Dragoon Ranma
Disclaimer: Ranma ½ is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Legend of Dragoon is property of Sony and all companies forthright.
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Chapter 1: Life sucks.
This is not a good thing…
he thought sullenly to himself. The person holding the spear jabbered something unintelligible at him and drew the spear back for another jab, giving Ranma the room he needed to get to his feet."Geez! I'm up already! What is it with you?" Ranma growled glaring at whomever had gotten him up in suck a rude manner. It was with a large degree of shock that he came to the sudden realisation that he was no longer at Jusyenko. After all, no normal people he knew of had a pair of glowing wings sticking out of their back, even if they were as ugly as sin. The man/creature spoke again, the language sounding coarse and quite offensive to Ranma's ears, and sounded more than a little irritated. Ranma resumed his glare and crossed his arms across his chest in a show of defiance. He most definitely did not expect the person in front of him to smile nastily and attempt to impale him on the spear. Reacting purely on instinct, Ranma dodged lazily and struck out with a sharp kick to the man's chin, laying the fat fool flat on his back. This done, Ranma decided to properly examine his attacker while he had the time. Which would prove to be a bad mistake that Ranma would soon come to regret.
The man was perhaps between thirty and forty, about 5'7" tall, fatter than his father (which was quite a surprise) and ugly as anything or anyone Ranma had seen.
"Man, someone sure beat you with the ugly stick." Ranma muttered to himself as he leaned over the unconscious man. He noted that the glowing wings appeared to have disappeared. So intent was he on studying the ugly man at his feet that he barely had time to dodge as yet another spear flashed through the area most recently occupied by his stomach.
Turning around, Ranma glared at his attacker.
"What the hell didja do that for?" he shouted angrily, only to be brought up short when he saw who his attacker actually was. 'He' actually turned out to be 'she.' And a rather pretty one at that. Ice-blue hair hung down to shoulder length and was kept in check by a golden tiara (1) inset with a gem as blue as her hair. Azure bangs framed a delicate face with pretty pink lips and large expressive garnet coloured eyes and china-white skin. Said pretty face was also twisted into a vicious snarl that revealed a pair of small fangs and was largely at odds with her usual complexion. Ranma also took note of the clothes that she wore: a simple white under-vest beneath an armoured leather jerkin tied at the waist by a sturdy black leather belt, complete with skin-tight black leggings. Whereas these clothes looked gross on the downed man, Ranma had to force himself not to stare at the woman. In short, she was stunningly beautiful.
/"Human scum! Get away from the commander!"/ she snarled and brandished the spear at the pony-tailed boy(2) threateningly.
"What? I can't understand ya." Ranma replied. The young woman glared angrily and replied with a straight jab to where Ranma's sternum would have been had he stood still.
"I saw that one comin' a mile away ya know. Can ya stop tryin' to kill me for a minute? I don't even know what the hell you're getting' so worked up about!" The young woman merely snarled something else and continued to try and make Ranma into a human kebab.
/"Die Human filth!"/ Ranma had a feeling that whatever was being said was most definitely not complimentary. Deciding on a course of action, Ranma took steps to make his intentions clear. With fluid grace, Ranma sidestepped another spear thrust and spun around the enraged woman, noting that she, too, had a pair of fluorescent wings. He idly wondered if they would get in the way of what he was about to do. Coming to a halt behind the aqua-haired girl, Ranma reached around and attempted to pin her arms to her sides to effectually disable her movements. Unfortunately the law of chaos chose that time to assert itself, making the garnet-eyed girl raise her arms, along with the spear, for a backwards thrust around her torso. This had the unfortunate effect of depriving Ranma of the target of his movements, forcing him to improvise. Teetering slightly, he grabbed hold of the woman to steady himself and felt her go rigid in his grasp. Blinking, the pony-tailed boy wondered why she had stopped moving, not even bothering to struggle. Reflexively his hands squeezed, gaining a tremble from his unwilling captor. After a moment, three things penetrated Ranma's increasingly panicked mind. One: his hands were on something surprisingly warm – therefore not armoured. Two: whatever it was, it was soft. As proved by his inquisitive squeezing. Three: It was in front of the young woman and made her shudder every time he squeezed.
Ranma came to an unfortunate conclusion. He was going to die.
"GAH!" Leaping back a few meters, Ranma gave a nervous smile. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! It was an accident!" Slowly, ever so slowly, the young woman turned around and glared at him hatefully.
/"You DARE lay hands on my person!!! DIE YOU FILTHY LITTLE SWINE!!"/ She shrieked, hefting the spear like a baseball bat and racing forward. Ranma barely had time to blink before the haft of the spear connected with his temple in a solid meaty 'THWACK,' and spun him around on his feet before he collapsed bonelessly to the ground, unconscious. The young woman glared for a moment before savagely kicking him in the ribs and stalking over to the man she identified as 'commander' and kicking him awake.
/"Argh! Stop that you spoiled little witch!"/ He roared after a few minutes of kicking had occurred.
/"I am not a spoiled little witch! That filthy creature molested me!"/ She shrieked, glaring at the ugly little man.
/"Then it's yer own fault for letting him isn't it Krysal! Just because you're the High Commander's daughter doesn't mean you're going to get any special treatment from me! In fact, seeing as you assaulted a superior officer, you can supervise the little trash while we take him to the holding cells!"/ He roared, finally getting to his feet and dusting himself off.
/"WHAT! I am a Wingly of Noble lineage! How dare you say I must debase myself by consorting with such a lowly creature!"/ Krysal protested, looking horrified.
/"You'll do it and like it, Missy! I don't care for your rich-bitch attitude! If you want to protest so much, you can do it as an Enseign rather than a Lieutenant!"/ He roared back as he floated over to the downed youth. Krysal swallowed her protests and followed, floating silently behind as he bent over and inspected Ranma. /"Good, you didn't hurt him too bad. He seems like an able fighter. We may even pick up a commission for bringing him to the attention of the Arena council! They're on the lookout for new fighters – the die far too quickly in the arena these days. Now, pick him up and bring him."/
/"What!? But-"/ she protested.
/"No buts. Bring him or else! Do you understand?"/
/"Yes, sir,"/ she muttered sullenly and bent down to shoulder the unconscious martial-artist. After struggling for a few moments she managed to pull herself upright with the pig-tailed boy slung over her shoulder in a fireman's carry, balancing herself out with the aid of her spear.
/"Disgusting, making me carry such filth!"/ She muttered to herself quietly as her commanding officer led them back to the Penitention Centre that housed the thousands of holding cells for assorted creatures and criminals that were held beneath the rule of the Wingly people.
After four hours of exhaustive flying, they finally made it back to the Centre with their unconscious burden and made their way straight to the Warden's station.
/"Got another one for you Far'rah. A fighter. Pretty good one too if I'm any judge. Human this time,"/ the commander said to the bespectacled Wingly behind the counter. Peering over his glasses, he motioned to Krysal to bring Ranma forward. Grimacing in distaste, the aqua-tressed girl floated forward and attempted to present the pony-tailed boy for inspection. After poking and prodding for a good five minutes, the thin man nodded.
/"Yes, you are right Britak. He is most certainly a fighter. In fact I have never seen this calibre in a human before. He should be an interesting participant in the Arena!"/ Far'rah said, making a note in a holographic pad to his left.
/"More than likely. But be careful. He's fast. I'm going to have a nasty bruise in the morning."/ Britak stated ruefully as he rubbed his chin where Ranma had kicked him. The older Wingly cackled humorously and made another note on the pad as he nodded.
/"I'll remember that. Put him over there, girl. On the transporter."/
/"My NAME is Krysal Dar'karreth, Daughter of Brannon Dar'karreth!"/ Krysal growled, angry at being addressed in such a manner.
/"That's most interesting, girl, but I don't really care! Now put him on the transporter!"/ The old man sneered. Eye twitching in fury, Krysal floated angrily over to the transporter and dumped Ranma forcefully onto the green pool of light.
/"Disgusting little worm!"/ She spat, before stalking back to the two older men. With a negligent wave by Far'rah, Ranma's form was consumed by green light and transported to an empty cell.
----------------------------------------------------
"Ugh," Ranma muttered as he slowly drifted into wakefulness. "What hit me? Oh yeah…that crazy chick with the spear. Geez…talk about over reactin'!" The pony-tailed boy looked about himself and noted that he was in a perfectly circular room about five feet in diameter with no windows and only a tiny grating thirty feet straight up. Also next to this was a softly glowing green circle, which provided all of the dim lighting available.
"Wonderful," he muttered softly, stretching easily and carefully fingering his bruised ribs. "Musta kicked me when I was down," he thought in irritation. Soon after this was accomplished and his muscles were limber, Ranma looked for any handholds in his new-found prison. Much to his disgust, it seemed that the walls were perfectly smooth. For the first time in a while Ranma gave mental thanks to his father that he had taught him arial combat as he began to triangle jump up the walls towards the grate. After a moment he reached it and grasped the small piece of metal to keep himself still. With a cry of surprise he immediately let go as a large surge of current jolted through his limbs, making him drop like a stone. With a flip the pony-tailed boy landed on his feet and scowled up at the top of his cell angrily.
"Kuso," he muttered, "now what the hell am I gonna do?" With a sigh of frustration and nursing his singed hands, Ranma sat down and began to plan his escape.
Three hours later, the glowing circle at the top of his cell glowed brighter for a moment, making Ranma, who had been going through a slow Tai Chi Chuan kata to keep himself limber and out of boredom, look up sharply. Then his world dissolved into green sparkles.
The pony-tailed boy blinked and found himself looking down the sharp point of a spear.
"Again,"
he groaned mentally and held his hands up to show his co-operation. With a start he realised that the person holding the spear was none other than the girl who had decked him earlier for accidentally groping her. He watched as her jaw clenched angrily and waved him towards a horizontal table surrounded by strange objects that look suspiciously like medical instruments. Eyeing the table warily he edged forward, keeping the point of the spear as far away from his throat as possible and sat down, noting a matronly looking woman with platinum hair and wearing robes with strange symbols moving towards him from the side. She held up a sort of metal collar and reached forward to place it around his neck, but the pony-tailed boy jerked his head away and opened his mouth only to snap it closed as the aqua-haired girl pricked the skin over his jugular faintly, a menacing gleam in her eye.Swallowing, he held still as the metal device was attached around his neck and felt a soft vibration, like machinery, starting up in the vague vicinity of the collar. Reaching up Ranma fingered the device for a moment until he noticed the older woman smile pleasantly at him.
"What is your name?" she asked. Ranma blinked, sure that her mouth moved separately from her words. "Don't worry, it's just the translator. It's fairly experimental as we've never had someone that didn't speak our language before."
"Oh. Uhm…my name's Ranma Saotome, heir to the Musubetsu Kakuto Ryu, he answered, feeling completely out of his depth, which wasn't particularly surprising considering his only experience was with martial arts and beating on his father.
"Musubetsu Kakuto Ryu? What's that?" the older woman asked, an inquisitive look in her eyes as she picked up a faintly transparent panel and began to tap lightly with her free hand. From the corner of his eye Ranma saw that the other girl was now merely glaring at him instead of trying to fry him where he stood.
"It's a style of martial arts," he answered simply. The girl began to look impatient.
"And what pray tell is that?" she snapped. Ranma rolled his eyes condescendingly.
"A fighting style stupid." the girl's eyes widened in surprise and narrowed again as she hefted her spear.
"How dare you speak to me in such a manner! You are nothing more than human filth!" she shrieked. Ranma narrowed his eyes angrily and crossed his arms over his chest as he tilted his head to look down his nose at the shorter girl. She seemed about his age, but he wasn't about to contemplate that on hearing the human comment. That would mean that she wasn't human. So what was she?
"Simple answer,"
he thought. "Just ask!""If I'm human scum, what does that make you, you un-cute tomboy!" He watched as her face reddened until she looked fit to combust, her mouth working open and closed like a fish out of water, until she finally reacted.
"DIE!!!!" she shrieked and dove forward, thrusting the spear at his heart. Without budging an inch Ranma grasped the haft of the spear and re-directed it to the side, allowing it to hit empty air and draw her face almost nose-to-nose with his.
"Missed," he murmured and smirked at her as he released the spear as she began to pull furiously, sending her ungraciously onto her posterior. "A clumsy little girl like you shouldn't play with toys like that," he said from his position on the table. "You could hurt yourself!"
the aqua-haired girl spluttered incoherently as a pair of semi-transparent wings appeared on her back and allowed her to float to her feet. As she settled back on her feet again the girl discarded the spear and held her hands out, gathering a sphere of energy between them that crackled ominously with promises of pain.
Ranma's eyes widened in surprise as the girl drew back to throw it at him and prepared to leap out the way until a soft voice from the side spoke.
"Hmm…interesting. Lieutenant, if you would kindly refrain from frying the prisoner? He is here for a reason you know."
"Hey, yeah! What am I here for anyway?" Ranma questioned, looking to the older woman who had spoken. She blinked in surprise and looked at the girl who had been addressed as 'Lieutenant.'
Straightening her grey and silver uniform, the girl smirked at Ranma.
"Assault of an officer in the service of Emperor Melbu Frahma," she said smugly, earning a sharp intake of breath from the older woman, who looked curiously at the pony-tailed boy.
"Why on earth would you do that? Do you have a deathwish? Not that it matters anymore I suppose." Ranma blinked for a moment as he processed the information.
"Melbu who?" he queried. There was a simultaneous blink.
"What do you mean 'Melbu who?' Melbu Frahma! Emperor of Imperial Gloriano and all Endiness!" the girl known as 'Lieutenant' cried incredulously. Ranma stared blankly at her in dull incomprehension.
"Child," the older woman murmured, moving closer to inspect him and glancing at the pad she carried. "Where are you from to have not heard of any such names? I detect no serious injury, though I do find several old injuries that have healed."
"Japan," Ranma answered. It was the best he could do, as he'd never had a home to speak of, and he couldn't remember the place he used to live before the training journey. The two women exchanged puzzled glances, the younger girl's tinged with irritation.
"And…where is this…Japan?" she queried, frowning at him and fingering the spear unconsciously. Ranma twitched slightly. They'd never heard of Japan? Where in the hell was he? And why did that sound so darned familiar?
"Japan is Japan. It's a really, really big island country. Three islands actually," he admitted as he searched their faces for clues. He swallowed nervously as they exchanged another look before moving away slightly to converse. He noted idly that they had blocked the only exit from the room, and the green circle wasn't a good idea either. He had a feeling it'd either put him back in his cell or take him somewhere he didn't want to be.
A few feet away, the two women conversed quietly.
"Is he lying?" the Lieutenant asked. The older woman shook her head.
"No. The readings indicate he's telling the truth, or at least what he believes. But where could he be from? He is certainly unlike any other human I've encountered. His bio-readings are on par with a mid-level Winglys!" the younger woman's eyes bulged faintly.
"That's not possible! No mere human could have such a high reading! Even I know such a high bio-reading signifies the ability to use magic! It cannot be! He's human! Dr. Lyssa, how is this possible?" the older woman looked pensive for a moment before casting a glance toward the pony-tailed boy, whom was looking around the medical bay with undisguised curiosity.
"I'm not sure Lieutenant. I have a suspicion, but without any proof, it's entirely theoretical."
"Well?" Krystal prodded. Lyssa compressed her lips and eyed Ranma again before speaking.
"Take what we know. He does not speak our language, despite all other sentient species doing so, he wears clothes made out of an unknown material, speaks of a land called 'Japan' that has not been heard of before, and we know that the entire world has been mapped already and also has never heard of anything to do with our civilisation. What does that tell you?" Krystal pondered this for a minute as she kept a watchful eye on the human that had molested her. A small portion of her mind pointed out that it was an accident before she ruthlessly crushed it and pointed out to herself that he was a perverted little worm of a human and didn't deserve the benefit of the doubt.
"I'm not sure. Other than he's from a vast hidden continent, I have no clue." The doctor took a deep breath before speaking again.
"I think he is from another dimension."
"WHAT!?!?"
Ranma's head whipped around at the startled cry and watched with amusement as the Lieutenant gaped in astonishment at her older companion as she continued to speak. After a moment she calmed down and shot him a confused look that he returned with curiosity before he returned to looking at the room he was currently in. The far wall behind him and opposite the door was covered in various screens that looked a strange mix of electronic and organic in construction, the rest of the room seemed to be of similar makeup with various gill-like protrusions dotted around the room. It had a distinctly reptilian feel. It also was almost entirely done in differing shades of green. It was odd to say the least, and was continuing to impress upon Ranma that he was no longer in china, or anywhere he had ever heard of for that matter. Now knowing with a certainty that he was entirely out of his depth, Ranma settled for trying to take everything as it came, though that girl's comment on being a 'filthy human' was disturbing and gave Ranma the impression that humans were certainly not the dominant species wherever he was. At that point, the pair returned and the older woman addressed him.
"Ranma was it?" he nodded in response. "My name is Dr. Lyssa, and first of all you should know something about that collar you now wear. It has a potent explosive build into it that will be activated should you attempt to harm any Wingly at all." Ranma went white as this information registered and instinctively reached up to attempt to pry loose the collar. "I wouldn't recommend that if I were you. The explosive will also detonate if you attempt to remove the collar forcibly." Ranma's hands jerked away from the device with a hiss of displaced air. Both women blinked and looked at each other again before returning their attention back to the pony-tailed boy.
"I'm afraid that it's the rules for criminals such as yourself." Lyssa explained, a faint note of apology ringing in her voice.
"Criminal? Criminal!? What the hell did I do!?!?" Ranma yelled as he leapt over both women's heads.
"It's already been explained to you human. You've assaulted an officer in service to Emperor Frahma."
"Who the hell is this Frahma guy!? I don't understand!"
"Calm down Ranma, there's nothing that we can do. It's the law. You struck that officer, and according to the law you are automatically convicted. The only thing left is for your conviction which, I suspect, is being carried out as we speak. There's nothing that you can do but sit and wait, unless you want to try and remove that collar, which will end up in your termination." Reluctantly Ranma tried to relax and trudged back to the table, ignoring the searching look directed his way from the Lieutenant as she recovered from her shock of seeing a human almost fly over her head. she turned to the doctor quickly.
"I will inform the researchers and request they send someone to assist you. I must report to my…commander." The last word was spat with no small amount of venom as she eyed Ranma for the hundredth time. "I will leave you alone. The collar should keep you safe. A researcher will be here shortly."
"Thank you Lieutenant, I appreciate your concern. You may return to your duties." Once finished, the doctor returned to examining the readouts coming from the collar's sensors on Ranma.
"Duties? What duties? No matter how well I do, I am still withheld from promotion! All because I am the daughter of the High Commander! And wht does he do? Nothing! That's what he does! Aside from moan that he never had a son! And now I've been assigned to be the…the…babysitter for this disgusting human! As soon as I report the Doctor's findings I can be assured of being busted down to guard duty! "
Angrily Krystal stomped down the hallway to the teleporter and activated it with a negligent thought, deciding to tackle her commander first. It would at least prove to be a challenge."If he doesn't leer at my breasts all the way through that is
." She thought darkly, adjusting her newly aquired armour that effectively covered her breasts from view. A special request after the…incident with the human boy.A few moments after the transport completed, Krystal stood before her commander and relayed the information that Dr. Lyssa had gathered.
"Pig,"
she thought as she caught him eyeing the armour that covered her chest with disappointment."Well… I've sent your report to Judge Nomos, who is in charge of his trial. We shall shortly know what his sentence will b…ah…here it is. As I suspected: "Accused Human is sentenced to lifetime service in the Coliseum, effective immediately. Well, now that that is out of the way, I am pleased to inform you of your new post." Krystal felt a familiar sinking feeling welling in the pit of her stomach as he grinned evilly at her.
"Payback for those kicks you little bitch,"
he thought smugly. "You are hereby transferred to the 277th Guard Squad, and requested to personally oversee the guarding of prisoner…" he inspected the report tabled magically created by the lieutenant, "Ranma Saotome until otherwise noted." He looked up at her again, a smug smile plastered on his face and all traces of sympathy gone. "Should treat your superiors with a bit more respect girl. You might get somewhere one day." Krystal shook with fury."The only reason I never got anywhere is because I refused to sleep with a fat pig like YOU!" She screeched and whirled around before he could reply, storming away and sending a small fireball at a nearby cabinet, smiling in satisfaction as she heard the large amount of confiscated adult material co up in flames.
"YOU BITCH!" Came the enraged roar from inside the office. Krystal continued obliviously to the teleporter and stepped up onto the circular green pad. Turning around, she faced her former commander as he raced out of his office.
"You should treat women with more respect old man. You might get somewhere one day." She imitated as she activated the device, hearing the cheering of a group of female co-crew members in he background as the ugly commander spewed forth profanities. Disappearing in a ball of green light, Krystal laughed more heartily than she had in a long while.
An hour later, after stopping in at the local research compound to direct a spare researcher to Dr. Lyssa's Med-bay Krystal returned to speak with the doctor to find out her conclusions.
"Well? What's the verdict?" Krystal asked, out of uniform now that it was no longer needed. She'd get a new one tomorrow anyway, when she was awarded her new position of 'guardsman.' Lyssa looked up from her pad to peer through the adjoining doorway at where Ranma sat silently in a medative pose, his eyes closed and exuding an aura of calm that none had really encountered before.
"Well…he's definitely from a different planar existence. That's all I can tell you. The rest has been classified I'm afraid. What about his sentence?" Krystal handed over the tablet with Ranma's sentence encoded on it to the doctor, who read it over quickly. "Oh dear. At least it's better than execution. Marginally." Krystal shrugged in response.
"It makes no difference to me, beside the fact the sooner he dies the sooner my chance of promotion. I got busted down to guardsman and told to personally guard him. Like I said, as soon as he dies in the Coliseum the sooner I get transferred." Lyssa tapped a few keys on the pad before grimacing and looking up.
"I'm afraid that's not true. You've been permanently transferred for insubordination with no chance of promotion. 'Reason given: Wilful destruction of convicting evidence.' You're not going anywhere if Mr. Saotome dies. You'll just get given another assignment." Krystal stared in shock for a few minutes before her eyes flattened and her pretty pink lips compressed into a hard, flat line.
"I see," she muttered before stiffly reaching out for the pad and marching into the adjoining room to inform Ranma of his sentence.
She needn't have bothered. Using an old trick his father had taught him when he thought stealing was a game, Ranma had been enhancing his hearing to eavesdrop on the conversation. Although it wasn't directly stated, he had a general idea of what his sentence was. He already knew what a Coliseum was, as he had read about it in a book detailing some fighting style from a country called 'Italy' that described the function of a Coliseum. Simply put, Ranma knew that he had been sentenced to fight until he died, which could only mean that each fight would be to the death. He was not happy with the prospect, but found there was nothing that he could do immediately to alleviate his position.
"Yet,"
he thought as he struggled to remain in control and not spiral into depression. It wouldn't help him, he knew. "As soon as I can, I'm gonna get outta this place! Or my name isn't Ranma Saotome!" The pony-tailed boy opened his eyes as Krystal approached, her face stony and hard. She stopped three feet away and stood ramrod straight."Ranma Saotome, you are hereby sentenced to serve for life in the Coliseum until your death by combat or otherwise by Judge Nomos of the Court of Zenebatos. Do you have anything to say?" Ranma looked at her calmly for a moment before answering.
"Do I get to train? To fight that is. Like a training area or somethin'?" Krystal's garnet eyes flickered down for a second as she consulted the pad, widening faintly as she came across some of the more unusual details of his sentence, before she came across the needed information.
"Yes. You will be provided with a facility to retain your physical fitness and to train in any weapons you desire. A trainer will be assigned should you wish to learn these."
"No thanks. I don't use weapons." Krystal regarded him impassively for a moment, her flat garnet eyes challenging his serene ocean blue before she spoke.
"Then you will die quickly." Ranma smirked faintly.
"We'll see," he replied. The aqua-haired girl nodded and left to speak again with the doctor, and Ranma returned to eavesdropping and managed to catch the beginning of the conversation.
"Are you sure?"
Came Lyssa's voice."Yes. Look, it says here: 'Due to the findings that subject: Ranma Saotome may be able to manipulate magic, the council has deemed it necessary to terminate subject as soon as possible. Therefore, subject will be subjected to opponents of sufficient skill, strength or magical ability to immediately terminate subject upon start of sentence.' They're going to give him the hardest opponents they can find to kill him off. It's no wonder, with him being able to learn. If he found out and it spread to the human population, they might even revolt. You've heard how restless they've been getting recently?"
Krystal's voice answered. Ranma frowned deeply as he heard this, evidently his previous guess that the humans of this place…"This dimension,"
he corrected himself, remembering the previous conversation…Were not the dominant species was pretty far off. It sounded more like they were enslaved. He snapped back to the present when Lyssa's voice answered.
"Yes, I've heard. Is there anything else pertaining to his sentence?"
"Yes. Here it is: 'Also, subject will not be entitled to normal benefits of Coliseum sentencees, those being supply of magical items, equipment and surgical treatment.' They're setting him up to die quick. I thought this sort of thing didn't happen? Not that I care, it just doesn't seem just."
Ranma grimaced sharply at this news, it didn't sound good and made him wonder what sort of opponents he'd be facing in the fighting arena. It sounded like magic really existed here, though just his trip here should have been enough evidence. Certainly winged creatures didn't exist back home.In Ranma's home dimension, the entire people of Phoenix Mountain sneezed violently, Saffron managing to plant his face in a handy bowl of soup.
"Oh my dear girl, you don't know much of everything do you? Our laws benefit us. Not other races. They've decided that young Ranma Saotome must die because he is unlike any other human in existence that we know of. He threatens our 'stable' society just by the possibility of becoming a figurehead to the human people. Those in charge don't want that to happen, so they simply will kill him in the most expedient way possible that doesn't incriminate themselves. And if I were you, girl, I'd not tell anyone about this. Otherwise you might be found traitor and put in the arena yourself. This time wearing an anti-magic collar."
"What!? You can't be serious!"
"I'm very serious, young lady. Just bear it in mind. Now, we'd best get back to young Mr. Saotome before he wanders in here and finds out about this."
"I suppose you're right. I have to pull guard duty over him anyway, not like he's going to be around long. Let's see…hmm…his first match is in a week against…Morbok the Giganto? He's one of the better Giganto fighters, especially with that huge double-headed axe. He'll win easily."
From where he was listening in, Ranma smirked."That's what you think tomboy!"
He thought silently as the pair came in and packaged him off to the teleporter and his new cell.His 'new' cell turned out to be just like his old one, but a bit bigger, perhaps eight feet wide and lined with a type of rushes. Also, attached to the wall was a bed, vaguely crescent shaped to fit the curved walls of his prison and with a thin mattress. Which suited Ranma just fine, he was used to it, having slept on the ground for most of his life, the only protection a simple sleeping bag. After doing a few practice katas and remembering that he would be going to see Dr. Lyssa again tomorrow, Ranma lay down on the bed and quickly dozed off to sleep, visions of freedom dancing in his mind.
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End Chapter 1.
Author's notes: Yes, I know I said I'd post up TPC chapter 4, but this cried out to be posted (especially since I am playing the game as I speak) :D I'll TRY to have TPC Ch. 4 up soon :p
Strider
Send C&C to: strider_richards@hotmail.com
