Near the Tomobiki Ginza, before dawn . . .
"Molly . . .?"
A nude Regina Morrow blinked as she looked around the small space she and Molly Hecht had rented at the Hotel Sunrise Tomobiki, the most expensive place to stay at in this part of Metropolitan Tōkyō. Of course, on seeing two Western girls – who did have passports with them when they checked in late the previous afternoon – the hotel management hadn't blinked an eye even after they demanded a single bed hotel room for two. Given the number of aliens and other odd beings – which ultimately necessitated a steady influx of foreign observers from around the planet to Tomobiki – who had frequented the streets here over the last year, two young teenage Americans coming in to share a room together hardly earned more than a blink from the staff.
It had been quite nice to be able to sleep with one's lover – things between Regina and Molly had got serious about a week after the former's Gifting – in a private place and NOT worry about overprotective big brothers and nosy schoolmates trying to butt in where they certainly were NOT welcome. Besides, even if some might actually view Regina engaging in a lesbian relationship with Molly as a way for the former to get back at Bruce Patman for his dumping her for Amy Sutton of all people, there was really nothing to worry about given that Molly and Regina were BOTH girls and BOTH Yizibajohei in genetics, which ensured that no Earth man could ever impregnate either of them.
Of course, there WAS Moroboshi Ataru . . .
" . . . wonderful, Molly! It's good that they're getting together finally."
"Yeah, that's true, Mrs. M.," Molly's quiet voice answered back from the direction of the small lounge located nearby; the lovers from California had rented one of the top-floor rooms, which came with a small living room as well as a fully-equipped bathroom. "Lum didn't strike me as the type to allow her fears to get the better of her. And once she DID remember what Ataru and Ayumu did for her ten years ago . . . "
The full laughter of Regina's mother Skye echoed back. "Well, let's hope that things will actually calm down for the people of Tomobiki," she noted as Regina herself got up, picked up her nightshirt – it was a transformed version of her own battle uniform turned into a thigh-high T-shirt – and slipped it on. "Much that I'm sure those who cared for Lum will be hurt by her departure, all the others in town . . . "
"Yeah, that's true," Molly said as Regina came into the lounge.
"'Morning, Mom," Regina called out.
"'Morning yourself, dear," Skye said as she gazed at Regina from the surface of the iPad that the latter used – modified by Elizabeth, of course – whenever she and Molly were spending more than a day away from Sweet Valley to stay in touch with the former's family. "Molly just passed on the good news about Ataru and Lum."
"Yeah, we heard. Finally made the tag," Regina said as she sat down in the love chair beside Molly, reaching over to wrap an arm around her. "They should be getting Lum her own Gift pretty soon. Discovery can make it to Yiziba in a few minutes at full speed. Oh, Ataru's new sister just cleared out the rest of those Church of Lum idiots that were in town; she got Suzumiya Haruhi to send them back home."
"After Tricia Martin nailed them with Gonzah's Syndrome," Molly added.
Skye winced. "Biological warfare . . .?"
"It's their version of minor influenza, Mom," Regina said. "They haven't found a way to fully eradicate it, but it's not like Hifuto Syndrome."
"Yeah! You'd figure that for all the time and energy they expend in tearing down and building cities up to follow their latest 'church,' they'd spend time improving their own health care system," Molly added. "Well, with Ōgi now having been made to forget his precious 'Lum-sama,' their fleet gone and their space factories taken by the Avalonians as war booty, maybe they'll get their priorities straight and start working on ways to pull themselves out of the rut they've been in for so long."
A sigh. "Let's hope so." Skye then perked. "Oh, Molly, you got a voicemail message on your answering service from some person in Sunnydale. Buffy Summers?"
Molly perked. "Oh, Buff! What did it say, Mrs. M.?"
"Something about some master coming back to cause trouble there. Not really bad now according to a Mr. Giles, but it may get troublesome in a few days."
Molly perked, and then she sighed. "Great. Master vampire is about to break open a Hellmouth and unleash the end of humanity," she muttered. "Typical fight scene."
Skye gasped. "VAMPIRES?"
"Long story, Mrs. M . . . "
A knock echoed. "I'll get it!" Regina called out as she got up and headed over to the door, opening it as she looked outside. "Yes . . .?"
"Hey! Is Molly Hecht here?" a rough voice asked in barely-accented English.
Molly looked over. "Ranma . . .?"
"So you finally decided to ditch the idiot squad and need a place to stay?"
"Yeah," Saotome Ranma said as he sat down in the lounge, enjoying a can of iced tea that Molly had gave him. He was in his normal Mandarin tang and trousers, though Molly knew that he was NOT anywhere close to normal. And no, that was not because of the magical gender-switching curse that he acquired two years before in a remote valley in the western Chinese province of Qīnghǎi. "After that whole business with Saffron, you'd think that Akane would finally have got the hint about my feelings for her even if I couldn't – for a whole host of reasons – say it out loud. But right after the insanity Oyaji and Akane's dad tried to provoke just before Ataru got his memories back, she just went back to default mode again. Believing everyone else but me about everything that was happening to her and around her." A sigh. "It finally got to the point where Ofukuro began hinting that I was being 'unmanly.' When she demanded two days ago that I marry Akane or submit to what I was tricked into promising when I was a baby, I took the family sword and broke it in front of her, publicly declared both her and Oyaji incompetent parents who had no honour in the damned first place, then went to the Family Registrar office in Nerima to get me off their koseki. Thanks to Ataru and whatever agreement he made with the Emperor after I got my Gift, I was able to keep the Saotome name, but I'm not legally Genma's and Nodoka's son anymore."
"That wouldn't stop Shampoo, though," Molly warned.
A smirk. "Actually, it did. Defying one's own mother is heavily frowned on in her tribe. When she got wind of it, Cologne took that as an excuse to annul the 'marriage' between us. After all, one can't allow such an 'unsuitable male' in their picture-perfect village." Ranma smirked. "Personally, I suspect that the old ghoul was starting to sense what Ataru helped me become before he went back to live with his moron parents. After hearing what I had to do to Saffron to save Akane, she decided that NOT having a Yizibajohei – especially the Untameable One – in her village . . . "
"Would be healthier for her tribe," Skye Morrow finished; she was listening in to the conversation from her study in Sweet Valley. "What about your other so-called 'fiancées?' This cross-dresser you met when you were a child and Akane?"
"Well, until Akane can finally stop acting so insecure when it comes to me and open her eyes to the truth, I won't have anything to do with her," the man – who, five months ago, became the current incarnation of Mustang, the One Never to Be Tamed and the most powerful FISS-type metahuman on Yiziba outside Wildflower herself – now visiting Skye's daughter and her lover replied. "I was actually hoping to pop the idea of taking her to Yiziba to let her get her own Gift; she strikes me as the type to become someone like Cremisi or Virago. But there's no real trust in her heart towards me, Aunt Skye." As Regina's mother blushed at Ranma's calling her "aunt" – he always did that to the mothers of those Ataru had helped in the past – he then added, "As for Ukyō, she wants a stay-at-home husband so she can run her okonomiyaki shop. I never wanted that from her. And with me now officially no longer being Genma's son, she achieves her mission set out to her by her father: The destruction of the Saotome family of Nerima. If she pushes it beyond that, it's on her head, not mine."
"And the rich idiot?" Molly asked.
A shrug. "No legal claim on me since Genma's not my dad anymore. I got my school records with me. Had to snap both of Principal Coconuts' legs to make him turn them over to me – not to mention crushed his barber shears in my hand – which gives him added impetus to keep his precious little 'Dachi away from me. As for the idiot's son, he has no power beyond the limits of Nerima. If he tries to march here into Tomobiki, Mendō and Mizunokōji will both stomp his ass into the ground." A smirk. "Nabiki never cared for me at all either which way . . . and once she discovers all her camera film of me as a girl gone, not to mention sees the message I left for her in her computer, she'll have no reason to come after me. Kasumi never really did anything for me, so she has no power over me. And since I'm legally no longer Genma's son, Sōun has no reason to come after me. If he tries, Jijii will make his life a living hell."
"What about Master Happōsai, anyway?" Skye asked.
"He's wanted me to get out and get more experience since I dealt with Saffron," Ranma stated. "He knows I've hit a plateau in my martial arts studies after staying in Nerima for so long, so I need to get back on the road and start doing things to expand my horizons." He waved to Molly. "Molly here tells me about this Hellmouth that exists in that town close to the Valley. I was going to head over there first and see what the fight scene's all about, then give the local Slayer there a hand."
"'Slayer?'" Skye asked.
"'Into every generation a Slayer is born,'" Molly then quoted a certain ancient prophecy she had heard from the mouth of Buffy Summers when they had first met a year before. "'One girl in all the world, a Chosen One. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.'"
Regina's mother paled. "Oh, my . . . "
"Don't worry about it spreading to the Valley, Aunt Skye," Ranma then said. "As soon as he got his Gift, Molly's classmate Winston Egbert put up a lethal techno-magical ward around Sunnydale to keep whatever crawls out of the Hellmouth there inside a ten-mile radius of the town centre. It's all nicely contained."
"But sooner or later, the Master and his friends will try to break free," Molly then noted. "And when it happens, it's gonna be Mother of All Fight Scenes on a Hellmouth."
Regina giggled and Ranma snorted as Skye shook her head . . .
Minutes later, on the streets close to Tomobiki High School . . .
"Look! Look! It's Saotome Ranma!"
"Eh? Saotome Ranma? Where? Where?"
"There! There!"
People looked.
"OHMIGAWD! He's dressed just like Ataru-kun's friends were dressed yesterday!"
"Oh, gods! He's looks SO sexy! I'm gonna die!"
"Hey! Aren't those girls with him the two bodyguards Tariko-san had with her when she came to school yesterday to get Ataru-kun and Lum out of there?"
Multiple gasps.
"Oh, gods! That blonde chick is a fox!"
"That brunette's pretty hot, too!"
"Hey, look! They're holding hands!"
Shocked intakes of breaths from many men.
"Oh, ye gods! They're lovers!"
"Hey! Does Ryūnosuke know them?"
"She probably does!"
"Go find her!"
"What?"
Ranma – who was now in the form-fitting jumpsuit of Mustang: A sky-blue full-sleeved shirt with fold-down collars, a red rampaging horse motif on the chest rising from a gold belt, red pants with blue trim on the side, blue buccaneer boots on his feet and gold bracers around his wrists – perked on hearing that familiar voice, and then he waved. "Hey, Ryū-chan!" he called out as Fujinami Ryūnosuke – who had been carrying out the garbage to the curve, filling in for her father, who had gone off some days before to open a Hamachaya branch somewhere in Japan – walked out to dump her load by the main gates of Tomobiki High. "How're you doing? Heard you got rid of the ghost!"
"Yeah, I did," Ryūnosuke said as she walked over to grasp Ranma's hand in her own. "Found out Nagisa was trying to spy on my diaries for the Niphentaxians. 'Cause he came back as a ghost with a body thanks to that magical sea urchin we found at the old teashop his family owned, Sakura-sensei could nail him with an ofuda. He didn't like that sort of weakness, so one of Lum's so-called 'most faithful' came to him with an offer to make him an Avalonian if he could get at my 'sacred writings!'"
Ranma moaned. "I am SO glad Ataru finally got rid of those idiots!" he muttered. "They're a damned insult to sentient beings across the galaxy!" He then perked. "Oh, speaking of the Avalonians, has Project A got underway finally?"
Ryūnosuke shrugged. "Haven't heard a thing. But if all went to plan and they got the news of the 'Army of Lum' being wrecked, they would'a hit those planets they marked by today. No doubt within a week, the 'Republic of New Avalon' will be established to both the galactic west and east of Earth." She perked. "By the way, what the hell are you doing here? And in costume? Those idiots in Nerima piss you off or something?"
A sigh. "I finally decided that I couldn't remain in a house trying to explore a relationship with a girl who couldn't bring herself to trust me even after I KILLED for her," he coldly declared. "When she somehow made my idiot mother finally start hinting that I was being 'unmanly' for not bowing to my fiancée, I broke her favourite toy and used the favour Ataru set up for me with the Emperor to get my name off the Saotome koseki for Nerima. I'm right now the one and only member of the Saotome Clan of Nishitōkyō, but I intend to make it two once I get my magical mirror-replica out of the compact she got forced into and get her over to Yiziba to get her a Gift of her own. Nothing Ofukuro or Oyaji can do to stop it. If Ofukuro defies the Emperor's wishes in this matter, she disgraces herself and will most likely be made to commit jigai to atone for her actions. Oyaji's pissed off enough people with his thievery and other tricks over the last ten years and more to win any favours from anyone . . . and what's worse, my leaving the house has Jijii's full support. And thanks to my asking Nora Chapelle to come by one day to give Jijii a little ki boost to heal him up from the years he was trapped in that cave by Oyaji and his friend, he's at full strength."
Ryūnosuke sighed. "You know Akane's got it bad for you, man."
"Well, there's a little trust issue. Which is the real big difference between my relationship with her and Ataru's with Lum. In Ataru's case, Lum was forced to keep quiet about her 'most faithful' and a few other things . . . and Ataru didn't want to make her bolt back to Uru by revealing he was Yizibajohei after that whole mess in Onishuto went down thanks to Ayumu-chan. But they did live together for a year and he did want to make sure she was safe and happy. I worked my butt off to keep Akane safe since she stopped practicing the martial arts . . . and she decided that it was okay to have a knight in shining armour be there for her when she needed it." A sigh. "Part of that was my fault. I should'a put a stop to her temper-tantrums as soon as I was Gifted, then teamed up with Jijii to put her idiot dad and Oyaji into their place. I should'a put Ofukuro in her place when she finally came, too. None of that 'hide the damn curse' and all that with her. If she couldn't see past her own nose at times, Ofukuro would'a found out pretty quick how far her worldview would've taken her."
"Not far at all," Molly noted.
"Um, Ranma-san . . . "
"Yo!" Ranma said as he looked over at one of the small gaggle of Tomobiki High girls who had gathered close by to gaze admiringly at him while he chatted away with another of their favourite classmates. "Something the matter, ladies?"
The girls all blushed. "Um, n-n-no!" one freshman sputtered. "But I thought that when Ataru-kun was living on this Yiziba planet, he went out only to find other GIRLS to take there so they could get metahuman powers. Everyone knows you're a guy . . . "
"Except the kids of a certain high school principal in Nerima," another girl said.
Laughter from the crowd. "Yeah, under normal circumstances, Ataru only went after girls to get to the Great Crystal of Power to let them get Gifts," Ranma answered. "But Ataru's got a thing about child-abusers, too. After all, his parents never cared if he lived or died, so if luck was there and he saw a guy being beat down upon at the orders of uncaring parents, he got involved. There are two boys in his 'Book of Pretty Girls' back on Yiziba. I'm one. The other one's a guy from England, Harry Potter. In my case, I was undergoing the Neko-ken training – which is designed to create a berserker by literally forcing the soul of a cat into the trainee's mind – when Ataru found me in a pit full of starving cats after being dumped in there by Genma." As the girls all gasped in horror, he smirked. "In Harry's case, 'cause his uncle and aunt didn't want a thing to do with him, he was constantly being picked on and beat up by his cousin, who was a bully who liked the idea of beating down the 'freak' that was made to slave away in the kitchen and around the home all the time."
"What happened?" a girl asked.
Ranma chuckled. "You know what Ataru is?"
"Yeah. He calls himself Coyote," another girl said.
"And what is a coyote? In the mystical sense?"
Blank looks came back. "I'll answer that," Regina stated. "In North American native legend, the Coyote is the Trickster God. Like your kitsune here in Japan." As the girls all nodded in understanding, she added, "Ataru's version of it is known as 'Tuyuki' on Yiziba. The Trickster of the Show. He's there to make sure that even the most powerful meta on Yiziba gets a good humiliation whenever it's needed. If you play fair with him, he plays fair with you. If you cross him, you're mincemeat."
"Like Harry's relatives found out shortly after he got his Gift and became the Warlock, the head of the Cosmic Mage Guild," Ranma finished. "All of Little Whinging – it's a town just southwest of London – got hit by a ton of curses and hexes to make all the people there suffer for all the crap they heaped over Harry. All because those useless relatives of his spread rumours about him being a delinquent and all that . . . when he was probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet. And the only way for them to get out of that mess is to honestly admit that they were wrong about Harry."
"What about you, Ranma-san?" a girl asked.
"Well, after beating the crap out of Oyaji – even if he's no martial artist, Ataru's got the knowledge of all his past-selves, so he knew all sorts of dirty tricks to use on creeps who were bigger and stronger than he was – he tried to persuade me to come to Yiziba and become this." Ranma waved to his chest in emphasis. "I turned him down. Dumbass decision at the time, but I didn't feel it was right to get a power-up like that when I hadn't really done something to earn it." He smirked. "Ataru never forgot me. After his brain was put back on-line thanks to Infinity and Soul Searcher, he sought me out and made the offer again. Persuaded me that it would be the best thing to do thanks to the mess Oyaji made out of my life. And when he found out about a race of bioroids the Niphentaxians were holding as slaves, I realised I had to do it."
"They were the people with that bomb that was in the Ginza," Ryūnosuke stated. "All of the ones here in town got a bad disease last night before the Weaver – she's a friend from over in Kansai that got rid of the bomb – sent 'em home."
"Why didn't Lum-san say anything about them, then?"
People turned as a scowling Megane came up to join them, followed by the Stormtroopers and some other men. "She was told never to say a thing about 'em. Even if they were spyin' on all your diaries to make their stupid 'holy book,'" Ryūnosuke answered as she indicated the book in Megane's hand. "Believe it or not, Lum's friends from other planets – Benten, Oyuki and Ran, even Jariten – had their personal diaries probed into by these idiots. 'Cause they are – pardon me, WERE! – the big power in their little alliance of planet-states called the Galactic Federation, leaders on Uru told her to stay mum over it. And she hated it, guys! These lifeless dorks have done shit in Lum's name that would sicken even Adolf Hitler and Joe Stalin . . . and she was told every friggin' time to not say a thing." A smirk. "Well, Ataru took care of it."
"Early birthday present," Molly stated.
Laughter filled the air. "Damn! So where is Lum-san now?" Megane stated. "Even if she cares for Ataru, she's still scared of this Yiziba place . . . "
"No longer," Regina stated. "The head of the Church of Lum, Ōgi, came by yesterday afternoon to 'rescue' Lum from the 'great evil.' Ataru had his ship blown up, had Infinity send the idiots back to their home planet and . . . " She giggled.
"Wiped out Ōgi's mind of all his memories of his precious 'Lum-sama,'" Molly finished.
Hearing that, the boys gaped, and then they howled with laughter. "Well, Lum-san gets her justice in the end!" Megane then declared. "Let's go inside, guys!"
The other boys whooped as they headed inside. The girls remained in place, many of them noting a smirk crossing Ranma's face. "What's so funny?" one girl asked.
Ranma smiled. "Ataru officially tagged Lum's horns for marriage yesterday," he then said, which made all the girls gasp. "As of now, they're married by Urusian law and tradition. She agreed to get her own Gift. It's the only way she could hope to have kids with Ataru; Yizibajohei can't mate with non-Yizibajohei." He then winked. "But girls, TRY not to say that to those idiots," he then pleaded, thumbing the school.
The girls all laughed . . .
A cabin on the northern polar continent of Yiziba, that moment . . .
It was a beautiful morning in this part of this pristine world located three hundred light-years from Earth. Given the high latitude of this location and the time of year, the polar sun of Kaeyu still shone in the low western sky; within a Yizibajohei storyline, it would finally begin to set as spring came on. Located on the slopes of one of the high mountains that stretched from the north pole of Yiziba in the general direction of the planet's unofficial "capital city" – known as "Habitation One" to the natives and "Butotyu" (for "Northern Capital") to the Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei; the pre-Dawn of Power name for the place had long been lost to history – far to the south, there was a simple log-frame cabin similar to what had existed in North America in the early days of American expansionism beyond the barrier of the Appalachians.
Within the master bedroom of this place, two nude girls were sleeping.
Of course, they had not been alone for most of the night; the man one was now married to by her planet's customs and the other had loved for five years had been with them until a half-hour before, when he had got up to get dressed and make some breakfast for his small group of houseguests. Neither Redet Lum or Jessica Wakefield had reacted to that; both had been quite tired after Ataru had introduced his Oni lover to what those like Jessica nicknamed "nookie time." She had only lasted three orgasms before passing out on the bed. Jessica herself had gone two more before falling asleep herself.
In the small kitchen, with a kettle of spring water slowly coming to a boil on top of the woodstove he had in this place, Moroboshi Ataru was calm and relaxed as he expertly cut up the vegetables and meat for the stew he was making today. As Shigaten Benten walked in from her guest bedroom dressed in a normal nightshirt, she paused at the doorway to watch her friend's husband work away at the stove. Noting the concentration on his work, the Fukunokami-born master armourer could only smile. She then perked as his eyes locked on her for a moment before turning back to his work. "'Morning."
"'Morning," she answered back as she walked over to gaze at what he was doing. "Damn! That's gonna look good when you get done with it. You do all your cooking?"
"Ayone taught me everything before she died," he admitted as he nodded out the window.
She looked. In a small grove of pine trees at the edge of the cleared space of the property – they were in the far northern temperate forest zone of Yiziba, about a hundred kilometres south of the permafrost line – was a small grave with a headstone. "The Nameless girl who got you Gifted," she noted. "Hell, she was more your mother than that useless nag back on Earth." Benten then shook her head. "Why?"
"I stopped asking that question about a week after I got my memories back, Benten," he admitted. "Given the way she acted towards me since I got back home – leading up to whatever agreement she and her husband made with Lum's parents on the Kashin before Elle's people came to kidnap me and whisk me off to Baran City – I really can't figure her out. And truthfully, I don't want to figure it out anymore." A sigh. "It wasn't true child abuse like what Ryūnosuke went through, much less what Saotome Ranma, Margo Black and Harry Potter went through." As she nodded – Ataru knew that Benten had got a chance to read the Book of Pretty Girls – he sighed. "But it was a lot of emotional negligence in the long term. From both her and her husband. I can understand grief for a lost child, especially since said child's body vanished from the hospital and they couldn't get closure from what happened. But nearly FIFTEEN YEARS . . .?"
"They were fit for the nuthouse, you mean," she mused.
"Maybe. But it's not my responsibility to determine that now, Benten. Tariko's given them the facts of Life and they have to live with their choices now."
She shuddered as she remembered what Lum and the others told her about Ataru's own counterpart from another dimension who now was his adopted sister and the only real family he had. "Damn . . .!" she exhaled. "What was she thinking? Chargin' down to Earth with a gun . . . and DESTRUCTO of all people was waiting for her?"
"She was supporting her friend from a threat that she was raised from birth to always fear with every fibre of her being," he noted. "And she probably didn't understand what Destructo was. The instant the word 'Yiziba' was mentioned . . . "
"And 'Mother of All Fight Scenes.'"
"Yeah."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why didn't you finish off Ōgi four months ago?" she asked. "Once you got all the Avalonians freed and took away his space factories, you had him on the ropes. Haruhi could've beamed that bomb to Phentax Twenty right there and it would have been over."
"And the Ipraedies would've hit Uru at the same time."
Benten perked. "That proven?"
"Yep," Ataru said as he moved to put the vegetables and meat into the boiling spring water he had got for the purpose. "Ayumu's over-exuberance in getting me off Uru was noticed right away in Ipraedos City. There was the Devil Invader himself in the hospital, hit by unknown means unable to fight for his people. There was the Devil's Daughter Lum, having lost her 'husband' and was being confined to Uru because no one in Onishuto could figure out what happened that day. The Niphentaxians were out in full force from Neptune all the way to Toshitto in the Slot." As Benten nodded – the "Slot" between the Earth/Neptune system and the Toshitto system (whose sun Terrans called Chi Eridani) was a thirty light-year long tube of space two light-years wide that wasn't claimed by the Ipraedies Empire or one of the galactic superpowers in the local cluster, the Imperial Dominion of Noukiios – he added, "If I hit them then, the Ipraedies would have swarmed everyone from Gomiana to Uru. Probably hit some Noukiite colonies and start a general war." As she winced, he sighed. "Not on my head."
A nod. "I hear you."
"Atop that, when I got back together with Lum in Tomobiki, I could sense how rattled she was because of what Ayumu did," he added. "Remember how clingy she was to me for about a month or so after I got back to Earth?" As Benten nodded, he smiled. "She needed the chance to relax and be herself again. If I hit her with this . . . " He sighed. "She might have done something I couldn't save her from."
She blinked, and then she grinned as she patted his shoulder. "I always knew – even if I couldn't understand you most of the time – how much you really cared for her in the long run. All the shit you put up to from her and all that? Even before Elle?" As he smirked, she walked over to pull the kettle off the woodstove so it could cool down and she could prepare some mugs of hot liquid for everyone. "I always knew she was lucky to have a guy like you around her all the time. Just wished you would've stopped acting the fool and said it to her finally." She then smirked. "But for six months, you couldn't do that . . . and for six months afterward, you needed to wait for her to calm down and the right time to come to get that bomb off Earth."
"Yeah."
"'Morning . . . "
Both turned as a tired Lum came into the room. Benten smirked on noting the slight stagger in her friend's walk. "You okay, Lum?" she then teased.
Lum grunted. "Yeah, I'm okay . . . "
Benten snickered as Ataru rolled his eyes . . .
Outside Onishuto on Uru, that moment . . .
"LUM'S WHERE?"
"On Yiziba of course."
A wild scream of panic escaped the mouths of most of the small group of people who were now in the living room of the Invader home near the edge of the Terrible Swamps. It was late afternoon on this part of Uru, with the business day in the great megalopolis to the southeast coming to a close. And while there were some loathing looks coming Elizabeth Wakefield's way from several of Redet Invader's guests, the wild panic in the eyes of almost all of them – save Redet Traveller and the president of Uru himself, General Hozan Lana – convinced the Great Sage of the Circle of Thought that she didn't need to call down some assistance from the orbiting Discovery in the person of Kasuga Ayumu to quell the crowds. Atop that, the Californian wasn't alone; Oyuki was with her now, as was Redet Jariten and the battle doll version of Lum from another dimension, who was dressed in Lum's normal strapless tiger-striped bikini top and panties. When Elizabeth had introduced the other Lum and explained her origins, EVERYONE had been rattled to learn that their counterparts on another world – having faced the Mother of All Fight Scenes AGAIN! – were now either dead or enslaved by the Ipraedies.
"Has she gone to the Cave of the Future?" Traveller then asked.
"Not yet," Elizabeth stated. "Ataru will insist on a full breakfast – a nice meat-and-vegetable stew with some koch'ujang sauce to spice it up for her – before she goes to the Cave. When I got my Gift, I was operating on an empty stomach. I was sick for a few days afterward and I had to miss school, which didn't please a few people. Ataru himself knows what undergoing a Gifting in that state of being is like, so he'll make sure she's fully ready before she faces the Conservator and the Great Crystal."
"Then there's time to save her!"
That was Seq Yethis, Lana's chief-of-staff and Rei's uncle . . . and the known leader of the Imperial Round of Uru, the "old boys' club" of would-be feudal princes who would like nothing more than to have the clock turned back two hundred years to the time when an Emperor ruled Uru and most of the people on this world were treated no better than serfs in Russia before the nineteenth century. Not to mention said princes looking greedily on other worlds such as Yiziba and various Noukiite colonies to expand their despotic domain. "Yes, there is time to restore Lum to a place she doesn't wish to be, General," Elizabeth calmly noted as Oyuki tried not to laugh and Ten smirked. "Time to restore her to the 'marble lady' I've heard some of your trash info-nets call her, especially after that miserable business in Lecashuto six years ago."
As many of the Urusians there winced on hearing that, the Californian smirked. "Time to restore Lum to her place as a living godhead for a mad 'religion' of maniacs and mass murderers on a planet that's been effectively castrated both economically and militarily!" she snarled. "Time to restore Lum to a place in a city on Earth where she was worshipped as an idol star . . . but where she would never be happy. For there's no way under Heaven that the man she loves more than Life itself would ever return to live full-time on Earth." She then smirked. "So yes, there is time . . . to condemn Redet Lum to DIE! Please, go right on ahead! Do what you need to do. Go race over to Yiziba . . . " – she paused as people screamed out in horror on hearing that name – " . . . and drag her off in chains back here. And if you're lucky, you'll make her a MARTYR to whatever pathetic causes you support . . . for she WILL die, people! I'm not a telepath like Soul Searcher is, but I've confirmed through her that Lum WOULD rather die than spend a day away from Moroboshi Ataru." She smirked. "So you all lose," she then declared as she glared at Yethis and several of his friends.
"Why should we believe a tailless monkey like you?" Yethis then snarled.
"Careful, relav'sh!" Elizabeth snarled back in accent-less Oni, which made the Urusians all gape at her . . . though both Traveller and Lana were smirking at her unleashing that vile insult on the leader of the Imperial Round. "I don't care if you believe me or not, Mister Yethis." As Rei's uncle shuddered on hearing her address him WITHOUT rank, Elizabeth then gazed at Lana. "Mister President, you – as the leader of the Union of Uru – have the true final say when it comes to the safety of one of your citizens. You saw the recording of the communiqué between my ship and this home last night Earth-time. You heard what Lum herself confessed, her words confirmed by both Ataru and the Lady Infinity. You KNOW that any incarnation of Infinity finds it hard to lie for any reason. What do YOU think about what Lum finally decided to do?"
Lana sighed. He personally could make himself say the name of the adopted home planet of the young lady before him, though he kept to usual conventions when it came to referring to the Yizibajohei. And while he never himself experienced a close encounter with one of that race as Traveller did in his youth, the current President of Uru hadn't got to his post by being naïve or ignorant of things around him. While he did put up to the antics of the Imperial Round, he knew that their support amongst the general population was slowly ebbing away. The news of Lum – the daughter of Uru's most popular serving military officer and the woman credited with opening official first contact with Earth – actually BECOMING Yizibajohei would be a mortal body-blow to the Imperial Round; in the eyes of Yethis and his cronies, Lum was the future first Empress of the Second Imperium . . . even if she would just be turned into a living baby factory to produce a son to become Emperor. And a FULL-BLOODED Urusian son at that; such was what drove Yethis to promote a relationship between Lum and Rei in the first place . . . and what had made him and his friends froth at the mouth whenever Moroboshi Ataru was spoken of. And while he WAS concerned about what might happen to Lum once she DID become Tempest – as Elizabeth believed would happen – he had to admit, what HAD happened in the Terrible Swamps ten years ago had been a wonderful thing.
A CRIPPLED Lum would have hurt many people BEYOND her immediate family.
That two of "They Who Must Never Be Named" had SAVED her from such a fate . . .
He then smirked. "I will not be accused by anyone in this Union of IGNORING Lum's own honour by acting as if what Master Coyote and Lady Infinity did for her ten years ago never happened," he stated, which made Invader and his wife gape and many of the others in the room pale. "The true story of Lady Danu and what provoked the Mother of All Fight Scenes between Uru and Yiziba fifty years before the Union Revolution has been kept hidden from the general population for far too long. People have been raised to be ignorant of the truth for no reason that has benefitted the Urusian people at all."
"Hear, hear," Traveller chanted, nodding.
Lana sighed. "I must confess, Moroboshi Ataru would have made quite a warlord in his own right had he been born Oni in lieu of Terran," he then said as he gazed on Invader. "Wasn't that what you said at the end of the Tag Race, Invader? 'He will be a marvellous son-in-law.'" As Invader flustered, Lana then smirked. "Besides, the lad came here to break up that engagement party you threw for Lum some months later. AND he saw to it that idiot Ōgi was finally put down . . . WHILE AT THE SAME TIME, freeing their slaves from oppression, thus guaranteeing that our defensive needs WILL be met in the near future AND presenting us with a potential NEW ALLY in the Republic of Avalon."
Invader blinked, and then he hummed. "Damn . . . never thought of THAT!"
"That's why you're still just a CAPTAIN, son!" Traveller stated as he gazed knowingly at his grandson. "You may be one passionate warlord, but you still allow your vision to narrow too much at the wrong time." As Invader blushed, the old Marine general sighed as he gazed on the unmoving synthezoid now standing beside Elizabeth. "Was that what happened in your universe, child? With Ōgi and his fools?"
"I never knew about the Avalonians, Great-grandfather," the battle doll replied. "But given that the Yizibajohei that did help my Darling become Tariko DID wreck Phentax Two along the way, I doubt they might have escaped without loss, especially for those who were on Phentax Two when that bomb hit or in the fleet that attacked Yiziba itself." As whimpers and moans escaped many of the people there, the doll snarled, "WILL YOU ALL STOP THAT, PLEASE?" As people gasped, she crossed her arms. "It's a NAME! That's all it is! A NAME! What is so wrong with hearing a simple planet's NAME?"
"Most likely, it came from Ataru's past-self," Elizabeth stated.
"What do you mean, Elizabeth-san?" Oyuki asked.
A smile. "That Tuyuki was a mean one back then. He was the one who prodded and pushed my sister's past-self to finally get serious with Redet Danu after she was abandoned on Yiziba after the Tag Race." A sigh. "When he saw what the Imperials did to Danu – AT THE INSTIGATION OF DANU'S PARENTS, BY THE WAY! – he became VERY ANGRY! Far and away angrier than ANY version of him has ever been!" She gazed on Oyuki. "He got Infinity back then to cause rather large boulders to smash down on the heads of people who said 'Yiziba' or 'Yizibajohei.'" As the Neptunian princess gasped and Traveller laughed on hearing that, Elizabeth winked. "By the time the majority of the damage was done, NO ONE wanted to say the name for risk of spending time in a hospital because of severe concussions!" A sigh. "But he called it off when DANU asked him to stop that. After SHE felt she got the justice SHE deserved for what had happened to her. So think hard about that, ladies and gentlemen," she said as she stood up. "Your ancestors were all saved in the end by the woman you LEFT BEHIND on our planet. I'll make sure that when Windtalker sends the news report to INN on Zeiwan to be broadcast, that's included." She then gazed on the battle doll. "Keep everyone in this house safe, Lum."
"Tcha!"
And with a flash of energy, the Great Sage of the Circle of Thought was gone. After a moment's silence as people considered that, Oyuki hummed. "So the monsters you – and yes, I, too – feared have hearts and souls. And consciences as well."
"Yes, they do, don't they?" Traveller stated.
"Indeed." Oyuki then perked. "Oh, by the way, just in case people wonder what will soon happen, I'll be asking the Lady Infinity to unleash the Infinite Wave on Neptune to finally clean up the planet from what the Seifukusu unleashed a millennia ago. Any words from certain offices here will be ignored from this point on." She was gazing knowingly at Yethis when she said that. "Do have a good day, please."
And with a swirl of icy winds and snow, she was off to Triton . . .
In orbit over Earth . . .
"WHAT HAPPENED?"
A still-bandaged Rupa shuddered as he gazed painfully at his great-grandfather, who had come aboard the royal yacht shortly after the Discovery had left the solar system. Both of them were enjoying a pleasant meal even if some of Rupa's aides were helping him eat due to the casts on his arms. "They Who Must Never Be Named are involved, Great-grandfather," the young prince of Yaminokuni stated. "Moroboshi Ataru is one of them. Somehow, he convinced Lum to go with him to That Place to keep her 'safe' from me. Even worse, that moron Ōgi showed up to try to 'save' her from the 'great evil.' Moroboshi blew the idiot's ship up from his friend's ship before they left."
Upa scowled as he considered that. He had gone to Uru itself the previous day to confront Traveller and his family about a certain long-standing debt that had to be fulfilled. As the Yaminokuni were not frequent travellers in this part of the galaxy despite their being part of the Galactic Federation of Planet-States, the travel restrictions put into effect by the Urusian government hadn't slowed him down from visiting Onishuto to look up an old friend. And while Invader had been adamant about their NOT being any deal between their families – despite Traveller's admitting of what happened 120 years ago – the First Patriarch was determined to make it all succeed. Given how vicious SHE was when it came to his poor great-grandson . . .!
"I doubt she'll actually go through with a Gifting once she faces the Great Crystal of Power," Upa then declared. "Lum's just doing this to humour Master Tuyuki given how much he's done for her, especially in the last few days. But given the true nature of his line-name, no relationship with him could last. Master Tuyuki was the primary cause of a lot of pain, death and misery during the Mother of All Fight Scenes. Lum will know this; such would have been drilled into her from the day she could walk, fly and talk." A smirk. "And there are the Avalonians as well."
Rupa painfully chuckled. The royal yacht had received signals from Barsoom in the 82 Erandi system and a Seifukusu colony orbiting Van Maanen's Star that the takeover of both worlds – as part of an operation that had targeted a total of THIRTY-FIVE star systems, thirty Seifukusu and five Ipraedies – had gone off without a hitch. None of the Ipraedies worlds had been inhabited when the Avalonians – using ships as big as the Eternal Voyager itself! – hit the planets. The Ipraedies border posts in the nether-space between systems had been easily dealt with by the simple expedient of transporting the soldiers there and safely conveying them back to Ipraedos itself. The Seifukusu worlds the Avalonians targeted – all of whom had small military garrisons on them numbering at most ten thousand per world – had been cleared out the very same way, the settlers and soldiers taken back to the closest old Dominion colony to Sol orbiting XI Pegasi . . . over FORTY LIGHT-YEARS AWAY from Earth! And while the governments on both Ipraedos and Dominos were howling with anger at the fact that the Niphentaxians' former slaves had gone after THEIR planets, the fact that Terran-born Yizibajohei-type metahumans were said to be present on each of the planets was keeping the fleets of both powers at their home starbases. No doubt, the widespread news of what had happened to the Army of Lum was keeping planners to both Earth's galactic west and east from sending their own crews on what was a suicide mission.
"Yeah, there would be many who would wish to bed the 'Liberator,'" Rupa then mused. "And I strongly doubt that given what Moroboshi himself went through at Lum's hands – if one interprets what the Niphentaxians found out – over the last year that he's fully forgiven her for all the 'mistakes' she made concerning him."
"True." Upa sighed. "They were talking about possibly making sure Lum was rescued and returned to safety on Uru. No doubt Lum's friends will be involved in that."
"Commander Shigaten's daughter and Princess Oyuki."
"Yes. Neither of them would allow their best friend to become a monster." Upa then smirked. "Let's make our way to the Oniboshi system and hide ourselves close to Uru. We'll monitor local communications and see if Lum has returned back. Once we have a clear sighting, we'll go in and take her, and then head back to Muzlim Madiina."
Rupa nodded. "Alright."
Upa then chuckled . . .
. . . though if he knew what had now emerged from hyperspace out of the dark side of Earth's moon, he would have new cause for concern.
As the mobile home that had been purchased for the silver-haired Yaminokuni teenager by a sympathetic elder of her people slowly came out to get a full view of the bright blue world in the distance, the mistress of this craft could only scowl as she glared at the two larger ships in high orbit over the landmass known to Terrans as "Japan." Noting that both ships were royal yachts – which were only used by the man she loved and the senile old idiot who had arranged to literally force Carla into exile from Yaminokuni months before – she could only purr in anticipation as she considered what next to do.
"You won't get away from me this time, Rupa . . .!" she hissed. "I won't let you go!"
She then relaxed herself as she moved to keep her ship in the shadows . . .
To be continued . . .
WRITER'S NOTES:
1) Bruce Patman was Sweet Valley High's resident rich snob character; in effect, he was the SVH version of Mendō Shūtarō. Bruce was depicted as dating loads of girls and dumping them at the same time throughout the series . . . though, as witness his brief relationship with Regina Morrow (which began in book #18, Head Over Heels, and effectively ended in book #40, On the Edge), he has his good moments. In the sequel novel to the series written by Francine Pascal, Sweet Valley Confidential, Bruce would eventually become lovers with Elizabeth Wakefield, having long nursed a crush on her from the day his parents died and she was at his side supporting him all the way.
2) Amy Sutton, in the Sweet Valley Twins series depicted when everyone was in the last year of elementary school, was Elizabeth Wakefield's best friend. Unlike most of the Sweet Valley cast, Amy would move with her family to Connecticut shortly after she entered junior high school, returning back in book #29 of Sweet Valley High, Bitter Rivals. By then, Amy had become a boy-chasing, self-centred type who was more akin to Jessica Wakefield than Elizabeth. I've always been intrigued by this character, so I made her Trebuchet in The Doctor Is In at the Anime Add-venture. As Trebuchet, the Shot-Put Siren of the South, Amy is a FISS-type at the same level of power as Jessica.
3) For those Buffy fans out there who want to know when in the series this story would be, I'd set it around the first season of the television series. As I have only seen a couple of episodes – my exposure to the series has pretty much been through fan fiction stories – I won't write anything detailed about Molly's time in Sunnydale at this time. But there is a possibility that a story might follow in the future.
4) In Ranma continuity, this story is set several months after the end of the manga series. By this time, Ranma himself is in the second year of high school. And I'm not portraying Akane as the "mallet-welding maniac" that is often seen in fan fiction stories where Ranma finally calls it off and goes after someone else; in this situation, her insecurities and the fact that Ranma had killed an IMMORTAL to save her life actually made her intimidated by him . . . to the point where she would fall back into "default mode" and accuse him of everything under the sun. Given other peoples' propensity for believing her over him, it would eventually lead to the situation Ranma eventually described to Regina and Molly. As for Nabiki, I'm playing her as she is depicted in canon: A selfish, self-centred girl who only cares for herself and doesn't care for anyone else, not even her family. As she is probably the only "sensible" character in the Tendō household, Nabiki would most likely see bringing Ranma back to Nerima as the worst thing possible to happen to her. And given what Ranma no doubt did to her to pay her back for all the moronic things she did to him . . .!
5) Translations: Ofuda – A special charm often used by Shintō priests to ward off evil spirits; Jigai – Female version of seppuku; Storyline – Yizibajohei month; Relav'sh – A very ugly and untranslatable insult in the Urusian language; INN – The Intergalactic News Network, the local cluster's version of CNN which is based on the planet Zeiwan.
6) Winston Egbert is the resident class clown in SVH. A man who does his best to make other people happy, he is known for having quite a huge crush on Jessica Wakefield. He also is very good friends with Elizabeth Wakefield's boyfriend Todd Wilkins. In the universe of this story, he is also Lightmage, a technomage (a person who can fuse the power of magic and technology together). Because he's not a "pure" magical-meta, Winston does not belong to the Cosmic Mage Guild. He is not listed in the main part of the Book of Pretty Girls, but he came to Yiziba at age 12 with the rest of the Boosters (he was the only male member of the group) to get his Gift. To that end, he is listed in the Annex to the Book, indexed under Jessica's entry.
7) Ranma's magical mirror-clone appeared in the "Copy Ranma" part of the Ranma manga storyline (manga episodes #367-370).
8) Windtalker is a metahuman reporter. Known as the "Voice of the Show," she has clairvoyant and teleportational abilities that can take her anywhere on Earth in the virtual wink of an eye. In reality, she is Asakura Kazumi of Mahō Sensei Negima.
9) The issue of Neptune's environmental cleanup was an idea I introduced into recent stories I've written. In my eyes, the Urusian Imperials – who want to do everything they can to keep other elements of the Federation under their control – wish to keep the Neptunians destitute towards any possibility of returning back to their true home planet (which they couldn't live on anymore). Thus any attempts by foreign powers such as Noukiios and Yehisril to help in Neptune's full restoral to habitability would not be welcome on Uru . . . and with Oyuki's people being so weak militarily, it would be easy for people like Yethis to lean on Oyuki's father King Fuyu to shut up about it and "maintain Neptune as a memorial" to the evil of the Seifukusu Dominion.
10) As for Carla's presence near Earth at the end of this part, I take that from the fact that while the rescue party was warping towards Yaminokuni in The Final Chapter, Carla's own ship was heading DIRECTLY towards Ran's vessel. So where was Carla going? No doubt, she was intending to intercept Rupa over Earth, so I played that up here.
The Book of Pretty Girls, Entry 449:
MUSTANG
The One Never To Be Tamed
Generation: 27th
Age at Gifting: 17 years, 2 months
Real Name: SAOTOME Ranma
Relatives: SAOTOME Genma (father, relationship not acknowledged), SAOTOME (née MASAKI) Nodoka (mother, relationship not acknowledged)
Affiliation: Self
Base of Operations: Currently mobile; formerly Nerima Ward, Metropolis of Tōkyō, State of Japan
Alignment: Face/Neutral
Identity: Ranma is well-known throughout Japan; his being Yizibajohei is top secret.
Race/Culture of Birth: Terran/Japanese
Place of Birth: Nerima Ward, Metropolis of Tōkyō, State of Japan
Gender: Male (can also transform into a female)
Height: 172 cm (5' 8") (as boy), 158 cm (5' 3") (as girl)
Weight: 81.5 kg (180 lb) (as boy), 45.3 kg (100 lb) (as girl)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black (as boy), Red (as girl)
Gifts:
Metahuman Strength, Toughness and Physical Invulnerability: Mustang is one of the top two FISS-type metas of Yiziba. In Earth gravity, s/he could dead-lift fifty thousand tonnes with one arm without any risk to the integrity of his/her body. Because of such power, s/he can resist anything up to the direct on-skin impact of either thermonuclear or anti-matter weapons up to the explosive power of 21 exajoules of energy (equivalent to five gigatonnes of TNT exploding all at once). S/he has the ability to survive in all forms of atmosphere (including airless space) for hours without the need to replenish his/her body with oxygen. As an extension of same, s/he cannot be poisoned by any normal means and can ingest most forms of solids or liquids save for anything based on Grade Three mesonium ("ebony meson").
Psionic/Magical Mental Shield: As an extension of his/her invulnerability, Mustang can also resist any form of telepathic, empathic or magical tampering with his/her mind. S/he cannot be possessed by any disembodied spirit or other form of metaphysical entity such as what are termed "gods" or "devils" by others. Only those mega-metas such as Infinity (see Entry 1) have the power to break down Mustang's mental defences.
Flight: Mustang has the ability to fly at hypersonic speeds in atmosphere, just above sonic speeds while in a liquid medium like water and a quarter of the speed of light in space. S/he has no ability to warp herself between solar systems without aide.
Enhanced Physical Senses: Mustang's physical senses are quite acute as an extension of his/her physical abilities and his/her in-depth martial arts training. S/he can see with accuracy out to about twenty kilometres from his/her person in atmosphere. S/he can hear even minute sounds from dozens of metres away. S/he can smell even faint traces of odour up to several hours since the scent was first created. His/her taste buds are quite sensitive to even minute changes of flavour. And his/her skin is quite sensitive to the touch of even minute animals such as fleas. Thanks to his/her long studies in martial arts, Mustang can easily discipline his/herself to negate the input of such sensations upon his/her mind via a form of self-meditation.
Martial Arts Skills: Thanks to over a decade of intensive – some would also say abusive – martial arts training in Musabetsu Kakutō-ryū ("School of Indiscriminate Grappling") and other such paths of martial studies, Mustang is one of the top hand-to-hand physical combatants on Earth today for his/her peer group. With such study, Mustang possesses a keen sixth sense that allows him/her to sense any potential threat to his/her person. S/he can easily analyse a person's own physical skills with but a glance at one's ki signature. S/he can produce devastating long-range attacks with his/her ki that – now enhanced by his/her Gift – could theoretically devastate whole mountain ranges if unleashed at full strength without regard to collateral damage.
Involuntary Gender Morphing (the "Jusenkyō Curse"): Thanks to exposure to the Niángnìquán ("Spring of Drowned Girl") cold water spring in the valley of Zhòuquán-xiāng ("Pools of Sorrow") in the Qīnghǎi Province of China, Mustang has the involuntary extra ability to morph himself to the very DNA level into what he could have been if he was born a girl. Such is triggered by exposure to water below lukewarm stage onto his person. In a transformed state as a woman, Mustang does not lose any of his powers or skills even if he loses 14 centimetres (five inches) of height and over 36 kilograms (80 pounds) of body mass on that transformation; the extra mass is shifted into a magical pocket dimension which can be opened and closed only by the triggering medium for the curse (water). When a girl, Mustang can be restored to male format by exposing her body to water above lukewarm stage on her person. Due to the influence of the power of Zhòuquán-xiāng, Mustang often finds him/herself transformed into the other gender thanks to very odd quirks of luck. As the curse is ebony meson-based, no known means of removing it from Mustang can be employed. The only way such a curse can be removed from Mustang's person is for him/her to father/mother offspring; such will complete the cycle of life-to-death-to-life that Zhòuquán-xiāng ultimately represents.
Personality:
The One Never to Be Tamed.
Mustang is the epitome of the true modern Yizibajohei; a being that lives by his/her own rules and woe betide anyone who would dare try to suppress such a being down. Blessed not only with the top level of physical power that can be granted by the Great Crystal of Power but an equal amount of mental invulnerability, Mustang is a being that is as unstoppable in his/her own way as Infinity is in hers.
Unlike most of those who had received their Gifts thanks to the influence of Coyote (see Entry 0), Saotome Ranma did not accept Moroboshi Ataru's offer to gain a Gift when they first met when both were ten years old. Having just survived a brutal training regimen known as the Neko-ken ("Cat Fist") – which had transformed Ranma into a nearly-unbeatable berserker that could be brought forth thanks to a then-incurable case of ailurophobia; simply expose Ranma to a cat and he would go berserk – Ranma was tempted to take the offer for a Gift, but eventually turned it down, believing it was proper to earn one's way to power. Of course, the man who subjected Ranma to the Neko-ken – his father Genma – was more than relieved; even if the Trickster of the Show was not a true martial artist in the proper sense of the turn, the boy was a vicious and dirty fighter who understood the one true rule of any sort of fight scene: Win it!
Ranma and Ataru wouldn't encounter each other for over six years. In the meantime, Ranma continued on his journey of mastery in his family school of martial arts. Such a quest took him eventually to Qīnghǎi in China, where he encountered the springs of the valley of Zhòuquán-xiāng, the Pools of Sorrow. Exposed to one such pool, where a young maiden had drowned over fifteen centuries ago, Ranma was cursed to become what then was his worst nightmare: A "weak" girl. Thanks to Genma's borderline-misogynist worldview and his selfish desire to transform Ranma into a "man above men" per a promise made to Ranma's mother Nodoka, the young martial arts prodigy was almost borderline barbaric by the standards of his/her native culture. What was worse, Genma had been quite willing to give away his child's hand in marriage to anyone whom he could trick into giving basic commodities – such as food – to live on for the next day. All of those promises eventually came to roost when Ranma began to reside full-time in the Nerima Ward in Tōkyō when s/he found himself engaged to Tendō Akane, youngest daughter of Genma's old training partner, in hopes of uniting the two families.
Over the next year, Ranma found him/herself engaged in untold scrapes with dozens of opponents, many of whom gladly took advantage of his/her own naïveté and lack of experience in dealing with social situations to entrap him/her in so many conflicting obligations of honour that would have – in the classical Japanese sense – demanded a/he commit ritual suicide to appease everyone. That was the state s/he was in when Coyote – just recovered from his seven months of being made to forget who and what he was – found him in. Once again, an offer was made. This time, Ranma accepted, realising Ataru had a point when he stated that since being honourable demanded being master of one's destiny first, one could not accept any claim of marriage or honouring seppuku pacts when the people enforcing those pacts simply REFUSED to acknowledge Ranma's own viewpoints on each situation. In other words, those trying to use honour on Ranma were, by their own selfish desires, shooting themselves in the foot since Ranma's acquiescence was needed to truly have any influence on his/her life.
After a trip to Yiziba, Ranma gained the very power to do just that.
Though he did try to make things work with Akane after his Gifting, Ranma eventually came to realise that his/her would-be life-mate simply didn't trust the man/woman she was engaged to in ways that she trusted others, including some of Ranma's very own rivals. When that mistrust eventually made Nodoka demand that Ranma either bow to Akane's desire or end his life, a mother's worst nightmare was realised when the Untameable One renounced her and her husband, then took advantage of a friend's agreement with Japan's head-of-state to form his OWN branch of the Saotome Clan, forever free of his parents' influence. With that, Mustang left Nerima for the last time, hitting the road to seek out new challenges to test himself against.
Where such will lead him, only Fate will answer . . . for those who once tried to corral Mustang found THIS particular wild horse too much to take.
