Disclaimer: Ranma ½, Street Fighter, King of Fighters, or any other anime series/characters or games characters that might be mentioned.
Powers Comes With A Price
BY: Confucius
Chapter 1
"Now boy, if you want to learn the invincible art of the neko-ken then you must face this," said Genma. While on the training journey, Genma luckily had gotten a hold (stole) of an advance combat book. As he read the first page, he was thrilled that it contained an unbeatable technique that seems easy to learn. He only needs to throw Ranma in a pit of full of hungry cats while being tied to fish sausages. The only thing he needed to do was to gather all the town's cats and starve them for a few days. He could then sit back and watch the show. If his good luck continues, Ranma would come out of this as a formidable martial artist and then his retirement plan could go in effect sooner then he originally planned. Everything was ready now so it was time for his son to begin the training. "You do want to be the best martial artists right? Or are you a sick weak little girl?"
Ranma was now only eight years old. If he were two years older, the cat-fu training would have been a useless effort since it only works if the trainee is under ten years old. Of course, that doesn't mean Genma won't try to stop Ranma from training in it anyways. Ever since he could remember, he had been training in the martial arts with one goal on his mind. That goal was to become a man among men. So naturally he could get ticked off when someone would say otherwise about his manliness. "I'll show you old man! Go ahead and throw me in already."
Genma was just too happy to oblige. He then proceeds to open the cat pit and noises could be heard of what seems to be like a hundred cats yowling. All of the felines' eyes were staring at the two humans above them, especially at the smaller one who was wrapped in fish sausages. However unnoticed by the two humans, there was another pair of eyes that were watching them.
Ranma's eye bulged at the sight of the angry cats. They looked harmless and playful a few days ago but now it was just a totally different scene. Ranma gulped. "Pop, are you sure this is how it's suppose to be done? You know what, I don't feel too well today so maybe we could do this some other day."
"Stupid boy, I did not raise you to become such a cry baby. Oh the shame, my son afraid of a pit full of hungry cats!"
Ranma was still young at that time so he immediately fell for the ruse. "Jeez pop, don't cry. I'll do what you want."
Genma sobered up in a flash and suddenly pushed his son down the pit. "Now that's more like it son. You go and make your father proud." Then he witnesses the massacre and blenched. Good thing I don't have to go through this, he thought.
Bison, the evil tyrant of Shadowloo was in the area earlier to conduct his usual business until he felt a power that was similar to his own. The power he felt became alive for a bit then vanished like an extinguished flame. At the moment, he was still in the process of building his army that would help him dominate the world and create an empire, so he always need good men with good combat experience. He needed to find whomever it was that he felt so that person could join his side. He decided to go and find his prey without the assistance of his men. A man with his superiority loves games, especially ones that deal with hunting. When it looked as though he lost his prey, he spotted a man in a gi tying what looks like his son up with some sort of food. It was not everyday that he sees this so he decided to stay and watch the show. What he did not expect was to see the father push his son into a pit. "At least my evening was not a totally waste. I have entertainment."
While everyone was either enjoying the scene or glad that they didn't take part of the training long ago, little Ranma was screaming out of his lungs. "Get off me! Pop, I don't want to do this anymore. Get me out!" No matter how hard he screamed for help, it was useless. His mind started to jumble as he glowed a distinctive color. Sparks rapidly appeared from within his body just as it rapidly diminishes. The results of this scared away the cats surrounding Ranma. Cats may not be the smartest animals in the world but they do have enough sense to stay away from the boy if they don't want to experience the shock again.
The power that I sensed earlier was from this kid, Bison thought. He never counted that he would find whom he was looking for from such a coincidence. His mind was now fixed on taking the boy since it was destiny that lured them together.
Genma on the other hand was furious. The cats had stopped attacking the boy, which means he will not learn the ancient arts of the neko-ken. Then it came to him that maybe the boy did succeeded in learning the dreadful technique. That would explain the weird glow that came from the pit a second ago. If that were true, his retirement plans would surely be secure. When he came closer to the pit, his body began to feel a jolt of pain and was flung sixteen feet away. As he try to get his head clear from that sudden impact, he looked forward only to see a man in his mid twenties standing in front of the pit. The stranger was wearing some sort of Russian military uniform and had a cape that hung from his back. Deciding not to show such weak points, Genma rose onto his feet and stared at his assailant attacker. "Who are you and why did you attack me?"
"Fool you do not know what you have in front of you," said Bison. "If you are so ignorant of the child's gift then allow me to relieve him from you."
"What! How dare you even suggest that to me?" Genma have had it with words so he decided to teach this gaijin a lesson. He then proceeds to move into the Saotome Anything Goes stance to ready himself. Taking away his son at this point was unacceptable. The boy still needs to take over the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts plus get him safe from his wife, Nodoka.
"So, you do have some fight in you huh. I'll see to it that it would be crushed just like you."
The master of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts dashed towards his enemy. His hands were up forward preparing to strike. Unfortunately, even a master of the Anything Goes could make mistakes. Mistakes like running full speed into an energy blast.
Bison grinned when he watched the idiot charging at full speed towards him. With the speed he was going, he would have to be really agile to dodge a fast incoming attack. He then gathers his psycho powers into his hand. The fool won't know what will hit him, he thought. Feeling that he had charged up enough energy into his right hand, he then released it when Genma was at a distance of ten paces. "Psycho Shot!" As his energy projectile technique hit Genma straight on, the smaller man was automatically knocked unconscious and sent flying backwards with the front of his gi all torn and scattered through the area. He knew the man won't be up for while since he was not prepared for such an attack. Bison left his opponent smoking on the ground to go and look at the boy. The kid was also unconscious, probably due to the shock of the weird training.
"Little one, you shall have the honor to serve me." Bison, the lord of Shadowloo then contacted his limousine to pick them up.
Ranma was now ten years old. He has been training under Bison and six other martial artists experts when the lord of Shadowloo was absent. Two years ago when Ranma had woken up from the neko-ken training, he found himself in one of the hospital that specializes in mending the agents of Shadowloo. He had wondered what happened to his father and was informed by Bison later that he was abandoned for his failure in his training. Little Ranma was of course devastated but was soon relieved when the man promised to take care of him and drill him into an unbeatable fighter. Instead of being a simple martial artist, he was now been groomed into becoming a warrior. Ranma's hatred for his bad had helped fueled his burning needs to train harder and one-day laugh at the man's face and let him see how good he had become.
In those two years, Ranma has none stop learned the basis of Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Muy Thai, and Kempo from all of his six sensei while learning to use his psycho powers from his new father. Psycho powers are a form of psychic abilities, which focus on the psychotic thoughts in one's brains. Being psychic means that one has the ability to use the other percentage of the brain that normal people don't. Although he made great progress in the martial arts department, his psychic skills were below of what Bison had expected. Bison had spent many hours couching him on how to bring forth his hidden powers. He showed the boy all his techniques in hope that one of it would somehow activate his hidden powers. Every time when Ranma upsets his father due to his lack of concentration, he was punished. He was either beaten, whipped, or sentence without food for the rest of the day.
At the age of twelve, it was felt that Ranma, the young master of Shadowloo was old enough to be sent on an assassination mission. His objective is to assassinate a governor in Brazil without been seen. No one would suspect a child. At first, Ranma had disagreed on becoming a murderer, but Bison would have none of that. It took several minutes of manipulation for Ranma to agree to this mission. The mission was successful and so were the other missions that came after that. Ranma had become cold and calculating. Even if his father appraises him from time to time, he still suspects that he would be killed on the spot if he did not listen to orders. That further drove him into training harder then he already has.
A year later, Ranma had mastered all the forms of martial arts that he was taught. Even skills as using pressure points and acupuncture points were in his grasp. He also was proficient on using weapons, but the one that he favors most were throwing knives. Everything was going well except for his psychic powers. No matter how hard he trained, his psychic abilities were still low. The scientist of Shadowloo had run some brain test on him and found that although his brain wave patterns were strong then the average human, it was still not strong enough to manifest psychic powers. Bison was getting impatient with his heir and desperately finding way to see it done.
Ranma mostly spends his time in his own personal training room. His life was very simple. He was either training or studying. Bison felt that a high rank of Shadowloo should have brains as well as bronze so he never let Ranma's education die. His extracurricular activities are war strategic and computers. Computer skills were handy if his mission was to retrieve information. Presently, he was wearing a black weighted vest around him to increase the intensity of his training. This was suggested by a few of his sensei that thought his training should increase another notch. Ever since then, he had never taken it off except when taking a bath. He even slips in more weights when he feels like he's ready.
Today, it seems just like any normal day for Ranma when he was not on a mission. He was in his training room when a girl his age walked in. "Who are you?" Ranma asked. "What are you doing in here? Didn't you know that this is restricted area?"
"Sorry," the girl replied. She was taken back by the other boy's response. "I'm kind of new here and I found myself lost. I'm looking for my appointed room AG 35. Can you help me find it?"
This was the first time in Shadowloo that he met another person around his age. Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to help, he led her to her designated spot.
"I didn't expect to met another person my age here. By the way, my name is Cammy White. Want to be friends?"
Ranma was taken back at her. He had never had a friend before, since there was no one around his age and that he was mostly busy training. She was smiling at him to and that felt different from the other smiles he got from other people. Why not, he thought. "Sure. My name is Ranma."
"Don't you have a last name?"
"Nope. Lost that long ago." Even after all these years, Ranma still kept a deep hatred to the man that abandoned him.
"You're silly."
Cammy began to laugh and her laughter was contagious. Ranma found himself chuckling along side with her. It was the first time in a long time that he laughed like that. It felt good to him.
Another three years had past and Ranma was still training intensely. However things were a lot easier to handle now since he had a friend. The two did a lot of things together eating, studying, and sometimes even worked out together. They kept each other company so none of them felt lonely. Things were going great now but Bison had other plans.
Ranma was called into some sort of lab that he never been in. His father called him here to meet him. As he entered the lab, he saw that Bison was not happy, which was not good.
"My boy, I brought you here because you are like me," said Bison. "I sensed that you have the same powers that I have. However it seems that they powers are manifesting quite a bit slower than we expected, so we are going to fix that."
"What do you father? How are we going to jump start my powers?"
"I'm going to let you in the psycho drive. It is a machine that I created so that it would give me immortality. Today, we will use it so that it will break down those barriers in your head. You are useless to me the way you are now. You cannot do what I have envision you to do in your current state. After this, we will put you into harder training. We even moved Cammy to another facility so that you can concentrate more."
Ranma couldn't believe it that his friend was sent away. The last time he saw her was at yesterday's dinner, which was also the last day he will see her until he become what his father wants. He had to succeed in order to see his friend again. "Should we start now father?"
"You can continue to call me father if only you succeed in this. If not, then you are just another lowly fighter that I just picked up. You will then address me as master."
Everything seemed to be going right so far as Ranma had already entered the psycho drive. The machinery was emitting some kind of energy that was focusing on this brain. He felt a couple of slight tingle but the feeling soon passed. As the machine cranked up its juices, the party finally starts. Ranma was screaming from the surging pain. He felt as if his brain has been put inside a blender. He had already lost his thoughts as he focused on nothing but the pain. It seems like Ranma was screaming forever until the machine stopped. Ranma's mind couldn't handle things anymore so it slipped out of consciousness.
The scientist ran up to Ranma to check up on their young master. It was noticeable that he was asleep. They could hear him breathing and saw his chest moving. What shocked them was that Ranma's eyes were still open but his pupil had turned white. They had to run more test as soon as he awaken, but from the look of things, Ranma was now blind.
Ranma's mind started to become alive again, but something was different. He could feel and hear things so he knew that he was awake. The thing was that he only sees black. At first he thought the room has gone dark until someone got his attention.
"Young sir, do you hear me," said a scientist.
"Yeah, I can hear you but I can't see you. Can you turn on the lights or something?"
It was then that the other doctors started to chat among themselves as if they have reached an answer. The fact is, the lights in the room were on so it meant that young master Ranma was blind. They knew that such a handicap was not needed in Shadowloo. They phoned their true master and relay everything they've learned and had anticipated what was going to happen. It was now best to send the ex-young master into his room so they could move on to better things.
Ranma does not know how or why but he has heard the entire conversation among the scientists and even the phone call one of them made. He was blind and now they don't need him anymore. The thing that he feared most had finally happened. They were going to kill him. Not if I can help it, he told himself.
As he was being wheel chaired to his corridors, he was surprised to see that he knew exactly where they were going. With his sight gone, Ranma had incorporated a far knew better sight. In that brief period of time, he had found that his senses had heightened at a super rate. He could hear and feel things that he never could before. He felt the actual wind and air currents from the air. It was like one of his training where he covers his eyes and tries to locate his target in the dark. Only this way, he could actually see all the objects in the area from the hearing the sound in the area and feeling the air current. Everything he was feeling, hearing, and smelling comes together to form the view of the area in his mind as if he could actually see by using his eyes. When the right moment comes, he'll make his getaway. The scientist had redressed him with his black attire and weighted vest, while he was unconscious. He wonders how many men it took to lift his vest and put it back on him.
As they reached a y-intersection, Ranma remembered that the fastest way out of this fortress was to go along the left pathway. "You can stop now. I'm able to make it around. Those doctors don't know what they are saying." He hoped that the scientist or his ex-adopted father had not yet commanded his execution so no one would know about it.
"But sir, I was commanded to help you to your room," said the guard. "Are you sure you are able to make your way in your condition?"
"What condition?" said Ranma, still trying to play it cool. "If you are thinking about my eyes then you are mistaken. These are our new prototype night vision eye contacts. I am to test these to make sure it could be used in the field. So, you can stand down and return to your position. I don't feel like going back now. A little fresh air will do me good, plus I can see what I can do about these contacts."
"Yes sir," the guard replied and left along with the wheel chair. Sure he was confused on why the young master was in the wheel chair in the first place, but he decided not to think about it.
That was easy, Ranma thought. He basically left the fortress the same way. One of Shadowloo's hidden fortresses was a small island near the coast of Spain. That means he would need a ride to get back to the shore and perhaps return to his homeland. He made his way to the docks and commanded a guard to send him to shore.
"Are you going on another mission sir?" the boat guard asked. They were perhaps ten minutes away from the coast.
"Yes," Ranma replied. "But you know that I can't tell you more than that. Procedures you know." Ranma then notices from the wind current that the man continuously stares at his direction. It must be my eyes, he thought. The wind current at the sea also gave him an image of the guard wearing glasses. It gave him an idea. "Say, do you have some sunglasses that I can borrow? I left in a hurry and forgot mine."
Sure enough, the guard was actually wearing one and decided to give them to his superior.
"Thanks man. Your deed will soon be rewarded when I get back."
The guard smiles and was thinking that he'll probably get a raise or even a promotion for this.
"By the way, do you have any spare cash on you? I do have some money but with the rush, I forgot to make my way towards the accounting department. You know how things go. When father wants something done, he wants it done fast. Surely, no one would dare to oppose him or anger him." He hoped that last sentence he put in would scare the guard into giving into his demand,
Soon enough, the guard opened up his wallet and cried.
"Don't worry about it man. Just go back to the accounting department and get your money back. Tell them that I sent you. In fact, take double of what I borrowed you as a reward for serving Lord Bison faithfully. I can see that you have what it takes to make it big in this operation. Don't let us down, all right." He could see even with his blind eyes that the guard was smiling.
As soon as they reached shored, Ranma was on his way. He breathed in the fresh air and tasted what freedom was. First, he needed a ride by to Japan and the fastest way there was by plane. He knew that he didn't have enough money so he decided to go to the airport and use his trusty Master Card (owned by Shadowloo, hence the name "Master"), which won't be trusty anymore when words gets out that he escaped. So he had to do things quickly.
The plane finally arrived to its destination. Ranma got off the plane and took a couple of small steps when he first step down on his homeland. He couldn't believe that he was finally home. Even though he mostly speaks English during his time in Shadowloo, his Japanese did not diminished because it could be needed for future mission. He also learned a little bit of Chinese from one of his sensei.
His plane carried him to Osaka, one of the major cities in Japan. He didn't know where his parents were and he didn't care. He still hates his father with a passion since all his misery could be linked to him. His sunglasses had covered his white pupils so he wouldn't attract unwanted attention. On his plane ride, he started to think about Cammy and hoped that she would be okay. She was also being trained similarly to him so he was sure that she would be doing some of Shadowloo's dirty work. Raising kids to become killers was not right and he knows that personally. He will need to train more so that his condition would serve him better. Only then was he ready to save Cammy from Shadowloo's clutches. He might even have to face Bison in battle, so he must be prepared.
During his flight to Japan, he had the opportunity to worked out his new abilities the he had received from his lost of eyesight. It was like a completely different world out there now for him. He could, hear, smell, feel, and sense things that he couldn't before. Of course, he couldn't differentiate colors. He won't be hopeless in a fight since he would actually see the opponent's body and could actually locate their pressure points very accurately. He also found that he possess telekinesis when had his mind on the bag of peanuts that was laying on his chair tray. He didn't actually see it moved because of his blindness, but he could hear and feel it crumble up into a ball. At the time, he was feeling frustrated that his life was a mess so he concentrated his anger towards the bag of peanuts in front of him and imagining it to crumble into a ball.
The psycho drive actually did manage to open Ranma's latent psychic abilities. They only assumed that he was unable to fill out his duty as a high Shadowloo officer because of his blindness. The machine had accidentally opened something in Ranma's mind that was not meant to be open. As how science goes, he was now able to use a higher percentage of his brain farther than the normal person. However, what they don't know is that he would get more control of his brain as time goes on, giving him stronger and new sorts of abilities.
He does not have a destination now since he was back in Japan. The obvious answer was to find a place to stay. He had withdrawn quite a bit of money from the ATM machine at the airport in Spain and had already converted the currencies. He was not used to his abilities yet so he had to ask for help to locate the machine. The money however won't last him forever so he will need to find a way to make money. He was sixteen years old, and it would be difficult to find a job without having a current residence. Plus he could tell that the local authorities would force him to attend school if he was caught, which wasn't apart of his plans.
Ranma was walking nowhere in particular when he started to sense two approaching figures that were coming his way. They were moving at pretty good speed. They were only perhaps fifteen feet away when they decided to jump into the air. That was when his head started to tingle, which grew into a buzzing noise. That buzzing noise grew rapidly to the point where he instinctively moves away from his current spot. He found that once he moved away from where he was standing, the buzzing noise seemed to grow weaker. As he moved a couple of steps back, the buzzing sound was gone and the two figures immediately landed down from the to where he was standing a second ago.
"Where am I now?" the stranger asked right after he landed on the ground.
Ranma could felt the air current flowing around the stranger and saw that they were around the same height. He must be my age by the sound of that voice, he thought. Then he focused on the other character that followed behind the boy.
"Ranma!" the other stranger yelled.
The ex-young master of Shadowloo became still. His heart started to pound faster as he was caught off guard on how he was found so fast. He was immediately ready for any move that they will make. However, he noticed that the boy's heart started to beat slower as so was the other man. It was a sign that they were not going to attack him yet.
"Look boy, how many times did I tell you to not walk by your own self," said the older bigger stranger. "You could have gotten lost!"
"I know where I was going," the younger boy replied. "And stop calling me Ranma! I prefer the name Ryouga, the pet name mom gave me."
"Boy, how can you do this to your father? Oh the shame, my son has no honor!"
It was then the two guys noticed the other person staring at them.
"What are you looking at?" the other man asked. "Can't you see that we're busy?"
Ranma nodded at the two strangers. "Sorry about that. You two just zoomed by so fast that I…." Suddenly, he felt his head sting in a different type of sensation as before. It felt like his brain was sucking out random information from the other strangers. The rush of information was knew to Ranma so it felt odd. He scanned the information that he somehow received and his face darkened. Somehow by a twist of fate, he was reunited with his long lost idiotic father, Genma Saotome. He even has his fake son along side with him.
"Are you okay boy?" Genma asked.
"I'm fine, just got a little dizzy there for a minute. Sorry to interrupt your time. I'll be on my way." Ranma quickly made his exit away from the two. He didn't need this right now. First he needs to find a place to live and figure out what had happened to him and what is with his powers. Getting revenge on his father could wait awhile longer. It didn't matter, since Ranma now knows where the two were headed and the reason why. They were heading to the Tendo Dojo in Nerima so that the poor sap Ryouga could get engaged so his father could live happily ever after without having to deal with work.
"See that boy?" Genma asked. "Only the weak feels dizzy. You better train harder son or else you will ended up like that weak boy."
Ranma happens to hear that from his unnatural super hearing. I'll show you old man, he said to himself.
During the time Ranma was been raised by the overlord of Shadowloo, many things have happened to Genma Saotome. He had roamed the streets looking frantically for his son. His little boy was gone. Sure, Ranma was a mean to ensure his retirement plans were available but he did love the kid. What father does not love his boy? Okay, so there are a few (*cough* *cough*) people who doesn't but he does (*cough* *cough*) right? Anyways, his luck came in when he saw a little boy on the street that was about the same age as Ranma. He went to get a closer look and his assumption seemed right.
A scheme came into Genma's mind and he decided to follow those plans. "My son! Where have you been? I was looking all over for you," said Genma while pretending to cry.
The eight-year-old boy looked up at the old man with a confused look. "Do I know you?"
"I'm your father, can't you remember me? Oh the same, my boy doesn't recognize his own father." What a second, is this the right tactic to use on this boy, he asked himself.
Weirdly enough, the boy actually gave him some thought. "I haven't seen my father for a long time. He and my mom get lost easily. Are you really him?"
"Of course it is son!" Genma was really excited that the kid was falling for his trick. But then he wonders if it was worth taking in this dumb kid.
"Father! How I miss you!"
"I miss you to Ranma," said Genma while pulling his new little boy into a hug.
"Ranma? But my name is Ryouga."
Genma sweated as he searched for a good response. "Ryouga is actually a pet name for you. Your real name is actually Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of the Anything Goes Martial Arts."
"My name is Ranma?" Ryouga asked in shocking surprise.
Stupid kid, Genma thought.
Over the course of many years, Genma had taken his boy all over to train in the Saotome School. Actually, it was like the boy that was leading the way. Genma had even cuffed them together with a long string so his "son" wouldn't get lost. Of course, the cuffs weren't on the all the time, so Genma had to go play hide-and-seek so that his retirement plans was secure. As days passed, Genma found himself upset for picking this kid up. The kid always gets lost and loses his temper very easily. It comes to a point where it was no use to come up with clever taunts since everything seemed to anger the kid. The boy hardly even responds to the name Ranma. Now he has to find a reason to tell Nodoka on why their son Ranma had renamed into Ryouga.
Since he was eight, he had traveled all over for the sake of becoming the best martial artist in the world and become a man among men. He survived all the harsh training that his dad given him like the neko-ken. And now he and his dad were on their way to China to search for this legendary training ground. The trip to China was longer then expected since Ryouga got lost several times while swimming. It was better for him if he had gotten lost instead of actually finding the Cursed Springs of Jusenkyo. Ever since Ryouga joined up with Genma, it seems that weird predicament keeps getting weirder than usual.
After getting cursed, the two made their way towards the Amazon village and got into serious trouble as they ate the tournament food prize. They were in their cursed form during that time and it was a good thing that the family who were about to eat him decided to throw him in the boiling water first, before cutting him up. He fought his way out and even defeated this year's village champion, who was the one that through him in the boiling pot. However, unlike the usual kiss of marriage ceremony that she was suppose to give once beaten by an outsider male, Shampoo decided to give him the kiss of death instead since she had already seen him naked, which wasn't much to look at. Sure, he was a good martial artist but this was her future they were talking about and she wants to be happy and that won't happen if she marries a pig. A boy started to run out from the crowd and swear vengeance at Shampoo's attacker. He started to throw all these weapons that were coming from his sleeves.
The two got away eventually since they were now in Japan and on their way to Nerima. Ryouga wonders why so many things have to happen to him. If the direction problems weren't enough, he is forced to undergo all these trainings and now he was cursed to become a pig and have an entire village of Amazons hunting him down. Sometimes he felt as though he was not made to be the son of Genma Saotome and a student under the Saotome School of the Anything Goes Martial Arts. This has got to be someone's fault, he thought.
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NOTES:
This Ranma has been training harder than the Ranma in the original timeline. Sure maybe the training was a little safer but it still has the same impact and outcome.
Ukyo Kuonji makes her appearance next chapter!
Confucius says, "Don't miss it!"