Star Trek: The Life and Times of Ranma Saotome - By DSWynne.
Disclaimer: None of the principal characters belong to me.
Note: This is a multi-genre story.
Part 21: "2007" ("U" Side).
Meanwhile...
"I'm going to be late!" Naru Osaka says, as she rummages through her dresser drawer. Ever since a few weeks ago, she and Mamoru Chiba have become closer than ever. Strangely, although Gurio hadn't been seen in a while, Naru hasn't been thinking too much about him. Maybe she should change that.
"Damn, there aren't any clean underwear," Naru says in a huff. She should have been spending more time doing her chores rather than swooning over her best friend's ex-boyfriend-
"Ah!" Naru realized. She remembered about the pair of underwear that she received as a "joke gift" on her birthday…
A short time later, Naru, dressed in a nice, black dress, exits her mother's store with Mamoru. She and her mother lived over the jewelry store that her mother owns.
"You ready, Miss Osaka?" Mamoru says with a smile. He had invited her to dinner and dancing.
"Why, of course, Mister Chiba," Naru smiles in return, as they leave for the evening's activities.
Meanwhile…
"Thank you for coming Ranma," Ikuko Tsukino says, as she finishes handing out the tea to her "guest". With Usagi back in Japan, and temporarily placed on suspension by the American government from her duties at SGC, both Ikuko and her husband Ken wanted a moment to speak with both their daughter AND her husband Ranma at the same time.
"Any time you need to see me, you have my number," Ranma says, before he takes a sip of his green tea. Normally, he'd wear his Chinese clothes. However, lately, he felt that it was time to change his look a bit. So now, he was dressed like a male model from a Botany Bay show: semi-casual with slacks and a proper shirt. Ranma could always where his old clothes whenever he is off on some adventure, or when someone challenges him. In fact, he was seriously thinking of cutting his trademarked "pigtail" permanently...though that was not an issue as of yet.
Usagi merely looked down while twiddling her thumbs, while her parents sat across from her. The look of disappointment from her father Ken was too much to take...and she was the person who could go toe-to-toe with the likes of "The Hulk".
"I'm glad to hear that, Ranma," Ikuko says. "Right, Ken?"
"What the heck were you doing, Usa?" Ken says. "You've could have gotten into worst trouble...or worse!"
"Ken-!" Ikuko tries to interject.
"Well?"
Ranma merely said nothing, as he watched this family exchange. While he was not going to interfere, he will if Usagi wants him to.
Usagi looks up.
"I did what I had to do in order to protect the memory of a man who had been a good fiend of mine for over sixty years. Steve Rogers was a good and noble man, and he died simply because he was a symbol of what was right about America. And from what Ranma has told me, Vandal Savage had a partner in the scheme to kill Steve. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not doing with this thing."
"So you will continue to be reckless?" Ken asked.
"No, Dad, I'll continue to be righteous. And trust me, Ranma knows when he needs to rein me in if need be."
Ranma takes Usagi's left hand into his, resulting in Usagi squeezing it for comfort.
"If something happened to ANY of my love ones, I'd do what I can to avenge their memories. If something happened to you or Mom, should I simply do nothing?"
"Dear, your father is right," Ikuko says. "And what if something WAS to happen to you? How do you think we'd feel about that?"
"Then that's where I come in, Mrs. Tsukino," Ranma says. "If not me, then one of my kids will deal with it. And if not THEM, Usagi and
I know plenty of people who would go to bat for us, since they know we'd go to bat with THEM."
Ken begins to look defeated. These last few months have been hard to take, with his "little girl" becoming something…greater. First, he learned that Usagi was a "Magical Girl", and then he learned that she was a mother…many times over, and now this…
"If that is your position, then I can't stop you. I guess this is the life that you want-"
"Dad, it's not about what I want…it's what I have to do. I cannot nor should not do anything while innocents suffer. If I could walk away and be a normal person, I would in a heartbeat. BUT…I can't. Too many lives are at stake for me to simply retire."
"Then you have our support, Usagi," Ikuko says, as she reaches over to squeeze her daughter's free hand. She then turns to Ken. "Ken?"
"Alright," Ken says, as he places his hand onto his wife's. "Just promise me to a least talk to us more often about your…lifestyle?"
"Daaad!" Usagi whined. "You make it sound like I'm…'coming out of the closet' or something."
Ranma merely scoffs, thinking that the way she behaves 'recreationally', his wife might as well 'come out of the closet'. Then again, who is HE to talk, considering his own past?
"Don't be silly," Ken says. And then something dawns on him, concerning the rumors of his son-in-law's weird curse. "Um, Usagi, is it true that Ranma…has a curse that turns him into a girl-?"
"Well, look at the time," Ranma says, as he looks at his watch. As a "Temporal Warrior", his biological clock can accurately tell what time of day it is on any given planet…which is frustrating when considering that most clocks on Earth are not accurate. It was one of those pet peeves of his that he had to prevent from annoying him.
Damn "Daylights Savings" time!
"We're going to be late for dinner with my…Mothers."
"You mean your parents," Ken offered.
"No, my MOTHERS. And no, it's not a gay couple thing either. My…mother from a previous life will be here, while my mother from my present life will be joining us."
"Oh," Ken replies with a nod, although he did not understand any of this "past life" nonsense.
"Well, I think it's wonderful to have an interesting family," Ikuko says.
"I guess so," Usagi replied. "I just wish Shingo could come with us."
"Actually, he's been taking martial arts classes at the local dojo for a while now," Ken says proudly. "And if you were around more often, you would have known this."
"Ken…" Ikuko warned.
"Sorry."
"Well, I'll have to see how fares, then," Ranma says.
Meanwhile…
As promise, Ranma took Minako Aino out for some fish-n-chips at a local hangout that he had frequented back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Back then, Ranma worked for several intelligence agencies as a "specialist" of sorts. However, much of his "super-spy" days were spent with MI-5, MI-6, UNIT and the Torchwood Institute, while under the watch of the British authorities. The Americans didn't bother to employ Ranma in this same capacity, but rather used him for mostly military affairs, such as special operations…if he was in the mood to participate. After all, Ranma was still upset that Usagi was roped into being a part of "Task Force X", and only in the past twenty years has this particular stance has soften somewhat…even WITH the shenanigans concerning the superhuman registration drive implemented by the now-missing Tony Stark. Speaking of which, Tony Stark's children, Antonia and Nathan, have worked hard to redeem their father's legacy. Nathan still works as the director of "Project: Eureka" (a town that secretly conducts experiments light-years ahead of everyone else on the planet), while his younger sister Antonia has stepped up to operate Stark Industries (now under the control of Mishima Zaibatsu). In fact, Antonia has taken up the superhero mantle as the new "Iron Girl". At any rate…
"Thank you for treating me to lunch, Ranma," Minako says, as she sits down at a nearby table in front of the shop. She was hoping for something a bit more romantic, but this was a start. "It's been a while since I was last here."
"Your parents were actors, right?" Ranma says, as he begins to eat.
"Oh, yes. They had been invited to participate in a cultural exchange. And it was around that time that I first became 'Sailor V'."
"'Sailor V'?"
"You know, 'Sailor VENUS'."
"Right."
"So…you have a place here…in England?"
"I have homes all over Europe, actually. Mostly, I didn't get around to sell my homes when it was time for me to move on, but a great deal are kept in trust, either through the Rantus Foundation or through the local governments. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to acquire new property…just the special kind, like 'Castle Dracula', for example. Ever since it was put up for sale, Usagi has been itching to buy it, just to piss-off 'Alucard'."
"'Alucard'?"
"Dracula. As in 'Count Dracula'…"
"You mean, the vampire?"
"Yes. As in 'Count Vlad Tepes III of the House of Szekely, Order of the Dragon and Master Vampire of the Clan Tzimisce'. Yeah, HIM."
"You knew him?"
"Knew him? That son-of-a-bitch is still alive…as a vampire hunter no less! I don't know WHY Integra keeps that freak around…"
"'Integra'?"
"Um, never mind. But anyway, I knew him when he had turned Usagi into a vampire."
"Oh, my!"
"Yeah, well, it was only because of her mastery over her instincts-"
"The training from the Bene Gesserit?"
"Exactly. Because of THAT, and thanks to Dr. Van Helsing, Usagi was able to recover from that experience…somewhat intact."
"'Somewhat. She is STILL a vampire."
"But…couldn't she have healed herself with the 'Silver Millennium Crystal'. It's a curse, right?"
"Vampirism doesn't work that way. Contrary to popular belief, it's based on a rare retrovirus that originally from outer space that came down to Earth eons ago. In fact, it has been responsible for many of the legends concerning humans becoming shape-shifters and monsters."
"So…garlic and stuff like that don't work?"
"Actually, they do work. The virus has built in weaknesses that can be dealt with such common things as garlic, sunlight and the like. Heck, people can get these allergic reactions, right? However, it's much, much worse for these creatures. As for crosses and holy water…such things can only be effective if the believer believes in it."
"Why is that?"
"There have been many theories on the subject. Some say its God or nature's way of preventing these creatures from devouring human beings. Who knows? All I know is that I wouldn't doubt it, especially after what I have seen over the years."
"So…you've seen a lot?"
"Yep, and sometimes, such experiences can be a bit overwhelming, too. All I know is that if one is not careful, you COULD…loose 'face'…"
Originally, the Doctor and company wanted to visit the year 1953 to witness the first televised performance of a young Elvis Presley on the "Ed Sullivan Show" (Mickey was a bit of a music lover, while the Doctor simply wanted experience "Elvis Mania". In stead, they ended up back in London to witness the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II. Ranma pointed out that such things were not by accident, even as SHE complained about having to wear a "poodle skirt" in the process…so not to accidentally run into his own self.
"Well, we might as well enjoy ourselves," Mickey says, as he tries—horribly so—to do a "Fonzie" impersonation with his leather jacket. "Ayyyyyyy!"
Ranma-chan was NOT impressed.
"I knew 'The Fonz', Mickey, back when I was invited by the Miyagi clan to attend a wedding in Milwaukee," Ranma says. "You're NO Fonz."
Truth to be told, she was hoping to run into the Fonz, after hearing that he had successfully put the moves on Usagi, who was in the area as a "Home Economics" instructor (as a part of her cover with Task Force X). And even though she wanted to beat the Italian mechanic—and chick magnet—Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli up for his "transgressions", she couldn't because, technically, she and Usagi were "separated", and that he was a good friend of Mesuma ("Arnold") Takahashi, a cousin of the Miyagi clan.
"That's odd," Rose says, as she sniffs the air. "Do you smell that?"
"What?" the Doctor asks.
"I can't place its source…but I smell a mixture of flesh…and wires. Weird."
The Doctor looks at Ranma with worry, since THEY did not pick up on the scents. Ever since their encounter with the werewolves in 19th century Scotland, they had wondered if Rose had been infected by lycanthropy. They had managed to remove much of the strains of the retrovirus that creates werewolves from Rose's system, but there is always a possibility that not all of the retrovirus was successfully removed. Best-case scenario would be kinfolk status, which will only produce very minor side effects. Worse case scenario would mean full lycanthropy. After all, once the lycanthropy take root on the genetic level, removing it becomes that much difficult…
Before anyone could reply, a scream could be heard from one of the homes.
"AHHHHHHHHH-!"
"Come on!" the Doctor says, as he and everyone else run to source of the scream…
Later, it turned out that agents from the Men-in-Black were abducting people who literally lost their faces by some unknown means…
"Mickey!" Rose says, as a big, burly agent knocks Mickey down. The Doctor had managed to trick the block captain, Eddie Connolly, into allowing him and his companions to examine his mother-in-law. That is, until the Men-in-Black showed up…
"No one moves, no one gets hurt," says the burly man's "supervisor".
Ranma simply steps up, cocks her fists, and-
POW!
The large man sailed out of the house, through the front window-
CRISSSSSH!
And lands in the road of Froizel Street in a heap.
The Doctor turns to the supervisor, who was in a state of shock.
"Now then," the Doctor begins. "Please do tell me what is your role in all this?"
The supervisor, Detective Inspector Sam Bishop of Scotland Yard were in charge of determining what was causing people to loose their faces, especially in light of the eve of Queen Elizabeth's coronation. The Doctor, curious, wanted to see more of these victims, which the Inspector agreed.
The Doctor turns to Ranma.
"You find the REAL source of the problem with Rose, while I take Mickey along."
"Right," Ranma says, as she motions Rose to follow her. "Besides…what could possibly go wrong?"
Sometime later…
"What the hell happened?" the Doctor says, as he used his atomic screwdriver to examine…Cassandra?
"Doctor, do you mind?" Cassandra says, as she batted the Doctor's hand away. "I am a Lady, after all."
"I would hardly call you THAT-"
"Shut up, you witch!" Rose yells. Rose was still in a state of shock, as she recalled how the lady in the television—who called herself "The Wire"—took her dad's face instead of hers.
"Doctor, what the heck happened?" Mickey says.
"Apparently, whoever stole Ranma's face, they didn't know of the other person inside…her."
"We have to do something," the Rose says.
"We will," the Doctor says, as he stands up. "And Lady Cassandra will help."
"Why should I?" Cassandra says. "I have my own body…with my own face-"
"Which I would gladly smash if you don't cooperate!" Rose says, as she balled up her fist.
Cassandra looks up at the Doctor helplessly.
"Don't look at me, Cassandra," the Doctor says. "I'd do it if I were you."
"FINE, but on ONE condition…"
"So, you actually had another person inside you?" Minako asked.
"Yep, Cassandra was my 'Harvey'," Ranma said, as he sipped his beer. "She hadn't been heard from in a while because she was using my memories and experiences as her own little world, since she was tired of being, in her words, 'disrepected'. Whatever."
"So, what happened next?"
"Amazingly, the Wire—who turned out to be a deposed monarch from another world who escaped death by dissolution of her atoms—had took a lot of my energy, and managed to an actual form…before the Doctor managed to reverse the process. The Doc asked me to make sure that no one remembered the horrifying experience of being trapped in electronic limbo. The amazing thing about it was that the victims were the first to experience a virtual reality. But because of their condition, they wouldn't remember or know what it was without even having background knowledge of what they were experience."
"And what happened to this…Wire?"
"The Doc trapped her on video cassette. He wanted to erase her completely, but I felt that it would have been a bit cruel. So I made him transfer her to a DVD disc instead."
Ranma takes out the disc, which was in an ordinary jewel, compact case.
"I'm going to hand it over to the appropriate people for safe keeping."
"Oh. So, whatever happened to Cassandra?"
As if on cue-
"Ranma, darling!" says a fashionable, red-haired woman. She was dressed stylishly, with her hair in full-body mode. She was also carrying a lot of packages.
Ranma sighs. As a reward, Ranma decided to allow Cassandra to use one of his doppelgangers as her own body. Besides, he needed someone to look after his London townhouse while he is away, since Jackie doesn't want to live there.
"I hope you're not 'maxing out' my credit cards," Ranma replies.
"Nonsense…I've barely begun to shop. I'm surprise that you are here."
"I'm having lunch with an old friend."
"Ah. Well, I'll see you later. Ta-ta!"
As Cassandra walks off-
"I mean it! I'm NOT made out of money, you know!"
Minako merely giggles.
Meanwhile...
As the red-haired kunoichi and the knuckle-headed ninja ate their food, Master Jiraiya, the Toad Sage (sometimes called "Pervy Sage"...and not just because of one Naruto Uzumaki), spies on the pair.
'Ah, Lord Ranshin,' Jiraiya thought to himself. 'It's hard to believe that you are both my teacher AND student...'
Jiraiya could recall the first time he had met Ranma. Back then, he was a student of Hokage Sarutobi, when he was one of three shinobi who would become legends in their own right, when he first met Ranma...
"Ah, why can't I get that damn bell?" Jiraiya says, as he stayed tied to the practice log.
"Have fun!" says the young Tsunade, as she and fellow team-mate Orochimaru left the area for the day.
"Don't want to be ya!" Orochimaru says, as he and Tsunade leaves their team-mate behind.
"Some friends you are!"
Sarutobi merely shook his head. Although Jiraiya showed great promise, he was still a bit of a handful.
"You have to do better, Jiraiya," Sarutobi says. "Both Tsunade and Orochimaru show great promise for their ages."
"Well, Tsunade is an over-achiever, and Orochimaru is a freak!"
Sarutobi sighs.
"Perhaps you need to think some more about what I said," Sarutobi says. "And maybe next time you'll pass the 'Bell Test'."
And with that, Sarutobi disappears.
"It's not fair!" Jiraiya says. "Why can't I get the respect worthy of one is who destined for greatness? I'm running away!"
And with that, after a few more minutes of struggling, Jiraiya slipped out of his bonds, and ran away...straight onto Rantsu lands...
Ranma-chan relaxed a bit, as she sank into the pool of water, the result of the waterfall on her property. Although she could control her Jusenkyo curse, the means of doing so still required energy to affect the change...or to prevent the change from occuring in the first place.
'Man, this is the life,' Ranma-chan thinks to herself. The year was 1968. At this time, she and her long time wife Usagi were home in Japan taking care of family business before going off to spend vacation time in the United States (specifically the city of San Francisco, where Usagi was to continue her training in the mystic arts). At the same time, the Mifune family, known to the public at large as "Team Racer" wanted to the Rantsu to get their sponsorship renewed from the Rantsu Foundation. In fact, Ranma and Daisuke ("Pops Racer") Mifune were old friends going all the way back during the reconstruction period in Japan, and had worked on the four previous models of the "Mach" series of racing cars.
For the first part of the year, Ranma-chan and Usagi were part of a clandestine American operation to hunt-down the Toc Faan, a group of Vietnamese "necromancers" who were giving the American special operations group trouble. The only reason why they had took the assignment was so that Usagi could finally be allowed to leave her "Task Force X" with honors...something that Ranma-chan was trying to facilitate.
With that out of the way, the couple returned home to Japan in order to "cleanse" their bodies of their experiences in Indochina. So while Ranma-chan was indeed relaxing, she was purifying herself as well.
"Ranma!" yelled a voice.
Ranma-chan opens her eyes to see Usagi's leap.
"CANNONBALL!"
SPLASH!
"Usako!" Ranma-chan yelled as she was nearly tackled. "What the heck was that for?"
"Just having some fun, Ran," Usagi says, as she swam next to her "husband". "You SHOULD relax, you know."
"What do you think I'm doing here?" Ranma-chan says, as she swam to a more shallow part of the pooling area.
Usagi swims up behind Ranma-chan, and hug her husband from behind. She could tell that Ranma-chan was still upset over what she had to do to stop one of the Toc Faan from summoning an army of the dead...by sacrificing an entire village full of hostages, knowing that the summoner in question was using them as "human shields".
"Ranma, it's not your fault that you couldn't save them. Bu we have to live our lives."
Ranma-chan turn to look at her wife.
"How can you say that? We're suppose to be the good guys, remember?"
"Yes, and that is a burden you'll have to bear for as long as you can remember, Ranma. Those people were dead the moment they were taken as hostages. And how many of OUR friends would have been hurt if you didn't do what you did? I'll have to bare the burden of knowing that we had to shed innocent blood to save the lives of others, but I'll be damned if I let some creep manipulate our ethics against us."
Ranma-chan sighs, as she leans her head on Usagi's.
"I guess I'll never get peace."
"Not if you want to continue to be worthy of the title 'martial artist', you won't."
As Ranma-chan begins to relax a bit, her senses picked up a presence.
'Usagi-' Ranma-chan began, as she thought telepathically.
'I know,' Usagi replies likewise. 'Isn't it CUTE?'
'No, and I don't know why you're so...fine with someone peeping on us!'
'Because I'm proud of my body?'
'Well...that's not the point, but THAT is a moot point anyway.'
Ranma-chan dislodges herself from Usagi's embrace, and began to perform some sort of water dance. Blue, tribal lines began to show on different areas of her body, as she began to perform a jutsu based upon what she knew of "Water Bending", an elemental Art native to the colony world of "Jeegoo" (Korean for "Earth"). Like the colony of Chikyuu, the beings known as "The Ancients", took humans from various regions and eras of ancient Earth, and settled them on many Earth-like worlds in order to preserve their culture (hence the nickname "The Preservers"); some world were exact duplicates of Earth, a process that has stumped many scientists to date. Some did theorized these multiple Earths came about during a clearance sale at the mysterious Magrathean Planet Factory for planets in bulk, and that the Ancients took advantage of the situation after recieving a gift card by the space faring Celestials during a "Life Day Festival" in the Lucas Galaxy...which turned out to be a dreadful affair that still being heralded as the worst experience in sentient interation to date.
At any rate, both Chikyuu and Jeegoo were no exception to this, although only Chikyuu received the benefit of renewed colonization efforts in the late 21st century. That is why Chikyuu, unlike Jeegoo, had a mixture of ancient and modern technologies; Jeegoo had been left alone due to it being in so-called "uncharted territory", and only after the Prime Directive of the United Federation of Planets was planets like Jeegoo were given protection-status as "heritage worlds". And during her travels to that world, Ranma-chan would meet a young, teenaged boy who had to master his gifts in order to save his world from an ongoing war. There, Ranma-chan would learn how to better manipulate herself, when she learned to better manipulate the elements...or BEND them...
"Ha-tah!" Ranma-chan yelled, as she directed a stream of water to literally jump up and splashes the "peeping Tom".
SPLASH!
"Ah!" Jiraiya yelled, as he was doused with the stream. As soon as he recovered, a now MALE Ranma was on him.
"I ought to POUND you, kid!" Ranma says, as he, now somewhat clothed (i.e. running shorts), throttled the young ninja. He then noticed his clothes...
"Ranma?" Usagi says, as she comes up from behind. She was dressed in shorts and a halter-top, while she was drying her hair with her beach towel.
"This kid is from the 'Hidden Leaf Village'," Ranma says.
"What...what are you going to do, mister?" Jiraiya asks.
"Oh, I'll think of something..."
The next day...
"So, you want to teach young Master Jiraiya, Lord Ranshin?" asked Nidaime Hokage, the younger brother of the first Hokage and the grandfather of the young Tsunade.
Sarutobi was upset that the Lord of the Land of Fire had decided to make his presence known, even after signing the agreement of non-interference in Konoha affairs. More to the point, he was a little more than embarrassed that it was one of HIS students that had caused this. Right now, he was in the office of the Hokage, while Jiraiya's fate was being determined.
"Yes," Ranma says, as he stood in front of Nidaime. "It's been a while since I have last contributed anything to the village, and Jiraiya, who is enthused about becoming a great shinobi, could be helpful in this regard."
"Hmm," Nidaime replied. Part of the agreement of the village having some sort of autonomy included the Nidaime to contribute more within the "Go Kamasori Gama", the association that regulated the various shinobi villages and clans throughout Japan. "And you say you want to take the boy with you, when you go overseas?"
"Just for the summer," Ranma replies. "It will give me time to get to know the boy a bit better."
"I see. Sarutobi?"
Sarutobi looks at Ranma.
"As long as Jiraiya does not forget his training…I could allow him to go with Lord Ranshin."
"Then I shall allow it."
And that was that.
The next day, Jiraiya is walking away from his village, while Tsunade, Orochimaru and Sarutobi sees him off.
"Bon voyage!" Tsunade says enthusiastically.
"And don't come BACK!" Orochimaru yells.
"Man, I get no respect," Jiraiya says in a huff.
"Don't worry, kid," Ranma says. "After I'm done with you, you'll have ALL the respect you deserve."
Tbc.