Author's Notes –
Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this fic. For those of you still reading it, I'm glad you're enjoying it and have stuck with it for so long.
As always, thanks to my faithful beta readers – Teturo, KitsuneOverlord, Lance, and Kamen Rider Den-O.
While this is a harem fic, Ranma will not be ending up with every girl in sight. As it is most of the girls are interested in one of the boys. Ranma has his harem; Negi has Nodoka, Yue, Ako, Makie, Chisame, and Anya (not to mention Ayaka and all the others back in Mahora); Kotaro has Natsumi and Mei; hell, even Ryoga has Yuna (and according to the mixed poll results Misora and Ku Fei). There are enough girls with a diverse enough interests that each of the few guys in the fic (except maybe Rakan) have more then enough girls, but don't expect each of them to start up their own harem.
As to Ranma appearing as Ranko – he tends to stay as Ranko at the Urborg and the close vicinity only because everyone there (staff, management, etc.) knows him as the female fighter on Team Negima. Once far enough away he tries to change back and might slip back into the Urborg in his male form, but under the cover/glamour to appear as Ranko.
Curse wise, Ranma had acquired Hunger and Restlessness during his first say in Szadeck's lair. Mirror and Lure, will still play a role, but not too great.
*****
Duce and Trip (the first and second clones, but the second and third versions of himself) had exceeded Ranma's expectations. Even though he knew he was smart (though not book smart as he tended to fall asleep in all of his classes save P.E.) he had not expected his clones to master the remaining seven scrolls. Though only three of the scrolls actually contained techniques and skills, two had merely been historical retellings of an unknown technique and how it had affected the Angels, and the last two had been theory and equations that had not been completed for use by Nephalim but could be used by Angels and other Celestial beings. Actually, each of historical and educational scrolls as he dubbed them had been useful, especially given the context of what he'd learned from Rakan.
Having spent the night processing the various thoughts and information that his two clones had gained, the cursed youth slowly integrated their knowledge. The mental fatigue of the two clones working basically day and night over the past three days had nearly incapacitated him, nearly.
Their information on his new curses (gained from his first expedition to the Nephalim Library in Szadeck's lair) had proven useful. Hunger, which he'd know about after nearly cleaning out the vampire's pantry, and Restlessness which explained his recent bout of insomnia, were both manageable curses, though they were inconvenient. Mirror sounded interesting though. And Lure, well, it sounded a lot like his current ability to find himself surrounded by fanatical girls and fiancés, though it now applied to wild animals and maybe demons.
Quickly standing up the cursed martial artist walked over to the closest mirror. Looking directly into the mirror he blinked. Though he had half expected the result, actually seeing the result was another thing altogether. It's like I'm a vampire, he thought to himself as he eyed the mirror again. No reflection at all, huh. I guess I'm going to have to rely on others to make sure that I look right.
The sound of the clock tower chiming as it announced the hour broke the youth's reverie. Shaking his head Ranma extended his senses. Finding the barely noticeable aura of the spirit girl Sayo, the martial artist vanished in a blur of speed.
Since his reunion with the Ala Alba and Mahora girls the carefree youth had failed to notice that one of the girls had been trying to hang out with him more often (not a hard thing to do considering that he had gone on eight dates with eight different girls in the past three days). It wasn't until Sayo had interrupted his date with Kazumi that he'd once again realized he'd overlooked the lonely spirit.
At first he had thought that the ghost had simply been spying on her friend, or looking for her. It wasn't until he noticed how weak her aura was that the demon and angelic imbued youth realized why the ghost had been attracted to him. As the source of the greatest amount of spiritual energy in a world based on magic, Sayo had been drawn to the strongest source of spiritual energy.
"Oh!" the startled ghost exclaimed, startled by the sudden appearance of the cursed martial artist. Peering at him from around the vase that she'd hidden behind the ghost slowly emerged. "You scared me Ranma."
Scratching his head the martial artist considered the spirit. "Sorry about that," he apologized. Extracting several feathers from stuff space, he offered his hand to her.
"I'm sorry," he repeated, "I didn't realize how badly off you are here."
The blank look on the girl's face spoke much louder then the quiet ghost could. Clearly she hadn't grasped the situation she was in.
Pulling out a stuffed but unfinished doll out of his pack the cursed youth sat down.
"The reason why you're struggling so much here," Ranma began as he stabbed himself with one of the sharp feathers. Drawing blood he used it to place several seals on the doll. "You're a spiritual creature in a magical world. Spirit energy and magical energy don't mix well, and since you're here, you've been struggling to maintain your form. Even the totem you were using has run out of spiritual energy, that's why you've been trying to be around me all the time."
Sayo blinked trying to follow the young man's logic.
"I'm the only thing here that has a lot of spiritual energy," he explained. "That's why I'm probably the only one that can help you."
Completing the seals of the equation, he drew them onto the doll then quickly stuffed the remaining feathers into it before stitching it shut.
"Here, try this body," he suggested, offering her the totem.
Skeptical, and slightly afraid, the ghost gulped. Seeing that Ranma was genuinely trying to help her, Sayo nodded. She could feel the distinct aura emanating from the totem, similar but different to what the totem that Eva had given Kazumi had been when she first approached it. Sliding into the totem she felt a rush of power, unlike anything she'd experienced in… well… her entire afterlife.
Slowly her features began to reshape the golem as she adapted to her new body. Unlike the totem that Eva had provided her with Ranma's allowed her a more solid body, even filling out and growing to roughly match how she had appeared in life. The pale, frail body with long light blond hair slowly filled out even more, slowly blending features of her original ghost body with those of the source of the feathers. Blond and red combined into a dark strawberry blond.
Unused to having an actual body (even after her time in the golem totem) Sayo fell forward, collapsing into Ranma's strong arms. "ECH!" she yelped, hitting his muscled chest with her head.
Hearing a commotion in the lounge the assembled girls quickly came out to see what was going on. Seeing Ranma holding a strange girl (though she did appear slightly familiar for some reason) several Mahora girls began shouting, demanding answers.
At least they're not clubbing me to death, Ranma thought warily.
"Kazumi!" Sayo shouted as she looked up at her seatmate. "It's me, Sayo!"
Recognition set in for the girls of 3-A. Greeting their classmate they swarmed the now solid ghost and Ranma (still holder her in his arms). Pulled back to her feet the ghost giggled as the other girls examined her body.
I guess that equation worked, Ranma though as he considered the set of seals he'd placed on the totem.
Making eye contact with Kaede and Haruna, the cursed martial artist slipped into his suite, followed by the two girls. Pulling his shirt off he stood before them.
"Hey, I thought we agreed that we'd only be friends," Haruna teased, seeing his bare chest.
"Although I don't mind sharing you Ranma-dono, I thought that Haruna-dono had expressed her desire to no longer be considered one of your lovers-de gozaruna," the ninja stated.
"I didn't call you two in for that," Ranma replied. Standing in front of the mirror he pointed to it.
The sight of the mirror without Ranma's reflection surprised both girls. Having gone to school with a vampire they had never seen a mirror not reflect the vampire's image. But to see that the cursed boy had no reflection was odd, even for their adjusted standards for him.
"I can't draw the seals on myself," he explained. "And I can't just have a clone do it either. That's why I need you two to help."
Pulling a scroll out of stuff space he handed it to Kaede. "This is where the seals need to go on me."
Unrolling the nearly two meter scroll Kaede understood why Ranma had insisted on her being there. With Haruna's skill with a pen and her ability to draw/write quickly it was no surprise that he had also picked the manga ka.
"What do we use to write with?" Paru asked.
Taking a sharpened feather and several vials of his blood from stuff space Ranma handed it to her. "Use these."
*****
There were few times in Ryoga's life when he wasn't lost. Unfortunately for him, today wasn't one of those days. Fortunately for the residents of Ostia, the buildings were built of sterner stuff then their counterparts in Nerima, repelling the lost boy as he walked into a wall, be it a stone or brink, fence or building. Built with some type of magical ward or protective runes the enhance the durability and longevity of the buildings they actually hurt the cursed youth each time he walked into one (though if he had tried he probably would have been able to walk through on the second attempt as his vast ki reserves had managed to weaken the protection on the first encounter) and then looked up to see what he'd crashed into.
"Hey, isn't that Ryoga Hibiki?" he heard a slightly familiar voice ask her companions.
It wasn't really that unusual. In fact, things like that had been happening all day since the brackets for the Annual Ostia Championship Tournament had gone up. Now everywhere he went (so far at least) people recognized him. Having borrowed several bars of waterproof soap from Ranma, the eternal lost boy had managed to maintain his true form even after getting splashed with cold water (which happened a lot more frequently in the magic world, and that was before you took into consideration the rain that had fallen the past few days).
Sensing several presences approaching him the lost fighter shrugged, reluctantly preparing himself for the hordes of people that wanted him to get Jack Rakan's autograph for them.
"Hey Ryoga," the cheerful female voice greeted as the owner stood before him.
Something about this group was different. Noticing first their sneakers (most travelers in the magical world tended to wear slippers, sandals, or fur or leather boots) and socks (socks weren't normal footwear in the magical world either), then the smooth shapely legs (as compared to furry and muscled legs from lots of walking), and then the clearly manufactured clothes that the attractive young girls wore, Ryoga couldn't help but think that they weren't normal (for the magical world, not normal in general).
"See, he forgot us already," Natsumi stated, seeing the blank look on youth's face.
Recognition sunk in, sort of, "Hey, you're those girls I saved the other day… What were your names again?"
Yuna laughed while her companions simply shrugged. "I'm Yuna," she chirped, latching onto the well muscled fighter.
The feel of perky breasts pressed up against his arm rattled the fighter. Unused to the sensation, Ryoga's mind overloaded before forcing an immediate reboot.
"You've met Akira already, and this is Natsumi, Ako, and Makie," the energetic girl stated, pointing to her companions.
Unable to do anything as him mind was still resetting itself, Ryoga simply nodded.
"You wanna go shopping with us?" Yuna asked.
Again, Ryoga mindlessly nodded.
"Great!" Makie shouted. "We could use a strong guy like you to carry our things."
Absently the lost boy nodded again.
Still attached to his arm, Yuna lead him towards the market district.
*****
The report before him was truly disturbing. Having already ruled out the mysterious Ranma as a thorn in his side, Fate was reluctant to admit that he had underestimated the skilled fighter. Looking up at the monitor he almost scowled at the image of the martial artist as he performed a kata. Clearly he had improved, perhaps even gone up a class, but was he a threat? Not one to leave loose ends unattended he signaled Tsukuyomi.
"Yes master?" the psychotic swordswoman bowed.
With a scowl on his face the white haired youth pulled out a golden vial. "Make sure that Raksha gets this," he instructed, tossing the glass vial over to his henchwoman.
"Yes master."
"And stay way from Negi and his group," he added, knowing full well that the girl's homicidal tendencies.
*****
Despite the recent rainstorm that had cleared Ostia of the wave of late summer humidity the air in the ruins of old Ostia was thick with fog and mist. In truth Ranma didn't mind the hazy air even though it hid some of the smaller floating rocks as it also hid their presence in the ruins. Ranma knew that they needed some privacy, and hiding in the ruins was the best option.
"This should do," he stated, landing on a large floating island. Behind him Negi, Kotaro, Setsuna, and Kaede landed. Pulling out her magical cloak artifact, the ninja girl quickly pulled out several other members of Ala Alba from the small pocket dimension (that resembled a small house from the inside and had a nice comfy bed, not that Ranma and Kaede had done anything indecent in that bed or anywhere in the house, yeah right).
"So, what's the plan?" the perverted ermine asked as he scanned the faces of everyone gathered.
"Negi, hit me with your best shot," the martial artist ordered.
"Wha-what?" the astonished young mage cried out, not sure why Ranma had called him out.
"You too Kotaro," Ranma added. "I need to see just how powerful you two are."
With a shrug Kotaro suddenly attacked. Hitting Ranma with a powerful straight punch to the gut, he smirked as he felt it connect. His smirk quickly faded as he realized that Ranma had not moved.
Gently swatting the dog hanyo with a light but powerful slap, the heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes quickly dismissed the attack. "Don't hold back, hit me with your hardest and most powerful attacks," he commanded them.
Exchanging a knowing look, the two younger boys quickly moved into position. Channeling dog spirits Kotaro rushed in again. Unleashing a barrage of sundering punches and kicks, he watched as Ranma refused to defend himself. Despite the powerful blows that would have leveled buildings and crushed boulders, the cursed youth stood his ground impassively.
Leaping back as Negi completed his father's "Thousand Bolts" attack the hanyo watched in awe as Ranma absorbed the attack. Though his clothes were slightly singed, the cursed martial artist appeared to be none the worse for it.
"Not bad," Ranma assessed. "You came at me with everything, and your team work isn't too shabby. But you didn't even faze me with those attacks – you're sure you're not holding back?"
The younger boys nodded grimly, accepting the more experienced fighter's criticism.
"But they've never ever beaten you before," Asuna shouted. "You're a lot older and more experienced then they are!"
"Of course I am," Ranma admitted, "but so is Rakan and so is Ryoga."
"So why don't you fight them?" Setsuna questioned.
"It's not my fight," Ranma stated. Staring at his teammates he added, "This is your fight."
"But we've got nothing at stake here," Negi countered.
Not wanting or able to share what Rakan had told him, Ranma contemplated his options. "Nagi, Kojirou," he finally said, addressing the two disguised youths, "I'll buy you two some time."
"Buy us some time?" the dog hanyo replied, not sure of the martial artist's intent.
"I'll take the first two rounds, three if necessary," the cursed youth explained. "I've got business with our first round opponent anyways, and our probable second round opponent as well. That's two more days of training for you both."
"That's fine," the young mage nodded. "It's all about testing our ability, so don't push yourself too hard."
Ranma shook his head, "No, it's not about testing our ability, it's much more then that."
Unsure of what he could or couldn't say, combined with the fact that he was never that tactful the cursed martial artist paused as he tried to concentrate on how best to explain things to the young mage. Sensing several powerful presences he was saved from having to explain things as he automatically shifted into a guarded stance.
"Very perceptive," a feminine voice stated. The slim light grey robed figure hid in the depths of her hood as she slowly approached the group. "I'm surprised that you noticed me." Her two dark skinned hands gracefully pulled back her hood, exposing her youthful face, smooth features, long blond tussles, elfish ears, and curved horns.
"You must be Ranma," the girl smiled. "I've heard so little about you from Rakan. Then again, he doesn't like to admit to losing very well, even against the Thousand Master. I'm glad you called me out here."
Turning her gaze towards Negi she smiled. "And you must be Negi; you really do look like your father."
Negi blinked, not sure what to make of the strange woman or of her claims that Ranma had beaten the legendary fighter who had declared himself the rival and equal to the Thousand Master.
"Thank you for coming Princess," Ranma bowed.
"Honestly, normally I wouldn't have come here myself," the woman replied casually. "But when Jack told me that 'Nagi' was actually Negi, the son of the real Nagi, I just had to see him for myself."
"Princess Theodora of Hellas?" Negi muttered as the pieces slowly fell into place.
"Call me Theo," the princes insisted.
Reading the princess' thoughts Ranma shook his head. "He doesn't know anything yet. He can't know anything yet," he whispered.
So Jack hasn't told him anything? Sighing, she shook her head in response, knowing the answer to her question despite having thought it.
Sensing two other presences approaching Ranma sighed.
"There you are!" A tall man wearing a business suit shouted as he leapt from his personal aircraft. Landing in a slight crater he stood up, heedless of the great impact he had left on the floating island. "You must be Negi!"
"Who's that?" Kotaro asked, pointing at the physically impressive man.
"He would be Ricardo," a beautiful blond woman explained as she glided down to them. Riding a broom, and wearing business suit, the horned woman smiled warmly as she landed beside the dark haired man. "And I'm Seras."
"I hope you don't mind," Princess Theo said as she walked over to Negi. "We all knew and fought beside your father. When we heard that you were actually his son, we had to meet you."
"But why here, why now?" Chisame asked.
"Because we're each the leaders of different delegations representing the interests of different nations," Seras explained. "It's one thing for us to meet in public in front of the press and act formal, but another thing completely to meet discreetly like this. Though we may be friends in private, we also have to maintain our public images."
"I'll leave their training to you then," Ranma said as he started to walk away.
"Wha-what?!" Kotaro exclaimed.
"But you beat Rakan!" Theo shouted. "You've done something that none of us were able to do!"
"It's not my fight," Ranma reiterated. "This is your fight."
"But if we can't even faze you, much less beat you, how can we fight Jack?" Negi panicked.
The cursed martial artist slowly turned around. "You want to be able to beat Fate, right?"
Negi nodded.
"He beat your father, and Jack is considered the rival and equal to your father, right?"
Again, the young boy nodded.
"So if you want to beat Fate, then you need to surpass your father and Jack," the martial artist rationalized. "If I beat Jack for you then you basically admit that you'll always be in your father's shadow. It's time for you to stand up for yourself Negi."
"You're right!" Negi exclaimed. Not looking at Ranma or anyone in particular, the young mage focused on the task at hand, steeling his resolve at the prospect of facing his father's rival and equal.
"So you're really looking to take him on then?" Ricardo asked as he approached Negi. "Even though you basically have no chance in hell of beating him, you're still going to fight him?"
Confidently the young mage nodded.
"Your old man and that meathead Rakan used to be old drinking buddies of mine (not that I really wanted them to tag along), so I know a few of their tricks," the suited man smiled. "And I did train and fight with them a bit back in the day."
"Since I have only just now heard of Rakan losing to someone other then Nagi," Seras interjected, "I'd love to help supervise your training so that I can actually see someone other than Nagi beat him."
"Tomorrow's the opening ceremonies, I'll represent team Negima," Ranma stated. "The next day is the opening round, and the day after that is the second round – I can take care of those fights myself. If need be, I can take care of the semi- and quarterfinal rounds as well, giving you a full week to prep time. But you have to make it to the finals in a week."
Both Negi and Kotaro nodded.
Turning around to leave he waved, "I leave you in capable hands then."
* * * * *
Szadeck shook his ancient head as he looked over the markings on Duo (the second copy of Duce, the first copy of Ranma, and the creator of Duo). Examining the wings and feather he sighed. "Okay, your turn," he said, indicating to Tri (the second copy of Trip, the second copy of Ranma, and the creator of Tri) to come over as Duo picked up another scroll.
Having finished all the scrolls in the Primary room of the Nephalim Library, the second set of clones had moved onto the more dangerous and thus more powerful scrolls. At least that's what Duce and Trip had originally thought. Though the scrolls were more dangerous, they were not all that powerful (in the 'I can kick your ass with this technique' school of thought) unless you were one to deal with knowledge and information. Historical writings and text focused on the history of the Spirit/Celestial Realm and world, and the Angels' relations with humans and demons, a list of biological and genealogical histories of the royal family and nobles of Ostia though they were missing the last century, and lists of Peri and their descendents as well as who killed them had comprised the first four scrolls. Informative but boring, Tri had struggled to stay awake. If not for her (and the original Ranma's) inability to fall asleep easily the second generation clone was sure she would have fallen asleep while reading it.
"Okay," the vampire announced, dismissing the clone. Quill in hand he quickly dipped it in the ink. Having never read the scrolls himself the ancient day walking vampire did not know what was on the scrolls. Though he knew of them, he had never been able to discuss them with his lover Raiza, or with Ranma (odd, both names start with R). Given the level of protection on the scrolls he assumed (correctly) that the information was very sensitive and that the readers of the scrolls would not be able to share the information with anyone else. It wasn't too much of a surprise that they were cursed for a reason. Even Nephalim, the mortals with Angelic or Celestial blood, could not access the scrolls without some consequence.
"Dream, Fertility, and Vision," he muttered to himself, writing the curses/blessings down. "I guess there's a limit to the number of these curses he can have. Still, I'll definitely need to look those up."
* * * * *
The feel of the fresh air as it caressed her face made Duce smile. Though she was the fifth or sixth incarnation (the previous four or five having been dispelled) she retained all of Ranma's memories, and interests, while not having the original's current perspective. As such she was slightly different from the original, or source. The same could be said of Trip, Quad, and Quinn (and Duo and Tri as well). While the clones did not retain separate personalities, they could react differently in various situations depending on their experiences. Ultimately though all their thoughts, ideas, experiences, and what not would be transferred back to the original. But for now they were granted some independence and were slightly unique. With four (technically six) clones out and about Ranma was able to explore more and cover more ground while also getting the benefit of experiencing four (six) times as much as he (as the original had turned back into his original form) was normally experiencing.
Riding a strong air current Duce ascended into the air as she spread her wings wide. At her current pace she'd easily make it to Megwatists (she didn't know the name because the original didn't really remember what it was either).
Several kilometers away similar thoughts were running through Trips mind as she flew back to Arcades' lair and the ruined city that the old dragon guarded. Though her perspective was different as she fought the still volatile and chaotic winds of the storm front, the clone enjoyed the challenge of staying airborne as she twisted and turned in the air.
Only a few kilometers out of Ostia Quad and Quinn were not thinking similar thoughts as their predecessors, much less each other. Though they shared the same task the two clones were experiencing two very different situations.
Facing a rampaging mother dragon bent on a) protecting her nest, b) feeding her hatchlings, and c) protecting her lair, Quad was wondering just how much pain she would experience should the dragon take a bite out of her and how much pain Ranma (the original) would feel on his end of things. Would it be enough to snap him out of his normal reverie? Or was he off making out with one of his harem (and why couldn't he let one of the clones take over that duty once in a while)?
For Quinn the task of exploring the floating ruins of old Ostia was much more enjoyable though just as hazardous. Hiding from the various wild demons and dragons that were forced to lurk in this section of the ruins due to the fact that they couldn't claim any of the prime territory, the fourth Ranma clone had managed to outsmart and evade over a half dozen dragons and easily twice that many demons, even getting several to fight each other as they realized that they were not the only ones chasing after her.
Back in Ostia Six (the fifth copy of Ranma, and not knowing any playful ways of saying Six, the cursed youth had simply taken to referring to the fifth clone as Six as he didn't want to refer to himself as Sexta, as he couldn't get past the first three letters given what it meant in English) was having much more fun than any of the other clones. Having changed back into his male body, he was trying to keep the girls' attention as the original Ranma secretly met with Chamo, Chisame, and Chachamaru.
Seven, (the sixth copy of Ranma, and yes, Ranma had given up on giving them all nice little nicknames) was enjoying (much more then he should) playing the role of Chamo as the fake ermine dashed around the legs and skirts of the girls (even venturing to tease/taunt Ranma's harem) but stopped short of stealing the girls' underwear. Ocho (the seventh) and Nine (the eighth) played their rolls admirably. Expressionless and annoyed faces matching Chachamaru and Chisame respectively.
Even with Six and Seven slowly stealing lust energy from Kaede, Kazumi, Akira, Takane, Setsuna, and Konoka (it was impossible to steal lust energy from the fake Asuna) as they played their parts, Ranma was struggling to maintain ten clones (Duo and Tri were with Szadeck).
"So, what's the plan?" Chamo asked. Having already made clear that he did no like the fact that Seven was impersonating him and getting away with it due to the fact that Six was letting the 'perverted ermine' do things that the real ermine wouldn't have done, and because Negi, Asuna, and Kotaro were away training, Chamo was itching to take advantage of the situation.
"Well, the last time we talked you pulled something out," Ranma reminded the ermine.
"That's right," the familiar nodded. Displaying his recently acquired prizes he smiled as he sniffed them. "So fresh."
Ranma couldn't help but repress a shudder as he watched the display of perversion. Even Happosai wasn't that bad, and that was saying a lot.
"Ew!" Chisame exclaimed.
Beside the internet idol Chachamaru was, for once, silently glad that she was not in fact a live, fleshy, human girl.
Happily content, the ermine sighed as he put the panties away. "I should be able to pick up on their scent," the ermine explained. "If they're anywhere within a hundred kilometers I should be able to locate them by scent alone."
Sniffing the air the ermine dashed towards the ruins.
"That's not a surprise," Ranma stated. "I guess a lot of people are in there."
*****
A/N
Another week, another chapter – I know that I've been saying that I'm going to take some time off to get taxes done and whatnot, but seriously, I need to get my taxes done. I'm going to try and get those done over the next week or two, so I won't be able to devote so much time to writing. Hopefully I'll be motivated to finish taxes sooner, but knowing me, probably not. Also have lots of birthdays to celebrate over the next few weekends and I've promised the wife I'd spend more time with her after 9pm local time.
So yeah, I'm saying I won't be updating as quickly as I have been recently.
Take that as you will.
Dreamingfox