A lone figure stood on top of a low rise building near the
outskirts of Okayama's city limits. His raven hair was tied into a
pigtail which was whipping around from the nights strong wind.
The teen, no more than 16 years old, stood watching cars drive to
and fro on the busy road below him.
People heading home.
In the distance a siren wailed and the young man hung
his head. A quiet sigh escaped his lips. It had been nearly five
months since the incident.
It appeared that he would have another busy night ahead
of him. He could quit, but he wouldn't. He couldn't stop now.
If he did, all the deaths... all the lost friendships, all the pain he had
suffered. . . it would have all been for nothing. And he couldn't let
that happen.
He jumped from the roof and landed lightly on the top
of a car driving in the direction of the sirens. Kneeling to steady
himself for the ride, Ranma Saotome, known to some as Ranko
Sakada, to thousands others he was the Juraian Knight. They had
accepted him as their hero, and thus, he had a job to do.
He let the traffic carry him into downtown Okayama.
---------
Disclaimer: I own neither Ranma ½ or Tenchi Muyo, their
respective owners, Rumiko Takahashi and Masaki Kajishima
do. If I owned either of them, I wouldn't be writing this fic,
that's for sure!
The author would like to thank both Corwin and Iron Dragoon,
and to a lesser extent Kwok, for prereading this fic and making it a
hell of a lot better than it was before. Thanks guys!
"When the Gods wish to punish us, they answer our
prayers." - Oscar Wilde
Juraian Knight
A Ranma ½/ Tenchi Muyo Crossover
By Hawk
Note: Here we go again. . . V 2.0, went in and corrected a lot
of ugly mistakes. Hopefully this reads better.
---------
Prologue - The Stage Is Set
Ranma Saotome was the typical high school student.
Multiple fiancees. Incredible martial arts prowess. Rivals out
for his blood. The ability to leap from the roof of one building to
another. Yup, just the typical high school student.
What brought about Ranma Saotome's ruin?
Most would think it was one of his errant rivals, bent on
destroying him. Some would think it would be a jealous
fiancees fault, her anger erupting at Ranma's lack of
attention.
Unfortunately for Ranma, a single act of his own doing,
something that he believed to be the right thing, would cause him
more pain than any rival or fiancee had ever caused him before.
---------
Carrying a bag of groceries home for Kasumi, the
main protagonist of this story wasn't in the best of moods.
"Man, Akane better have cooled down by now. Who
cares if I said a gorilla's butt was better looking than hers!"
He blushed as he remembered being caught staring
momentarily at Akane's posterior. "Feh, stupid tomboy."
Kasumi had sent him out to pick up some things for
her, giving him a reason to avoid Akane's wrath and let her
calm down. Sighing to himself, he thanked Kasumi in his
head for saving him from an eventual beat down.
Swinging the bag of groceries at his side, Ranma
whistled a few random tunes, as if making up his own song.
He stopped in the middle of a high note and blinked, looking
around, eyes narrowed.
The sound of a small scuffle had caught his ears. His
ears could recognize a fight too easily.
Taking off in a sprint, Ranma came upon the scene of
fighting and took it all in. Five men in strange uniforms, maybe an
organized crime syndicate of some sort, seemed to be assaulting
three other men.
But who to help? Ranma growled in his throat at the
scene but wasn't sure who was attacking who. He assumed it was
the five men in uniforms because they outnumbered the others.
No group of thugs, especially organized, would attack a group
larger than theirs.
'So that would mean the men in the uniforms are the
muggers, right?' Ranma thought to himself. 'But what type of thug
wears a uniform?' he reasoned.
"What's going on here?" Ranma yelled, hoping for some clarity.
The answer to who he should help and who he should
beat down was answered when one of the men in uniform pulled
out a gun shaped object, and started to turn towards him. Anyone
carrying a gun was bad news.
In the blink of an eye, Ranma was on the gun wielder. He
landed in front of the man, grabbing his hand and slamming it into
the ground. The gun smashed on impact, as well as the mans
hand.
As the man screamed, clutching his broken hand, Ranma
turned and faced another man, who was yelling for him to stop.
The man started to draw his own gun but Ranma swatted his hand aside.
The gun went off, emitting a strange red beam which scorched the
cement ground.
'What the hell was that?,' Ranma thought frantically as he
punched the man across the face. 'I've never heard of a gun that fires
lasers before!'
The man dropped to his knees and covered his nose.
Ranma swiftly dodged around a staff, the end of which crackled
with electricity.
Ranma had no doubt in his mind that the men in uniforms
were the criminals now. 'What kinda weapons are these! It's like
they're from the future or something,' he thought, as he ducked
under a swing of the staff.
Grabbing the weapon, Ranma pulled it from the mans hands.
He twirled it, pointing the electric end at the man and jammed it into
his chest. The man quickly dropped to his knees, then side, and
clutched at his burnt chest.
Whirling the staff around, Ranma brought it down on the
fourth uniformed mans hand. The man dropped his gun, and pulled
his hand toward his body, cradling it for a second.
At the same time, the fifth uniformed man was grappling
with one of the three people Ranma was trying to protect.
Fortunately for Ranma, the man fighting on his side was massive in
size and could apparently hold his own.
Spinning the staff, Ranma smacked the side of the fourth
man's knee. He brought the staff up and hit the man across the side
of his face. The fourth man twisted around, and Ranma jammed the
electric end into his back. The man slammed face first into a nearby
wall, knocking him unconscious.
Turning, Ranma flinched as a red beam stuck the staff,
breaking it in two. Cursing angrily under his breath, he raised his hands
in surrender as the last man pointed his gun at him. Ranma looked at
the three men he had been defending, noting they had their hands up
as well.
"Alright, what do you want? You want our money or something?"
Ranma asked.
The man jabbed his gun toward Ranma. "What the hell do you
think you're doing!" The man yelled, gesturing toward the three men with
his gun for a brief second, but not long enough for Ranma to make a
move. "Leave now and stop interferring in matters that aren't your own!"
"Not when you're attacking these men!" Ranma retorted.
"You don't understand what's happ-"
Ranma sensed one of the three men he'd been trying to protect
start to move.
The fifth uniformed man turned his aim toward them and the
largest of the three jumped at him. The he grabbed the uniformed
mans wrist, lifting his arm upward, a shot of red flying skyward.
Ranma struck. His foot lashed out in a quick snap kick,
hitting the the last uniformed mans wrist. The gun flew out of the mans
hand a moment before Ranma's other foot slammed into his jaw.
The man fell onto his back, out cold.
"You guys ok?" Ranma asked, turning to the men. "You
know what's up with these guys? Where they're from, or what's
up with these guns?" He punctuated his hatred of guns by stepping
on one of the discarded guns, crushing it.
"We're not so sure ourselves who these men are, but thank
you very much," the man of average height said with a bow. "My
comrades and I are scientists on our way to a nearby convention to
display our newest invention. I believe these men were trying to
steal it from us." The man patted a metal suitcase.
"Eh, it was no problem. I'm just glad I could help," Ranma
said with a dismissive wave of the hand.
"What's your name?" the man asked.
"Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes School of Martial
Arts," he announced proudly.
"Musou Kibagabi." They shook hands. "These are my
partners, Kahji Maeda," Musou indicated toward the short portly
man, "and this is our bodyguard Takenda Shido," he concluded,
pointing at the massive man behind him.
"Yeah, apparently," Ranma said eyeing Takenda with a
little more caution.
They both bowed to Ranma. "Pleased to meet you."
"Because you saved us, the only way I can think of
repaying you is to name our invention after you. Does that sound
like a good reward?" Musou asked while holding the metal
suitcase against his chest.
"Uh. . . you don't have to do that," Ranma said slowly.
"I insist!"
"Err. . . name it Akane instead! Yeah!" Ranma exclaimed
with a grin.
"Uh. . . ok. . . if you want," Musou said and smiled.
"You guys should tie these guys up or something. Call
the police too, cause I gotta get going! I'm running way late!
See ya!" With a simple wave, Ranma leapt to the roof of one of the
buildings he was between and took off running toward the Tendo
household. 'Man, Akane can't be mad at me after I tell her I got
something named after her!' he thought as he roof jumped.
Back in the alley, Musou stared at where Ranma had
disappeared over the roof. "Ranma Saotome," he stated coldly.
"It's nice to have finally met you."
"That was him?" Takenda asked. "He's the one?"
"Yes. We'll be seeing him again very soon."
Musou reached down and picked up one of the fallen
guns. He looked at it briefly and pointed it at one of the conscious,
yet defeated men. Meeting Takenda's eyes, he silently pulled the
trigger.
---------
Next Time: Chapter 1 - A Cruel Thanks
Muso, Takenda and Kahji make a visit to the Tendo household.
A/N: Once more into the breach! All comments, flames, what not
please send to and if you're going to
flame me, at least write a review that isn't just insulting, but gives
critical information on what's wrong with the fic.
Ok, just reworked this, noticed a lot of ugly writing in it, but that's what
I get for writing it some 3 years ago when I was still rather new to writing.
The chapter still isn't the prettiest, but it's definitely better. (2007)