The World at War: Sidestory Part 1
And right on the last phrase of the incantation,"-Achooo." Ranma's
eyes flew open and he screamed in pain as reality, several million
realities actually, fought over his tiny bit of energy and substance.
****
I sat up, rubbing my temples in an attempt to diminish the pain behind
my eyes. Opening them was out of the question. In my present
condition, light would be to my brain like salt on an open wound.
Ugghhh, how could I have sneezed at that exact moment? Hell, how was
I alive?
A mis-fired or mis-spoken spell could be painful, dangerous, and
crippling, but a mis-directed trasdimensional jump...that could have
been fatal, fatal as in my body being broken down into its constituent
particles and flung across the multiverse. Well, I'm alive, if not
currently enjoying my situation, so I should be happy. Okay, I'm
happy to be alive, but that's about it.
"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!!!!" The exclamation was loud enough for me to
hear through ringing ears and I could just barely place the voice.
Ryoga. That psychotic loser, what was he doing here? The little
piggy bastard is gonna pay for messing with me this time, especially
after I can see again.
Sight might be beyond me, but magic wasn't. I began manipulating
forces, realizing now that whatever world I was on had an absolutely
pitiful ambient magic level, in preparation for a quick teleport.
Without visual aide, and in a universe not familiar to me, there was
only one place to go, and that was up.
"Ah shut up, P-chan! Why don't you go play with the piggies, P-chan?"
That voice was even more unmistakable than Ryoga's. It was mine! I
killed the impending portation and redirected the energies already
primed into a healing spell. I wasn't injured, exactly, but the
residual pain of the misjump likely fell under the heading of trauma
Wherever I rested the ground was grassy and either the sun had set or
I was under shadow, for there was none of the slight heat of the
sunlight on my now hypersensitive skin. Trying to make myself
comfortable, I pulled a twig from beheath the small of my back and
waited for the nearby drama to fold out.
"Damn it, Ranma, don't call me P-chan!!!" Chi flared and I could sense
the crude emotional energy blast as it streaked towards my other self.
The trademark depression of Ryoga's attack met with supreme confidence
as the other Ranma responded with an attack I myself hadn't used in at
least ten years. Why wasn't this version of me more proficient with
his power?
The explosion of energies losing focus and containment washed over me
and I felt the hairs on the back of my arms tingle. They may be
ignorant, but neither lacked force."That all ya got, P-chan?" Other
Ranma taunted. Grinning to myself, I listened as Ryoga cursed and
built up another powerful chi strike. Anger along with depression
fueled this one and it must have generated a spectacular amount of
heat because I could feel it on my skin like a slowly growing fire.
The attack was fast and powerful and I found myself momentarily
worried for myself, as strange as that sounds.
Never fear, we Ranma's are too tough to handle. With more skill than
I'd come to expect, my counterpart created an emotionally dead,
bitterly cold beam of corkscrewing energy. I nodded in appreciation
as the corkscrew wound its way into and around Ryoga's attack. Oooo,
nice, a very practical variation of the hiryu shoten ha. Heh, poor
Ryoga never knew what hit him, as cyclonic winds along with eddies of
blistering heat and bone numbing cold slammed into him.
"ARRRGGHHHHH!!!" Yeah, that probably did hurt a little bit."I'll get
you for this Raaaannmmmmaaaaa!!!" The cry, though fierce, decreased in
strength as Ryoga was sucked up into the horizontal vortex and shot
like a missle into the atmosphere.
"Loser!" Ranma, the other Ranma, not me, shouted.
Well, wherever I was, it was as close as I'd ever come to my home
dimension without actually being in it. Contemplating sheer dumb luck
and how much of it I must have, I slowly nodded off into a
recuperative slumber, but not before warding myself against unwanted
visitors.
****
Damned pig, Ranma thought, why can't he leave me alone? Ranma
continued to mutter and whine to himself the entire walk back to the
dojo. That little battle had been short and pointless. Most of them
nowadays were. Ranma didn't really bother with physically fighting
anyone but Happosai, and Happosai wasn't a steady guest in Nerima much
now that Ranma had taken a more active interest in kicking his ass.
That, and now Ranma really could pull it off, if only occassionally
and with a great amount of pain.
Ryoga couldn't really match his speed, and never would be able to, but
Ranma, as his chi became broader and more focussed, was slowly gaining
on Ryoga in the strength and endurance department. Maybe that's why
the lost boy somehow managed to find him twice a day to attack. He
couldn't stand knowing that he was being left behind in their little
cold war. Ranma shrugged. Whatever drove Ryoga wasn't something for
sane men to dwell on, not if they wanted to remain sane. All Ranma
knew was that using Ryoga as a target was much easier and less
destructive than the dojo or general Nerimian area.
"I'm home," Ranma announced half-heartedly as he stepped through the
door and kicked off his slippers. Any second now...
"Ranma, you jerk!" Akane shouted as she stormed down the stairs, her
door hanging half off its rollers after being slammed open much too
forcefully.
Before Akane reached him, Ranma looked up at her and asked,"What have
I done now?" There wasn't really much point in asking, he knew Akane
didn't care, she just needed an excuse to pound on him for a little
while.
"What have you done? What have you done?! Don't pretend you weren't
visiting one of your other fiances! Why else would you be late?!"
Akane didn't even take the time to jump to a conclusion, choosing
instead to simply smash her way to an end that painted Ranma as nearly
every kind of pervert possible, to the point of just below rapist of
cats, but with that as a close possibility.
Wow, Akane was really in the groove this time."Stupid Tomboy, I wasn't
with none of the other girls!" Ranma replied, his fists clenched and
the tendons in his neck taut with suppressed anger."You're precious P-
chan tried to kill me again."
"What have I told you about picking on Ryoga?!" Geeze, she was like
quicksilver today. Ranma didn't even harbor the hope that Akane
really knew of P-chan's alternate identity as the actual P-chan. No,
she was just so accustommed to Ranma calling Ryoga P-chan that she
almost instinctively associated the two. Strange how she never made
that final connection in her mind.
"Something like 'blah blah blah'?" Ranma asked."He tried to kill me,
you stupid bitch!" Ranma finally snapped. It wasn't like him to
resort to heavy cursing, but more and more the reluctant fiances
brought such words into their arguments. Not much else changed,
except for maybe the duration of the beating of Ranma that, like
clockwork, follwed shortly behind.
And so it began. Ranma didn't offer much resistance, barely dodging
the first few swings of Akane's mallet, but for reasons known only to
three entities in existance, he couldn't bring himself to retaliate or
even avoid anymore of the devastating blows. When it was over, Ranma
was unconscious, bruised, and bloody. A few places along the walls
were splattered with blood and Akane stood over her foe, sweaty and
panting, but with a triumphant smile upon her blood streaked face.
****
Ranma awoke several hours later, and he regretted it immediately.
Everywhere hurt, and that meant 'everywhere', even breathing was a
small torture. He tried to sit up but pain flared in his back and he
was forced to slowly relaxed knotted and bruised muscles. How was it
that he could utterly destroy a god, but a single girl, so many levels
below him in skill and power that she didn't even register on the
scale, could do this to him? Ranma shook his head slowly and flicked
his tongue out, running it along his swollen and split lip.
Grimacing at the taste of blood, Ranma sighed and expanded his senses
as well as he could with his rudimentary training. This wasn't his
room, the sheer size told him that, but the feel of femininity, the
actual residual traces of female born chi, told him that he was either
in Nabiki's room(very unlikely) or Kasumi's. Ranma didn't have to
wait long to find out who his caretaker was. The door slid open and
the light was flipped on. Yeah, Kasumi, like there was ever any
doubt.
"Ranma, you shouldn't be up!" Kasumi exclaimed worriedly. She knelt
beside him with a bundle of bandages and a bottle of antispetic."The
only reason we didn't take you to the hospital was because Nabiki said
she couldn't afford it. I'm sorry, Ranma, but I'll just have to look
after you myself."
Weakly, Ranma waved his arms in protest."Uh...It's all right, Kasumi.
I'll be fine in a couple days, no problem."
Kasumi nodded in agreement and smiled reassuringly."I'm sure you will,
Ranma, but I examined you while you were unconscious and I believe you
have several cracked and broken ribs." Ranma nodded while Kasumi
pulled open his shirt that had already been unbuttoned."I would have
bound your chest eariler but you're much heavier than you look and I
didn't want to accidentally hurt you."
"S'okay, Kasumi," Ranma mumbled, embarrassed at so much tender
attention from a girl, even if it was Kasumi.
****
It was a park I'd landed in, I discovered the next day when I woke up.
My head still throbbed dully and I had to wear a pair of sunglasses so
as not to be blinded by even indirect sunlight. This was Tokyo, a
Tokyo remarkably similar to my own, and if not for the lower magic
level and my overhearring of the fight between an alternate of myself
and Ryoga the day before, I would have believed myself in my home
dimension.
Nerima looked more battered than I remember, and the ratio of
insurance and contruction companies to other business was more than a
bit off balance. Well, I'm here, back on a world with technology.
What should I do? Not a clue. There isn't a likely cure for Ami
lying anywhere around here, if magic was even strong enough to surface
as Talent, but a vacation would be pleasant. Pissing
people/things/entities off and blowing stuff up can get old after a
while. And my supplies of modern stuff, like real soap, not that
stuff made from boiled animal fat, were getting way below comfortable
levels.
I didn't want to run into myself, yet, so finding a place to stay in
another part of Tokyo instead of Nerima where my other self was likely
to live would be best. Late afternoon came and I finally found a
decent place to stay. The Hotel was pretty nice, and the suite I'd
just paid several thousand yen for had better be very nice.
Halfway across the lobby, on my way to the elevator, Shampoo came
barrelling through the swinging glass doors of the establishment. She
was the same age she'd been when I first met in her the Amazon village
and looking as good as ever. In either hand she held takeout food
boxes. I shrugged that off. If someone wanted to order takeout when
they had room service at their beck and call, that was fine with me.
What wasn't fine was why Shampoo wasn't back in China where she
belonged.
I didn't slow my pace and didn't show any outward sign of
acknowledgement as I passed her bye. Sunglasses, they protect your
eyes when they get blasted in a mis-fired spell, hide your identity
from people who know you intimately, and even get rid of that annoying
glare from the sun.
Shampoo paused after she passed by me, but shrugged and continued on
her way. All the mirrors in this place were annoying.
****
Ranma limped down the stairs, slowed by Kasumi's restraining hands
placed firmly on his shoulders. His ribs hurt more than he could ever
remember and there was a definite taste of blood in the back of his
throat.
No sooner than had his foot touched the floor beyond the last stair
than Soun appeared, angry tears in his eyes."Ranma, how dare you
insult your fiance!"
Simply put, Ranma gaped. Here he was, damned near as tough as a tank,
and he'd been beated into a bloody pulp by Akane, yet the blame was
somehow attmepting to shift in his direction.
"Father, I really don't think-" Kasumi's response was cut off as Genma
rounded the corner. The Saotome patriarch was fairly well caught up
in righteous rage.
"Boy, what a disgrace you are. To think I spent the best years of my
life training you to be a man among men and look what you've become,
an honorless dog!" Genma would have lunged for his injured son if
Kasumi hadn't stepped in between the pair.
Ranma didn't feel very good(major understatement) and fighting against
anyone more powerful than a squirrel was out of the question. Ranma
had no intentions of fighting. He reached out with both arms and
gently pushed Kasumi to the side of the hallway.
Genma was only a foot away, literally, as he had leapt into a flying
kick directed at his son's head, when Ranma's eyes went blue. Blue as
in luminescent energy covering the entire eye. A burst of
unidirectional battle aura threw his father into Soun. Soun started
crying. Slowly, to avoid ay undue pain, Ranma stalked his prey,
slamming the two men down the hallway a few inches at the time with
blows of concussive chi. Not a minute had passed when the pair went
sailing out threw the back doors and into the koi pond.
Both men were more than grateful for the slightly scummy water.
Ranma's last few strikes had been mostly thermal in nature. Soun's
hair didn't really exist as anything more than a bristly patch of
stubble now, and holes had been charred through each man's gi.
Watching impassively from behind Ranma, Kasumi went to get some burn
cream and bandages. Just encase, she decided to get the gallon sized
container. The men looked sorta like they had been left in the sun
all day then dipped in a deep fat frier.
Ranma growled,"Shut up, you two." He turned on his heel, wincing at
the jarring motion, and limped back into the house.
****
Nothing 'ever' goes the way I plan, nothing. Take for example my
conquest of Earth. I had the power, resources, and allies to make the
venture feasible, and what happens, I fall in love. Though not
directly responsible for screwing everything up, my relationship with
Ami served to completely distract me from my ambitions when the need
for a cure to the poison afflicting her arose. Then there was that
enchanted paintball match about ten dimensions or so back. No one
told me that using a real paint ball gun was against the rules.
Stupid blue people, chasing me across three universes over something
so retarded.
This time the plan involved nothing more then floating around in the
enormous pool maintained within the hotel. Rest, relaxation, and a
few weeks of wanton fornication and I'd be ready to hit the road
again. As I said earlier, nothing ever goes as planned. The first
day in the pool went amazingly well. I actually managed to do the
backstroke for the first time. Three hours into the second day, I was
floating on one of those foam things when I heard a giggle nearby then
got splashed.
Lazily, I pulled my shades up and turned to the source of the giggle.
Hubba hubba, woah momma, and all that. Gaijin, long strawberry blonde
hair, a perfect figure, and an angelic face who's seeming innocence
was belied by the mischevious gleam in liquid brown eyes. As far as
Ami'll ever know, I've been completely celebate during the search for
her cure, that is if I can shield my thoughts on the subject. In
truth, I've been screwing my way across the multiverse. Looks like
this universe just offered up its first donation.
Pleasantries were exchanged, along with some light flirting. The rest
of the day passed quickly, and before I knew it, Sherry, and I are
right at the heavy petting stage. That's when the hotel attendent
comes and tells us the pool is closing for the night. I shrug it off.
My room has a hot tub. It also has a big comfortable bed.
"Ranma, I've never been to Japan," Sherry says. Her Japanese is
almost perfect, though, so she can't be ignorant of the country
itself."Would you show me around?" Translation: take me out or I'm not
going to fuck you. I have no problem with that. Hunger is the best
sauce, or something like that, and I'm definitely hungry.
****
For someone who claimed to want to see the sights of Japan, Sherry
chose the most expensive French restaurant in existance. I can afford
it, so that's not a problem. The plan going to hell that I mentioned
earlier happens right...now!
Three feet from the entrance of the restaurant with Sherry, clothed in
a slinky black silk dress that had a long slit up to the top of her
thigh and did very little to hide more than the how many freckles she
had on her breasts, linked arm in arm with me, I heard a feminine roar
of homicidal rage.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" I
could only discern my name in the shout by the barest margin. Sherry
just appeared startled and I took a moment to look around. A girl
about the age of my dimensional counterpart with short black hair and
a churning red battle aura was running headlong towards me, a large
mallet held over her head in preparation to strike.
What kind of shit was that other me into, anyway? Sherry yelped as I
shoved her into the goofy looking guy in the red suit who stood by the
door. I didn't want her hurt, not after all the time already invested
towards getting in her pants. The glowing psycho chick with the
oversized hammer looked so suprised when I stopped her attack that I
couldn't stop the laughter that bubbles up. Suprise fled to be
replaced by insane rage again, although it was a little more focussed
this time.
"Do I know you?" I ask before backhanding the girl across the street.
The chi infused mallet she'd previously weilded continued in a loose
arc, eventually plowing through the wall of a shopping mall down the
street.
The girl took longer than I'd expected to climb out of the rubble
created by her impacting a brick wall. Anyone capable of generating
such a powerful aura should have shrugged that little tap off without
a problem.
Crimson so deep that it became black tinted in some places surrounded
my attacker, an aura of anger, hate, and something I'm can't even
identify. This was getting out of hand. The girl was giving too much
of herself over to her emotions, to her chi. It would consume her and
leave little more than a burnt out husk if I didn't intervene.
Another good deed, I guess. Heh, I'm actually getting some karmic
credit.
With less finesse and more force than I'd usually use for a person who
hadn't just been trying to kill, I enfolded the psycho in a spell that
deadened her emotions and put her to sleep.
****
Sherry clung to my arm, her eyes nearly glowing with adoration as we
watched the police carry my attacer off. The girl was restrained in a
steel cable reinforced straight jacket, apparently a standard issue
item to all Nerimian police officers.
"You were so brave, Ranma," Sherry cooed, rubbing herself up against
my body. I didn't have much of an appetite in the first place, and
with Sherry's mind turned away from food, we were soon back at the
hotel.
****
"Waaaahhhh! My little baby's been arrested!!! Waaaahhhh!!! My
little baby is crazy!!! Waaaahhhhh!!!!" Soun wailed pathetically
after taking the phone from Kasumi and listening to the officer on the
line.
****
Author's Notes: This doesn't really have much to do with the actual
story of The World at War and can be read or disguarded without
effecting your knowledge of the actual fic. Inspired by Carrotsan,
Skysaber, and a couple others, I've decided to place my Ranma in the
canon Ranma universe(this universe may be a little different, namely
Akane really being psycho and Ranma(not mine) and Kasumi maybe hooking
up, plus some unsupported continuation stuff) and see how things turn
out. This sidestory will probably take up about three or four parts
and will be released along with my other fics as my overactive muse
dictates. Send me C&C at dark_phoneix@hotmail.com
And right on the last phrase of the incantation,"-Achooo." Ranma's
eyes flew open and he screamed in pain as reality, several million
realities actually, fought over his tiny bit of energy and substance.
****
I sat up, rubbing my temples in an attempt to diminish the pain behind
my eyes. Opening them was out of the question. In my present
condition, light would be to my brain like salt on an open wound.
Ugghhh, how could I have sneezed at that exact moment? Hell, how was
I alive?
A mis-fired or mis-spoken spell could be painful, dangerous, and
crippling, but a mis-directed trasdimensional jump...that could have
been fatal, fatal as in my body being broken down into its constituent
particles and flung across the multiverse. Well, I'm alive, if not
currently enjoying my situation, so I should be happy. Okay, I'm
happy to be alive, but that's about it.
"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!!!!" The exclamation was loud enough for me to
hear through ringing ears and I could just barely place the voice.
Ryoga. That psychotic loser, what was he doing here? The little
piggy bastard is gonna pay for messing with me this time, especially
after I can see again.
Sight might be beyond me, but magic wasn't. I began manipulating
forces, realizing now that whatever world I was on had an absolutely
pitiful ambient magic level, in preparation for a quick teleport.
Without visual aide, and in a universe not familiar to me, there was
only one place to go, and that was up.
"Ah shut up, P-chan! Why don't you go play with the piggies, P-chan?"
That voice was even more unmistakable than Ryoga's. It was mine! I
killed the impending portation and redirected the energies already
primed into a healing spell. I wasn't injured, exactly, but the
residual pain of the misjump likely fell under the heading of trauma
Wherever I rested the ground was grassy and either the sun had set or
I was under shadow, for there was none of the slight heat of the
sunlight on my now hypersensitive skin. Trying to make myself
comfortable, I pulled a twig from beheath the small of my back and
waited for the nearby drama to fold out.
"Damn it, Ranma, don't call me P-chan!!!" Chi flared and I could sense
the crude emotional energy blast as it streaked towards my other self.
The trademark depression of Ryoga's attack met with supreme confidence
as the other Ranma responded with an attack I myself hadn't used in at
least ten years. Why wasn't this version of me more proficient with
his power?
The explosion of energies losing focus and containment washed over me
and I felt the hairs on the back of my arms tingle. They may be
ignorant, but neither lacked force."That all ya got, P-chan?" Other
Ranma taunted. Grinning to myself, I listened as Ryoga cursed and
built up another powerful chi strike. Anger along with depression
fueled this one and it must have generated a spectacular amount of
heat because I could feel it on my skin like a slowly growing fire.
The attack was fast and powerful and I found myself momentarily
worried for myself, as strange as that sounds.
Never fear, we Ranma's are too tough to handle. With more skill than
I'd come to expect, my counterpart created an emotionally dead,
bitterly cold beam of corkscrewing energy. I nodded in appreciation
as the corkscrew wound its way into and around Ryoga's attack. Oooo,
nice, a very practical variation of the hiryu shoten ha. Heh, poor
Ryoga never knew what hit him, as cyclonic winds along with eddies of
blistering heat and bone numbing cold slammed into him.
"ARRRGGHHHHH!!!" Yeah, that probably did hurt a little bit."I'll get
you for this Raaaannmmmmaaaaa!!!" The cry, though fierce, decreased in
strength as Ryoga was sucked up into the horizontal vortex and shot
like a missle into the atmosphere.
"Loser!" Ranma, the other Ranma, not me, shouted.
Well, wherever I was, it was as close as I'd ever come to my home
dimension without actually being in it. Contemplating sheer dumb luck
and how much of it I must have, I slowly nodded off into a
recuperative slumber, but not before warding myself against unwanted
visitors.
****
Damned pig, Ranma thought, why can't he leave me alone? Ranma
continued to mutter and whine to himself the entire walk back to the
dojo. That little battle had been short and pointless. Most of them
nowadays were. Ranma didn't really bother with physically fighting
anyone but Happosai, and Happosai wasn't a steady guest in Nerima much
now that Ranma had taken a more active interest in kicking his ass.
That, and now Ranma really could pull it off, if only occassionally
and with a great amount of pain.
Ryoga couldn't really match his speed, and never would be able to, but
Ranma, as his chi became broader and more focussed, was slowly gaining
on Ryoga in the strength and endurance department. Maybe that's why
the lost boy somehow managed to find him twice a day to attack. He
couldn't stand knowing that he was being left behind in their little
cold war. Ranma shrugged. Whatever drove Ryoga wasn't something for
sane men to dwell on, not if they wanted to remain sane. All Ranma
knew was that using Ryoga as a target was much easier and less
destructive than the dojo or general Nerimian area.
"I'm home," Ranma announced half-heartedly as he stepped through the
door and kicked off his slippers. Any second now...
"Ranma, you jerk!" Akane shouted as she stormed down the stairs, her
door hanging half off its rollers after being slammed open much too
forcefully.
Before Akane reached him, Ranma looked up at her and asked,"What have
I done now?" There wasn't really much point in asking, he knew Akane
didn't care, she just needed an excuse to pound on him for a little
while.
"What have you done? What have you done?! Don't pretend you weren't
visiting one of your other fiances! Why else would you be late?!"
Akane didn't even take the time to jump to a conclusion, choosing
instead to simply smash her way to an end that painted Ranma as nearly
every kind of pervert possible, to the point of just below rapist of
cats, but with that as a close possibility.
Wow, Akane was really in the groove this time."Stupid Tomboy, I wasn't
with none of the other girls!" Ranma replied, his fists clenched and
the tendons in his neck taut with suppressed anger."You're precious P-
chan tried to kill me again."
"What have I told you about picking on Ryoga?!" Geeze, she was like
quicksilver today. Ranma didn't even harbor the hope that Akane
really knew of P-chan's alternate identity as the actual P-chan. No,
she was just so accustommed to Ranma calling Ryoga P-chan that she
almost instinctively associated the two. Strange how she never made
that final connection in her mind.
"Something like 'blah blah blah'?" Ranma asked."He tried to kill me,
you stupid bitch!" Ranma finally snapped. It wasn't like him to
resort to heavy cursing, but more and more the reluctant fiances
brought such words into their arguments. Not much else changed,
except for maybe the duration of the beating of Ranma that, like
clockwork, follwed shortly behind.
And so it began. Ranma didn't offer much resistance, barely dodging
the first few swings of Akane's mallet, but for reasons known only to
three entities in existance, he couldn't bring himself to retaliate or
even avoid anymore of the devastating blows. When it was over, Ranma
was unconscious, bruised, and bloody. A few places along the walls
were splattered with blood and Akane stood over her foe, sweaty and
panting, but with a triumphant smile upon her blood streaked face.
****
Ranma awoke several hours later, and he regretted it immediately.
Everywhere hurt, and that meant 'everywhere', even breathing was a
small torture. He tried to sit up but pain flared in his back and he
was forced to slowly relaxed knotted and bruised muscles. How was it
that he could utterly destroy a god, but a single girl, so many levels
below him in skill and power that she didn't even register on the
scale, could do this to him? Ranma shook his head slowly and flicked
his tongue out, running it along his swollen and split lip.
Grimacing at the taste of blood, Ranma sighed and expanded his senses
as well as he could with his rudimentary training. This wasn't his
room, the sheer size told him that, but the feel of femininity, the
actual residual traces of female born chi, told him that he was either
in Nabiki's room(very unlikely) or Kasumi's. Ranma didn't have to
wait long to find out who his caretaker was. The door slid open and
the light was flipped on. Yeah, Kasumi, like there was ever any
doubt.
"Ranma, you shouldn't be up!" Kasumi exclaimed worriedly. She knelt
beside him with a bundle of bandages and a bottle of antispetic."The
only reason we didn't take you to the hospital was because Nabiki said
she couldn't afford it. I'm sorry, Ranma, but I'll just have to look
after you myself."
Weakly, Ranma waved his arms in protest."Uh...It's all right, Kasumi.
I'll be fine in a couple days, no problem."
Kasumi nodded in agreement and smiled reassuringly."I'm sure you will,
Ranma, but I examined you while you were unconscious and I believe you
have several cracked and broken ribs." Ranma nodded while Kasumi
pulled open his shirt that had already been unbuttoned."I would have
bound your chest eariler but you're much heavier than you look and I
didn't want to accidentally hurt you."
"S'okay, Kasumi," Ranma mumbled, embarrassed at so much tender
attention from a girl, even if it was Kasumi.
****
It was a park I'd landed in, I discovered the next day when I woke up.
My head still throbbed dully and I had to wear a pair of sunglasses so
as not to be blinded by even indirect sunlight. This was Tokyo, a
Tokyo remarkably similar to my own, and if not for the lower magic
level and my overhearring of the fight between an alternate of myself
and Ryoga the day before, I would have believed myself in my home
dimension.
Nerima looked more battered than I remember, and the ratio of
insurance and contruction companies to other business was more than a
bit off balance. Well, I'm here, back on a world with technology.
What should I do? Not a clue. There isn't a likely cure for Ami
lying anywhere around here, if magic was even strong enough to surface
as Talent, but a vacation would be pleasant. Pissing
people/things/entities off and blowing stuff up can get old after a
while. And my supplies of modern stuff, like real soap, not that
stuff made from boiled animal fat, were getting way below comfortable
levels.
I didn't want to run into myself, yet, so finding a place to stay in
another part of Tokyo instead of Nerima where my other self was likely
to live would be best. Late afternoon came and I finally found a
decent place to stay. The Hotel was pretty nice, and the suite I'd
just paid several thousand yen for had better be very nice.
Halfway across the lobby, on my way to the elevator, Shampoo came
barrelling through the swinging glass doors of the establishment. She
was the same age she'd been when I first met in her the Amazon village
and looking as good as ever. In either hand she held takeout food
boxes. I shrugged that off. If someone wanted to order takeout when
they had room service at their beck and call, that was fine with me.
What wasn't fine was why Shampoo wasn't back in China where she
belonged.
I didn't slow my pace and didn't show any outward sign of
acknowledgement as I passed her bye. Sunglasses, they protect your
eyes when they get blasted in a mis-fired spell, hide your identity
from people who know you intimately, and even get rid of that annoying
glare from the sun.
Shampoo paused after she passed by me, but shrugged and continued on
her way. All the mirrors in this place were annoying.
****
Ranma limped down the stairs, slowed by Kasumi's restraining hands
placed firmly on his shoulders. His ribs hurt more than he could ever
remember and there was a definite taste of blood in the back of his
throat.
No sooner than had his foot touched the floor beyond the last stair
than Soun appeared, angry tears in his eyes."Ranma, how dare you
insult your fiance!"
Simply put, Ranma gaped. Here he was, damned near as tough as a tank,
and he'd been beated into a bloody pulp by Akane, yet the blame was
somehow attmepting to shift in his direction.
"Father, I really don't think-" Kasumi's response was cut off as Genma
rounded the corner. The Saotome patriarch was fairly well caught up
in righteous rage.
"Boy, what a disgrace you are. To think I spent the best years of my
life training you to be a man among men and look what you've become,
an honorless dog!" Genma would have lunged for his injured son if
Kasumi hadn't stepped in between the pair.
Ranma didn't feel very good(major understatement) and fighting against
anyone more powerful than a squirrel was out of the question. Ranma
had no intentions of fighting. He reached out with both arms and
gently pushed Kasumi to the side of the hallway.
Genma was only a foot away, literally, as he had leapt into a flying
kick directed at his son's head, when Ranma's eyes went blue. Blue as
in luminescent energy covering the entire eye. A burst of
unidirectional battle aura threw his father into Soun. Soun started
crying. Slowly, to avoid ay undue pain, Ranma stalked his prey,
slamming the two men down the hallway a few inches at the time with
blows of concussive chi. Not a minute had passed when the pair went
sailing out threw the back doors and into the koi pond.
Both men were more than grateful for the slightly scummy water.
Ranma's last few strikes had been mostly thermal in nature. Soun's
hair didn't really exist as anything more than a bristly patch of
stubble now, and holes had been charred through each man's gi.
Watching impassively from behind Ranma, Kasumi went to get some burn
cream and bandages. Just encase, she decided to get the gallon sized
container. The men looked sorta like they had been left in the sun
all day then dipped in a deep fat frier.
Ranma growled,"Shut up, you two." He turned on his heel, wincing at
the jarring motion, and limped back into the house.
****
Nothing 'ever' goes the way I plan, nothing. Take for example my
conquest of Earth. I had the power, resources, and allies to make the
venture feasible, and what happens, I fall in love. Though not
directly responsible for screwing everything up, my relationship with
Ami served to completely distract me from my ambitions when the need
for a cure to the poison afflicting her arose. Then there was that
enchanted paintball match about ten dimensions or so back. No one
told me that using a real paint ball gun was against the rules.
Stupid blue people, chasing me across three universes over something
so retarded.
This time the plan involved nothing more then floating around in the
enormous pool maintained within the hotel. Rest, relaxation, and a
few weeks of wanton fornication and I'd be ready to hit the road
again. As I said earlier, nothing ever goes as planned. The first
day in the pool went amazingly well. I actually managed to do the
backstroke for the first time. Three hours into the second day, I was
floating on one of those foam things when I heard a giggle nearby then
got splashed.
Lazily, I pulled my shades up and turned to the source of the giggle.
Hubba hubba, woah momma, and all that. Gaijin, long strawberry blonde
hair, a perfect figure, and an angelic face who's seeming innocence
was belied by the mischevious gleam in liquid brown eyes. As far as
Ami'll ever know, I've been completely celebate during the search for
her cure, that is if I can shield my thoughts on the subject. In
truth, I've been screwing my way across the multiverse. Looks like
this universe just offered up its first donation.
Pleasantries were exchanged, along with some light flirting. The rest
of the day passed quickly, and before I knew it, Sherry, and I are
right at the heavy petting stage. That's when the hotel attendent
comes and tells us the pool is closing for the night. I shrug it off.
My room has a hot tub. It also has a big comfortable bed.
"Ranma, I've never been to Japan," Sherry says. Her Japanese is
almost perfect, though, so she can't be ignorant of the country
itself."Would you show me around?" Translation: take me out or I'm not
going to fuck you. I have no problem with that. Hunger is the best
sauce, or something like that, and I'm definitely hungry.
****
For someone who claimed to want to see the sights of Japan, Sherry
chose the most expensive French restaurant in existance. I can afford
it, so that's not a problem. The plan going to hell that I mentioned
earlier happens right...now!
Three feet from the entrance of the restaurant with Sherry, clothed in
a slinky black silk dress that had a long slit up to the top of her
thigh and did very little to hide more than the how many freckles she
had on her breasts, linked arm in arm with me, I heard a feminine roar
of homicidal rage.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" I
could only discern my name in the shout by the barest margin. Sherry
just appeared startled and I took a moment to look around. A girl
about the age of my dimensional counterpart with short black hair and
a churning red battle aura was running headlong towards me, a large
mallet held over her head in preparation to strike.
What kind of shit was that other me into, anyway? Sherry yelped as I
shoved her into the goofy looking guy in the red suit who stood by the
door. I didn't want her hurt, not after all the time already invested
towards getting in her pants. The glowing psycho chick with the
oversized hammer looked so suprised when I stopped her attack that I
couldn't stop the laughter that bubbles up. Suprise fled to be
replaced by insane rage again, although it was a little more focussed
this time.
"Do I know you?" I ask before backhanding the girl across the street.
The chi infused mallet she'd previously weilded continued in a loose
arc, eventually plowing through the wall of a shopping mall down the
street.
The girl took longer than I'd expected to climb out of the rubble
created by her impacting a brick wall. Anyone capable of generating
such a powerful aura should have shrugged that little tap off without
a problem.
Crimson so deep that it became black tinted in some places surrounded
my attacker, an aura of anger, hate, and something I'm can't even
identify. This was getting out of hand. The girl was giving too much
of herself over to her emotions, to her chi. It would consume her and
leave little more than a burnt out husk if I didn't intervene.
Another good deed, I guess. Heh, I'm actually getting some karmic
credit.
With less finesse and more force than I'd usually use for a person who
hadn't just been trying to kill, I enfolded the psycho in a spell that
deadened her emotions and put her to sleep.
****
Sherry clung to my arm, her eyes nearly glowing with adoration as we
watched the police carry my attacer off. The girl was restrained in a
steel cable reinforced straight jacket, apparently a standard issue
item to all Nerimian police officers.
"You were so brave, Ranma," Sherry cooed, rubbing herself up against
my body. I didn't have much of an appetite in the first place, and
with Sherry's mind turned away from food, we were soon back at the
hotel.
****
"Waaaahhhh! My little baby's been arrested!!! Waaaahhhh!!! My
little baby is crazy!!! Waaaahhhhh!!!!" Soun wailed pathetically
after taking the phone from Kasumi and listening to the officer on the
line.
****
Author's Notes: This doesn't really have much to do with the actual
story of The World at War and can be read or disguarded without
effecting your knowledge of the actual fic. Inspired by Carrotsan,
Skysaber, and a couple others, I've decided to place my Ranma in the
canon Ranma universe(this universe may be a little different, namely
Akane really being psycho and Ranma(not mine) and Kasumi maybe hooking
up, plus some unsupported continuation stuff) and see how things turn
out. This sidestory will probably take up about three or four parts
and will be released along with my other fics as my overactive muse
dictates. Send me C&C at dark_phoneix@hotmail.com