Realities Cubed
By Jim Robert Bader
Chapter Three.
Love at First Fight
Continuum # 32145896
"Hah, too slow little Brother!" Xian-Ma taunted as she dodged the attack of the blue haired boy who was two years her junior in the arts of Anything Goes Martial Arts.
"You just wait, Sis!" Saotome Mace retorted as he twisted his body around in mid-air, propelled himself off of a nearby tree trunk and performed an impossible acrobatic maneuver, bringing both his legs into play with a double-
Dragon stamp kick that shattered a boulder behind where his sister had been standing a mere instant before impact.
Xian-ma...or Shanma (Mountain Pony) flowed around the space occupied by her brother and locked her arms around him in a full Nelson. No sooner did her younger brother cry out, "ONEECHAN!" then she deposited him with a flip into the nearby river, where Mace sputtered and splashed in wounded indignity for the next several seconds.
"Too cocky by half, Bro," Shanma cheerfully called down, "Why don't you cool off until you're ready to get serious. Pop wants us to do our best, and the way you've been fighting you might as well be sleep walking."
"Oh yeah?" Mace glowered, "Then why don't you try it, Sis!"
Moving his hands too fast to see he scooped out several gallons of water and propelled them to shore, kicking up a wave and catching his older sister flat-
footed. Shanma only had time enough to utter an "Oh no!" that sounded more like a gasp and then the wave caught her good and solid.
"Hooboy," muttered Ranma as he watched his children's romp from concealment, "That's not gonna improve her mood any..."
"Serves her right for letting her guard down," Shampoo murmured at his side, "Shanma needs to learn not to gloat so much when she has the advantage. That's one of your more lamentable traits that she's inherited full force."
"And what exactly do you mean by that?" her husband asked archly.
"You're both too competitive," Shampoo answered, "You always have to be on top..."
"How's that again, Kitty?" Ranma asked his companion's lovely profile, "Never heard you complaining when I was on top last night..."
"Funny," his wife smirk wryly at him, "I was just going to say the same thing myself, Airen."
"Oh...gross!" Shanma sputtered as she shook off the water that now soaked through the fur that covered a good portion of her body, "I just washed my hair, now look at it! You owe me big time for that, little brother!"
"So sue me!" Mace taunted back as he vaulted out of the water, already in his own cursed form, "You wanted me to speed things up? Well, now we're at full maximum, and I hope you're happy!"
Shanma bared her fangs as her semi-feline face formed a snarl of challenge, "Just watch my claws, Bro, now the fur is gonna fly!"
"Uh oh," Ranma said, "Looks like they've upped the ante. I hope they don't scratch each other up too much. Nabiki always hates it when they come home in bandages..."
"If they're going to play, then they have to prepared to take as well as give it," Shampoo insisted, "Nabiki knows that as well as any of us, and if she wants to have more of a part to play in their training then she should join us on these exercises. I don't see why she can't train Kachima in Lore Mastery out here instead of back in the dojo..."
"Feeling restless without her, Kitty?" Ranma smirked, "Well, I miss her too, but you know Nabs likes to keep an eye on the business while we're out having a good time looking after the wildcats."
Whatever his wife had been about to say was forgotten when their children separated to take stock of one another, assuming matching cat-like postures as they prepared to renew their sibling squabbles, only to pause when a large metal object hit the ground between them, forcing both Saotome offspring to turn their eyes up to one of the nearby tall tree branches.
"Sorry, Kid, but I'm cutting in on this dance," a youthful voice called down, "Besides, I kinda like your big Sis's furry hide when it's standing on end like that."
"What are you doing here?" Shanma snarled as her diamond-slitted eyes narrowed dangerously, "Can't you see I'm in the middle of training?"
"Yeah, I can see that," the brown haired figure replied before leaping from its perch and landing a short distance away from the battling Saotomes, adopting a nonchalant pose before adding, "What about it?"
Shanma's fluffy tail swished in irritation as she regarded the cocky youth with neither friendliness nor welcome, "What do you want from me, Ganymede? Can't you see I'm busy?"
"I can see that," the handsome youth in the male school uniform replied, "But what's wrong with training against me? I can give you an even better workout than Mace here...no offence to you, Kid..."
"Who are you calling a kid?" Mace retorted.
"That's Sempai to you," the youth named Ganymede ignored the bristling look in the younger boy's eyes and instead remained focused upon his sister, "How about it, Pony-girl, or do I have to issue you a formal challenge?"
"What the...?" Ranma bristled from his own place of concealment, "What is that Kuonji kid doing? You don't really think...?"
"Hold on a moment, Airen," his wife urged with a hand to his forearm, "I want to watch and see what Ukyo's child is up to with our daughter. This could get interesting."
"That's what I'm afraid of," her husband grumbled with a sour expression.
"You...arrogant whelp of a puppy..." Shanma hissed like a cat issuing a challenge.
"Never mind the flattery, Beautiful," Ganymede responded, "Do you accept my challenge or don't you?"
"An Amazon never refuses any challenge," Shanma said evenly between clenched teeth, "Even from a cocky Sunovabitch like you!"
"Oh, I'm hurt," Ganymede replied, "Just for that I'll fight you without any weapons, just the way you've wanted me from the beginning, Babe."
"Who said I ever wanted you?" Shanma snorted, assuming a fighting crouch, "Get ready for a royal pounding!"
"You know, you're beautiful when you're threatening my life," Ganymede remarked before assuming a martial posture, "But just so you know, Babe, I'm going to win this time...it's a forgone conclusion."
"In your dreams, Pig!" Shanma cried before leaping to the attack, striking like a blur of purple furry motion, only to find Ganymede melted away as though made entirely of water.
"Uh oh," Ranma said.
"What do you mean by 'Oh-oh?'" Shampoo asked him.
"There's something different about Gana's fighting technique," her husband explained, "I don't think Shanma's gonna take this one in a Shoe-in, and you know what that means..."
"Aiyaa," his purple haired wife murmured faintly, seeing her eldest daughter slashing out at the taller Ganymede's shadow and coming to the realization that the Kuonji youth had vastly improved from the last time these two had faced one another.
Mace was staring round eyed as he watched his sister going at it with the eldest child of the House of Kuonji, the taller youth moving swiftly and fluidly to avoid his older sister's blindly swift attacks. Shanma was going all out with claws and feet, using every trick in her arsenal and getting rapidly no where. It was as if Ganymede read all of her moves long in advance and knew instinctively where to be when each attack was launched, which frustrated the oldest Saotome offspring to no end as Shanma had not expected to be working this hard just to lay a hand on her elusive opponent.
"Fight me!" Shanma snarled, "Are you just gonna run away all day?"
"No," Ganymede replied, "I'm just enjoying watching you work for it, Beautiful. You're poetry in motion, and you've sure improved a lot from when we danced like this the last time."
"Eh?" Shanma paused, not knowing how to react to this compliment in light of the fact that her opponent had obviously improved a lot more than she had in the same interval.
"I'll let you in on a clue," Ganymede remarked before coming to stand a short distance away, "I've been out on a journey of self-discovery, coming to understand a few things about myself, which has also helped me improve my martial arts. And you know...I've come to a rather amazing conclusion."
"Yeah?" Shanma asked, "So?"
"You were right about me all along, Beautiful," Ganymede handsome face inclined in a polite nod in her direction.
Shanma was so surprised by that that she nearly facefaulted, "I what...?"
"I was just too full of myself to realize it at the time," her opponent resumed, "Now that I have had time to think about it, I've come to the conclusion that I wasn't acting entirely honest with you. We've known each other nearly all of our lives, I should have known I could have been straight with you, but I wasn't. My fault, really...I just didn't know how to open myself up with you...you're way too intimidating."
"Say what?" Shanma blinked her eyes twice, while her little brother spoke up and said, "All right, who are you and what have you done with the real Ganymede?"
"I'm still here, Squirt," Ganymede replied, "Just a little older and a whole lot wiser. I'm more in touch with who and what I am these days...I finally know the truth about myself, and it's made all the difference."
"What kind of difference?" Shanma's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I'm ready to commit myself now," Ganymede answered, "I know what I want, and what I want is you. You mean the world to me, Shanma, and I want you to understand that and appreciate that I'm not the same guy that you seem to remember."
"You...want me?" Shanma's mask of hostility began to falter a little.
"Yes," the handsome youth before her answered, "But because I respect you and know how important your Amazon traditions are to you, I'm willing to go all out to prove my seriousness in making my petition...therefore...have at you!"
This time the tall Kuonji youth took the initiative and came on at the astonished hirsute cat-girl like a rolling tide propelled by the force of a Tsunami. Ganymede was literally everywhere at once with fists in motion, forcing Shanma to take evasive action and fully press her defenses to the utmost, just barely keeping out of range while her opponent seemed to flow with incredible gracefulness and economy of motion. Shanma barely avoided a lightning kick that came within a hairswidth of connecting with her chin, only to seemingly pull back at the last centimeter. In avoiding this, however, Shanma left herself open to a solid blow that Ganymede landed on her solar plexus, knocking her backward and down to her knees as she stood gasping for air on the ground, backed up against several trees and clearly having no where to avoid the next attack as the tall youth cornered her and held the lavender-
furred girl at an obvious disadvantage.
Though Ganymede's quarry was cornered and run to ground, however, the handsome youth did not renew the assault, preferring to wait until Shanma had regained her wind rather than go for an easy victory, which left everyone staring at these two with confusion.
"I'm sorry," Ganymede said at last, "That's going to leave a bruise. I would have pulled that punch, but I owed you for the last time."
"You..." Shanma's temper flared, set off by the very calm and well centered way her opponent was implying that she was the weaker of them both. She decided to stop playing around herself and assumed a new position similar to a Riding Horse stance, but with clawed hands extended in a manner more typical of the classic Dragon posture.
For a moment nothing seemed to happen, but then the Amazon's lovely face assumed a fearsome snarl and she cried out as she gathered the power of the elements into her being, crossing her wrists in front of her as she drew in the POWER. Waves of force literally poured into her body, which became suffused with a sudden increase in her battle aura, flaring it to life so that the air around her glowed to a bright golden radiance, and her overall power levels were magnified to a degree far beyond the ordinary.
"Nice," Ganymede remarked while studying this transfiguration, "But I've learned a neat trick of my own...care to see it, Beautiful?"
Not waiting for a reply, the handsome youth struck a pose and raised a hand into the air, then called aloud, "JOVIAN POWER TRANSFORMATION!"
"Whoah!" Ranma shielded his brow, "Mega power boost, I wasn't counting on that!"
"Neither was Shanma," Shampoo murmured at his side, "This does not look too good..."
Mace could not believe his eyes as he watched Ganymede's school clothes dissolve for a brief moment, to be replaced instants later as a warrior's armored attire formed about the lean and muscular body of the young Kuonji. Ganymede seemed five times as impressive as before and even more poised and relaxed as Shanma charged up to her maximum and prepared to unleash the full wrath of her fury.
"Let's do this while we're still young, Babe," the transformed Warrior said calmly, "Take your best shot, I'm ready."
"Yeah, right!" Shanma scoffed, bringing her hands forward as she unleashed a full-scale Chi-blast in her opponent's direction.
Ganymede remained calm and poised as Mace flinched from the force of that blast, the Kuonji youth bringing two palms together and drawing them apart at the last second as a shimmering sword took form in the space between those hands. The youth raised the weapon in time to meet the blast as it struck full force, Shanma venting her emotions and battle spirit in one awesome display of channeling her internal power into a weapon.
For a moment no one dared look upon the scene as the explosive forces released kicked up a maelstrom of dust and debris in all directions that forced the onlookers to turn away until the shockwave had passed. When at last it was safe to look again they saw that Ganymede remained untouched while Shanma sank to her knees, having exhausted herself in that last discharge.
"Satisfied now?" Ganymede asked while lowering the tip of the sword to lightly touch against one of the furry cat-girl's slumped shoulders, "I took the best you had and I'm still standing, while you look like you could use a breather. This round goes to me, and the both of us know it."
Shanma slowly raised her eyes to regard the handsome youth before her, and then she fell to her knees, unable to rally enough spirit to dispute that calmly worded verdict.
"We both know that I could end this now," Ganymede declared before withdrawing the sword and causing it to vanish as mysteriously as it was summoned, "But I choose not to. This isn't the way that I want to conclude this. I want you accepting me of your own free will, and so I will refrain from pressing my advantage?"
"You...what?" Shanma asked weakly.
"It's not that I don't want to defeat you," Ganymede explained, "It's just that I don't believe that would be the way that I could claim your heart. I want you to accept me as I am without reservations, not just because of ancient tribal customs. That's the only way that I can truly be with you in earnest."
"But..." Shanma gasped, "You're not..."
"Not what?" Ganymede asked softly, "Go ahead and say it."
"You're not..." Shanma lowered her gaze, "...You're not a man...you can never be my husband."
"I know," Ganymede replied, "But I'm not really a woman either. That's why you were so upset with me before...I'm something other, neither fully man nor fully a woman."
"A hermaphrodite," Ranma murmured to himself, "Terrific."
"Oh, like you're in any position to talk?" Shampoo sniffed into his ear.
"Yeah, but I only switch between sexes when I get wet," Ranma replied, "I wasn't born with both parts, and like the kid says, that does make all the difference."
"Ganymede," Shanma did not look up from where she knelt, "You've gotten stronger...and...and I know you care about me...but..."
"But it freaks you out that I've got both male and female organs?" Ganymede replied, "Well...you don't need to let that issue concern you any further. I've found a way of working around that, and that means I can be both the Husband and Wife that you both need and desire."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Mace spoke up, "Where do you get off telling my sister who she's gonna marry? Just because you've learned a fancy trick to increase your power levels..."
"It's more than that, Kid," Ganymede said, "I know who I am now...or rather who I was before. I'm a whole new person now, and that's why I know what I want with your sister. Please don't try and get in the way...it's not your place to decide for her...and anyway, you're much too cocky."
"Who are you calling cocky?" Mace bared his claws and prepared to charge the transformed Hermaphrodite.
"Wait," Ganymede raised a hand in a pacifying gesture, "Before you rush to any conclusions, let me show you something else I can do. This one should interest you very much."
The youth raised his (or was that her?) hand and held out a medallion-like pendant, and with a single word activated the artifact, causing a second transformation, but one that affected more than just the outer form, Kuonji's body also changing to a stylish image that was somewhat smaller but had wider hips and a more well defined bustline. A Seifuku replaced the armor after a brief transition phase where Ganymede's body was revealed in all its naked glory, and then the youth stood erect once again, this time clearly female.
"Well," young Kuonji asked in a voice that was an octave higher than before, "What do you think? Is this an improvement?'
Shanma gaped in round-eyed wonder even as her brother stared with open disbelief, murmuring softly under his voice, "Whoah...major Babe City...!"
"So glad you like me this way, kid," the beautiful young girl flashed a smile his way before raising her arm once again, "But I have a third form that's also quite impressive."
She invoked the amulet once again, and once more her outward form was suffused with a strange energy, only now her form expanded and grew tall once again, hips narrowing and bustline flattering as shoulders broadened, and then the youth stood proud and quite evidently male, a fully male organ hanging between his legs before his naked body was clothed in an outfit that looked altogether princely.
"Now do I seem man enough for you?" Ganymede asked in a voice so deep and mellow that it left no doubt of his change in gender.
Shanma was staring in utter wonder, words failing her as she took in the pony-
tailed boy before her.
"But...but how is this possible?" Mace voiced the question that she could not utter.
"I'll confess that your father was partially my inspiration for learning to alternate my gender," Ganymede replied, "But the actual effect comes from my learning to tap into the hidden power that I was born with. This Amulet is merely a symbol reflecting my self-identity...I created it to facilitate the change using the same power that allows my Mom to turn into her Senshi incarnation."
"But there's a heck of a difference between changing your sex and altering your costume!" Mace protested, getting more control over his own reactions.
"Is there?" Ganymede countered, "In her Senshi form my Mother's natural speed, strength and reaction time are magnified tenfold. It comes from the energies that all the Senshi tap into, an energy that's my natural birthright, and all I needed was to learn how to control it. The change is real, not an illusion, and it lasts as long as I can maintain the transformation. Otherwise I revert back to my true form, which is somewhere in between the polar extremes, the way I was born, which is the way you've always known me."
Ganymede lowered his chin and closed his eyes, his ruggedly handsome face relaxing and turning Bishonen again. His outer appearance briefly flickered, and then once more he became the softer, almost effeminate beauty he had been at the beginning.
"You...can change...like my father?" Shanma finally managed to get a grip over her own emotions.
"Yes," Ganymede replied, "Only I do it without the help of water...isn't that right, Mister Saotome?"
"Huh?" Ranma exclaimed as the youth turned and stared in his direction.
"Uh oh," Shampoo murmured, "I think we're busted, Airen."
"You can come out now," Ganymede raised his/her voice, "You should know by now that it's impossible to hide yourself from a Ninja."
"Why that cocky little..." Ranma stood up and leaped from the branch where he and his wife had been perched, followed in close order by Shampoo, who joined him as the two adults made their presence known in the clearing.
"Pop?" Mace reacted with amazement.
"Mom?" Shanma was no less startled, though she quickly shifted into a feral tone of outrage, "You were spying on us all this time?"
"Ah...well..." Ranma rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Your father was concerned, that's all," Ganymede regarded the Saotome elders, "Nor can I blame him for being protective of you, Shan-chan. Your parents have always had your best interests at heart, just the same as with my folks. After all, we made quite a ruckus, and it would have been surprising if they hadn't come to investigate, eh Mister Saotome?"
"Er...right," Ranma winced slightly, "You've got a lot of nerve going behind our backs to chase after our daughter, Kuonji. Just because you've figured out some new technique is no excuse for you to issue a Marriage challenge without goin' through proper channels."
"That's right," Shampoo agreed, "In spite of your profession of feelings towards our daughter, you can't just chase after her like a certain half-blind duck-boy I used to know used to chase after me..."
"I'm no stalker, Mrs. Saotome," Ganymede assured, "I won't be dogging Shan-
chan's shadow looking to jump out and surprise her. I'm not that kind of guy and my parents raised me to have better manners than that."
"Hard to believe since your father is Ucchan," Ranma gave a sly look to his wife, then added, "Well...I guess I can't exactly blame you about wanting to put your best foot forward, but I'm afraid Shanma isn't interested. She's free to do as she liked, and I ain't standin' for her having to get married to some guy who thinks beating her up is qualifications for marriage."
"Oh, I don't know," Shampoo shared a sly look with towards her husband, "It did seem to me as though he defeated her rather decisively, and since he does technically qualify as a man...at least in some respects..."
"What?" Shanma reacted, "Mom, you can't be serious!"
"That's what I think, Kid," Ranma remarked, "But far be it from me to argue with your Mother, especially when it comes to those Amazon rules she's so fond about invoking."
"Didn't hear you complaining too loudly about those rules when it got the two of us engaged, Airen," Shampoo eyed him slyly.
"Gee, that's right," Ranma snapped his fingers, "Guess it did work out for us after all, do you think? Well, I don't know...you honestly think our daughter could be happy with a half-guy girl? I mean...even I think such a relationship might be unusual..."
"I'm sure you know what's best for her," Ganymede chuckled softly, "But you know I'd never do anything to harm or dishonor Shanma. I only came to make her aware of my many changes, and to let her know that it is finally possible for us to be together."
"Hey!" Mace protested, "Doesn't Oneechan get a choice about whether she wants to be a part of your schemes or not?"
"I was wondering if anyone was going to ask me that," Shanma grumbled with the slight trembling of an eyebrow.
"Up to you, kid," Ranma examined his hand as if inspecting his fingernails, "Won't stand in your way even if you want to hitch your wagon to a Kuonji. After all, you've known him just about all of your life, and his Pop's my best friend, so it's your call. Of course your mother might say different, and it's up to you if you want to do things her way..."
"Oh sure," Shampoo stage-whispered, "Throw the ball into my court and make me look like the bad guy."
"Better you than me, Kitty," Ranma chuckled before turning a sly grin towards Ganymede and adding, "But you gotta admit it takes guts for anybody to think they're good enough to marry a Saotome."
"Daaaad..." Shanma was beginning to get exasperated with both of her parental units, but before things could proceed any further a voice called down at them, "LOOKOUT-INCOMING!"
Ganymede had barely enough time to turn his face upward before he saw his field of vision being filled by the shapely form of a half-clad female. He reacted as swiftly as training would aloud to take a step back and spread his arms wide enough to catch the body that fell into his grasp, but the force was enough to overbalance both him and the girl whom he had rescued, and together they were stumbling backward and into the nearby river.
"Whoah..." Mace reacted, "What just happened?"
"Who's that?" Shampoo asked as Ganymede and the one whom he had caught disappeared momentarily under the water.
"You got me there, Sham-chan," Ranma murmured in a faint tone of wonder.
"Ganymede!" Shanma reacted with surprising concern in her voice, "Are you all-
right...?"
Her belated petition was cut off as a pair of wings sprang up, breaking the surface of the river, and then a head and body joined them in full view as a beautiful golden-haired woman called out, "Oh man, that landing was such a bummer!"
"Gah!" Ganymede exclaimed as he, too, broke the surface, "What the hell just...?"
"Honsamu!" the girl cried in delight, throwing her arms around the hermaphrodite and declaring, "You saved me, Oniichan!"
"URK!" Shanma's expression went from concern to shocked amazement.
"Huh?" Ganymede seemed no less bewildered as he stared at the lovely girl clinging to his wet body.
"What in the heck...?" Mace exclaimed.
"Uh oh..." Ranma winced.
"He is so busted," Shampoo agreed, "This scenario seems so familiar..."
"Ganymede!" Shanma's feline face was pure furious wildcat, "Just what the hell do you think you're doing with her, you Baka?"
"Urk," Ganymede reacted, for the first time losing that confident air he had been manifesting, raising an arm as he cried, "ITSNOTWHATITLOOKSLIKE-!"
"Gee," Ranma said, "I wonder where I've heard that one before..."
"History repeats itself," Shampoo agreed, "Are you sure he's not a Saotome?"
"Huh?" the girl currently embracing Ganymede looked up at the snarling were-cat Amazon and said, "Shamra? What are you doing here? And what are you upset about all of a sudden?"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT AM I UPSET ABOUT, YOU HUSSY!" the cat-girl all but exploded.
"I'm just saying hi to my Big Brother," the new arrival replied with a mildly puzzled expression, "And what business is it of yours what I do with Honsamu anyway? It's not like you've ever been interested enough to give him the time of day..."
"HUH?" was the collective response of everyone present, including Shanma and an equally confused Ganymede.
"Excuse me?" Ganymede asked, "What did you just call me?"
"Geez, you hit your head on a rock or something?" the girl let him go and stood up, flexing her wings to lend her some support as she waded back onto the shore, "Uncle Ranma, what's everybody acting so ditzed out all of a sudden? I know I kinda fudged the landing this time, but it's not like it's my fault. They sent me to these coordinates, and I can't exactly be blamed if they screwed it up and had me appear above dry ground...okay, make that a river..."
"Excuse me?" Ranma regarded the winged girl with obvious confusion.
"Do you mean to say you know us?" Shampoo added for him.
"Know you?" the girl made a rude noise, even as she flapped her wings a couple of times to dry off her feathers, "What kind of a question is that? I'm Kuonji Kinko, Honsamu's younger sister..."
"SAY WHAT?" came the gasps from all around her.
"Kuonji Kinko?" Mace exclaimed, "You've gotta be kidding!"
The girl-who now more than ever resembled an Angel for her winged status-
walked over to the boy (who was nearest to her own apparent age) and brought her fist down on his head in what seemed almost a playful manner.
"Excuse me, Mace-head, but I wasn't talking to you, and we're not exactly on speaking terms at the moment, remember?" she ignored the complaints of the cat-
boy, who was rubbing his head and cursing about "Violent Maniac Tomboys" as she turned to address herself to his sister, "What's the deal here? You guys are obviously on a training mission, but I haven't been away that long, have I? Forgetting about people is rude, and since when has anyone ever given you permission to chase after my Oniichan, Shanra?"
"Say what?" Shanma reacted, "What did you just call me?"
"It sounds similar to your name," Ranma murmured as he stroked his chin, "In fact...that was the name I thought about calling you until Pop convinced me that our firstborn should go with tradition..."
"And what's wrong with Shanma, I ask?" Shampoo eyed him in an arched manner.
"Ah..." the Saotome elder seemed to consider the point as if realizing that any way he chose to answer might not reflect well upon him, or on his chances for survival.
"Wait a minute..." Ganymede waded out onto shore, "What makes you think that you're my little sister...and why do you keep calling me Handsome?"
"Don't you play dumb with me, Honsamu," the winged girl snorted, "I'll tell Nauru on you if you keep on teasing me..."
"That's not his name, you ditz!" Mace spoke up with some fierceness, "That's Ganymede, and unlike you, he really is a Kuonji!"
"Let me see if I get this straight," Ranma held up a hand as though to call for a time-out, "You know us but we've never seen you before, young lady..."
"Although," Shampoo mused, "Come to think of it she does remind me a little of Europa..."
"My little sister?" Ganymede reacted, then blinked his eyes before adding, "Uh...now that you mention it...there is a slight resemblance..."
"Europa?" the winged girl blinked her eyes, "What kind of name is that?"
"Actually," Shampoo resumed, "With those wings she seems more like Akane's daughter, Sheba..."
"Hey, you're right," Ranma said, "I was going to mention it, but I didn't know the Tomboy had any other daughters."
"Sheba?" the winged girl seemed more bewildered than ever, "No way! My name is Kinko...oh...oh...uh-oh...no way..."
"Huh?" Mace frowned, "What's your problem?"
"Oh no," the girl grew pale, "It can't be...no way! They wouldn't have done that to me...it stinks! And after I trusted them to get me back home to my own dimension!"
"What are you talking about?" Shanma asked, now thoroughly puzzled.
"Those Jerks!" the winged girl fumed, "Those incompetent Morons! They were supposed to send me back to the right time coordinates, not screw things up by putting me back on another parallel Earth! I ought to get a lawyer and sue them!"
"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder all the time," Ranma shook his head in dismay.
"Tell me about it," Shampoo sympathized, "I wish Nabiki were here...she's better at sorting these things out than we are."
"Yeah, no kidding," Ranma silently nodded.
"What the hell are you rambling on about?" Mace fumed.
"Look guys," Kinko turned to them all with total seriousness in her expression, "What I'm gonna tell you is gonna sound Nuts, but you've gotta believe me! I wish Aunt Nabiki were here too, or at the very least, Kachima..."
"You know about Kachima?" Ganymede wondered.
"Sure I know all about them!" Kinko all but shouted, "We're practically family..." she paused to take a deep breath, then sighed, "Okay...I know this is gonna take some doing for you guys to accept, but has anybody here ever watched Star Trek?"
Blinking eyes, followed by raised hands, were the non-verbal response to that question.
"Okay," Kinko continued, "Assuming they ran as many incarnations of the show on your world as on mine, you remember the episode where Kirk and the others were trapped on a parallel dimension where everything was topsy turvy and instead of a Federation there was this Evil pirate empire?"
Nodding heads greeted her question.
"Okay," Kinko resumed, "This isn't that bad...but it's close enough from where I'm standing. You see...there are an infinite number of parallel worlds where things happen differently depending on the choices people make on those worlds, whether to turn to the right or the left, to marry one person or another, like if Uncle Ranma here married somebody other than his two wives, Shampoo and Nabiki."
"Me...married to somebody else?" Ranma blinked, then snorted, "Never happen."
"Don't be so sure about that," Kinko snorted, "I've met parallel Saotome kids who had Aunt Kodachi or my own Fama for their mother, not to mention more brothers and sisters than I can shake a pair of Nunchuks at, and a couple of those wound up screwing me...ah-well...never mind about that..."
"Say what?" Ganymede reacted.
"Look..." Kinko turned to the boy beside her and said, "I'm sorry I mistook you for Honsamu, but you look a lot like my actual brother. You must be my brother of this world, only I can tell there's something different about you..."
"That's putting it mildly," Mace snorted.
"My mother and Fama are named Akane and Ukyo," Kinko resumed, pointedly ignoring the interruption, "Do I take it you've got a different Mom than mine?"
"Aunt...Akane...?" Ganymede blinked his eyes, "My mother's name is Makoto!"
"Aunt Makoto?" Kinko's eyes grew wide, "Hooboy...Aunt Minako ain't gonna like that..."
"Wait a second," Ranma urged, "Go back to that part about me having a kid by Kodachi...?"
"And Ukyo," Shampoo added with a very arched expression turned towards her husband.
"It's parallel Earth stuff," Kinko insisted, "Different choices, different conditions, like on some place where Aunt Kasumi and Kodachi don't have a nutso daughter named Kusariboru..."
"You got one of those too?" Mace's eyes widened, then he paused before adding, "Who's Nauru?"
"It would take too long to go into details," Kinko said, "But my guess is that our worlds are close parallels to one another, and that somebody..." she turned an arched expression towards the heavens, "Made a mistake with the coordinates when they were sending me home and dropped me on a close parallel of my world, just a few clicks over in probability lines where my Fama married Tendo Akane."
"Yeah, I can almost see that," Ranma nodded, "For a while there Ucchan and the Tomboy were pretty close..."
"They almost did wind up engaged together, if I remember things right," Shampoo added.
"So on my world you have a daughter named Shamra," Kinko hooked a thumb at Shanma, "Some people even gave her the weird knick-name of Shamrock, even though her hair is purple, not green..."
"Shamrock?" Mace suddenly seemed to take great amusement in the concept.
"Not another word, Little Bro," Shanma growled, "If you want to stay healthy."
"I think I get it now," Ganymede mused, "There are an infinite number of parallel worlds, and you've obviously come from one where things are slightly different from on this world. That means, in a way, that you are my sister...at least on my Father's side of the bedsheets."
"A pity that she has a brother just like you," Shanma groused, "But the me of that world must have better taste in boyfriends..."
"By which do I imply that you consider me your boyfriend?" Ganymede asked with a teasing expression.
The cat-girl made an obscene hand gesture, then frowned all the more as she heard the Kuonji youth reply, "You wish."
"So if you're from some other world, how did you wind up here?" Mace asked, "Slumming?"
"I got sucked into a Quest, Dummy," Kinko eyed him like she wanted to scrape him off the pavement, "I helped defend the Multiverse for the sake of idiots like you, only it was supposed to be over after we destroyed the Shogun of the Dark and took that brief sleepover at the House of the Miroku."
"This does sound like the sort of quest we often get drawn into," Ranma mused, "What do you think, Kitty?"
"I think we definitely do need to get in touch with Nabiki," Shampoo replied with a sigh, "Looks like this training trip is officially over."
"There'll be others," her husband assured her, wondering why he felt a peculiar prickling along his spine when he said this...
Roll Call:
Sayo Sanosuke Hiroshi Honsamu
Continuum #47512936
"Are you enjoying the tea, Sayo-san?" asked Daisuke.
"Yes, Vice-Principal," Sayo replied after sipping her tea and cradling it on her lap, "An excellent brew, very different from what I was used to in Kyoto."
"So that's where you've been living?" asked Maki as he set his own tea to one side, "Interesting..."
"What do you mean, sir?" Sayo asked.
"Just that Kyoto's the traditional home for your school of Kendo, the Hijiro Mitsuba Ryu," the big man mused as he considered the young girl who was currently receiving very odd looks from a surprisingly nervous Hiroshi, "Hiko Seijiro is also the traditional name of the man who teaches the art...or is supposed to have trained practitioners of your style for many generations. Some people even say he's Immortal..."
"I would not know about such things, sir," Sayo replied, turning to regard Daisuke, "What can you tell me about my parents, Vice-Principal?"
"Quite a lot, actually," Daisuke replied, "Your father was my best friend for a number of years...in fact I was on the periphery of a number of his adventures, so I got to witness things first-hand that most people wouldn't even believe."
"You make him sound like some sort of local legend," Hiroshi spoke up, not meaning to sound as cynical as he was feeling.
"Around here he is," Daisuke mused as he studied the young beauty sitting across from him at the tea table, "But so was your mother, Tendo Kasumi. She was a master of Kendo when she was about your age...a bright and very well mannered girl, if a bit...well...sheltered is one way of putting it, as in the opposite of worldly..."
"In what way?" Sayo asked with the most unfeigned of innocent expressions.
"Er...never mind," Daisuke tactfully skirted around the question, "Let's just say that she was a very special person who never harbored an ill word or unkind thought towards anybody. She learned fencing from her mother before she died and trained for several years under a family friend named Saotome Nodoka, the mother of her future husband. She also took care of her family when her father became too emotionally distressed over his loss to manage his own affairs in a competent manner. She was quite an extraordinary person, which is why it probably comes as no surprise that she would lead a fairy tale existence, especially when she met her Prince Charming."
"My father you mean?" Sayo asked rather politely.
"Saotome Ranma," Daisuke smiled in a way that was altogether wistful, "Heir to the Anything Goes school of Unarmed Grappling...a fancy way of saying that he was the best damned martial artist to ever grace this humble district. He swept into her life on an arranged engagement after her two younger sisters gracelessly bowed out. Nabiki was too much an aspiring young Salary-woman to want to be tied down with romantic interests, while Akane..." he sighed, "Everyone in our school knew she only had eyes for other women...everyone except a certain young Lord of the House of Tendo, who also-curiously enough-was Ranma's principle suitor for the hand of the fair Kasumi. Kuno lost a match to her and never could forgive the blow to his ego, so he used to come around the Tendo place and challenge Kasumi to a series of rematches until Ranma put a stop to things good and proper."
"My father sounds like a worthy heir to the spirit of the Samurai," Sayo noted.
"Oh, don't get me wrong about that," Daisuke chuckled, "Your father was far from perfect and hardly an angel, but he had his own crude notions of chivalry and he didn't like the idea of some rich kid picking fights with women, and not just those he was engaged to, which-thanks to his less-than-fully-honorable father-
-means more than a handful of other women battled it out for the title of 'Official Fiancee to Ranma.'"
"Excuse me?" Maki asked, "You're saying this kid had more than one fiancee?"
"To put it mildly, yes," Daisuke smiled before sipping his tea again, "It wasn't his choice, of course. Ranma wasn't the kind of guy who felt comfortable having more than one woman in his life, and he almost never chased them...more like it was the other way around. We used to tease him about that, mainly because we were jealous as hell, the other boys in our class, accusing Ranma of deliberately hogging all the cute girls in Nerima. Just about any one of us would have given an important vital organ just for the privilege of spending a single night of passion with someone like that Amazon, Shampoo or a few of the other mega-babes who came a calling after Ranma. Of course the baka never took advantage of his situation or he could have had any red-blooded man's dream of multiple women sharing his bed. He had a lot of charisma, and a lot of girls in our class thought he was a pretty nice guy, if a bit crude and unmannered."
"You mean a gentleman in spite of himself?" Maki translated.
"If by 'gentleman' you mean the kind of guy who would put your lights out for looking at him funny," Daisuke corrected, "Actually that's not really fair...Ranma almost never used his superior skills to deliberately inflict harm on anyone who was unable to fight back. He didn't have to threaten anybody...we all just knew that it was not exactly a healthy idea to wind up on his bad side. Amazing what a nice guy he was in spite of having such a louse for a father."
"You didn't like his father?" Hiroshi asked.
"Almost nobody did," Daisuke replied, "Saotome Genma was the kind of guy who would promise his son's hand in marriage for a bowl of rice and a pickle. He once even threw a ten-year-old Ranma into a pit of starving cats after wrapping him in fish sausages so he could teach his son a dangerous martial art technique known as the Cat Fist..."
"Urk!" Hiroshi paled, wondering if the late Saotome's father had anything else in common with his own Master Gusepei.
"How horrible," Sayo sounded genuinely appalled, "And you say this man was my grandfather?"
"I wish I could tell you different," Daisuke replied, "On the other hand most of us thought Ranma was maybe adopted, so you could be off the hook there. Fact is that Ranma learned the technique but was afraid of cats and could only use the Fist when he was in a berserker state of mind induced by the presence of cats. That was the sort of training that Ranma endured for ten long years before arriving in Nerima, and the fact that he even survived that long-not to mention was as sane as he was-is a testament to his resilience. Kami-sama, how I miss him..." the Vice Principal sighed, "Life was so much more interesting when he was around...I'm so glad to meet you...it brings back the nostalgia."
"Oh," Sayo raised an eyebrow and seemed somewhat less than comfortable for the moment.
"So, explain to me about this arranged marriage to Tendo Kasumi," Maki asked, "Why was that one different than all the other engagements arranged by his father?"
"Because it was the only one that Ranma ever seemed to take seriously," Daisuke replied, "The other girls...well...they were a mixed lot and highly competitive, but Kasumi was the only one who never pressured or made any demands on him. She wasn't that sort of a person, she was just...nice...very thoughtful and open minded. Ranma had this...rather unique problem, you see, one that made him different from other guys our age, but Kasumi never minded his curse and even came to love him in both of his incarnations."
"Incarnations?" Hiroshi repeated.
"Ah...never mind," Daisuke waved the point aside, "It would take too long to explain. Let's just say that Ranma was...unique and leave it at that..."
"What, did he grow tentacles or have an extra appendage or something?" Maki asked.
"Nothing so crude or unsightly," Daisuke assured, "In fact most of us never even thought of it as a curse. We thought it was weird for a while, but we got used to it and came to regard his condition as just part of the whole Saotome package."
"But what was it?" Hiroshi persisted.
"Like I said," Daisuke shook his head from side to side, "You'd never believe it if I told you."
"That sounds somewhat familiar," Maki noted.
"But you did not mind being his friend," Sayo noted, "So obviously you were never troubled by my father's condition?"
"Ah...I wouldn't say that," Daisuke winced slightly, "I did sort-of have a problem...but it wasn't really his fault, and Ranma...well...he'd have cleaned my clocks if I ever even hinted that I thought about his problem in...that sort of manner."
"What," Maki chuckled, "Did he spontaneously change into a girl or something?"
"What?" Daisuke's eyes widened, "How did you...?"
"I'm joking," Maki made a calming gesture, "Actually you wouldn't believe the sort of things I see on my job, so I've probably cornered the market on weirdness."
"Uh-huh," the Vice-Principal said dubiously, "Remind me not to ask what you do for a living."
"Tell me how my parents died," Sayo asked, calmly setting aside her tea and giving Daisuke the most sobering expression.
The Vice-Principal glanced down at the table, "We don't know that they are dead...it's just a feeling we have on account of the things that happened right before they disappeared from Nerima."
"What did happen?" Hiroshi wondered.
"A lot of things...some relevant, some coincidental," Daisuke replied, "The upshot of it was that this guy moved into Nerima who was bad news in every respect. The man had connections...in fact he's the current Oyabun for the whole region of Furinkan and Nerima..."
"The Yakuza?" Maki asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You've met one of the young up-and-coming bucks from his outfit," Daisuke noted, "That young buck whose jaw you dislocated, young lady...he's none other than the son of one of their more prominent lieutenants. Just so you know...there could be trouble from the department."
"I understand that his father might not be too happy about the way things turned out," Sayo replied, "But he gave me little choice in the matter."
"I know," Daisuke replied, "And from where I sit I applaud you. Those punks have turned life in our school upside down, roughing up students and causing all sorts of problems. Long since time they had their comeuppance, but I'm just saying that you should consider avoiding making yourself a target. That's how your father got into the mess he did when he met a Chinese boy named Taro, who's currently the lieutenant to the Oyabun whom I just mentioned."
"But not by name," Maki frowned, "Maybe I should have a talk with this Taro character. He sounds like bad news..."
"Oh he is," Daisuke shook his head and shuddered faintly, "He's a walking nightmare...and there's nothing he enjoys more than inflicting pain on anyone who even looks at him cross eyed. I don't know what it is you do for a living..."
"I'm a software distributor," Maki replied, "I market and sell the latest game packages for a Tokyo-based conglomerate."
"And you just happen to carry a side-arm shaped like a small industrial cannon?" Daisuke asked, then waved the point away, "None of my business, I just think you ought to forget about meeting up with Taro because he finds you and then you have a very bad day. Guy doesn't even use a piece, bare handed he's more dangerous than an army."
"Are you saying the Taro guy made her father and mother disappear?" Hiroshi asked, flashing a glance towards Sayo, who returned his glance, then abruptly looked elsewhere.
"I'm not saying that he did," Daisuke replied, "But I'm saying that it's possible. Taro was just about the only man who ever beat Saotome Ranma in a fair fight, mainly because he wasn't above using any unfair trick in his arsenal. All I know is that it was after Taro arrived on the scene that bad things seemed to happen to the Tendos. One day Ranma and Kasumi just seemed to up and vanish, and everyone thought they must have eloped together to avoid...certain complications. Her father continued living at his house until a few months ago, when he...died...under less than pleasant circumstances."
Sayo's eyes became unnaturally focused once again, "How did my grandfather perish?"
"That's the really strange thing," Daisuke averted his gaze from meeting her stare, "Nobody knows really. He was found without a mark on his body, the coroner ruled it a heart attack. Only..."
"Yes?" Maki probed with an unusual intensity in his own expression.
"It was the expression on his face," Daisuke shuddered once again, "Like he'd been literally frightened to death. Mister Tendo was a very emotional sort of man, but proud and stubborn, and he refused to sell his house even when there was pressure brought to bear on him..."
"Pressure?" Hiroshi questioned.
"A real estate developer has been buying up property all around the district," Daisuke explained, "And when Mister Tendo refused to consider the rather generous offer that they made him...well...we all pretty much assumed that his death was somehow related. Wouldn't put it past this company to have the Yakuza be their strong arm for seeing that everybody cooperated. The thing is...they didn't wind up with the property after all...turns out it was given years ago to Saotome Ranma as a wedding present, and without proof that your father is no longer alive..."
"The property then goes to his surviving daughter," Maki noted as he turned to regard Sayo.
"I see," the samurai girl said softly, "So what you are implying is that my grandfather was murdered for his land, and I am his successor. That explains why my Master handed me the deed before informing me of his existence and demise. Thank you very much, that answers a good many of my remaining questions."
She started to get up, which caused Hiroshi to look at her and ask, "Where are you going?"
"I go to find the man who may have murdered my father," Sayo replied as she slipped her sword back into her sash.
"With only a sword?" Maki lifted an eyebrow, "No offense, but the Yakuza use guns these days...you do know about firearms, right?"
"I know what they are and what they can do," Sayo replied, "What about it?"
"ARE YOU NUTS?" Hiroshi was on his feet in an instant, "Do you have any idea what they could do to you if they catch you? You've all but painted a target on your chest if they find out you have the deed to your grandfather's property! Besides, carrying swords in public is illegal..."
To his surprise the girl unsheathed her sword, then held it up for his inspection, revealing a most surprising feature.
"Well I'll be," Maki remarked, "A Sakaba blade."
"Say what?" Hiroshi stared in disbelief at the weapon, "Why is the blade on the inside of the curve...?"
"That's what a Sakaba is," Daisuke explained, "They're meant to be peaceful weapons used only in self defense. If I guess right that blade there is over a hundred years old and dates to just around the end of the Edo era and it used to belong to one of the greatest swordsman who ever lived, Himura Kenshin, the last of the Hitokiri."
"I do not know such things," Sayo replied as she resheathed her weapon, "I am told it once belonged to a master of our Ryu who refused the title of Hiko Seijiro. Beyond that I only know that it has served me well since my master first gave it to me."
"But why is the blade on the inside?" Hiroshi restated his earlier question.
"Because I am sworn never to kill without cause," Sayo replied, "I may only take a human life when circumstances absolutely mandate it. The dull edge can disable an opponent without killing them. It serves me well in my function as a Rurounin."
"I understand what you're saying," Maki said, "And I even can respect your intentions, but to go alone up against the Yakuza..."
"Honor compels that I must do this," Sayo replied, "I will go to my grandfather's house and see that no one dishonors his memory. If they wish to find me there, then I will ask one of them where I may find their Oyabun."
"You're nuts!" Hiroshi declared as the girl started to turn away from him to take her leave of the office, and out of impulse he reached out for her arm and spun her about to look at him directly, "You want to get yourself killed? Is that how you want your family line to end? Is that how you choose to honor your parents?"
"And what would you have me do?" Sayo asked as she met his stare without flinching, "Abandon the path of honor?"
Hiroshi did not reply to that, indeed for the next several minutes no words passed at all between the both of them as they locked eyes in a battle of wills, the girl staring up into the young man's eyes with clear regard in her blue eyes that left the boy feeling light-headed and dizzy, as if her gaze were in some manner hypnotic.
"Okay," Maki could not help allowing a fatherly smirk to touch his face, "I've got a feeling I know where this is headed..."
"Just like Ranma and Kasumi," Daisuke marveled, "The day they met it was as if fate had stepped in and tied their karma together."
"I do not believe in fate," Sayo said faintly, "I believe we make our own destinies..."
"You think so?" Hiroshi responded in words that seemed oddly distant, as if he were only half-aware that he had even spoken.
"I...must go..." Sayo spoke with an odd hesitation in her voice, though she remained motionless and made no actual attempt to break eye contact.
"Please stay," Hiroshi spoke with more resolve, even a hint of urgency in his voice, when all of a sudden his light-headedness became complete vertigo, as if the room was swimming all around him.
"How...odd..." Sayo voiced in a wondering manner as she too experienced a kind of peculiar dislocation.
"What the...?" Maki sat upright and stared at his son and newly acquired girlfriend, wondering if his own senses were playing a trick on the Black Guard or if-as it indeed appeared-that the two young people were turning translucent and fading out before his eyes while the room remained unchanging.
"My thoughts exactly," Daisuke blinked his eyes and then the young couple utterly vanished, "What in the name of everything that is holy...?"
"Holiness may not have anything to do with it," Maki drew his huge side-arm and scanned the room, but no obvious threats materialized, so he got up and came to stand in the space where his son and Sayo had vanished.
"Damn," he muttered softly, "I don't believe this!"
"Not again," Daisuke voiced in hollow dismay, "This is just like the old days when weird things like this used to happen around Saotome!"
"Don't give me that," Maki's friendly, outgoing manner turned hard, "Are you saying that you've seen things happen like this before?'
"Never a complete fade-out, no," the Vice-Principal answered, "But all kinds of unexplained phenomenon went on when Saotome was in Nerima. It's got to be a family curse or something...lord knows that family had enough of them to begin with!"
"I'd better get someone from my office to come down here and take a look," Maki frowned, "You don't mind that, do you?"
"Hell, call anyone you like," Daisuke, "Call an exorcist, or anything, it won't make a damned bit of difference if the Kami decide to play around with a Saotome. I'm just sorry your son had to get involved this early."
"Me too," Maki sighed, knowing in his gut that the girl was probably innocent of whatever had caused the two teenagers to utterly vanish. In tones of dread he murmured, "My wife is gonna kill me and suck my soul for this...and I won't even begin to speculate what Master Gusepei will have in store for me. Oh well...who wants to live forever?"
And with that philosophical note in mind he touched his wrist telephone and hit the speed-dial...
Continued.
Comments/Criticisms/Hermaphrodites Anonymous: shadowmane
One by one the players are being gathered from the fringes, but is the cause a friend or foe to the children of the future, and can they indeed become the Masters of their fate...or are they doomed to be submissives? Tune in next time for: "Fist of the North Star Back-Handed," or "There is Doom and Gloom when Things go Boom in Washu's Lab!" Be there!
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