said Rei. “They still may have some excess energy to work off since Ace wasn’t really needed.”
“Could be, I’m still not entirely clear on how their situation works.” Said Ritsuko. “The relationship between an Ultra being and their human form is kind of confusing to begin with and then we have this case….Fascinating stuff if I actually had a way to study it.”
“It would probably violate one of the treaties anyhow.” Said Shinji. “The Ultras kinda figure they’ve earned the right to a few secrets after all they’ve helped deal with.”
“And I’m not going to argue that point, I’m just a little confused by the things they want to keep secret. Of course if there’s something I really want to know…”
“It’s how those damned Yapool keep coming back?” ventured Shinji.
“I was going to say Baltans but it’s about the same thing. The Yapool at least have the excuse that if they weren’t the inspiration for demons in at least one reality I’d eat my transformation belt, it makes an odd kind of sense that they’d have a get out of death free card but…I mean if the giant ones are supposed to be the whole race combined I can buy a couple managing to somehow slip away a couple of times but how many of them can be left to make the giant by now?” she shook her head. “Speaking of which…we’re about due for one of them to make another go aren’t we?”
“As long as we don’t have to deal with another Jamila I’m fine.” Said Shinji shuddering a bit. “I still feel guilty about that one.”
“Nothing else we could have done.” Said Rei simply. “As sad as what had happened to him was we could not allow him to continue his attack.”
“One of those moments you really don’t have a guilt free option.” Agreed Ritsuko. “Come to think of it the Makuu syndicate’s been quite for a while now too.”
“The Union patrol informed me it seems Don Horra Demon King Psycho and the Fuma Empire forces have started making grabs for each other’s territory and are engaged in a turf war, it is unlikely any of them will be able to commit troops to attacking Earth for the foreseeable future.”
“Well here’s hoping they end up wiping each other out, they’d do everyone else a huge favor.” Said Ritsuko.
“Not really a hero attitude…but I’ve got to agree.” Said Shinji. “Particularly that Fuma bunch.” Rei for her part just nodded.
“Right well I’m going to check the job board, this one went easy enough we’re probably in for something more complicated soon.” Said Ritusko rising. “Carry on here you two.” Rei and Shinji both nodded as Ritsuko made her way out of the control room. Now a moment here should be taken to explain what exactly she means by job board. Dolgiran, in one of the few things it has in common with the more standard Champions branches lodging, is equipped with a large variety of ways to keep an eye on all the local news, constantly looking over the headlines for anything that might be a clue to matter the heroes should keep an eye on, with them being listed from most to least likely to need watching, with positions on the list changing as new leads become available. On Dolgiran the job board was in what the team had dubbed the local communications room. While the main view screen in the ships control room could be used for communications it was more for interplanetary talks and didn’t really receive terrestrial signals all that well so after becoming attached to Stingray industries they had a special room for talking with people on earth set up. They’d also had the ship set up to receive wi fi, and full internet access and a few entertainment additions but there will be time for details on that later. Anyway Ritsuko made her way through the ship passing by the ship’s gym hearing the inevitable sounds training from the group’s other two resident unarmed combat experts.

“Those two, and I thought my old master used to overdo it.” Said Ritsuko shaking her head. She chuckled a bit her mind drifting back to when her life had taken the turn that ultimately ended her up here. Her particular verse had been one that most analogs of her would be rather confused by, while there was a Katsuragi expedition and it did indeed wake things better left sleeping in the artic it happened decades earlier, before she had been born in fact and the thing in question had been rather different and not quite a earth shattering, immediately at least, though of course she hadn’t been around for the first of the several incidents that stemmed from it. Her chapter in the story hadn’t had a particularly dramatic beginning, like most of her alternates she’d shown a strong affinity for science, and found her way into a special project, though in this case it had involved space travel. The plan had been to create a cybernetic super astronaut, capable of braving the void without the use of a space suit and featuring a wide variety of special abilities. She herself had ended up being selected for the surgery, much to her surprise since she’d expected to just contribute to the hardware, she still had no idea what the leader of the project, her own mother, had been thinking there, though it had in a real sense saved her life. She’d entered into a very strict physical training regime in preparation, under the watchful eye of one master Saotome (who she was fairly certain was an alt of the Ranma that was now on her team just several decades older, which had made things rather awkward when she’d first met her new team) who’s teaching methods, while sometimes a little on the strange side had proven rather effective. And then came the day of her surgery, when things had taken a turn she hadn’t expected.
“Well no time to dwell on the past….” Muttered Ritsuko shaking herself out of her musing, and finishing her trip to the communications room. “Okay let’s see here….” She said looking over the Job Board screen. “Hmmm…just two red flag today…people being found drained of blood…Well it is October, and vampires wouldn’t be the weirdest thing we’ve dealt with…kind of outside our usual work but not something to ignore. Now what about this other one…Hmmm…mysterious sickness…with all of the victims vanishing from the hospital, like they just vanished into thin air. Hmmm…that’s worrying…” she quickly scanned over the rest of the details. “Not a lot of things to connect them…they were all wearing one of those new designer watches huh? That sounds vaguely familiar….I think Ranma mentioned hearing something in the Ultra database about something similar…” Nodding to herself she hit a few buttons turning on the ships intercom. “Alright everyone looks like we’ve got a job, well meet in the conference room and go over what we’ve got in 20 minutes, that is all.” And so twenty minutes later the whole team was gathered in the conference room, which also did double duty as a theater room for the group’s occasional movie nights. Ritsuko stood in front of the large screen that took up the north wall while the others sat on a very large overstuffed couch before her with in the order Shinji Rei Ranma Asuka. The four younger team members were making some small talk while they awaited Ritsuko’s call to order.

“Okay everyone time to get to business.” Said Ritusko after clearing her throat. “We’ve got a couple situations that are going to require looking into. First off there have been a lot of bloodless bodies showing up.” The others nodded. “And the other we’ve got a one two punch. Mysterious disease with the victims being hospitalized and never being seen again.”
“That sounds kind of familiar.” Said Asuka.
“Yeah…” agreed Ranma.
“I was thinking so too.” Said Ritsuko. “I remember you two’s alter ego mentioning a case like that once…if you don’t mind?”
“No problem.” Said Ranma and Asuka in unison each raising a hand to show the odd looking rings they both wore. The two brought their rings together while everyone else shielded their eyes. One blinding flash and Asuka and Ranma had both vanished, in their place was the silver and red Ultra Garrison and Champions Iowa member Ultraman Ace. Like all of his kind he sports a silver and red body suit (at least everyone assumed it was a suit it was hard to tell really) with a blue light in embedded in his chest, that being the color timer used to warn him when his limited active time was over, and a silver full head helmet and mask, it’s large yellow eyes glowing softly and the lips of it’s mouth perminately in a neutral expression. Ace in particular also sports a large Mohawk like crest on top of his head with a small blue light directly under it, roughly in the middle of his forehead, and a v shaped ridge the started at where the nose would be and extended up towards the sides of the head giving an impression not unlike a particularly extreme set of eyebrows.
“Ahhh hello my comrades.” Said Ace. “What can I do for you?”
“We think one of the aliens your garrison has fought on earth is in town,” said Ritsuko, who then explained the situation.
“Hmmmm….I don’t remember anything that would be inclined to leave bodies laying around but the second situation does sound familiar…particularly with the watches involved. It sounds like the Spell have returned.”
“And who are they?” asked Rei.
“A species who nearly wiped themselves out with nuclear war. Most of them suffer from sever mutations and such, they first came here in an attempt to steal human blood to help them try to reverse their condition. Seven dealt with that one. Of course at the request of the Japanese authorities there weren’t any earthly records, the idea of atomic survivors praying on the healthy…” everyone else nodded. “I’m surprised they’d attempt this again and using the same tactic too but then again this is a different country…and world…” he groaned “This whole situation is so confusing….”
“Well at least you know the Garrison is still around.” Said Shinji getting a nod.
“True…Anyway the watches contain a special chemical compound which is lethal to humans but makes the blood a fine remedy for the Spell’s genetic degradation, and from the sound of things either the watches are also capable of teleportation this time or possible they send a tracing signal. Either way we’ll need one of the watches to figure out where they’re hiding.” Said Ace. “I’ll put what I know about the Spell into the data base.”
“Right,” said Ritsuko, “Thanks a lot.”
“My pleasure we are a team after all.” Said Ace. With that he headed for the ship’s main computer core to upload the date.
“So,” said Shinji, “what do you think is causing the other problem?”
“Who knows.” Said Ritsuko, “We’re going to have to do some pavement pounding to figure that out…of course since these Spell aliens are after blood too they and whoever’s causing this are probably looking for each other…this will probably get crazy.” Rei and Shinji nodded.
“I will begin looking into it,” said Rei rising from her seat.
“Right and I’ll see about getting one of those watches,” said Ritusko. “I think I remember where they’re being sold.”
“Good luck,” said Shinji.

Description
Coreline Challenge fic 5

Corn Country Conundrum

Or

Bloodsuckers Block Party Blues

Well for this tale of the endless random insanity generator disguised as a verse that is Coreline we’re for once not looking to Chicago and it’s myrid and often rather strange sorrows but to a more unexpected area, that being the state of Iowa. Being one of the quiter states around at least in terms of Super Villains, with most in the state only there on a temporary “too much heat back home time to lay low for a while” bias. However there are enough things going on that there’s at least one Champions branch there, and this one specializes in more external threats, ie alien and extradimensional invaders, who for reasons that baffle most of the few people who are still trying to figure out how these things work, have an odd tendency to show up in these less active areas to set up shop. Like most branches their membership is interesting, a Kamen Rider, A Space Sheriff, an Ultra family member, a space cop and said space cop’s body sharing partner due to circumstances (and the two humans who together where the Ultra warrior’s alter egos, it’s…complicated.). Another factor that makes the Iowa Champions is their HQ, which instead of the usual structure was actually a space ship, owned by team member Rei Ayanami/Space Sheriff Gavan 4th. The ship was actually part of her standard equipment, used mostly for dealing with the odd pocket dimensional realm the standard enemies of the Sheriffs tended to have access to and moving battles to when things go against them and, thanks to the odd technology involved (and a lot of bargaining between Stingray inc and the Galactic Union Patrol organization to keep the tech from being copied) was surprisingly easy to maintain, usually little it switch to it’s dragon mode and allowing it to eat defeated enemy tech, plus the occasional stop back at the home world for a check up was enough. As for why they didn’t try to use the ship to get the hell out of Coreline, since this should probably be addressed it was simply because it’s extra dimensional capabilities are limited and even experienced dimensional travelers have found the Coreline verse an easy place to get too accidentally but it’s damned near impossible to get out of, and only a little easier to get to intentionally.

Anyhow this particular day starts onboard Dolgiran, the aforementioned ship/base of the Iowa Champions, which was currently doing some clean up from a recent battle with some aliens who had set up shop under the Mississippi River, and by clean up I mean having the ship in it’s dragon mode eating the remains of the base. Currently Rei and Commander Ritsuko “Kamen Rider Super 1” Akagi were in the control bridge alone with Shinji “Cipher” Ikari, the group’s main non-combatant but his language cracking abilities came in handy very frequently.
“Well,” said Ritsuko, “That’s one for the vaults.”
“Yes.” Said Rei with a nod.
“At least this bunch didn’t mutate any of the fish,” said Shinji, “Took a month to figure out how to reverse that last one. And no giant monster this time, that’s always a plus.”
“I’ll bet Ranma and Asuka enjoyed that particularly they’re always having their…well Ace’s head going through ceilings after all” remarked Ritsuko. “Where are they anyway?”
“Probably either the mess or the gym.” Said Shinji checking his watch. “Probably the gym, you know Ranma sometimes gets a little antsy after a fight.”
“Yes,” said Rei. “They still may have some excess energy to work off since Ace wasn’t really needed.”
“Could be, I’m still not entirely clear on how their situation works.” Said Ritsuko. “The relationship between an Ultra being and their human form is kind of confusing to begin with and then we have this case….Fascinating stuff if I actually had a way to study it.”
“It would probably violate one of the treaties anyhow.” Said Shinji. “The Ultras kinda figure they’ve earned the right to a few secrets after all they’ve helped deal with.”
“And I’m not going to argue that point, I’m just a little confused by the things they want to keep secret. Of course if there’s something I really want to know…”
“It’s how those damned Yapool keep coming back?” ventured Shinji.
“I was going to say Baltans but it’s about the same thing. The Yapool at least have the excuse that if they weren’t the inspiration for demons in at least one reality I’d eat my transformation belt, it makes an odd kind of sense that they’d have a get out of death free card but…I mean if the giant ones are supposed to be the whole race combined I can buy a couple managing to somehow slip away a couple of times but how many of them can be left to make the giant by now?” she shook her head. “Speaking of which…we’re about due for one of them to make another go aren’t we?”
“As long as we don’t have to deal with another Jamila I’m fine.” Said Shinji shuddering a bit. “I still feel guilty about that one.”
“Nothing else we could have done.” Said Rei simply. “As sad as what had happened to him was we could not allow him to continue his attack.”
“One of those moments you really don’t have a guilt free option.” Agreed Ritsuko. “Come to think of it the Makuu syndicate’s been quite for a while now too.”
“The Union patrol informed me it seems Don Horra Demon King Psycho and the Fuma Empire forces have started making grabs for each other’s territory and are engaged in a turf war, it is unlikely any of them will be able to commit troops to attacking Earth for the foreseeable future.”
“Well here’s hoping they end up wiping each other out, they’d do everyone else a huge favor.” Said Ritsuko.
“Not really a hero attitude…but I’ve got to agree.” Said Shinji. “Particularly that Fuma bunch.” Rei for her part just nodded.
“Right well I’m going to check the job board, this one went easy enough we’re probably in for something more complicated soon.” Said Ritusko rising. “Carry on here you two.” Rei and Shinji both nodded as Ritsuko made her way out of the control room. Now a moment here should be taken to explain what exactly she means by job board. Dolgiran, in one of the few things it has in common with the more standard Champions branches lodging, is equipped with a large variety of ways to keep an eye on all the local news, constantly looking over the headlines for anything that might be a clue to matter the heroes should keep an eye on, with them being listed from most to least likely to need watching, with positions on the list changing as new leads become available. On Dolgiran the job board was in what the team had dubbed the local communications room. While the main view screen in the ships control room could be used for communications it was more for interplanetary talks and didn’t really receive terrestrial signals all that well so after becoming attached to Stingray industries they had a special room for talking with people on earth set up. They’d also had the ship set up to receive wi fi, and full internet access and a few entertainment additions but there will be time for details on that later. Anyway Ritsuko made her way through the ship passing by the ship’s gym hearing the inevitable sounds training from the group’s other two resident unarmed combat experts.

“Those two, and I thought my old master used to overdo it.” Said Ritsuko shaking her head. She chuckled a bit her mind drifting back to when her life had taken the turn that ultimately ended her up here. Her particular verse had been one that most analogs of her would be rather confused by, while there was a Katsuragi expedition and it did indeed wake things better left sleeping in the artic it happened decades earlier, before she had been born in fact and the thing in question had been rather different and not quite a earth shattering, immediately at least, though of course she hadn’t been around for the first of the several incidents that stemmed from it. Her chapter in the story hadn’t had a particularly dramatic beginning, like most of her alternates she’d shown a strong affinity for science, and found her way into a special project, though in this case it had involved space travel. The plan had been to create a cybernetic super astronaut, capable of braving the void without the use of a space suit and featuring a wide variety of special abilities. She herself had ended up being selected for the surgery, much to her surprise since she’d expected to just contribute to the hardware, she still had no idea what the leader of the project, her own mother, had been thinking there, though it had in a real sense saved her life. She’d entered into a very strict physical training regime in preparation, under the watchful eye of one master Saotome (who she was fairly certain was an alt of the Ranma that was now on her team just several decades older, which had made things rather awkward when she’d first met her new team) who’s teaching methods, while sometimes a little on the strange side had proven rather effective. And then came the day of her surgery, when things had taken a turn she hadn’t expected.
“Well no time to dwell on the past….” Muttered Ritsuko shaking herself out of her musing, and finishing her trip to the communications room. “Okay let’s see here….” She said looking over the Job Board screen. “Hmmm…just two red flag today…people being found drained of blood…Well it is October, and vampires wouldn’t be the weirdest thing we’ve dealt with…kind of outside our usual work but not something to ignore. Now what about this other one…Hmmm…mysterious sickness…with all of the victims vanishing from the hospital, like they just vanished into thin air. Hmmm…that’s worrying…” she quickly scanned over the rest of the details. “Not a lot of things to connect them…they were all wearing one of those new designer watches huh? That sounds vaguely familiar….I think Ranma mentioned hearing something in the Ultra database about something similar…” Nodding to herself she hit a few buttons turning on the ships intercom. “Alright everyone looks like we’ve got a job, well meet in the conference room and go over what we’ve got in 20 minutes, that is all.” And so twenty minutes later the whole team was gathered in the conference room, which also did double duty as a theater room for the group’s occasional movie nights. Ritsuko stood in front of the large screen that took up the north wall while the others sat on a very large overstuffed couch before her with in the order Shinji Rei Ranma Asuka. The four younger team members were making some small talk while they awaited Ritsuko’s call to order.

“Okay everyone time to get to business.” Said Ritusko after clearing her throat. “We’ve got a couple situations that are going to require looking into. First off there have been a lot of bloodless bodies showing up.” The others nodded. “And the other we’ve got a one two punch. Mysterious disease with the victims being hospitalized and never being seen again.”
“That sounds kind of familiar.” Said Asuka.
“Yeah…” agreed Ranma.
“I was thinking so too.” Said Ritsuko. “I remember you two’s alter ego mentioning a case like that once…if you don’t mind?”
“No problem.” Said Ranma and Asuka in unison each raising a hand to show the odd looking rings they both wore. The two brought their rings together while everyone else shielded their eyes. One blinding flash and Asuka and Ranma had both vanished, in their place was the silver and red Ultra Garrison and Champions Iowa member Ultraman Ace. Like all of his kind he sports a silver and red body suit (at least everyone assumed it was a suit it was hard to tell really) with a blue light in embedded in his chest, that being the color timer used to warn him when his limited active time was over, and a silver full head helmet and mask, it’s large yellow eyes glowing softly and the lips of it’s mouth perminately in a neutral expression. Ace in particular also sports a large Mohawk like crest on top of his head with a small blue light directly under it, roughly in the middle of his forehead, and a v shaped ridge the started at where the nose would be and extended up towards the sides of the head giving an impression not unlike a particularly extreme set of eyebrows.
“Ahhh hello my comrades.” Said Ace. “What can I do for you?”
“We think one of the aliens your garrison has fought on earth is in town,” said Ritsuko, who then explained the situation.
“Hmmmm….I don’t remember anything that would be inclined to leave bodies laying around but the second situation does sound familiar…particularly with the watches involved. It sounds like the Spell have returned.”
“And who are they?” asked Rei.
“A species who nearly wiped themselves out with nuclear war. Most of them suffer from sever mutations and such, they first came here in an attempt to steal human blood to help them try to reverse their condition. Seven dealt with that one. Of course at the request of the Japanese authorities there weren’t any earthly records, the idea of atomic survivors praying on the healthy…” everyone else nodded. “I’m surprised they’d attempt this again and using the same tactic too but then again this is a different country…and world…” he groaned “This whole situation is so confusing….”
“Well at least you know the Garrison is still around.” Said Shinji getting a nod.
“True…Anyway the watches contain a special chemical compound which is lethal to humans but makes the blood a fine remedy for the Spell’s genetic degradation, and from the sound of things either the watches are also capable of teleportation this time or possible they send a tracing signal. Either way we’ll need one of the watches to figure out where they’re hiding.” Said Ace. “I’ll put what I know about the Spell into the data base.”
“Right,” said Ritsuko, “Thanks a lot.”
“My pleasure we are a team after all.” Said Ace. With that he headed for the ship’s main computer core to upload the date.
“So,” said Shinji, “what do you think is causing the other problem?”
“Who knows.” Said Ritsuko, “We’re going to have to do some pavement pounding to figure that out…of course since these Spell aliens are after blood too they and whoever’s causing this are probably looking for each other…this will probably get crazy.” Rei and Shinji nodded.
“I will begin looking into it,” said Rei rising from her seat.
“Right and I’ll see about getting one of those watches,” said Ritusko. “I think I remember where they’re being sold.”
“Good luck,” said Shinji.