APOTHEOSIS
A Ranma 1/2 fic
by Jeram
DISCLAIMER: Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi, and the anime was
distributed by Viz. Everything else is my own invention.
Ranma raced down the street, letting the wind whip through the hair,
his eyes feeling a slight sting which he easily ignored. He whipped by an
open market, the cacophonous sounds and various aromas enticing him.
The pig-tailed martial artist slowed down, but continued running. He craned his head to
gaze at the delicious array of food offered. "Maybe I could just grab one..."
Ranma shook his head. "No, I can't, I gotta resist. I will resist!"
Ranma sped up to his previous speed and turned a corner into a less
reputable part of the city. He looked behind him, then focused on the
road ahead.
"Got to keep running, got to keep running. Can't stop, never stop. Never
stop. Never stop for nothing. C'mon go! Man, I can go faster than
this! Got to keep going!" Ranma gritted his teeth and put on a burst of
speed. The wind was making it more and more difficult to keep his
rapidly- watering eyes open.
He heard a scream from nearby.
He shook his head, not stopping for anything. "No distractions, I just
gotta run. Gotta run. I can't stop. Not for nothing!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Ranma saw a young girl being accosted in
an alleyway. He gulpled. "Oh no, not now, please, not now! Please no!"
Ranma closed his eyes and tried to ignore the screams. He started humming
a melody to himself loudly. "Nothing wrong, nothing wrong at all, just
gotta keep running."
A scream broke through his thoughts. Ranma howled in anger. "Fine, you
win, I have to help her!" He cursed to himself. "Dang it, I'm so
weak!" Ranma turned around and raced back to the alleyway. When he
arrived, he saw the attacker beating the young girl. Ranma's blood
boiled. He was attacking a girl? And he interrupted running?
With a roar of rage, Ranma leaped at the startled attacker. With a speed
fueled by righteous anger, Ranma slammed over a hundred blows into the
figure's stomach. He spun around with a high kick that nearly beheaded
his opponent. Ranma stood ready as the figure lay groaning in agony on
the pavement.
He waved his hands at the moaning figure. "C'mon, you want some
more? I'll teach you to pick on girls! You're less than a man! You deserve
more than just a beating. Get up you coward! Oh I see, now that you're
facing a real man instead of some defenseless girl you're all scared
huh? You disgust me." Ranma spat on the figure.
The figure slowly rose and pulled off her mask. "You've got that right."
Ranma blanched. "Uh, uh, I . . . I - I didn't know."
The girl laughed, then winced. "That much is obvious, you idiot."
Ranma frowned. "Hey! You might be a girl, but don't insult me, you ugly
red-faced tomboy!"
The girl smiled slightly. "I see you don't recognize me, Ranma. Of
course, you never noticed me, so what's the difference. And those red
marks you see are from _your_ hand."
Ranma flushed. "Hey, you were attacking that girl." He whirled around,
but the first girl had vanished. He whirled back to the cloaked
figure. "Just cause you're a girl don't give you the right to hurt other
girls. Who are you anyway?"
The girl sighed. "I'll answer if you answer a question of my own,
Ranma. Why were you running, anyway?"
Ranma frowned. "None of your business."
The girl raised her hands in acquiescence. "Ok, fair enough. Then I won't
tell you my name."
Ranma shook his head angrily. "Dang it, whoever you are, you've ruined
everything I've been workin' on for two whole months!"
The girl squinted at Ranma. "Ruined what?"
Ranma frowned at the other girl growling, "Maybe I'll tell you ...
if you tell me your name, who you are, and what you were doing here. Got it?"
The girl shrugged her shoulders. "Well, sure Ranma-babe. I can agree
to that. So you'll tell me why you were running? I assume you weren't
just escaping from a fiance."
Ranma shook his head. "Fine, I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to
tell anyone else, all right?"
The girl smiled cutely, causing Ranma to blush. "Of course, Ranma-cutie."
Ranma scowled. "Don't call me that."
The girl batted her eyelashes. "I'll call you whatever you want."
Ranma gulped. "Anyway, so to answer your question and all, I gotta tell
you a little story. It starts two months ago..."
Ranma was walking slowly down the street, thinking about the day's events.
"Man, what a messed up day. It seems like ever since the wedding failed,
things have just gotten worse and worse. Akane gets angry at nothing at
all, and Mom and Pop are no help at all. And Ukyo and Shampoo constantly
fighting, it's like I have nowhere to go to just hang out and talk."
Suddenly an usually cold wind blew by, causing Ranma to shiver
involuntarily. He sniffed the air.
"What's that weird smell? I can't quite place it. Huh. Hey, what's
that?"
At the end of block was a small building Ranma had never seen before. The
door was loosely attached to its frame, and every time it opened, gusts of
strangely colored smoke exploded into the air before dissipating.
"Wonder what's up with that place. Might as well check it out, I got
nothing better to do today."
As Ranma drew closer to the building, he could just make out a faded
sign. APOTHEOSIS
Ranma scratched his head. "Apothe-what? What's that mean? Guess I'll find
out." He cautiously approached the door. Nothing out of place seemed to
happen, so Ranma opened it.
Gales of smoke slammed into him. Ranma started coughing and his eyes
watered. Suddenly a blast of cold mist blew across his face, effectively
cleansing him of the strange smoke, but not strong enough to trigger his
curse. He wiped his eyes and started.
A beautiful young woman stood in front of him, seemingly glowing with a
golden hue. As she approached, Ranma felt a tingling sensation that sped
through his body. As she gazed at the martial artist, he suddenly felt
completely relaxed, as if nothing mattered at all. The woman's glow
seemed to blur everything around her.
Ranma shook his head. The woman was still there. Ranma grinned rakishly.
The young woman giggled, and turned at the sound of a door slamming.
An aged man hobbled into the small room. The woman raced over and helped
the old man sit in a nearby chair. He squirmed around, apparently getting
into a comfortable position. His gaze fell squarely on Ranma.
Ranma grinned nervously.
The old man grinned toothlessly in response. "Ah, a customer! Nice to see
that there's still a market for apotheosis in this fast-paced modern age."
Ranma shrugged. "Uh, sure, I guess. So what do you sell anyway?"
The old man laughed, a strange strangling sound. "Ah, young Ranma, so
many questions, so little patience. The perfect candidate for Level 3
Apotheosis. Don't you agree Aladranenna?"
The young woman narrowed her eyes and swept her gaze over Ranma's
body. Ranma blushed.
The young woman nodded her head.
The old man cackled. "Excellent. Well, Ranma, my boy, how would you like
to become a god?"
Ranma sweated. "Uh, what? Hey, how do you know my name anyway?"
The old man roared in delight. "More questions! Don't worry, young Ranma,
there'll be plenty of time for answers after you're a god."
Ranma looked at the old man with confusion. "Uh, why would I want to be
a god, though? I mean, I wouldn't want wanna be immortal or nothing and
live longer than my kids or grandkids."
The old man smiled and clasped his hands behind his head. "Ah, good
point, Ranma. I'm glad to see that you have some brains behind all
those muscles."
Ranma frowned, and said, "Yeah, right. So seriously, mister, what's
the point of me going through this apotho-stuff?"
The old man winked at the young martial artist. "If you were a god,
you might be able to cure that curse of yours. Plus, you might be able
to extend your loved one's lifetimes as well. Think of it as just another
mastery of martial arts."
Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I guess I'll give it a shot.
So what you're saying is that you'll... uh... make me a god then? How?"
The old man shook his head. "No I'm not going to make you a god. You
are."
Ranma was more confused than ever. "What? How?"
The old man sighed. "So impatient. This may take longer than
necessary. I only hope it doesn't lead to his corruption by you-know-who
and his cronies."
The young woman nodded solemnly.
Ranma sneezed. "Oh, sorry. Uh, so what should I do? Just wait around or
what?"
The old man looked at Ranma intently. "Tell you what young Ranma, here's
what I want you to do for the next few weeks. Try to treat everything
that happens as though it doesn't matter in comparison to the greater
good. In other words, pick something, perhaps an activity, even a
physical one. Focus on that activity. Don't let anything distract you
from it. Every day, do this activity for exactly one hour, not minute
more or less. Then once you start getting the hang of it we'll check back
with you."
Ranma concentrated. "So you're saying basically I gotta do one thing for
an hour every day for the next few weeks?"
The old man nodded. "It amounts to that in effect, anyway."
Ranma continued. "So can I just do any old thing? Like doing a kata?"
The old man shook his head. "No, you'll get a sign of what to do. You'll
know what is by the following sign: The words fish' and orange' together
in some way." He held up his hands. "Don't ask me what, you'll find
out. Now get on your way."
Ranma opened his mouth. "But-" Suddenly smoke began to obscure Ranma's
vision. He started coughing harshly. He covered his mouth with his hand
and looked around. He was standing in the familiar street, with the small
building nowhere in sight. Ranma scratched his head.
"Huh, that's weird. Guess I'll look for some oranges and fish then. I
know! The marketplace!"
Ranma, feeling excited, started running with fervor toward the market.
As he approached the market area, he scanned the area for any orange
fish. As he wasn't watching where he was going, he slammed into a cart of
fish. He slipped on a eel and knocked a young man into a fruit cart,
overturning. Fruits of all kinds fell onto the ground. Ranma's eyes
widened when he saw an orange.
"That's it!"
"So you see, I figured that since I was running when I caused the oranges
and fish to mix, that running was the activity I needed to for an hour
every day. Then today I had to stop you from hurting that girl."
Ranma shook his head. "I'm sorry, I guess it's ain't much of a story.
It don't make much sense I guess."
Ranma looked up and realized that the cloaked girl was unusually pale.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Not saying a word, the girl pointed to her neck.
Ranma's eyes widened. Even with all her bruises, it was clear to see that
she had a orange-colored birthmark in the shape of a fish.
Suddenly everything went black.
The End
To be continued...