Hello, Jonakhensu here. I'd like to thank all of my reviewers. Congratulations to everyone who knew where Ember is from. For those of you who don't know, she is one of the "evil" ghosts in Danny Phantom. I never said my crossings were limited to anime. Again, I don't own Ranma ½, Danny Phantom, or anything else that shows up. ON WITH THE FIC!
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Redheads and Succubi
Chapter 3: "This won't end well…"
Ranma awoke in midair. 'Damn' he thought angrily. 'We forgot to tie up the panda'. Seconds later, he splashed down in the koi pond. Only a few seconds after Ranma had righted herself, Ukyo crashed into her.
"That panda is dead!" Ukyo screamed as she launched herself into the air. "Ranchan," she called down, "I'll take the high road; you take the low road!" Ranma smirked; his father favored aerial combat, but he wasn't nearly as maneuverable as Ukyo was. Not surprisingly, wings tend to make things like that easier.
Rushing back to their room, Ranma-chan shouted, "You're dead old man!" and punted the elder martial artist towards Ukyo. "Batter up, Uuchan!' warned Ranma, watching gleefully. Out came the battle spatula, and down streaked Genma, right into the koi pond.
"Breakfast is almost ready," Kasumi announced, interrupting the fight before it could escalate any further. Ukyo bathed first, while Ranma helped in the kitchen. Once Ukyo finished bathing, Ranma-chan rushed to the furo, eager to return to normal.
Unfortunately, Ranma-chan wasn't the only one who wanted to bathe right then, and, just as she finished undressing, she was interrupted by Akane. Ranma blinked, and Akane blinked, before slowly sliding the door shut. "I'll wait until you're done, Ranma," Akane announced through the door. Knowing that she was keeping her fiancé waiting, Ranma washed and quickly rinsed herself off in the furo before drying off and letting Akane have a chance to bathe. "Thank you for getting done so quickly, Ranma."
"You're welcome, Akane. Hurry up or there won't be any food left," Ranma teased, grinning evilly from behind the changing room door. He then headed downstairs to the dining room and waited for the war he calls breakfast to begin. Finally, Akane came down the stairs and sat next to Ranma, and Kasumi and Ukyo carried in the food. "Now, Akane," Ranma began, still grinning evilly. "We will continue your training, this time in speed and reaction time. Defend your food!" Without warning, breakfast began, and Akane quickly realized that something was very wrong. Food kept disappearing from her plate. She could see Ranma's chopsticks snatch each morsel from her plate, but she couldn't
move fast enough to stop him.
"Hey!" Akane complained, "You're stealing my food!"
Without stopping in his assault, Ranma replied, "Of course I am. You need a reason to make yourself faster, and going hungry for a few days is great motivation." Soon all of the plates were empty, and Akane had only managed to eat one fourth of her breakfast. Seeing that no more food would be forthcoming, Genma and Soun retired to a friendly, honest game of shogi, cheating at every opportunity. "Now that Panda-baka is gone, I have something for you, Akane."
"Really?" Akane asked, afraid of what else Ranma had in store for her. "What?"
"Your food," Ranma replied with a flourish, placing a plate, containing every scrap of food he had stolen from her, down in front of Akane. "Hurry and finish up. We'll continue training on the way
to school."
"Why are you giving me back me my food back?" Akane inquired. "I thought you said the hunger served as motivation."
Ukyo laughed, but let Ranma answer. "True, the hunger makes the training more effective," Ranma began, "but eating right is even more important."
"Not to mention the fact that Ranchan and I hated Pops for stealing our food until we got fast enough to protect most of our food," Ukyo elaborated. "Actually, that is why we won't be using most of the panda's training methods. They would kill most people." As soon as Akane finished scarfing down her breakfast, the three youths started towards school, only to find a surprise at the gate. "Are we going to train on the way to school?" Keiko asked, her eyes glowing with anticipation.
"Ya, we're going to continue your training," Ranma confirmed. Again, Ranma supported Akane while Ukyo aided Keiko. Akane stumbled noticeably less, though not by very much. Keiko, on the other hand, slipped exactly the same number of times she had the previous day. This, however, was understandable, as Ukyo didn't have a convenient set of wings to balance with this time.
As they approached the school, Akane remembered something rather important about her daily routine. "Um, Ranma?" Akane questioned. "What should I do about my so-called suitors? If we're taking longer to get her by training on the way, I won't have enough time to beat them all and still make it to class on time."
Ranma thought back to yesterday; if that horde of boys attacked Akane the same way everyday, then it could cause a serious problem. "I think you need to stop fighting that mob everyday." To forestall any complaints Akane was about to voice, Ranma continued, "If they attack the same way every time, I'll be bad for your training. When I sparred against you when we arrived, your attacks would have been good for fighting against a group, but left you vulnerable in a normal fight."
"Oh no!" Akane exclaimed. "You're right! What can we do about it?" While Akane secretly reveled in the attention she received, she didn't want to jeopardize her abilities.
"I have an idea," Keiko announced. When everyone was listening attentively, she continued, "What if Akane declares that she'll only accept proper challenges, at the dojo?"
"Of course!" Ukyo agreed, "It's so simple; nothing could possibly go wrong!" The group quickly fleshed out all of the details to their plan and continued on to school.
The moment Akane became visible, the Hentai Horde charged. When Akane failed to charge the mob, they slowed to a confused stop. "I refuse," Akane bellowed, to ensure that everyone heard her, "to acknowledge any challenge that is not delivered to the Tendo dojo in the proper manner." Knowing that there was no possible way they could beat Akane in a true challenge, especially in a fair fight, the horde dispersed, save one fool.
"My Darling Akane," Kuno began, rushing towards the girl. "I knew you would choose me above any others! Keiko's eyes shone with an angry light, and a handful of pencils shot towards Kuno. At the distances involved, any mediocre Martial Artist could have dodged; Kuno didn't.
Amazingly, all of the projectiles hit Kuno in the head, yet they all shattered on contact. Luckily, enough force had been put into the attack to knock the errant Kendoist unconscious. "Now that he is out of the way, we should hurry and get to class," Keiko stated, already walking towards the school. Right before they reached the doors, the one minute warning bell sounded. "Oh no! How will we get to class on time now?" she asked, running.
"Leave that to us," Ukyo declared, before sweeping Keiko off her feet and jumping to the window sill of their third floor class room. Ranma waited until the sill was clear before he carried Akane up to the classroom as well.
Once the four were seated, Ranma realized two things. "Shouldn't Sensei Yamabushi be here already?" he asked. When the others just shrugged, Ranma voiced his other revelation, "We didn't get splashed at all on the way here. Something big must be about to happen."
As if on cue, the head of a blue haired girl appeared through the ceiling. "Is this Mr. Yamabushi's class?" the head asked. When the class mutely nodded an affirmative, the girl's body followed her head into the classroom. "Good, I finally found it. I am Ember McLain, your new teacher."
"Oh my god!" an overly exited girl exclaimed. "We're going to be taught by a rock star!" The majority of the class responded in a similar fashion.
"Who?" Ranma and Ukyo chorused. There were surprisingly few television sets to be found in the Chinese wilderness, so they hadn't witnessed Ember's concert a few months ago.
"How do you possibly not know who I am? I broadcasted my concert on every television channel around the world!" Ember asked, incredulous.
"Well," Ranma began sheepishly, "We ain't really had time for much television over the last ten years or so."
"It cut into our training time," Ukyo elaborated.
"Okay, I guess that's understandable," Ember replied. "Before we begin our lesson for today, I need to explain my situation a little." The first thought that the class collectively had was that Ember had a Jusenkyo curse as well. This is a perfectly reasonable reaction, after Ranma's and Ukyo's demonstrations the day before. They were also completely incorrect. "I…" Ember began, "am a ghost." When the class did nothing more than a synchronized blink, Ember asked, "Doesn't this bother any of you, even a little?"
The cynical boy from yesterday snorted and said, "Compared to what happened yesterday, this isn't all that disturbing."
"What happened yesterday that could make having a ghost as a teacher seem dull?" Ember asked, suddenly wondering if that teacher who left the night before had a good reason to do so.
"We happened," a voice from the class answered. Ranma continued, "Me and Uuchan got here yesterday, and our curses got revealed."
"Curses?" Ember inquired, stunned.
Ukyo continued the story. "Pops took Ranchan and me to the legendary training Jusenkyo. Pops couldn't read a word of Chinese, so we didn't know the danger we were in until it was too late. We all fell into a different spring and picked up different curses. It will be easier to believe if we demonstrate. May we do so?"
Ember motioned for the two youths to continue. Ranma walked to the door, intending to get water from the bathroom again, but he noticed the pails of water nicely set out all ready for use. Picking one up, Ranma explained, "The curse is triggered by cold water." Ranma poured a little water onto his head. The redheaded lass continued, "I fell into the Spring of Drowned Girl." Ember's eyes bugged out. She could handle people who where half ghost and half human; this, on the other hand, was just weird.
Ukyo took the bucket from Ranma and turned towards Ember, saying, "My curse is a little different." Pouring a little water onto her head, Ukyo was glad that she had had the time to modify her school uniform last night. "I fell into the Spring of Drowned Bat and then into the Spring of Drowned Girl." Ember just stared, watching as the wings that had just appeared wrapped around their owner like a cloak. Soundlessly, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she fainted dead away.
"Does anyone know how to revive a ghost?" Keiko asked, worrying about her new teacher's health. Her eyes suddenly glowed with insight, and she rushed to her backpack and retrieved a strange round object. Slipping the device onto her hand, she approached Ember and waved her hand over Ember's form. The fallen teacher sat up, and Keiko asked, "Are you alright Ms. McLain?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Please call me Ember, though," the ghostly teacher replied.
"Um, Ember?" Ukyo asked, "Can Ranchan and I go to the bathroom to reverse our curses?" Ember waved them off, and the two cursed girls headed to the lavatory to change.
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Kuno arrived in class five minutes after the bell. The only reason he wasn't sent out into the hall was that being knocked unconscious in the school yard was a valid reason for tardiness. Nabiki was quick to point out the pinprick and bruise combination that wrote, in Romanji, 'BAKA.'
"That foolish girl spelled it wrong," Kuno declared. "It is supposed to be spelled 'BUKA.'"
Nabiki smirked and scoffed, "No, it is spelled 'BAKA.'" Kuno grumbled a bit but dropped the spelling issue. "Oh, by the way," Nabiki continued, "I have the information on Ranma Saotome you requested."
Kuno perked up at this wonderful news. Eagerly he asked, "What did you find out?" The mercenary Tendo stuck out her hand and replied, "Five thousand yen." Kuno quickly placed the cash in Nabiki's hand, and she began talking.
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After walking through a massive carrot field, a boy carrying a ridiculously large backpack and a large umbrella finally approached a house. He approached a log with a blue kanji symbol on it and asked, "Could you please tell me how I get to Nerima from here?"
The log was startled, so it answered. "Tokyo is off in that direction," Kamadake announced, motioning in a vaguely east north easterly direction, "by about five hundred kilometers."
"Thank you for your help, fine sir, " the boy said, before turning westward and walking off, with the cry of, "Ranma Saotome, you will regret ever meeting Ryoga Hibiki!"
"Katsuhito took a sip of tea and murmured to himself, "Ranma Saotome. Saotome. Why does that name sound familiar?" The old caretaker shrugged and figured whatever it was would work itself out with time.
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An ocean away, in America, two anthropologists had just made a strange discovery. "What do you think it is?" one asked, shining his light on the wall etchings.
"I don't know," the second replied. "It seems to be in a language that has never been uncovered before. Let's just take a rubbing of the inscription and get out of here. This place gives me the creeps!" After the rubbing was made, the two anthropologists fled the ruins as quickly as they could.
Later, in a museum, a cloaked youth inspected the rubbing, translating it as she went. Once she finished, she incredulously muttered, "Why wasn't I told about this?"
The etching, once translated, read:
Only when the Living Gem is Bound to a Holy Ring
With a Wild Rice Picking Girl,
The Son of a Tranquil Rice Picking Girl and a Panda,
And the Daughter of the Same Birth,
Will the Evil that is Trigon be Seen by None, Forevermore
Like all annoying prophesies, this one had random capitalization, leaving the girl to ponder the significance of the inscription as a whole. The fact that the inscription translated directly into English, letter by letter, was also surprising, and a little disturbing.
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After much debate over which bathroom Ranma should use to change back into her normal form, both he and Ukyo walked back to their classroom. Right before they could enter, however, both youths dodged, alerted by a danger sense honed by years of training under Genma. A bucketful of water splashed where the pair had been less than a second earlier. Twenty feet away, still holding a dripping bucket, stood Kuno, told to stand in the hall for shouting during class.
"Saotome, I can not accept an engagement between the fair maiden, Akane Tendo, and a churl, such as you," Kuno declared, making wild gestures with his bokken. At the word 'engaged,' the hallway was flooded by a deluge of curious students.
"Are you two really engaged?" Keiko quietly asked Akane.
Akane sighed and replied, "Unfortunately. His father and mine decided to engage us in order to 'unite the schools.'"
"Kuno, look," Ranma began diplomatically, only to be interrupted before he could actually say anything.
"Silence, recreant swine!" Kuno bellowed, angrily. "I shall smite thee!" he cried as he charged Ranma.
Ranma looked around the hallway, before retreating, saying "There are too many people here. Let's take this outside!" With that said, Ranma hopped out of a conveniently located window, followed shortly by Kuno.
"Ranma no baka," Akane muttered quietly, shaking her head slightly.
"I wouldn't worry about Ranchan," Ukyo reasoned. "Pops threw the two of us off of a five story building repeatedly to teach us how to fall properly. A three story drop is simple." Keiko sweatdropped at this remark, not sure whether Ukyo was joking or not.
"That wasn't what I was talking about, "Akane persisted. Right then,their conversation was halted by a feminine cry.
"Get off of my, pervert!" Ranma-chan's scream carried up to the observers on the third floor.
"That window overlooks the school's pool," Akane stated calmly. "Come on, let's go get some hot water so she can change back." The trio of girls hurried off, in search of hot water and then in search of a damp Ranma-chan.
Moments earlier, Ranma jumped out of the poorly chosen window. Immediately after he passed the point of no return, Ranma saw the pool. His only thought as he maneuvered himself for a smoother entry was, 'Figures.' Kuno landed in a near belly flop, but was quick to recover.
"I have you now, foul Saotome!" the errant kendoist declared as he latched onto Ranma from behind. Incidentally, that left his hands across Ranma's chest. Curious at finding vastly softer flesh than he had anticipated, Kuno did the only logical thing; he squeezed.
"Get off me, pervert!" Ranma-chan shrieked, flailing wildly. A lucky hit made Kuno loss his grip on Ranma, as well as on consciousness. Kuno was lucky, indeed, as the blow also rolled him onto his back, preventing him from drowning. Ranma reached the edge of the pool in short order and high-tailed it away from the building. When the girls found her, she was sitting up in a tree, wringing her pants out.
"Hey, Ranchan," Ukyo quipped, "have a nice swim?"
Ranma muttered to herself darkly before exclaiming, "He didn't have to grab me that hard!" She rubbed her chest, trying to reduce the residual sting from Kuno's merciless grope.
"We brought some hot water for you," Akane announced, brandishing a steaming kettle.
"Where has that cowardly ruffian Saotome gone?" Kuno asked, appearing out of the bushes. "Ah, my Akane, if you defeat me, I shall allow you to date me." Without further warning, Kuno charged.
"Ranma, catch!" Akane called, tossing the kettle upwards so her hands could be free to deal with Kuno. One well placed punch later, Kuno followed the kettle.
Ranma, in a desperate attempt to catch the kettle, lunged out from the tree, hanging horizontally by her toes. She was barely able to catch it, and couldn't do much else due to her position and complete lack of leverage. Unfortunately, Kuno's head impacted with the kettle, both spilling its contents and unbalancing Ranma. After a valiant, if futile, attempt to regain her balance, the poor redhead fell from the tree, right into Kuno's lap.
"My, what a fortunate man am I, to have two beautiful woman in love with me," Kuno surmised. "Come to me, my Tree Borne Kettle Girl!" Ranma did go to Kuno, although it was only so the kendoist would be in range for a massive kick that launched the public nuisance into the Juuban Ward. One of Sailor Uranus' World Shakings sent him back to Nerima after he landed on, and subsequently groped, Sailor Neptune.
After Ranma-chan rid the immediate area of brainless kendoists, Akane
noticed Ranma's current gender. "Oh, you haven't changed back yet?"
she asked.
"That perverted baka spilled the water before I could use any of it," Ranma whined. She didn't really want to be female any longer than she needed to, despite the month she spent with the Amazons.
Keiko smiled and held up another kettle. "I guess it's a good thing that I brought an extra kettleful, just in case," as Ranma lunged for the kettle, Keiko pulled it out of her reach. "No, I'm not going to let you have this water until after you put your pants back on." Ranma complied and became a man. The four friends headed back to class; having a ghost for a teacher is too exciting to miss.
Once they had returned to the classroom, Ember continued her lesson. The lesson was quickly and brutally murdered by an annoyance of a different color. "I am the Box Ghost! Beware!" the overweight ghost in coveralls shouted. "I am the master of all containers shaped liked a rectangular prism."
Ember groaned and shook her head. "How do you manage to get out of the Ghost Zone so easily? Never mind, I don't think I want to know. Leave now, or be pummeled severely." As an added incentive, the martial artists in the class began cracking their knuckles. Suffice it to say, the Box Ghost didn't stay around for very long.
Minutes later, the class was again disrupted, by a large figure crashing through the wall. The exoskeleton clad ghost looked around the room and asked, "Do you have any information on Purple-back gorillas?"
Again, Ember sighed, "No, I'm sorry, Skulker. You'll have to try somewhere else."
"You might want to look at Jusenkyo," Ukyo suggested.
"Yeah," Ranma continued, "there's probably a Spring of Drowned Purple-back Gorilla."
Skulker's PDA beeped. "What the?" he asked, looking at the screen mounted on his left forearm. "Visit Jusenkyo? Crud…" Wings expanded from the back of his exoskeleton, and Skulker was violently removed from the classroom by his own technology, straight up, through the roof.
"I see that it is pointless to try and get anything accomplished today," Ember conceded. "Class dismissed." With a cheer, the class stampeded out of the room, leaving their ghostly teacher to bang her head against her desk, repeatedly. "What have I gotten myself into this time?" she asked herself, hoping that the worst was over. Too bad the kami found mutilating any peace in Nerima to be immensely entertaining. On her way out the door, Ember voiced a sudden thought, "Maybe I should get a pet." This does not bode well for any concerned party.
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"So, what are we going to do once we reach the dojo?" Keiko asked as she continued her way along the fence.
"Well," Ranma started, "we could do some endurance training, if we actually knew a good way of doing it."
"Yeah," Ukyo commented, "running from a hungry pack of wolves while carrying several hundred kilos isn't very fun." Akane and Keiko laughed nervously, not sure whether the wolf comment was a joke or not. For the record, it wasn't one.
"I think we should work on speed," Akane announced. "Breakfast tastes better when it's hot."
"Breakfast was the speed training," Ranma muttered. "Any ideas on how we should train, then?"
"I have an idea that should work," proclaimed Keiko. "I'll set it up as soon as we arrive." Their afternoon planned, the quartet continued towards the dojo in a companionable silence.
When the group arrived at the Tendo home, with only a few stumbles onthe way, they were greeted by Kasumi, "Oh, my. You're home early."
"Do you have any old newspapers we could use?" Keiko asked. Upon receiving a stack of old periodicals, she followed the others out tothe dojo.
"So what's the plan?" Ranma asked, eager to enhance his own skills, preferably in a manner that wasn't life threatening.
"What do newspapers have to do with training?" Akane asked. No training exercise she could conceive had any use for old newspapers.
"It's simple, really, "Keiko replied. "We'll tear the papers intosmall pieces. Then we'll each toss a pile of the pieces into the air and catch as many as we can. As we improve and are able to catch more, our piles grow larger."
"Come on, let's get started!" Ukyo urged. For the next few minutes, the sound of tearing paper could be heard emanating from the dojo. After the last of the paper was torn, the scraps were divided between the trainees, and the training was ready to commence.
"Boy!" Genma bellowed from the entrance. "What kind of training is this? You will never improve if you resort to such weak methods." Finished with his rant, Genma turned and walked away.
"Ah, forget about the panda," Ranma decided. "There ain't no way ourtraining methods can be any worse than most of his."
Thus, the training began. The sheer volume of paper in the air played hell with Nabiki's cameras. Ranma and Ukyo were using the two largest piles, since their years of training made them significantly faster than the others. Keiko had the smallest pile, being the least trained of the group. However, the young girl was quickly improving, as her muscles became use to the strain. As all four youths began to slowly, yet perceptively, improve, less and less paper littered the floors and more was either in the air or in hand.
"I'm surprised the training is working so well," Keiko admitted, after realizing her pile had increased by nearly half its original size. Granted, her pile was still smaller than what the others had started with, but being able to see how far she had progressed greatly helped her self esteem. Her pile had increased the most, percentage wise, and it made her feel as though she might actually be able to learn Martial Arts after all.
"So much for the panda's prediction," Ukyo laughed, looking at the heap of paper she was using. If they continued to progress at this rate, they were going to need more paper within a week,
Kasumi interrupted any thoughts of further training by announcing, "Dinner is almost ready. You are welcome to join us, Keiko."
"Really? Thank you, I'd love to stay for diner," Keiko gushed. "Maybe we can continue training after diner."
Ranma guffawed and replied, "In Anything Goes, everything is training, especially the meals. Don't worry; you'll see what I mean soon enough."
As soon as everyone was seated and the food had been placed on the table, the five diner combatants sprang into action, Keiko only seconds after the other four. Genma was shocked, both Ranma and Ukyo were faster than he expected. He was hard pressed to defend his food against the two youths, especially with Akane and Keiko aiding the pair. True, their attempts were both clumsy and slow, but they did serve as a distraction, allowing Ranma and Ukyo to slip through the holes in his defense. Even worse, in his opinion, guarding his food left Genma little opportunity to steal food from the other plates. Luckily, however, Genma was becoming accustomed to their speed increase and was compensating accordingly. By the end of the meal, the battle looked as it normally did, though with additional participants. Then again, this is only if you were using a high speed camera and slowed the film down significantly.
After all of the food had been inhaled and/or eaten, the four young Martial Artists continued their training in the dojo, this time with Keiko wearing small weights to help increase her strength.. Genma looked in once, and cried. To think they had come up with such an effective technique, without any external motivation. It was beautiful in its simplicity and effectiveness. Not only did it increase speed, it improved the trainees' hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and endurance, at least when done for hours at a time. Maybe it was time for the panda to rethink what made a training method effective.
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Ember stopped at the door to the pet shop and took a deep breath, despite the fact that she doesn't actually breathe, being a ghost and all. Finally, after arguing with herself for hours, she was going to buy a pet. Pushing the door open, Ember entered the store known simply as Skulker's Exotic Pets. With this single act, without actually purchasing a specific pet, she had doomed untold masses of Animal Control Workers.
"May I help you?" Skulker asked, before looking towards the door. "Oh, Ember, it's you. Sorry about destroying your classroom like that."
"Relax, it isn't a big deal. The repair crew has already fixed the damage. By the way, I suggest not going to Jusenkyo. You might get cursed," Ember warned.
"I noticed that," the greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone lamented. "This infernal PDA keeps ruining my plans. Now, not only am I forced to constantly research Purple-back Gorillas, I also become one whenever I get splashed with cold water! The ghost child will mock me or sure!"
Ember thought a moment about that particular ghost fighting team and replied, "Danny's not that bad of a kid, even if he did mock me in rder to distract me during my concert. I'd worry more about the Techno geek. He'd probably program 'Buy bananas' into your PDA. Now, bout my pet, what do you have today?"
Looking around at the various cages, Skulker answered, "I have a feathered boa, a hippogriff, a phoenix, a capybara, a minutour, the 'Creature Nature Never Intended' unfortunately drowned in Jusenkyo, a kraken, a dodo, a sphinx, Cerberus, a couple of talking cats who keep ranting about a Moon Kingdom, a dire wolf pup, a green alien dog, and this strange blue hedgehog that keeps muttering about 'Chaos Diamonds' or something like that. So, what would you like?"
Ember pondered a moment, and a single question blared in her head like an air raid siren. "Why do you have a specimen of the world's largest living rodent in your collection?" Skulker just shrugged. Ember dropped that particular issue and made her decision. "A pity about that drowned critter. I think it might have been a fun pet. I'll take the dire wolf, please."
"That, and all of the necessary food and supplies for the next month or so, comes to a total of one thousand ghouls," Skulker said, while retrieving the wolf pup and the necessary supplies. "Remember, you need to get a license for him as soon as you can, as well as his vaccinations and training. If you don't get him trained early enough, he might become extremely dangerous to others."
"All right, I'll get all of that taken care of within the month," Ember replied. Tension inducing music began to play as Ember paid for her new pet. A well aimed bolt from Skulker's crossbow quickly put the phonograph out of its misery, saving those near by from the dreadful sound. Unfortunately, the dog catchers in Nerima and the surrounding wards wouldn't be as fortunate, as a feeling of DOOM settled upon them as Ember carried her new pet home.
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Gecko-chan here. I'd like to thank TouGod and InsaneClarinetPlayingFFX-2Fan for Beta reading this chapter for me. Again, I don't own Ranma ½, Danny Phantom, Sailor Moon, Teen Titans, Sonic the Hedgehog, El Goonish Shive, Harry Potter, Tenchi Muyo, any series I may have forgotten, and/or whatever series the prophesy refers to. Speaking of the prophesy, I am running a contest on it. Whoever posts the correct interpretation of it first will receive a prize. Unfortunately, anyone I have discussed the prophesy with can't participate. Also, only signed entries or entries with a valid email address will be accepted. Good luck to all of you. The race starts NOW!