Disclaimer: the usual folks, I don't own these series
AN: Ok, a few things to note, I have decided to end the project determination with this release. Also, I know I said that I was going to make this a decent length one-shot. Unfortunately, this is me announcing this thing's cancellation and releasing what I wrote. As to why? I am sorry, but this thing, while it was fun to write at first, was quickly becoming a chore and a mess. Even if I had pushed on, this would have been a train wreck that needed various revisions to be decent. Anyone who has read my current main project knows that it is bad if I have to force an issue. Ultimately, the final decision for this came down to the fact I estimated at least a month would be needed if I wanted this to be decent and I would rather spend it getting back to the main project and other stories. As to why I'm still releasing this? I wanted to at least get it out there and to make the following announcement: Ranma's New Highschool DxD won.
DCROM: 9 favorites/329 visitors: 2.7355%
Wild?: 14 favorites/390 visitors: 3.5897%
RNHS DxD: 33 favorites/789 visitors: 4.1825%
For those wondering, this was done on a weighted scale. Reason, I knew DxD would have won otherwise seeing HS DxD has a much larger archive than others meaning more folks would be seeing it. It still won. In other news, this cancelled one-shot was one of the 2 lock-fics in the bundle. There's still one out there. Have fun reading this, again I'm sorry if it's bad, and look forward to the next chapters of HDR and DxD!
Kuno was desperate. Long had he sought an answer to his troubles with the accursed Saotome. The foul sorcerer had sought to keep him from his beloveds. He cursed the day the demon had been wrought on this world to torment the likes of Tatewaki Kuno. Worst yet, the foul miscreant had managed to strengthen his accursed hold on Kuno's treasured Akane. Had he not arrived when he did to avoid the wedding void, one of the women of his heart would surely have been lost for good. However, this was only a temporary victory. He needed a way to rid himself of the demon once and for all.
Kuno knew that sure Ranma Saotome had to be a demon now for nothing else could explain the depths of treachery and power the cur held to so easily tempt the hearts of maidens. As such, Kuno now sought a method to banish this blight on humanity for all eternity. Yet none of the usual methods had worked thus far. Every exorcist had beseeched had turned their backs on him. No doubt in fear and despair of the true horror that this demon truly was. It had been a month, and still with the vast Kuno fortunes, he had not found his answer. With each passing day, he grew more desperate. The foul magics had even started to weaken his tigress's fiery heart. She was no longer putting up as much of a struggle with each passing day. He was losing her. If not only that, the pigtailed goddess had also shown acceptance in being in Saotome's harem. Acceptance to which Kuno had long sought for his own, but alas it had been robbed of him by that miserable incubus.
So now he was here, the mighty Blue Thunder stood within a small and hidden away store in a small town in the northern reaches of Tokyo. The shop was the last of such in all of Japan that Tatewaki found. All of the others had failed to provide him with an artifact powerful enough to banish the monster with. He cast his gaze upon the wares that were set out in the open. It was the usual mish mash of the occult that the other shops had dealt in. There was nothing truly promising in this menagerie to which he had witnessed thus far. It was disheartening indeed to the mighty warrior, but he did not let it stop him from going on. No, for perseverance was a mighty virtue that this bearer of divine retribution held in spades. He would see this course of action to the end. The demon shall be stopped by the forces of good. It was divine providence.
"Hmm, I see you are not interested in my usual wares boy," the elderly hag who ran this shop declared as she watched Kuno approach the counter. Kuno stopped at this to reevaluate the owner. Though she dare call him but a child, she had the insight to know his intentions before he even spoke to her. She must be a wise sage so far in her years as to see all others as not but children in comparison," I'm not THAT old, boy! However, you are correct in your assumption I am a sage. You are lucky as I would have cursed you otherwise for your previous insult."
Kuno was taken aback by this declaration. At first he jumped back to open up some space and went to reach for his weapon, but he stopped when he realized that this sage must be a powerful one. She must have bent the answer from the heavens to his current dilemma. He would finally be able to rid himself of the wretched demon Saotome!
"Oh my! That is your problem is it?" The sage had spoken once more," Well, I do have a few methods for such. However if that name is involved, then this might be impossible by most methods."
Kuno had latched on to the sages words with all hope until the last. Was this devil among men truly so powerful? True, he was easily that evil for him to have plagued Kuno so and to corrupt the love of innocent maidens so thoroughly! However, Kuno began to fall to despair at these words. He began to turn as if to leave.
"Wait! I said most you silly boy! I do have one artifact powerful enough to banish that evil monster!" The sage declared as she handed him a small trinket. It seemed to be a golden locket of sorts, but the features of it had long since faded away. It had countless scratches and dents that belied its age," You are right to call it a locket. However, this is not gold. That metal was too soft for its original owner. This is an ancient orichalcum locket that was the dearest treasure of the most powerful hero of another world. It is said that this locket was enchanted to return to its owner by a powerful witch before she managed to become lost from her own world. Give this to that bastard and have him open it. That's how the magic works, but be warned that it can only be used once! Now take it and go, I need no compensation for this. Just knowing that bastard will finally meet his end is good enough!"
Kuno graciously accepted the heaven sent sage's gift before leaving merrily on his way. The cur will finally know justice!
As the young fool left to deal out punishment to that thieving bastard, Rufa smiled evilly as her illusion spell wore off. It was bad for her kind of business to look too young or else people didn't take her seriously. The truth was that locket had been a special project of hers that she was making when a magical mishap occurred.
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Rufa was in her own magical lab within her castle working on a new trinket. It was nearly complete. She could not wait to see it in action. It had been a pain to track down the ingredients for the magic she was working into. It was especially so since she had time travel to retrieve some of them. That had been a monumental pain as she had to avoid breaking causality. Well at least not yet! She thought with a devilish grin. That would have to wait until after her masterpiece was completed. She was just about to infuse it with a spell that would allow her to control the trinket properly.
Then the door to her lab slammed open and interrupted the spell causing it to miscast and the feed back to destroy some of the necessary components she would need to recast the spell. Some of those were irreplaceable. Rufa actually broke into tears.
"I'm finally back!" declared a teenage girl wearing a witch get up. She looked like Rufa back when she and the others were were on an adventure to take down the demon god king Azatodeth. She also looked furious.
"Who the hell are you?" Rufa demanded angrily.
"Oh," said the mysterious girl with a happy smile," I'm just your daughter Rucha who you left back in time all alone 10 years ago."
It took a few moments for that to settle in," Ack! I thought I forgot something! Are you ok dear! At least looks like you did well for yourself!" Rufa asked in concern before trying to coax over the fact she was a terrible mother.
"Oh yes mother," the daughter said happily," Nothing can keep us down! Oh by the way, I brought a gift for you."
"Oh really!? Well let me have it!" the mother asked greedily. It was then that her daughter smashed a mirror over her mother's head. The next thing she new, Rufa was in China a couple millennia back.
Sadly, she may be the most powerful witch, but there was no way for her to get back home safely. The locket did have a function that would help, but the price of using it was not worth it. She couldn't even use it as a guide to show her the way back through the infinite multiverse. Seriously, so she forgot her daughter and left her in the remains of a demon god king's fortress back in the past. This was not a fair punishment for that fact. To think she had once been a queen too. All that was now taken away from her and she had now spent the last few centuries in this dump of a world. Just to entertain herself back then she practiced magic and adapted it as best she could. She wondered how that natural magic engine in China was doing. Hopefully none of the idiot natives had found and messed with it since that was a chaos engine and tampering could have any number of outcomes. Hopefully that village she bribed all those trinkets back then had done its job to guard it. Well, at least the world was improving as of late now that they had cable TV. Too bad they never have anything good on.
In any case, she can at least revel in the fact for now that that thief Genma will finally get his for stealing that love charm all those years ago. She had a perfect target for it and everything. Speaking of which, that was supposed to have worn off several years back and was a one time use item. How the hell was the thieving bastard still using the thing!?
Ranma and Akane were walking together to school. They had been getting along much better now. Especially since Ranma had finally gotten around to sorting his feelings out after everyone backed off for a time following the crashed wedding. Akane had meant a lot to him. He did love her after all. There was a slight complication about it all, but Ranma had talked it over with Akane. As it turned out, she was actually relieved to hear about it and started to calm down. She still gave Ranma a piece of her mind whenever he did something idiotic, but the accusations of perversion had ceased.
"Hey guys, wait for me!" Ukyo called out as she ran up to them in her school uniform with her weapon of choice, an oversize spatula with a sharp edge, strapped to her back. The couple smiled happily to her and greeted their friend. That's right, she finally was back to being a friend. After her part in what happened, she had backed off and took sometime to reevaluate her actions since arriving in Nerima. When she finally admitted to herself that she had no chance of winning her Ran-chan over, she got ready to close shop and leave with Konatsu. It was when she was about to start closing down the shop and start packing that Ranma and Akane had shown up. After a good talk and a small fight to settle things the Neriman way, they had all become friends.
Ranma and Akane had since been doing their level best to put the other issues too rest. Sadly, there was no way of getting a Kuno to be sensible. It was literally impossible as insanity ran in their blood. The best they could hope for with them was that the asylum finally figured a way to hold them. Too bad that wasn't going to happen as Nerima was an off limits zone for them and standard law enforcement of any sort. When you have so many people who casually break the laws of physics together in one spot, you leave it to them to handle each other or risk wasting time, resources, and sanity trying. This unfortunately is also why there are so many lunatics in the area.
The other major problem had been the Chinese Amazons. Really it was only Shampoo at this point. Mousse had realized that Shampoo was not going to give up or turn to him even after he had given back her freedom. He had left shortly after the wedding. Shampoo had held off for a time, but they had no idea as to why. She had refused to talk them and had started back up on her antics a month later. As for Cologne, she had not been putting on a serious effort in a long time and had even quit all together. She still ran the restaurant and gave advice or helped out whenever she felt like. Last time she had caught Ranma and the girls together she had chuckled and gave Ranma a knowing grin. Speaking of which, the main reason they didn't see much of Shampoo now was that she was now working more than before. That front would eventually crumble given time.
"Yo Ucchan!" Ranma called back to her. Ukyo soon caught up to them.
"Good morning Ukyo," Akane greeted happily. After that, they chatted for a bit on the way to the school. It was then that they found an unpleasant surprise waiting for them. Kuno had finally gotten back from whatever journey he had gone on. He was dressed in his usual clothes. Strangely, there was no sign of a weapon on him. He was clutching something in his fist however as Ranma could see the golden chain.
"At last ye hath arrived fall cretin!" the crazed kendoist declared," I have sought long and hard to find a way to rid this world of thy odious presence and even began to hold doubt of ever finding an answer to your blight upon my beloveds. It was then at the depths of my despair that the heavens doth shine upon I, Tatewaki Kuno, age 18, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!"
"So you found another idiotic method to banish a demon," Ranma stated as he recalled the attempts made before Kuno vanished.
"Verily it is that the heavens guided me to an ancient and powerful sage. One whose wisdom was so great as to recognize your evil blight upon this world by name alone!" Kuno ansered.
"So you talked to someone with a beef against me and they gave ya something," Ranma summarized as he took a more alert stance in preparation for whatever Kuno had found. There's no telling what the moron had gotten his hands on this time.
"Nay, she need not hear my voice. So great a sage she was that she could see into my mind," Kuno said to the confusion of all.
"Well, that probably wasn't too hard to see as there isn't much there," Ranma retorted with a smirk. It sounded like the idiot got conned. This was going to be good.
"Silence thy tongue and begone!" Kuno yelled angrily as he threw the golden object at Ranma who caught it easily.
"Oh, I have finally been defeated. I'm dying," Ranma said in a monotone before looking down to see that it was a golden locket," Seriously Kuno? How much ya paid for this old piece of junk!"
Kuno looked on blankly. He was trying to recall what he had done wrong as Ranma looked at the trinket in curiosity. The truth was that Kuno had been so caught up in trying to get Ranma to hold it that he had forgotten about the next step. Ranma had to open the thing. It was then that Kuno realized this and simply shambled off in shame.
"Ranma, I don't think you should mess with that too much," Akane warned.
"Yeah hun, you should know how bad stuff like that is," Ukyo added.
"What, you guys honestly believe that crap Kuno spouted? I bet he just got scammed. He's already walked off. This has to be a dud, but I do wonder what inside," Ranma said as he pressed the button that popped the locket open. The schoolyard was then filled with the screams of one Ranma Saotome and then he was gone.
The girls had looked about for a sign of Ranma at the school before giving up and going to the most reliable source of information they had. They went to the Neko Hanten.
They were greeted by a less than happy Shampoo.
"What spatula girl and home wrecker doing here?" Shampoo demanded angrily.
"Settle down great granddaughter," Cologne scolded as she came out from the kitchen to greet the familiar auras she sensed and to prevent a fight at the restaurant. Shampoo did not look pleased, but she bowed her head and let her great grandmother handle the situation," Now what brings you two here at this time of day? Is school out, or did something happen?"
"Ranma's gone!" They shouted in unison.
"What happen to Airen!?" Shampoo demanded at this. A knock over the head with Cologne's staff got the girl back under control.
"Now please explain," Cologne ordered as she pointed to Akane who then recounted what had happened earlier," I see… That sounds troubling. So not much is known about the trinket and it disappeared with the boy… This does not bode well child. We must make haste and find the Kuno boy. We need to talk with whoever sent something like that. Though the locket does remind me of something…hmm…"
Kuno stood no chance against the three girls and the elder. He was soon tracked down and interrogated. Once they found out where to look, the left him with only a few broken bones as well as the money to pay for the travel fair. Ucchan's and the Neko Hanten were already going to lose money over this as it was. There was no need to spend more on top of it. Now here they were approaching a small out of the way shop. Cologne stopped them however.
"This does not bode well at all. I'm not sure but I think I know that aura," Cologne stated grimly," Be on your best behavior all of you. If I'm right, you do not want to insult her…"
Taking this warning seriously, the girls nodded in agreement and gulped. This was definitely bad if Shampoo was on edge. Once the entered the shop, they found a haggard old woman sitting at the counter.
"My, I was not expecting this much business when I got up today," the ancient woman said as she focused on the equally elderly looking Cologne," Oh, Jouketsuzoku? It has been a while since I've dealt with your people. I guess there's no point in keeping up the façade then."
With that said, the elderly woman suddenly went poof and was replaced by a woman in her twenties with blonde hair a disturbingly mischievous grin. The girls jumped back in shock as Cologne only sighed and bowed her head in respect to the woman," I had sensed a great amount of magic from you. You wouldn't happen to be the Rufa who created Jusendo, would you?"
"Yup, that's me alright. Speaking of which, why does that girl over there seem to have a chaos magic bound to her. You better not have broke our agreement," Rufa stated as she pointed to Shampoo. The girls had been stunned the entire time. This was the one responsible for Jusenkyo in the first place. This woman single handedly created something that ridiculously powerful and ancient and was still alive. Cologne sighed sadly.
"I'm afraid things have changed since then. The village is not what it once was and there are now other factions within the area," Cologne answered. Rufa smiled sweetly to this.
"How cute, you think you can pull one over on me!" Rufa declared as she summoned a brick that landed square on the elder's head without even trying," I can still read your thoughts 'elder' and they just told me they came after what happened. So why did your village decide to tamper with it? I was hoping to use the power it was supposed to be gathering to go home in a few more centuries!"
The girls and Cologne were shocked by this statement. The girls even more so as Cologne began to use of the more useful Saotome techniques and begged forgiveness," Please forgive the foolish actions of my people great sorceress of the golden locket!"
"Hmm, I see. So that's how you figured out it was me. You guys remembered my locket. The one item I refused to part with back then when I made that deal. Now stop using that bastard's technique and start talking," Rufa growled that last bit out," Please tell me that boy managed to get give Genma my gift."
"I'm afraid not, that fool used it on his son. We came here to seek your aid in retrieving him," Cologne answered before trying to steer the conversation to no avail.
"Oh, that explains it all. I thought it was weird that Genma somehow was using that love charm he stole since it was a one time use item and should have worn off a while ago," Rufa thought out loud.
"Shampoo must ask, if so powerful, why not make permanent?" Shampoo asked to which the woman took on a disgusted face.
"Why would I? I don't need a committed relationship. Just a fling every once in a while otherwise I'd have to deal with some old grandpa," The woman answered in disgust. The others face faulted at this. This woman was horrible.
"Anyways, is there anyway you can help us?" Cologne requested once more.
"Why would I? If he's that bastard's son it sounds like he deserved it," Rufa sneered at the thought.
"Please help, Ranma isn't like his father!" Akane pleaded with the old witch who looked to her in interest now.
"I see, so he must have bewitched you," Rufa said with a smirk.
"No, we're not like that! He's like family!" Akane yelled back.
"Yeah, and he's my childhood friend!" Ukyo declared. Shampoo turned in shock at the two and Cologne sighed at the revelation. She had suspected as much, but she had been trying to keep her great granddaughter in the dark in the matter. Now nothing was going to stop Shampoo's advances short of her having to take a less than desirable action.
"Haiya! Airen all mine!" Shampoo squealed giddily before being knocked over the head by the elder. Rufa smirked triumphantly. The first two were surprising, but the last girl was all the proof she needed.
"See, he has enchanted one of you. Too bad it'll be hard to figure out how to undo it with that magic in the way," Rufa declared happily. She had no reason to feel guilty so long as there was proof that Ranma wasn't better than Genma.
"I'm afraid that isn't the case. My great granddaughter is just being dense. Trust, Ranma would not use such means. He hates magic since he has only suffered because of it," The elder revealed. Rufa sighed at this. She had been hoping to get out of a guilt trip, but since she could read their minds right now, she could tell they were telling the truth.
"Tell me just how many of my creations has he been involved in?" Rufa asked in resignation. After a recount of what the boy had gone through and the revelation on just how badly the tribes in China had screwed up her project, Rufa was banging her head on the counter. There was only one way that could have happened, and if she was correct, things were about to get really bad back home," Well, there's some good news and some bad news, which do you want first?"
"What's the bad news?" Cologne asked in fear.
"There's absolutely no way we can get him back. I might have been able to do something if some idiots had not become greedy and tried to use my creation behind my back, but there's no way I can now since you also seem to have destroyed the artifacts I would have needed to fix it all!" She yelled at Cologne.
"Then what's the good news," Asked a pale faced but hopeful Ukyo.
"First, that he is most definitely alive. Secondly that if he's lucky, he'll be able to find my daughter who banished me to this world so long ago and can get back that way. Third, he is a natural born chaos magnet empowered by chaos magic from my magic engine and therefore is very likely to as well as probably not be too horribly afflicted by the locket's uncontrolled power. Finally, I now know where to find that bastard Genma to take out my anger on," Rufa finished with a cruel smile.
"By the way, if you do not mind me asking, what was the locket's power? Cologne asked.
"To bend and change reality. Sadly its power is uncontrollable thanks to my daughter. Since it is keyed to my world's reality, that means Ranma will be taken there…" Rufa did not mention that the only way to make it out ok using the trinket as it is was to have a massive amount of chaos present. There was no way Ranma had enough to counter it completely.
Ranma began to wake up. His body had felt like it had been put through a meat grinder, paced with salt, and the tossed into an open fire when he had opened the locket. Ranma thought he was actually going to die at one point through the endless pain. He still felt sore all over. That was at least a good sign. He doubted that if he were dead he would still be in pain. Well, unless Ryoga finally got the last laugh and Ranma was in Hell. He doubted it though since the pain was receding. He opened his eyes to find he was out in the wilderness with his clothes shredded and pieces of gold that must have once been the locket. Suddenly pain began to over take Ranma again. It was a quick surge that died out once more, but something disturbing happened when the pain came. Ranma was now a girl. Ranma simply stared at her traitor form for a minute before screaming in absolute rage and destroying nearby trees and boulders. After letting off some stream and realizing that her pain was gone entirely, she decided to head to the nearest town, figure out where she was and head back to Nerima to beat some information out of Kuno. If she's lucky, the hag he got it from would have a counter for it. If not, there was usually some way to regain his for. As Ranma made her trek for the next couple of hours, she discovered the pain had not entirely left her. It was now a dull soreness that simply filled her body.
That's when she heard the sounds of combat nearby and voices. She approached carefully to get a better view of what was going on. What she found was four girls and a giant evil looking metal armor. One girl was off to the side laughing and taunting the strange demon girl while her two friends cheered her on. The demon girl had just attempted a strike that ended painfully for her. Ranma decided to step in.
"Yo, need some help?" She called as she stepped out of the tree line and into the clearing.
