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.
Drama ensures...
This one went fast, wow! I can't make many comments, as this would contain spoilers, so for notes, read at the end of the chapter.
Note that specific notes are at the end of the chapter, to avoid spoilers.
Chapter 9: The Cat is unchained
"Where is Ranma? I thought he was interested in this," Rei asked, when looking around, seeing no sign of him.
Ami looked around the gathered group in the Hikawa Shrine. They'd gathered so they could get Rei better known and allow Mamoru to tell his story. This was bound to be interesting and important, as Rei's cooperation was essential and she right now was still pretty much a stranger. However, Ranma was absent and Ami knew why that was. She hoped she could tell them without getting nervous, as Ranma hadn't been happy with what had happened.
"There had been a little incident in the locker room in the last period and Ranma took that badly," Ami tried to explain. Seeing the looks the others gave her, she knew she had to explain. "All right, but I tell you only once..."
As it turned out, Ranma's threat of dire consequences should anyone try to do anything funny in the locker room hadn't penetrated everyones heads. One student from the grade above Ranma's had obviously thought Ranma to be bluffing and his common sense had taken a vacation while one less seen body part had taken over the thinking. That was bound to end up in disaster and it did right after the end of gym class.
Ranma had just left the showers and was bending over to take things out of his locker, when he'd gotten splashed by a bucket of cold water from said idiot, who afterwards at once fondled girl-Ranma's ass. He shouldn't have done that because after two seconds of confusion, Ranma had become furious and a backwards kick into the nuts stunned the moron while Ranma needed just a second to dry off and put on undershirt and boxers, noting that the others were all looking away, obviously having more sense than this moron.
The guy was even smaller than girl-Ranma, so she'd held him upside-down by the ankle and under everyone's eyes dunked him head-first into one of the toilets, flushing each time she did so. After finally letting go of the idiot, she told him that next time she'd pick one that had just been used. After that demonstration, everyone knew that Ranma was not bluffing.
"...and he was still really angry afterwards. So he went home to vent his anger with training," Ami concluded her explanation of what had happened.
"Had this happened to me, I would've lynched the idiot." Rei hadn't believed the whole gender-changing until Ranma had demonstrated it and she still was trying to understand what a huge burden this had to be for him.
"As interesting as this might be for some, I think we're not here to talk about the pervs at school," Akane finally said in mild annoyance. "After all you promised me I'd learn a little more about your new team mate and our mystery man here."
"Yes, I can tell Ranma everything later and with him not being here, Luna at least doesn't have to hide," Ami said, then looked to where Luna was busy with talking to Deimos, Phobos keeping his distance from the females.
"Maybe we should start with us telling Rei and Mamoru about us, and then they can tell us their story?" Naru suggested, while observing how quiet Usagi still was. This started to get ridiculous, Usagi and Mamoru should talk and clear this up.
So the girls told Rei and Mamoru about themselves.
When they were finally done, they waited which of the two would start. In the end, it was Rei who did so.
"Well, to be honest my life isn't the most interesting one. Up to now I went to school and tended to the shrine. Not something you can write a novel about. My mother died when I was young and my useless father felt that his political career in the government of greater Tokyo was more important and handed me off to my grandfather."
Naru's eyes widened. "Wait a moment... Please don't tell me you father is Takashi Hino. This slimy guy is in the middle of a re-election campaign, I read about that in the newspaper."
Rei rolled her eyes. "Oh great, I totally forgot about that. Yes, it's him and he on occassion uses me to show the media the 'caring family man'. Guess he'll show up here every day now. Well... apart from that I'm a good singer and compose my own songs. I'm going to the T*A school for girls, but don't have any friends and grandfather has chased away the few boys I managed to get interested in."
"No friends?" Usagi wondered. She couldn't imagine someone having no friends.
"Not one. Most don't want to be friends with a miko. They accept me as the girl in school who has the most to say, but otherwise... And the rest doesn't want to deal with me because of my temper. I hate to admit it, but sometimes I can be downright choleric."
"I don't care, no one should be this alone all the time," Usagi declared, then swallowed when Mamoru gave her an interesting look. The silence stretched between these two.
-Wham- That was Naru slamming her hands onto the table. "Ok, I watched this for long enough. Usagi, if you have something to say to Mamoru, just do so now. Please, so that it finally is done and over with."
Usagi looked a little intimidated, before finally mananging to get out what she'd tried to say since yesterday. "M-Mamoru... I...I'm sorry for being so mean to you. You helped us and healed us, even though you didn't have to."
"To be honest, I have to apologise to you as well for how I treated you before that. We both haven't acted like role models in that regard," he finally said. "What do you say, let's forget that and start anew?"
"About time," Akane commented when seeing Usagi give a silent nod to that proposal.
"That's good. Now, you probably wonder about me?" Mamoru asked them, seeing that they were eager to hear more. "I think it's best if I start at the beginning. I had been in a car accident when I was young. I lost my parents that day and it really messed up my memories. So I grew up with teachers and became rather intellectual. To be frank, my life is mostly bland, my friend Motoki even calls me the boredom in person."
"You know Motoki?" Usagi wondered. "You know, he runs the Crown Arcade."
"That's him. Didn't know that you knew him, shows how little we really know about each other. Back to me... I led a very boring life and right now study to become a doctor. When I awakened, Endymion always took over and I had no idea what I did, while transformed. I have to thank Pluto that she restored my memory and reduced Endymion back to what he should be: a memory."
"And now you fight for the right cause? To be honest, you are one of the few males I've met recently, who actually impress me," Akane had to admit.
"And I'm glad that you are fighting with us," Phobos finally said, after being silent all the time. "I remember that relations to Earth hadn't been the best, so it actually surprises me a little how eager you are to fight at our side."
"Maybe that's because we're now living all on the same planet?" Luna asked with a heavy dose of sarcasm.
Phobos sighed. "I really miss Artemis. Where is the white furball when you need him?"
Luna rolled her eyes. "Do you know how often I asked myself that? If you are really that desperate for male companionship, I'll tell you later where to find him."
Deimos flew over to Mamoru, laughing. "I hope you really know in what kind of crack team you now are. I'll be impressed if you don't go crazy after two weeks."
"That wasn't called for. You're supposed to be my advisor and I don't think that includes insulting my team mates," Rei told the female crow, wondering why she got punished with these two as advisors. After all, they acted more like teenagers.
"Hey, great, I had no idea you are collecting manga!" Usagi suddenly quipped while holding up one of the issues.
"Hey, I didn't give you permission to take that!"
And from that point it descended into Usagi and Rei testing which of them would have more endurance at annoying the other. There was no open hostility, but alone watching this immature display made the others wonder if Deimos had been right and they had entered a crack team. It certainly was not what would be expected from the defenders of the world.
"You know her far longer than me, Naru. Is this normal for Usagi?" Akane asked, wondering if she'd landed in a bad anime. That girls of 16 years were acting like that didn't fit that well into her world view.
Naru shook her head. "As much as I want to say no, she always was this way. You get used to it and then it isn't as bad as it first looks like. Just don't make fun of her."
"I knew it... Now you see what I have to work with," Luna told Phobos in defeat. "Come, I'll tell you where to find Arty, so that we both can escape this madhouse."
Mamoru wondered if it wasn't too late to return being an ordinary student. Fighting against monsters looked easy compared to enduring the squabbling of these two girls. Getting a little distance between himself and them looked more and more like a wise idea.
Ami shook her head while watching all of this. Ranma probably wouldn't believe her when she'd later tell him all of this. Two of the Sailor Senshi, the people destined to protect Earth from the forces of evil, were annoying each other as if they were five years old. It would be amusing if not for the fact, that these two had to work together in order to protect people.
Heaven forbid that they act like that in battle, she silently prayed.
Her thoughts again drifted to Ranma. She hadn't told anyone, but after seeing Ranma only in his boxers some days ago had had some interesting effects on her. While she before already had had dreams about him, they mostly had been harmless stuff, just romantic and the usual stuff of a house and kids. However, that had changed after that day and her dreams since then had been far from being innocent.
Last night had been the most intense one.
Essentially she'd watched Ranma train, only that he'd been completely nude. Then he'd declared he'd found a new art called marital arts and he'd love to demonstrate it to her. She'd agreed at once, so in one swift move he'd ripped off her clothes and then... Needless to say the rest of it had been heavily X-rated and she'd woken up in the morning with a pair of panties ready for laundry.
It disturbed Ami a little, since she'd alwas thought of herself as a good girl, who wouldn't experience such things, but nature was determined to prove her wrong. She knew by now that she was attracted to Ranma, but was still a little unsure if it was also more than just that.
She wondered how she could know for sure, while in the background Usagi felt with a manga in her hands.
...at the same time, Saotome home...
The nerve of that idiot! What was he thinking? Probably nothing or his dick had replaced his head, Ranma still thought in anger while beating up the padded pole as best as he could to vent his anger.
The incident in the locker room had left him surprisingly angry -far more than he'd imagined possible- and after trying to tell Ami as respectful as possible that he couldn't meet with the others, he'd made a beeline for home and after changing into something more comfortable, had started to mercilessly beat up the training pole. However, that could only do so much good and it was annoying that Genma wouldn't be home until in an hour, as he right now really needed a training partner.
Strange that when I want him to be around, he isn't, Ranma thought, while continuing to vent his anger.
His mother had quickly left him alone when seeing his current mood. She would get the whole story later from him and gave him his space so that he could get all the anger out of his system. He was thankful that she wouldn't press the issue until he was ready to tell her. And he wasn't that keen on telling her that her son got molested while being a girl. It was too embarrassing.
And of course there were other issues as well.
Last night he again had one of these dreams, only now it had been even more intense than the last one. This time Ami had transformed before his eyes in the dream. However, she'd only gained the tiara, gloves and boots of Sailor Mercury and had stayed naked otherwise. Afterwards they'd done some things that still made him blush. Ami would probably die of embarrassment if she knew. It at least meant that he found her really attractive, although he still was somewhat unsure about his feelings for her.
He actually regretted a little that he'd felt unable to go with her to that meeting, but he'd see her later. Her presence made him feel strangely good and he wondered if that was because he liked her.
Some months ago I would've laughed at the idea of being so occupied with thinking about a girl, he thought, while continuing beating on the pole.
Being busy, he didn't notice a sports car stopping on the road at the other side of the fence. He however did notice when a young man with long, brown hair jumped over the fence without any problem. That alone told Ranma, that this guy had to have so power under his belt, as such jumps weren't the easiest, especially without any effort.
"Yeah, what do you want?" Ranma brusquely asked him, not being in the mood to entertain strangers right now.
The stranger didn't seem fazed by this. "My name is Masato Sanjouin. I heard of a really good martial artist in this area, which obviously seems to be you. I'm very good myself and wondered if we could have a test of skill in a formal match."
Ranma blinked, he hadn't expected such flattery. "I'm really tempted to say yes, especially since my school encourages to accept all challenges. But I have to decline."
Sanjouin looked a bit disappointed. "Can I ask, why that is?"
"Easy, my mother forced my father to accept that there'd be no formal challenges accepted unless both of them agree. And right now she wants me to concentrate more on school than on the art," Ranma told him with a bit of disappointment, while removing the string that held his pigtail together.
"Well, that is too bad," Sanjouin said while watching Ranma undo his pigtail. "I had looked forward to it, but I can't have everything." He made a slight movement with his hand.
"Damn it!" Ranma cursed, when losing the string. It seemed to have slipped out of his hand.
"Allow me..." Sanjouin picked up the string from the ground and for a slight moment Ranma thought that he'd felt something happening, but that surely must've been his imagination. "Here..." he gave the string back to Ranma.
"Uhm, thanks." Ranma took the string and quickly tied his hair into a ponytail, wondering if he should wear it like that more often, as the pigtail started to become a hassle. Blinking, he felt a little bit strange but thought it to be a remnant of his anger. "Excuse me, please, I have to continue to practice."
"Of course. Have a nice day."
Leaving, he waited until he was in his car, before showing a smirk. Nephrite was pleased with how well it had went. The Youma-core of Leo that he'd infused into the string would quickly dominate his thoughts and enter his body. Then Ranma Saotome would only be there for his art to produce as much energy as possible until the peak was reached; and then, all of it would belong to the Dark Kingdom.
That's an enemy against which all your fighting ability won't help you, he mocked while starting the engine and driving away.
In the garden, Ranma felt suddenly a rush while doing his exercises. It felt like the spark he'd lost when the art didn't fulfill him any longer. it was very tempting to follow that spark and take hold of it. He had no idea that he was walking into a trap like the fly to the honey. There was no resistance as he didn't even know that he was in danger.
Right at that moment, he'd already lost the battle and a faint glimmer took hold in his eyes.
A glimmer of evil.
...at night...
"Raaaaaannnnmaaaaa!" "Raaaaaannnnmaaaaa!"
Running through the misty plane, he desperately tried to escape this voice that was calling and mocking him. He didn't want to be anywhere near this voice. Stumbling, he fell to his knees. To his horror, the voice now was much more clearer than before, as if closing in on him.
"Ranma... Ranma Saotome!"
"No, keep away! Leave me alone!" he called in terror, while getting up and again starting to try and run away from the source of this voice.
"Ha ha ha... Where are you going, Ranma? You can't get away from me," the voice mocked him. Ranma then stopped dead when he saw the shadowed figure standing in his way. "See what I mean?"
"No, stay away! I want no part of you!" Ranma felt like his feet were glued to the ground and he couldn't run any longer.
The figure's yellow eyes started to glow and it let out the one sound that Ranma feared above all, shaking him to the core. "No, stop it! Stop it, I said!"
The figure made the sound again, laughing when seeing Ranma's panic. "It's time, Ranma. Yes... It's time."
...
"Noooo! Ahhh!"
Ranma needed a little before realising that he was sitting in his bed, wet with sweat. However, within seconds of waking up his eyes clouded over and his thoughts entered a vicious circle that was fired up by Nephrite's magic. The dream had only proven to him that he had to get better. He had to get better at any cost to be strong enough! And to do that, he could no longer bother with anything else until he would be the best of the world.
Like a robot, devoid of his normal grace, he dressed and then went down the stairs into the garden. He had to get better fast and no one would stop him at reaching this goal... No one. He already wondered if he would even need anyone anymore.
After all, the best wouldn't need anyone.
Right at this moment, the real Ranma no longer was in control of his actions, being forced to watch as a twisted caricature of him took over control of his body and became obsessed with becoming the best there is, regardless what the cost would be, even if he would have to go over dead bodies to achive this goal.
The real Ranma's only thought was hope that this... thing wouldn't hurt Ami.
...the next day, school...
School was nearly over and Ami worried about Ranma.
Yesterday, Ranma already had been a little distant and had had huge trouble concentrating on his homework while always was thinking about more efficient ways to hone his skills. However, today had been much worse. Ranma had been training like mad when she'd arrived at his home and his mother literally had to use her authority to get him to eat and then go to school.
It had continued throughout the day. From what the other girls had told her, Ranma could barely sit still or was so bored, that he almost fell asleep. That was completely unlike the Ranma she knew, who wanted to improve in school so that he could get a degree to teach the art to others. The Ranma of this day was almost a caricature of an obsessed martial artist who had no other interests outside of fighting.
To make things worse, he had talked neither to her nor his friends the entire day.
She didn't want to admit it, but this actually hurt her a lot more than she'd first thought. Ranma treating her this cold... It wasn't like him. It almost felt like a complete stranger had replaced Ranma; a stranger obsessed with training, as some students said they'd witnessed him doing so on the roof during lunch break. It didn't make sense at all why Ranma had changed so much from one day to the other.
As soon as the bell rang, Ami quickly stuffed her things into her book bag and ran to his homeroom in the hope of intercepting him. She did so, but he just walked past her, as if not even seeing her at all, giving her not a single look. It was, as if she didn't even exist to him any longer or was beneath his notice. That was too much for her, she had to try and ask.
"Ranma!" she said, holding him by the shoulder.
He turned around and she gasped when his eyes looked at her as if seeing an annoyance, they were so cold. "What is it? I've missed enough of my training as it is. Stupid school."
"Ranma...? What's wrong with you?" Ami didn't trust her voice to not crack.
"Wrong? Absolutely nothing is wrong with me. I just realised how much all of this stuff is holding me back from becoming the best martial artist there is. So don't bother me while I'm training. I have no need for someone like you anymore."
Shaking, Ami watched Ranma leave and she couldn't hold back tears. "Ranma... what happened to you?"
"How could he treat you like that?" Akane complained, having watched the entire scene from the classroom door. "Yesterday he was alright, and today he acts like a complete asshole and treats you like dirt."
"I have no idea... All of a sudden he acts like a mockery of himself," Ami got out, trying hard not to sob. She really didn't want to believe that he'd changed so much to the worse all of a sudden. That Ranma treated her like this had hurt her deeper than she'd have thought possible.
"I think there is more to it than it first seems to."
Looking down, they saw that Artemis had joined them. They quickly retreated into the now empty classroom, so they wouldn't get disturbed, before Usagi asked "Artemis? Where did you come from?"
"From the moon." He gave he a look of pity. "Of course I came in through the door. I wanted to talk with you girls after school, but while I was around, I noticed how strange your friend is acting. I fear it is more than just him being nasty," Artemis explained. He wouldn't tell them he noticed this by chance and in reality had waited for Minako, who of course right now was starting detention and would be there for some time.
"Can't you be more precise?" Naru complained, wondering if talking animals had a license to avoid speaking clearly.
Artemis knew he should better get to the point. "There were two things... When he passed me today, he didn't even seem to notice me, instead of having a panic attack. The second is more disturbing. I saw him getting hit with water and he didn't change."
"You mean that this isn't Ranma?" Usagi asked, wondering if he had been replaced by a doppelgänger.
"No, of course he's the real one, he was not replaced by a Youma. However, to suppress the transformation, there has to be strong magic at work. Girls, I fear the Dark Kingdom has done something horrible to him."
Ami looked at the mooncat in horror. "I don't believe that! There has to be another explanation!"
"Ami, do you want Ranma to have become this cold to you on his own?" Naru honestly asked the girl and when seeing her eyes widen in understanding, added "At least you know it wasn't really him who did this."
Akane looked to Artemis after having listened to all of this. "If you are right... how can he be returned to normal? He might sometimes be a jerk, but I don't want his life to get ruined by this." She honestly meant it, Ranma had gained some respect from her; not easy considering her general opinion of the male gender.
Artemis sighed. "That's what I don't know. However, we first need to know what actually is wrong with him." He looked to Ami. "If you want to help your friend, your Mercury Computer is a powerful diagnosis tool. Should you get close enough, you can find out what's wrong with him."
Pulling it out of her subspace pocket, Ami first looked at the small computer and then to Artemis with anger in her eyes that was very untypical for her. "Then why did you waste our time? Couldn't you've said this at the beginning?"
Artemis knew that her anger was born out of worry, so he didn't take offense at it. "If you just run after him, you could make it worse. Get the others first and have them as backup when you confront him. This reminds me of something..."
"I know what this means, you want me to keep away in case it gets nasty," Akane flatly said. "It's really frustrating that I can't help you."
They didn't have an answer to that. They all knew that the girl was frustrated by her inability to be of help in the battles and that she felt pretty much useless. However, they also had no idea how to change that. After all, you couldn't just suddenly make someone ultra-competent or give them magical powers out from nowhere. Yet they still felt bad for leaving her behind as they could see her disappointment.
Maybe in the future she'd hopefully find her own place in all of this.
...afternoon at the Saotome home...
"Genma, you have to do something! He's totally obsessed and doesn't listen to me any longer," Nodoka told Genma, while watching her son in worry.
"I already tried that, remember? He gave me a look that promised outright murder and you know he knows at least 30 ways of killing someone instantly," Genma replied, while also watching what happened with uncharacteristic worry.
Ranma already had been obsessed with training at the morning and they suspected that he hadn't slept at all. He also had been particularly stubborn and unbearable. But now was much, much worse. Ranma was training like a madman and the pole started to splinter under his relentless assault. Ami was nowhere in sight and when Nodoka had tried to get him to talk, he'd hissed at her to leave him alone or face the consequences. She hadn't recognised her son, it was as if he was posessed by an evil spirit.
"He... he actually frightens me. His aura is completely chaotic and even getting close to him could be dangerous." He had never before seen anything like this -which meant a lot since he'd seen Ranma in various states of anger over the years- and it scared him.
Nodoka herself had to admit that she was scared as well, seeing how Ranma's features became more and more enraged with each hit breaking apart the pole. His face by now was a mask of rage, as if he was completely losing control of himself. She felt so helpless seeing him spiral downwards, without knowing what had caused this or any way she could stop this. She felt like she had failed him.
Right then she noticed someone walking around the house. "Ami, come here and don't get anywhere near him!" she called to the girl. "Ranma is not himself and I still have no idea what has caused this."
Ami was taken aback when seeing Ranma's strikes starting to splinter the top of the pole, Ranma himself was wet with sweat and his face had become a mask of anger. For the moment she forgot scanning Ranma with the computer and that the others were waiting on the other side of the fence. For the moment she could only see the mockery that Ranma had been turned into.
"Great goodness! Ranma..." she gasped in disbelief.
"Ami, he has become like a wild animal and doesn't listen any longer. What- what have I done wrong that he acts like this?" Nodoka asked her with a weak voice, a tear escaping her.
-Craaack- The sound of splintering wood filled the air and they saw that Ranma had managed to break the top half off the pole, leaving the bottom half to point out of the ground. Ranma was quaking, breathing heavy while turning towards them, his eyes radiating danger. He took one step towards them, then another and the next, all while looking at them in the most dangerous way.
"Boy, don't dare to touch them," Genma said under no terms, stepping in front of the females. He was himself surprised that he found the courage, as went totally against how he'd lived for ten years.
"You will be next." -Wham- He'd coldly said this before a punch sent Genma against the house wall, where he sat dazed and touched his face, discovering that he was bleeding.
"Ranma, what has gotten into you?" Ami gasped when seeing how he'd treated his father, which was nothing like the controlled spars they normally did which never drew blood. This was just brutal in a primal way.
"You won't stand in my way, I'll... Arrrgghh!" A lance a pain shot through his head. "I'll get you out of the way and... No, I would never do that!... You are just holding me back... I have to get away..."
It sounded like Ranma was arguing with himself, two sides inside him trying to get the upper hand. Then suddenly Ranma howled in pain and they gasped when a blood-red rune flared up on his forehead while he started to foam around the mouth, causing both females to hold each other at this terrifying sight.
"Arrgh... Raaaahhhhrgh!" His cries of pain sounded more of that of a wild beast.
o
Looking at the starfield in front of him, Nephrite knew that the Saotome boy now had reached his maximum level of energy and it was time to haul in the harvest. With a smirk of triumph, he faced the stars.
"He has reached his maximum level of energy. Youma Leo, awaken and secure it!" he called.
However, things wouldn't go as planned.
"What? What is this?" Nephrite suddenly felt that things weren't going according to plan. It felt like something was wrapping itself around Youma Leo and was consuming it whole, while absorbing its abilities. Since something like that had never been planned, Nephrite had no idea what to do and the feedback created by this put enormous strains onto the magical connections he'd built. Everything was about to get nasty.
"Damnit! No, no, no!" Nephrite cursed, before the added feedback caused his starfield to blow up and he tried to flee while debris and remains of the mechanism rained down around him. And while he ran away from the destruction, one question replayed itself again and again in his mind.
What could have caused this to happen?
o
"RAAAAHHHHHRRRGHHH!"
That was a fear-inspiring cry of pain, while black lightning danced around Ranma and he got obscured by it. No one noticed the Senshi jumping over the fence, alerted by the cry, especially since they stopped at once at the sight that greeted them. They saw a shadow of Ranma and then... a second, much bigger shadow emerged from him and everyone was thankful that they couldn't see what exactly was going on, as it looked like it was pouring out of Ranma from known and lesser known orifices, which they imagined to be very painful. The second shadow looked like a sort of beast standing on its hind legs.
"HA HA HA HA! Free! Finally free!"
A body dropped out of the zone of darkness to the ground and they gasped when they saw it was Ranma. He was deathly pale, almost all color gone from his skin, and he looked like he was only skin and bones, as if a vampire had sucked all strength out of him. And his hair... His hair was as white as snow as if to show how all vitality was gone from him. His mother wanted to pull him away from whatever that thing was, but she got no chance when the darkness vanished and they saw what stood there in the middle of the garden.
It... it was a monster. It looked like an over two meters tall, dark-furred battle cat standing on its hind legs. It had dangerous looking, sharp teeth, long claws made of some sort of energy on its hands and its eyes glowed a sickly yellow. It looked very evil. Even more disturbing was, that behind these eyes was reason and cold calculation.
"Finally, after all these years..." The voice was clearly male. Something blasted against his back. "Hm?" Only now did he even notice the Senshi and he'd pretty much ignored the fireball that Mars had pelted him with. "The peanut gallery. Do not bother me!"
The monster slammed its hands together and a shockwave swept the Senshi off their feet and smashed them into the fence, which partially collapsed, causing in return panic on the streets when what had been behind the fence became visible. People ran screaming away and undoubtfully this would cause some unwanted attention from the authorities.
The monster didn't care and instead turned its attention to Genma. "You are the person I have to thank the most."
Genma finally made the connection when looking closer at the energy claws. "You... you are the Neko-ken? How is that possible?"
The monster gave him an evil smile. "Very good. I'm Neko and I really have to thank you for your greed which caused me to come into being. In a way you are my father as well," Neko told him smugly.
"B-but the Neko-ken is only a technique to access the power in a person," Genma stammered, trying to come to grips with how it could stand there as a real being.
Neko laughed. "You are a fool if you think that. I'll tell you what you really did when you threw a child of mere six years into a pit of starving cats again and again. It is not a technique, there is nothing to learn. It was created to instill a deathly fear of cats into the subjects so that cat-demons could take possession of them. You opened the gate for me, and I have to thank you for this."
"I... I did nothing but torturing him?" For years he'd at least fled into the idea that the cruelty Ranma had to endure when learning the Neko-ken at least did have a point. To learn now that it had been senseless torture was a hard blow.
"Looks exactly like it," Neko told him with a sadistic grin, before looking down at the shivering Ranma with distaste, who in return looked at him in fear. "Too bad that this weakling had too big of a heart and I was never able to fully control him with his good side always interfering. But now that someone else has provided me with the means, I finally live again."
"What have I done...?" Genma whispered.
Even though his wife had told him outright that this had been cruel and heartless, a part of him had stubbornly insisted on that Ranma did benefit from the Neko-ken training. It was the corruption speaking, the mental scars left behind from his own apprentice days. But now he was confronted with the undeniable truth of what he had done.
He had done an unspeakable wrong to his son.
"I have created a monster..." The realization that all this was his fault alone was a really bleak one for Genma.
"Well, flattery won't help you. When I leave, I'll take this little weakling with me. But first I want consolation for ten wasted years. A little bloodbath should do fine," he told the terrified humans, drooling at the prospect of the coming carnage.
"You won't touch them!"
The Senshi had gotten over their dizziness and this time Tuxedo Mask had joined them. They now looked downright determined to destroy Neko at all cost. However, Neko didn't seem too concerned and actually laughed at their faces.
"This again? All right, you get some free shots before I kill you all. Just blast away!" he mocked them.
They did exactly that, but their blasts were absorbed and he laughed. He caught one of the exploding roses and simply ate it. When Ceres tried to hit him with her sickle, he first slapped her so hard she turned around, before a kick into her butt sent her away. All this happened while Ami felt unable to transform and help, since it would blow her cover. But that didn't last for long.
What am I doing? Standing here while my friends get hurt. No... She knew Pluto would be angry over her giving away her secret so easily, but right now she didn't care as she couldn't stand the thought that her apathy could cause her to lose Ranma.
"Ami, what is this?" Nodoka asked taken aback when out of nowhere a small wand appeared in Ami's hand.
"Please understand..." Ami pleaded, before looking to Neko with determination, who still played with the Senshi. "Mercury Power, make up!"
Nodoka was puzzled for a moment, before watching how in a flash of light, Ami's clothes vanished and after a short delay, water flowed from her wand, hugging her and forming... She looked at her and then to the other girls that were trying to hurt Neko. It looked a lot like that Sailor V girl that from time to time appeared in the newspaper. Had she not been so scared, she'd have been disturbed that Ami would dress like this.
"Ami?" she wondered if that still was Saeko's daughter, but once seeing her eyes, at least this worry was gone. This still was Ami.
"It's still me. Please, don't stop me from helping Ranma." She then turned back to Neko and had a different strategy, feeling what little mastery of her magic she had could be put to good use.
Meanwhile Neko felt like yawning. All of their attacks were useless against him, as they had not the slightest idea of what was protecting him. They would never realise what the key to his invulnerability was. Another minute, then he'd turn them into corpses and leave. He felt that this wasn't overconfidence but simply stating the facts. That the fool had used the manual to its ultimate end was lucky for Neko, as it hadn't been done in many years as all subjects had went insane and died too quickly.
"That's all?" he asked arrogantly with a yawn. "Well, then fun is over and I-aaahhh!" Whatever he wanted to say got cut short when the ground beneath his feet sudden went cold and slippery and he fell. The next hit shoved him forcibly away from the host.
Neko felt like cursing. He hadn't watched his back and another of them had shown up. And while he was invulnerable, that didn't include being proofed against slipping on ice. "Enough!" he bared his claws. "I'll make steaks out of you!"
From the ground Ranma helplessly watched what happened next.
He'd never before felt this weak and he knew he would be lucky if he could slowly walk away. Added to this was the fear at seeing Neko, although it was far from the blind panic that he normally felt when seeing a cat. It was the fear of the memory of this fear to kept him paralysed. Paralysed, while everyone around him tried to hurt Neko, but still without any success. It was as if nothing could hurt him.
It was a wonder that no one yet had to suffer a fatal injury, but what Neko's claws caused already was bad enough. The Senshi looked as if having gone through a war, their uniforms badly torn and countless bleeding gashes criss-crossing over their bodies. He knew that as long as it wasn't too bad, their magic would slowly heal them, but that didn't make it easier to watch. Their male comerade didn't fare much better. Tuxedo Mask by now looked more like a bum with his suit badly torn apart, but at least his healing powers prevented him from losing too much blood.
It was a surprise to see his old man actually joining them, hitting Neko with blows that should have crippled the monster. Too bad it didn't work and the top of Genma's gi already was shreddered and he bled from numerous wounds. They wouldn't last for much longer. And he just laid there, paralysed with fear of the memories that came up when seeing Neko.
"Iiiaaagghh!"
He knew that voice and what he saw conjured an even bigger fear. Ami, who up to now had kept away to find a weakness in Neko's defense with her computer, had been hit by a claw swipe and held the shreddered midsection of her uniform, blood flowing from the stomach wound the claws had caused. Another fear shoved his fear of Neko aside; the fear that he could lose her. The mere idea that something bad could happen to her made Ranma feel like dying on the inside. He couldn't explain his emotions, couldn't name what he felt.
And he felt shame. Here was Ami, trying to save him, and he lust laid there, doing nothing. Even though he was weak, he still felt pathetic. Watching his mother pulling Ami back from the battle showed that even she did something, despite having no way to otherwise help.
-Ziiiuumm- "AHHH!"
That scream had come from Neko. For whatever reason, the Sailor V girl had decided to show up as well and her energy attack had zapped Neko directly into the eyes. The huge cat-demon didn't seem to be hurt, but the intense light had blinded him and he was blindly slashing around his claws, waiting until he could see again.
His fear for Ami now overrode his fear of Neko.
Neko still had dancing dots in his vision, but he was more pissed than ever, all his arrogance replaced by anger. "You little bitches, you are dead!" He saw the newcomer fire again and he moved up his arm to block it. However... -splonshhh- "Ahhhrgggh! What the...?" The blast had hit his arm and caused a bleeding wound. Sure, it was already closing up, but the fact alone was alarming.
"How, how?" Frenetically looking around he saw that Ranma was missing from where he had been. Instead the nearly completely drained boy had his back turned to him and was slowly walking away. "No! I won't let you!... I won't!"
The others had no idea what was going on, but seeing Neko going after Ranma and that he suddenly seemed to have become vulnerable, they blasted away with newfound strength. This time the blasts caused gaping, bleeding wounds that despite Neko's healing ability couldn't heal as fast as they caused him new ones.
"No, you can't leave!" Neko tried to to grab Ranma, but his hands went through him, as if he was just a ghost to him.
His eyes widened in terror when he realized what this meant. The weakling was ignoring him, was no longer fearing him and thus cutting the bond between them. Without Ranma's terror, he was vulnerable. Normally taking over the victim's body would plunge them into endless terror. Since he hadn't actually taken over Ranma's body, this was now his weakness!
"Come back!" His hand still didn't manage to get a hold on Ranma. "I... I can't exist without you. You are destroying me!"
"Boy, don't look back! Whatever you do, don't look back!" Genma called when realizing that Ranma losing his fear of Neko had cost the demon his invulnerability.
"You can't do this to me! We had a contract, written in blood!" The relentless blasting from the Senshi was taking its toll and even all the energy he's stolen from Ranma couldn't keep him alive for much longer. "Before I die, at least one you love will do so as well!"
Claws bared, he ran towards Nodoka, intent on gutting her. She couldn't move, struck with terror when the monster ran towards her. But before it reached her, someone else slammed into the monster, shoving it exactly the opposite way. Neko's eyes widened when he saw it was Genma, whose face held a range seldom seen.
"I made you; you are my fault!" He saw the sharp end of the broken pole. "And now I'll make up for it!"
"Noooooaaarrrgggglllll..." Neko's scream became a gurgle when Genma impaled him onto the broken pole, which ran right through the demon, half of it sticking out of the front of his chest. Neko's terror-filled eyes stared at him as if unable to understand what just had happened. Unintelligible sounds escaped his throat while his body started to tremble and inflated like a balloon.
"IT'S GONNA BLOW!"
The Senshi ran for cover behind what was left of the fence, while Genma grabbed his son and ran into the house, where Ami and Nodoka already were, slamming shut the sliding door behind himself. Neko's body had lost its shape and then... -Blooooooouuuuuummmmmm- It exploded in a shower of blood and bits of guts. A rain of blood went down around where the demon had blown up.
Carefully opening the sliding doors, they could see the result. The broken pole was charred and from it, the blood radiated outwards, making the garden look as if the setting of a horror movie. Suddenly Ranma gasped and they watched in wonder how with the death of the demon, the stolen power was returned to him. His muscles grew back to normal size, his skin tone returned and his hair returned to its natural black.
"Ranma!" before he could react, Ami was hugging him as if her life depended on it and he could feel her transformation dissolving, returning her to plain Ami.
"Ami..." It felt so right how she was holding him.
"Ranma..." She couldn't stop the tears. They weren't of grief but of relief that he'd been returned to her. "I-I thought this monster would take you away from me... to never see you again. I couldn't bear the thought..." she sobbed.
One of Ranma's weaknesses was crying girls, but in this case he knew that these were good tears. "I felt so weak... I was so scared. But then my fear was so insignificant when it came to you. I didn't want you to get hurt. You mean so much to me..."
Their eyes met, and they exchanged something that couldn't be described with words and they finally understood how much they cared for each other. Ami had fallen in love with the strong and courageous Ranma, and Ranma into the smart and in her way lovely Ami. They were both so different from each other, and maybe that actually was where the attraction came from.
Finally overcoming their reluctance, their lips touched.
Everyone watched these two kissing. Ceres felt confirmed that their had been something special between them, and it had finally ignited, commenting that it was about time. Nodoka watched this with a parental smile of pride. They both deserved this happiness after the darkness they'd just went through. Genma didn't comment but inwards he couldn't help but to be proud that despite his curse, Ranma started to prove to be a real man.
Of course he also felt Nodoka's eyes on him, and this time it was approval. He couldn't read her mind, but it was easy to guess that she was thankful for the rescue and also relieved that he finally had taken responsibility for his errors and had not hesitated to make up for it. It felt... it felt good that he had actually done the right thing.
"I have to say, these two do make a nice couple," Tuxedo Mask commented, while being busy with healing the worst injuries on the girls. He couldn't wait to de-transform and get out of these rags. He then noticed Sailor V landing in their midst. "You arrived rather late. Did something hold you up?"
Sailor V looked embarrassed. "I had detention, OK? I couldn't just leave right away or I would have gotten into trouble."
"Finally someone who understands me," Moon added, before noticing that Artemis had approached the couple. "Oh no, Ranma will have another of his episodes."
Surprisingly, nothing of the sort happened. Ranma and Ami parted, then looked at the white mooncat before Ranma hesitantly used his right hand to scratch Artemis behind the ears, which he found very nice.
"Well, it does make sense," Mars commented. "Neko had possessed Ranma, and the fear of cats was the trigger for him to gain power over Ranma. When Neko left him, he took the phobia with him. Ranma probably will still be a little jumpy around cats, but he surely won't go into panic anymore." She then shook her head. "Do all battles result in such a mess and clothing damage?" she asked, while noting how her uniform only barely held together and she felt almost naked.
"Look, I think we should make our exit," Ceres said, when seeing several policemen in full riot gear approach them.
"Yes, but we should at least tell them something," Sailor V said and approached the officers. "Everything is already done, no need to expect an attack anymore."
They did recognise her from the newspapers, and she'd helped the police multiple times, so they lowered their shields. They then also noticed the others -although they looked as if they went through hell. "What the hell happened here? It looks like a bomb got dropped. Do you actually have your own group by now?"
"They are the same as me and we fight for right. It was a monster, we kicked its butt and we are sorry for the damage. Don't take it personal, but we need to go." That said, she jumped up the the roof of the house, before disappearing after some further jumps. The other Senshi followed her -of course with exception of Ami- only a little slower to prevent further clothing damage.
"Sargent, what are we supposed to tell the Chief?" one of the officers asked, feeling that this would be nightmare of a report to write.
o
"I still wonder what had went wrong..." Nephrite grumbled, while looking over the burnt-out remains of his starfield mechanism. The explosion had pretty much demolished it and he'd need days to build a new one. And the worst thing was, he had no idea what could have caused it. He had looked at it from all angles, but hadn't found an answer as to what he'd done wrong.
"Well, there is always a next time," he decided, dropping the remains of one of the projector globes.
"Yes, but how many next times will you have, before Queen Beryl loses patience with you?"
"Hm?" Looking up, he saw Zoisite floating there, looking smug. "Zoisite, what are you doing here? Don't tell me you do spying work for this idiot Jadeite."
The tomboyish woman gave off a short laugh. "Oh Nephrite, still caught up in your rivalry with him? And of course I don't, he has his own ways to learn about these things. I'm only here to watch you fail again and again, like you did with Jadeite."
Nephrite snorted, this little backstabber was annoying. "This is just a small setback, there are more than enough people out there whose energy can be stolen."
"You are very sure of yourself. I'll enjoy your next failure and the final punishment," Zoisite told him with a smile that wasn't meant to be nice.
"If you are done, move your flat-chested butt out of here. I have work to do," Nephrite said and turned away, in order to see where to start with the repairs.
Zoisite's eyes narrowed. No one was allowed to make fun over the fact that she wasn't gifted with big breasts and had to endure countless mocking in the past. If there was a way to get onto her bad side, it was this. Before, she just wanted Nephrite to fail. Now she wanted him to fail hard and get humiliated as worst as possible.
"Have it your way," she snorted, before vanishing in a gust of rose petals.
...some days later, Setsuna's office...
This Friday saw Setsuna feeling that sometimes she didn't get paid enough for this job.
The week already had been hard enough with all the explanations to two more civilians -and forcing the Senshi to swear that this would be the last for the near future. That Ami and Ranma had taken the next step in their relationship was actually good news, as both of them deserved some happiness.
Yesterday she'd finally finished Makoto's transfer papers. The girl had been in an incident which had caused her to get expelled from school -an incident that wasn't even her fault but everyone was eager to move responsibility to her. She'd pulled some strings to arrange that the girl would be transferred to this school -no big feat as other schools didn't want her- and she'd start by Monday. However, that was when she got the other file for another transfer student.
Right from the start she'd seen the inconsistencies, so she'd started to do some digging. After finding out the truth and calling the right people to iron out this mess, she'd called the future student in question to meet with her; a meeting, that was happening right now.
"Alright, Ms. Kuonji. I have no idea how you manipulated your records, and be glad I don't care or right now you'd have trouble with the justice system. I took the freedom to get all entries about your gender corrected and made sure you won't get into trouble for attending an all-boys school," she told the girl in a hard voice to make clear that she wasn't amused.
Said Ms. Kuonji, a teenage girl with long, brown hair, wearing the boys' uniform of her previous school, squirmed uncomfortably under the woman's eyes. "Does it mean my transfer is denied?"
Setsuna's smile was almost creepy. "No. You seemed to really want to get into this school for some reason, coming all the way from Osaka, and after this experience I want to keep an eye on you, in case you are a troublemaker."
"I..." she wanted to thank her, but stopped when seeing the look the woman gave her.
"Don't thank me, since after all I'll make sure you'll abide to the school rules. That means that first you'll wear the standard girl uniform with all that comes with it. Second, no selling of okonomiyaki during the lunch breaks on school grounds. Third and last, don't dare to carry that huge spatula around during school hours."
The girl grimaced, since these were harsh rules for her. She doubted that she'd get used to wearing the girl uniform after all this time. The second wasn't so hard, as she didn't have a portable grill anyway. However, the third was difficult as she hated to not carry her trusty battle spatula around. Yet that was a small price for finally getting close to the one who had ruined her life. That was worth it and she'd still have enough time to settle into her restaurant, before school would start at Monday.
"You should sell used cars. You are very convincing," she finally said and after some more organisatorial things, she took her leave.
Setsuna trusted her feeling that this girl wouldn't been trouble; at least not too much. She had no idea why she was so eager to come here, but this surely would explain itself in some days. She had more important things to do than to babysit students that were confused about their gender-identity (and she didn't mean Ranma with that).
She closed the folder so that she could finally call it a day. On the folder was the name of the new student: Ukyo Kuonji.
to be continued...
Next Episode:
"The Cooking Contest"
Notes:
You probably noticed that I didn't make any fun of the whole Neko-ken issue. That's because it is actually so horrible, I could only treat it with dead seriousness, since it really is no laughing matter and more made for drama.
If you noticed that this one was shorter than the two previous ones, that's intentional. The previous two totally grew to huge size and I want to turn the chapters back to a more managable size.
I got the idea to include a list of avoided clichès in this kind of crossover, so here it is:
-Ranma as a Senshi: THE most often used clichè. People always expect this to happen when a Ranma/SM crossover appears, as authors seem to have a fixation on getting Ranma into a fuku and have no qualms to either kill a canon Senshi or to invent a new one. Point of this story is therefore to keep as far away from this plot idea as possible.
-Ranma related to a Senshi: Almost as enduring as the clichè above, Ranma often is related to one of the Senshi (most often Ami, Rei or Usagi), or the re-incarnation of a sibling (most often to Mamoru). Point of this story is, to avoid this and keep Ranma as his own person.
-Ranma the super-powerful: More often than not, Ranma practically is almost a half-god that outshines the Senshi power-wise. Since this makes many stories utterly pointless and boring, Ranma is here brought down to Earth (as many of the people are).
-The super-draining Youma: In many stories the Youma do seem to have the never in canon seen ability to drain life energy on touch. This probably is confusion with the Cardians of Ail and An, who could do that. Apart from special cases, Youma here can't drain just by touch.
-Senshi-training by Ranma: Often seen, Ranma training the Senshi in the art to become better fighters. I explained in the previous chapters how ridiculous that is, since Ranma isn't allowed to teach, nor does he yet have to skills to teach others (which is different from mastering the art). There will be more about that later.
-Crazy Pluto: One of the most enduring plots in crossovers (and pure SM stories) is, that Pluto goes to ridiculous lengths to protect the timeline she desires, even going over dead bodies in some stories. It actually is a main aspect of this story to show how this has spectecularly blown up in her face and she becomes a better person at the end who won't do such things anymore.
-Airhead Minako: This actually is more of a Sailor Moon clichè, but it also is often seen in crossovers. Minako was a little lazy and forgetful in the anime, but she never was as stupid as she became thanks to the English dub. It's so annyoing that I on purpose made Minako show she isn't an idiot.
-Engaged to a Senshi: Often used plot-device that Genma engaged Ranma to one of the Senshi. Avoided here that he didn't do it and all engagements are void anyway.
-Ranma arguing with the Senshi: A number of stories just let Ranma become nasty to the Senshi or even outright hostile, most often with very thin justification. The common targets are Mars and Uranus. Obviouslythis is not the case here.
-Senshi wondering if Ranma is an enemy: More often than not after witnessing Ranma in action, the Senshi wonder or outright conclude that he must be an enemy, just because of his power. Avoided here by them meeting Ranma under normal circumstances and learning why he is so powerful.
-Random monster attacks: There is a disturbing trend that even without an evil mastermind, there still seem numerous monsters just attacking when they like it. No explanation is given. It is unknown how this developed, but in this story, monsters really only attack under command.