Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2, Power Rangers or any of the other series I may use. More's the pity...
/
"'As we rode off into the sunset, I reflected on the journey me and my companions had gone on. It had started in the USA, with me being asked to continue the search for a priceless object: the Holy Grail! From there, we travelled all the way to Turkey via both Venice and Nazi Germany. It was a long and winding road, filled with betrayals and unexpected allies. Although we may not have succeeded in claiming the Holy Grail, losing it just as it was nearly in my grasp, I had still received a reward that was just as important to me... The recognition of my father, which I had subconsciously desired for so long, had been given to me. When he had finally called me by the name I'd chosen for myself instead of Junior in his usual chiding manner, it made everything I'd gone through over the first few years of my life worth it. I didn't have a clue of what possible future adventures were ahead on my path, but I looked forward to facing them, one step at a time…' Well that's enough reading for today, I think." The black-haired, blue-eyed youth, who could shift to a red-haired girl with just a splash of cold water, closed the book titled "The Journal of Dr. Henry Jones the 2nd" with a soft thump. He smiled to himself, reflecting on what he'd just read: 'Man those were some awesome adventures that college professor of archaeology had… To just see some of the wonders of the modern and ancient world would be incredible, but he also fought to keep some of the most priceless and mythical treasures out of the wrong hands along the way... That took a lot of courage and was truly incredible! I wonder, will I ever get a chance to do something like that?'
"RANMA, WHERE ARE YOU BAKA! I'VE GOT A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU," an angry female voice shouted out, breaking the calmness of the area. Ranma sighed as he put the journal back into his schoolbag. Akane was just home from school, having to stay late at school again due to her hot temper landing her in detention. It had been the fifth time in as many days and it was clear she was still stewing over it. Ranma shook his head in dismay, wondering where it had all gone wrong between them…
It had been two weeks after the failed wedding attempt and things had taken a turn for the worst. At first, it had seemed that things were going back to normal. Unfortunately, any trust Akane had built up with Ranma over the past two years of their joint misadventures had been destroyed. This was due to her misguided belief that he had told Nabiki to let the other fiancées know about the wedding, so that they could crash it. Ranma had denied this charge of hers, with his story being backed up by nearly everyone in the house at the time: Soun, who had realized his mistake in forcing the wedding on both parties involved. He had admitted that he had thought they should've let things settle down before doing anything, but Gemna had convinced him to go ahead while the relationship seemed to be going smoothly. Nodoka and Kasumi, who had been surprisingly very reluctant to admit her part in the whole affair, had also revealed they had invited almost everyone that had crashed the wedding, due to the simple fact that there had been no obvious indications that anyone was going to cause trouble. But even they weren't foolish enough to expect the Kunos would behave themselves, particularly given their past actions in front of Nodoka, so no invites had gone out to the Kuno household. Several other precautionary measures had been taken, like Nodoka and Kasumi doing all the catering themselves three days before the event. After all this, the Kunos had found out about the wedding anyway, thanks to Sasuke spying on the last-minute preparations the night before. Finally, even Nabiki had, admitted it was partly her fault that the invites had been delivered, which she had done for a fee of course, asking it from the recipients. She'd claimed that she honestly thought that almost all the rivals and other fiancées had finally accepted the fact that Ranma had chosen Akane. Also, she had thought she'd be able to get a cut of whatever wedding presents she had expected the couple to get. Ranma wasn't fully convinced by this story, due to his past dealings with Nabiki, but had let it slide. For this time, at least, she seemed fully sincere in her words. And that was as close to honesty as you'd get from Nabiki, barring outside influences.
But nothing and no-one could convince Akane of these facts. She kept blaming Ranma for the whole mess, despite all the evidence on the day that showed most of the other parties had acted on their own initiative, without anyone influencing them. Her temper and attitude had gotten a lot worse too. This was partly due to the fact that the people who followed all of Kuno's idiotic proclamations most fanatically, had not only foolishly re-assembled the Hentai Horde, but they had gone back to the whole stupid idea that to date Akane, they first had to beat her. This had gone disastrously wrong, for them at least, with most of them needing to head to the nurse's office every morning for treatment of minor injuries. Akane's raw strength had gone way up from the day he had first arrived in Nerima, but her level of control over it had remained about the same. This meant that she was leaving nasty bruises on her attackers, if they were lucky. A few of her more persistent admirers had actually needed to be sent into the hospital for X-rays and other tests, after she had unleashed a powerful blow towards one of them. They had gotten out of the way of her fist, but her punch had continued on. The concrete wall behind them had shattered when her punch had connected with it. This had caught everyone within range in the shower of debris expect Akane, due to the angle of her strike. Fortunately, it was a false alarm with no serious injuries, but some of the parents had tried sue both the school and her for reckless endangerment of lives. It had been the one of the few times in her life, she had been grateful for the Kuno clan's influence in the area. Their lawyers had squashed the charges that anyone had tried to bring against either clan, either using out of court settlements or intimidation. 'Typical, they act as if they're a law unto themselves and if they hurt someone, they don't care or say that it's their victims who are at fault,' Ranma snorted darkly, disgusted at both Akane and the Kuno clan, with their blatant abuses of power. 'I might not be better than them at times, but I am at least willing to admit I've got a problem with that kind of thing.'
Another, more serious part of Akane's problem now, was that her trust in both her sisters had taken a nasty beating. And it didn't look like it would be as easy for her to get over as it used to be. She had considered it their worst betrayal to date, including when they had dumped the whole marriage arrangement on her when Ranma had just arrived, without any choice in the matter. Her trust in Kasumi had been hit the hardest by this event. She now took everything that her eldest sister said with a shipload of salt, which was unfair to Kasumi since she was normally very honest with her baby sister. This meant her cooking, which had been improving since she started listening to her, took a nosedive back to her earlier level of skill. And the less she had to deal with Nabiki regarding anything, the happier she was! She was extremely angry at the discovery of just how much Nabiki had actually used her as means to make money. If she wasn't selling risqué photos of her performing various everyday actions, or the setting up of betting pools for nearly any possible situation could happen, Nabiki was selling information she had wanted kept personal. "I had things bad enough around here without my own greedy, frigid snow queen of a sister adding fuel to the fire", was how she put it. Nabiki had winced slightly at what Akane had said; showing that she still cared for her sister despite her actions.
Kasumi wasn't acting much better than her youngest sister. She had normally been a kind and gentle person, but in the last few days she had been acting a little cold and mean-spirited towards him. Simple things like giving all the hot water to his father and pretending she'd forgotten about him, skipping serving him seconds when it came to mealtimes, frowning at him for no obvious reason and forgetting to make him a packed lunch for school. It might have seemed like only minor details to most people in Nerima, but it was obvious to Ranma. 'She's mad, both at herself and everyone around her, so she's taking it out on me. Probably feels that if I had just agreed to the wedding vows with Akane, that things would have been just fine. Unfortunately, logic and rational thought has a habit of going out the window around here, despite what she hoped would happen…' Ranma, contrary to what all of his peers and fiancées believed, was not an idiot. This reputation wasn't helped by his father, who had tried to encourage him into rash actions. He just couldn't perform well with the whole idea of standardised tests and learning methods. Also, even if he showed his smarts, most people wouldn't believe it and somehow rationalise he was cheating, not to mention that it'd be another thing for Akane to complain about. He was disappointed in Kasumi's behaviour though, he had thought she was better than that. 'Sure I cause quite a bit of trouble around the place from time to time, but it's not always my fault! And I've tried to keep the collateral damage around here to a minimum, but no-one got the memo during the wedding. So blaming me for everything isn't fair!'
Genma was acting much as he usually did, having nothing better to do expect whine to anyone within earshot about how "weak" and "ungrateful" his son was. To be honest, everyone had tuned him out after the first ten seconds of this. The Kunos were as insane as ever, with both Tatewaki and Kodachi trying to force Ranma into marriage or attempting to kill him, depending on what form he was in. Uyko and Shampoo hadn't been as persistent as before in trying to push their claims on marrying him forwards. In fact, they hadn't even once tried to jump him since he got back a week ago. Both Ryoga and Mousse hadn't been seen around the local area since the wedding, with not so much as a sudden attack on him. Nabiki, and this one had been a real shocker for most people, had actually been somewhat neutral towards him. She hadn't done anything to stop people trying to find him, but she had refused to sell any info on his activities and current location. In fact, every business venture she ran that dealt with him had been shut down and no date had given for resumption of service. She even refused to sell any pictures of Ranma-chan to Kuno, no matter how much he offered. She'd also given her father more than enough money to re-build the dojo out of her own funds. 'That's odd, but I guess she felt guiltier about this then I thought,' Ranma mused.
Nodoka had been the biggest surprise, however. She'd been really apologetic for all her actions towards Ranma. He had been really annoyed at his father once he'd learnt the truth about the seppuku pledge. Originally, it had only applied to his father to try and keep him in line, given his tendency to think with his stomach first instead of his head, but he'd tricked Ranma into signing it with his finger painting. And since she knew that Genma had done this to try and get out of his deal with her, Nodoka had to enforce it on both parties, no matter how much she didn't want to… Her only option had been to make the terms of a "man among men" so vague, she could eventually declare it fulfilled easily, but it'd make Genma sweat trying to ensure his son would meet it without knowing what she had in mind. Ranma had ended up a little rough around the edges, but overall he was everything she had wanted, which was something akin to Ryu Kumon. She'd planed to explain this to Ranma when they finally met, in private, so they could work out something together. But since he had always been either hidden in plain sight as Ranko Tendo, or Genma was so close at hand, she hadn't got a chance to let him know… As for her quirky obsession with grandchildren, it had a double purpose. The main one was to throw people off balance, so she could observe them without them taking her seriously. And the other was that she just wanted some kids to spoil, since she just never got a chance to spend time with Ranma when he was growing up. Ranma sighed. He had wanted to lash out at his mother for making his life so awkward with some of her ridiculous ideas, but given the very difficult situation she had been forced into by Genma, he supposed that it was understandable what she did. After all, Genma seemed to have always been pulling stupid stunts like that, even on his own wife.
What he hadn't expected however, was when Nodoka had revealed to him just what she did for a living. She was a freelance archaeologist and college professor, who had been paid by Tokyo University to recover certain items for them in the past and be a substitute teacher at times, during the timeframe of his training trip. It had been quite a very profitable job for her, making more then enough money to repay all the people Genma had cheated over the years. His standard M.O. had been to get what he had wanted by promising Ranma's hand in marriage to their daughters, he then made a run for it with both Ranma and what he'd got later that night. Most parties had accepted cash to drop the whole arrangement that had been made. However, a few of them had still gone ahead with trying to locate Ranma to go ahead with the deal, even though they had been paid back for their loss. But Ranma had beaten them all anyway…
Her greatest dream and personal quest in the field of archaeology however, was to find the Corona Aurora or Crown of the Gods. According to some of the legends she'd located, it was an incredibly powerful artifact, with the potential for great good, but also for great evil! This had made it a target for many thieves. But only two, a pair of brothers called Flurious and Moltor, had even got close to its original resting place. But as they attempted to grab it, the crown itself cursed them, taking away their humanity, before its guardian had sealed them away in separate locations. Flurious's form became that of a monster associated with ice, while Moltor's form changed to a being of fire. To prevent anything like this from happening again or the power from falling into the wrong hands, the Sentinel Knight, guardian of the crown, scattered all five of the crown's jewels across the entire world, before hiding the crown itself. To this day, no one had ever found any trace of either the crown or a single jewel, but Nodoka wasn't about to give up on looking for it. Ranma was impressed by this story, it had everything he liked. There was a touch of magic about it and it was filled with lots of action & adventure. He had believed his mother when she said the crown was real and her claim that she was going to find it someday… He knew that her determination was akin to his own when someone had challenged him, both of them would keep trying until they were victorious or dead. She'd left about a week ago, following up another possible lead on the crown in Tibet. His contemplative mood was interrupted by Akane's bellowing.
"RANMA WHERE ARE YOU, YOU BLASTED PERVERT? IT'S DINNER TIME, YOUR FAVOURITE TIME OF DAY! IF I FIND YOU'VE GONE OVER TO ONE OF THOSE HUSSIES FOR FREE FOOD, I'LL…" Ranma winced at some of the things she had threatened him with, where she was going to find a caber though, was beyond him. He waited until she was taking a breather from her ranting before he spoke.
"Hold your horses, would you? If you'd bothered to check with your father, you'd know that I've been on the roof the whole time since I got home… Give me just a moment and I'll be right down," Ranma shouted back, but not as loudly as she'd yelled. Akane normally didn't take that tone of voice from any of her equals or inferiors well, especially Ranma. He quickly climbed down from the roof using the ladder instead of jumping down as he usually did, not wanting to overtax his recovering body, which had been badly hurt in the exploding dojo at the end of the whole wedding mess. He'd been in hospital for the last week; with no visitors expect his mum. Just as he made it to the ground, his whole body began to shake and he started to cough. It actually was bad enough to make him double over and put his hand up to his mouth to control his breathing. When he withdrew it after the coughing died down, droplets of blood were plainly visible on it. He just stared at it in shock, not quiet believing what he was seeing. 'Damnit, not now! I thought it was under control, but looks like Doc was right. I'm still not fully healed and he said not to push myself any harder then I need to…'
(Flashback begins…)
"Ugh, what happened? Last thing I can remember is trying to get everyone out of the dojo before it exploded. Then there was a blinding flash, a loud bang and everything went dark, expect for what appeared to be a faint light at the end of a tunnel," Ranma groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, feeling aches and pains in places he didn't know he had. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust. The ceiling was unfamiliar to him but the person who was tending to his wounds was a pleasant surprise: "Doctor Tofu! Am I glad to see you; long time no see, about a year isn't it… Where have you been travelling for that length of time? I thought you had gone on a trip to control your reactions whenever Kasumi was around you or her name was mentioned… How did it go?" Ranma then cringed, only now remembering just how bad Doctor Tofu had got in the past. But there was no crazy reaction from the doctor; in fact his glasses didn't even fog up. "So, I guess it was a successful trip then, Doc… And just where are we?"
"Yes it was Ranma. I still care deeply for Kasumi, but I'm able to keep my head when it matters most now…" Tofu replied in a clam even tone. "You're in a hospital in the Azabu Jûban area, since your mother decided it'd be safer for your recovery if you had a calm environment. This means no one but the three of us will know where you are for the moment…"
"Fair enough Doc," Ranma responded with a weak grin, "but I don't get one thing. How do you know my mum and just how did she manage to contact you?"
"Well she's actually an old college friend I hadn't seen in several years since we graduated," the doctor replied, wearing a small smile. "How she contacted me, well I'd left her a contact number to use if it was an emergency or she wanted to arrange a reunion. I thought nothing would ever come of it until two hours ago, when she rang me. She was quite frantic, but I could piece together that her son was badly injured and she needed my help to treat him. I came as quickly as I could… Imagine my surprise when I found out that my patient was you! Once I'd finished treating you we sat down to catch up. Finding out she was your mother and that she hadn't seen you since you were six was fairly surprising, to say the least. So I filled her in on the first twelve months of your stay in Nerima that I knew of… She was most surprised about some of the details, why didn't you tell her the truth about everything?"
Ranma winced. "Well Doc, I couldn't just horrify mom with the train wreck that's been my life. She wouldn't be able to take some of the facts about the training from hell that pops put me through. It's just too gruesome! But I'll give her a sanitised version of events while I'm recovering. So what the damage level this time? Anything you can do to speed the healing process up..."
"I'm sorry Ranma, there's nothing I can do to help you recover any faster then what I've already done. Your body and mind just can't take the strains you've been forced to put on them anymore…" Doctor Tofu answered, wearing a very solemn expression. "The simple fact is the battle with Saffron was too much for the rapid healing factor you've developed. It took nearly every bit of energy you had to beat him, even tapping into your own life-force directly, leaving you running on the proverbial fumes. Therefore, the whole wedding fiasco was a step too far for your body and it just shut down. That's the reason why you collapsed in the dojo, just before Happosai's bomb went off. Luckily for everyone, except you of course, no-one else was inside at the time, since most of them wouldn't have survived it. You were thrown clear of the dojo by the explosion, but it left third degree burns all over your torso and you shattered all your limbs due to the way you landed. Thanks to your mother's prompt calling for an ambulance and directing them to come here, I was able to set your limbs properly. You'll be up and about in a week, but you'll only be properly healed in about a month's time. Nodoka's already contacted the school and the Tendo dojo saying that you're alright and you'll be back in a week. But I'm afraid your mind is a different matter. You seem to have developed all the classic signs of combat fatigue and that worries me deeply. All I can suggest for now is you try to take it easy for a while, that means at least six months without doing any martial arts. That means no katas, battling, spars or anything in that vein! If you have no choice in the matter, and knowing your luck that'll be the case, try to end the combat in a non-lethal manner as soon as possible. Anymore high stress situations like that last major battle with Saffron and your mind could permanently snap under the strain, inducing a permanent berserker state!"
"Huh, you mean like the Cat-fist Doc?" Ranma asked in a small voice. Nabiki had somehow managed to record one of the, thankfully rare, times he had gone into it. She had offered to show to him, for a generous donation of course. While it had put a massive dent into his savings, it had been worth it just to know what he got up to while in that state. And to be honest, it had made for grim viewing since it showed just uncontrollable he could be. While he was fairly harmless to those who his kitty mind had designated as friends, those who were in any way openly hostile to him or those he cared about got badly mauled, unless they managed to somehow distract his attention off them. This was actually done fairly easily, depending on how quick the person was to react. One thing that had really bugged him about the whole Cat-fist technique was that the only person that could ease him out of it with any sort of reliability was Akane. Anyone else, even his mother had to wait until his cat side decided to fall asleep naturally… This had both worried and annoyed him. Worried, because since he had a feeling his relationship with Akane never was going to be very smooth consistently and she wouldn't be willing to help him out if she was in a bad mood. It annoyed him, because this was one of the things Akane used to brag about to her rivals when she thought Nodoka wasn't about. She claimed that Ranma liked her more than the rest of them, citing the reason that whenever he went into the Cat-fist state, she was the only one that could control him. But he was shocked out of his thoughtful state by what Dr. Tofu said next…
"No, it would be at least a thousand times worse! At least with the Cat-fist, you retained a small sense of recognition of those you cared about; due to the fact your mind in that state was more like a small curious kitten for a long time. You've heard how you behaved towards your friends while in that state of mind. Sure, you attacked your father any time you saw him in that state, but since he was the one who caused the problem in the first place, that's understandable… However, given how much pressure you've been under recently and the fact you were forced to kill someone, even though he were re-born right after the battle ended, I fear that has caused you to become much darker. That little kitten may have grown up into a man-eating tiger… And to make matters worse, the ways that we can use to snap you out of that state are no longer as effective as they once were. Someone throwing water on you to activate your curse anymore just won't work; this is due to the fact you've now begun to accept the fact that the curse might be part of you for the rest of your life. And given the way that Akane has been treating you lately from what I heard, the neko part of you has more than likely lost its trust in her! In fact, it might attack her on sight, to try and protect you from her. Well, either that or it'll flee from her on sight. There may be others that your neko mindset will grow to trust given time, but somehow I doubt it'll be anyone around Nerima. But only the passage of time now will tell how you have been affected by your recent battles."
(End flashback…)
'Well, nothing has triggered the Cat-Fist in a while! And no-one would attempt to fight me except Tatewaki and he's very easy to beat without pushing myself. All things considered, I've gotten off lightly… So, I might as well go and see what's for dinner now. Knowing my luck lately though, Akane's got another batch of her more "exotic" cooking she wants me to try and won't take no for an answer! Better to just get it over with and hope it's someway edible…' With that thought, Ranma got back up and marched back inside, only pausing to wipe his bloodied hand off on his red shirt. The only reason he actually wore red almost all the time was to hide his bleeding wounds when he got them in combat.
But Ranma had been so distracted by re-calling Dr. Tofu's instructions on not fighting unless there was no other option he hadn't noticed he had someone watching him. When they had seen his bloodied hand from the coughing fit, they had nearly gasped in shock, but they somehow managed to keep their composure and not reveal their presence. By the time they had recovered their wits, Ranma had recovered and gone inside. The looked at the door Ranma had entered, with a sad look approaching sympathy, something rarely directed towards Ranma. 'Kami, what have I done to him? How much has he had to go through over the years and he's never really once shown just how much it actually hurt him, only pretending that was less serious than in reality. Every time he broke down or had a moment of weakness, we should have been supportive of him. But what did we do instead? We taunted and teased him without mercy! I'm a blasted fool for treating Ranma the way I have,' the mysterious person thought as they left their hiding spot and attempted go to about their normal tasks, but their thoughts just kept going back to Ranma and their actions towards him, wondering what they could have changed in the way they had treated him.
Dinnertime was a fairly quiet affair for all involved. Fortunately, Kasumi had insisted she cook the meal today. Ranma ate up his food fairly quickly, but still retained some of his dignity and his table manners were reasonable. Genma, on the other hand, soon got up to his old habit of stealing pieces of from everyone's plates, despite having received more than everyone else combined at the start. This meant everyone else had to eat a bit quicker than usual, while fighting off Genma's attempts to steal their food. Kasumi was having a conversation with Soun, about him possibly starting to teach martial arts in the dojo again. Nabiki actually seemed to be distracted for some reason, which was most unlike her. Akane though, alternated between glaring hatefully at Ranma and eating her dinner. This continued for a while, until finally Nabiki noticed it as everyone had finished up, shaking her out of the funk she was in. "Hey sis, just what is your problem with Ranma lately? He hasn't done anything to insult you or that could reflect badly on you… He's been studying hard for his exams, pulling study sessions in the library throughout lunchtime and ignoring all possible distractions. And don't bother trying to blame him for all your trips to detention lately… I know that it's been your own fault entirely, over-reacting when some of the boys who were interested in you asked for a date," she asked in a non-confrontational tone of voice, just loud enough for anyone who was paying attention to hear. Kasumi, who had by this time finished speaking with her father, frowned at these new details about how Akane was behaving at school, chalking it up to Ranma's influence. Nabiki continued: "Don't you realize that they didn't bother with the foolish method that Kuno and his loyal followers have been using? There was no need to punch them in the stomach quite as hard as that, you nearly broke some of their ribs! A simple no would have been more than enough! You really need to start controlling that temper of yours, before someone gets seriously hurt… Most normal people can't take that kind of physical punishment. The only reason Ranma can take it is due to Genma training him from such a young age in things that no-one and especially not a child should have gone through…"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN; I NEED TO CONTROL MY TEMPER! I CAN CONTROL IT JUST FINE..." Akane shouted, slamming her fist in the table, rattling the empty plates and drawing everyone else's attention to their conversation. "You honestly believe that baka has been studying in the library? He's just goofing off like he usually does! He'll never amount to anything, just like his mother… I mean, according to Mr Saotome, she's spent nearly the last twenty years of her life and more money than what Nabiki's made off the Kunos and everyone in schools with scams over the years," and here Akane's tone of voice started to turn quite cynical and mocking. "And she's done this for what purpose? Looking for something out of a child's bedtime story! I mean really, a crown of the gods? I know that there are some weird magic items and places in the world, but something like that doesn't exist… Never has, never will! This week, she's looking in Tibet… Who knows where she'll be looking next? I looked up to her, but she needs to learn to give up on a hopeless situation, otherwise she's a fool for chasing an impossible dream like that…" Akane was about to say more, but a sudden drop in the surrounding temperature made her freeze. Everyone slowly turned to the source of the temperature drop: Ranma himself.
"That's enough Akane! I can't believe you just said that…" Ranma's voice was soft and calm, but there was no mistaking the level of rage that he was sending out subconsciously. Only the Soul of Ice prevented him from lashing out at Akane. "Mom really liked you and your sisters, seeing as she and your mother were old friends. She always thought of you as the prime candidate among all the possible fiancées I had due to my father's stupid deals… And this is how you repay her? Mocking her dreams behind her back! I'd like to say thanks for the dinner Kasumi and say sorry for my outburst. I'll take my leave of you all now for the moment to go for a walk around the district, before I do something I'll regret… But all of you should know this: my motto that I never lose no matter what came from my mother's side of the family, not my father's!" And with that, Ranma left, leaving a lingering chill. Everyone watched him as he left, Kasumi with a cold stare at Ranma's back since she refused to accept Ranma's apology...
Soun instantly turned on his youngest daughter, going into full demon head mode: "AKANE, YOU SHOULD APLOGISE TO RANMA THE VERY INSTANT HE COMES BACK! SMEARING HIS MOTHER'S GOOD NAME LIKE THAT WAS TOTALLY UNCALLED FOR…" Taking a deep breath to calm down he continued: "Your mother would be ashamed of you right now, she never spoke ill of anyone behind their back like that. I know I've not been as good a father as I should have been ever since she died, but I plan to change that, starting right now. So what do you say? How about you let go of your past grudges and start afresh with not only Ranma, but your rivals for marrying him: Uyko and Shampoo… A sincere apology would be a good start on mending fences with them. Who knows, they might become very good friends to you since you have so much in common with them already, love for Ranma, an interest in the martial arts and mutual experiences that not one of your other friends have taken part in…"
Akane quickly preformed the Crouch of the White Tiger, while saying: "Sure thing daddy! I will apologize as soon Ranma gets back…" But, secretly she scoffed in her mind: 'Yeah right! I've no intention of taking my words back for real! As for making friends with those two witches, not in this lifetime... I mean really, Shampoo's just a purple-haired ditz with no clue how Japanese society works. Uyko, she's totally focused on running her stand. Besides they've nothing to teach me! As for Nodoka, she's just not playing with a full deck. She's off searching for something in Tibet that quite frankly, doesn't exist!'
(Just at that moment, somewhere inside an ancient temple, high in the Tibetan mountains)
'Finally, I've found it after all these years of searching! The Corona Aurora… Most people said that it was nothing but a fairytale and scoffed at my claims that I would find it. Well I've proved them wrong now, or at least I will have made a start on it, once I've gotten this thing back to civilization! But I'll also use its powers for the greater good, not just myself…' Nodoka grinned in triumph at her prize as it sat on a plinth in the centre of the room she'd just entered. It, at first glance, seemed to be just a plain looking golden crown, styled just like the crowns in Europe from the Middle Ages were. But unlike those, there were five empty spaces for gems to be inserted into the front of the crown. And since she was fairly sure she had been the only person to enter the temple in well over a thousand years, she was almost certain that it was the real Corona Aurora. But she suppressed the urge she had to just rush over to the crown and grab it. She had just gotten through several different traps, each much more challenging then the last, the deeper she had gotten into the temple. It was a fool who would charge in blindly, even if their prize was within their grasp. But, after carefully checking every part of the room and the plinth itself, she was satisfied it was safe. As she picked up the crown and dusted it off, she spoke aloud to herself: "With this, I'll try to bring riches and happiness to the world…" Just then, a crash of thunder sounded inside the room and flashes of yellow lighting sparked across the room, as it began to shake violently as if an earthquake had just started. If someone was in orbit at the time, they'd have seen an incredibly bright yellow pulse of light spreading out all across the galaxy from the Earth's surface…
If they had bothered to follow it, they would have seen it make its way through the solar system. Along the way, it passed a planet or small moon with a medium shade of blue. If someone had sent a probe down to the surface, they'd have discovered the entire surface was covered in ice… Just as the wave flashed by the planet, it collapsed a glacier with its power. Inside, a figure got to their feet. At first glance you'd mistake them for a human male, but no normal human had their hair shaped like ice crystals. In his right hand, he held a staff adorned with a snowflake-like sculpture on top. His voice when he spoke would have chilled anyone who heard it to the bone: "The Corona Aurora has been found…" before he started laughing manically…
As the energy wave continued on its way, it had to pass through the planet Saturn. The planet's surface was covered in rocky islands and oceans of lava. As the pulse passed through the planet's atmosphere, the lava began to bubble and boil, as if the temperature had all of a sudden shot through the roof. A mysterious figure broke the lava's surface, rising up into the air. On closer examination, the figure appeared human shaped and male, but with three horns coming out the back and sides of his head. He spoke in a harsh whisper: "At last! I'm Free…"
Finally, somewhere else entirely, someone looked up as they felt the surge in energy. A small, cold smile crept across their face. "So the Corona Aurora has been found, has it? Excellent, everything is happening just as my Seer predicted before I had to 'remove' her... Such a pity that she decided to resist my plans, but she's replaceable! Soon though, the time of my ascension to power will be close at hand. All will bow before me and my kingdom will be re-born! And this time, nothing will destroy it, not even time itself…"
Still in the temple, unaware of these galactic events happening, Nodoka was only aware that the floor between her and the doorway was collapsing. She made a desperate leap to make it to the area in front of the door, which was the only part remaining stable. It was a very close thing, with her left hand only just grabbing the ledge, while she grasped the Corona Aurora in it. Her right hand had a firm grip on the ledge though, which ensured she didn't fall. She pulled herself up and lay on her back, turning back to the plinth as she tried to catch her breath. Just then, a glowing golden figure appeared to her. Its voice echoed as it spoke: "You have found the Corona Aurora! And with that you have awoken great evil… Listen closely; this is what you must do, there's not much time…
/
Well, what do you think folks? Like it or loath it... Review to tell me what you think. As you can see, I've merged PR:OO and Ranma 1/2 together, with the role of the Red Ranger falling on Ranma's shoulders. His mother will be taking on the role of Andrew Hartford. The rest of the Nerima regulars will be showing up from time to time, but most of them won't be part of the team of Rangers or their support crew! You can try and guess who'll be coming from Nerima (only three and two will be showing up later on), if you get it right AND have a plausible reason for why I picked them, you get to decide something special with me via PM.
I've been selecting the other Rangers from three other anime series, not including Rama. I've tried to pick them by matching their personalities closely to the original PR:OO cast, but some of them may surprise you! Who wants to try and figure them out? If you can, tell me what you think of my choices…
Red Ranger: already selected.
Black Ranger: a borderline case between the good guys and the bad guys, depending on which side of his personality is in control. Has a interest in Egyptian items, rings in particular.
Pink Ranger: only a minor character in the Manga that the Black Ranger is. Her brother takes part in a contest for something to help her. But she does get some more screen time in one the story arcs of the anime, even fighting one of the bad guys of that arc, despite her lack of knowledge in the challenge. This lack of experience causes the one of her fellow fighters to get knocked out in that contest, giving her confidence a major knock, but she recovers and ends up being the one to defeat the bad guy. Two of her brother's friends both argue about which of them her heart belongs to... But her personality is all sweetness and light, akin to a saint. She can be also be considered the "Lady of the Red", due to her brother's signature partner. A person who could be her twin is a like a fair-house mirror, showing a quite deadly dark side, despite looking like an angel...
Blue Ranger: He's a like force of nature in both name and deed. He's always slightly dis-respectful to those in charge and gives them nicknames as mark of affection. Has a major passion for a certain type of food. May seem like a clown or a fool, but has a hidden serious side to his nature. Can be quite observant when he wants to, but misses the obvious at times! Most people in his home hate him for something from his birth.
Yellow Ranger: Now this one is the hardest to choose. I've got two possible options for this one. The first one is a black belt in her Art. But she's still not strong enough to fight alongside her friends against their foes, but she never gives up, when battered and bloodied. Her friend awoke a great power, after she(the candidate) fell while trying to protect her. Option 2 is the granddaughter of two great heroes, one unsung and the other a fraud. While only a quarter of her blood is akin to that of the unsung hero, she takes great pride in that side of her nature. The unsung hero's greatest rival admired her grit and attitude to training in times of peace. If you can figure their identities out, could you vote for the one you want and a reason why? Or suggest another candidate…
The Sixth Ranger I won't reveal until closer to the time they're showing up, but they aren't from any of the above series.
Thanks again for reading!