The Nodoka Gambit
1 Chapter 1:Here is Ranma
The summer air was hot and stifling at the airport as Cologne disembarked from the plane. Her green robe with red trim fluttered in the slight breeze as she adjusted the grip on the staff that towered over her. It had been a long time since she traveled to Japan. Too long, she had already taken the opportunity to look up old friends. That's the problem with age sometimes, you want to stop and reminisce when you should be forging ahead towards your goal. She looked at the letter in her hand. The young woman who wrote her new much about her life, her family, and her tribe, it got her attention real fast.
There was a sense of urgency in the letter, but young people always wanted to hurry through life, never taking time to stop and enjoy the journey. She looked out over Tokyo and decided that she would make one more stop and then she would go and see this girl sometime tomorrow or maybe the next day.
She wandered thru the terminal and found a cab. The man was standing at the left rear of the vehicle with the door open for her. This is strange, She thought as she got in. The driver got in the drivers seat and drove without any mention of destination. Cologne gave the young man a hard look as she cleared her throat.
"Aren't you going to ask me where I want to go?"
The cab driver smiled at this. "I have been paid to take you to a hotel in the Nerima district. I have been waiting for you for a few weeks now. I have already told her you have arrived."
Cologne frowned at this. It couldn't be that important for her to meet this girl. "I want to stop and meet an old friend first."
The man shook his head. "Nabiki wants me to take you straight to the hotel. I'm not stupid enough to go against her wishes lady."
With a long sigh, Cologne settled back into the seat and watched the scenery go by.
The ride was just over an hour long to the small hotel. The cabbie took her things up to her room and went and left. Cologne started to unpack her few clothes that she brought with her when someone knocked on her door. Cologne blinked and went opened the door. A young girl with short brown hair dressed in a simple white blouse and light brown pant was standing at the door.
That was fast. Cologne thought before inviting her in.
"Hello, I'm Nabiki Tendo. I invited you here to help me work out a problem we both will have." Nabiki gave her a forced smile. "I was hoping you would have come sooner." Cologne noticed the irritation in the young woman's brown eyes.
With a wave of her hand, as if to dismiss Nabiki's ire as unnecessary, Cologne motioned her to sit down. "I had some old friends I wanted to visit since I was in Japan. I hardly get over here anymore."
"I was hoping you would be back in your village to witness and guide Shampoo through this," Nabiki said with a sigh. "He will arrive at your village any day now." This really got Cologne's attention.
"Who is this he?" She saw Nabiki smirk.
"This he is Ranma Saotome, and he will be the most powerful martial artist in the world in a few years." Nabiki watched Cologne very carefully for any reactions to the information. "He has or will defeat Shampoo in battle during some tribal tournament. Shampoo will chase him down trying to kill him."
This confused Cologne. Kill him; she would try to marry him. Nabiki noted the confusion and pressed on. "Ever hear of Jusenkyo? Ranma has or will manage to fall into the pool of drowned young girl, while his father has or will fall into the pool of drown panda. Ranma will be a female when he defeats Shampoo."
"How do you know the future young one? Even the gods themselves can't see perfectly into the future." Cologne shook her head. "No, you'll have to prove to me that you know what is going to happen. You can start with where you got this information and the information on me and my family."
Nabiki sketched out the meeting with her older self and the disks of information and instructions that were handed over to her. Cologne took this quietly and only nodded every once in a while when she listened. When Nabiki finished she showed Cologne the disks carefully protected in a wooden box.
"According to the disks," Nabiki started in on what the future entailed, "I married Ranma. When Saffron had my sister Akane kidnapped to lure Ranma over to China, they didn't have the connection needed to over come him. You see my sister and Ranma are soul mates. That is the reason they kidnapped my sister instead of me, they thought that she was his wife. Since he married me their hearts weren't connected and Ranma didn't sacrifice everything to save Akane. And Akane didn't sacrifice everything to save Ranma. My sister died in the fight. Ranma left China after that, without defeating Saffron."
"As you know Saffron is a demigod, half human and half god. He was borne to defeat Trilogon. Trilogon is a demon that can open a gate to the abyss. This doorway can lead to an invasion of Earth by the demons. The Musk and the Amazons were to be his soldiers, while the 7 lucky gods were to be his generals. The winged guardians were to raise him to achieve this goal. Saffron did defeat Trilogon, but not in the way the all seeing one predicted. Saffron absorbed the demon into himself, becoming part demon too. With all the conflicts inside him, he went the easiest way and led the demons in a war against the Gods themselves." Nabiki paused and sat down in a chair next to a small worktable; Cologne took a seat opposite of her.
"About 20 years after Ranma came back to Japan, nature started to die slowly. The Gods were forced off this timeline. Saffron led the remaining demons on a march to conquer Earth. My future self said that her husband saw this as a personal failure. He went off and tried to stop Saffron again. What nobody knew at that time was Saffron absorbed the power of every God, demon, and mortal that died. He was becoming more powerful than everything, but the God himself, but he couldn't step in for that very act would have destroyed this timeline."
"Ranma was killed and humanity was slaughtered. Russia and China used their nukes against the demons and it proved to be effective. My future self escaped Japan before the nuclear bombs went off in this country. I, ah, she…it is hard to refer to what I will do in the future." Cologne chuckled at this and motioned for her to go on. She was fascinated by the tale of fiction this young lady was spinning. "She made her way to a ravaged America, where she found a group of survivors and organized them into a fighting force. She started to collect all the nuclear weapons that were not used in the war and she placed them around Iron Mountain. They were working out the codes when a group came out of the East; one of them had the codes the all of the nukes in America. This wasn't an accident, for the three young goddesses; the goddess of the future, the goddess of the present, and the goddess of the past led them; they were here to give them hope for the future. It was their plan to change the past; sacrificed by their father so mankind can have a future."
Nabiki stared at Cologne waiting for an answer. Cologne organized the information in her head and thought back to the scrolls her mentor showed her centuries ago. As the minutes passed, Nabiki shifted a little, showing her impatience.
She was surprised when Cologne finally spoke. "Why would God try to save something that he allowed to fall to the wayside?"
"From the way I understand it, if this timeline fails it will take the main timeline with it. Our timeline split off the main one when Ranma married me instead of Akane; my sister. From what I gather is that if the main timeline fails then all of the timelines that branch off will cease to exist."
Cologne nodded at this. "Why is Ranma so important in this?"
Nabiki stood up and started to pace a little. "Ranma is a nexus for a while. Certain major decisions in his life will cause splits in possibilities. This timeline has already split off, that can't be changed, but we can change the possibilities of the future. We were given a second chance."
"Ranma has to marry Akane, first and foremost. I have other plans for him in the future and I have already thrown out my future self's first gambit. Now are you in or are do you need more convincing?"
Cologne looked at her and smiled. "Why don't you tell me what is going to happen in my village when Ranma gets there, and if it is close enough then I will decide at that point and I will contact you quickly."
"Well," Nabiki started, "Ranma, hid dad and his mom should arrive there with the Jusenkyo guide. As I stated before will be a red head girl and his father will be a panda. His mom is the unknown since I wanted to reunite them before he gets his curse. She is the unknown. I am hoping that she will be able to curb some of the problems he will have being raised by his father."
"Will his mom prevent a fight between him and Shampoo?" Cologne wondered at the wisdom of this young girl.
"Well that was the reason I wanted you there to ensure a conflict between them. Now we can only hope that the trouble that collects around Ranma like a magnet. The worst possible thing that can happen to Ranma right when he gets to your village is to get into a fight with Shampoo, so it will probably will happen."
Cologne nodded. "I will like to see these disks myself before I leave. Not that I distrust you or anything."
Nabiki sighed. "You will have to come to my home. I managed to get a prototype from a computer manufacturer that owed me a favor. They won't go on sale for another year." {Computer cd players were new items during this timeline}.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
3 weeks later
Ranma looked at the empty house. This was home. There was clutter everywhere, being abandoned for the 5 months while his mom was in China. Now he was home, and he was alone. The trip to China was a disaster. First he fell in spring of drown girl, then he got the kiss of death from Shampoo, then he ate the dragon hair soup, then his dad decided to lure Shampoo away from his son and his wife by himself, and lastly his mom didn't have enough money for two boat tickets home so he had to swim back. Yes, even though he learned many new disciplines in China, the trip was just one disaster after another.
He looked at the house again. His mom said that she would meet him here. She probably didn't know how fast he could swim. He walked into the house and looked around. He couldn't remember anything about this house. The air was stale, so he opened up some windows and explored the house.
"What did his dad say?" He thought. "Something about going to Nerima to visit an old friend." Sitting down on an old worn chair, he decided to leave early for Nerima. His dad may have beaten them all here. One thing Ranma knew was that his father ran very fast when someone was chasing him.
The next day
Akane was pissed. That wasn't uncommon these days. Ever since Kuno made that stupid announcement at the beginning of the school year: "If you want to date Akane Tendo, you must defeat her." Like she would actually date one of these jerks if one happens to beat her. She made no commitment to this. Now she had to fight her way to school every morning.
If it wasn't the fights weren't enough, earlier this week she and her sisters were informed that one of her fathers old friends was coming into town with his son. That wouldn't have been too bad, but he informed them that he was going to be one of their fiancés.
The last thing that confused Akane right now was her feelings for Dr. Tofu. They weren't the same as they were before. Ever since Nabiki took her to see that boy, her feelings for the good doctor have been mixed. She knew the doctor loved her oldest sister Kasumi, but she always hoped that he would notice her. Now it wasn't that important to her. It confused her and that angered her. How can just seeing a boy mess with her emotions so much.
With a battle cry she ran past a young man standing on the fence. She was so focused on the battle ahead, that she didn't even see him as she engaged the horde of male students swarming out to meet her.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Ranma got to Nerima just after daybreak. He was going through his memory of what his dad told his mom about the stop over he wanted in Nerima. After some random wandering, he remembered the name Tendo.
With that he took off to find his father's friend. After a couple of hours looking around the town, Ranma came up on the local high school. He stood on the fence looking into the compound; when he heard a battle cry; a female battle cry. A flash of blue was all that he saw when he turned to look behind him.
When he looked back towards the high school, he was simply amazed. The girl was tearing thru a mass of male students who were yelling promises of violence and of dates. Ranma shook his head at this.
It was over a few seconds later. The girl had beaten over 50 men and stood there panting at the exertion. Then for some strange reason she glanced back at him. The cute girl before him took Ranma aback; it took him a second to recover. He gave her a respectful bow and thumbs up with a big smile before he ran off.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Breathing hard, Akane was standing there hoping that Kuno wouldn't show up this morning. Feeling someone watching her, she turned around to see that boy. It was the same boy that she saw earlier in the year doing a kata on the collapsed dock. She was amazed to see him smile at her, bow and give her the thumbs up. A warm feeling washed over her as she watched him run away. With a blush at her thoughts, someone approaches behind her and distracted her.
Akane turned around and faced Kuno. She smiled at him and then charged. Never had she been this confident before. Kuno opened with a traditional overhead strike that was easily brushed aside by Akane as she just ran right over him. Kuno just smiled as he lay there. "Those polka dot panties just don't suit her." Then he was out cold.
Note: I called this the Nodoka Gambit, because Nodoka is the proverbial thrown die. Nabiki is the one who threw out the die. I would have named it Nabiki's Gambit if I wanted to get the same effect and use Nabiki's name.
Next, in the manga Ranma and Ryoga went to high school together before Ranma went to China. So Ranma couldn't have spent more than around ½ year or so. If you have any proof of a longer stay in China, please write and point it out to me. I have all of the anime and manga currently released in the U.S. Thanks.
1 Chapter 1:Here is Ranma
The summer air was hot and stifling at the airport as Cologne disembarked from the plane. Her green robe with red trim fluttered in the slight breeze as she adjusted the grip on the staff that towered over her. It had been a long time since she traveled to Japan. Too long, she had already taken the opportunity to look up old friends. That's the problem with age sometimes, you want to stop and reminisce when you should be forging ahead towards your goal. She looked at the letter in her hand. The young woman who wrote her new much about her life, her family, and her tribe, it got her attention real fast.
There was a sense of urgency in the letter, but young people always wanted to hurry through life, never taking time to stop and enjoy the journey. She looked out over Tokyo and decided that she would make one more stop and then she would go and see this girl sometime tomorrow or maybe the next day.
She wandered thru the terminal and found a cab. The man was standing at the left rear of the vehicle with the door open for her. This is strange, She thought as she got in. The driver got in the drivers seat and drove without any mention of destination. Cologne gave the young man a hard look as she cleared her throat.
"Aren't you going to ask me where I want to go?"
The cab driver smiled at this. "I have been paid to take you to a hotel in the Nerima district. I have been waiting for you for a few weeks now. I have already told her you have arrived."
Cologne frowned at this. It couldn't be that important for her to meet this girl. "I want to stop and meet an old friend first."
The man shook his head. "Nabiki wants me to take you straight to the hotel. I'm not stupid enough to go against her wishes lady."
With a long sigh, Cologne settled back into the seat and watched the scenery go by.
The ride was just over an hour long to the small hotel. The cabbie took her things up to her room and went and left. Cologne started to unpack her few clothes that she brought with her when someone knocked on her door. Cologne blinked and went opened the door. A young girl with short brown hair dressed in a simple white blouse and light brown pant was standing at the door.
That was fast. Cologne thought before inviting her in.
"Hello, I'm Nabiki Tendo. I invited you here to help me work out a problem we both will have." Nabiki gave her a forced smile. "I was hoping you would have come sooner." Cologne noticed the irritation in the young woman's brown eyes.
With a wave of her hand, as if to dismiss Nabiki's ire as unnecessary, Cologne motioned her to sit down. "I had some old friends I wanted to visit since I was in Japan. I hardly get over here anymore."
"I was hoping you would be back in your village to witness and guide Shampoo through this," Nabiki said with a sigh. "He will arrive at your village any day now." This really got Cologne's attention.
"Who is this he?" She saw Nabiki smirk.
"This he is Ranma Saotome, and he will be the most powerful martial artist in the world in a few years." Nabiki watched Cologne very carefully for any reactions to the information. "He has or will defeat Shampoo in battle during some tribal tournament. Shampoo will chase him down trying to kill him."
This confused Cologne. Kill him; she would try to marry him. Nabiki noted the confusion and pressed on. "Ever hear of Jusenkyo? Ranma has or will manage to fall into the pool of drowned young girl, while his father has or will fall into the pool of drown panda. Ranma will be a female when he defeats Shampoo."
"How do you know the future young one? Even the gods themselves can't see perfectly into the future." Cologne shook her head. "No, you'll have to prove to me that you know what is going to happen. You can start with where you got this information and the information on me and my family."
Nabiki sketched out the meeting with her older self and the disks of information and instructions that were handed over to her. Cologne took this quietly and only nodded every once in a while when she listened. When Nabiki finished she showed Cologne the disks carefully protected in a wooden box.
"According to the disks," Nabiki started in on what the future entailed, "I married Ranma. When Saffron had my sister Akane kidnapped to lure Ranma over to China, they didn't have the connection needed to over come him. You see my sister and Ranma are soul mates. That is the reason they kidnapped my sister instead of me, they thought that she was his wife. Since he married me their hearts weren't connected and Ranma didn't sacrifice everything to save Akane. And Akane didn't sacrifice everything to save Ranma. My sister died in the fight. Ranma left China after that, without defeating Saffron."
"As you know Saffron is a demigod, half human and half god. He was borne to defeat Trilogon. Trilogon is a demon that can open a gate to the abyss. This doorway can lead to an invasion of Earth by the demons. The Musk and the Amazons were to be his soldiers, while the 7 lucky gods were to be his generals. The winged guardians were to raise him to achieve this goal. Saffron did defeat Trilogon, but not in the way the all seeing one predicted. Saffron absorbed the demon into himself, becoming part demon too. With all the conflicts inside him, he went the easiest way and led the demons in a war against the Gods themselves." Nabiki paused and sat down in a chair next to a small worktable; Cologne took a seat opposite of her.
"About 20 years after Ranma came back to Japan, nature started to die slowly. The Gods were forced off this timeline. Saffron led the remaining demons on a march to conquer Earth. My future self said that her husband saw this as a personal failure. He went off and tried to stop Saffron again. What nobody knew at that time was Saffron absorbed the power of every God, demon, and mortal that died. He was becoming more powerful than everything, but the God himself, but he couldn't step in for that very act would have destroyed this timeline."
"Ranma was killed and humanity was slaughtered. Russia and China used their nukes against the demons and it proved to be effective. My future self escaped Japan before the nuclear bombs went off in this country. I, ah, she…it is hard to refer to what I will do in the future." Cologne chuckled at this and motioned for her to go on. She was fascinated by the tale of fiction this young lady was spinning. "She made her way to a ravaged America, where she found a group of survivors and organized them into a fighting force. She started to collect all the nuclear weapons that were not used in the war and she placed them around Iron Mountain. They were working out the codes when a group came out of the East; one of them had the codes the all of the nukes in America. This wasn't an accident, for the three young goddesses; the goddess of the future, the goddess of the present, and the goddess of the past led them; they were here to give them hope for the future. It was their plan to change the past; sacrificed by their father so mankind can have a future."
Nabiki stared at Cologne waiting for an answer. Cologne organized the information in her head and thought back to the scrolls her mentor showed her centuries ago. As the minutes passed, Nabiki shifted a little, showing her impatience.
She was surprised when Cologne finally spoke. "Why would God try to save something that he allowed to fall to the wayside?"
"From the way I understand it, if this timeline fails it will take the main timeline with it. Our timeline split off the main one when Ranma married me instead of Akane; my sister. From what I gather is that if the main timeline fails then all of the timelines that branch off will cease to exist."
Cologne nodded at this. "Why is Ranma so important in this?"
Nabiki stood up and started to pace a little. "Ranma is a nexus for a while. Certain major decisions in his life will cause splits in possibilities. This timeline has already split off, that can't be changed, but we can change the possibilities of the future. We were given a second chance."
"Ranma has to marry Akane, first and foremost. I have other plans for him in the future and I have already thrown out my future self's first gambit. Now are you in or are do you need more convincing?"
Cologne looked at her and smiled. "Why don't you tell me what is going to happen in my village when Ranma gets there, and if it is close enough then I will decide at that point and I will contact you quickly."
"Well," Nabiki started, "Ranma, hid dad and his mom should arrive there with the Jusenkyo guide. As I stated before will be a red head girl and his father will be a panda. His mom is the unknown since I wanted to reunite them before he gets his curse. She is the unknown. I am hoping that she will be able to curb some of the problems he will have being raised by his father."
"Will his mom prevent a fight between him and Shampoo?" Cologne wondered at the wisdom of this young girl.
"Well that was the reason I wanted you there to ensure a conflict between them. Now we can only hope that the trouble that collects around Ranma like a magnet. The worst possible thing that can happen to Ranma right when he gets to your village is to get into a fight with Shampoo, so it will probably will happen."
Cologne nodded. "I will like to see these disks myself before I leave. Not that I distrust you or anything."
Nabiki sighed. "You will have to come to my home. I managed to get a prototype from a computer manufacturer that owed me a favor. They won't go on sale for another year." {Computer cd players were new items during this timeline}.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
3 weeks later
Ranma looked at the empty house. This was home. There was clutter everywhere, being abandoned for the 5 months while his mom was in China. Now he was home, and he was alone. The trip to China was a disaster. First he fell in spring of drown girl, then he got the kiss of death from Shampoo, then he ate the dragon hair soup, then his dad decided to lure Shampoo away from his son and his wife by himself, and lastly his mom didn't have enough money for two boat tickets home so he had to swim back. Yes, even though he learned many new disciplines in China, the trip was just one disaster after another.
He looked at the house again. His mom said that she would meet him here. She probably didn't know how fast he could swim. He walked into the house and looked around. He couldn't remember anything about this house. The air was stale, so he opened up some windows and explored the house.
"What did his dad say?" He thought. "Something about going to Nerima to visit an old friend." Sitting down on an old worn chair, he decided to leave early for Nerima. His dad may have beaten them all here. One thing Ranma knew was that his father ran very fast when someone was chasing him.
The next day
Akane was pissed. That wasn't uncommon these days. Ever since Kuno made that stupid announcement at the beginning of the school year: "If you want to date Akane Tendo, you must defeat her." Like she would actually date one of these jerks if one happens to beat her. She made no commitment to this. Now she had to fight her way to school every morning.
If it wasn't the fights weren't enough, earlier this week she and her sisters were informed that one of her fathers old friends was coming into town with his son. That wouldn't have been too bad, but he informed them that he was going to be one of their fiancés.
The last thing that confused Akane right now was her feelings for Dr. Tofu. They weren't the same as they were before. Ever since Nabiki took her to see that boy, her feelings for the good doctor have been mixed. She knew the doctor loved her oldest sister Kasumi, but she always hoped that he would notice her. Now it wasn't that important to her. It confused her and that angered her. How can just seeing a boy mess with her emotions so much.
With a battle cry she ran past a young man standing on the fence. She was so focused on the battle ahead, that she didn't even see him as she engaged the horde of male students swarming out to meet her.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Ranma got to Nerima just after daybreak. He was going through his memory of what his dad told his mom about the stop over he wanted in Nerima. After some random wandering, he remembered the name Tendo.
With that he took off to find his father's friend. After a couple of hours looking around the town, Ranma came up on the local high school. He stood on the fence looking into the compound; when he heard a battle cry; a female battle cry. A flash of blue was all that he saw when he turned to look behind him.
When he looked back towards the high school, he was simply amazed. The girl was tearing thru a mass of male students who were yelling promises of violence and of dates. Ranma shook his head at this.
It was over a few seconds later. The girl had beaten over 50 men and stood there panting at the exertion. Then for some strange reason she glanced back at him. The cute girl before him took Ranma aback; it took him a second to recover. He gave her a respectful bow and thumbs up with a big smile before he ran off.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Breathing hard, Akane was standing there hoping that Kuno wouldn't show up this morning. Feeling someone watching her, she turned around to see that boy. It was the same boy that she saw earlier in the year doing a kata on the collapsed dock. She was amazed to see him smile at her, bow and give her the thumbs up. A warm feeling washed over her as she watched him run away. With a blush at her thoughts, someone approaches behind her and distracted her.
Akane turned around and faced Kuno. She smiled at him and then charged. Never had she been this confident before. Kuno opened with a traditional overhead strike that was easily brushed aside by Akane as she just ran right over him. Kuno just smiled as he lay there. "Those polka dot panties just don't suit her." Then he was out cold.
Note: I called this the Nodoka Gambit, because Nodoka is the proverbial thrown die. Nabiki is the one who threw out the die. I would have named it Nabiki's Gambit if I wanted to get the same effect and use Nabiki's name.
Next, in the manga Ranma and Ryoga went to high school together before Ranma went to China. So Ranma couldn't have spent more than around ½ year or so. If you have any proof of a longer stay in China, please write and point it out to me. I have all of the anime and manga currently released in the U.S. Thanks.