Ranma the Apprentice
None of the characters in this fic are owned by me. Ranma characters
belong to Rumiko Takakashi. Ah! My Goddess characters belong to
Fujishima Kosuke. All other characters to appear in this are owned
by their respective people. Please don't sue me, I'm not rich.
E-mail me any C&C at NighthawkTM@yahoo.com. Flames will be ignored.
Chapter 2
Trying to be Better
"This sucks," said Earth Trainee Ranma, looking over the
tournament, still sore about the demotion from Devil Hunter
Trainee.
"You're telling me?" Earth Trainee Skuld frowned.
The technology here was strictly 1800s as far as she could
tell at first glance. Most of it wasn't even that advanced.
"Might as well get it over with." Ranma walked up
to the girl who was just having a hand raised by the judge.
"Pardon me, is your name Shampoo?"
The girl blinked. "Who are you, outsider, who
knows of me? Have you come to congratulate me on my
victory?"
"Yes. I have heard of your great skill and wanted
to congratulate you on winning this tournament." Ranma
smiled at the girl, nodding and adding a small box of rare herbs
to the prize table before leaving without another word.
Cologne watched the two strangers leaving, noting their
auras and speculating. "That was certainly odd. I wonder..." She
became invisible as far as anyone could tell, masking her presence
completely and following the two who glowed to her senses as if
they were bonfires of chi.
"Well," Ranma said as they got out of sight of the
challenge area. "We saw her and managed to avoid ruining HER life.
So she goes on as the village Champion and avoids any problems, right?"
"Until the Musk and Phoenix Mountain, yeah." Skuld
nodded.
"Oh? What happens then?" Ranma smiled, thinking
about all the problems he'd avoided and feeling the pride of a job
well done. Wasn't there something at the end of that story he'd
read regarding the destruction of Jusenkyo? That wasn't a big deal...
"She dies. The Amazons are either enslaved or killed
off, and the whole Chinese Amazon thing joins the Greek variety as a
legend." Skuld hadn't wanted to say this, but Ranma HAD asked. There
were times that the "can't tell a lie" thing chafed.
Ranma stopped. "What?!"
"Um, well," Skuld flinched. "See the Musk Dynasty is
kinda their ancient rival/enemy and Phoenix Mountain gets this
really bratty kid named Saffron who decides to destroy Jusenkyo then
eliminate the locals. The Musk figure this out and 'cause they're sorta
dependent on one of the springs, they try a last ditch attempt to
destroy the amazons and recover some of their magical artifacts. The
amazons eventually destroy the Musk, but then when Saffron gets into
his full power he gives the surviving amazons the choice of servitude or
death. Then he kinda creates a volcano in the village."
Ranma turned his gaze to the heavens. "Please, can't I
have a solution that doesn't involve me ruining Shampoo's life? She
could be village Champion instead of pursuing me around for the next
two years."
"Well," Skuld said seriously. "You can't kill Saffron. He's
immortal and he's essentially the head of his people. You can't destroy
Jusendo, cause that'd cause even worse problems."
"How about if I come back during this guy's rise to power
with some allies, THEN kick his butt."
"That might work," Skuld allowed then smiled. Yeah, he
could get some high powered help, save the amazons, and he didn't
have to get engaged to at least one of 'em. "That's an idea. You've
made a number of friends who would be glad to help save the Amazons."
Cologne listened a little longer, then headed back to her
village. She'd have to do some research, but if the little girl was
an oracle, then the safety of the amazons was at stake.
And if the safety of amazons was at stake, then even
putting her great granddaughter through two years of hell was worth
the sacrifice.
-----------------------------------------
"Hey Skuld, how does this sound?
"Dear Ucchan, I have just learned of two things that
you have known for years. First, that my little buddy Ucchan
isn't a boy. Second, that my father stole your dowry. My father
is beyond your vengeance. I, on the other hand, will try to find
a way to make reparations. I cannot replace the years spent in
pursuit of vengeance, nor can I produce the yattai.
"I will find some way of making it up to you as best
as I can. I expect to have a permanent address soon in Nerima,
and will be able to find a way to pull in some income at that point.
I will contact you again as soon as I have resolved the next debt that
my father has left me.
"Please forgive me. You deserve so much better in your
life than to waste it in pursuit of vengeance. Ranma Saotome."
"Not too bad. You KNOW she'll come to Nerima and
hunt you down."
"Yeah, but we can at least get it over with sooner that
way." Ranma paused. "I'm sending off similar letters to Mister
Daikokuji, Mister Natsume, and Mister Kino. Oh yeah, and that
postcard to Mister Tendo." Like the manga, he'd only had time
to skim the relevant files.
Skuld came over to the table and started reading.
"Hmmm. Simple and to the point. You're giving 'em a couple
of days warning, I see."
"Yup," Ranma held up a sticker he'd gotten from
a photo booth. "Even sending a picture of myself so that
they know what their father's trying to get them into."
"Good." Skuld smiled. "Hey, we'll get through
this yet."
----------------------------------------
"ENGAGED!?" Akane glared at her father.
"Can I see that postcard?" Nabiki noted that the
scene was completely unfamiliar to her. A gruff looking
individual with a halberd standing in front of a rainbow so
clear that it looked almost solid.
"Hmmm," Nabiki hmmed. "Dear Mister Tendo,
Greetings. My name is Ranma Saotome and I recently
learned of the honor agreement between our two families.
As this is a matter of honor, I am coming there to meet
with you regarding of this. I do hope that you will keep
an open mind about this whole thing as it appears my
late father had made other arrangements as well. I am
bringing a friend with me who has been temporarily exiled
from her own people that I met on my training journey."
Nabiki looked over the two-view photosticker
that was on the postcard. "Hey, he looks kinda cute."
"Let me see, Nabiki." Kasumi looked over the
photo. "My, he doesn't look that young does he?"
"He definitely works out, look at those pecs."
Nabiki grinned.
"I hate boys." Akane mentioned, just in case
anyone was listening. Still, her gaze DID linger a bit on
the photo. He DID look like he was in fair shape.
"Oh, Nabiki, you really shouldn't be..." Kasumi
looked over the standing and close-up photos and tried to
make out the details from the tiny shot. "Uhmmm. You
shouldn't be looking at things like that..."
"Wipe your chin, big sister," Nabiki teased. "This
guy is ready to be inducted to the National Hunkdom League.
I'd guess he's about eighteen, works out on a regular basis.
Daddy- you said that his father had been training him in the
martial arts all his life?"
At her father's nod, Nabiki continued. "Those
clothes are a bit odd but look really well made. So he's
well-traveled, able to make odd bucks while on the road,
guy quite obviously ain't starving. His handwriting is
very precise, and he don't sound boring at all. Therefore,
I will sacrifice so much of my freedom by being the one
to get engaged to Hunkma, I mean Ranma."
"Better you than me," said Akane, eyeing
the photo and not sounding nearly as certain as she
had earlier.
Kasumi frowned slightly. "Nabiki, don't you
think we ought to meet him first? And what of this friend
he's bringing with him?"
"We'll just have to see about that," Soun
Tendo said, an ominous tone creeping into his voice.
-------------------------------------------
Kasumi stopped sweeping as her sisters came
into the house. "Nabiki, who's that young man standing by the
gate?"
"Hmmm? Oh, Kuno-baby?" Nabiki shrugged and
let Akane go past her and into the house. "Well...today he
paid me for information about why his 'dear Akane' was so
overwrought today. He got up to 500yen before I started
giving him details."
"Oh, I suppose that I can go grocery shopping
later, then."
Nabiki nodded. "Anyway, so eventually we got
to the heart of the matter. The Tendos and the Saotomes and
their deal to unite the two families. Well, Kuno goes absolutely
frothing-at-the-mouth berserk. He's SO sure that this guy is
going to come and choose Akane and that she'll be forced to
go off and marry. Forsaking her true love. Him."
"Oh. Then we ought to warn Ranma not to choose
Akane."
"Akane doesn't love Kuno. She can't really stand
the guy. Anyway, Kuno's there to stand guard over 'his Akane'
until such time as Saotome shows up. Then, of course, Kuno
plans on defeating the fiend that seeks Akane's hand."
"Oh dear."
"Anyway, Kuno didn't buy what time Ranma would
show up, so he's gonna be there all night and all day tomorrow.
I figure he'll be dead on his feet when Ranma does arrive."
"Oh." Kasumi resumed sweeping.
Nabiki glanced back at the waiting Kuno, up at the
heavens, and went inside. Tomorrow showed every sign of being a
LONG day.
-----------------------------------------
There had been a time when Ranma would have disdained
using a weapon in combat. He felt that someone who relied on weapons
was weak because if you took the weapon away they were helpless.
Then his sensei, a guy named Tyr Grimjaws, had told him
about goblin spiders and about the Midgard Serpent, and about a lot of
other noxious things. Things that you wanted as far away from your flesh
as you could possibly get.
So Ranma had learned weapons. Not for every fight, to be
sure. Tyr had taught him the longsword and the warhammer. Susano, the
katana and the wakizashi- the daisho of the samurai. He'd already known
how to use the staff and the horse-spear, nunchakus and sai. In female
form she'd learned the spearwork of the valkyrie, the bow from some
humorless girl named Artemis, and the halberd and yari from some guy named
Hachiman.
This brought Ranma to his "greeting the morning" kata.
Today was an exercise using a weapon he still hadn't quite mastered,
the kusari-gama. Not an elegant or a silent weapon, that much was sure.
Not that he couldn't do the basics, but if he got caught by a dozen
swordsmen in a bamboo grove he'd drop the weapon and fall back on dodging.
"Aw c'mon, Ranma, it ain't even dawn yet," grumbled
Skuld from their room. "Can't you practice the sword or your unarmed
stuff today?"
"That's what you say every time, Skuld." Ranma relented though, and began
going into exercises that were silent.
"You could've at least used your manriki-gusari. That only makes noise
when you want it to," Skuld stopped speaking in order to produce a long and
drawn-out yawn.
"It's an enchanted weapon. Too easy to get dependent
on those." Ranma frowned as he realized he was quoting his teacher.
"Then somebody slaps you with a 'Neutralize Magic' and it throws you
off."
Skuld grumbled a little, preparing to go back to her futon,
when something crossed her mind. "Hey, today's the day, ain't it?"
"Yes, Skuld. Today we meet the Tendos." Ranma began
to blur as he used a pattern of moves he'd learned from Raideen.
Too bad he couldn't do the lightning stuff, that had been cool. Well, at
least not yet. He wasn't completely willing to admit defeat on those special
maneuvers.
"Oh man. 'Yes, Skuld, today we meet the Tendos.' C'mon,
Ranma! I mean, you've got this whole fiancée thing coming down on your head
now, don't you go bottling it up like ol' Grimjaws."
Ranma swept through the set of strikes and moves that
Raideen had shown him, shifting into a set of maneuvers that he'd studied
while sparring with Susano.
"At least tell me which one you like the most. C'mon,
remember, I'm the goddess of the future and I can absolutely say with
confidence that not all of them turn out as badly as some of them do."
Why did she feel so nervous about his answer?
Ranma sighed and dropped from his stance. "Skuld, why don't YOU tell
ME something. Why aren't you unhappy with this? I mean, I got you kicked
outta Heaven for cryin' out loud. Not many who could do that."
"It's only temporary." Skuld looked wistful. "Besides,
that remark about my big sister proved to be dead on. Never told you about
that did I? You said it looked like my sister was gonna go visit her boyfriend.
Never woulda occurred to me if you hadn't said something."
"Well, it was kinda obvious. Eros had said something
to me about some kid named Usagi, and I noticed your sister had the same
look in her eyes as the girl that Eros was watching." Ranma sighed and
started doing situps.
"Yeah, well, Belldandy has been monitoring a mortal
for years. When I found out about it, I checked the records. She's
been watching this guy since they were kids!" Skuld pouted. "He's
not good enough for MY sister. Not nearly enough. But she's gonna
grant his wish, and she's already put in for consideration to have
HER wish- which will modify his wish so she gets to be his girlfriend."
"Sounds like it wouldn't be too difficult."
"Yeah, but it plays awfully close to some rules. Makes me
nervous that Belle is gonna do it. Urd I can picture doing something
like that, but Belldandy?" Skuld sighed. "Anyway the prediction program
I ran said there was a 97% chance they'd end up living here in this
mortal city. So, I'm away from my sister, but when she comes down I'll
be here already."
"So who's covering the Yggdrasil duties? Urd?"
"Nah, you made some friends over in the Greek quarter.
Clotho and Lachesis will take turns and you know how Hephaestus was
when you talked it over with Urd about letting him learn the systems
so she could go meet with Bacchus."
"Ah," Ranma finished a set of sit-ups and went on to
start one-handed pushups. "Skuld? You've got a prediction
program?"
"Yeah?" Skuld sat back and wondered when that
Keiichi guy would make his wish.
"Who would I make the happiest? Who needs me
the most? Who SHOULD I marry?" After all, Ranma reasoned, if he DID
marry then that would cancel out the remaining engagements and he
wouldn't be stringing along all these girls.
"Hmmm?" Skuld considered and whipped her notebook
computer out. "Letsee. If I hook it into a subetheric modem link and
access Yggdrasil.com, and run a minimalist query it should give me
some quick results." Skuld secret technique: sonicspeed typing.
"Ah-hah!" Skuld exclaimed. "I am such a...genius?"
"What you get?" Ranma stopped his pushups and
started getting up.
Skuld snapped the notebook shut. "Still have to work
out some parameters. Probably need to get a full workup instead of
just addressing the online data from Yggdrasil. I'll work on it
when I get a chance."
"Oh," Ranma returned to the exercises.
Skuld sighed in relief, then cracked open her notebook
to look at the results again. This couldn't be right.
Could it?
None of the characters in this fic are owned by me. Ranma characters
belong to Rumiko Takakashi. Ah! My Goddess characters belong to
Fujishima Kosuke. All other characters to appear in this are owned
by their respective people. Please don't sue me, I'm not rich.
E-mail me any C&C at NighthawkTM@yahoo.com. Flames will be ignored.
Chapter 2
Trying to be Better
"This sucks," said Earth Trainee Ranma, looking over the
tournament, still sore about the demotion from Devil Hunter
Trainee.
"You're telling me?" Earth Trainee Skuld frowned.
The technology here was strictly 1800s as far as she could
tell at first glance. Most of it wasn't even that advanced.
"Might as well get it over with." Ranma walked up
to the girl who was just having a hand raised by the judge.
"Pardon me, is your name Shampoo?"
The girl blinked. "Who are you, outsider, who
knows of me? Have you come to congratulate me on my
victory?"
"Yes. I have heard of your great skill and wanted
to congratulate you on winning this tournament." Ranma
smiled at the girl, nodding and adding a small box of rare herbs
to the prize table before leaving without another word.
Cologne watched the two strangers leaving, noting their
auras and speculating. "That was certainly odd. I wonder..." She
became invisible as far as anyone could tell, masking her presence
completely and following the two who glowed to her senses as if
they were bonfires of chi.
"Well," Ranma said as they got out of sight of the
challenge area. "We saw her and managed to avoid ruining HER life.
So she goes on as the village Champion and avoids any problems, right?"
"Until the Musk and Phoenix Mountain, yeah." Skuld
nodded.
"Oh? What happens then?" Ranma smiled, thinking
about all the problems he'd avoided and feeling the pride of a job
well done. Wasn't there something at the end of that story he'd
read regarding the destruction of Jusenkyo? That wasn't a big deal...
"She dies. The Amazons are either enslaved or killed
off, and the whole Chinese Amazon thing joins the Greek variety as a
legend." Skuld hadn't wanted to say this, but Ranma HAD asked. There
were times that the "can't tell a lie" thing chafed.
Ranma stopped. "What?!"
"Um, well," Skuld flinched. "See the Musk Dynasty is
kinda their ancient rival/enemy and Phoenix Mountain gets this
really bratty kid named Saffron who decides to destroy Jusenkyo then
eliminate the locals. The Musk figure this out and 'cause they're sorta
dependent on one of the springs, they try a last ditch attempt to
destroy the amazons and recover some of their magical artifacts. The
amazons eventually destroy the Musk, but then when Saffron gets into
his full power he gives the surviving amazons the choice of servitude or
death. Then he kinda creates a volcano in the village."
Ranma turned his gaze to the heavens. "Please, can't I
have a solution that doesn't involve me ruining Shampoo's life? She
could be village Champion instead of pursuing me around for the next
two years."
"Well," Skuld said seriously. "You can't kill Saffron. He's
immortal and he's essentially the head of his people. You can't destroy
Jusendo, cause that'd cause even worse problems."
"How about if I come back during this guy's rise to power
with some allies, THEN kick his butt."
"That might work," Skuld allowed then smiled. Yeah, he
could get some high powered help, save the amazons, and he didn't
have to get engaged to at least one of 'em. "That's an idea. You've
made a number of friends who would be glad to help save the Amazons."
Cologne listened a little longer, then headed back to her
village. She'd have to do some research, but if the little girl was
an oracle, then the safety of the amazons was at stake.
And if the safety of amazons was at stake, then even
putting her great granddaughter through two years of hell was worth
the sacrifice.
-----------------------------------------
"Hey Skuld, how does this sound?
"Dear Ucchan, I have just learned of two things that
you have known for years. First, that my little buddy Ucchan
isn't a boy. Second, that my father stole your dowry. My father
is beyond your vengeance. I, on the other hand, will try to find
a way to make reparations. I cannot replace the years spent in
pursuit of vengeance, nor can I produce the yattai.
"I will find some way of making it up to you as best
as I can. I expect to have a permanent address soon in Nerima,
and will be able to find a way to pull in some income at that point.
I will contact you again as soon as I have resolved the next debt that
my father has left me.
"Please forgive me. You deserve so much better in your
life than to waste it in pursuit of vengeance. Ranma Saotome."
"Not too bad. You KNOW she'll come to Nerima and
hunt you down."
"Yeah, but we can at least get it over with sooner that
way." Ranma paused. "I'm sending off similar letters to Mister
Daikokuji, Mister Natsume, and Mister Kino. Oh yeah, and that
postcard to Mister Tendo." Like the manga, he'd only had time
to skim the relevant files.
Skuld came over to the table and started reading.
"Hmmm. Simple and to the point. You're giving 'em a couple
of days warning, I see."
"Yup," Ranma held up a sticker he'd gotten from
a photo booth. "Even sending a picture of myself so that
they know what their father's trying to get them into."
"Good." Skuld smiled. "Hey, we'll get through
this yet."
----------------------------------------
"ENGAGED!?" Akane glared at her father.
"Can I see that postcard?" Nabiki noted that the
scene was completely unfamiliar to her. A gruff looking
individual with a halberd standing in front of a rainbow so
clear that it looked almost solid.
"Hmmm," Nabiki hmmed. "Dear Mister Tendo,
Greetings. My name is Ranma Saotome and I recently
learned of the honor agreement between our two families.
As this is a matter of honor, I am coming there to meet
with you regarding of this. I do hope that you will keep
an open mind about this whole thing as it appears my
late father had made other arrangements as well. I am
bringing a friend with me who has been temporarily exiled
from her own people that I met on my training journey."
Nabiki looked over the two-view photosticker
that was on the postcard. "Hey, he looks kinda cute."
"Let me see, Nabiki." Kasumi looked over the
photo. "My, he doesn't look that young does he?"
"He definitely works out, look at those pecs."
Nabiki grinned.
"I hate boys." Akane mentioned, just in case
anyone was listening. Still, her gaze DID linger a bit on
the photo. He DID look like he was in fair shape.
"Oh, Nabiki, you really shouldn't be..." Kasumi
looked over the standing and close-up photos and tried to
make out the details from the tiny shot. "Uhmmm. You
shouldn't be looking at things like that..."
"Wipe your chin, big sister," Nabiki teased. "This
guy is ready to be inducted to the National Hunkdom League.
I'd guess he's about eighteen, works out on a regular basis.
Daddy- you said that his father had been training him in the
martial arts all his life?"
At her father's nod, Nabiki continued. "Those
clothes are a bit odd but look really well made. So he's
well-traveled, able to make odd bucks while on the road,
guy quite obviously ain't starving. His handwriting is
very precise, and he don't sound boring at all. Therefore,
I will sacrifice so much of my freedom by being the one
to get engaged to Hunkma, I mean Ranma."
"Better you than me," said Akane, eyeing
the photo and not sounding nearly as certain as she
had earlier.
Kasumi frowned slightly. "Nabiki, don't you
think we ought to meet him first? And what of this friend
he's bringing with him?"
"We'll just have to see about that," Soun
Tendo said, an ominous tone creeping into his voice.
-------------------------------------------
Kasumi stopped sweeping as her sisters came
into the house. "Nabiki, who's that young man standing by the
gate?"
"Hmmm? Oh, Kuno-baby?" Nabiki shrugged and
let Akane go past her and into the house. "Well...today he
paid me for information about why his 'dear Akane' was so
overwrought today. He got up to 500yen before I started
giving him details."
"Oh, I suppose that I can go grocery shopping
later, then."
Nabiki nodded. "Anyway, so eventually we got
to the heart of the matter. The Tendos and the Saotomes and
their deal to unite the two families. Well, Kuno goes absolutely
frothing-at-the-mouth berserk. He's SO sure that this guy is
going to come and choose Akane and that she'll be forced to
go off and marry. Forsaking her true love. Him."
"Oh. Then we ought to warn Ranma not to choose
Akane."
"Akane doesn't love Kuno. She can't really stand
the guy. Anyway, Kuno's there to stand guard over 'his Akane'
until such time as Saotome shows up. Then, of course, Kuno
plans on defeating the fiend that seeks Akane's hand."
"Oh dear."
"Anyway, Kuno didn't buy what time Ranma would
show up, so he's gonna be there all night and all day tomorrow.
I figure he'll be dead on his feet when Ranma does arrive."
"Oh." Kasumi resumed sweeping.
Nabiki glanced back at the waiting Kuno, up at the
heavens, and went inside. Tomorrow showed every sign of being a
LONG day.
-----------------------------------------
There had been a time when Ranma would have disdained
using a weapon in combat. He felt that someone who relied on weapons
was weak because if you took the weapon away they were helpless.
Then his sensei, a guy named Tyr Grimjaws, had told him
about goblin spiders and about the Midgard Serpent, and about a lot of
other noxious things. Things that you wanted as far away from your flesh
as you could possibly get.
So Ranma had learned weapons. Not for every fight, to be
sure. Tyr had taught him the longsword and the warhammer. Susano, the
katana and the wakizashi- the daisho of the samurai. He'd already known
how to use the staff and the horse-spear, nunchakus and sai. In female
form she'd learned the spearwork of the valkyrie, the bow from some
humorless girl named Artemis, and the halberd and yari from some guy named
Hachiman.
This brought Ranma to his "greeting the morning" kata.
Today was an exercise using a weapon he still hadn't quite mastered,
the kusari-gama. Not an elegant or a silent weapon, that much was sure.
Not that he couldn't do the basics, but if he got caught by a dozen
swordsmen in a bamboo grove he'd drop the weapon and fall back on dodging.
"Aw c'mon, Ranma, it ain't even dawn yet," grumbled
Skuld from their room. "Can't you practice the sword or your unarmed
stuff today?"
"That's what you say every time, Skuld." Ranma relented though, and began
going into exercises that were silent.
"You could've at least used your manriki-gusari. That only makes noise
when you want it to," Skuld stopped speaking in order to produce a long and
drawn-out yawn.
"It's an enchanted weapon. Too easy to get dependent
on those." Ranma frowned as he realized he was quoting his teacher.
"Then somebody slaps you with a 'Neutralize Magic' and it throws you
off."
Skuld grumbled a little, preparing to go back to her futon,
when something crossed her mind. "Hey, today's the day, ain't it?"
"Yes, Skuld. Today we meet the Tendos." Ranma began
to blur as he used a pattern of moves he'd learned from Raideen.
Too bad he couldn't do the lightning stuff, that had been cool. Well, at
least not yet. He wasn't completely willing to admit defeat on those special
maneuvers.
"Oh man. 'Yes, Skuld, today we meet the Tendos.' C'mon,
Ranma! I mean, you've got this whole fiancée thing coming down on your head
now, don't you go bottling it up like ol' Grimjaws."
Ranma swept through the set of strikes and moves that
Raideen had shown him, shifting into a set of maneuvers that he'd studied
while sparring with Susano.
"At least tell me which one you like the most. C'mon,
remember, I'm the goddess of the future and I can absolutely say with
confidence that not all of them turn out as badly as some of them do."
Why did she feel so nervous about his answer?
Ranma sighed and dropped from his stance. "Skuld, why don't YOU tell
ME something. Why aren't you unhappy with this? I mean, I got you kicked
outta Heaven for cryin' out loud. Not many who could do that."
"It's only temporary." Skuld looked wistful. "Besides,
that remark about my big sister proved to be dead on. Never told you about
that did I? You said it looked like my sister was gonna go visit her boyfriend.
Never woulda occurred to me if you hadn't said something."
"Well, it was kinda obvious. Eros had said something
to me about some kid named Usagi, and I noticed your sister had the same
look in her eyes as the girl that Eros was watching." Ranma sighed and
started doing situps.
"Yeah, well, Belldandy has been monitoring a mortal
for years. When I found out about it, I checked the records. She's
been watching this guy since they were kids!" Skuld pouted. "He's
not good enough for MY sister. Not nearly enough. But she's gonna
grant his wish, and she's already put in for consideration to have
HER wish- which will modify his wish so she gets to be his girlfriend."
"Sounds like it wouldn't be too difficult."
"Yeah, but it plays awfully close to some rules. Makes me
nervous that Belle is gonna do it. Urd I can picture doing something
like that, but Belldandy?" Skuld sighed. "Anyway the prediction program
I ran said there was a 97% chance they'd end up living here in this
mortal city. So, I'm away from my sister, but when she comes down I'll
be here already."
"So who's covering the Yggdrasil duties? Urd?"
"Nah, you made some friends over in the Greek quarter.
Clotho and Lachesis will take turns and you know how Hephaestus was
when you talked it over with Urd about letting him learn the systems
so she could go meet with Bacchus."
"Ah," Ranma finished a set of sit-ups and went on to
start one-handed pushups. "Skuld? You've got a prediction
program?"
"Yeah?" Skuld sat back and wondered when that
Keiichi guy would make his wish.
"Who would I make the happiest? Who needs me
the most? Who SHOULD I marry?" After all, Ranma reasoned, if he DID
marry then that would cancel out the remaining engagements and he
wouldn't be stringing along all these girls.
"Hmmm?" Skuld considered and whipped her notebook
computer out. "Letsee. If I hook it into a subetheric modem link and
access Yggdrasil.com, and run a minimalist query it should give me
some quick results." Skuld secret technique: sonicspeed typing.
"Ah-hah!" Skuld exclaimed. "I am such a...genius?"
"What you get?" Ranma stopped his pushups and
started getting up.
Skuld snapped the notebook shut. "Still have to work
out some parameters. Probably need to get a full workup instead of
just addressing the online data from Yggdrasil. I'll work on it
when I get a chance."
"Oh," Ranma returned to the exercises.
Skuld sighed in relief, then cracked open her notebook
to look at the results again. This couldn't be right.
Could it?