Visions of War - A Ranma 1/2 Alteverse Fanfiction
Prologue
A man walked. Normally this would be nothing to be concerned about.
However, this man was walking through an apocalyptic ruin of what once
was a city.
There were broken alabaster pillars lying on the ground in a state of
ruin. Skeletons littered the ground in an eerie sort of way. Arrows,
swords, shields, and many other equipments of war were almost casually
strewn about. Death was upon this city.
None of this had an effect on him. What did effect him was the sight of
a child-sized skeleton gripping a small teddy bear in its skeletal
hands. Tears came to his eyes at the sight before him.
So engrossed was he by this horrific sight, that he did not notice that
his body was shrouded by a chaotic and sickly green aura. He looked
like a demon from the deepest depth of Hell.
He moved his hand slightly to the side pointing to the ground.
A beam of green light burst from the aforementioned hand to create a
crater. He picked up the small skeleton and the little teddy and
tenderly placed them in the newly created grave. He carefully covered
the grave with dirt and knelt.
Ranma wept.
He cried out his sorrow to the heavens, yet they would not answer.
For hours his heart and soul poured out for the child that perished in
the slaughter.
At the end of his private mourning, he stood up and stood still.
He vowed that he would never let what happened to Ranko happen to any
other.He vowed to avenge his sister. No one kills Ranma Saotome's
sister and lives.
End Prologue
Visions of War
Chapter 1
Lightning and thunder erupted across the landscape. The winds were
howling and the clouds hung low and ominous. The rain came down in
torrents.
In the distance, one could see the focus of the storm in a clearing in
the middle of a forest.
Two men stood in the clearing locked in combat.
One man wore a light red vest, loose black kung-fu pants, wrist
bracers, and black lithe slippers. He sported a pig-tail that reached
just under his shoulders. His name, Ranma Saotome. The other man wore
the uniform black ninja garb. His name, Ken Inuyisha.
The one known as Ken lunged and in mid-air, flipped so that his feet
would strike his oppenent on his chest.
Ranma sidestepped and delivered a vicious roundhouse in the ninja's
stomach making him double over in pain. However, he did not stop there.
He continued sending ferocious attacks at his downed oppenent until the
man collapsed unconscious.
Stepping away from his enemy, Ranma speculated this situation. After a
moments thought, he picked up the fallen man by the throat and slapped
him. This had the effect of waking him.
"Who are you and why have you attacked me?" Ranma shook Ken.
"I don't have to answer to scum like you!" shouted Ken in defiance.
This angered Ranma. He started to tighten his grip. His opponent yelped
like the dog he was.
"If you don't answer me, I'll have to rip your head off." Ranma said in
a cold, clear voice.
It seemed like the point got through to Ken that he would die if he did
not do something quick. His supply of air was running out quickly.
"Alright!...I'll...tell you," Ken quickly said in desperation.
"Just...let me...down."
Ranma was suspicious, but he couldn't see any other way to make the man
talk. He let go the ninja's throat.
The person in question rubbed his sore throat in a vain attempt at
trying to sooth the pain.
"My name is Ken Inuyisha. My boss, Hiroshi, told me to get rid of all
the evidence of the massacre back in Kyoto. I thought that it would be
an easy job seeing as how there was reported no survivors." He looked
at Ranma. "Heh. I guess the spies were wrong."
"I traveled to Kyoto, and looked for any piece of evidence that would
indicate that our organization was the cause of the destruction when I
saw footprints leading in and out of town. The footprints stopped at a
little grave and I immediately thought that there must've been some
person that escaped the battle and returned to mourn the passing of
their loved one. One thing led to another to lead to you." He said
looking up at Ranma.
Ranma just looked back at him and asked, "Did you do anything to the
grave?"
"I dug it out and ripped the toy out look...AGGH!" Ken was cut off due
to a hole where his heart used to be.
Ranma lowered his hand. " I don't really care for those who desecrate
burial grounds for the deceased. Especially my own flesh and blood."
He stooped over the body and searched for any signs of where to go
about finding out something about the killers of his sister. He came up
with nothing.
"Damn!" seethed Ranma, "This piece of trash is clean!"
He was about to walk away when he saw a brand on the body's foot. It
was a upside-down crescent moon that strangely looked as if it was
meant to be black.
"I wonder what that means..."
A figure looked into the a cauldron that viewed the recent events.
"Hm... Interesting," said the figure speculatively rubbing its chin.
"It seems we have a new player in this game. And from the looks of it,
he will be quite a nuisance to my design!"
The figure gave off a hideous laugh and threw its cloak to the ground
revealing the figure to be female.
"And so it begins..."
End Chapter 1
Visions of War
Chapter 2
Ranma was travelling on the road to Tokyo when all of a sudden he was
ambushed by a group of ninjas dressed similarly to Ken (1).
The first to attack did so in a flying kick but was interrupted by
Ranma's spinning kick to his midsection. He was sent flying.
Ranma then had to duck to avoid a thrust to the head by a sword-weilding
foe, then swept his feet from under him, sending him to the ground. The
masked man quickly got up to his feet ready to swing his massive katana
but was sent back down to the ground by a fast punch to the nose.
Seeing two of their friends quickly defeated, the others decided to
attack simultaneously. Together, they got into a stance that promised
a dificult manuever to dodge.
Ranma smirked.
The ninjas rushed him in an intricate pattern, not allowing any escape.
They never took Ranma's skills into account.
Through years of training and experience, Ranma dodged, sidestepped, and
basically avoiding the enemies' lethal attacks and returned in earnest,
an attack of his own.
He lunged towards his enemies and every time he attacked, a body would
drop to the ground.
It was over in 7 seconds flat (2).
-------
Ranma walked on the road to Tokyo.
On his back was a huge pack designed to hold many things. Indeed it
carried many things. Such things were a sleeping bag, sets of clothing,
some provisions, and 400kg (3) of weights.
One would think he was travelling light and they would be right. Ranma
was not one to travel with lots of stuff making him rely on his pack.
He would instead like to travel and not have to worry if his pack was
stolen or left behind because it did not carry anything valuable.
However, one thing that was important to him was his memories. Memories
of his mother, father, and sister. Memories of his friends. Memories
that would not, could not afford to lose.
At this moment he was thinking of the time that he first learned he
would have a sister...
-------flashback
"Mommy, why is your belly so big?" Asked a 7 year old boy. "Are you
getting fat?"
Nodoka suppressed the urge to smack her insolent son on the head for
that remark.
"No son," replied Nodoka in a gentle voice. "You are going to have a
little baby sister soon."
Little Ranma just looked confused and after a little bit of thinking,
frowned.
"I thought babies came from storks?" Nodoka stiffled a laugh but smiled
all the same.
"Whoever told you that Ranma?"
"Father did." Nodoka sighed at the news.
"Yes he did Ranma."
-------end flashback
An older Ranma sighed and was depressed, knowing that he would never be
able beat up his father like he used to.
Then his thoughts turned to the matter of finding out who killed his
little sister, Ranko (4). Then he remembered the strange symbol he found
on Ken's foot.
'I wonder what that upside-down crescent moon stood for?'
He had enough of this thinking business and set his sights on the
yellow brick road to the wonderful city of Tokyo (5).
-------
(1) Refer to Chapter 1 for information regarding Ken.
(2) I'm assuming Japan had a way to tell time.
(3) How else is he supposed to get stronger? Genma had lots of strange
ideas for training and its only fitting that Ranma learned this from
his father.
(4) Your probably thinking 'How obvious can David get?'. Too bad. I like
the name so I stuck with it. Got any problems with that?
(5) I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. I just had to put in a reference to
The Wizard of Oz. ;)
End Chapter 2
Visions of War
Chapter 3
If a word could describe the sights before Ranma, it would have been
prosperous.
Ranma had just entered the outskirts of the city of Tokyo and already,
even in the suburbs of the city, there were numerous people milling
around doing whatever busy people do.
There were vendors with their own yakatoris (1), women walking around
buying groceries, men working on construction, and others were just
standing and talking with each other.
He had heard stories of city life when he was still living in his, now
destroyed, village, but nothing could have prepared him for the scene
before him.
As he walked through the streets, he noticed that the houses were built
out of stone, plaster, and wood and even had shillings for the roofs.
He was used to living in sods (2).
However, for all of Tokyo's splendors, he noticed that the people seemed
pre-occupied with something. It seemed that they were always in a state
of tension. Analyzing the situation even further, he could even
sense the greed from the crowds in front, behind, and on the sides of
him. The golden city of Tokyo didn't look so bright anymore.
He was about to speculate even further when he caught the sound of
people screaming in the distance. The sound was coming closer and
closer.
The people around him stopped what they were doing and heard the screams
themselves. Looking toward the distance, they saw a wave of people
rushing towards them. Somehow, they saw through the cluster of people
and saw a beast unfit for human eyes. Then they screamed and ran as
well.
All of them except for Ranma.
Even though he did not care for the behaviour and attitude of the
citizens of Tokyo, he did not wish them harm. And so, he rushed towards
to the monster with the intent of destroying it.
The monster itself was a bulging mass of muscles easily soaring to a
height of 8 feet. It had scale-like skin and had horns protruding from
his elbows, knees, shoulders, and head. It was red in color. It also had
a face not even a mother would love. If one was to look at it in person,
they would say it was a demon that was wrecking structures causing
massive property damage.
While the monster was creating havoc, it noticed a little girl assuming
a fetal position and crying her eyes out. Being the evil thing that it
was, the beast rushed towards the girl ready to pounce and enjoy hearing
and feeling the brutal slaughter of the innocent little child.
Ranma saw all this and his already hurried sprinting turned into a mad
dash to save the girl. To any that happened to glance, they would only
see a red and white blur.
The demon closed in for the kill and was ready to savor the flavors (3)
the little girl's blood would have to offer. It reached in with it's
bulky arm and felt a satisfying impact. However, when it looked at its
result, it noticed that its intended victim was not on the receiving
end. A young man had his hand over its fist. Ranma smirked.
Snarling, the demon launched into an array of moves designed to take out
the strongest of opponents. This same combo was able to take out an
entire army of samurai. Fire had a better chance against water than this
little boy had. In some cases however, fire would prevail.
Ranma just went inside the demon's guard and struck out, then struck
again and again. He followed with a crescent kick to the head
breaking one of its horns. The demon roared in pain.
However, Ranma did not let up. He continued to strike the demon over and
over again until the demon seemed to grow desperate and start trying to
scramble away. The demon would have a field day trying to explain the
event to its superiors. Ranma let it go.
Seeing the demon fleeing from the scene, the people in hiding started to
come out of their hiding places. They stared at Ranma in disbelief. Then
they cheered.
Some men had the courage to go to Ranma and lift him onto their
shoulders. The crowd paraded around celebrating.
Ranma was annoyed. Using one of his carrier's head as a springboard, he
launched himself out of their way and made his way towards the little
girl he saved earlier. The people did not notice this seeing as how they
were too busy celebrating.
However, Ranma couldn't find the little girl. At least until she came up
behind him and tugged on his red shirt.
"T-Thank you m-mister."
Turning around, Ranma could see clearly for the first time the appareance
of the red-haired little girl.
She seemed to be 6 years of age. She was wearing a plain cloth dress with
patches which indicated that she was not wealthy. In fact, it seemed she
was poor. However, all this did not matter to Ranma. To Ranma, he was
looking at a ghost. A ghost of his little sister. A little sister that
got in the way of the battle in his village. A little sister that was
run through by a sword. A little sister that was carelessly murdered. He
fell to his knees.
"R-Ranko...?" He grabbed the girl by her arms and looked straight into
her eyes. He was trying very hard to come with an explanation for this.
The girl in question had wide frightened eyes. A shimmer of tears was
just starting to appear in the corners of her eyes.
Seeing that the little girl was about to cry, Ranma quickly let go and
started to apologize for his mistake when he was interrupted by a fierce
hug.
"Thank you for giving me a name mister." At this, Ranma was crestfallen.
It seemed his sister did not come back from the dead.
"You mean you didn't have a name before?" Ranko shook her head.
Ranma was about to speculate further when he was cut off by a
loud-mouthed fellow.
"You! One who claims to have defeated a demon!" Ranma looked around him
searching for anyone who fit that description. He found none.
"You mean me?" He pointed to himself.
At this question, Kuno turned toward the crowd of people gathered in a
ring around the two. He addressed them.
"It seemeth our saviour does not have the wit to comprehend such a
simple call!" The people laughed and jeered at Ranma already having
forgotten the incident with the demon.
Ranma simply glared at them sending the crowd a reminder of the battle
which quickly quelled the noise emitted from all of them. All of them
except for a certain samurai armor wearing loud-mouthed idiot.
"I will not accept the fact that a vagabond such as yourself, would
actually have the skill to defeat a demon! Only samurai have the skill
necessary to quell such beasts!" With that he unsheathed his katana
pointing it at Ranma.
"Wilt thou fight to prove thy worth, ronin (4)?"
Ranma just glared at him.
Crying out a battle cry, Kuno charged Ranma intending to cut him in half.
Ranma got into a battle stance then leaped at his opponent.
The two crossed paths (5) and landed on either side of each other. The
two did not not more for a while. Ranma turned back to Kuno and gave a
digusted look at him.
People were wondering why Kuno was just standing around. One man was
brave enough to walk up to him and waved his hand in front of Kuno's
face. Kuno did not react.
"Hey everyone! He's in shock!" He took out an ink set and brush and
started doodling on Kuno's face.
Everyone else scrambled for their own set, eager to doodle on the local
samurai.
Ranma bigsweated.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
A scream rendered through the air and the people tensed thinking that
the demon had come back with reinforcements.
They shuddered when signs of love declarations to Kuno (6) were thrusted
into the air.
"Kuno's been defeated!"
The crowd parted to allow a group of women to go toward Ranma. They
looked furious.
The females stopped and glared at Ranma. Then one of the women spoke up.
"Kill him!"
Kuno's fan club rushed Ranma.
Meanwhile, the rest of the people continued doodling on Kuno.
----Erehwon (Nowhere)
A woman stands, gazing at the visions put forth by the liquid in the
cauldron in front of her. It was currently confusing her.
It was not a vision of the past. It was not a vision of the present. No,
it was not any of the above. It was not even a vision of the future. It
was a premonotion.
However, this particular one was very obscure.
Looking into the viewing water, the woman could see only darkness. But
the strange thing was that the darkness continued becoming darker. If
that was possible. A luminous dot of light appeared.
No matter how dark the vision became, the ray of light continued to
shine bright, pushing against the darkness.
Then an image of man appeared, shimmering. The image was continualy
wavering around but it was gradually becoming still. When it stopped
flickering, the identity of the man became clear.
It was Ranma.
"Hm... Who is he? What does the future hold for him? Why him?" These
questions and more were coursing through the lady's mind.
At the height of her speculation, the vision inside of the cauldron
suddenly wavered and dissapeared leaving behind a moving image of a
scene.
The image was cloudy and when the sound kicked in, she could hear sounds
of a people screaming, yelling, and generally causing a ruckus.
When the smoke cleared, the group of women were leaving a tangled mess
of a human being called Ranma.
The woman sweatdropped.
"What was that?" Before she could say anything further, a tall muscular
armored figure walked in. He had a white streak in his long hair which
was tied back into a simple pony-tail. He had cat-like eyes.
"Lady Tendo, we have located the vagabond. It appears he goes by the
name as Ranma Saotome," The man sneered. "Shall I send troops to destroy
him for you?"
The woman paused in thought for a moment resting her chin on an upraised
hand.
"No, I want him alive. Bring him to me, Herb."
Herb, narrowed his eyes and without a word, was about to step out when
Nabiki called him back.
"Herb. Do not damage the boy. Do I make myself clear?" She looked
straight in his eyes as if she was challenging him.
"I understand fully milady." Herb said this through clenched teeth.
Nabiki just turned back to her cauldron, pondering.
----Tokyo, Japan
It took Ranma a little while but he got back up, brushed his clothes off
and look none the worse for wear and tear.
In the background, the people were still fascinated with the concept of
doodling on Kuno with ink sets that they did not notice that Ranma was
leaving the scene.
He was walking away when he was stopped by a tug on his pants. Wondering
who or what the hindrance was, he turned around. It was the little girl
he named Ranko.
She was looking up at him with wide-eyes and with adoration.
"Mister, are you leaving?" She barely whispered.
"Yes I am." He replied.
"C-Can you take me with you?" Ranma looked like he was a deer caught in
the headlights of an on-coming truck.
"Uh.. Um.. That is.." He used his hand to start scratching the back of
his head.
Before Ranma could answer any further, he and the little girl were
attacked.
A group of ninjas like before on his way to Tokyo, suddenly sprouted of
the darkness.
They rushed the unprepared Ranma.
Suddenly fearful for her benefactor's health, Ranko jumped in front of
him and closed her eyes ready for anything.
The ninjas too far into their trajectory, grabbed the little girl by
accident and jumped away into the shadows. Their element of surprised
was ruined. They did not want to end like the Alpha team (7).
Shocked out of his stupor, Ranma leaped for the ninjas but it was too
late.
"Rankoooooooo!!!" He leaped into the alleyways and onto the rooftop but
there was not sign of the ninjas anywhere.
"No.." Ranma fell onto his hands and knees. "I failed. I failed again.."
Deep in his sorrow, Ranma did not notice a figure that appeared behind
him.
The figure turned out to be a male who appeared not to have had any
sleep for the last year.
"Ahem! I think I know who took that little girl.."
Gosuskugi was lifted by the collar of his robes by Ranma.
"You'd better tell me everything you know or else."
Gosunkugi started sweating like mad.
"Ano... I don't know anything..."
Enraged, Ranma was about to punt Gosunkugi into LEO when he felt the
tremors.
"Um... Could you let me down?"
Ranma put a finger against his lips.
"Shhh"
Thinking the demon would be back, Gosunkugi started trembling. He then
started wriggling in Ranma's grip trying to get himself free when felt
the tremors of the earth shaking.
"Please let me down!" He started crying.
Without giving him any attention Ranma let him down. With that,
Gosunkugi just ran away screaming at the top of his lungs.
Ranma's attention was on the tremors that seemed to be coming from down
the street where the people already fled in panic. Only Kuno was left
behind. But Ranma didn't care for him.
A cloud of dust formed in the distance not unlike the one created before
when Kuno's fanclub beat him within an inch of his life.
A shine of light flash in Ranma's eyes and he had to shield his eyes
from it. Then it hit him.
"Ow!" A stinging slapping feeling hit him in the face. When he opened
his eyes, he could only see dark. Pulling the offending object off his
face he saw an alien object.
"What is this..?" He was interrupted by the yells of the women that were
creating the dust in the distance, and who were bearing down on him with
cries of "Pervert!" "Thief!"
In a panic, Ranma started shaking but his legs wouldn't move.
The women took advantage of this and pounced on him.
For the second time today, Ranma felt pain like he never felt before.
"Ow!" "Ite!" "Not There...!" "AHHHHHHHH!"
Happosai just stood by swinging a panty around his finger, smirking.
"Looks like I found a new toy."
----
(1) A portable restaurant.
(2) A house made of the mud, wheat, or any other stuff handy that was on
the ground.
(3) It rhymes!
(4) Japanese for vagabond
(5) Sorry about the pun. I couldn't resist.
(6) Bet you didn't see that coming!
(7) Refer to Chapter 2
End of chapter 3
Visions of War
Chapter 4
Gosunkugi took a slighty warm damp cloth off Ranma's forehead and
replaced it with a cooler damp cloth.
Ranma stirred awake.
Ranma sat up, blinked away the rest of his sleep, and took stock of the
environment around him. He was in a bright room with white plaster
walls and a rice paper door. He noticed the various dressers and the
table that sufficed as an eating plane. It was not an opulent room, but
it wasn't a shack either.
"I see that you have decided to return to the land of the living."
Ranma quickly got up and backflipped into a fighting stance.
"Who are you?"
Gosunkugi put up his hands in a warding gesture.
"Don't hurt me! I'm the one that you almost attacked before when those
ninjas took that little girl."
"Not you. You."
Ranma overlooked past Gosunkugi. His gaze was towards the shadow behind
Gosunkugi.
The shape moved from out of the shadow to reveal himself as...
Happosai.
"Hello Ranma. I see that you have recovered from your ordeal with those
women." Ranma narrowed his eyes.
"You were the one who just had to use me as a scapegoat didn't ya?
Well, no one uses me like that without a beating!"
Ranma leaped towards Happosai with the intent of kicking ass.
"I don't think so Ranma." With that Happosai took out a flask of liquid
from the fold his clothing, uncorked it, and splashed Ranma with it.
When he was hit with the water, Ranma felt very disoriented. His center
of balance was off. His chest felt very heavy and very constricted. His
head felt lighter.
So it was no wonder that he lost his balance in mid-leap and fell down
on his face.
Still unknowing of the full horror of the liquid that he was splashed
with, Ranma exclaimed, "What did you do to me?" For some reason his
voice sounded very high-pitched.
Openly leering, Happosai replied, "Why, I only made you a better sight
to behold!" He leaped for Ranma. Or more accurately, his chest.
When Happosai landed, Ranma felt a strange feeling on his chest. He
shivered at a the touch and almost afraid of looking, he reluctantly
glanced down. He had breasts.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Ranma grabbed the old freak and proceeded to beat the shit out him.
Happosai, didn't like the feeling of being beat up. He took out his
pipe and tapped Ranma on the forehead and infused a bit of ki into it,
resulting in throwing Ranma off of him and into the wall.
Miraculously not showing any signs of damage, Happosai sat down on the
floor.
"Maybe now you'll listen to me."
Ranma couldn't move a muscle.
'Happosai must've hit one of my paralysing pressure points.'
"..."
Seeing that he would not receive any banter from Ranma, Happosai
continued.
"I have the power to see the future." Happosai paused.
"In it I see that you are engaged in some sort of war and in it I
foresaw that you would need the curse of Jusenkyo. As to what Jusenkyo
is, it is a valley located in the Qinghai Province in China. In the
valley, there is a clearing spotted with small springs. However, they
are no ordinary springs. Each spring has the power to curse the person
that falls in it. The curse is to turn into the body of the last thing
to drown in it. Thing is, the curse is triggered by different
temperatures of water. The water I splashed you with is from the spring
of drowned girl."
Happosai stood up and walked over to Ranma-chan.
"In the future you had the body of a cat."
Seeing Ranma tense Happosai knew that he was on the right track.
"I know you received the cat-fist training. You have the markings of
it. I decided to give you a human form instead of the animal that you
fear most. So, in fact you should be thanking me!" Happosai pounced on
Ranma's chest again.
Feeling the strange, unwelcome sensation again, Ranma forced the
paralyzation out and punted Happosai through the roof into LEO.
"Oh god that felt wierd!"
Shivering in revulsion, Ranma thought back on what the old man said.
Looking around she spotted Gosukugi trembling at a corner of the room.
"Can you get me some hot water?"
Gosunkugi did as she asked.
Ranma poured the hot water on herself. Immediately Ranma felt the
change. His chest felt like it was being crushed, his head felt like it
was swelling, his hips felt like it was being squeeze really hard, and
finally the familiar sensation between his legs.
Ranma patted himself down to make sure the old freak was not lying. He
stopped at his manhood because he was sure by that point.
He turned to Gosunkugi.
"Thanks for your help, man."
Ranma left for the door.
"Wait!" Ranma stopped.
"Let me go with you." Ranma turned towards Gosunkugi with a questioning
glance.
"Why?" Switching his eyes to the floor, Gosunkugi answered.
"Ever since I was a little boy, I always wanted to experience magic. I
always believed that magic always existed. And today, I saw it for the
first time." Gosunkugi lifted his head and looked at Ranma fiercely.
"For the first time today, I saw magic. Now that I know that magic does
truly exist, I want to learn more about it." Ranma was puzzled.
"So why do you wanna go with me then?"
"I don't know but I have this feeling like we were destined to travel
together. Will you take me?"
Ranma considered it.
"No." With that he walked out the door.
"Well, if it isn't Ranma Saotome."
Ranma had just exited the house when he was confronted by a male that
seemed to be in his age group. He had a white streak in his hair and
wore scaly armor. However, his most destinguishing feature was his
eyes. The man had cat-like eyes.
After a long pause, Ranma sighed.
"Why am I so popular all of a sudden?" He muttered.
Herb facefaulted.
"I mean, did I piss off some Kami? Did I do something in my past-life?
Did I..." Ranma was cut off by a blast in the face. He was blown back
into the wall of the house and fell in a heap.
Herb lowered his smoking hand.
"I grow tired of your babbling. I was sent to kill you by Nabiki
Tendo."
"..."
"Are you too afraid to say anything? Well, you should be. I am death
incarnate."
"..."
Herb looked more carefully at the fallen man and noticed that Ranma was
out cold. Herb facefaulted once again.
"Kaiki kuso... (1)"
Herb was about to speculate even further if it weren't for Happosai
bursting into the scene by falling on his head. He lost consciousness
almost immediately.
"Thanks boy, for breaking my fall like that. Oh, I see that you fell
asleep. Oh well, time to give you a gift." Happosai left a small ball
wrapped with what looked like brown paper and with a small sparkling
wick coming out of it.
He took out a pail of water and splashed Ranma with the water.
Ranma-chan stirred.
"Oh man, did anyone catch the flag insignia of that ship?"
Ranma-chan shook her head to clear it. She spread her senses out and
felt a powerful yet familiar ki presence near her. She look up and
bared her teeth.
"You again! I'm gonna kill you for cursing me like that! Die!" Ranma
lunged.
Happosai simply jumped up, took out his pipe and casually flicked Ranma
into the air.
"I'll get you old mannnnnnnnn...."
"Hmph! Do someone a favor and what do you get? Insolence..."
It was at this time that the bomb exploded. What was left after the
explosion was an impact area with black sooty marks spiking out on the
ground.
Gosunkugi saw all of this from the safety of his windows. He was
staring at the little shrunken old man.
'Wow! It's him! That's the old man who changed that rude guy into a
girl. He must a black magic user! Now if only I can persuade him to
teach me some magic...'
Under Gosunkugi's eyes, Happosai dissapeared in a blur.
"Wha...?" someone tapped on his shoulder. Gosunkugi stiffened.
"*Gulp* W-Who is t-that that?" Gosunkugi quickly looked over his
shoulder. He saw nothing. He then turned back towards the window and
was looking at the most wrinkly face he ever saw.
"AAAHHHH!! It's a troll!" Gosunkugi received a rap on the head by
Happosai's pipe.
"Who's a troll! And here I was, about to offer you an apprenticeship in
magic too..." Gosunkugi eyes lit up.
"Really!? Will you?" he grabbed Happosai into a hug with tears
streaming down the sides of his face.
"Ack! Can't...Breathe..." Happosai was turning an interesting shade of
blue.
Noticing the lack of comfort in his benefactor, Gosunkugi let go of
Happosai. He got down to his knees and bowed to Happosai.
"I await you're command, Master."
On the other side of the city of Tokyo, Kuno was strolling down the
street, his all-female-plus-one-male fan club following him waving
banners of his greatness around. People quickly swerved to the side
afraid to cross paths with the undefeatable (except for one time)
samurai and his equally terrifying fan club.
The lone male fan ran to catch up with Kuno while the women were giving
him the evil eye.
"Master Kuno! I love you!" he glomped Kuno. However, he was smacked
across the head before he could.
"Begone demon! No man would proclaim his love for another without the
stain of the devil upon him! I shall smite thee!" Kuno proceeded to
beat Sasuke up and punted him out of stratosphere.
"I love youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."
Sasuke continued his trajectory until he crashed into a red-headed girl
with a pig-tail. He was knocked unconscious immediately.
They fell to the ground. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how
you look at it), Kuno caught Ranma before she hit the ground. Sasuke
wasn't as lucky.
"Who is this goddess that doth fall into my arms?"
The Kuno fan club got to their knees and started crying.
Kuno looks up with tears streaming down his face.
"The heavens hath doth graciously granted me love! I must hurry to my
state to prepare the ceremony!"
With Ranma still in his arms, Kuno trooped off home.
The fan club wiped their tears and got up. They had angry looks in
their face.
"I never like that @$$hole anyways!" they said in unison. However, they
took their banners and rushed to the Kuno manor proclaiming Kuno's
greatness.
Sasuke was left inside his self-made crater.
Ranma woke up with a splitting headache. She sat up and the first thing
she noticed was that she wasn't in her own clothes. She was wearing a
silk purple nightgown (2). You could see through the material very
easily. Whats more was that she was wearing bras and panties.
"What the hell!?" she proceeded to rip them off. She was left naked and
when she looked down at herself she developed a nosebleed.
A servent chose that moment to enter the room. Thankfully, the servant
was female. She looked to be 19 years of age. She had long brown hair
tied back by a white ribbon in her hair.
"Oh my!" exclaimed Kasumi. She hurriedly dressed Ranma into clothes
again much to Ranma annoyance.
"Hey!" Ranma now wore a red kimono. She ripped this attire as well.
"I ain't wearing no girly clothes!" Kasumi didn't let the comment faze
her and got out another kimono.
Ranma had a plan, a plan that did not include wearing women's clothing.
She was planning on trying to become a man again.
"Wait!" Kasumi stopped, perlexed, "Why?"
"I'm a guy! I ain't no girl!" Kasumi was confused.
Usually when she becomes confused, her mind shuts down and her body
reacts.
"Oh my!" With that she exited the room.
"Hey, where're ya goin'?"
Kasumi came back in with a plate of cookies.
"Would you like a cookie?" Facefaulting ensues.
"Kaiki kuso..."
After many explanations, much of which included the answering of
whether Ranma was really a guy or a girl, Ranma tactfully got Kasumi to
get him some hot water. He did that by telling Kasumi that she had nice
hair and that he would appreciate it if she could get him some hot
water.
Ranma upended the kettle of hot water over his head and felt the change
immediately.
Kasumi's mind shut down again.
Ranma didn't notice the change in Kasumi, but neither could anyone else
in the universe. Maybe, it was the smile on her face...
Ranma spied his backpack in the corner of the room and took out a spare
set of clothes out of it.
After dressing, he looked back at Kasumi and noticed that she hasn't
moved. She still had that smile on her face. However, when he looked
again, he thought he saw a bit of drool in the corner of her lips. He
looked once again, but it wasn't there.
"Must've imagined it."
Ranma left the room and Kasumi.
Kasumi was able to move three hours later. She had a blush on her face.
"Oh my!"
Ranma was walking down the hallway when he some conversation around the
corner. Pressing his back to the wall, he crept some slowly towards the
voices trying not to make a sound.
"...tice that the word demon sounds so much like a creature from
Digimon? And that Digimon sounds very Jamaican? Actually, I think that
Digimon was created by Jamaicans!"
"Um... Hiroshi?"
"Yea?"
"What's a 'Digimon'?"
"Um...Now that I think about it, I don't know."
"What about 'Jamaican'?"
"The author just had me say that to confuse the readers." Ranma sported
a huge sweatdrop.
"Um...I think it worked Hiroshi."
"Yup."
"Uh...Yea...I think I'll just stand right here." Ranma heard some feet
shuffling.
"..."
"By the way Hiroshi, have you heard that Kyoto was complete
destroyed?" Ranma perked up.
"Are you serious?"
"Yea. I heard there weren't any people left alive from that massacre.
Not even the children."
"Oh man. That's harsh."
"You said it."
"Any clues on who did it?"
"I heard the Lunar Incidental Samurai Army did it."
"Huh. Oh well, did you get a look at that hot red..." Ranma left to
ponder the conversation he just overheard.
'Lunar Incidental Samurai? Heh. They must be the Looney Idiotic Samurai
to have picked Kyoto to destroy. Now they have me to deal with. I will
have my revenge.'
----
(1) I got that word from Messed Up! by Hawk49er. Means "Wierd Shit"
according to him.
(2) The one that Nabiki dressed him in when he was smacked by Akane.
End of Chapter 4
Prologue
A man walked. Normally this would be nothing to be concerned about.
However, this man was walking through an apocalyptic ruin of what once
was a city.
There were broken alabaster pillars lying on the ground in a state of
ruin. Skeletons littered the ground in an eerie sort of way. Arrows,
swords, shields, and many other equipments of war were almost casually
strewn about. Death was upon this city.
None of this had an effect on him. What did effect him was the sight of
a child-sized skeleton gripping a small teddy bear in its skeletal
hands. Tears came to his eyes at the sight before him.
So engrossed was he by this horrific sight, that he did not notice that
his body was shrouded by a chaotic and sickly green aura. He looked
like a demon from the deepest depth of Hell.
He moved his hand slightly to the side pointing to the ground.
A beam of green light burst from the aforementioned hand to create a
crater. He picked up the small skeleton and the little teddy and
tenderly placed them in the newly created grave. He carefully covered
the grave with dirt and knelt.
Ranma wept.
He cried out his sorrow to the heavens, yet they would not answer.
For hours his heart and soul poured out for the child that perished in
the slaughter.
At the end of his private mourning, he stood up and stood still.
He vowed that he would never let what happened to Ranko happen to any
other.He vowed to avenge his sister. No one kills Ranma Saotome's
sister and lives.
End Prologue
Visions of War
Chapter 1
Lightning and thunder erupted across the landscape. The winds were
howling and the clouds hung low and ominous. The rain came down in
torrents.
In the distance, one could see the focus of the storm in a clearing in
the middle of a forest.
Two men stood in the clearing locked in combat.
One man wore a light red vest, loose black kung-fu pants, wrist
bracers, and black lithe slippers. He sported a pig-tail that reached
just under his shoulders. His name, Ranma Saotome. The other man wore
the uniform black ninja garb. His name, Ken Inuyisha.
The one known as Ken lunged and in mid-air, flipped so that his feet
would strike his oppenent on his chest.
Ranma sidestepped and delivered a vicious roundhouse in the ninja's
stomach making him double over in pain. However, he did not stop there.
He continued sending ferocious attacks at his downed oppenent until the
man collapsed unconscious.
Stepping away from his enemy, Ranma speculated this situation. After a
moments thought, he picked up the fallen man by the throat and slapped
him. This had the effect of waking him.
"Who are you and why have you attacked me?" Ranma shook Ken.
"I don't have to answer to scum like you!" shouted Ken in defiance.
This angered Ranma. He started to tighten his grip. His opponent yelped
like the dog he was.
"If you don't answer me, I'll have to rip your head off." Ranma said in
a cold, clear voice.
It seemed like the point got through to Ken that he would die if he did
not do something quick. His supply of air was running out quickly.
"Alright!...I'll...tell you," Ken quickly said in desperation.
"Just...let me...down."
Ranma was suspicious, but he couldn't see any other way to make the man
talk. He let go the ninja's throat.
The person in question rubbed his sore throat in a vain attempt at
trying to sooth the pain.
"My name is Ken Inuyisha. My boss, Hiroshi, told me to get rid of all
the evidence of the massacre back in Kyoto. I thought that it would be
an easy job seeing as how there was reported no survivors." He looked
at Ranma. "Heh. I guess the spies were wrong."
"I traveled to Kyoto, and looked for any piece of evidence that would
indicate that our organization was the cause of the destruction when I
saw footprints leading in and out of town. The footprints stopped at a
little grave and I immediately thought that there must've been some
person that escaped the battle and returned to mourn the passing of
their loved one. One thing led to another to lead to you." He said
looking up at Ranma.
Ranma just looked back at him and asked, "Did you do anything to the
grave?"
"I dug it out and ripped the toy out look...AGGH!" Ken was cut off due
to a hole where his heart used to be.
Ranma lowered his hand. " I don't really care for those who desecrate
burial grounds for the deceased. Especially my own flesh and blood."
He stooped over the body and searched for any signs of where to go
about finding out something about the killers of his sister. He came up
with nothing.
"Damn!" seethed Ranma, "This piece of trash is clean!"
He was about to walk away when he saw a brand on the body's foot. It
was a upside-down crescent moon that strangely looked as if it was
meant to be black.
"I wonder what that means..."
A figure looked into the a cauldron that viewed the recent events.
"Hm... Interesting," said the figure speculatively rubbing its chin.
"It seems we have a new player in this game. And from the looks of it,
he will be quite a nuisance to my design!"
The figure gave off a hideous laugh and threw its cloak to the ground
revealing the figure to be female.
"And so it begins..."
End Chapter 1
Visions of War
Chapter 2
Ranma was travelling on the road to Tokyo when all of a sudden he was
ambushed by a group of ninjas dressed similarly to Ken (1).
The first to attack did so in a flying kick but was interrupted by
Ranma's spinning kick to his midsection. He was sent flying.
Ranma then had to duck to avoid a thrust to the head by a sword-weilding
foe, then swept his feet from under him, sending him to the ground. The
masked man quickly got up to his feet ready to swing his massive katana
but was sent back down to the ground by a fast punch to the nose.
Seeing two of their friends quickly defeated, the others decided to
attack simultaneously. Together, they got into a stance that promised
a dificult manuever to dodge.
Ranma smirked.
The ninjas rushed him in an intricate pattern, not allowing any escape.
They never took Ranma's skills into account.
Through years of training and experience, Ranma dodged, sidestepped, and
basically avoiding the enemies' lethal attacks and returned in earnest,
an attack of his own.
He lunged towards his enemies and every time he attacked, a body would
drop to the ground.
It was over in 7 seconds flat (2).
-------
Ranma walked on the road to Tokyo.
On his back was a huge pack designed to hold many things. Indeed it
carried many things. Such things were a sleeping bag, sets of clothing,
some provisions, and 400kg (3) of weights.
One would think he was travelling light and they would be right. Ranma
was not one to travel with lots of stuff making him rely on his pack.
He would instead like to travel and not have to worry if his pack was
stolen or left behind because it did not carry anything valuable.
However, one thing that was important to him was his memories. Memories
of his mother, father, and sister. Memories of his friends. Memories
that would not, could not afford to lose.
At this moment he was thinking of the time that he first learned he
would have a sister...
-------flashback
"Mommy, why is your belly so big?" Asked a 7 year old boy. "Are you
getting fat?"
Nodoka suppressed the urge to smack her insolent son on the head for
that remark.
"No son," replied Nodoka in a gentle voice. "You are going to have a
little baby sister soon."
Little Ranma just looked confused and after a little bit of thinking,
frowned.
"I thought babies came from storks?" Nodoka stiffled a laugh but smiled
all the same.
"Whoever told you that Ranma?"
"Father did." Nodoka sighed at the news.
"Yes he did Ranma."
-------end flashback
An older Ranma sighed and was depressed, knowing that he would never be
able beat up his father like he used to.
Then his thoughts turned to the matter of finding out who killed his
little sister, Ranko (4). Then he remembered the strange symbol he found
on Ken's foot.
'I wonder what that upside-down crescent moon stood for?'
He had enough of this thinking business and set his sights on the
yellow brick road to the wonderful city of Tokyo (5).
-------
(1) Refer to Chapter 1 for information regarding Ken.
(2) I'm assuming Japan had a way to tell time.
(3) How else is he supposed to get stronger? Genma had lots of strange
ideas for training and its only fitting that Ranma learned this from
his father.
(4) Your probably thinking 'How obvious can David get?'. Too bad. I like
the name so I stuck with it. Got any problems with that?
(5) I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. I just had to put in a reference to
The Wizard of Oz. ;)
End Chapter 2
Visions of War
Chapter 3
If a word could describe the sights before Ranma, it would have been
prosperous.
Ranma had just entered the outskirts of the city of Tokyo and already,
even in the suburbs of the city, there were numerous people milling
around doing whatever busy people do.
There were vendors with their own yakatoris (1), women walking around
buying groceries, men working on construction, and others were just
standing and talking with each other.
He had heard stories of city life when he was still living in his, now
destroyed, village, but nothing could have prepared him for the scene
before him.
As he walked through the streets, he noticed that the houses were built
out of stone, plaster, and wood and even had shillings for the roofs.
He was used to living in sods (2).
However, for all of Tokyo's splendors, he noticed that the people seemed
pre-occupied with something. It seemed that they were always in a state
of tension. Analyzing the situation even further, he could even
sense the greed from the crowds in front, behind, and on the sides of
him. The golden city of Tokyo didn't look so bright anymore.
He was about to speculate even further when he caught the sound of
people screaming in the distance. The sound was coming closer and
closer.
The people around him stopped what they were doing and heard the screams
themselves. Looking toward the distance, they saw a wave of people
rushing towards them. Somehow, they saw through the cluster of people
and saw a beast unfit for human eyes. Then they screamed and ran as
well.
All of them except for Ranma.
Even though he did not care for the behaviour and attitude of the
citizens of Tokyo, he did not wish them harm. And so, he rushed towards
to the monster with the intent of destroying it.
The monster itself was a bulging mass of muscles easily soaring to a
height of 8 feet. It had scale-like skin and had horns protruding from
his elbows, knees, shoulders, and head. It was red in color. It also had
a face not even a mother would love. If one was to look at it in person,
they would say it was a demon that was wrecking structures causing
massive property damage.
While the monster was creating havoc, it noticed a little girl assuming
a fetal position and crying her eyes out. Being the evil thing that it
was, the beast rushed towards the girl ready to pounce and enjoy hearing
and feeling the brutal slaughter of the innocent little child.
Ranma saw all this and his already hurried sprinting turned into a mad
dash to save the girl. To any that happened to glance, they would only
see a red and white blur.
The demon closed in for the kill and was ready to savor the flavors (3)
the little girl's blood would have to offer. It reached in with it's
bulky arm and felt a satisfying impact. However, when it looked at its
result, it noticed that its intended victim was not on the receiving
end. A young man had his hand over its fist. Ranma smirked.
Snarling, the demon launched into an array of moves designed to take out
the strongest of opponents. This same combo was able to take out an
entire army of samurai. Fire had a better chance against water than this
little boy had. In some cases however, fire would prevail.
Ranma just went inside the demon's guard and struck out, then struck
again and again. He followed with a crescent kick to the head
breaking one of its horns. The demon roared in pain.
However, Ranma did not let up. He continued to strike the demon over and
over again until the demon seemed to grow desperate and start trying to
scramble away. The demon would have a field day trying to explain the
event to its superiors. Ranma let it go.
Seeing the demon fleeing from the scene, the people in hiding started to
come out of their hiding places. They stared at Ranma in disbelief. Then
they cheered.
Some men had the courage to go to Ranma and lift him onto their
shoulders. The crowd paraded around celebrating.
Ranma was annoyed. Using one of his carrier's head as a springboard, he
launched himself out of their way and made his way towards the little
girl he saved earlier. The people did not notice this seeing as how they
were too busy celebrating.
However, Ranma couldn't find the little girl. At least until she came up
behind him and tugged on his red shirt.
"T-Thank you m-mister."
Turning around, Ranma could see clearly for the first time the appareance
of the red-haired little girl.
She seemed to be 6 years of age. She was wearing a plain cloth dress with
patches which indicated that she was not wealthy. In fact, it seemed she
was poor. However, all this did not matter to Ranma. To Ranma, he was
looking at a ghost. A ghost of his little sister. A little sister that
got in the way of the battle in his village. A little sister that was
run through by a sword. A little sister that was carelessly murdered. He
fell to his knees.
"R-Ranko...?" He grabbed the girl by her arms and looked straight into
her eyes. He was trying very hard to come with an explanation for this.
The girl in question had wide frightened eyes. A shimmer of tears was
just starting to appear in the corners of her eyes.
Seeing that the little girl was about to cry, Ranma quickly let go and
started to apologize for his mistake when he was interrupted by a fierce
hug.
"Thank you for giving me a name mister." At this, Ranma was crestfallen.
It seemed his sister did not come back from the dead.
"You mean you didn't have a name before?" Ranko shook her head.
Ranma was about to speculate further when he was cut off by a
loud-mouthed fellow.
"You! One who claims to have defeated a demon!" Ranma looked around him
searching for anyone who fit that description. He found none.
"You mean me?" He pointed to himself.
At this question, Kuno turned toward the crowd of people gathered in a
ring around the two. He addressed them.
"It seemeth our saviour does not have the wit to comprehend such a
simple call!" The people laughed and jeered at Ranma already having
forgotten the incident with the demon.
Ranma simply glared at them sending the crowd a reminder of the battle
which quickly quelled the noise emitted from all of them. All of them
except for a certain samurai armor wearing loud-mouthed idiot.
"I will not accept the fact that a vagabond such as yourself, would
actually have the skill to defeat a demon! Only samurai have the skill
necessary to quell such beasts!" With that he unsheathed his katana
pointing it at Ranma.
"Wilt thou fight to prove thy worth, ronin (4)?"
Ranma just glared at him.
Crying out a battle cry, Kuno charged Ranma intending to cut him in half.
Ranma got into a battle stance then leaped at his opponent.
The two crossed paths (5) and landed on either side of each other. The
two did not not more for a while. Ranma turned back to Kuno and gave a
digusted look at him.
People were wondering why Kuno was just standing around. One man was
brave enough to walk up to him and waved his hand in front of Kuno's
face. Kuno did not react.
"Hey everyone! He's in shock!" He took out an ink set and brush and
started doodling on Kuno's face.
Everyone else scrambled for their own set, eager to doodle on the local
samurai.
Ranma bigsweated.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
A scream rendered through the air and the people tensed thinking that
the demon had come back with reinforcements.
They shuddered when signs of love declarations to Kuno (6) were thrusted
into the air.
"Kuno's been defeated!"
The crowd parted to allow a group of women to go toward Ranma. They
looked furious.
The females stopped and glared at Ranma. Then one of the women spoke up.
"Kill him!"
Kuno's fan club rushed Ranma.
Meanwhile, the rest of the people continued doodling on Kuno.
----Erehwon (Nowhere)
A woman stands, gazing at the visions put forth by the liquid in the
cauldron in front of her. It was currently confusing her.
It was not a vision of the past. It was not a vision of the present. No,
it was not any of the above. It was not even a vision of the future. It
was a premonotion.
However, this particular one was very obscure.
Looking into the viewing water, the woman could see only darkness. But
the strange thing was that the darkness continued becoming darker. If
that was possible. A luminous dot of light appeared.
No matter how dark the vision became, the ray of light continued to
shine bright, pushing against the darkness.
Then an image of man appeared, shimmering. The image was continualy
wavering around but it was gradually becoming still. When it stopped
flickering, the identity of the man became clear.
It was Ranma.
"Hm... Who is he? What does the future hold for him? Why him?" These
questions and more were coursing through the lady's mind.
At the height of her speculation, the vision inside of the cauldron
suddenly wavered and dissapeared leaving behind a moving image of a
scene.
The image was cloudy and when the sound kicked in, she could hear sounds
of a people screaming, yelling, and generally causing a ruckus.
When the smoke cleared, the group of women were leaving a tangled mess
of a human being called Ranma.
The woman sweatdropped.
"What was that?" Before she could say anything further, a tall muscular
armored figure walked in. He had a white streak in his long hair which
was tied back into a simple pony-tail. He had cat-like eyes.
"Lady Tendo, we have located the vagabond. It appears he goes by the
name as Ranma Saotome," The man sneered. "Shall I send troops to destroy
him for you?"
The woman paused in thought for a moment resting her chin on an upraised
hand.
"No, I want him alive. Bring him to me, Herb."
Herb, narrowed his eyes and without a word, was about to step out when
Nabiki called him back.
"Herb. Do not damage the boy. Do I make myself clear?" She looked
straight in his eyes as if she was challenging him.
"I understand fully milady." Herb said this through clenched teeth.
Nabiki just turned back to her cauldron, pondering.
----Tokyo, Japan
It took Ranma a little while but he got back up, brushed his clothes off
and look none the worse for wear and tear.
In the background, the people were still fascinated with the concept of
doodling on Kuno with ink sets that they did not notice that Ranma was
leaving the scene.
He was walking away when he was stopped by a tug on his pants. Wondering
who or what the hindrance was, he turned around. It was the little girl
he named Ranko.
She was looking up at him with wide-eyes and with adoration.
"Mister, are you leaving?" She barely whispered.
"Yes I am." He replied.
"C-Can you take me with you?" Ranma looked like he was a deer caught in
the headlights of an on-coming truck.
"Uh.. Um.. That is.." He used his hand to start scratching the back of
his head.
Before Ranma could answer any further, he and the little girl were
attacked.
A group of ninjas like before on his way to Tokyo, suddenly sprouted of
the darkness.
They rushed the unprepared Ranma.
Suddenly fearful for her benefactor's health, Ranko jumped in front of
him and closed her eyes ready for anything.
The ninjas too far into their trajectory, grabbed the little girl by
accident and jumped away into the shadows. Their element of surprised
was ruined. They did not want to end like the Alpha team (7).
Shocked out of his stupor, Ranma leaped for the ninjas but it was too
late.
"Rankoooooooo!!!" He leaped into the alleyways and onto the rooftop but
there was not sign of the ninjas anywhere.
"No.." Ranma fell onto his hands and knees. "I failed. I failed again.."
Deep in his sorrow, Ranma did not notice a figure that appeared behind
him.
The figure turned out to be a male who appeared not to have had any
sleep for the last year.
"Ahem! I think I know who took that little girl.."
Gosuskugi was lifted by the collar of his robes by Ranma.
"You'd better tell me everything you know or else."
Gosunkugi started sweating like mad.
"Ano... I don't know anything..."
Enraged, Ranma was about to punt Gosunkugi into LEO when he felt the
tremors.
"Um... Could you let me down?"
Ranma put a finger against his lips.
"Shhh"
Thinking the demon would be back, Gosunkugi started trembling. He then
started wriggling in Ranma's grip trying to get himself free when felt
the tremors of the earth shaking.
"Please let me down!" He started crying.
Without giving him any attention Ranma let him down. With that,
Gosunkugi just ran away screaming at the top of his lungs.
Ranma's attention was on the tremors that seemed to be coming from down
the street where the people already fled in panic. Only Kuno was left
behind. But Ranma didn't care for him.
A cloud of dust formed in the distance not unlike the one created before
when Kuno's fanclub beat him within an inch of his life.
A shine of light flash in Ranma's eyes and he had to shield his eyes
from it. Then it hit him.
"Ow!" A stinging slapping feeling hit him in the face. When he opened
his eyes, he could only see dark. Pulling the offending object off his
face he saw an alien object.
"What is this..?" He was interrupted by the yells of the women that were
creating the dust in the distance, and who were bearing down on him with
cries of "Pervert!" "Thief!"
In a panic, Ranma started shaking but his legs wouldn't move.
The women took advantage of this and pounced on him.
For the second time today, Ranma felt pain like he never felt before.
"Ow!" "Ite!" "Not There...!" "AHHHHHHHH!"
Happosai just stood by swinging a panty around his finger, smirking.
"Looks like I found a new toy."
----
(1) A portable restaurant.
(2) A house made of the mud, wheat, or any other stuff handy that was on
the ground.
(3) It rhymes!
(4) Japanese for vagabond
(5) Sorry about the pun. I couldn't resist.
(6) Bet you didn't see that coming!
(7) Refer to Chapter 2
End of chapter 3
Visions of War
Chapter 4
Gosunkugi took a slighty warm damp cloth off Ranma's forehead and
replaced it with a cooler damp cloth.
Ranma stirred awake.
Ranma sat up, blinked away the rest of his sleep, and took stock of the
environment around him. He was in a bright room with white plaster
walls and a rice paper door. He noticed the various dressers and the
table that sufficed as an eating plane. It was not an opulent room, but
it wasn't a shack either.
"I see that you have decided to return to the land of the living."
Ranma quickly got up and backflipped into a fighting stance.
"Who are you?"
Gosunkugi put up his hands in a warding gesture.
"Don't hurt me! I'm the one that you almost attacked before when those
ninjas took that little girl."
"Not you. You."
Ranma overlooked past Gosunkugi. His gaze was towards the shadow behind
Gosunkugi.
The shape moved from out of the shadow to reveal himself as...
Happosai.
"Hello Ranma. I see that you have recovered from your ordeal with those
women." Ranma narrowed his eyes.
"You were the one who just had to use me as a scapegoat didn't ya?
Well, no one uses me like that without a beating!"
Ranma leaped towards Happosai with the intent of kicking ass.
"I don't think so Ranma." With that Happosai took out a flask of liquid
from the fold his clothing, uncorked it, and splashed Ranma with it.
When he was hit with the water, Ranma felt very disoriented. His center
of balance was off. His chest felt very heavy and very constricted. His
head felt lighter.
So it was no wonder that he lost his balance in mid-leap and fell down
on his face.
Still unknowing of the full horror of the liquid that he was splashed
with, Ranma exclaimed, "What did you do to me?" For some reason his
voice sounded very high-pitched.
Openly leering, Happosai replied, "Why, I only made you a better sight
to behold!" He leaped for Ranma. Or more accurately, his chest.
When Happosai landed, Ranma felt a strange feeling on his chest. He
shivered at a the touch and almost afraid of looking, he reluctantly
glanced down. He had breasts.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Ranma grabbed the old freak and proceeded to beat the shit out him.
Happosai, didn't like the feeling of being beat up. He took out his
pipe and tapped Ranma on the forehead and infused a bit of ki into it,
resulting in throwing Ranma off of him and into the wall.
Miraculously not showing any signs of damage, Happosai sat down on the
floor.
"Maybe now you'll listen to me."
Ranma couldn't move a muscle.
'Happosai must've hit one of my paralysing pressure points.'
"..."
Seeing that he would not receive any banter from Ranma, Happosai
continued.
"I have the power to see the future." Happosai paused.
"In it I see that you are engaged in some sort of war and in it I
foresaw that you would need the curse of Jusenkyo. As to what Jusenkyo
is, it is a valley located in the Qinghai Province in China. In the
valley, there is a clearing spotted with small springs. However, they
are no ordinary springs. Each spring has the power to curse the person
that falls in it. The curse is to turn into the body of the last thing
to drown in it. Thing is, the curse is triggered by different
temperatures of water. The water I splashed you with is from the spring
of drowned girl."
Happosai stood up and walked over to Ranma-chan.
"In the future you had the body of a cat."
Seeing Ranma tense Happosai knew that he was on the right track.
"I know you received the cat-fist training. You have the markings of
it. I decided to give you a human form instead of the animal that you
fear most. So, in fact you should be thanking me!" Happosai pounced on
Ranma's chest again.
Feeling the strange, unwelcome sensation again, Ranma forced the
paralyzation out and punted Happosai through the roof into LEO.
"Oh god that felt wierd!"
Shivering in revulsion, Ranma thought back on what the old man said.
Looking around she spotted Gosukugi trembling at a corner of the room.
"Can you get me some hot water?"
Gosunkugi did as she asked.
Ranma poured the hot water on herself. Immediately Ranma felt the
change. His chest felt like it was being crushed, his head felt like it
was swelling, his hips felt like it was being squeeze really hard, and
finally the familiar sensation between his legs.
Ranma patted himself down to make sure the old freak was not lying. He
stopped at his manhood because he was sure by that point.
He turned to Gosunkugi.
"Thanks for your help, man."
Ranma left for the door.
"Wait!" Ranma stopped.
"Let me go with you." Ranma turned towards Gosunkugi with a questioning
glance.
"Why?" Switching his eyes to the floor, Gosunkugi answered.
"Ever since I was a little boy, I always wanted to experience magic. I
always believed that magic always existed. And today, I saw it for the
first time." Gosunkugi lifted his head and looked at Ranma fiercely.
"For the first time today, I saw magic. Now that I know that magic does
truly exist, I want to learn more about it." Ranma was puzzled.
"So why do you wanna go with me then?"
"I don't know but I have this feeling like we were destined to travel
together. Will you take me?"
Ranma considered it.
"No." With that he walked out the door.
"Well, if it isn't Ranma Saotome."
Ranma had just exited the house when he was confronted by a male that
seemed to be in his age group. He had a white streak in his hair and
wore scaly armor. However, his most destinguishing feature was his
eyes. The man had cat-like eyes.
After a long pause, Ranma sighed.
"Why am I so popular all of a sudden?" He muttered.
Herb facefaulted.
"I mean, did I piss off some Kami? Did I do something in my past-life?
Did I..." Ranma was cut off by a blast in the face. He was blown back
into the wall of the house and fell in a heap.
Herb lowered his smoking hand.
"I grow tired of your babbling. I was sent to kill you by Nabiki
Tendo."
"..."
"Are you too afraid to say anything? Well, you should be. I am death
incarnate."
"..."
Herb looked more carefully at the fallen man and noticed that Ranma was
out cold. Herb facefaulted once again.
"Kaiki kuso... (1)"
Herb was about to speculate even further if it weren't for Happosai
bursting into the scene by falling on his head. He lost consciousness
almost immediately.
"Thanks boy, for breaking my fall like that. Oh, I see that you fell
asleep. Oh well, time to give you a gift." Happosai left a small ball
wrapped with what looked like brown paper and with a small sparkling
wick coming out of it.
He took out a pail of water and splashed Ranma with the water.
Ranma-chan stirred.
"Oh man, did anyone catch the flag insignia of that ship?"
Ranma-chan shook her head to clear it. She spread her senses out and
felt a powerful yet familiar ki presence near her. She look up and
bared her teeth.
"You again! I'm gonna kill you for cursing me like that! Die!" Ranma
lunged.
Happosai simply jumped up, took out his pipe and casually flicked Ranma
into the air.
"I'll get you old mannnnnnnnn...."
"Hmph! Do someone a favor and what do you get? Insolence..."
It was at this time that the bomb exploded. What was left after the
explosion was an impact area with black sooty marks spiking out on the
ground.
Gosunkugi saw all of this from the safety of his windows. He was
staring at the little shrunken old man.
'Wow! It's him! That's the old man who changed that rude guy into a
girl. He must a black magic user! Now if only I can persuade him to
teach me some magic...'
Under Gosunkugi's eyes, Happosai dissapeared in a blur.
"Wha...?" someone tapped on his shoulder. Gosunkugi stiffened.
"*Gulp* W-Who is t-that that?" Gosunkugi quickly looked over his
shoulder. He saw nothing. He then turned back towards the window and
was looking at the most wrinkly face he ever saw.
"AAAHHHH!! It's a troll!" Gosunkugi received a rap on the head by
Happosai's pipe.
"Who's a troll! And here I was, about to offer you an apprenticeship in
magic too..." Gosunkugi eyes lit up.
"Really!? Will you?" he grabbed Happosai into a hug with tears
streaming down the sides of his face.
"Ack! Can't...Breathe..." Happosai was turning an interesting shade of
blue.
Noticing the lack of comfort in his benefactor, Gosunkugi let go of
Happosai. He got down to his knees and bowed to Happosai.
"I await you're command, Master."
On the other side of the city of Tokyo, Kuno was strolling down the
street, his all-female-plus-one-male fan club following him waving
banners of his greatness around. People quickly swerved to the side
afraid to cross paths with the undefeatable (except for one time)
samurai and his equally terrifying fan club.
The lone male fan ran to catch up with Kuno while the women were giving
him the evil eye.
"Master Kuno! I love you!" he glomped Kuno. However, he was smacked
across the head before he could.
"Begone demon! No man would proclaim his love for another without the
stain of the devil upon him! I shall smite thee!" Kuno proceeded to
beat Sasuke up and punted him out of stratosphere.
"I love youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."
Sasuke continued his trajectory until he crashed into a red-headed girl
with a pig-tail. He was knocked unconscious immediately.
They fell to the ground. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how
you look at it), Kuno caught Ranma before she hit the ground. Sasuke
wasn't as lucky.
"Who is this goddess that doth fall into my arms?"
The Kuno fan club got to their knees and started crying.
Kuno looks up with tears streaming down his face.
"The heavens hath doth graciously granted me love! I must hurry to my
state to prepare the ceremony!"
With Ranma still in his arms, Kuno trooped off home.
The fan club wiped their tears and got up. They had angry looks in
their face.
"I never like that @$$hole anyways!" they said in unison. However, they
took their banners and rushed to the Kuno manor proclaiming Kuno's
greatness.
Sasuke was left inside his self-made crater.
Ranma woke up with a splitting headache. She sat up and the first thing
she noticed was that she wasn't in her own clothes. She was wearing a
silk purple nightgown (2). You could see through the material very
easily. Whats more was that she was wearing bras and panties.
"What the hell!?" she proceeded to rip them off. She was left naked and
when she looked down at herself she developed a nosebleed.
A servent chose that moment to enter the room. Thankfully, the servant
was female. She looked to be 19 years of age. She had long brown hair
tied back by a white ribbon in her hair.
"Oh my!" exclaimed Kasumi. She hurriedly dressed Ranma into clothes
again much to Ranma annoyance.
"Hey!" Ranma now wore a red kimono. She ripped this attire as well.
"I ain't wearing no girly clothes!" Kasumi didn't let the comment faze
her and got out another kimono.
Ranma had a plan, a plan that did not include wearing women's clothing.
She was planning on trying to become a man again.
"Wait!" Kasumi stopped, perlexed, "Why?"
"I'm a guy! I ain't no girl!" Kasumi was confused.
Usually when she becomes confused, her mind shuts down and her body
reacts.
"Oh my!" With that she exited the room.
"Hey, where're ya goin'?"
Kasumi came back in with a plate of cookies.
"Would you like a cookie?" Facefaulting ensues.
"Kaiki kuso..."
After many explanations, much of which included the answering of
whether Ranma was really a guy or a girl, Ranma tactfully got Kasumi to
get him some hot water. He did that by telling Kasumi that she had nice
hair and that he would appreciate it if she could get him some hot
water.
Ranma upended the kettle of hot water over his head and felt the change
immediately.
Kasumi's mind shut down again.
Ranma didn't notice the change in Kasumi, but neither could anyone else
in the universe. Maybe, it was the smile on her face...
Ranma spied his backpack in the corner of the room and took out a spare
set of clothes out of it.
After dressing, he looked back at Kasumi and noticed that she hasn't
moved. She still had that smile on her face. However, when he looked
again, he thought he saw a bit of drool in the corner of her lips. He
looked once again, but it wasn't there.
"Must've imagined it."
Ranma left the room and Kasumi.
Kasumi was able to move three hours later. She had a blush on her face.
"Oh my!"
Ranma was walking down the hallway when he some conversation around the
corner. Pressing his back to the wall, he crept some slowly towards the
voices trying not to make a sound.
"...tice that the word demon sounds so much like a creature from
Digimon? And that Digimon sounds very Jamaican? Actually, I think that
Digimon was created by Jamaicans!"
"Um... Hiroshi?"
"Yea?"
"What's a 'Digimon'?"
"Um...Now that I think about it, I don't know."
"What about 'Jamaican'?"
"The author just had me say that to confuse the readers." Ranma sported
a huge sweatdrop.
"Um...I think it worked Hiroshi."
"Yup."
"Uh...Yea...I think I'll just stand right here." Ranma heard some feet
shuffling.
"..."
"By the way Hiroshi, have you heard that Kyoto was complete
destroyed?" Ranma perked up.
"Are you serious?"
"Yea. I heard there weren't any people left alive from that massacre.
Not even the children."
"Oh man. That's harsh."
"You said it."
"Any clues on who did it?"
"I heard the Lunar Incidental Samurai Army did it."
"Huh. Oh well, did you get a look at that hot red..." Ranma left to
ponder the conversation he just overheard.
'Lunar Incidental Samurai? Heh. They must be the Looney Idiotic Samurai
to have picked Kyoto to destroy. Now they have me to deal with. I will
have my revenge.'
----
(1) I got that word from Messed Up! by Hawk49er. Means "Wierd Shit"
according to him.
(2) The one that Nabiki dressed him in when he was smacked by Akane.
End of Chapter 4