DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to Ranma 1/2 or The Halo enterprise as a whole. I write this purely as a dedication to them both. There is no point trying to sue me anyway because I'm nothing more than a poor Otaku.
Enjoy Halo 1/2
Chapter 1 - Child's Play
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UNSC Calendar (assumed): September 21st, D+76:18:56 (SPARTAN-117 Mission Clock), Location: Halo Construct, Threshold System.
The Will of the Macro-cosmos was in a mood, her favorite little playthings were being torn apart left, right and centre by those damn little covenant puppies and she couldn't really do anything to directly interfere in what was happening. The ideas for the Spartan-II program she had placed in that young Dr Halsey's mind had proved fortuitous as if it hadn't been for those 33 men and women the pitiable humans would have been overwhelmed long ago.
She had been watching young John run around that silly forerunner construct for a few days when she came to a realisation that she could do something to help change the tides on which the battle was flowing, all it required she do was break a few small rules and bring one of the single most powerful individuals the human race had ever spawned and bring him to this point in time, it was only a matter of 500 or so years.
Yes, she thought to herself in glee I was wondering what else I could do to that boy I ran out of tricks after that damned wedding and left him alone, now I have this delightful little development. So with nothing more than a thought she left her current time stream to play around in the past once again.
Shortly after her departure from the universe in which she had resided for the past century the Spartan know as Spartan-117 Master Chief, died in the explosion of the Halo construct, the fall of man and all life in the known universe followed shortly thereafter.
--
Standard Date Calendar: 28 April 1995, Location: Tendo-ke, Nermia-to, Tokyo, Nihon.
Ranma Saotome of the Saotome Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū, or Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, and self-proclaimed best Martial Artist in the world was currently having what can only be called an out-of-body-experience. Seeing as how he was wide awake yet floating above the inert form of his own body he really couldn't think of what else to call it, he was interrupted from further study of this unique occurrence by a polite female cough near the door.
Turning toward the noise Ranma discovered that he was not the only person in the room to have gained the ability to float several feet of the floor, indeed a rather impish little girl was sitting cross legged on thin air as calmly as if it were solid ground and smiling at him. It wasn't the floating that made him worried it was the smile, it didn't promise pain or retribution like some smiles did, just untold mischief.
"Hello Ranma, how are you doing? Things better with Akane these days? I have been gone an awfully long time so I don't know quite what has happened since I was last around." The girl asked in a sweet and piping little voice.
"Umm..." Ranma managed to reply.
"Oh dear your not going to shut down on me dear boy," she frowned slightly in annoyance the clicked her fingers sharply "now if you don't mind I'd like to have a proper conversation with you, not the 9 year old child you pretend to be."
At the sound of her commanding voice and the click of her fingers Ranma's astral form shook slightly as it was hit by the girls compulsion. Slowly the quakes came to an end and Ranma met the young girls eyes with a grin to match hers.
"Ah now that is something I don't miss happening, How can I help you Cos-chan?" Ranma asked casually.
"Good to see you remember me Ran-kun," the girl said happily, the frown vanishing totally, "now as to what you can do for me I need you to die then come with me."
This news was delivered in a tone one would use to discuss the peaceful weather rather than the somber one usually used when discussing death and as such caught Ranma totally by surprise.
"You want me to what?!" He yelled at the small girl.
"Ok so maybe a bad choice of words, what I want is for the current you to vanish from this particular timeline, I need you in the year 2517 in the body of a 6 year old boy to change the future of the human race."
"Ok now thats a new one Cos-chan, would I be coming back at all? Im not really concerned if I do, its been 3 years since Saffron and nothing much has changed here, except I'm now engaged to Nabiki because Akane went to America to study." Ranma explained with a touch of bitterness in his tone.
"Aw poor Ran-kun, no you don't have to come back, in fact it would probably be best if you didn't, do you want to see if someone special wants to come along?" the girl asked with a sly grin.
Several different people that Ranma would like to take with him flashed through his mind in quick succession though they eventually settled on the clear image of a rather buxom brunette with a pageboy haircut. Ranma closed his eyes knowing the right thing to do already but wanting to really burn the image of her smile into his memories.
These thoughts and actions were of course not lost on the will of the Macro-cosmos and she smiled too herself as a scheme started to grow in her mind to play further games on the poor Saotome boy. So he fell for the middle girl in the end huh? He must have cracked her shell and found what she was really like, I'll leave that for later, I need to focus on this right now.
"Ok Cos-chan I'm up for it, will I remember this life at all?" Ranma asked, unsure how he'd handle two sets of memories of growing up.
"I'll be sure to keep the memories of all the techniques and how to properly learn them in your mind but you will discover them yourself in such a way that you will think you made it all up by yourself. I cant have you going insane on me after all."
"Ah ok then, lets do this Cos-chan, lets go save the human race... Again."
With a flash of light visible only on the astral spectrum Ranma, astral and physical forms, and the girl were gone. It would be several hours more before he was found missing and several years before the last of the interested parties stopped searching.
One Nabiki Tendo however had never really given up hope on the young man she had come to know and left to search for her errant fiance, she was last seen while visiting her family early 1998 then she too vanished from the lives of the people who had known her.
--
UNSC Calendar: 26-08-2517, Time: 0630, Location: Harvest Colony, Epsilon Indi System
A young Ranma Saotome was waking up slowly from a rather peaceful dream to the feeling of no longer being in his bed, his sleep addled six year old mind couldn't quickly find a reason as to why he was no longer in his bed and as such he failed to land on his feet, instead using his head as a landing medium. The cold hard ground worked even better than most modern alarms do to wake up the young boy.
"The hell did you do that for ya old man." The irate little boy yelled at his robust father.
"It's past sunrise you foolish boy it's time I gave you you're morning lesson, now unless you land 30 hits on me this morning you're not getting fed." The rather portly man stated as he stepped out of the open window into the yard.
"And what if you don't land 30 hits on me old man does that mean you get no food this morning?" Ranma asked in accordance with his routine.
"Of course boy but then you have to be able to avoid all but 29 of my attacks before you mother calls us if while still landing your 30 blows in order to get fed, and get mine in the deal, remember."
"Course I do old man now bring it on."
The rules thus stated, as they had been for the past 5 years since the boy's mother had deemed him old enough to begin formal training, the two martial artists attacked one another. The elder saotome had never been a slouch, despite the considerable bulk he carried in his midsection he could still move with alarming speeds and thanks to the bulk he could soak up damage lesser practitioners would have no chance handling.
Yet the six year old child he faced gave as good as he received, the smaller boy took every advantage his height and youth gave him over his father, and by the time his mother called an end to their bout they had both only managed an even 30 hits each. As was always the case, they had never discussed their early morning ritual, it didn't need to be discussed, it was something understood on a level beyond words. It was a guy thing.
They were finishing up their meal when I polite knock sounded on the front door, the mother glanced quickly at her husband ad son to see if they were expecting someone when they just shrugged at her silent question she rose from her place at the traditional japanese table to answer the door.
What she found was a smartly dressed young woman who, while not beautiful was quite stunning, and a man standing behind her that just screamed military in the way he held himself. The woman smiled at her from behind her glasses while the man seemed to only feel uncomfortable in the situation he had found himself in but was dutifully following orders, which meant this woman was important, very important.
"Good morning, sorry to intrude so early in the day, My name is Catherine Halsey and this fine young man is Jacob Keyes, I was wondering if perhaps I could discuss something with you and your family Mrs Saotome?" Catherine said in a pleasant but very all business tone.
The Saotome mother was a little off balance at the sudden appearance of this woman and her military escort and could do little more than stare for a short while before realising that she had been spoken too.
"My apologies I don't seem to have woken up completely just yet, come on in, we have just finished breakfast I'm afraid but perhaps you would like some tea?" Her training as a proper hostess kicked in to override her unease and she escorted the pair inside.
--
Doctor Catherine Halsey was looking forward to this particular visit, his genetic profile didn't show the same inborn mass that other spartans had nor did it display a possibility for greater intelligence, his profile in fact showed a stunningly normal child, he was so normal as to be abnormal. But that wasn't what had truly gained the doctors attention, rather it was that the child seemed to be a martial arts genius, it wasn't a towering intellect like her own, just the ability to instantly asses a situation then just as quickly react in accordance with how he believed he should, mostly that was to fight back.
She had approached the home of the child with trepidation, it had been noted in the child's profile that his parent both adhered strictly to ancient, old earth, samurai codes. As such they held honor and politeness above all else and could be notoriously difficult to deal with if you dealt the wrong impression.
Lt. Keyes settled into what, she assumed, was for him a casual stance, one pace behind and to the left of the doctor as the both came to a stop in front of a rather unassuming wooden door. Doctor Halsey was surprised to see a wooden door in this day and age, not many people could afford them given that wood was such a coveted commodity, even with the tree rich outer colonies. She knocked on the solid wood and heard the pleasantly sharp crack of her knuckles against the varnished surface.
Shortly after knocking the door was answered by a woman of average height with dark auburn hair that was tied in a rather stern looking bun. The woman seemed surprised more by Lt. Keyes behind her rather than the early house call she was paying. Seeing that she wasn't going to be responsive any time soon the doctor decided to speak first.
"Good morning, sorry to intrude so early in the day, My name is Doctor Catherine Halsey and this fine young man is Jacob Keyes, I was wondering if perhaps I could discuss something with you and your family Mrs Saotome?" She said in a pleasant but very all business tone.
The woman blinked several time's at them as if her mind was currently undergoing a reboot process, within seconds of the doctors statement the Saotome matron was back in action.
"My apologies I don't seem to have woken up completely just yet, come on in, we have just finished breakfast I'm afraid but perhaps you would like some tea?" She stood aside to let the doctor and the Lieutenant inside.
"Some tea would be much appreciated thank you Mrs Saotome, would you like some also Jacob?" she looked over her shoulder at the man who was gazing around uneasily, obviously out of sorts over what he and the doctor were here to do, but being the proper military man he was following orders without question.
"No thank you ma'am, I was never much for tea." he replied in a carefully regulated tone.
Doctor Halsey was watching the Saotome matron's reaction to Jacob's mode of speech and the way he walked, she obviously recognised him as military personnel but was unsure what to make of him while not in uniform but obviously on escort duty. She raised no mention as they were shown into the lounge where a rather rotund man and a six year old child were currently engaged in fierce battle with chopsticks.
They watched a while as father and son battled at speeds that were almost too fast for the doctors eye to catch, food vanished the reappeared on plates so fast it almost seemed to not leave at all, all the while the small mountains of food the pair had in front of them were slowly being reduced to nothing but crumbs.
It was only a short time before the food on the table was gone and the man and child finally took notice of the Saotome matriarchs return with two strangers. The pair looked up from the table only once all evidence of food is gone from the plates in front of them. The child was still chewing his last mouthful while the father was rubbing his fingers where his son had broken off the chopsticks in the part of the battle.
"Halsey-sensei this is my husband, Saotome Genma and my son, Saotome Ranma. I apologize for their display, my husband is a martial artist and our son is in training. All things in life must be thought of as a challenge to be overcome or training in order to become a true Artist." Mrs Saotome intoned, her voice full of pride.
The man and his son both bowed their head towards the doctor as they were introduced, Catherine, who had been briefed in some of the formalities involved in introductions among traditional japanese, returned the bow, she could feel the Lieutenant tense up behind her at her actions, obviously confused by her actions. Catherine silently berated herself for not briefing him on the proper protocols before arriving.
Ignoring the Lieutenants discomfort, Catherine followed the Saotome matriarch into the dining room and took the seat she was directed too. With only a slight indication of her hand she signaled the Lieutenant to sit behind and to the right of her. She was sure that the movement did not go unnoticed but none of the three Saotome's made mention of it.
With only a look from his mother Ranma stood and started clearing the table of the breakfast dishes, between him and his mother they made short work of the plates, bowls and cups that covered the table. After serving some tea in a rather traditional manner, the pair returned to the table and took their places either side of Genma who sat at the end. All three looked at Catherine expectantly.
"To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit Halsey-sensei?" Genma asked once everyone was settled in their place.
"I have come to ask for your child, to be perfectly blunt. I know of your past history with the military and the anti-UNSC insurgents so I should also let you know I am here on behalf of UNSC Section Three in regards to the Classified Eye's Only: Super Soldier project. We are drafting children from throughout UNSC controlled space to take them in for a twelve year training program that will turn them into the most effective fighting force the human race will ever know.
"Protocol set out by the higher ups state I shouldn't be telling you this but the file I was given on your son and family showed me that trying to take Ranma by force and leaving behind a flash clone would not be sufficient. So I opted to appeal to you personally." Catherine spoke quickly, not overly comfortable with revealing so much information, especially to civilians.
While she spoke Catherine kept a close eye on the Saotome elders faces, while Genma's expression didn't change at all, Nodoka's features hardened considerably, not at the mention of taking her child but rather at the mention of section three.
"So ONI want to take our child away to craft him into some mindless super soldier, to be taught how to kill another human and feel no remorse? Why can't ONI leave my family in peace? After everything they did to me why must they have my child too?" Genma said in a voice as cold as arctic steel.
"This is why I am here in person Saotome-san, I know of the grievance that was done against you by Section Three, I am here to ask you in person rather than attempting to ghost your son away in the middle of the night. I'm asking this of you for the sake of the human race not the UNSC, if the insurgents gain too much more momentum they may succeed in bringing down the infrastructure that holds the colonies together, this cannot happen.
"I believe your son has what it takes to truly help the UNSC for the better and by extension the human race. The genetic pool for this program is very select your son is one of only a couple of hundred of children have been chosen from all the human colonies. If I take Ranma with me today he will be enlisted for life, you will never see him again, most likely you will never even hear of his exploits either. So, what say you? Or more," she looked at Ranma "What say you?"
The small boy looked at her, his mind unclouded by the prejudices that his parents held, bright blue eye's shining like a pair of sapphires. "I wanna protect the weak and uphold the Code." Ranma spoke slowly, making sure of his words were clear and true.
"And what is the Code, Ranma?" Catherine asked.
"To protect the weak, to only use my strength on those who threaten people who can't fight back, to not take a human life for granted." Ranma said proudly. It was obviously something he recited often as his words were faster and more sure.
Catherine looked at the Saotome elders after Ranma was finished speaking. The child's speech effected his parents more than Catherine's had, Genma's face had gone pale though his expression hadn't changed, Nodoka's face had gotten even harder.
"Ranma, Saotome Ryu Kata seven to fifteen, NOW!" Genma snapped without looking at him.
Ranma rose without question and moved outside, once on the grass he took up a position that the Doctor recognized as a variation of the Crane style. From there he started moving slowly in a fluid grace that almost didn't seem natural for a human, it was more something only a cat should be able to perform. After only a few strikes and blocks Ranma started moving faster, slowly accelerating to a point where Catherine could no longer follow his movements.
"That is the talent my boy has, Doctor." Somehow Genma managed to pack more loathing into her title than she had ever heard in a single word before.
"And such is the reason he was selected Saotome-san." Catherine replied evenly, unperturbed by Genma's loathing.
Oddly enough it was the Saotome Matriarch who came to the Doctors defense. Her face hard and voice cold she cut across any further tirade that Genma may have had for her.
"You may take him." The sentence was short and simple but the silence after it was palpable.
Genma sat stunned, his mouth part way open and his eye's glued to his wife. Slowly higher brain function returned to the portly man and he closed his mouth with an audible click. Doctor Halsey looked at the two Saotome elders, trying to determine what to say so as to not set them off.
"Are you sure that you both agree to this?" she said slowly into the silence.
"No, but take him you must, if you have spoken true then what you are looking to achieve upholds all the tenants of the code. He will need a position better than what we can give him to truly influence the human race." Nodoka spoke slowly, as if each word were a struggle to get out.
Catherine bowed deeply from her position at the table and motioned for the Lieutenant to do the same. When she rose again she met Nodoka's gaze with a look she hoped was grateful. Out of the corner of her eye she caught movement as Genma got up from the table and walked slowly outside to speak with Ranma who was slowing down from his blinding speed.
The elder Saotome male spoke with his child for a short while before delivering a brief and awkward hug then shoving Ranma inside. The child made his way deeper into the house and came back a short few minutes later with a pack close to half the size of himself. With only the quickest look at his father, who was standing still as stone in the garden where he had spoken with Ranma, the child then bowed to his mother and stood looking expectantly at Catherine.
Taking her queue from the young boy Catherine bowed once more to the Saotome Matriarch, shifted so she was facing the Saotome Patriarchs back then bowed once more. The Lieutenant copied her movements even if he did not understand the meaning behind all that had happened that morning. Standing slowly and moving with a confidence she did not feel Catherine followed Ranma from the house.
"Doctor what...?" The Lieutenant was obviously at a loss for words over what had just transpired, they had never picked a child in the fashion they just had, it unnerved the normally reserved man.
"Don't think on it Lieutenant, Ranma will be joining us until we reach our final destination, I'm trusting your ability to keep a secret." Catherine explained, in a much more off hand manner than what she felt.
Once outside the family estate Ranma fell in next to the Lieutenant, imitating his step and how he held himself, obviously recognizing his military training and wanting, by instinct, to incorporate it into his style. The three walked slowly towards the colonies shuttle dock.
Ranma never looked back.
--
UNSC Calendar: September 23, 2517, Time: 2300, Location: Military Resevation 01478-B, Reach, Epsilon Eridani System.
Ranma stood with seventy-four other children in the frigid night air of the Military base. The vast majority of them were tired, scared and rather confused as to why they were standing in front of a platform in the middle of a field rather than asleep in their beds. The figure of Doctor Halsey and an older Military man walked up onto the stage, the children quieted down in hopes of an explanation.
Ranma had already been told about what was expected of him and why he was there so he looked around at the other children to try and get a read on the people he was going to grow up with. A couple of rows ahead of him a boy stood slightly taller than all but a couple, he was unremarkable to look at with brown hair and some freckles but the way the Doctor shot looks at him Ranma could tell he was one to watch.
One of the other tall children caught Ranma's eye, she was even taller than the boy who had caught the Doctors interest and from what Ranma could see with his rudimentary aura reading abilities she was fast, very fast. There were several others that stood out also, one was stronger than the others, another more patient, yet another highly attuned to his surroundings.
All the children were the same on a base level but Ranma could already pick out some traits that will come in handy in combat situations, especially if they are developed properly. He made a mental note to himself to try and befriend those children and really push their limits in those area's, having specialists in a team would be a major advantage over basic training.
Snapping back to what was really going on around him Ranma noticed that the children were starting to shuffle towards some low buildings behind the stage. Realizing that he had missed the entire speech he trotted to catch up with the first kid he'd spotted from the group.
"Hey there," he said in slightly accented english "my name's Ranma, what's yours?"
"I'm John." the kid replied curtly.
Ranma ignored the curt reply and kept at the surly child "I know what we got coming for us John, it ain't gonna a fun time, we gonna have to work as a team, so the whole team has to win in order to win and I don't loose, you seem like you can keep up, what do you say reckon you can?" Ranma had a keen insight in John's mind, seeing as it worked a fair amount like his own so he knew exactly what buttons to push.
John looked at him from heavy lidded eyes, the fire of a challenge starting to burn and lift some of the exhaustion off the six year old. "I always win, no matter what." he replied with heat.
"Good, cause I never lose, we'll make a good team." Ranma held out his hand to seal the deal. Slowly, as if unsure that he could work with someone else, John put his hand out to meet Ranma's and the friendship was sealed. It was a moment that would change both their lives and set events on a totally different course, one that would be felt from one end of the known universe to the other.
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A/N: So now that the journey has begun what do you all think? Love it? Hate it? Want it to have your brain children? Would rather to leave it to rot in a corner?
Let me know what you think. The more people who respond in a positive manner the faster I will write the story.
It will be following the books for the most part, I may add some stuff and take stuff out but i'll try and stay true to the Halo verse as much as neriman-chaos-magic will let me. Yes Ranma will get his curse, don't know how or how it will affect MJOLNIR but I'll think of something, I'm also open to suggestion there. More Ranma characters will arrive later on, as implied with the Ranma/Nabiki thing I have going there. I may hook them up but as SPARTAN's ain't exactly the romantic type not sure how to work that.
NO, Nabiki will not be Cortana or a SPARTAN.
Sorry about Grammar and stuff, will probably update about this time next month so get reviewing and you may see your idea influence my story, with acknowledgment of course.
Till next time, Moritynz out.