This story was written with permission from HaretaSora who is the author of GoD Among Shinobi. Please go check out that story and see the works of art that HaretaSora has written for our enjoyment. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this new story of mine.
Disclaimer: The following is a non profit, fan based crossover. Ranma ½ is owned by Studio Deen, Viz Media, Fiji TV, Animax, and Rumiko Takahashi. Dragonball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Super are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, Shueisha, and Akira Toriyama. Please support the official release.
The Fall and Rise of a GoD
Everyone on the streets of the Nerima ward, from undercover yakuza members to simple civilians, gave apprehensive stares as they stayed out of the way of a certain pig-tailed martial artist. Who is this martial artist, you may ask? It's none other than Saotome Ranma, the heir of Anything Goes Martial Arts. Or at least his family's branch of the school.
He stands at about average height when compared to most other men, but that's to be expected considering he's only sixteen years old and has yet to finish growing. Ranma has a strong, athletic body forged from years of training since childhood, along with black hair and blue eyes, and a light tan skin color. Ranma's most iconic physical trait is his long hair that he wears as a braided pigtail, though for a time he wore it as a ponytail instead. Even though he is full-blood Japanese, Ranma favors Chinese style clothing in the form of long-sleeved or sleeveless shirts in red colors while the other being a yellow-gold short-sleeved shirt with a single slash design in each sleeve and a single red chinese button on the collar, black pants, and slip-on shoes.
Even though he was only sixteen, if not for his rather brash and tactless personality, Ranma could be considered a regular heartthrob and have many beautiful women after his heart. In fact, that's kind of a part of his already complicated situation.
You see, ever since he was five, Ranma was raised by his father, Genma, to be the strongest martial arts fighter in the world. But Genma's methods of teaching were never what one would call honest, or humane. Such as when he taught Ranma the Neko-Ken by wrapping him in fish products and throwing him into a pit of starving cats.
Repeatedly. It was a truly hellish time for the boy.
But even before that, Genma had, not even a day into their training journey, sold his son for a bowl of rice, two fish, and a few measly pickles to fill his gluttonous belly. And then stole him right back not even ten minutes later. Ever since then, Genma has committed many deeds that have torn the Saotome family's honor to shreds, all while offering his son as collateral. But that's not all. Things got worse when they went to a place called Jusenkyo. Inside this so-called 'special training ground' were multiple springs with warning signs written in Chinese all around the place. They entered with a tour guide who spoke a broken form of Japanese, but Genma ignored all of the warnings and attempted to make Ranma stronger than he already was at the time by sparring with him as they balanced atop growing bamboo trees. That's when things got very complicated for the boy and his fat, beady-eyed father.
You see, when Ranma managed to kick his father off of the bamboo tree he'd been balancing on he ended up landing in one of the springs. But when Genma emerged from the spring he was no longer a man. He was a giant Panda bear! At first Ranma thought it was hilarious, what had happened to his father, until the man got a cheap shot in as retaliation for losing the spar to his son and sent HIM into one of the springs. And when Ranma emerged from the watery depths…
HE was now a SHE!
You heard right!
The waters of that particular spring caused Ranma to be changed from a man into a woman!
They soon learned from the tour guide that they had fallen into cursed hotsprings. The Spring of Drowned Panda and the Spring of Drowned Woman, to be precise. The springs were cursed when a panda bear and a woman drowned in those pools of water, causing anyone who falls into them to be cursed to turn into a panda and a woman respectively whenever they are splashed with cold water. Fortunately, hot water reverses the effects of the cursed springs and reverts the individual back into their true form.
Needless to say, Ranma was plenty pissed off with his father and almost killed the man for what he caused because of his negligence and spiteful nature. Ever since that day, Ranma has been in multiple situations where he's been in more close calls than is healthy for anyone in general. From being chased by a Chinese Amazon warrior woman who wants to kill and/or marry him to finding out his best friend was actually a girl whom his father engaged him to, and from constantly being attacked by rivals who want the girls who claim to be in love with Ranma for themselves to being engaged to the man-hating overly temperamental youngest daughter of his father's best friend.
Oh sure, most days he can deal with all of the craziness and come out of it relatively unscathed, but today was much worse for him on account of one thing. Apparently, his father, in all of his selfishness, sold off Ranma's female self to a Yakuza boss in order to acquire money so that he may get drunk like he does every night. And when Ranma found out about this, via a member of this yakuza's gang coming to 'collect what is owed', he was furious and utterly destroyed that yakuza grunt before sending him flying off over the horizon with a message to his boss.
That message being "If you want what the fat bastard promised you, come and get it yourself! And be prepared to die trying!". And that was no idle threat, it was a promise. And after beating his father to a bloody pulp while giving him MORE than a few choice words about his latest blunder, Ranma left the Tendo residence to find a way to vent his frustrations. He figured that the forest outside of Nerima would be as good a place as any to blow off some steam by destroying stuff.
"Stupid Pops and his compulsive need to get drunk! Why can't he use his brain instead of his stomach or his alcoholism? He's lucky Ma was out shopping earlier, or he'd probably be put to the sword for his actions. Though, knowing Ma, she'd probably find some way to pin some of the blame on me and make me adhere to that damn seppuku pledge that Pops tricked me into signing when I was five." grumbled Ranma. "Why can't my life ever be simple for once? Between all of my so-called 'fiances' trying to kill each other AND ME while treating me like some sort of trophy to be won, my rivals trying to kill me, Nabiki draining me dry of every yen I ever earn, and that un-cute tomboy constantly trying to cave my head in with her damn mallet I don't know if I should even keep trying to preserve what's left of the family honor."
Honor… That very words gave Ranma a bad taste in his mouth.
Every time he tried to forge his own path, to take his life into his own hands and escape those who would use him for their own benefit, they always used his overwhelming sense of honor against him. Whether it be for his family's honor, the honor of an innocent caught up in something well beyond their capacity, or even for his own honor they would continue to use it against him because they knew it would work.
No matter how skewed their own views on honor truly were.
Hell, Nabiki doesn't even believe that honor has any place in this modern day and age.
"Well, no more! I will not let myself be used by anyone ever again!" Ranma declared as he clenched his fists.
After a few more minutes of walking, he arrived at a secluded clearing in the forest where he knew that there would be no innocent bystanders in the area. Meaning he could cut loose as much as he wanted and wouldn't have to worry about any innocent people getting caught in the crossfire.
With a roar of rage, Ranma leapt into the air as is part of the Saotome School of Anything Goes, which is an aerial combat based fighting style. Unleashing his chi, Ranma struck a tree hard enough to uproot it and send it flying knocking down two more trees in the process. Then he performed a spiraling dropkick and shattered a large boulder into nothing more than gravel. The lad didn't care what he wrecked or how much he destroyed, or even the physical harm that he could be doing to himself. He just kept striking at the foliage and stone around him, unleashing all of his pent up rage, hurt, sorrow, basically all of the emotions his deadbeat father tells him not to feel because they are, in his words, 'Feelings that should not be embraced by a man among men.'. But really, that did absolutely nothing good for Ranma's emotional health.
Ranma roared as he punched a tree into sawdust before finally landing and vaporizing a chunk of land with a blast of chi. He was breathing hard from anger and hadn't even worked up a sweat despite all of the energy he'd been using. He took a moment to catch his breath before he would resume his venting session. At least, that was his plan.
"Well, well, well, isn't this just a despicable sight?" said a condescending man's voice. "I thought I sensed a higher than average power on this backwater world. Now I see why."
As he turned to face the source of the voice, Ranma could think only one thing about what he was seeing.
'Is the circus in town?'
And he wouldn't be too wrong in thinking this, as the man before him was indeed a clown. His bleached white skin, orange clown haircut, big red nose, and red clown lips and makeup were proof enough of that. He had a slightly emaciated frame that still somehow looked fit enough for fighting, though how that's possible Ranma doesn't know. Not that he cares at the moment. He's also wearing a bizarre half pink/blue outfit along with gold bangles and a golden collar, and strange brown shoes that look like they slip on.
"Who the hell're you? And whaddya want?" demanded a still angry Ranma.
The clown merely chuckled in a somewhat sinister manner as he closed his eyes, that same condescending smile on his oversized red lips. There was something about his aura that just really gave the pig-tailed martial artist bad vibes.
"Seems like you really are a savage brute, aren't you? I don't really want anything from you, but since you won't be around long enough to remember it I'll do you the courtesy of allowing you to know my name." the clown said as his body began to give off a dark purple aura of energy. "I am known as Belmod, and I am this universe's destroyer. And it's time for me to destroy you and rid the universe of yet another mangy savage."
Having had enough of being talked down on, Ranma roared and charged at Belmod with his fist raised. The clown already wanted to fight, and he'd be happy to oblige as he still needs to vent after all he's been through. Unfortunately, while Ranma is indeed a very quick footed fighter, Belmod proved to be even faster as he easily caught Ranma's punch, squeezing Ranma's hand tight enough to make several cracking noises. Ranma winced as he felt a few bones in his hand break, but had no time to dwell on it as he was thrown through several dozen trees and into the ground!
The impact caused Ranma to leave a deep trench in the ground due to the force at which he was thrown. He groaned and sat back up with some difficulty as it felt like he'd been hit by a semi truck. Ranma gave a pained yelp and held his side, feeling something that shouldn't be there. He looked down and saw that a tree branch had gotten stabbed through his side and he was bleeding heavily.
'Must'a happened when he threw me through those trees…' Ranma mentally groaned.
But he had no time to dwell on this as Belmod suddenly appeared in front of him and grabbed him by the ankle. Ranma couldn't even try to counter as he was repeatedly slammed into the ground by Belmod, breaking his bones with each impact and causing serious internal damage. But no matter how much he was hurt, Ranma refused to cry out in pain. He wouldn't give this psychotic clown the pleasure of hearing his tortured screams. Especially as the branch in his side was pushed deeper and deeper into his flesh with each impact, sending waves of blood out every time!
Finally, Belmod threw Ranma into a rather large cliff face and left him indented into it from the impact. Ranma gasped in pain before coughing up a huge glob of blood as Belmod stood a few feet away from him.
Laughing cruelly he said "Look at you now, barbarian. Wasted and gasping for air, not even putting up a half decent fight for a destroyer. But I think I'm done now. As entertaining a punching bag you make, I find there's no more enjoyment to be had here."
"Wait!... We could always play a game of twenty questions…" Ranma said through his pain.
Though, honestly, it was just a last ditch effort to try and stall for time. He needed to find a weakness to this clown, but there just didn't seem to be one in sight. Smirking, Belmod gave a throaty chuckle as he crossed his arms.
"Alright, then! First question; are you about to be destroyed?" Belmod asked.
"No?" guessed Ranma.
"Ah, ah, ah! No lying." said Belmod as he held up a hand.
"Damn!" cursed Ranma.
Belmod concentrated for but a moment as a ball of blackish purple energy rose up into the palm of his hand.
"This here is called energy of destruction. It's what I use to destroy living beings and even whole planets. With it, I'll erase you from existence. And once you're gone I'll take my time searching this whole pathetic planet to see if it's even worth allowing to live. And if not, well… then you can rest assured you won't be the only one being destroyed." Belmod said with a cruel and cocky smirk. "Least you managed to kill five minutes. Sayonara, savage one."
Belmod casually threw the orb at Ranma's prone form, which turned out to be much faster than the pig-tailed lad thought possible. He barely managed to free his arms from the stone he was embedded in and held his arms out while encasing his hands in his own chi. He didn't know what was in that attack Belmod launched, but it didn't look good. He wasn't taking any chances. But as the orb hit Ranma's chi covered hands, the boy began to seriously struggle as he grunted and ground his teeth together in an effort to repel the attack. Whatever it was, it was also destroying his chi. This barrier of his wouldn't last long at the rate this was going.
Ranma watched as Belmod started walking away at a leisurely pace. That psychopath clown wanted to destroy Ranma's home planet and everyone on it! He couldn't allow that to happen! But his strength was rapidly failing him. It was only a matter of time before whatever this energy attack was broke through his defense and ended his life.
'Damn it! My entire body is broken, I'm losing the feeling in my arms, and that clown is going to destroy everything I hold dear! And I'm… I'm powerless… to… stop him!' Ranma mentally raged.
He thought about how his life of suffering in the name of other people's greed would soon come to an end. How he'd no longer have to deal with his father and Soun Tendo wracking up debts in his name for him to pay off, no longer have to deal with Nabiki using him and both of his forms to fatten her already bulging wallet, and no longer have to deal with Akane and the rest of his fiances and rivals trying to marry and/or kill him. He'd finally be at peace. But then his mind wandered to the two people in all of Nerima, possibly even the world, who made his hellish life worth living.
Shampoo, the Amazon Warrior…
And Kasumi Tendo...
Despite their rather rough start and her initial goal to kill his female side, when she decided that she wanted him as her husband she seemed to genuinely love him. True, she may have used many underhanded ways to try and get what she wanted thanks to the insistence of that old bat, Cologne, but at least she wasn't treating him as though he were a prize to be won. And no matter what kind of trouble was caused by him, be it because of Ranma or to spite Ranma, Kasumi had always been very kind to him. Her loving, gentle nature and the way she listens to Ranma when he needs to talk about his problems had made the lad come to see her as something of the older sister he's never had. But over time, those feelings of sibling love evolved into love of the more romantic variety.
And he's never gotten the chance to tell Kasumi how he feels, or even to find a way to sort out how he feels about Shampoo either. Besides, they were both too important to Ranma for him to be killed now by some clown who thinks he's entitled to decide whether or not a whole planet and its populace should be allowed to exist!
He couldn't die! Not now, not yet! He would pull through and see to it that his psychotic enemy was finally put down! Digging deep and calling on all of his remaining chi, Ranma performed an improvised defensive move.
"Tamashi no Hansha!"*
With a burst of white chi, Ranma's defensive attack worked! It sent Belmod's energy ball rocketing right back at him with a layer of Ranma's chi enveloping it and adding more power onto it. Belmod took a moment to look back at his supposedly defeated foe to observe his handiwork… only to get his head taken right off by the attack that Ranma had deflected.
'What the… hell?...'
That was Belmod's final thought as he died, and his now lifeless, headless body fell to the ground before dissipating into particles of purple light.
"Finally… it's… over…" panted Ranma.
He fell out of the cliff face that he'd been stuck in and lay on the ground, broken and bleeding to death. He may die this day, but at least he managed to take that demented clown with him. Ranma just wished he could see the look on Belmod's face when he finally makes it down to hell.
"Oh my, how unexpected! A mortal has actually killed Belmod!" said a woman's voice. "It's no surprise that he was defeated like this. He was always bloated with overconfidence, so it was bound to come back and bite him in the butt one day."
Ranma attempted to glance up to see the woman who had been speaking, but his vision was far too blurry to clearly see her. The most he could make out was a splotch of blue, white, and purple. Hell, he had barely even heard her voice.
"Who…?" wheezed Ranma before passing out from pain and blood loss.
"Oh dear, it seems the damage my new God has suffered from fighting Belmod is more serious than I thought. I'd best take him to father and Zeno-Sama and explain things to them as I heal him." the woman said.
She's a very beautiful and yet otherworldly looking woman with light blue skin, violet eyes, and long white hair done up in twin ponytails with a small bang going over each side of her forehead. She has a beautiful, heart-shaped face along with a very curvaceous figure underneath her choice of clothing which consists of a purple dress with poofy shoulders, dark purple sleeves, a black cuirass with the same orange diamond decorations that Ranma had seen on Belmod's outfit, a pair of high heels, and a red sash tied around her waist. He holds a scepter with a large orb at the top surrounded by a sort of ring, and has a similar blue ring floating around her neck in a much larger size.
She knelt down with a gentle smile and caressed the now unconscious Ranma's face as she placed him in a form of suspended animation to prevent him from dying before they reached her boss's domain. Even though she knows she's not supposed to have an emotional attachment to others, she'd have to be a blind crow to not notice how handsome this young man was.
He was definitely easier on the eyes to her than Belmod ever was, that's for sure.
"Don't worry, My Lord. All will be well soon." she said to him.
And as she tapped her staff on the ground, the woman and Ranma were enveloped in a veil of light before they seemed to shimmer out of existence. Just what sort of fate awaits our favorite pig-tailed martial artist? Who is this woman and where is she taking him? And just what is her connection to that clown, Belmod?
One thing's for certain, things in Nerima are likely going to get even more crazy than they already were.
Zen-Oh's Palace
In a flash of light, the woman and the unconscious Ranma arrived in what was essentially a neverending white void with galaxies in the sky. And in the center of this void overlooking everything else was a grand palace. One that looked fit for a king. Walking out of this palace was a kindly looking man who looked very similar to the woman who brought Ranma here. This man was simply known as the Grand Priest.
Like the woman in question, the Grand Priest had light blue skin, violet eyes, and white hair. His hair, however, was shorter and combed back. He has thin, hook-curved eyebrows, and he also possesses the same blue colored ring as the woman who brought Ranma to this dimension, only it was floating behind his head instead of around his neck. The Grand Priest's apparel consists of a dark blue long-sleeved shirt, with baggy shoulder pads, that runs beneath his red-colored belt with the kanji symbol for "Grand" (大). The shirt is complemented by a matching color pair of jodhpur-like pants, and white boots that run beneath his shins.
"Why Marcarita, my daughter! What an unexpected surprise!" the Grand Priest said, happy to see his child. "What brings you here today? Usually you call ahead before visiting, and even then you bring Belmod with you."
That was when he noticed the prone and beat up form of Ranma laying at her feet.
"And who is the young mortal that you have brought along today?" he asked.
"Well, father, this mortal is part of the reason why I am here. I'm afraid Belmod was killed in battle today. Defeated by the very mortal you see before you now." the now named Marcarita explained.
The Grand Priest's eyes widened ever so slightly. A mortal killed a God of Destruction? It's not often one hears about something like that happening. Most mortals can get very strong, yes, but usually nowhere near strong enough to kill a deity. This was something that needed to be reported to his boss right away!
"I see. That certainly IS surprising!" said the Grand Priest. "Marcarita, can you please heal this young man while I go and retrieve Zen-Oh-Sama?"
"Right away, father." Marcarita replied with a nod.
The Grand Priest teleported away as Marcarita's staff began glowing green. She lowered it towards Ranma's prone form as his body began to glow and all of his injuries, both external and internal, healed up as though they had never been there. Even the branch that had been stabbed deep into his flesh and multiple internal organs was gone as though Ranma had never gotten it stabbed into him at all. As the light faded, Ranma slowly opened his eyes and groaned as he awoke from his suspended animation. Gasping at his new environment he quickly bolted up to his feet and got in a fighting stance.
"Wh-Where am I? What happened?" Ranma asked as he looked around.
"You passed out from pain and blood loss for a moment after killing Belmod and becoming my new god." Marcarita explained. "So I put you in suspended animation and brought you here to the palace of Zeno-Sama before healing you."
As Ranma turned to look at Marcarita, the memories of what happened came crashing down on him like a wave at the beach during high tide. He allowed himself to relax and release a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as relief that Belmod was now dead filled his being.
"Well, it's a relief that he's gone. But that doesn't explain where I am and why I'm here. And who are you, if I may ask?" Ranma said. "Uh, my name's Ranma, by the way. Ranma Saotome."
"Oh, well you see you are at the palace of Grand Zen-Oh. I brought you here because you have killed Belmod and must now assume his role as God of Destruction. As for me? I am your angel, Marcarita." Marcarita explained as she gave a small curtsey.
Ranma tilted his head to the side and asked "God of Destruction?"
"Yes, that's right. You are now Universe 11's God of Destruction."
Ranma quickly looked to see the Grand Priest and several strange humanoids walking out of the palace.
"Ranma, I'd like you to meet my bosses. These are the Grand Priest, Zen-Oh-Sama, and his attendants." Marcarita said as she introduced the newcomers.
The attendants share the same appearance. They are tall and cyan-skinned individuals that wear large high collared purple jackets with golden lining, buttons and shoulders that cover their face. Underneath, they appear to wear a sectioned grey full body suit, with gold and purple tipped boots. At all times they have their arms folded behind their backs, leaving their hands not visible. They also wear a long pointy tipped bronze hat, that ends in a silver ball at the top. They typically have very angry and menacing looking eyes. Such as the two standing on either side of Zen-Oh
Zen-Oh is very short and small, with a rather large oval-shaped head. He primarily has sky blue skin, except for two sections from his ears to the middle of each eye on both sides of his head, which are purple. He has small round eyes, and small rounded grey "ears". His main attire is a magenta and yellow lined coat, with yellow pants and magenta shoes. He wears a black and white shirt underneath, with the kanji for "all" on the front. He typically has a blank expression on his face.
Now at first, Ranma didn't think too much of Zen-Oh because he didn't look much like a fighter. In fact, he looked more like a child than anything else. But he kept his assumptions and opinions to himself as he knew that A.) appearances can be deceiving, B.) if this guy was really Marcarita's boss then he must be incredibly strong, and C.) he REALLY didn't want to end up putting his foot in his mouth again and causing more problems for himself like he always seems to do.
One thing that he knows he inherited from his father. The infamous Saotome Foot-In-Mouth Syndrome.
Instead, he opted to bow in respect to the obviously higher level beings.
"Welcome to Zen-Oh's palace, Ranma-San. It is a pleasure to meet Universe 11's newest God of Destruction." the Grand Priest said in a welcoming manner.
"Uh, yeah, actually I need to ask about that. What exactly IS a God of Destruction? This is the first I've ever heard of one." Ranma asked, trying not to sound disrespectful.
"Father, perhaps we should explain what a God of Destruction is first. Ranma here comes from a rather technologically inferior planet that has had no contact with life outside of his world's own solar system." Marcarita explained.
"Ah, that does explain why he looks so lost." the Grand Priest realized. "You see Ranma, in all twelve universes there are two different types of deities who maintain the balance between creation and destruction in the universe. There are the Supreme Kais who create and the Gods of Destruction who destroy. This ensures that there is balance in each universe. The Gods of Destruction may destroy whatever they like, so long as they expel the Destruction energy. And seeing as you killed your universe's God of Destruction, albeit unintentionally, you shall now fill the roll of destroyer in your universe. Such things are done to ensure the Supreme Kai doesn't die and Angels like Marcarita don't go into standby mode. Good thing it isn't common knowledge that if someone kills a God of Destruction they become the new destroyer, otherwise, things would be far too chaotic in the twelve universes."
The Grand Priest took a drink from a glass of water that an attendant had brought him while he let that information sink in for Ranma. When he looked back to the boy, he was pleasantly surprised to see the boy taking notes using a small notebook and a pencil. Likely supplied by Marcarita. It was nice to see that Ranma isn't all muscle and no brains like the Grand Priest initially thought.
"The Gods of Destruction create this energy using something known as God Ki, which is extremely potent. That energy blast that you deflected and killed Belmod with was made from destruction energy and would have surely erased you from existence had you been unsuccessful in doing so."
The Grand Priest turned to Zen-Oh, the small being floating between the two taller ones. The little guy floated off the ground towards Ranma.
"So, because I killed that crazy clown Belmod, I have to take his job?" Ranma asked.
Zen-Oh nodded and gestured for Ranma to step forward. He looked to Marcarita who nodded, and did as instructed of him.
"That's right. Plus, you were so cool with the way you reflected Belmod's destruction energy back at him! It was like in the cartoons where they use a mirror!" Zen-Oh said, sounding like an excited seven year old.
Ranma's eyes narrowed a little bit as he contemplated what Zen-Oh was offering him. Could he really be a God? He could barely manage his life as it is with how chaotic it had become.
"Are you absolutely sure you want me to take Belmod's place? I mean, I'm only sixteen years old. Not to mention the fact that I only killed him by sheer luck. Plus I'm, well… I'm cursed." Ranma said.
"Cursed? What is this curse?" asked the Grand Priest.
He didn't sense any evil enchantments on the boy, and even if he had been cursed it would be removed upon becoming a god. Ranma took a deep breath and began to explain a part of his history towards these higher entities. About his training trip with his father, the trip to Jusenkyo, and even his curse that he received upon falling into the spring. He even showed them proof after asking for a glass of cold water and a glass of hot water so he could give them a demonstration. Needless to say, they were shocked at first as they'd never seen anything like this before.
After they got over the shock, Zen-Oh went to an unusually serious facade.
"Your age doesn't matter when becoming a God. And if you're worried about constantly turning into a woman when splashed by cold water, then don't be. Once you become a God of Destruction your curse will be removed and you will be all man once again." Zen-Oh said.
Ranma was surprised by that. All this time he thought that he'd never be cured of his curse, and now he finds out that by becoming a God of Destruction his curse will be removed from him. He had to admit he liked the sound of that. Still he did have his doubts.
"Well, it does sound beneficial, but… I need to know. Can I go back to Earth whenever after this?" Ranma asked.
"I don't really care what you do so long as you keep your mortal rate high and do your job as a destroyer." Zen-Oh said.
Ranma thought about this. He may not yet know what a mortal rate is yet, but he knows it must have something to do with his duties as a God of Destruction. Honestly, he doesn't like the idea of possibly having to destroy innocent people just to keep the balance of the universe, but perhaps there was a way to do all of this without sacrificing his morals. If there was then he'd find out how. So, he extended his hand and smiled at the Omni King.
"Well then, Zen-Chan, I guess this makes you my new boss." Ranma said cheerfully.
But he failed to notice that this particular nickname caused the Grand Priest, Marcarita, and even the attendants to tense up and sweat a little. They were afraid that Zen-Oh might go on a rampage due to the blatant disrespect that Ranma had shown. However, rather than getting mad, Zen-Oh just took Ranma's hand and began to focus white energy through him.
"Then I officially declare you the new God of Destruction for Universe 11!"
Ranma winced as he felt inhuman levels of power beginning to surge through him. A few seconds later, the light died down and he could see that his clothes were replaced with an outfit similar to Belmod's.
Around his neck and draped on his shoulders was a black collar with white lining the inner and outer edges and an orange diamond on the front of it. Like Belmod, he had golden bangles and wristbands, and a golden earring pierced on his right ear. Ranma also had this golden ring around his neck. His pants along with the patterns on his collar were a golden yellow color, and he wore a black shirt with long sleeves beneath his collar. A white sash was tied around his waist along with having a black cuirass draped from the front of his belt with the same diamond pattern that Belmod had on his. Finally, he wore the same brown shoes that Belmod once wore in place of his original Chinese slip-on shoes that were held in place by a gold bangle around each ankle.
Ranma sighed and looked down at his hands as he could feel the godly power surging through him… but also felt the lack of his curse. He truly felt like a man once again.
"Wow… unreal! My gosh!..." breathed Ranma. "This is amazing! I feel incredible!"
Marcarita, the Grand Priest, Zen-Oh, and the Attendants noticed something behind Ranma that they were pretty sure wasn't supposed to be there, but they were so stunned by this individual's appearance that they didn't do anything to stop Ranma from his own miniature celebration.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I can win! I feel great! I! CAN! DO! THIS! AAAAA-"
"What are you doing?" a somewhat familiar female voice asked.
"I-I-uh… nothing." stuttered Ranma.
"Really? Because it looked like you were chanting to yourself." the same voice said.
Ranma turned around and lo and behold… his female half was standing right there! In physical form! But that shouldn't have been possible! But at least she wasn't buck naked like one might think she'd have been after being separated from Ranma. Instead, she was wearing a simple red kimono and a pair of sandals.
"Okay, I know what you're going to say, and there is a perfectly logical explanation for this whole situation." said 'Ranko'.
"I don't think there is." was all Ranma could say.
Having an idea, Marcarita began to use her staff's viewing orb alongside her father to find out how this could be possible. They started out by examining the history of the Spring of Drowned Woman, and after ten minutes of searching were actually quite astonished by what they found out.
"Oh, so THAT'S how she's now flesh and blood!" exclaimed Marcarita.
"It would seem as though your female half, Ranma, is actually a physical manifestation of the same young woman who was drowned in the cursed spring all of those Earth years ago. When you were kicked into the spring by your sore loser of a father her soul had latched onto yours as the curse took hold in order to use your body as a vessel, knowing that her soul would be returned to the spring as soon as you died. But she didn't want that and did all that she could to help you stay alive whenever you got in over your head in a fight." explained the Grand Priest.
Ranma made a noise of understanding as he took in this new information. It certainly did explain a few things whenever he transformed. Like how it always felt like he had a backseat driver whenever he was in his female form.
"So now that she's her own person again, what will happen to her?" Ranma asked.
"Take her with you and train with her alongside Marcarita. I want her to get super strong like you'll be, Ranma." Zen-Oh said.
"Okay, then. Will do." Ranma said as he bowed respectfully. "I will do my best to uphold the honor of the eleventh universe as the new God of Destruction."
After exchanging farewells, Marcarita had both Ranma and 'Ranko' place their hands on her shoulders as she teleported them away from Zen-Oh's palace to begin their training. And what intense training it will be.
***To Be Continued…***
Whoo, fourteen pages in one chapter! A personal record, I think! I hope you guys and girls enjoy this new story, but know that I'll be slower to update this one due to how long the chapters will be. So bear with me on this, okay? Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time. REVIEW, LOYAL READERS!
*Tamashi no Hansha: Roughly translates to Reflection of Soul in Japanese, according to Google Translate.*