Well, for all of you that have already read this story, well, it is a second coming with less mistakes and a few added things, I need to tell you a couple of new things with the help of this new version: The first in the list is that I'm working in several one-shots of Ranma, one of them is the continuation of One Last Roar.
Yeah, that story is coming back for more is you want it, hope you like the sacarine high story with angst things that will come soon, the other is that probably you have seen that there is a new chapter in, yeah, it is not a chapter really, more like a trailer, hope you like the continuation of Planetarium.
And the last thing I have to say is that there it comes a redux version of A Long Path of the Cursed, yeah, I haven't forgotted that story, it comes with new scenes, make that a lot, corrections, new chars, new mysteries and new adveentures for Ryoga, and let's go, is time to get it on.
Disclaimer: Nope, I'm not the owner of neither world, I'm just twisting the rules of time and space to bring you some fun.
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Things seem to change from time to time, some good, some bad, but your life is never the same after that; in Nerima somehow things tend to remain the same; the same classes, the same challenges, the same enemies and fiancées appearing here and there, but to Ranma one thing that had been the one he had been enjoying at least had disappeared suddenly, not that it didn't happen every time but it was strange after months.
For him things were getting a little dull, but it was only his martial artist life; getting challenges from the same people with few new faces appearing from time to time mostly to get beaten into oblivion by someone in the crew but that was all, he wasn't getting stronger he needed a certain person to grow up even more, but that person had never appeared in months since the failed wedding and he was getting bored.
Ryoga had been missing for a lot of time in Ranma and Akane's opinion, for him it usually took him a month and sometimes less than that, but it was right now six months since his last appearance in Nerima and even Ranma was getting worried.
"Do you think he is okay?" Ranma heard his fiancée, or at least the only fiancée he recognized in public and private; she was right now in a yellow sundress and was walking from upstairs, the warm climate made for a more peaceful ambient and Ranma was grateful for that, it gave him a little calm in his always chaotic life; Akane went to sit at Ranma's left in the engawa also enjoying the rather calm day they had, usually by now they had at least five people in the dojo asking for Ranma or doing property damage to their house in the case of the amazons.
"Knowin' that pig-headed baka he is still tryin' to find his way out of a room with one door" Ranma said overdoing what was a joke in the expense of Ryoga; the youngest of the Tendo daughters knew him so well by now that she could see how worried Ranma was concerning the young boy, just like Ukyo and even Mousse; the boy had been trying to get along with Ranma in the last month and they finally realized their friendship.
After all the trouble, fights and adventures those two have been they have developed a strong bond, if one was in trouble the other left everything to help even if they tried to say it was selfish that help, but once they found out their hatred was gone they have went into an at first awkward attempt of friendship, they were still working on it
Ryoga also found a friend in the bespectacled amazon boy and they had a very long talk along with Ranma in the park, Akane never knew what happened there, not even Nabiki after they discovered her close to them in the park, but Akane had the suspicion that it was about Shampoo considering how Mousse was not behaving as his psychopath killer avenger when dealing with Ranma.
"Don't worry, I know he is fine" Akane said while Ranma turned around to tell something, maybe to say he wasn't worried or maybe to say she was a tomboy and it was his own problem, but he just stood there for a second with his mouth open and an annoyed expression in his face before relaxing leaving a long sigh like if he was suddenly tired.
"Yeah… he is fine" he said almost like a mantra; in that moment they saw how Kasumi got into the house after doing her usual shopping with a letter in her hand.
"Ah, there you are" she said getting closer to them.
"What is it onee-chan?" Akane asked after the oldest sister stood in front of them.
"This letter came in, it is addressed to Ranma-kun" Kasumi said placing the envelope in the boy's hand; both teenagers stood watching it for a few seconds before Ranma opened it up to see the letter.
"So, who send it?" Akane asked at the boy while both sisters stood there watching his expression turn into a mix of surprise and happiness.
"Is from Ryoga!" he said making the sisters smile at the news.
"That is good, I hope he will come soon to the Dojo, it is such a long time since he visited the house, he is such a nice boy" Kasumi said with her usual smile before walking into the house to prepare dinner; for her part, Akane was smiling too, it was so great to hear that.
"Come on Ranma, what does it say?" Akane asked while both stood watching, somehow, while Ranma was reading aloud, the voice of Ryoga telling his story could be heard by both.
Planetarium
'Hello Ranma, I know I have been absent from Nerima this half year but I'm believing it was something good, don't take it wrong, I guess I miss Nerima a bit but I think I finally found home.
First of all I want to tell you that I will go back to Nerima soon, just that I don't know when exactly since I still have a lot to do right here, but don't worry, I still want to fight you, I have picked up some new techniques and I would like to test them on you.
If you and Akane are married for when this letter ends in your hands, well, I just want to congratulate you; if you two are not I'll be waiting another wedding invitation because I need to be there, come on, who else could be your best man? I don't think Ukyo will dress up in a tuxedo.
By now you'll be wondering where I am, and usually I would tell you that I don't know, story of my life, but not this time, I'm sure I've been living in Jûban this half a year and yes, before you even start doubting it I've been living here the ENTIRE time, that, eh, problem is over for now, I had a lot of luck and help in that department.
Why Jûban? Well, maybe it was simply by chance, I'll explain from the beginning; my mother has a sister, her name is Mizuno Kaede, she is a really good doctor but she is right now divorced; when I was a little boy I remember her going into our house a couple of times maybe it is one of the few memories I have of my family together.
She lives alone in a condominium since she and her ex-husband couldn't have kids, she often told me she wanted a daughter; she doesn't have the same problem of my parents because she doesn't have the Hibiki name, but I'll explain that to you whenever I see you, is kind of a long story.
I met her in the street while I was looking around trying to find out where I was, she told me she saw the bandanna and recognized me in an instant, not that it was too hard, I kinda look the same from then; we started to talk about our life, obviously my story had to be really edited considering everything I have seen so far.
For what I understood talking with her she seemed to be feeling lonely in the big condo she was living since her ex-husband went away and she invited me to live with her being her only familiar close; she knew about my… issues with directions but didn't care much and promised to help me but then something strange happened, one time when the doorbell was hit I went to answer the door, and I found it in less than five seconds, it was one of my aunt's co-workers, I won't go into the details but what I can tell you is that somehow I've been able to find my way around, which by itself is great to know, at least for me.
With that out of the way I took her invitation to live here; although she tends works all the time in the hospital and spends little time in the house we have been getting along better and better, I enjoy the few times we can talk and spend time together, she is my family after all.
One of the things she made me do anyway was to enroll in High School again here in Jûban, but I had to study again; I'm grateful to Akane who helped me that time, tell her thank you for me, it was really useful for getting the habit of studying once again; everything went well after all, is just that… well, you will love this, they found out my I.Q.; my parents weren't really all day in the house so they never made me do one of those tests, so, it was quite a surprise for my aunt and me to find out I have… well, and I.Q. of 167.'
"What's I.Q.?" Ranma's voice-over appeared in the story.
"It means intelligence quotient; it is a score of a special test that measures intelligence; the average result is 100" Akane answered to Ranma, it had been a good idea to start researching, besides, sooner or later they would have the test in school.
"So, what it means?"
"You are really hopeless"
"Hey!"
"It means Ryoga is a genius" Akane said before both went back to the letter.
'My aunt was ecstatic, she was very proud of me and was waiting for my mother to appear to tell her that, I was more like in shock, is not everyday when you find out things like this; so, the first thing we did was to enroll me and get a uniform for me.
The first days were okay, now that (by some strange thing) I don't get lost every time I turn around the corner I've been able to enjoy something alike a normal life, I need to tell you, it feels strange, but nice, I think I understand why you were living with the Tendo; I guess the only problem I got in the school was that the information of my test was now of public notice and at first people tried to bully me thinking I was… what did they put it? Nerd? Or something like that, of course, things weren't like they thought, I had to show them a bit of my abilities to them, I guess I don't have to tell you what I did, right? But besides that I got to met some interesting people here, one of them is Usagi; she was my first friend here since most people in school thought I was some kind of thug, good thing they don't have any crazy teacher in this school, this place is really normal, with the usual monsters from now and then.'
"Monsters?" Ranma's voice over once again interrupted the tale earning a exasperate sigh from his fiancée.
"Don't you see TV or read the news? Don't answer; Jûban has some problems with monsters from now and then, but a group of heroines defeat them each time, the Sailor Senshi, they are very popular"
"How weak the monsters are that girls are enough to defeat them?" that earned him an attack of Akane's patented mallet.
'I met her by chance since I am a year over her in school, remember that I never really finished Junior High and I only need to do a final year here to move up into… probably, last year of High School, I'll be your sempai soon Ranma.'
"Ranma! Don't you dare rip the letter!"
'Anyway; Usagi is a really good girl, although she tends to be a crybaby and her fountain displays can get into Tendo-san's level if you want to believe it; with the letter I put a photo with the people that is very important to me here, Usagi is the girl with blonde hair and a very distinctive hairstyle.'
"Hey, look, he's right, here's the photo" Ranma said getting out of the letter so to say to look into the envelope finding easily a photograph inside.
"Well, let me see it" Akane then peeked at the photo in Ranma's hands; it seemed to be taken in front of a school, Ryoga was in the center of the picture, he was very easy to find in it since he was the only boy in it; he was wearing a dark blue t-shirt and jeans, he also didn't have the bandana in his head and finally a silver pendant of a symbol he didn't know "Mercury"
"Ah?"
"That's the symbol of the planet Mercury, the symbol is also referred as the horned woman"
"And how do you know that?"
"Ranma, we saw that last week in science, while you seemed to be asleep" Ranma simply gulped at the look Akane was giving him, it wasn't his fault, classes were so boring, he was going to be a martial artist, not an astronomer, but it was very bad for his pride to see how Akane knew more than him in a lot of things "I should have expected that, but I'm surprised, Ryoga really gets along with girls in Jûban" she said changing the subject and Ranma had to acknowledge that she was right, there were four girls and Ryoga in the picture, at the left of Ryoga was a girl with blonde long hair and what seemed to be two buns on each side and a long ponytail falling from each of them.
"Now I know what he means with a very distinctive hairstyle" Ranma said seeing she was giving a V of victory just like Ryoga who was ¾ at the photograph with Usagi very close to him, it seemed really interesting for Akane and both turned to the letter once again.
'Usagi was the first friend I made here and continues to be to me like a little sister and I've gone to eat dinner to her house in a couple of the occasions my aunt is staying in the hospital, I'm also a friend of Usagi's boyfriend Mamoru, he was the one who took the photo at the time.
I also got to know Rei, she is the priestess of a temple close to our school; she is the one with black hair in the picture.'
And like that, both turned around to the same photo watching at the long dark-haired girl in a different school uniform than them.
'She goes to the TA Private Girls School but we get along well, even though Rei and Usagi tend to get into small arguments but they are in fact very good friends; we got to know another friend later, she is Kino Makoto, she is the one as tall as me, another thing I forgot to tell you is that I finally got taller, other thing to add to the mysteries of Jûban'
"The tallest?... oh, I see what he means" Akane said looking at the striking brunette girl at the right of Ryoga, she was wearing also a different school uniform and had an arm linked to Ryoga, both teenagers turned to see each other and shrugged, they would have to ask Ryoga about that sooner or later.
'And the last one to join the group is Aino Minako, and my whole new wardrobe is her fault and Usagi, let me tell you, never let these two take you into a 'shopping trip', you won't like that torture, because definitely the Bakusai Tenketsu training was nothing compared to that' they took a look at the blonde girl with the red ribbon in top of her head and a serene smile on her face.
'And so, I have a new life in here, and let me tell you, maybe this place is not as crazy as Nerima, but it has interesting things happening here, maybe in our next vacation we'll visit Nerima, the girls are really curious about the place since they don't believe half the things I told them; see ya soon Ranma, and take care of Akane' And so, the letter was over and they stood watching at the smiling Ryoga in the photograph, and also at the symbol of the pendant, wondering what else was going on with Ryoga's life, they just didn't know how important the planet mercury was for Ryoga, specially a blue pen with the same symbol that Ryoga had close to him at every moment.
The End (?)
No