RANMA STRIKES BACK

Prologue

By Robster80

Co-written by TheUNB

Hello, everyone. I'm back again.

A long time ago, there used to be a website called the Anime Addventure- it was like "Choose Your Own Adventure" only instead of just riding it, you wrote it or at least contributed to an existing story. It was mainly a hub for RANMA 1/2 fanfiction, but it wasn't limited to strictly that series. My friends Archangel Bloodraven and TheUNBand I contributed to the Addventure with several stories, some of them featuring Ranma going on dimension-hopping adventures meeting characters from other series.

Sadly, the Addventure is gone, as are all of its stories. All that remains of it is a mentioning on the Ranma 1/2Fandom/Wikia page.

"What has this to do with your story?" you ask? Well, this is the final chapter to a story I started entitled THE GETAWAY, where Ranma was accidentally taken from his home dimension to another... that dimension is where my series NEW DESTINY takes place. While briefly there, Ranma learned of the death of his counterpart and the circumstances surrounding the death. With this grim knowledge, Ranma decided he was never going back, and so began a journey where Ranma tried to run from his problems while meeting new friends and travelling companions along the way, and slowly understanding that he couldn't run forever...

I never finished THE GETAWAY, just left it to the wayside and it died along with the Anime Addventure site. Recently I went back and wrote out the finale along with my good friend and partner-in-fanfiction/crime TheUNB. Special thanks to him for this. You always got my back, bro.

And so, I am posting the finale, in parts mainly due to its size. I hope you all enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: Most of the characters in this story are NOT MINE! They belong to their respective creators/owners. The only original characters are the following: Piccolo Jaga (AKA PJ), Teletraan-5, and Checkers the Deathclaw.

The character Kou Uramecha, though, belongs to TheUNB - he created Kou and thus I state for the record I am borrowing him with permission. Thanks, TheUNB.

The M Rating is mainly for language.

It all started with one bad day... one very bad day...

The night before I had finished an essay I felt very proudly of, with help from my mother as my old man was pretty much useless when it came to writing essays. That morning I wolfed down my breakfast and raced out with school bag and lunch in hand - I wanted to get to Furinkan High and hand in my essay promptly to my teacher...

WAY easier said than done...

It began with Akane, my main fiancée and the youngest daughter of the Tendo family, whom Pop and I were living with in their home. She thought I took off so quickly because I was meeting up with one of my other fiancées, and so she was after me with mallet in hand. And because she was upset, my rival Ryoga misunderstood the whole thing and eventually joined the chase to kick my ass. But I just kept on running, I didn't want to waste time trying to explain and be late for school OR risk my essay getting destroyed.

More and more of the usuals joined the chase: Ukyo tried to give me a special okonomiyaki for the anniversary of our engagement, Shampoo was on her bicycle coming at me to insist on a date with her, Mousse tried to kill me again to prevent me from said date with Shampoo, Kuno wanted to attack me again to "free Akane and the Pig-Tailed Girl" from my clutches (AGAIN not getting that his Pig-Tailed Girl and I are one and the same due to my Jusenkyo curse), his sister Kodachi wanted to wrap me up in her gymnastics ribbon and take me home with her, Happosai was pissed because I kicked him along the way while he was swiping lingerie again and wanted to punish me, and last but not least Principal Kuno (Kuno and Kodachi's old man) wanted to shave my head for his ridiculous "standards" for attending his school.

I had only just gotten through the gates of Furinkan and thought I was home free... I let my damn guard down... and that's when it happened...

I got swamped by everybody and was beaten into the ground. In the chaos, my school bag was tossed up and my essay came out... and was shredded between some of Mousse's weapons, Ukyo's combat spatula, Kodachi's ribbon, and more. My hard-worked essay was just confetti now...

And on top of being a bruised and bloody mess and my essay destroyed, I was late for the beginning of classes. Needless to say, my teacher, miss Hinako, was pissed.

My lunch survived, barely, so that was one good thing, but in truth I wasn't feeling hungry.

The rest of the day was a blur, but soon the day was over... but I had to stay after school. Miss Hinako called in my father to talk to him about what happened. Naturally, I didn't get a word in to explain - it was all "your son didn't show up on time" and "He didn't turn in his essay, so he's getting a failing grade" and whatnot. Pop really didn't care about my grades, but he was upset he had to come to the school and hear Miss Hinako's griping. I would have rather my mother came instead, but Miss Hinako didn't have her phone number. Mom would have been disappointed, but at least she'd hear my side of the story. After we got out of the meeting, Pop berated me for having to be called in, locked me in his damn Cradle From hell technique for a good five minutes and then kicked me aside before he said he'd meet me at the Tendo home.

I didn't go home, though... I picked myself up and just began wandering aimlessly. Believe me, I was feeling very low... I didn't want to see or talk to anybody, I didn't want to eat... I just wanted solitude.

I didn't know how long I wandered, but then suddenly something happened: A green guy appeared before me along with a floating cube with black and green faces on all sides. the green guy looked like that one character from that popular Shonen series, DB-something, only he was dressed like the lead guy from FATAL FURY... When he saw me, he asked if I was Ranma Saotome. How he knew my name, I didn't know at the time, but when I said I was, he got excited. Thankfully he didn't want to fight, just was excited to meet me for some reason. He introduced himself as Piccolo Jaga, but said to call him PJ, and his companion the cube was Teletraan-5. Turns out PJ was trying out some sorta handheld device that allowed him to hop between dimensions, thought Teletraan-5 had warned him against it.

Suddenly my usual pains showed up looking for me, pissed off as usual. Thankfully, PJ grabbed me, and we and Teletraan-5 jumped back to their home dimension. Unfortunately for PJ, his parents were waiting, and they weren't happy with him for what he did. While they took him away to scold him, Teletraan-5 was left to supervise me. It was then that I learned that PJ wanted to meet me because of my counterpart from his dimension. I asked about my counterpart and I learned things that shook me to the core:

The Ranma of that dimension was dead; he'd been trying to resolve his fiancée issues so he could marry Akane, only by the time he had it mostly taken care of, his Akane had turned against him. Worse yet, she found out P-chan was Ryoga... but she not only forgave him but accepted him as both a boyfriend and a lover. And the last straw was Akane called my counterpart a monster, all because he had abilities that made him far ahead of his rivals and Akane as a martial artist thanks to some friends he made in a superhero team called the Mega Avengers. My counterpart took it hard... and the day following Akane's rejection he died, giving his life to save Earth from one of the enemies of the Mega Avengers.

Right then and there, I made up my mind - I was never going back. NEVER. When PJ came back to take me home, I told him I wasn't going back... I'd rather go anywhere else, any other dimension... but I refused to go back and suffer anymore. It was the Saotome Secret technique to the fullest level (running away), sure, but I just wanted to keep on going and not look back. Teletraan-5 argued against it, but PJ smiled at me and said he'd take me wherever I wanted. And to his and Teletraan-5's shock, his father, who had overheard us, encouraged it. Looking back, I think he did it because he understood eventually what I came to realize...

But anyway, that's how I began a journey through various dimensions for almost a year, PJ and Teletran-5 by my side. Along the way we picked up more companions that I came to befriend and respect: Akeno Himejima, Wakko Warner, Makie Sasaki, Stitch, Ikkaku Madarame, Allenby Beardsley, Deadpool, Checkers the Deathclaw... and Kiriya Sensho.

Kiriya was a martial artist, and... well... she taught me a lot. Not just about martial arts but so much more... What I mean is... ...I fell in love with her. Really fell in love with her. I thought I knew what love was before I left, but I was wrong. SO wrong.

And despite how happy I was with Kiriya, with my friends, REAL friends... I understood that running away from my problems wasn't going to ever resolve them.

...I had to go back. I had to... and settle everything out. My friends agreed and even offered to help me, but I politely convinced them that my problems were mine and mine alone, and I had to deal with them myself. So one by one we took everybody back home, saying goodbye for what would be for good. Finally, I was brought back to my home dimension by PJ and Teletran-5... and Kiriya... she wanted to see me off before she went home. We shared what I knew would be our last kiss before we said goodbye... I hated seeing her cry, but I was crying, too. There were no easy way about it, same with how I was going to end my engagements with Akane and the rest... but that ws the way things were, and tehre was no changing it.

So now I'm back, without my friends... without Kiriya... but it's time to stop running. First things first, though... I should go see mom and talk to her. Not sure exactly how much time has passed here since I left, but I know she's likely worried about me...

Nodoka Saotome moved calmly to her apartment's door after she heard the bell. Despite that she wanted to rush up and throw the door open, she knew not to get her hopes up. Her trembling hand took hold of the doorknob and turned it, pulling the door open. Her breath quickly left her…

There stood Ranma. "Hi…" he said. "I'm sorry I-." He was cut off when Nodoka grabbed him, yanked him inside her apartment, and hugged him tightly with a strength Ranma never knew his mother had in her. He felt her trembling, and his shoulder grew wet from her tears.

"Two months," Nodoka said with a cracking voice. "You've been gone for two months, with no word to anyone… Where have you been?!"

Guilt overcame Ranma, and he returned the hug. "It's… a long story, Mom…"

So Ranma, after they moved to the kitchen table, began telling his mother everything… from the day he was chased by nearly everyone he knew in Nerima to school resulting in the destruction of his hard-worked essay, to the parent-teacher discussion that involved his father and not Nodoka, to the new chase after school that resulted in Ranma getting clobbered by his rivals and fiancées (especially Akane), to meeting Piccolo Jaga AKA PJ and Teletraan-5, to being taken back to PJ's dimension and learning his counterpart there died after his Akane rejected him fully, to traveling with PJ and Teletraan-5 and many others along the way through multiple dimensions and having various adventures, until finally Ranma realized he had to come back and face his problems once and for all, alone.

"PJ and the rest all offered to stay and help me," Ranma finished, "but… I told them that it was my mess and I had to resolve it myself. It wasn't easy convincing all of them, but they finally agreed and after we took everybody… Well, almost everybody back to their proper dimensions, PJ brought me back here. I came to you first so you'd know at least everything I had done, and what I intend to do."

"...And what will you do, Ranma?" Nodoka asked calmly.

"I'm… ending all my engagements. Mom, I'll be honest… I didn't know what love really was until sometime during my journey through the dimensions. Now I do. …And I realize I don't love any of my fiancees. And that they don't really love me. They just want to control my life, or see me as potential breeding stock, or hey just don't give a damn about my feelings or what I want to do. If I marry any of them, it'll be either a one-sided or loveless marriage that'll be hell for me if not for both sides. If I'm going to marry anybody, I want to do it for love, real love. But right now, I don't want or need a fiancée… I want a girlfriend if I'm going to have some relations beyond friends with a woman, not marriage off the bat. And from there, I'll wait and see how things go."

Nodoka looked at her son quietly as he spoke. Even after he finished talking, she thought silently, and thought and thought… And then, she gently took his one hand into her own. "My son… I think you're really becoming a man at last. After I found out about your Jusenkyo curse and everything else since your father took you from me, I held my tongue because I thought you were happy with Akane at least… …but maybe I should have taken you back and undid some of the things your father ingrained upon you. I should have… …Ranma, can you forgive me?"

"Can you forgive me, mom, for failing you?"

"You didn't, Ranma. Your father failed me. And he failed you as well, more than he did me. I want you to be happy… and if you're not happy with Akane or any of those other girls, then I agree wholeheartedly you should get your life back in order, even if it means they're not part of it anymore. The same goes for your father."

"Has… he or anyone been looking for me?"

Nodoka sadly shook her head. "At first, yes, but… after two weeks everyone just… gave up. I kept looking until you were gone a whole month, and then I… I decided to wait for you to return. I thought maybe you didn't want to be found, and that you'd finally come back when you were ready."

And Ranma, with a nod, thought that indeed he was ready.

"But tell me… you said you understood what love was during your journey. Did you… meet someone, Ranma?"

Now Ranma blushed, recalling the memories of… her… "...I did, mom. She was… one of my companions. Her name… her name is Kiriya Sensho… and she's a martial artist. In fact, she… she refused to go back home until she saw me come back to this dimension." Ranma once more thought back to where he had said goodbye to PJ, Teletraan-5 and Kiriya… the kiss they had shared before he left to come to his mother's…

"I'd love to hear more about her," Nodoka then said, "but not yet… not now… When you're ready to tell me more about his Kiriya, I'll gladly hear it all."

"...Thanks, mom…" Ranma then closed his eyes, tears leaking out unashamedly. Nodoka, too, was crying; her son no longer was ashamed to cry before others. He'd truly grown up.

Then, Ranma slowly stood up. "Before I go, I need a pen and some paper, a lot of paper. I need to prepare for what I have to do." When Nodoka brought him all he needed, Ranma began to write out several letters, one for each of his rivals, his fiancées, Mr. Tendo, his father, the old crone, Nabiki and Kasumi, Dr. Tofu, and even Principal Kuno. While Kasumi and Dr. Tofu had been the kindest to him, Ranma knew he had to say goodbye to them as well when he'd confront the rest.

He'd have to get what was left of his personal effects from the Tendo home as well, IF they hadn't been stolen or sold off.

Ranma was about halfway through with his letters, with Nodoka bringing him a sandwich and a drink to have as he worked, when the doorbell rang again. "I'll get it," Nodoka said before she left Ranma and the kitchen. She opened the door and was surprised to see a young lady about Ranma's age or older standing before her. The girl had red hair and wore Chinese-themed clothing that told Nodoka silently this girl was a fighter.

The girl bowed respectfully. "Gomen nasai. Is Ranma Saotome here?"

"...May I ask who is inquiring?"

"I'm… a friend of his. My name is Kiriya Sensho."

Nodoka gasped quietly. THIS was the girl Ranma had discovered love with?! But hadn't she gone back to her own home dimension?! She heard rushed footsteps from behind and she turned to see Ranma came to a full stop upon seeing Kiriya.

"K-Kiriya?! …Why-? How-?"

Blushing, Kiriya averted her eyes from Ranma and lightly scratched her cheek with a finger. "Well, uh, it turns out… your home dimension and mine… are… one and the same. …I was just as surprised."

"How… did you find-?"

"Teletraan-5 located your mom's apartment for me. After I explained to my family what happened, I decided to come here… see if you were okay."

Ranma moved past Nodoka, still bewildered. "You… you and I live… in the same…?"

"Yeah. Remember when we first met, Teletraan-5 was offline for repairs? By the time he was fixed we'd moved to the next dimension, and he had barely enough time to log mine… and since we kept getting into situations he never had time to check his readings, until after you left to come here. He said to tell you he's very sorry for that."

Ranma stared at Kiriya, which made her blush even more though she smiled warmly. And then, he moved forward, put his arms around her, and hugged her. "Kiriya… I… I…" More tears left his eyes, but this time they were tears of joy. "...I'm glad… I'm so very glad… …I hated that I'd never get to see you again…"

"...Yeah, me, too…" Kiriya returned the hug, closing her eyes as she cried happily. Soon she felt two more arms go around her and Ranma, and she understood Nodoka had joined them.

"It's very nice to meet you, Kiriya," Nodoka said happily and sincerely. Kiriya was nothing like the girls Nodoka had met that claimed to be Ranma's fiancées… she generated a warmth from the heart and the soul, and she was both strong and gentle in appearance. Nodoka was looking forward to learning more about Ranma's girlfriend.

End Prologue

Author's Notes: Well, here's the Prologue. Next comes the main story, and how Ranma stands up to his problems.

Please read & review.