You can guess the crossover. Ranma won't wear a fuku, and also no tuxedo. He won't be some re-incarnation. He is just... Ranma. I want to avoid numerous stuff that became the norm in these crossovers but that actually is pretty stupid. I also will make it clear that while Ranma and the Senshi learn new techniques, I won't sink to the insane levels of the canon, where it became an absurd arms race in the later parts of both series. It's a common weakness in anime series that the power level increases to ridiculous levels. (In my opinion, DBZ is the worst offender in that regard in the anime world) I will try to stay on Earth and try to give everything a bit more realistic feeling (as much as it as it is possible) but don't worry... hilarity will still ensure!
Needless to say that I will slaughter the canon of both series, but I guess you expected this. Also I don't have any rights to both series, but I guess you know that, too.
Ranma worst rival arrives...
After years I finally returned to the story. Please note that thanks to my improvements in writing style, I was unhappy with the old chapters and significantly updated them, so it is worth to read them again (also to again get a feel for the story). Ryoga-lovers be warned, that I have no love for him and he gets significantly humiliated in this chapter.
Chapter 6: Enter the Piglet
"You know, I really don't understand them. First they act as if they own the school, and now that they get punished, they're whining," Ranma told Ami, while watching the group of students -most prominently Umino- sitting in the yard like a group of beaten dogs.
"I don't know, either. At least they seem to be back to normal," Ami added.
After the scene yesterday with the thrown-in windows, today had been completely different. Most of them didn't even seem to remember their actions. Not that that helped them; their denials only making their punishment more severe. What's left was a pile of pitiful students complaining how unfair the world was.
"Back to normal...Yeah..." Ranma then looked in the other direction, seeing three girls talking. It seemed that Usagi was trying to convince Naru and Akane of something. "Wonder what they are talking about?"
Actually, Usagi was busy with trying to convince Naru and Akane that they shouldn't be too hard on the formerly possessed people and perhaps just forget the whole thing. However, while Naru was willing enough to let it rest, Akane was another matter.
"Tell me one good reason why I should do that. Especially after what Umino did."
Usagi knew that she could hardly tell Akane that Umino and the others had been possessed by a Youma disguised as a fortune-teller, and therefore were not responsible for their actions while under its mind control. She also could hardly tell her that after she'd destroyed the Youma as Sailor Moon, all the victims had forgotten what they'd done during that time. That made her position of pleading for forgiveness a lot harder against this girl, who could hold a grudge.
"Because you're a good person at heart?" Usagi tried, hoping that it didn't sound too corny while Naru watched the entire exchange, wondering if Usagi's usual charm could work with someone like Akane.
"Yeah, sure..." Akane then stopped when Usagi gave her a hurt look, as if she'd just witnessed her kicking a puppy. She looked as if she could burst into tears at any moment. Little did Akane know that she was falling to the 'secret wepon' right at this moment. "I...I won't simply forgive him... But I also won't give him more grief over it, ok?"
Usagi knew, she couldn't expect more than that. She was about to answer, when...
-Crrrrraaaaaccckkkk-
Everyone went silent when suddenly a part of the brick wall surrounding the school property collapsed. Looking at the gap in the perimeter wall, they saw a teenage boy standing there, whose most striking visiual characteristics were the yellow bandana with black polka dots over his foehead, the huge travelling pack on his back and the big umbrella he was holding. If not for him breaking down the wall and his expression of pure fury, it would've looked comical.
"Where is he? Where is that coward Saotome?" the boy shouted, so that everyone could hear it.
"Ranma, do you have enemies?" Ami asked her friend. After transformative magic, this looked almost ordinary.
Ranma looked to the enraged teenager but was unable to put a name to the face, although he had the feeling that he knew him. "No idea who he is, although I have the feeling I should. I wonder what he thinks gives him the right to barge in and call me a coward. Maybe I should ask him."
"Do you really think that's wise?" Ami asked, concerned. "He looks really angry and possibly even capable of becoming violent."
Ranma shook his head in amusement. "Don't worry. I'm very capable of defending myself..." Putting his bento box aside, he got up and walked to the boy who seemed to become more enraged with each second. "Hey you! What's your beef with me?" he called.
"YOU! Because of you I've seen hell!" the boy shouted as soon as seeing Ranma, dropping his pack to the ground..
Ranma was not really impressed. One thing he knew was, that getting angry too easy was a great way to lose. "It would help to fist know who you are that you think you can just call me a coward."
"Don't act so innocent! Because of you..."
"You've seen hell. Yeah, yeah, I already know. But that really doesn't help me. So either spit it out or leave me alone," Ranma said in annoyance. This boy was starting to annoy him, but as his mother had drilled into him, he'd not be the one responsible for violence.
The teenager looked at Ranma as if he'd grown a second head, growing even more angry when it dawned to him that Ranma really had no idea who he was. "You don't even remember me? After all the humiliation you caused me in middle school?"
Ranma desperately tried to remember who had could possibly have pissed off during middle school almost two years ago. That was more difficult because teenagers change a lot in two years. So he came up with a blank. "I still don't get it."
"How could you forget!" the boy screamed in anger. "First you always stole my bread and than you ran away from our fight to settle it!"
That finally stirred Ranma's memory. "Ryoga Hibiki?" His memory of the boring time in middle school finally returned. The boy with the bad sense of direction whom he'd helped to get to and from school and who'd always lost at the daily bread fights when bread was thrown into the crowd. So when the school year had been over and they'd graduated, Ryoga had wanted a fight to get even with him for all the times he'd lost.
He also remembered what had happened then. "What are you accusing me of? You fairly lost all the time and you didn't show up when I waited for you for our fight. And that was in the yard behind your house. I waited three whole days before Pop hauled me off."
The crowd which had gathered by now was amused by Ryoga's obvious lack of direction if he couldn't find his way to the yard behind his own house in three days. Consensus was also, that if that was true, there was nothing he could accuse Ranma of. The laughter and giggling caused Ryoga to redden in embarrassment and anger.
"You should have waited longer! Ever since then I tried to catch up with you and saw hell because of it!"
Ranma shook his head. He remembered the lessons that he was not to be held responsible for the foolishness of others. Honor only meant his own one, not trying to take the fall for others. There had been a time he'd liked Ryoga, but it was diffcult to continue doing so with Ryoga running around and unloading all his shortcomings on him.
"That's your own problem. As I see it, you forfeited with not appearing and I waited longer than anyone else would have. I actually don't really care what happened afterwards, that's because you felt the need to go on your revenge trip. Leave me alone." That said, Ranma turned around to walk back to Ami.
"Watch out!"
Ami's warning caused Ranma jump to the side. Just in time, as an umbrella slammed into the ground where he'd been a second ago, pulverising the concrete. Now Ranma was pissed. Attacking him from behind! Now that Ryoga had actually attacked him, there was nothing speaking against showing him that this had been a mistake. Jumping out of the way of another attack, the fight was on.
Everyone watched the fight in awe. This Ryoga seemed to have considerable stength, but Ranma was much faster. For the moment, the only one suffering seemed to be the ground, Ryoga's strikes with his umbrella demolishing it. Ranma seemed to understand that he first had to disarm his opponent and after a minute he managed to kick the umbrella out of Ryoga's hand and it landed some distance away. Not that this stopped him from continuing to try to beat Ranma into a pulp.
While the two boys fought, Naru curiously tried to pick up the umbrella, but had little luck. "Urgh... that almost felt like I dislocated something in my back... Akane, you're the strongest of us, you try."
Akane didn't know if she should see this as a compliment, but nonetheless tried as well. After all, for a girl of her built she was unusually strong, stronger than any other girl she knew. She actually did manage to pick it up, but she had to put real efford into it, as it was damn heavy.
"What is this thing made of? It feels like it weighs a ton," she grunted while trying to hold it with both hands.
Ami took a closer look at it. "That doesn't wonder me. Apart from the fabric, this umbrella is made of pure lead. Better put it back down, before it falls onto your feet."
"That guy must be really strong to wave it around like that with one hand," Naru observed while Akane put it back down, then looked to Usagi. "Please don't tell me you think of him as dating material. The last one had been bad enough."
"What? No! That guy is a jerk, so much is obvious. I..." -splashhhh- Usagi got interrupted when they heard something falling into water.
A strong kick had thrown Ranma into the fountain, end result being a pissed-looking and soaked readhead climbing out of it, with a baffed Ryoga watching. Ami shook her head when seeing this. If there was a way to rile up Ranma, it was by triggering his curse on purpose. She could already see her only waiting for a chance to pound Ryoga. However, Ryoga only stared.
"What?" Ranma hissed, when seeing this. She sincerely hoped he was not staring at her breasts. She'd found out that this felt uncomfortable and hated it. "What are you staring at?"
"You turn... into a girl?" Ryoga said, before breaking out into laughter. "That serves you right for what you did to me!"
Ranma hated it when someone made fun of her curse and now was thoroughly pissed off. "Hey, what's so funny, you jerk!" Ryoga didn't stop laughing, pissing off Ranma even more. "Dare you if you think that turns me into a sissy. Do you even listen, you pig?"
That suddenly caused Ryoga stop laughing. "DIE!" he screamed, his amusement all of a sudden turned into anger. He grabbed his bandana -with another one at once appearing- and threw it like a javelin at Ranma, who jumped out of the way, only to see it cutting deep into the fountain, proving that these things were unbelivably sharp. Ryoga however threw one after the other at Ranma while the crowd now seemed to understand that they should better run away.
"You idiot!... What are you doing? There are bystanders!" Ranma however didn't get through, as Ryoga seemed to be in a rage.
Akane was running away like everyone. However, one bandana flew in her direction and had she not been moving... However, the damage was still done. "Ayyeeee!" she screamed high-pitched when she felt something sharp barely missing the back of her neck. However... she felt that something was missing. Turning around,she saw it on the ground.
"Akane!" Usagi called, running to her, ignoring that with that scream the fighting had stopped. She saw Akane picking something up and then seeming to freeze while staring at it. Getting closer, Usagi saw that it was hair... Akane's hair had been cleanly sliced off at the hight of her neck. "Oh gods..."
"Akane...please, talk to me..." Usagi tried, but didn't get an answer.
Meanwhile Ami looked at the back of the neck and shuddered when seeing that it had been a real close call. There was a thin, bleeding line where the bandana had passed. Some millimeters closer and Akane wouldn't have survived. Seeing Ranma run to them, she held up her hand to stop her. "She's ok, only a scratch... but it was close. A little further..."
Ranma was relieved that her friend was not injured, but then saw her standing stock still, staring at the hair in her hand. "Akane...? What's wrong with her?"
Usagi waved her hand in front of her. No reaction. "I think she's went into shock."
"Hey, come back here! It's only a scratch, so don't ignore me!"
Ranma turned to Ryoga, the dangerous glint in her eyes instantly shutting him up. Up to now it had only been a fight between them. But now that he'd almost maimed Akane just because he didn't care for bystanders, that ignited real anger in Ranma. "Wrong answer, asshole."
"Who are you calliaaahhhhhhhh!"
Everyone looked in sick fascination how the formerly even fight turned into a one-sided slaughter. Everyone also swore to never get on Ranma's bad side after witnessing this beat-down. It seemed that Ranma being angry at Ryoga had tripled her strength and attacks, even though Ranma still was very much in control to not let it go out of hand. However, that did not mean that Ryoga would get off easy - quite in the contrary. While Ryoga was really tough, right now that didn't matter as he felt like a living punching ball.
Usagi, Ami and Naru had meanwhile managed to carefully navigate Akane to the nearest bench, sitting her down. They then watched without any sympathy for Ryoga the smackdown that Ranma was giving him. After almost killing the poor girl with his indiscriminate weapon usage, Ryoga didn't deserve anything better.
In the end even Ryoga knew that a tactical retreat would be the best for the time being.
Ranma said nothing when she watched him running away, grabbing his pack and umbrella, before jumping over the perimeter wall and out of her field of view. She didn't care and walked over to where the girls were caring for Akane.
...Tsukino home...
Hearing the front door open, Ikuko Tsukino wondered why the girls were back already, since after all it would still be hours before school was over. "Back already? It's still hours before... Oh dear, how did that happen?"
There were not only Usagi and Akane, but also Naru and Ami. Akane looked as if someone had shot a puppy in her presence and her hair looked as if someone had attacked it with a cutlass. Usagi was the one to answer her question. "You know, Mom, that's a rather long story... Uhm, can you fix her hair while we tell you?"
Looking at the damage done -and noticing the prominent scar on her neck- she knew that Akane pretty much had to get a different hair style if it weren't to look ridiculous. "Looks like I have to shorten it..." Guiding Akane onto a kitchen chair, she then turned to Ami. "You sit down there. I'll pattern it after the way you wear yours. And while I'm busy... how did this happen?"
"Started during lunch break. We were all minding our business when all of a sudden a boy named Ryoga Hibiki appeared and started to insult Ranma as a coward. Turned out that he knew him during middle school. For a dumb reason he challenged Ranma but then didn't appear and forfeited," Naru started to explain.
"Then where was the problem?" Ikuko wondered, while starting to trim Akane's hair at strategic places.
Usagi snorted. "Mom, this guy wouldn't take responsibility for anything. He blamed Ranma, went on a revenge trip and everything that happened to him during that, he of course also blamed on Ranma. What a loser..."
"Anyway..." Ami tried to stop Usagi from ranting further. "Ranma told him to leave and Ryoga became violent. And when he threw around blades without caring for bystanders, this happened. Thankfully it was only her hair..."
"I hope he got arrested," Ikuko said. After all, someone this dangerous shouldn't be free.
Naru shook her head. "No, the police arrived only after Ranma had beaten the snot out of Ryoga and he'd fled the school grounds. Everyone testified that Ranma had only acted in self-defense and then we voltuneered to get Akane home."
Naru felt it was best to not mention that Ryoga Hibiki had pretty much pissed off everyone at Juuban High with his behavior, ensuring that everyone was most enthusiastic to defend Ranma, who'd shown quite an amount of restraint in light of it. She found it incredible how someone -namely Hibiki- could trash his own reputation in mere minutes.
Ikuko shook her head. From her perspective, school had become so much more undisciplined since her days. She hoped they'd get this hooligan. She then looked to where her work on Akane's hair took form. "Oh dear. It'll take quite some time for you to let it grow out again."
Akane used the moment to finally break the silence by letting out a humorless laugh. "I don't think... I'll let it grow out again. It was stupid..." Usagi looked offened, considering her long hair, but Akane continued. "I really thought it would make me different..." She looked up, being careful not to disturb the scissors. "Have you ever felt thoroughly humiliated? That happened to me during my first year of middle school."
"I don't understand what this has to do with hair..." Usagi wondered. Akane right at the moment made little sense to her.
Either Akane didn't hear her, or she didn't care, as she continued "There was a school play... Romeo and Juliet... I so much wanted to play Juliet, but they made me play Romeo. And you know why? They said I look like a boy and that I'm not feminine enough. The other girls made fun of me for weeks afterwards... That was when I decided to let my hair grow out."
Ikuko shook her head. "You propably have developed later than other girls, but no one would now confuse you for a boy."
"I know that now... But the best is yet to come." She said this with such sarcasm, that the others wondered if she'd lost more than just hair. She noticed that. "No I haven't lost it. Don't think anything like that... It's just that the other reason why I let my hair grow out was pretty stupid. I got a crush on the family doctor."
Ikuko stopped trimming Akane's hair and looked astonished to her. "Isn't he as a doctor much older?"
"Not that much older, he's just 25 right now. The clinic was run by his father, so we knew him for years as the apprentice. He took over four years ago. It was during that time I developed a girl-crush on him... I shouldn't have bothered. He only has eyes for my eldest sister, Kasumi, who is three years my senior. I thought he'd notice me if I let my hair grow long like Kasumi's..."
"Let me guess... it didn't work," Naru guessed.
"Exactly. He's so much in love with Kasumi... Actually having to wait several years until she's an adult has driven Dr. Tofu also half insane. He always gets loopy when she's around." Akane shook her head when feeling that Mrs. Tsukino was done with trimming her hair. "I'd been naive and saw today that it was a stupid reason. It feels symbolical that I leave that behind with my short hair."
"Don't tell me you forgive this jerk Hibiki for all of this," Usagi said, while giving Akane a mirror for checking her new haircut.
"Of course not!" Now, that sounded more like the Akane they knew. "As soon as I see him again, his head ends up on a pike." Of course she didn't mean that literal, but she'd give him a piece of her mind in form of her fists. She then compared her mirror image to Ami. "Ok, that'll cause some confusion at the beginning."
Ami knew what Akane meant. Now the two of them looked a lot alike. Of course not identical, something like that only happened in fiction, but in the distance or when turned away, there was the chance for confusion. After all, no one could bother with the fact, that Akane was only a bit taller than her. This propably would be especially confusing for poor Ranma.
Ami seriously considered, if she should warn him ahead.
...that night...
It was silent in the Saotome house, with the only sound being the rain hitting the windows. Its occupants were done for the day and most of the house was dark by now. This however was only to the advantage of the unwelcome intruder who was right at the moment sneaking up the stairs to the first floor.
Ryoga still was amazed how fast he'd found the home of his nemesis. Doing so in mere hours was a record with his bad sense of direction and even the rain hadn't stopped him. After fleeing from the humiliating clobbering he'd gotten at the school, he was even more determined to get back at Ranma. Surprising him unaware would be a good way to accomplish this. Not even for a second did he question his plan or its honor -after all he was completely convinced he was in the right.
Finally arriving at the first floor, he stood before a dilemma he hadn't anticipated. He had no idea what Ranma's door was.
Oh, that's great? Where to start? he wondered, looking at the various doors. None of them were labeled. Of course, that would have been too easy.
Then he saw light coming out from under one of the doors -which unlike the others was a traditional sliding door- and saw shadow movement. In a strange leap of logic he determined at once that this had to be Ranma, as to his reasoning no one else would be up this late. Cracking his knuckles, he marched up to the door, already knowing what he'd shout to his nemesis. Determined, he slammed the sliding door open.
"Prepare to..." the rest suddenly died.
This actually was not Ranma's room at all. It more looked like he'd barged into the master bedroom and there stood a middle-aged woman in the process of disrobing, wearing just her undergarments. She looked at him like a deer in the headlights for what seemed to be eternity, but in reality it was only three seconds, then she reacted in her own way to the intruder.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!"
That cry of panic had surely been loud enough to wake up the entire house. Ryoga had barely managed a step backwards, when all of a sudden it sounded as if a herd of elephants was stampeding up the stairs. Looking to his right, he saw Ranma's father appear at the top of the stairs. The elder man needed only to see some stranger having broken into their house and the sight of his wife in her undergarments, to come to the conclusion that this was some pervert who'd tried to molest her.
"You scum!" he roared, getting red with anger. "I'll flatten you like a bug!"
"No, that's a misundersta..."
"What's the ruckus?" came from Ryoga's left as the door there opened and a sleepy looking Ranma appeared. Sleepy, until he suddenly had to drop to the floor to avoid being hit by a human football sent this way by his father's foot. The body sailed right through the open window of his room and vanished from view.
Looking up, Ranma saw his father looking utterly pissed and his mother being busy with securing her sleeping yukata. "Ok, what the hell is going on? Who just got booted out of my window?"
Genma was trying to get his anger under control. He hadn't felt this furious in a long time. "Some slimy lowlife had preyed on your mother to sully her honor. I'll look through the garden to see if this scum is still here." That said, Genma went down the stairs.
Ranma looked after him. "Woah... I haven't seen Pop this angry in years. That he just accepts going panda in order to find this guy... Uhm, everything OK, Mom?"
"Yes... It was just the surprise. Some seconds longer and I would've cut this pervert to pieces with the honor blade I keep in my room." She then looked to the open window. "Do you always sleep with your window open?"
"Until it gets too cold, yes. I slept under the sky for so many years, I need fresh air or I can't sleep." Going to the window, he looked outside but only saw a panda searching through the garden. "Pop, he's gone. Let's go back to bed," he called, then closed the window.
While walking back into her room, Nodoka couldn't help but to be proud of Genma's reaction. Her husband had been furious at the intrusion and possible attempt to sully her honor. He also was very insistant to make sure that the intruder was gone. This was a lot like the Genma of old, who'd been very protective of her. Despite some woman saying that this was patronizing, she liked it.
After all it showed that he cared.
o
At the morning the events of the night were already mostly forgotten. While walking down the stairs, Nodoka could hear Genma and Ranma in the garden, her husband again being busy with trying to get their son to understand some really important technique. She'd tried to understand what exactly it was, but she'd soon felt lost with the terminology and left it alone afterwards.
She'd for now enjoy a bath, then make breakfast and again enjoy the byplay when Ami would arrive in time for also being at the table and interact with her son. Recently the girl somehow had gotten into the habit of enjoying breakfast together with them, especially with Saeko being on early shift currently.
Walking to the furo, she suddenly stopped when she noticed something on the ground. Picking it up she saw that it was a black piglet... a dirty black piglet. She didn't know where it had come from, but even though she knew it looked cute, it couldn't stay.
"Well, seems like I have to call the animal shelter... But first let's get you clean." The piglet only seemed half awake. So Nodoka walked into the furo and disrobed, before turning on the warm water to clean the piglet. She after all didn't actually want to get her clothes wet.
Meanwhile outside, Genma was still trying to get Ranma to finally understand.
"Ok, boy. Now that I've taught you everything, use it. Dare you if I've wasted my time," he told Ranma, then waited.
Ranma knew that he meant it. His father had been quite serious this time and instead of teaching him something bogus, it would be actually useful. After the episode where his mother got drained of her life energy, his father had taken it upon himself to give him a crash-course in reading life-force and detecting flows of it. Now he needed to show that the training had actually worked and that he could see all the auras that normally were invisible.
Closing his eyes, he concentrated... He did feel something at the back of his mind, and then before his mind's eye, the life energy of all living things around him started to form like a colored outline. Opening his eyes, it looked like an overlay, a bit like a picture from one of these thermal cameras.
"Woah..." The traces disappeared from his sight. "Now that was quite the experience... Pop, you're glowing as bright as a searchlight."
Genma couldn't help but to show a small smile. His son had picked up real fast on the whole concept and was now able to do its basic skills. "Good...good! You've mastered the basic skill..."
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Both of them heard this female scream of terror from the house and stopped dead in their activities. "That was Mom!" Ranma said. However, before they could do anything, a second scream came from the house, but this time it was one of pure anger.
"YOU BASTARD!"
What followed was almost surreal to Ranma. Out of the open sliding doors of the family room, a very naked Ryoga ran into the garden, closely followed by Nodoka. The woman was red with anger, her left hand barely holding the hastily thrown over yukata closed while the she wielded a sword with her right, trying to slice Ryoga to pieces, while cursing all the time.
"STOP RIGHT THERE SO THAT I CAN CUT IT OFF, YOU PERVERTED PIG!" she screamed.
"No way! Lady, this is all a misunderstanding!" Ryoga yelped, while almost feeling the air pressure from her sword swipes.
"I'LL GIVE YOU MISUNDERSTANDING, YOU..."
Ranma blushed when listening to what his mother then said and continued to say. He'd had no idea that his mother had such an extensive vocabulary of the most dirty gutter words. Every seaman would blush at this stream of dirtiest profanity. Ranma himself didn't exactly know what had happened, but seeing a naked Ryoga and his half-naked mother made him think the worst. However, looking at his father, who looked ready to explode, made him decide to better move aside.
Genma was red with anger. This...this pervert had dared to return and from the looks of it, he'd tried to ambush Nodoka in the furo and do something unspeakable to her. A rage he hadn't felt for years errupted within him while watching his wife chasing the pervert through the garden. Now he'd crush this guy flat!
Ryoga himself cursed his bad luck. The rain had put him into his cursed form and then he'd promtly got lost, before finally falling asleep on the floor of some house. How should he have known that it was Ranma's house and that the woman from yesterday would find him? He'd barely woken up up when she'd doused him with warm water, and suddenly he'd stood before her, both of them very naked. And now he was trying to escape this madwoman, who wanted to cut him into pieces.
The situation only got worse when suddenly Ranma's father tried to block his way, looking ready to rip him into shreds. "YOU SICK (censored)! PREPARE TO DIE!"
Ryoga knew when he had to leave, and now was a good moment. He ran towards the perimeter fence, where he'd spotted his backpack in the bushes. Grabbing it, he jumped over the high wooden fence and out of sight. However, from the other side of the fence a girl screamed in fear and Ranma knew exactly whose voice that was. Quickly he jumped over the fence as well.
Yep, it had been her. Ami stood there, clutching her book bag, shivering and almost as pale as a sheet. It seemed today she'd been a little earlier than usual. Seeing her friend she stuttered. "R-Ranma... Jumped over the fence... Saw his..."
Ranma could already guess what had happened and swore to deck Ryoga next time he'd see him for scaring poor Ami like this. Taking her by the arm he gently led her to the house, finally seating her at the table in the family room. His father still looked like he needed to let off steam and his mother by now had properly secured her yukata. One look at how pale Ami looked, and she decided other things could wait for now and made some claming tea.
After half a cup, Ami finally had calmed down enough to speak. "I know all of this from books... But to suddenly see it first hand scared me to no end... What happened?" she asked, wondering by now what exactly had led to this.
Nodoka felt like she'd soon need some calming tea as well. "I found a piglet this morning. When I washed it with warm water in the furo, it suddenly turned ito this... person."
Genma again looked as if popping a vein and Ranma groaned. "Ohhhh, this idiot. I knew he'd do something this stupid." Seeing the questioning looks, he added "Remember what I said about Ryoga yesterday? Well, that was him and from your description, he followed me to the pools of sorrow and fell into one of them."
This actually roused Genma's memories. "Now I remember. The guide found a piglet and we wanted to have it for lunch. However, it turned into this...person as soon as being thrown into the pot." It was clear that Genma would love to again shove Ryoga into a cooking pot and cook him alive.
Ami by now no longer was shocked that people could be turned into animals by magic, she'd seen Mr. Saotome do this more than once. Considering this Ryoga's personality, the curse was strangely fitting and she wondered if there was a sort of poetic justice involved in the pools that everyone would get the fitting curse. Ranma had gotten girl to counteract his almost absurdly strong masculine self-image. Mr. Saotome got panda to show his laziness. And Ryoga got pig to mirror his lack of good character traits.
"Life never gets boring..." she muttered, wondering what would come next.
...some days later...
Ami wondered how she could ask the question without looking too curious for her own good.
She was sitting at the breakfast table of the Saotomes and everything was normal, apart from the fact that Nodoka Saotome had somehow decided to no longer put up her long hair, wearing it down instead. Ami had to admit that it looked good on her, but she wondered what had made her do it. Finally it seemed that the woman decided to take pity and help her out of this.
"Dear, the way you are looking at me, I can guess that you wonder why I changed the way I wear my hair," Nodoka told the girl.
Ami silently thanked her for being so insightful. "Ehm... yes. This looks unusual on you... but not bad. It actually looks good."
"Thank you. As for why I did this, you remember that scene some days ago?" Nodoka asked her.
"As if I could forget..." Ami knew that she'd have a hard time to forget that. After all it was not every day that a completely nude boy jumped onto the sidewalk in front of you. She'd gotten over it by now, but it was one of these things you'd remember even after years.
"Should he ever show his face again, he'll be sorry..." Genma grumbled from behind the newspaper.
Nodoka liked this protective streak that Genma was showing recently, but then turned back to the matter at hand. "You propably didn't remember, but I had my hair down and both, Genma and Ranma, told me that it looks good. So I decided to wear it like that."
She didn't tell her that before coming to the final decision, she'd spoken with several other woman she was friends with, in order to get their opinion, fearing that wearing her hair down could clash with her choice of dress. After all it was traditionally put up. However, they actually had told her that there was no conflict and it even made her look younger, adding that in these times no one would see anything wrong with it. She didn't regret the choice, as it obviously was an eye-catch for her husband, who also wasn't used to the sight. The growls of jealously from him when mentioning that men on the street were now noticing her a lot more were a nice extra.
"Sure looks good on you, Mom. I however wouldn't do it myself. No need to look feminine when I'm a girl," Ranma said from the side, while cleaning out the last of his miso soup.
Right then Genma put down the paper and pointed at an article. "Look at this... There's a sleeping sickness going around this ward. People affected by it can't wake up and it only hits girls and woman... Boy, dare you if you catch it."
"Pop, you wound me," Ranma said in his most-mocking tone, before turning serious. "Actually it's little news to me. Yesterday our English teacher Ms. Haruna fell asleep at her desk in front of the entire class and the abulance took her away."
"Oh dear, that sounds like a serious sickness," Nodoka commented, while clearing the table.
"What I don't get is, that there's no reason for these people to stay asleep. My mother says that it's a mystery," Ami said, while getting up. "I think by now everyone is concerned about it."
Ranma snorted. "Surely not everyone. All girls in my class -and that includes Akane- are right now gaga over some kind of kitschy radio program and couldn't care less. I had to tell her to not speak about it during our sparring."
"Oh, I remember. Ikuko told me about the girls staying up to listen to it. Something about reading love letters to the audience..." Nodoka shook her head. "I honestly wonder what this is supposed to accomplish. A love letter should be a private thing."
"Nodoka, I never wrote you a love letter," Genma reminded her, while folding up the newspaper.
"That's because you had different ways to... covey the message." Seeing Ranma blush and knowing very well what mental image she propably had conjured, she innocently asked her son "Is something wrong, son?"
This was one of the times were Ranma was eager to leave for school.
o
Ranma felt like rolling his eyes when seeing what greeted him in the classroom. All the girls had gathered around Naru's desk, while she showed around a flower-shaped brooch. Ranma knew exactly what that thing was, after having to hear the story numerous times in school.
Apparently that was a program on radio FM No. 10 called "Romance at Midnight", moderated by a guy called Jack Dyte. The only content was that Dyte would read love letters, which people had sent in, to the audience. The people whose letters he'd read would receive a flower brooch. Ranma found the whole thing seriously kitschy and a waste of time, but it had turned girls, even Akane, into wishy-washy romantics. Funny enough, Ami just was annoyed by the whole thing.
Seeing that access to his desk was blocked at the moment, Ranma decided to wait and listen to what the girls were talking about.
"That's funny. The same brooch that Ms. Haruna was wearing. I guess she did after all wrote that love letter from two nights ago," Usagi commented, while looking at the brooch,
"Well, it certainly looks better on me than on her," Naru said, then put in onto the shirt of her seifuku. Everyone looked in envy, but Naru seemed to become paler. "All of a sudden I don't feel so great..."
Ranma also didn't feel well, but for different reasons. All of a sudden he'd felt a spike in his danger sense coming directly from Naru. Seeing how she seemed to struggle with something, he opted to try and see if his new ability was of any help with his bad feeling. It had become easier to access it and a with little concentration he managed to activate his sight of life force... and he gasped. What he saw was frightening. Somehow Naru's ki was sucked out of her body and into the flower brooch.
He didn't waste a second. Before anyone could voice a protest, he shoved everyone aside on his way to the now almost alseep Naru, ripped the brooch off her shirt and threw it onto the ground, where it shattered into several pieces.
Naru shot up as if stung by a hornet, again wide awake. "W-what happened?"
Before Ranma could utter a word, the brooch suddenly disintigrated into a pile of dust, leaving behind no trace that it had ever existed in the first place. Everyone looked at the remains of the brooch in astonishment, wondering what was going on.
Ranma didn't like that at all, regarless what was going on. "That thing was leeching on you life force. Good that I removed it just in time."
"Oh, come on! Leeching on her life force? That's impossible!" Akane said in disbelief. Ranma looked at her as if waiting for her to understand. Finally Akane sighed. "Ok, I forgot! You are a walking biological impossibility. I take back what I said."
Sitting back down, Naru shook her head as if trying to clear her head. "I have no idea what had happened. I just all of a sudden filt dizzy and sleepy."
Any more discussion was stopped when the teacher -a choleric man- shouted immediately after entering the classroom that he would not tolerate such a chaos. Everyone scambled to their desks. Ranma however couldn't care less for math right at the moment. He didn't know that Usagi was very pre-occupied with what had happened as well.
And none of them had noticed that the plant in the corner of the room had moved its twigs towards Naru when she'd been in danger, as if trying to reach her.
...Hikawa Shrine, that night...
Having gotten a glass of milk, Rei Hino walked back to her room, where she would wait for the newest broadcast of "Romance at Midnight" to air. She'd listen in longing to all the love letters, but hadn't dared to write one of her own, fearing her grandfather's reaction should he find out.
"Hm?" She'd noticed something moving on the floor. Picking it up, a small, black piglet oinked back at her. "Where did you come from? Well...you're quite the cute guy."
Without thinking, Rei took the piglet with her into her room, setting it onto her bed while waiting for the broadcast to start. She'd always wanted to have a pet -one of the few really girly things she allowed herself to dream of- and the piglet not only was cute, but also seemed to be domesticated and would be a really unusual pet, meaning it would help her to have something to show around.
Rei knew that her fawning over a radio show and wanting a pet was because life frustrated her.
She'd never known a normal family life. She'd at first only been raised by her mother. When she'd died from illness, her useless father at once her handed her off to her grandfather, citing that his political career was more important. The only times she saw him was, when he needed to present the 'caring family father' to the media. Last time she'd been tempted to throw her orange juice into his face. Her grandfather had been more of a father than her biological one would ever be.
This frustration of course had resulted during her growing up to develop quite a temper. Her grandfather ofter had to force her to get extra meditation and the other girls in the private school she was at openly told her that her temper was a force to be reckoned with.
To make things worse, her social life wasn't that great and she still hadn't managed to get a boyfriend. Most simply didn't want to date a miko and the few who did were scared off after meeting her grandfather for the first time, the old man saying that these were not the right kind of boys. So basically she was terribly lonely and therefore latched on things like love shows and now a pet.
Finally the show started. "This is again Romance at Midnight with Jack Dyte."
Rei leaned in to listen which love letters would be read this time, but was in for a surprise when just before Dyte could start to read the first one, a woman started to argue with him and told the listeners that basically the show was a sham. Dyte told her that she'd be sorry for that, before the radio went into static.
"Strange..." Rei shook her head. "I guess today's broadcast is off." Seeing no reason to stay up, she turned off the light and went to bed. The piglet seemed really tame and didn't even attempt to run away.
Said piglet was just glad that she'd already changed and thus he wouldn't be in another compromising situation. Being chased by a maniac with a sword had been bad enough. He'd just wait until she was asleep and then would slip away. It had been bad luck that after errecting his camp site, he'd been surprised by rain and then promptly gotten lost, only to end up in this house. At least it wasn't Ranma's house.
So he waited for her to fall asleep... Bad thing that he'd been tired as well and just a little nap seemed to be so inviting.
o
Ranma felt ridiculous, thanks to the current outfit.
Normally had wouldn't care about other people's business, but after the scene in school this morning, he'd been reminded of this monster some time ago, and one of the rules of a marital artist was to protect the weak and innocent. That was one of the few good things his father had taught him, even if the old man himself didn't follow that rule at all.
So he felt it would be good to take a closer look at this broadcast station. He'd read enough western superhero comics borrowed from classmates by now to know, that revealing his ID to the bad guys could be a really bad idea. So had searched through his pack and found a ninja suit complete with mask -he didn't even want to remember where his father got this thing- and to be sure also turned into a girl.
And now here she was, stalking out the FM No. 10 building, wondering if something unusual would happen before she'd sneak in. So far, nothing had happened at all, apart from a female employee entering the building some minutes ago, followed by a... no, she couldn't bring herself think of this little monster's name.
Looks like nothing does happen at all on the outside...
-Booom- Watching a hole blown into the ceiling, she knew she'd take a closer look. Nah, thought that too early. At least I didn't make myself look like an idiot for nothing...
Jumping to a closer roof, she saw with interest this Sailor Moon chick from the last encounter with a monster jumping out of the hole, another female-looking monster close on her heels. Ranma knew at once that she was at the right place. Sneaking onto the roof after another jump, she decided to first watch how Moon would make herself. She'd only attack this... thing if the short-skirted girl would be unable to defend herself.
On the roof meanwhile, Sailor Moon cursed herself for being so careless.
After that scene in the classroom this morning, she couldn't help but to agree with Luna that the Dark Kingdom had to have a role with these strange flower brooches. And at first everything had went according to plan. Thanks to some magical gadget formed like a pen, given to her by Luna with the strict order only to use it for business, she'd been able to disguise herself as a grown-up woman and she also had discovered that their suspicion was true. To her surprise, the villan this time was a man wearing a gray uniform -and he would have looked quite good if not for the fact that he was the enemy- posing as Jack Dyte.
That was when things had gone awry. She'd stormed in without thinking and openly told the audience to not believe a word, causing the fake Dyte to declare this an error and suddenly his assistant had jumped through the soundproof window and turned into a Youma. In the resulting mess of explosions, she'd been forced to transform, but her declaration hadn't impressed the man -obviously a commander- who had introduced himself as Jadeite, before ordering the Youma to kill her. And man, was this monster persistent, blowing holes into the roof while she was running.
"Sailor Moon, your tiara! It's right now your strongest weapon!" Luna called from where she was hiding from the blasts.
"I wish I'd get paid for this..." Taking off her tiara, she quickly spun it and threw it towards the Youma. However, the monster simply evaded it.
"Ha! You missed!" it gloated. What the Youma didn't see was, that like a boomerang the tiara returned back to Sailor Moon, slamming directly into its back. "AAAAARRRRGGGH!"
Ranma watched in sick fascination how the monster was reduced to dust after being cut in half. She'd seen her share of violence, but nothing like this, although it was completely bloodless. However, her attention was drawn to another direction when he saw Sailor Moon facing a blond man in a gray uniform. She felt that this confrontation would be interesting.
"Don't tell me you want to fight against me as well..." he arrogantly said, facing Sailor Moon.
"You can bet I do! Tiara Action!" She didn't waste a moment to throw her spinning tiara towards him, but to her shock, he just raised his hand and the tiara stopped in mid-air, before falling to the floor. "What the... Hey, that's unfair!"
"Haha! Nice try, but little girls like you who pretend to be a Senshi are not in my league," Jadeite mocked her, knowing very well that there never had been a Sailor Moon back in the Silver Millenium.
"I don't have to listen to that!" She tried a jump-kick, but slammed against an invisible force field and bounced onto the ground. "Ow, what was that?"
"I told you... I don't know how exactly you got powers, but you are clearly not a Senshi of old. Not that it matters much when I'm done with you." He slowly advanced towards her, but stopped when his way was blocked by something looking like a ninja.
"Don't you dare..." a clearly female voice warned him.
Jadeite chuckled. "And who are you supposed to be? Ninjette?" he asked her mockingly, making it clear that he didn't take this person serious in the slightest.
Ranma had to admit, this guy had nerves, but what she'd seen so far warned her that he had a lot of tricks up his sleeve and was not to be taken lightly, so she would not become careless. "It doesn't matter who I am. If you want to hurt her, you first have to go through me."
"With pleasure," Jadeite said with a smirk, feeling that this girl was propably suicidal. -scac- "Hm, what the...?" he wondered, when a rose easily went through his defense and embedded itself into the floor in front of him. However, there was no one else on the roof.
Ah, screw it! I have the energy already stored and I don't need a confrontation right now. Queen Beryl will be more interested in what I learned... "Looks like I'll kill you next time," he said, before teleporting away.
"Well, at least he knows the final technique..." Ranma commented the retreat, looking to Sailor Moon.
She rolled her eyes when witnessing what happened next. Sailor Moon was looking at this tuxedo-clad nut, who was making yet another corny speech, before taking off and literally flying away over the rooftops. Ranma didn't understand why girls tended to go gaga over something like that. Turning into a girl hadn't gifted her with that knowledge.
"I don't understand what you see in that guy. All he does is throwing roses and making corny speeches..." Ranma commented, while pulling off her mask. It was uncomfortably hot under it.
"He doesn't..." Whatever Sailor Moon wanted to say, it died when looking at Ranma. She barely managed not to blurt out his name, realizing that Sailor Moon had no way to know of his curse. "Uhm... never mind. Thanks for helping out."
"No problem. Maybe you get this guy next time. Well, I'll be around, maybe we meet again," Ranma said, then jumped off the roof and out of sight. She felt that she'd done her good deed for today and would now go back to bed. After all, tomorrow was a school day and there was no need for his mother and Ami to have a reason to scold him.
...some minutes later...
Mamoru Chiba felt an enormous headache coming up. He'd been busy with writing up some last-minute texts, when he'd all of a sudden blacked out. When he'd woken up again, he'd sat on a chair on the balcony.
He tried to make sense of it. This was already the third time he'd had such a blackout and there was no one he could ask what had happened, since he was living alone with no relatives left. Just a 19-year old college student of medicine, nothing out of the ordinary. However, this had changed recently with these blackouts and the nightmares of destruction and a voice that pleaded for him to help. He hadn't been able to make sense of it and his mood had become worse because of it.
His friend Motoki had suggested asking a doctor for help, but he wasn't yet that desperate. Also it didn't fit with anything he could find in his books. He wondered if perhaps he was suffering from a mental illness. He hoped not, his sharp mind was one of the things of which he was proud of. While his inheritance kept him alfoat, he'd come so far through his own work and didn't want to lose that.
"What's happening to me...?" he wondered, while again feeling the headache.
"If you allow me, I can help with this problem."
"Wah?" He'd not expected to hear a woman's voice and jumped up. "Whoever you are, what are you doing in my apartment? Show yourself!"
"No need for hostility. I'm here to help," came from a dark corner of the room, before someone walked out of the shadows.
Mamoru gulped when seeing what the woman looked like. She was wearing something that looked like a hentai version of a sailor fuku and for a moment he'd thought she was one of these hookers who've specialised in unusual tastes. He quickly dismissed the idea when feeling how she radiated dignity and seriousness in spite of her ridiculous outfit. He also had to look twice, but the staff she held on was really shaped like a big key.
Then he remembered that she'd appeared just like that in his living room. "Lady, better explain to me why you've broken into my apartment."
Sailor Pluto rolled her eyes. She'd forgotten how mistrustful Mamoru could be. "Please, do you really think someone dressed like me is here to relieve you of your TV set?"
Taken aback, Mamoru needed some moments, before admitting defeat. "No. No common burglar would dress like that. Still, who are you and what do you mean with you can help?"
"I fear my civilian name has to stay secret for now, I'm called Sailor Pluto when looking like this. As for how I can help... I do know the reason for your recent trouble. If you you wish, I can help you to solve this problem for you."
"I have the feeling that there's a price for this coming up," Mamoru interrupted her.
"Yes. Once you know the truth, there is no going back. Nothing will be like before. Do you still want my help?" she asked.
Mamoru wondered what she was talking about. He only had a health problem, right? On the other hand, the situation already was strange enough, so he doubted that it could become even worse than his fears of being mentally ill. "Nothing can surprise me."
Almost twenty minutes later, Mamoru wanted to eat his words.
"Ok... Let me get this straight... You've told me of this long-gone kingdom and I'm the re-incarnated prince of Earth, needed to battle the powers of darkness?" he asked, wanting to not believe it, but it sounded so true to him. "And the reason I have these headaches and blackouts is, because there's a problem with my powers awakening?"
"Yes, your accident during your childhood and the resulting head injury not only blocked your own memories, but also caused a disturbance with the powers and memories you inherited from Endymion," Pluto explained patiently.
Mamoru shook his head. "This sounds totally crazy... yet I can FEEL it is the truth. I'm uncomfortable with the idea that there are memories of a former life taking over whenever there's danger."
"This is why I am here to help. If you allow me, I can easily fix this problem, thus giving you complete control. It also will restore the clear seperation between your and Endymion's memories, which had been damaged by your accident," Pluto explained.
"Is this important?" Mamoru wondered.
"Yes, otherwise you'd over time turn into Endymion." Seeing Mamoru pale at the thought of being taken over by the memories of a long-dead man, she knew that was his permission to go on. "It'll also return your lost memories to you. You just have to look into the orb on top of my staff, I'll do the rest."
Looking into the red, glowing orb, Mamoru fell into a trance and Pluto closed her eyes to concentrate on the delicate work to repair the damage done years ago. Inside Mamoru's mind, the young man watched what had happened each time he'd blacked out. He was awed by that, until he found himself in a void, watching in amazement a double of himself wearing armour and himself as a child, arguing.
"Leave him alone! It is his life now, your time is over!" the child-Mamoru shouted at the man.
"What do you know? My mission is more important," the man who Mamoru guessed was Endymion, shouted back. "I have a kingdom to gain back."
"You don't get it... Let's let him make the decision," child-Mamoru decided.
"Yeah..." Endymion turned to Mamoru. "You decide which of us is more important."
Mamoru rolled his eyes. "Listen, you two! I don't care what your problem is. Endymion, you are so egoistical that it sickens me. I can't imagine that I'm supposed to be your reincarnation. Do me a favor and stay a memory. You are not me anymore and I'll use your powers to do good, not to errect a kingdom." He then turned to the child. "As for you... You actually belong to me. I think you kept my childhood from me long enough. Come to me."
Endymion grumbled, while fading away, while his child-self hugged him and everything went white.
Opening his eyes, Mamoru felt light-headed because of the rush of old memories returning and the presence of Endymion fading away. Everything was so clear all of a sudden, although he also felt embarrassment over the persona of Tuxedo Mask and his corny speeches. "That's... incredible!"
Pluto allowed herself a small smile. "You have discovered a bigger world. Your powers will grow the better your control gets... Now that you are in full control, will you aid us in our battle against the powers of darkness?"
Mamoru remembered what she'd told him and what the consequences otherwise could be. "I got these powers for a reason, right? I'd be really an idiot to sit back and let the bad guys take over the world. However, don't expect me to stay mysterious with the other Senshi. I prefer to play with my cards visible."
"I don't think this is going to be a problem."
Pluto however was really curious how this would play out. She'd managed make sure that neither would Mamoru turn into Endymion, nor would he become a joke in battle. Also, with destiny out of the way, maybe being comerades in their battle against evil would allow him and Usagi to develop a natural relationship, especially with Usagi being older than in the original timeline. She imagined that Mamoru revealing his identity to her should be very interesting.
...in the morning, Hikawa Shrine...
Looking at the piglet in her hands, Rei knew that she'd to first ask her grandfather before she could keep it as a pet. That meant a good first impression, including that it had to be clean. So she walked into the furo with the still sleeping piglet in her arms and turned on the warm water, setting the tiny animal down before disrobing.
Finally the furo was filled. Again picking up the piglet, she gently woke it up. "Ok, little guy. Lets get you clean first... Hey, what's wrong?" she wondered, when all of a sudden it started to squirm. Deciding that it was propably just the surprise of waking up in her arms, she decided to move along anyway.
Elsewhere in the house, Grandfather Hino set up the tea water, when suddenly...
"EEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!"
That was clearly his granddaughter screaming in terror! Grabbing a broom, he was ready to run to her rescue, when suddenly another scream echoed through the house, even louder than the first one.
"YOU PERVERT BASTARD!"
He wondered for a second what this could mean, when suddenly he saw two people bursting out of the back door into the yard of the shrine, and the sight made his blood pressure spike. There was Rei, red with anger and barely holding her sleeping robe shut with one hand and holding her baseball bat in the other, chasing a naked boy. There were few things that could rile him up, but his granddaughter being molested was one of them.
Outside, Rei was chasing the naked boy. She didn't know how exactly he'd disguised himself as a piglet, but her female fury was burning bright and she right now wanted nothing more than to smash in his head with her baseball bat. She'd went through several embarrassing situations in the past, but this one was definitely the worst.
"Look, this is all just one big misunderstanding..." he tried to explain.
"I'll give you misunderstanding! Right onto your empty head!" Rei roared in fury, while swinging her bat.
"You fiend!"
Ryoga felt that now would be a good time for making his exit, when seeing an old man in the robes of a priest and holding a boom, storm out of the house. The man looked ready to kill him on the spot. His decision made, he ran into the forest surrounding the shrine, his pusuers hot on his trail. It didn't seem likely that they'd give up easily.
Running in a straight line, he suddenly saw before him... Stinging nettles! Ranma, that's all your fault!
Running through the nettles naked, Ryoga felt like screaming, the nettles biting him in places better left unmentioned, but grinded his teeth together. Then he finally closed in on the outer wall of the shrine grounds. Seeing this as his chance to escape, he jumped over the high wall and out of sight.
"Eeek!" "A pervert!" "Get him!" "Who do you think you are?" -Baff- -Ooof- -Slap-
Having stopped in front of the wall, Rei and her grandfather listened to what happened on the other side of the wall. They both knew that on the other side was the bus stop and right at the moment there'd be students of the high schools and colleges waiting for the next bus. By the sounds of it, they were not too happy with the pervert's presence as well.
Almost an hour later, Ryoga crawled into the tent of his camp site.
How he had managed to find it in record time, he didn't even want to know. And despite it being morning, the day was already over for him after his ordeal.
First he'd had to run through a field of stinging nettles, then he'd gotten beaten up by a horde of schoolgirls and their angry boyfriends. After that, he'd somehow ended up in the schoolyard of an all-girls school and had gotten another beating from an angry mob, before stumbling into the garden of a house with dojo. The father of the young woman he'd scared with his sudden appearance, he was clearly a martial artist, had almost lynched him.
Nursing his numerous scratches, blisters and bruises, Ryoga decided that for the moment Ranma was less important. For now he only wanted to hide in his tent until he'd manage to overcome his fear of getting another day like this.
to be continued...
Next Episode:
"Awakening and Surprise"
