Well, all that I'm going to say is that there is a good chance that this story will not be to the liking of a purist. If you can't handle a little original thinking and some sick manipulation of psychology, emotion, and inner pain, then turn away right now and read something that does not violate one of the thousand or so rules that seems to govern the universe of the Ranma ½ stories.
Otherwise, continue reading and enjoy. I don't own Ranma ½ or any quotes that you may find in any of the chapters. Ranma ½ is owned by Rumiko Takahashi and any other quotes you may recognize-manga or not-belongs to its original creator(s). I do, however, own any original character you may see. Read on and prepare for whatever may come.
-Randall Flagg2000
Chapter One: Emotional Explosion
All of the sins and hatred you have cast during your life
have whipped and spun into form, the form of one
One who leads this gruesome parade of pain into your life?
One sinister beast, one known only as RINGMASTER
-Insane Clown Posse
Destiny! Destiny! No escaping that for me!
-Gene Wilder, Young Frankenstein
(1)
"And now we shall see the messiah for the first time!"
They leaned forward and saw. And they all fell to the ground and began to worship.
(2)
Nobody seemed to notice the strange formation of the stars that night. If they did, they didn't question them at all. In a town where people were governed by obsession and love, who cared about the stars?
Nobody seemed to question the group of people in black hooded robes that paraded the streets of Nerima that night either.
(3)
"This is the place right?"
"Yes, I believe so."
"Do you think it's true?"
"I believe only what I am told. You should know better then to question orders."
They walked towards the traditional Japanese styled building and entered the gates. Nobody was around.
"And now we test it out." One began to whisper, the other began to walk around the building to ensure that nobody was there. Nobody must interfere at this stage.
The first one began to whisper something. The words went something like this:
"Now we bring this new one to you. Now we prepare to call the Messiah to his throne."
The figure drew a knife. "For your sake Lord…"
Inside, an older boy was brooding.
(4)
"Stupid Akane…"
Oh how many times had that thought run through his mind since that day? He could not count it, perhaps none could. He didn't care anyway. He only wished to continue his training until he was second to nobody.
Yes, this was the general thought of one Ranma Saotome, the so called "man among men".
"Why did I have to get such a stupid, un-cute fiancé like her anyway? I didn't even ask for her! And all because they want me to carry on the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts."
Ranma reflected on his whole life up to this point, after the accident at Jusenkyo which had destroyed his reputation as a man and his chance at living a normal life. And to top it off his old man had had the misfortune of falling into a spring himself, which to Ranma was even more of an embarrassment. Not that the old man wasn't an embarrassment already.
The Jusenkyo curse and the fiancé thing had only been the beginning of it all. On his first day in Akane's school, he had run afoul of Tatewaki Kunou, the self proclaimed "Blue Thunder of Furinken High". That had been the first sign that his life was going to be miserable, what with Kunou trying to kill him when he was a man, and trying to date him when he was a girl. Heaven's above, couldn't the pea brained Kendo freak see the similarities? Was he really so stupid that he could not tell the difference, even when he had transformed directly in front of him? In Ranma's case, sadly, the answer was yes.
And then Ryouga of all people had come for him. Ryouga, who had started a petty feud long ago over bread! Bread of all things, fucking cafeteria lunch bread! Ryouga, who had never forgiven Ranma the curse he bore. Ryouga who couldn't let go of Akane. Ryouga who could not even find his way to his own fucking house without getting lost, damn it! All those fights, the endless, unending grudge, and how could he forget all the desperate measures he had gone to all for the sake of defeating him. It seemed that when you devoted your life to something, you got to justify what you did by saying that you were "defending your honor". And when you were "defending your honor", you got to say you could kill those who hurt it. And people said martial arts were for self defense only. Hah, hypocrites.
And then Kodachi had come for his girl half, followed by Shampoo who wanted to marry him and Cologne, the old ghoul who was determined to see them married. Then Mousse, Happosai, Ukyou, the frigging principal, Herb and his two cohorts, and all the other bitches and bastards who wanted a piece of him for some reason or another! Was there no end to it all?
Ranma's anger and bitterness at it all grew as these thoughts raced through his mind. Ki began to radiate out of his body, and his limbs pulsed with rage and resent. All of those lines began to pass through his mind again.
"Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!"
"Hello son in law."
"What a haul! What a haul!"
"You dirty thief!"
"You wicked girl!"
"Enemy of women!"
Ranma marry Shampoo now?"
"Aloha students of Furinken High!"
"I shall smite thee!"
"I shall smite-you dirty-girl trying to steal my-Ranma honey we-can blast energy like a-jerk! Why do you always have to-kill-smite-animal-bread-thief-"
Ranma suddenly let out a scream of fury and terror, cutting the voices off with angry force. He jumped to his feet and with another scream he drove his fist through the wall of the Tendo dojo. The wall did not just break. It flat out shattered like cheap glass.
Ranma panted as he leaned against a different side of the wall. God's above, what had been happening to him? He had heard-he had actually heard-the voices of every insult, threat, and indignity he had suffered. That had been scary enough, but when the voices had begun to merge like that into one screaming entity of lunacy…
(Pain, madness-)
Ranma stood up again and forced himself to remain calm. Men did not lose control. Men did not show fear or hesitation. When they put their minds to something, they did it without second thought, without any thought at all in fact. And was he not a man? Was he not the greatest martial artist in Ja…
No, fuck Japan, and fuck the entire east. Was he not the greatest martial artist in the entire world? Oh, he was. No doubt about that. But what was that old saying; there is always someone stronger. And if that were so, then he'd have to find whoever was stronger and show them who was a man and who was just an insignificant, dishonorable piece of shit WHO DIDN'T EVEN DESERVE TO-
(Vengeance, anger-)
Ranma snapped back to attention again. What was going on with him? He had never experienced thoughts like this before. Oh sure, he had had his share of negative thoughts and emotions over time, but never like this. These were the kind of thoughts you'd expect to see in Psychiatric hospitals (also called Psycho Wards and Nuthouses by teenagers the world over) and in movies where some idiot in a mask and cloak stalks teenage virgins on a college campus. And why was he thinking of those too? He should be focused on his art, not on such trivial matters.
"Pull yourself together." Ranma rasped. Oh great now he was talking to himself, another bad sign. "Get a hold of yourself and get back to work. You want to be a man don't you? And you want to end this curse and carry on your family dojo's reputation, even if it means you have to marry an un-cute tomboy, right?"
Ranma stood up and took a deep breath. He wasn't losing it. He was a man, and he was not going to settle for anything less. Everything was going to be hunky dory and-
And what was that looking in through the window?
Ranma only saw it for a second, and then it was gone. Ranma had no idea what it was; only that it seemed to be dressed in robe or cowl of some kind. And then it was gone, just like that.
Ranma turned around to get back to his training when he bumped into his fiancé, Akane Tendo.
(5)
"Oh Great Lord, show me how to go. Lord, show me how to go. Show me the way Dark Lord, give me a sign."
And the sign was given. He knew what to do. He resumed his whisper, a bit louder this time.
(6)
"Akane, do you ever watch where you're going, or are your senses of direction even worse then Ryouga's?"
"Why do you always have to insult poor Ryouga? He hasn't done anything to you!" Akane retorted. As always, the girl had grown angry at Ranma's taunt and was now dangerous close to bringing the mallet of doom onto his head. Not that it would change things. It was just daily routine.
"Oh he hasn't done anything to me?" Ranma yelled, his anger returning. "All the times he tried to kill me and humiliate me at every turn! And you're accusing me of being cruel to him?"
"Well you certainly seem to have a knack for being unforgiving Ranma! Every time-"
(Pain-)
"Oh, it's my fault all over again!" Ranma snarled. "You call me unforgiving? What about Kunou, and Kodachi, and every single damn person who has ever tried to kill me for some stupid reason of their own! Every time I walk by them in one form or another it's always 'Prepare to die Saotome!'or 'Ah, my pigtailed goddess how I've longed for you' or something like that!" Ranma felt that electrical feeling beginning to pulse through his body again. "Every single fucking time it's the same old thing!"
Akane gasped. She had never heard Ranma curse before. And this was not his regular anger. This was something deeper. He looked haggard, almost half mad. And was that Ki beginning to radiate out of him?
"Don't lecture me on being cruel to others after every single indignity I've gone through! Don't you even open your fucking mouth Akane!"
"Ranma… What's gotten into you?" I've never seen you like this. You were never this… this vicious."
Ranma's head snapped towards her with birdlike agility, locking onto her with wild, bloodshot eyes. Akane shrank away from him. Ranma was not himself.
(Madness-)
"Speak for yourself you stupid, un-cute, good for nothing girl! What are you good for besides getting on my nerves and showing that you're nothing but an incompetent little tomboy who can't do anything right!" Ranma's voice was getting higher, and it was becoming wilder with each syllable uttered. "Why don't you just do yourself a favor and be a normal fucking girl, before you get yourself fucking killed!"
Akane slapped him with such force that Ranma stumbled back. He gripped his face, which was already turning red, and stared back at Akane with merciless eyes.
"Is that what I am Ranma?" Akane's voice was still angry, but now it was unsteady, a sign she was on the verge of tears. Normally, this would have given Ranma pause, but something new had come over him. Something dark and screaming, dripping with wrath and curses, that was somehow attractive in its own way.
"Is that all I am to you? Just something you can treat anyway you want? Is that what being a so called man is all about? Just ruling over everybody? I'm surprised a guy like you is even worthy of carrying on our dojo."
(Vengeance-)
Ranma took a horrible, staggering step towards her. The Ki was not just radiating out of him now. It was blazing and rippling, crackling with electricity and completely surrounding his body. Ranma's face was a mask of anger and unforgiving hate. He was not going to have his honor questioned by some stupid girl.
"Take that back Akane." Ranma whispered. "Take that back right now."
"So that's how to get him riled." Akane thought, the old anger returning. "Let's see if Mr. Macho can take some more!"
"You call yourself a man!" Akane yelled into his face, ignoring the light burning sensation on her face as the Ki brushed her skin. "You're not a man at all! You're nothing more then a worthless, pathetic little son of a bitch who looks down on everybody he sees and thinks he's the greatest thing on Earth and has no honor and-"
(Anger-)
But she had finally gone too far. Before she could finish, Ranma threw back his head and shrieked with rage. The aura around his body was thundering and beginning to burn holes in the ground. Ranma looked down at Akane and shrieked again, a high, squealing sound of rage, hate, and pain. And before Akane could shriek herself, Ranma fell on her.
(7)
"Pain, madness, vengeance, anger, pain, madness, vengeance, anger, pain, madness, vengeance, anger-"
Nobody paid any attention to these words as they were chanted over and over.
(8)
"FUCKING, GOD DAMNED LITTLE TOMBOY OF A BITCH OF A FUCKING ASSHOLE LESBIAN FAILURE OF A BITCH FUCKING CUNT SUCKING MOTHER ASS BITING SHIT EATING FUCKING LITTLE FUCK OF A BITCHING ANIMAL WHORE SHIT EATING-"
His fists kept flying into her, each time with greater force then before. He could faintly hear screaming, but it didn't stop him at all. He was spewing forth obscenities like a madman, and he was only aware of how much pleasure he was getting out of this. His eyes were rolling madly in their sockets and foam was flying out of his mouth as his teeth gnashed and snapped like a baboon.
There were splattering sounds and blood began to fly out of her body and face. Ranma ignored this and continued his savage assault on her, no longer a man or a martial artist, but something that was not human in the least, something that only knew how to punish and main, perhaps kill.
Fuck honor, fuck the Anything Goes dojo, fuck his fat, good for nothing father, FUCK IT ALL. He only wanted to punish this fucking little bitch and put her in her place. For all the times she had hit him. For all the times he had been forced to eat her horrendous cooking. For all the times she had interfered in his duels. But most of all, for every single time she tried to act like a man and not like a girl should. Well he'd put her in her place, he'd show her who was the boss he'd show her to speak when he spoke to her!
(Now strike!)
A hand suddenly seized him and hurled him off into a wall. Ranma sprang at this interference like an animal deprived of its young and kicked whatever it was clear across the room. He couldn't see anymore. All he knew was that he had to pay them back for everything they had done to him and put him through. He had to make them all pay.
The figure charged towards him, and Ranma reacted instinctively. He channeled his Ki into his hands and formed it into a crackling ball. He thrust his hands forward.
"MOKO TAKABISHA!" Ranma howled, and his voice was not his own. The ball of Ki shot across the room and slammed into his opponent, slamming him against the wall of the dojo. It slumped against the wall and passed out.
Ranma threw back his head and let out a horrific shriek of triumph and anger. He beat his chest like an ape and continued to shriek and roar at the ceiling. This felt great! This sensation of power, of control, of DEATH! He wanted more of it! He wanted to be normal! He wanted to be a man! He wanted to pour butter on his skin and sunbathe in the Sahara desert naked while the buzzards ripped out flesh and then he could have the peace he so long wanted, he could finally belly up to the bar like they said in the west and-
(Phase one is done, this way for lots of fun.)
And he came face to face with two bloody bodies and a household of shocked faces.
(9)
Genma, Kasumi, Nabiki, all of them here. No face was serene. All were frightened. No, that wasn't the word. Perhaps no word would ever describe it. But where was Soun Tendo? Ranma wasn't surprised. Filthy coward, he had no right to-
And then Ranma turned to one side and saw the black haired man slumped against the cracked wall of the dojo. His whole body was covered in blood and his gi was burnt and shredded. Strange, who could have done this?
"Ran… ma?" Kasumi Tendo's voice was more distant then ever. "Why would you…?"
"Ka…su…mi?" Ranma suddenly felt terribly tired. The Ki around his body was gone entirely, and all of the muscles in his body felt like rubber. His face bore the expression of somebody who had absolutely no idea of what was going on.
Kasumi covered her mouth with her apron. "Ranma… How could you… How could you do this? I heard screaming and then…"
"I… don't… know what happened." Ranma groaned.
"Oh wow. You sure brought down the house this time." said the ever cynical Nabiki Tendo. True, her eyes still bore the icy, semi-sour emotion they always did, but this time it was mixed with fear. Ranma wasn't used to that. Nabiki started to leave the room to go get her camera, but then decided against it. This was the sort of material that would make people never want to buy her pictures again.
Now it was Genma's turn. "What is the meaning of this boy? Have you gone mad?" He tried to sound fierce, but all that came out was a quiet little squeak. This was a level far beyond Ranma's unruly attitude. Had the boy really done this? Was he really capable of this? Ranma had given many an opponent a good thrashing in his life, but not to this extent. This was… well, it wasn't like Ranma.
"I… I um… I don't…"
(Pain, madness, vengeance, anger, pain, madness, vengeance-)
Ranma suddenly screamed again and sprang at Genma, his Ki flaring up again. He drew back his fist and prepared to strike.
"KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!" Genma's body began to dance and flail as a series of jabs began to slam into his body like the bullets of a machine gun. To the normal eye, Ranma seemed to be standing still, surrounded by a flaming aura. But to the eye of a martial artist, they would have seen human hands moving at speeds that no humans should have by nature.
Ranma continued to scream and throw his supersonic punches, feeling that pleasure again. He wanted the old man dead. It was no less then what he deserved! For almost making the both of them starve when he was only a few days old on a "training trip", for taking him from his home at such an early age, for the horrific Neko-ken training, for every single "deal" he had made to have him married just so he could fill his fucking trash compactor of a stomach! Punishment, yes, that was the word, and it was oh, so, nice.
(Pain is gone. Safety is near. Life is good. Have no fear.)
Ranma came too. There, it had happened again! What was with him?
And why was his father's body so bloody and limp? Why was Kasumi crying and Nabiki backed up against the wall with eyes the size of dinner plates?
Ranma backed away from them, dropping Genma onto the ground in the process. The fat man let out a groan as he tried to move and failed. He was in too much pain.
From across the room, Soun opened his eyes. He couldn't quite make out what had happened, but he knew he was in terrible pain. He opened his mouth and croaked out four words:
"Kasumi… when's dinner… ready?"
He collapsed.
(10)
Ranma fled the dojo. He had to get away from here. This place was a house where free choice was denied, and the Anything Goes style was a murderer of the human soul. He didn't want this anymore. He just had to leave. He didn't care where he went. Okinawa, Kyoto, the Sahara desert, even the mountains of Siberia if he dared go that far. He had to run, escape this fate that had been planned for him, and forget everything about his life.
"Damn it, damn it ALL!" Ranma screamed, not caring at the people who were staring at him. "I want out of it. I want out! Do you hear me?" His voice became shrill, womanish. "KAMI IN HEAVEN, I WANT TO CALL IT OFF!"
He was not a man, he was not a martial artist, he was not a husband, he was not a son. He was nothing but a piece of scum that deserved to die, a person who was a disgrace both to his family and his art.
He had to find somebody. Ryouga perhaps, or Mousse, Kunou as a last ditch resort. He would find one of them and just let them have their way with him. Maybe Ryouga could kill him with a Shishi Hokodan. That would be quick. Or Mousse, that would be quick too, if a bit more painful.
He ran, and he did not stop running.
(11)
Standing up, he said to his comrade, "Shall we go now? His emotions synchronized with the incantation so well. Perhaps he is the Messiah."
"Yes, perhaps he is. We must find him before he does something foolish."
They leapt over the walls of the dojo and vanished in a flash of light. They were gone.
END OF PART ONE
Like I said, it's not for purists. If you wish to leave a review, then do so. If you wish to flame me, you may do that as well. I don't mind. And there is an explanation for Ranma's behavior, but you'll have to wait and see.
-Randall Flagg2000
