Disclaimer: I do not own any of the IPs involved in this work of FAN fiction.
AN: Well here it is, this is one of three stories I am putting up due to a tied vote (a blind one no less...still can't get over the three way tie on a 4 option poll...poor dragonhalf crossover never stood a chance.). I posted these all at the same time to give them all a fair chance. When I post the next chapter of Hyperdimension Ranma (which will be after I post the dragonhalf one-shot), I will decide the winner for what will be my secondary story for whenever I need a break from HDR or when I have writer's block. Don't worry, I will be doing all of these stories eventually. It may just be a while.
Now, for this story. I had a lot of fun writing this in particular. I had fun with the others, but this was the least troublesome. Why? I had good wikis to work off of that were better than either of the others. Also, I should mention that I have only watched the anime for this. I was an idiot when I came up with this story as I lacked the knowledge of the novels. This is a true fail on my part. This does not mean anything bad for the story. I will be doing my best to obtain the knowledge I need and even plan on reading the novels if I can get them. Also, yes, I had a lot of fun coming up with how to get Ranma involved in this.
In a world where the various gods chose to live among mortals, there was the city of Orario, the Dungeon. Here in this city was where many of the gods had gathered and lived their mundane lives among their children. They had long since made divine laws that forbid the use of their divine powers so they could enjoy the world their children made as they do. However, there was one thing only these deities could offer to the world, their blessings. With these blessing, the mortals were granted the power to fight monsters and become known as adventurers. Those that received a blessing from a deity became a member of that deity's house, their Familia.
Among these gods and goddesses, all but two had formed a Familia. One was the childish goddess Hestia who even now went about life barely scraping by and begging favors of her friends. As for the other…
It was raining at night outside the large temple like complex that was known for housing a well known Familia. A lone figure came running into the complex calling out desperate to meet the goddess who resides there. Out from the main building came a number of people from the Familia lead by two rather big and tough looking guys. They did not look happy at this intrusion at such an important time of the day. Who would be when you interrupted a divinely cooked meal! However before they could show the belligerent kid their hospitality, a tall woman with dark skin and white hair and wearing a revealing outfit that evoked sexuality came to the front and raised her hand in a gesture to stop her sister's Familia.
"What is this about, hmm?" She asked the desperate figure before her. He was a cute boy with white hair and red eyes whose clothes marked him as a country bumpkin. He was a bit on the scrawny side though.
"Are you the goddess that lives here," the boy asked as politely as he could in his desperation and even bowed," I am Bell Cranel and I seek to become an adventurer!"
Urd looked at the boy closely to consider him. He didn't seem to have much promise. He would be more of a bother for any Familia out there as he was. After taking a minute to evaluate him, she smiled to him sensually causing him to have hope, as well as a little blush, until he hold her next words," I'm sorry, but I don't live here. My sisters do. However, I'm sorry, but they have no room for you. However, I might have a place for you."
As she spoke, she came closer to the would be adventurer. He had lost hope at first until this last sentence. She now grasped his chin in one how as she leaned down closing the distance between their faces until there was only small distance," Though that would be my bed and not some dangerous place I could lose you."
She winked seductively at him and went in for the final blow. It never came. The now furiously blushing boy now ran from the complex in terror. Urd smirked and laughed at the boy's bashfulness before turning around and followed the members of her sister's Familia back in. It was true she didn't live here; she had a business and Familia of her own to run after all. However, that was not going to stop her from enjoying her sister's, Belldandy's, cooking. She also enjoyed checking in on the brat.
While Urd was outside handling the visitor, Skuld was inside at the table with her big sister Belldandy. They had stopped eating in favor of waiting for the others to return. In the meantime, Belldandy decided to have a little talk with her sister.
"Sister, how are things going lately for you?" Belldandy asked gently while already knowing the answer. Skuld looked down a little and puffed out her cheeks.
"N-not well, I can't seem to get anyone interested…" Skuld started but trailed off.
"Are you certain? I thought that gentleman last week seemed interested," Belldandy asked. She was not mad or angry but worried for her sister. Skuld's expression then changed to one of disgust.
"He wasn't interested. As it turned out he wanted to find Hephaestus' place and was lost…" Skuld answered with a scowl at the memory. The man was a blacksmith who wanted to become an adventurer so he could gather materials more cheaply and learn from the best in the trade. He was from outside the city and had didn't know where to go. Skuld thought she had finally found someone that understood her greatness. She really hated the fact that most people were only interested in the simple equipment and craftsmanship. She could never seem to get the funding she needed to make the marvels she wished to share with the world. She had tried to beg for the funds needed from her sisters, but they had both refused. Her oldest sister had simply stated there was no point in throwing away good money after a pointless cause. Belldandy, however, told her that if she wanted to make her dreams come true then she needed to set out and find her own way. They were willing to let her stay with them for now, but Skuld had to form a Familia if she wanted to make something of herself. The problem was that no one seemed to be interested in a goddess whose skills were misunderstood and unfairly compared to others. Sure, she lacked the quality of Hephaestus's work, but she could make things that were far more complex and useful. If only someone would understand that!
Belldandy understood her sister's problems too well and let the matter drop for now as they began to talk about more pleasant subjects. Eventually the conversation came to an end as everyone returned from outside. Belldandy smiled at their return and had a gentle blush at the sight of her Familia's supporter, Keiichi Morisato. When her older sister came in, she asked," So what was our visitor's business?"
Urd giggled a little as a number of the others started laughing.
"That kid was way out of his!" Tamiya declared uproariously.
"You got that right!" Otaki agreed in good humor to which others cheered their agreement. Not everyone was in agreement on this. Keiichi was one of the ones looking down and out.
"Quit you two and settle down!" The de facto leader of the Familia, Chihiro Fujimi.
"Right boss!" The two large brutes yelped as they settled down.
After things had quieted a bit, Urd finally answered her sister's question with some mirth," It was just some cute guy looking to be an adventurer. I turned him down."
"What!? Someone comes knocking on our door and you didn't even let me have a look at him!?" Skuld demanded angrily at her sister. Urd lost a bit of her mirth but was still smirking.
"Look squirt, that guy was an utter waste to be sending to a dungeon. He was a country bumpkin with no sign of training and was far too scrawny. Though he was a looker, too bad he ran away from my offer," Urd finished with a lecherous grin. Then the adventurers, who had been laughing before, started laughing again and tossing around a new name for the poor guy. Cherry Boy. Chihiro looked to her frowning goddess and received a nod. The boss quickly went about getting the knuckle heads under control before finally continuing dinner.
Off in another world, in a part of Tokyo, Japan known as Nerima, Ranma Saotome was on top of the Tendo house looking up at the stars. Today had been a painful and confusing day for him. True that was filled with the usual level of madness that he had come to know as his life in Nerima, but the events of today had been particularly disconcerting for the young man. He had been knocked out, dressed in a tux, and brought before a wedding altar against his will. His and Akane's father had gotten wind of Ranma's desperate words at Jusendo when he thought Akane had died. Even now, he was thankful for her survival from the ordeal. However, Ranma was not ready for marriage just yet. He still had too many problems left unsettled for him to do so. It just so happens it was these problems that had come crashing down on them all and destroyed the wedding. The worse part of the whole matter was the loss of the only cure for his curse amidst the madness. In a way, he felt betrayed. Akane had known about it being there and had not mentioned a thing about it. Instead, he found out when his own father tried to steal it and the other joined in a fight over it before a certain perverted gnome drank it all. Sure, Akane had nothing to do with what happened, but Ranma couldn't help thinking that, if she had told him before hand, he could somehow be cured right now. As if that weren't bad enough, there was another issue entirely that had only made the day more confusing. He looked to the stars and wondered why he felt relieved the wedding had failed. After all, he did love Akane, right?
Ranma sighed as he watched the night sky above. Only time could tell sort that mystery out. Though now that he thought about it one "what if" or "if only", he turned his mind to another thought. What was to come after? Ranma had never really considered what his future would be. Right now he had only three possibilities. He could marry Akane and run the dojo. He guessed this was the most likely now. He could go off with Ukyo and help her run her restaurant. While Ranma liked food, this was not very palatable. Finally, he good go off with Shampoo and become part of her village. Ranma chuckled darkly at the thought. He was not about to even consider that option. Sadly though, he didn't feel any of these futures were satisfying. He wanted excitement and adventure. Not the crazy stuff he had been through here. He wanted to be someone looked up to for his actions. He wanted to do something important with his martial arts. He wanted more battles where he could challenge himself and improve. Ranma thought to himself on the matter and smirked.
"Yeah, I wish I could be some adventurer like out of those fantasy stories, but that will never happen," Ranma said out loud with a sigh.
It was then that he noticed a celestial movement. It was a shooting star in the sky. He smiled at the sight for a moment before he realized something. The star's path had changed and was now heading straight for him. Ranma's brain skipped a beat at that. This was not how shooting stars were supposed to behave. Ranma immediately leapt from the roof top without a second thought to avoid being hit by the errant and erratic projectile that had now become visible to Ranma's eyes as a great mass of white fire trailing sparkles across the sky. Of all the things Ranma had managed to do. He had apparently caught the attention of THE Wishing Star. Seriously, why did all the crazy stuff have to happen to him? It was then that he realized where he had jumped to. Ranma had to laugh at his luck. With a splash, she was in the koi pond. Speaking of which. Why couldn't he have chosen that time to wish for a cure instead!?
It was the that the star passed overhead. Then it stopped. Ranma looked incredulously as it shot forth once more at incredible speeds straight at her. This time, she didn't even have a chance to dodge.
Ranma woke up in an unfamiliar place. It looked like he was in a large, misty bedrock cave that was dimly lit. Now that Ranma was up and about, it was time to run through the usually checklist. Yes, he was a girl still. Nope, she had no extra supplies on her. Somehow her hidden weapons space had been emptied. This meant that she was lost deep underground and had no supplies. Yup, this was going to- What's that sound? It was then that Ranma watched as a bunch of tiger like monsters burst forth from the walls.
"C-c-caaaats!" Ranma screamed in abject horror before fleeing. Now note, Ranma wasn't scared of felines. Ranma was utterly terrified of them. So it was that the chase was on. She dashed about the rocky, winding paths of the caves as she tried to escape. All she managed to do was find more of the horrifying hell spawns. Soon she found herself with an army of them chasing her. She eventually ran into a dead end.
Keiichi Morisato was following the rest of his group on their usual excursion to the 17th floor. As they traveled and slew the monsters on the way, he went about his job collecting the drops quickly. Fortunately, he was with the main group with Chihiro that day instead of one of the training groups lead by Tamiya and Otaki. In all honesty, he was thankful for that. He was not in the mood to be dealing with their usual shenanigans. They always insisted on trying to get him to be more manly and would often times give him ridiculous demands all the while insisting that since he had a Falna he should man up and take the role of an adventurer. Keiichi sighed this as he recalled how badly every single one of those incidents had ended. That was not to say they were out to get him killed or anything. They always came in at the last moment to save him. Nor did they berate him for only being a supporter… too much.
Today he was with their lead group. Chihiro never put him at risk down this low. That's not to say she doesn't have him handle a few of the easier fights on the higher levels, but she never has him handle anything below the fourth floor. After that, he just get's swarmed and it becomes pointless. It was then that he was brought out of his thoughts be screams of terror.
"Hey boss! You hear that?" Keiichi called out from the back. He would never risk calling her anything else in front of the others. She was revered next to Belldandy in the Familia after all.
"I hear it Morisato," She agreed calmly.
"Well, aren't we going to help them?" He asked impulsively. He was met with a few glares from some of the others. Chihiro sighed for a moment as if to consider it for a moment before smiling.
"Alright then!" She declared loudly to the others," You heard 'im, let's move out and save the day!"
The group cheered on and they began quickly pursuing the source of the screams. It was hard to do as the sound echoed throughout the dungeon. They even ran into several other parties and had to fight through several groups of lygerfangs. All the while, the screams continued. They were finally coming close to the source when they heard one last blood curdling scream of absolute terror sound from a dead end. Keiichi saw the massive army of lygerfangs and trembled in fear himself at the sight. However, he still wanted to save whoever was there. As he moved, a firm grip on his shoulder stopped. It was Chihiro with a grim expression on her face.
"It's too late Keiichi, we need to-," She began to console the supporter.
"MREOW!" A new cry sounded from beyond the army of monsters. It was soon followed by hissing and snarling as well as the sounds of battle. The group stopped to take another look. It seemed they had a cat person in their group. A girl from the sounds of it. Soon they began to see flashes of red jump about the mass of monsters. Where ever the flash appeared, lygerfangs fell and dispersed. It was as the group witnessed this insane sight that they heard the tell tale crumbling noise of a nearby wall. They barely had time to turn and defend themselves as another group of lygerfangs burst forth. In that time, Chihiro released her grip on Keiichi who now drew a short sword from a scabbard on his hip as a dagger. He was hopelessly outmatched, but the thought had never entered his mind. He just wanted to save whoever had made that last scream. It was only as he closed in and one of the massive pack turned to lunge at him did he realize just how bad of an idea his stunt had been. He had tried to defend himself with the dagger and thrust with the sword. Unfortunately, it swatted the sword away and closed its teeth on the dagger. The dagger soon snapped and the monster was about to rip him to pieces when it suddenly yelped before disintegrating into darkness to reveal the form of his savior. It was an exotic human girl with red hair, blue eyes and wearing poorly fitted silk clothes. She was also petite and busty, he noticed as she bounced around like a cat amidst the quickly thinning group of monsters. Soon they were all gone and Keiichi could no longer hear the sounds of fighting behind him. The girl was still acting like a cat as she looked at him before bounding forth only to jump clean over him and pounce on his now surprised boss.
"Kei-Waah!" Chihiro had gotten out before grunting at the impact of the mysterious girl. The next thing she knew, she was sitting on the ground with a now purring human girl on her lap. She didn't even move.
"Uh, boss-!?" One of the others started before she quickly turned to hush them. Keiichi went about gathering the drops and making sure to separate the ones that belonged to the girl from the ones that went to the group. Soon enough the girl was fully asleep and they set out to take her to the surface. There had been some debate on trying to find her group, but the leader had made it clear that if she were with a group they were likely gone already. Today was not going to be a profitable day, but they had at least done a good deed. That was the one tenant of the Familia. Always help those in need.
Ranma woke up to find herself in a clean room lying on a white bed. Her clothes were cleaned and folded at the foot of the bed and there was a covered tray beside her. She noticed that the room had only one window and one door. The room had a very business like feel. It reminded her of Dr. Tofu's clinic in a way. Judging by the light from the window, it was late afternoon. There seemed to be someone stationed at the door to watch over her. The man looked like a waiter at one of those fancy foreign places. He was wearing formal black pants and a vest over a white dress shirt with a blue bowtie. The man bowed when he noticed Ranma was up.
"Please wait here; there is someone who needs to talk with you," The man said as recovered from his bow," Also, there are some sandwiches in the tray next to them. You can enjoy them while you wait. I'll be back shortly."
Ranma lifted up the blanket to find she had on a simple white robe for modesty's sake. She quickly went about changing into her own clothes before lifting the cover from the tray to find a number of sandwiches in a neat pile. It was hardly a snack and was gone before the man returned with someone else. This time it was a grumpy looking, fat guy with white hair wearing a far more expensive looking black suit with jacket. Then Ranma noticed the man had pointed ears. She was able to control her shock. She was quite used to this sort of thing at this point.
"So you're the one that the Belldandy Familia saved?" The man began before getting serious," What were you doing down there, girl!?" When Ranma didn't answer due to being to confused at the situation in general, the man started again. This time yelling," I haven't got all day! I need to know why you, someone without a Falna, were skulking around the dungeon in the first place let alone how you even managed to get down there to begin with!" Ranma finally collected herself at this. The guy's attitude had struck a nerve.
"Shove it ya old fart! I have no idea what the hell you're talking about!" Ranma shot back. The old fart was not outraged at this.
"How dare you! First you cause trouble for us by illegally entering the dungeon and now you not only refuse to answer my questions, but insult me!" The tub of lard screeched furiously.
"Yeah, whatever. All I care about is figurin' out where I am and getting home," Ranma said as she walked over to the window. No one even bothered to stop her as it turned out she was pretty high up," And seein' as you guys aren't helpin' I'm outta here!"
With that said and before anyone could stop her from doing what most would consider suicide, she jumped.
"Yo, Boss, I hear you guys had a fun adventure today!" Otoki called out as his and Tamiya's groups came in through the gate.
"You can say that, we came to rescue some girl who was screaming her head off on the 17th floor. When we got there she was acting crazy and took out a huge pack of lygerfangs," Chihiro answered back," She fell asleep soon after and we took her to the surface. It wouldn't have been safe for us to proceed with the dead weight."
"Wow, she must have been something to pull that alone. What Familia was she from?" Tamiya asked a little shocked.
"Yeah, and what weapons was she usin'!?" Otoki added.
"None," Their boss answered," She had no Falna and took those things bare handed."
The two brutish men stood there in stunned silence. Skuld, however, had been passing by on a chore when she overheard all of this. She dropped the laundry in her arms and came running over to Chihiro.
"You found someone like that!? Where is she? Why haven't I seen her yet!?" She pleaded with the field leader of her sister's Familia. Chihiro sighed at this.
"Because the guild took her when they found out. Something about questioning. She did enter the dungeon without a Falna after all," she answered unhappily. It actually scared her a little that there was someone that strong without the blessing granted by a god or goddess. She then noticed the downcast look on Skuld's face and added," But I'm sure they let her go by now. If you hurry, you might find her out there."
This got Skuld's mood up. After a quick description of the girl, Skuld went dashing off. She completely forgot about the dried laundry she had been asked to bring in. It was now scattered across the ground.
It had been a couple hours now and was getting dark. Skuld had first tried checking in at the pantheon. What she heard was that Royman Mardeel was outraged and had put a mission assignment out to hunt the girl down and bring her back to the guild for questioning. She had escaped by jumping from the window of her room that had been midway up the Babel, the great tower built over the entrance to the dungeon. As it turned out, she was quite acrobatic and had made it down safely. This only made Skuld want to recruit the girl more. This girl sounded impossible to be true, but she knew that neither the guild nor Chihiro lie about something this insane.
As she continued her search after, she ran into several parties that had accepted the mission. Though they refused to tell her anything as they wanted the reward for bringing her in, she had overheard some of them suggesting recruiting the girl. This had only pushed Skuld further along in her desperation. This was her chance. There was someone out there who was not in a Familia and had amazing powers. If she could find this person first, she would finally be able to make her dream a reality.
Now here she was though. She was panting at the side of a street leaning against a nearby wall for support as night was beginning to fall. She had still not given up hope though!
After Ranma made easy work of escaping the ridiculously oversized tower, she had went about trying to find some information of where she was and getting some hot water. She found out easily enough that she was in a city called Orario. As far as she could tell, she was likely not on Earth. That had become obvious when she found people of all different kinds of inhuman races walking about in broad daylight. There were even c-cat people. The discovery had not been a pleasant one when she found what seemed to be a tavern and found herself dealing with a made sporting those hellish features. She had run like no tomorrow. Since the initial discovery, she had been able to control herself enough to simply avoid them rather than flee in terror. It had made finding a source of hot water take a little longer as she had to find a place that didn't have one of those people around. While looking, she had found that a bounty had apparently been put out on her. She was thankful when she finally found a small shop that dealt in medicines or something like that. The dark skinned woman with white hair smirked at her before handing it to her. Something about the woman did not set well with Ranma and she fled the scene to a nearby alley where she regained his manhood. It was good to be a guy again.
After that, he ran into his second problem. He had no money. He was broke and had no idea how to go about making more. To make matters worse, his stomach was growling. He didn't know how long it had been since he had last eaten a good meal. The small snack those jerks gave him didn't count. He spent the rest of that afternoon looking for a place that would let him work for a meal. Sadly, the only one he could find had already been taken by some girl with dark hair and a figure similar to Ranma's girl form. So here he was in another alley trying to come up with another method to get food. He couldn't use his usual method as there were search parties out to get his girl side. With a sigh, Ranma began to head out of the other side of the alley. That was when he bumped into someone. It was a girl who looked a couple years younger than him with long, black hair and a slim build. She apparently had yet to hit her growth spurt. She wore a strange pink and red robe that opened at the bottom to show a pink skirt. He quickly helped her up.
"Sorry 'bout that," Ranma said after the girl was standing once more," Wasn't watchin' where I was goin', you ok?"
The girl brushed herself off for a moment before looking to at him and answering," I'm fine, I wasn't paying much attention either. Anyways, I'm in a hurry, you wouldn't have seen a human girl with red hair done up in a pigtail by any chance?"
"No," Ranma lied," Can't say that I have, you out for the bounty?"
The girl shook her head," No, I want to recruit her. Anyways, I must be-"
"Wait-!" Ranma got out as he latched onto the girl's shoulder. He smelled an opportunity. Or that could just be the tavern down the street. The food there did smell good. It was then that Ranma's stomach decided to growl.
Skuld had caught her breath enough and began to run off in search of the mysterious redhead when something slammed into her sending her falling to the ground. She was not happen, but then the man responsible stepped over to her quickly and helped her up. His build said he was likely an adventurer. He had blue eyes and black hair done up in a pigtail. He also wore red and black silk clothes. The young man apologized for the accident. She couldn't very well stay mad at the man and she had been at fault as well. So she apologized as well and tried to get back to the business at hand. Finding the stranger had no information, she turned to leave while bidding farewell.
"Wait-!" the boy cried as he grabbed onto her shoulder desperately. Before he could say anything else, his stomach roared. This caused her to jump at first, but she quickly recollected herself. This man must have not made enough today to pay for dinner. Her sister would be very displeased if she left the poor adventurer like this. She would have to hope the girl she sought would still be around to be recruited tomorrow. It was getting dark after all. The boy just stood there and blushed before she sighed.
"Well, I can't leave you out here. I might as well help you out. By the way, my name is Skuld," She told the stranger with a resigned smile. He smiled back at her.
"Ranma Saotome, sorry 'bout this," was his reply.