Prologue - Hero Chosen
"Three heroes of three lands will converge.
One of great POWER and skill.
One of great COURAGE and compassion.
One of great WISDOM and magic.
A fourth found untouched by TIME.
Each will be drawn together to defeat the evil that threatens all.
It had started as a normal day for Ranma. As normal as a day for him could get. The daily ritual of getting thrown out the bedroom window for his morning sparring match, which had been quick and painless on his part. His father on the other hand had missed a wonderful Kasumi-made breakfast due to unconsciousness. The morning berating from Akane was also normal, but for his part he restrained from the normal retorts, hoping to avoid a mallet before lunch. Which was partially successful, having only been given an uppercut from Akane for ignoring her bait to start another fight.
The trip to school was uneventful, minus the usual raving Kuno who was dispatched by Akane. Classes were boring as usual but Ranma did try to pay attention, hoping to glean some desperately needed information for the next test. Lunch was uneventful because Ranma decided to try a combination of techniques to avoid trouble. Mainly the Saotome Secret Technique coupled with the Shooting Star Defense Cloth. Meaning for Ranma 'out of sight, out of mind' meant out of trouble.
Now, soon after school let out Ranma came to the conclusion that trying to keep the chaos from happening like it usually did actually made it fester until it exploded causing his current problem.
Said problem involved nearly everyone that he had fought, tricked, or had inadvertently had fall in love with him were now following him. The strange procession made its way through the streets in and around Nerima as Ranma chased the cause, Happosai.
The pervert was only paces ahead of him and loosing ground. Taking advantage of the closing distance he quickened his pace. Behind him Akane also sped up nearly coming up to Ranma herself. Taking advantage of Ranma's distraction she pulled her mallet, and before he even knew what happen, Akane sent Ranma in a low, long distance trajectory.
The group quickly lost sight of the pig-tailed projectile as some of the group realized that the physics of the mallet-strike put the target well out of range of further pursuit. The group dispersed quickly, save one. Akane Tendo stood where she had finished her strike, looking off to where she had sent her fiancée. Many emotions warred across her face before she allowed anger to take over. Giving a feminine grunt she stalked back towards the Dojo.
***
Ranma was again contemplating the cause of the situation as he flew through the air at a considerable speed. Gonna land soon better get ready. He thought as gravity began to affect his trajectory, As he immediately began his careful preparation for the landing. He couldn't argue that Akane gave him an effective route of travel, but the landing left much to desire.
He continued to prepare himself mentally as he continued to descend. That's when he saw that he was headed for a nearby quarry.
"Aw crap this is gonna hurt." He cursed under his breath.
It didn't take a genius to know that there would be many rocks strewn about to make the landing far from comfortable. Not to mention his arc would not land him in one place but drag him many meters through the quarry and knowing his luck slam him into a large boulder.
Really hope it doesn't hurt as bad as I think it is He thought as he closed in. Unfortunately despite his preparation the resulting crashes and his yells of pain from a disastrous landing his could be heard a good distance.
***
Ranma lay in the depression that resulted from his landing. He remained still, breathing shallowly with his eyes closed recovering from the impact until he caught his breath and spoke reflexively.
"Damn tomboy." He muttered as he willed his Ki to heal the injuries he sustained. After a minute of concentration he began to move, first stretching stiff muscles then making sure that they worked properly. Standing up he observed his landing zone.
Along a straight line, a set of furrows could be seen which reminded him vaguely of skipping a stone across a pond. Looking at the boulder that had acted as his stopping cushion he could make out a vague human shape. Looking more closely he could see a virtual copy of his backside along with a rope-like impression left by his pigtail compressed into the rock, causing him to chuckle.
Abruptly he stopped, realizing it was not something to laugh at. His recent trip had been given to him by Akane. The only difference now was that he had gone farther and had hit harder than any previous flight. While the result was comical, the actions had been far from painless, Realization came to Ranma and he knew he had to teach her control before she decided to take her anger out on anyone else.
While he had been thinking, he had started to go through a mild kata to relax his muscles. His actions dawned on him and he soon begun to do a more complex exercise as he allowed his mind to wander once more.
Ranma recalled the changes the last year had brought and how they all came to a head the previous month with the failed wedding. Ukyo had been apologizing every chance she got while Shampoo seemed to not have cared about what she had done. This allowed Ranma to see what they really wanted. Ukyo wanted him and him only, if it was for love or to remove the stain on her honor he wasn't sure, but she truly wanted to be forgiven.
Shampoo on the other hand wanted him only for his heritage. The Amazon wanted strong children and believed that Ranma was the one that should give them to her, and she wouldn't let anything stand in her way.
Ryouga on the other hand, hadn't meant to interfere. It was only the fact that the Nannichiuan water and his direction sense were responsible for his presence. It was kind of a godsend that he hadn't shown up over the last month, because if he had it truly would have gone back to how it was before Jusendo.
Due to the lack of interruption he became rather relaxed, and almost missed the odd event unfolding to his left. When his senses became aware of the strange light, his curiosity told him to investigate. As he neared to within 10 feet the light suddenly exploded. Ranma shielded his eyes quickly. As the light dimmed he strained to see what had happen.
The first thing he saw was an odd looking man quite tall, even by western standards, he had a deep tan and shockingly brilliant red hair similar to his female forms'. But what gave the man his odd appearance was the overly large forehead adornment. A reddish-gold oval jewel covered a large portion in the center of his forehead. A metal border extending primarily up and down between the bridge of his nose to his hairline and to the left and right, spanning to his temples, with smaller designs filling in around the jewel, while the jewel itself glowed with power.
"Who are you?" Ranma asked dumbly.
"I am Ganondorf. And I shall destroy you and your world." The man stated flippantly, as he examined the unfamiliar terrain.
"You'll have to go through me first moron." Ranma stated defensively as he brought his guard up.
"Are you this worlds champion?" Ganon asked, as he took a good look at his new opponent.
This boy has some magic but it is weak and he has no control. If this world is like him, I shall rule within a mere month.
"I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, and I'm the best there is." Ranma stated simply as he prepared for Ganons' attack.
"Then you shall fail." With that Ganon began to gather energy within his hand, and let it fly at Ranma. And was surprised at the speed that Ranma exhibited.
Great, another magic happy freak, this may take a while. Thought Ranma as he maneuvered behind Ganon.
"Your gonna have to try harder than that to get me." He said loudly as he landed a strong kick to Ganon's back.
Ganon fell to the ground face first. He had underestimated the sheer power the boy possessed. He would have to keep him at a distance so not to fall to any more physical attacks. He stood quickly allowing his magic to heal the bruise, and leapt up to float about 10 feet off the ground.
"Let's' see you try such an attack again insect." Ganon sneered.
"Gladly" Ranma said.
Ganon realized too late that the boy had jumped to an equal height and landed another kick this time to his stomach, stronger than the first. Ganon again fell to the ground breathing labored by the blow. Ganon again rose to take a place five times as high as he previously was.
"Such a feat is should be impossible." He stated clearly with disbelief edging his voice.
"Nothing's impossible, GanonDORK" Ranma retorted.
Ganon's anger showed briefly but was soon replaced by his previous calm demeanor. Damn, this guy's too calm to use the Hiryü Shöten Ha. Ranma thought.
Ganon was also too high to get in another shot without having to defend himself. He quickly decided to allow Ganon the next move. He didn't have to wait long as Ganon gathered magic energy to throw.
"When I finish with you I will find those close to you and then kill them slowly. It has been too long since I have had the companionship of a unwilling woman." Ganon said, and then released the ball at Ranma.
"Wha...?" was all Ranma could reply before the energy ball slammed into him. Terrible pain enveloped him as the energy traveled through his body attempting to destroy as much as possible before dissipating. Ranma fell to the ground limply near unconsciousness.
"What a simple creature." Ganon sneered as he floated down and started to walk away from where Ranma lay.
"HEY, we're not through yet!"
Ganon turned around and was surprised to see the boy standing, though wearily, prepared to attack.
"No, you're through, boy." Ganon said as another energy ball was directed at Ranma.
"MÖUKO TAKABISHA!" Came the reply as Ranma called his attack.
Both attacks met, and the resulting explosion was enough to knock both opponents back a good distance. Both given the apparent conclusion that magic and Ki don't mix well.
"You shouldn't be able to do that! You have no magic!" Ganon almost yelled in utter disbelief. He knew the boy had no controlled magic at his disposal.
"Ain't magic." Was all Ranma replied as he summoned his battle aura, allowing it to become visible. Ganon stared at the boy, Again he checked for magic, but the aura didn't register.
He quickly began to scan all the possible powers the boy could use in battle. When he finally scanned Ranmas' spiritual energy Ganon nearly soiled himself as he realized he stood no chance from the beginning.
Ganon was a person who was never easily scared. Only once before had he felt fear, and that was his defeat at the hands of the Hero of Time, Link.
So when Ganondorf saw Ranma's life energy, burning a brilliant white, he realized the boy himself was pure potential. Against Link his body was destroyed, but Ganon quickly realized that this 'boy' standing before him had the ability to destroy his soul as easily as one would snap a twig.
"YOU WILL NEVER TOUCH THEM!" Yelled Ranma slowly, allowing his aura to flare powerfully as his anger grew.
Ranma's anger then quickly started weakening his control. But unlike most times, he lost it willingly. He could feel the raw power he had tapped into. The effects of the Neko-ken coming over him as his anger grew. He stood there a fraction of a second before pure instinct took over, his rational mind remaining intact but suppressed, as he rushed the tyrant.
"Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken revised; Raikou Neko Tsume."(*1) Ranma called as his Ki formed claws around his hands.
With inhuman speed Ranma began to make passes at Ganon inflicting deep cuts and puncture wounds across his entire body with his new technique. Slowing down he began to tightly circle him tearing flesh and drawing massive amounts of blood from his enemy.
Seconds passed and Ganon became an unrecognizable mess of wounds. As Ranma's attack neared a minute, he stopped. Suddenly Ganon literally fell apart, no longer held together naturally or by the pressure of Ranma's circling attack.
Winded, Ranma sat down heavily as his rationality reasserted itself forcefully, leaving Ranma to stared at what remained of his foe, shocked. He had only killed once before. When Saffron had nearly killed Akane. Though Saffron was dead only briefly, he regretted loosing control, and feared that it may one day happen again. Now he had killed another person at the mention of harm to his family.
Ranma snapped out of his shock when he saw that what was left of the body began to dissipate. He again went into shock when his right hand began to tingle fiercely then glow as what was left of Ganons' right hand begun to glow as well.
Carefully He studied the marking that appeared. It was a large triangle, cut into four equal pieces, three taking up the outer parameter, situated in each corner of the larger one, shining bright gold, the upper triangle glowing the brightest. While an inverted triangle in the center glowed pure white.
Immediately he feared that the evil of the man had been somehow transferred into him. But after several minutes he could feel no changes that he was aware of. Hoping for the best, he began his trek home after the symbol quit glowing.
He carefully kept his hands in his pockets so not to attract any unwanted attention. After two hours he decided that he really needed to get back before anyone worried and begun to pick up his pace.
On his walk back to the Dojo, he passed Dr. Tofu's clinic and got an idea. He quickly ducked inside and grabbed a roll of gauze and tape, and wrapped his new tattoo.
"Hey Doc is it okay if I borrow some bandages and stuff? I'm probably gonna need it when I get back to the Dojo." Ranma asked as he finished his bandage.
"Sure, just don't take any more than you'll need okay Ranma?" Came the Tofu's' reply.
"Thanks Doc!" Ranma responded, grabbing another roll of gauze and more tape before leaving. Confident that he could pass his tattoo off as an injury, he finished the walk home.
"Tadaima" Ranma called out wearily as he entered, He solved the problem with the tattoo temporarily, but he hadn't done anything about his problems with Happosai or Akane.
"Welcome home Ranma. You're just in time for dinner." Came Kasumi's greeting.
"About time Saotome." responded Nabiki with her usual, slightly feral moneymaking grin.
"Hello my boy." Replied Nodoka serenely.
Genma merely grunted his acknowledgment of Ranma's presence while he stood in the hall, while Akane silently fumed, believing that Ranma went to Ukyo's or Shampoo's to avoid her. Ranma noticed this, but didn't say anything in his defense knowing that she would twist his words, and the result would be shouting match. Something he wasn't interested in doing.
He was relieved that Happosai was still out 'training' as he called it. He also became aware that the usual tirade that the fathers gave him after the 'parade' didn't happen either because of his mother or the wedding, he wasn't sure and didn't care.
He was shaken out of his analysis of the people before him when the phone next to him rang. Careful to keep his hand hidden he picked up the phone with his left hand and answered.
"Moshi moshi." He said over the line
["Good day, I was told that the Saotomes' are currently residing there, could I speak with Genma, Nodoka or Ranma Saotome please?"] The nasal voice on the other side replied.
"This is Ranma. What can I do for ya?"
["This is Hadeki Fugitsu of the Vital Records office. We have recently come across some information that Genmas' daughter Keiko Tomoe, died a year ago in a lab explosion with her husband Souichi Tomoe formerly Souichi Hibiki. Their daughter survived and is currently living with friends in the Juuban district. I wish to inform you that until a few hours ago we thought she had no other relatives, but this evidence suggests otherwise. It seems that you and your father as well as one Ryouga Hibiki are the only direct relatives."]
Ranma in his usual stupor from being assaulted verbally as well as intellectually gave a rather standard reply.
"Huh?"
["Mr. Saotome, you and Mr. Hibiki have a niece named Hotaru Tomoe. Your father is her Grandfather. Here's her address."]
Ranma quickly grabbed a pencil and wrote the name and address down and shoved it in his pocket as he hung up. A moment later the full brunt of the news hit him as he sorted out the family tree that was explained to him.
Kuso, Pig-boy an' me are brothers. Ranma quickly found reality as Kasumi called dinner.
As dinner was set Ranma withdrew his hand, and as he suspected Kasumi was the first to notice.
"Oh my Ranma, what happen to your hand!" Came the expected response of worry.
"I landed on a rock in the quarry. When I got to Dr. Tofu's I cleaned it up and bandaged it, nothing serious." Came the practiced response.
He didn't want to blame Akane, but he had to give a convincing story. Without waiting for a retort from his fiancée he began to eat, slowly. Everything was going smoothly until Genma decided to try to instigate the usual food fight between him and his son.
Since Ranma wasn't feeling up to his fathers annoying training habits and promptly threw his father one handed in a shallow arc into the koi pond while still paying attention to his food. This brought everything to a halt as everyone stared at the display of extreme power uncommon to Ranma. Ranma looked up at each face, each displaying surprise, while his mother gave him a curt nod of approval.
"What?" he asked innocently. He then looked outside where a panda was getting out of the pond and realized what he had done.
"Gomen" he said embarrassed.
Everyone then continued to give his or her food attention as Genma-Panda lumbered onto the porch chewing on a bamboo sprout.
After a minute all activity again stopped and directed itself at the young martial artist.
"What now?" he asked a little annoyed.
Akane pointed dumbly to his right hand. Slowly, he brought his hand to his attention. Despite his precaution the tattoo was glowing again, clearly and crisply through the bandage as if it wasn't there.
"Great." was all he could say before chaos took control of his life once more.
*Authors Notes*
(*1) Raikou Neko Tsume - Lightning Cat Claw - uses Amaguriken speed punches coupled with the Ki Claws of the Neko-ken. Ranma chose to circle using the technique because of his intent to kill Ganondorf rather than cause injury.
Updated and revised more A.N. at the end of the first chapter
Thanks
Darksyn
"Three heroes of three lands will converge.
One of great POWER and skill.
One of great COURAGE and compassion.
One of great WISDOM and magic.
A fourth found untouched by TIME.
Each will be drawn together to defeat the evil that threatens all.
It had started as a normal day for Ranma. As normal as a day for him could get. The daily ritual of getting thrown out the bedroom window for his morning sparring match, which had been quick and painless on his part. His father on the other hand had missed a wonderful Kasumi-made breakfast due to unconsciousness. The morning berating from Akane was also normal, but for his part he restrained from the normal retorts, hoping to avoid a mallet before lunch. Which was partially successful, having only been given an uppercut from Akane for ignoring her bait to start another fight.
The trip to school was uneventful, minus the usual raving Kuno who was dispatched by Akane. Classes were boring as usual but Ranma did try to pay attention, hoping to glean some desperately needed information for the next test. Lunch was uneventful because Ranma decided to try a combination of techniques to avoid trouble. Mainly the Saotome Secret Technique coupled with the Shooting Star Defense Cloth. Meaning for Ranma 'out of sight, out of mind' meant out of trouble.
Now, soon after school let out Ranma came to the conclusion that trying to keep the chaos from happening like it usually did actually made it fester until it exploded causing his current problem.
Said problem involved nearly everyone that he had fought, tricked, or had inadvertently had fall in love with him were now following him. The strange procession made its way through the streets in and around Nerima as Ranma chased the cause, Happosai.
The pervert was only paces ahead of him and loosing ground. Taking advantage of the closing distance he quickened his pace. Behind him Akane also sped up nearly coming up to Ranma herself. Taking advantage of Ranma's distraction she pulled her mallet, and before he even knew what happen, Akane sent Ranma in a low, long distance trajectory.
The group quickly lost sight of the pig-tailed projectile as some of the group realized that the physics of the mallet-strike put the target well out of range of further pursuit. The group dispersed quickly, save one. Akane Tendo stood where she had finished her strike, looking off to where she had sent her fiancée. Many emotions warred across her face before she allowed anger to take over. Giving a feminine grunt she stalked back towards the Dojo.
***
Ranma was again contemplating the cause of the situation as he flew through the air at a considerable speed. Gonna land soon better get ready. He thought as gravity began to affect his trajectory, As he immediately began his careful preparation for the landing. He couldn't argue that Akane gave him an effective route of travel, but the landing left much to desire.
He continued to prepare himself mentally as he continued to descend. That's when he saw that he was headed for a nearby quarry.
"Aw crap this is gonna hurt." He cursed under his breath.
It didn't take a genius to know that there would be many rocks strewn about to make the landing far from comfortable. Not to mention his arc would not land him in one place but drag him many meters through the quarry and knowing his luck slam him into a large boulder.
Really hope it doesn't hurt as bad as I think it is He thought as he closed in. Unfortunately despite his preparation the resulting crashes and his yells of pain from a disastrous landing his could be heard a good distance.
***
Ranma lay in the depression that resulted from his landing. He remained still, breathing shallowly with his eyes closed recovering from the impact until he caught his breath and spoke reflexively.
"Damn tomboy." He muttered as he willed his Ki to heal the injuries he sustained. After a minute of concentration he began to move, first stretching stiff muscles then making sure that they worked properly. Standing up he observed his landing zone.
Along a straight line, a set of furrows could be seen which reminded him vaguely of skipping a stone across a pond. Looking at the boulder that had acted as his stopping cushion he could make out a vague human shape. Looking more closely he could see a virtual copy of his backside along with a rope-like impression left by his pigtail compressed into the rock, causing him to chuckle.
Abruptly he stopped, realizing it was not something to laugh at. His recent trip had been given to him by Akane. The only difference now was that he had gone farther and had hit harder than any previous flight. While the result was comical, the actions had been far from painless, Realization came to Ranma and he knew he had to teach her control before she decided to take her anger out on anyone else.
While he had been thinking, he had started to go through a mild kata to relax his muscles. His actions dawned on him and he soon begun to do a more complex exercise as he allowed his mind to wander once more.
Ranma recalled the changes the last year had brought and how they all came to a head the previous month with the failed wedding. Ukyo had been apologizing every chance she got while Shampoo seemed to not have cared about what she had done. This allowed Ranma to see what they really wanted. Ukyo wanted him and him only, if it was for love or to remove the stain on her honor he wasn't sure, but she truly wanted to be forgiven.
Shampoo on the other hand wanted him only for his heritage. The Amazon wanted strong children and believed that Ranma was the one that should give them to her, and she wouldn't let anything stand in her way.
Ryouga on the other hand, hadn't meant to interfere. It was only the fact that the Nannichiuan water and his direction sense were responsible for his presence. It was kind of a godsend that he hadn't shown up over the last month, because if he had it truly would have gone back to how it was before Jusendo.
Due to the lack of interruption he became rather relaxed, and almost missed the odd event unfolding to his left. When his senses became aware of the strange light, his curiosity told him to investigate. As he neared to within 10 feet the light suddenly exploded. Ranma shielded his eyes quickly. As the light dimmed he strained to see what had happen.
The first thing he saw was an odd looking man quite tall, even by western standards, he had a deep tan and shockingly brilliant red hair similar to his female forms'. But what gave the man his odd appearance was the overly large forehead adornment. A reddish-gold oval jewel covered a large portion in the center of his forehead. A metal border extending primarily up and down between the bridge of his nose to his hairline and to the left and right, spanning to his temples, with smaller designs filling in around the jewel, while the jewel itself glowed with power.
"Who are you?" Ranma asked dumbly.
"I am Ganondorf. And I shall destroy you and your world." The man stated flippantly, as he examined the unfamiliar terrain.
"You'll have to go through me first moron." Ranma stated defensively as he brought his guard up.
"Are you this worlds champion?" Ganon asked, as he took a good look at his new opponent.
This boy has some magic but it is weak and he has no control. If this world is like him, I shall rule within a mere month.
"I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, and I'm the best there is." Ranma stated simply as he prepared for Ganons' attack.
"Then you shall fail." With that Ganon began to gather energy within his hand, and let it fly at Ranma. And was surprised at the speed that Ranma exhibited.
Great, another magic happy freak, this may take a while. Thought Ranma as he maneuvered behind Ganon.
"Your gonna have to try harder than that to get me." He said loudly as he landed a strong kick to Ganon's back.
Ganon fell to the ground face first. He had underestimated the sheer power the boy possessed. He would have to keep him at a distance so not to fall to any more physical attacks. He stood quickly allowing his magic to heal the bruise, and leapt up to float about 10 feet off the ground.
"Let's' see you try such an attack again insect." Ganon sneered.
"Gladly" Ranma said.
Ganon realized too late that the boy had jumped to an equal height and landed another kick this time to his stomach, stronger than the first. Ganon again fell to the ground breathing labored by the blow. Ganon again rose to take a place five times as high as he previously was.
"Such a feat is should be impossible." He stated clearly with disbelief edging his voice.
"Nothing's impossible, GanonDORK" Ranma retorted.
Ganon's anger showed briefly but was soon replaced by his previous calm demeanor. Damn, this guy's too calm to use the Hiryü Shöten Ha. Ranma thought.
Ganon was also too high to get in another shot without having to defend himself. He quickly decided to allow Ganon the next move. He didn't have to wait long as Ganon gathered magic energy to throw.
"When I finish with you I will find those close to you and then kill them slowly. It has been too long since I have had the companionship of a unwilling woman." Ganon said, and then released the ball at Ranma.
"Wha...?" was all Ranma could reply before the energy ball slammed into him. Terrible pain enveloped him as the energy traveled through his body attempting to destroy as much as possible before dissipating. Ranma fell to the ground limply near unconsciousness.
"What a simple creature." Ganon sneered as he floated down and started to walk away from where Ranma lay.
"HEY, we're not through yet!"
Ganon turned around and was surprised to see the boy standing, though wearily, prepared to attack.
"No, you're through, boy." Ganon said as another energy ball was directed at Ranma.
"MÖUKO TAKABISHA!" Came the reply as Ranma called his attack.
Both attacks met, and the resulting explosion was enough to knock both opponents back a good distance. Both given the apparent conclusion that magic and Ki don't mix well.
"You shouldn't be able to do that! You have no magic!" Ganon almost yelled in utter disbelief. He knew the boy had no controlled magic at his disposal.
"Ain't magic." Was all Ranma replied as he summoned his battle aura, allowing it to become visible. Ganon stared at the boy, Again he checked for magic, but the aura didn't register.
He quickly began to scan all the possible powers the boy could use in battle. When he finally scanned Ranmas' spiritual energy Ganon nearly soiled himself as he realized he stood no chance from the beginning.
Ganon was a person who was never easily scared. Only once before had he felt fear, and that was his defeat at the hands of the Hero of Time, Link.
So when Ganondorf saw Ranma's life energy, burning a brilliant white, he realized the boy himself was pure potential. Against Link his body was destroyed, but Ganon quickly realized that this 'boy' standing before him had the ability to destroy his soul as easily as one would snap a twig.
"YOU WILL NEVER TOUCH THEM!" Yelled Ranma slowly, allowing his aura to flare powerfully as his anger grew.
Ranma's anger then quickly started weakening his control. But unlike most times, he lost it willingly. He could feel the raw power he had tapped into. The effects of the Neko-ken coming over him as his anger grew. He stood there a fraction of a second before pure instinct took over, his rational mind remaining intact but suppressed, as he rushed the tyrant.
"Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken revised; Raikou Neko Tsume."(*1) Ranma called as his Ki formed claws around his hands.
With inhuman speed Ranma began to make passes at Ganon inflicting deep cuts and puncture wounds across his entire body with his new technique. Slowing down he began to tightly circle him tearing flesh and drawing massive amounts of blood from his enemy.
Seconds passed and Ganon became an unrecognizable mess of wounds. As Ranma's attack neared a minute, he stopped. Suddenly Ganon literally fell apart, no longer held together naturally or by the pressure of Ranma's circling attack.
Winded, Ranma sat down heavily as his rationality reasserted itself forcefully, leaving Ranma to stared at what remained of his foe, shocked. He had only killed once before. When Saffron had nearly killed Akane. Though Saffron was dead only briefly, he regretted loosing control, and feared that it may one day happen again. Now he had killed another person at the mention of harm to his family.
Ranma snapped out of his shock when he saw that what was left of the body began to dissipate. He again went into shock when his right hand began to tingle fiercely then glow as what was left of Ganons' right hand begun to glow as well.
Carefully He studied the marking that appeared. It was a large triangle, cut into four equal pieces, three taking up the outer parameter, situated in each corner of the larger one, shining bright gold, the upper triangle glowing the brightest. While an inverted triangle in the center glowed pure white.
Immediately he feared that the evil of the man had been somehow transferred into him. But after several minutes he could feel no changes that he was aware of. Hoping for the best, he began his trek home after the symbol quit glowing.
He carefully kept his hands in his pockets so not to attract any unwanted attention. After two hours he decided that he really needed to get back before anyone worried and begun to pick up his pace.
On his walk back to the Dojo, he passed Dr. Tofu's clinic and got an idea. He quickly ducked inside and grabbed a roll of gauze and tape, and wrapped his new tattoo.
"Hey Doc is it okay if I borrow some bandages and stuff? I'm probably gonna need it when I get back to the Dojo." Ranma asked as he finished his bandage.
"Sure, just don't take any more than you'll need okay Ranma?" Came the Tofu's' reply.
"Thanks Doc!" Ranma responded, grabbing another roll of gauze and more tape before leaving. Confident that he could pass his tattoo off as an injury, he finished the walk home.
"Tadaima" Ranma called out wearily as he entered, He solved the problem with the tattoo temporarily, but he hadn't done anything about his problems with Happosai or Akane.
"Welcome home Ranma. You're just in time for dinner." Came Kasumi's greeting.
"About time Saotome." responded Nabiki with her usual, slightly feral moneymaking grin.
"Hello my boy." Replied Nodoka serenely.
Genma merely grunted his acknowledgment of Ranma's presence while he stood in the hall, while Akane silently fumed, believing that Ranma went to Ukyo's or Shampoo's to avoid her. Ranma noticed this, but didn't say anything in his defense knowing that she would twist his words, and the result would be shouting match. Something he wasn't interested in doing.
He was relieved that Happosai was still out 'training' as he called it. He also became aware that the usual tirade that the fathers gave him after the 'parade' didn't happen either because of his mother or the wedding, he wasn't sure and didn't care.
He was shaken out of his analysis of the people before him when the phone next to him rang. Careful to keep his hand hidden he picked up the phone with his left hand and answered.
"Moshi moshi." He said over the line
["Good day, I was told that the Saotomes' are currently residing there, could I speak with Genma, Nodoka or Ranma Saotome please?"] The nasal voice on the other side replied.
"This is Ranma. What can I do for ya?"
["This is Hadeki Fugitsu of the Vital Records office. We have recently come across some information that Genmas' daughter Keiko Tomoe, died a year ago in a lab explosion with her husband Souichi Tomoe formerly Souichi Hibiki. Their daughter survived and is currently living with friends in the Juuban district. I wish to inform you that until a few hours ago we thought she had no other relatives, but this evidence suggests otherwise. It seems that you and your father as well as one Ryouga Hibiki are the only direct relatives."]
Ranma in his usual stupor from being assaulted verbally as well as intellectually gave a rather standard reply.
"Huh?"
["Mr. Saotome, you and Mr. Hibiki have a niece named Hotaru Tomoe. Your father is her Grandfather. Here's her address."]
Ranma quickly grabbed a pencil and wrote the name and address down and shoved it in his pocket as he hung up. A moment later the full brunt of the news hit him as he sorted out the family tree that was explained to him.
Kuso, Pig-boy an' me are brothers. Ranma quickly found reality as Kasumi called dinner.
As dinner was set Ranma withdrew his hand, and as he suspected Kasumi was the first to notice.
"Oh my Ranma, what happen to your hand!" Came the expected response of worry.
"I landed on a rock in the quarry. When I got to Dr. Tofu's I cleaned it up and bandaged it, nothing serious." Came the practiced response.
He didn't want to blame Akane, but he had to give a convincing story. Without waiting for a retort from his fiancée he began to eat, slowly. Everything was going smoothly until Genma decided to try to instigate the usual food fight between him and his son.
Since Ranma wasn't feeling up to his fathers annoying training habits and promptly threw his father one handed in a shallow arc into the koi pond while still paying attention to his food. This brought everything to a halt as everyone stared at the display of extreme power uncommon to Ranma. Ranma looked up at each face, each displaying surprise, while his mother gave him a curt nod of approval.
"What?" he asked innocently. He then looked outside where a panda was getting out of the pond and realized what he had done.
"Gomen" he said embarrassed.
Everyone then continued to give his or her food attention as Genma-Panda lumbered onto the porch chewing on a bamboo sprout.
After a minute all activity again stopped and directed itself at the young martial artist.
"What now?" he asked a little annoyed.
Akane pointed dumbly to his right hand. Slowly, he brought his hand to his attention. Despite his precaution the tattoo was glowing again, clearly and crisply through the bandage as if it wasn't there.
"Great." was all he could say before chaos took control of his life once more.
*Authors Notes*
(*1) Raikou Neko Tsume - Lightning Cat Claw - uses Amaguriken speed punches coupled with the Ki Claws of the Neko-ken. Ranma chose to circle using the technique because of his intent to kill Ganondorf rather than cause injury.
Updated and revised more A.N. at the end of the first chapter
Thanks
Darksyn
