Author: I bet you're expecting me to say how I don't own Ranma ½ right? Well wrong! With this (Holds up a ring with a ruby) I will fix that little oversight. (Rubs the ring, smoke comes from it and forms Ranma-chan in a genie costume)
Ranma-chan: What is your wish master.
Author: I wish I was the owner of Ranma ½. Hahahahahahaha!!!
Ranma-chan: Your wish is my command.
(POOF!!) (Rumiko Takahashi blinks at the audience in confusion.)
Rumiko-san: Ara? I'm supposed to be at a meeting in Kyoto. (Wanders off in search of an airport.)
Ranma-chan: (Scratches back of her head.) I don't think I got that quite right. (Sees audience) Oh! Uh... (Looks around but sees no one else.) Hi. (Weakly waves and smiles.)
((Ranma-chan: Genie of the Ring borrowed from Disrupter, an excellent fic IMOHO. Now on with the entertainment!))
Heaven's Fire
Chapter 3: Dark Tidings
The Tendo Dojo
"Any of you wanna explain what you're doing here?" Ranma asked the strange group of people in the yard. Geez, can't the new challengers at least wait until morning? He thought. When his father didn't come right back after his flying ram, Ranma went to the hole in time to see Genma be attacked by a stranger in black and yellow tights. The fight, Ranma observed, was rather short. He didn't expect the old man to pull out his cloaking technique, though it didn't seam to do him any good. The spikes were a new touch though. When yet more people arrived, Ranma decided to step in and find out what was going on.
"Ah yes, well you see…" The man in blue tights and some kind of weird glasses started to answer in accented Japanese when the redhead behind him cut him off.
"We're looking for the Phoenix."
Ranma narrowed his eyes. The way Mom was talking, no one on the planet should know anything about the Phoenix race. That these strangers did meant trouble in his experience. Attacking his father, despite what he had just said, didn't help their position any. "Wadda ya want with Mom?" He demanded.
The X-Men blinked. Upon arriving at the Tendo Dojo, they were witnessed to Wolverine attacking one of the residents. After distracting him, another resident they recognized from the picture Beast showed them as Ranma made his own appearance. His announcement that one of the Phoenix readings was his mother, while shocking, actually explained quite a bit.
"I must apologize for our companions' behavior, we mean no one in this establishment any harm." The Beast told the teen in Japanese.
Ranma sparred a brief glance at Wolverine and Genma, meeting the Canadian mutants challenging glare, before looking back at the talking bear-like creature with a shrug.
"Don' worry 'bout it. Almost everyone here has beat on tha old panda at least once. But, ya still ain't said what ya want with Mom."
"It is all right Ranma." A woman joined Ranma at the hole and looked out at the X-Men. Cyclops heard a barely suppressed gasp from Phoenix behind him. He sent a question down the rapport he and his wife shared. Phoenix laid a hand on her husbands' shoulder in reassurance but did not say anything. "I can sense Phoenix energies in one. Come girl, show yourself to me." The Japanese woman said.
Phoenix stepped from around Cyclops and stood facing the older woman. The two locked gazes for a minute as the others warily watched the others. Finally, Nodoka broke the stare and smiled at the American woman. "It is nice to meet a Phoenix channeller. I didn't think any more existed. Tell me, do you know what Phoenix you channel?"
"You mean there is more then one Phoenix Force?" Storm asked, wide-eyed.
"Well of course, however there was only twenty-four the last time I checked with an Elder." Nodoka informed the stunned X-Men, "But I hope that number will increase soon." She finished looking down at Ranma with a fond smile.
"Maybe Mom, maybe. I ain't decided yet."
"I should be surprised that you freaks know each other," Genma broke in, "But I'm not."
"Watch them freak remarks Genma." Wolverine growled from his position on top of the overweight martial artist. "I get offended real easy like." He pushed his fist into Genma's jaw harder, cutting Genma's checks more.
"Oh yeah," Ranma smacked a fist into his palm. "I'd almost forgotten about you 'Pops.' You had best explain your comments and what you were thinking in using the Forbidden Techniques on mom. Ya almost killed her ya dumb panda!"
"Wolverine, let him up." Cyclops commanded. "And explain what you thought you were doing."
"Easy Cyke." Wolverine replayed without moving, "This shinning example of humanity tried to kill me some years back. Almost did if it weren't for my healing factor. Wanna know his reason? I was a mutant. He claimed to have killed at least half a dozen other mutants."
"What?" Ranma looked at his father as though he had never seen him before.
"Yeah kid, yer pops' a card carrying human supremacist."
Nodoka sighed sadly and approached her husband. "I did sense something like that when we first meet. But I had hoped I was mistaken, that it was just a phase he was going through. When he took you on that training mission I couldn't sense any prejudice to anything in him." She kneeled down and looked Genma in the eyes, all she saw was hatred and contempt. "I am sorry Ranma, it looks as though you have lost your father, no matter your choice."
Ranma winced and lowered his head. In a rare moment of cooperation, the three fiancées walked up behind his and placed a hand on either shoulder and his back, offering silent support. Wolverine saw the sadness in the teens' eyes and, growling low in his throat, turned back to his prey.
"Yer a real cold-hearted bastard ain't ya Saotome? I ought'a kill you now and do the world a favor."
"Please, don't." Wolverine looked up at Ranma as the girls gapped at him in surprise.
"Are you crazy Ranma? That pathetic excuse for your father has caused nothing but trouble since the day he arrived here!"
"Yeah Ranchan! After all he's put you through for 'the sake of the Art,' I'd think that you'd be wanting to finish him off yourself!"
"Ayah! Airen much better off without stupid panda-man! Let Shampoo have panda skin rug yes?"
"Guys please." Ranma looked behind him with a pained expression before turning back to Wolverine. "Please, uh… Wolverine wasn't it? Don't kill him. He ain't the best pop a guy could ask for, an' he's made more then a few mistakes," Ranma felt the tears starting to flow down his cheeks but didn't try to stop them for once. "But still, he's my father. No matter what he's done or said, I still love him."
"Humph, ya gotta' bigger heart 'en me kid," Wolverine grumbled but got off Genma, "An' cause I can tell ya don't lightly ask like that, I'll let 'im go this once." He glared down at the other man struggling to his feet. "But if I ever come across ya again, I ain't gonna stop." With that, Logan turned his back on the defeated Genma and walked to the Dojo, shortly followed by the remaining X-Men.
Genma fumed a few minutes before starting to charge Logan's unprotected back. He got no more then two steps before he jerked to a stop and was pulled a foot into the air. Frantically looking, he saw his 'wife' calmly looking at him with eyes colored golden. "Damn alien freak!" He riled, "Let me go!"
"Now, now Genma." Nodoka waggled a finger at the trapped man. "That really isn't a very nice way to talk to your wife of twenty years." She walked up to Genma and stared him in the eyes until he quieted down. "I suggest you go on one of your 'training trips' Dearest, and don't come back any time soon." Nodoka telekinetically grabbed Genma's backpack and tossed both into the sky before joining the others in the Dojo.
The dojo yard was quiet and still for some time, the only sounds the normal nightlife and echoes form in side the dojo. Shortly even those stopped as everyone went their separate ways for the night after making introductions and promising to meet in the morning. Half an hour later, a figure separated from the shadows on the Dojo roof and hopped down to the verandah. The small figure pulled a long pipe out and slowly began to smoke it while he thought.
"Hmmm… So, Ranma might be a Phoenix eh? This could be my best chance yet." Happosai chuckled as he made his plans.
X X X
The Next Day
The morning seemed a little emptier to Ranma. He supposed that he had gotten used to his pops morning attacks and fighting over their breakfast more then he had thought. As Ranma and the younger Tendo sisters prepared for school, Nodoka stopped her son.
"Son, I would like you to not go to school today. There is something I wish to show you that might take a while."
"Umm… Sure mom. Hay Akane! Mom wants ta show me something so go on without me, 'kay?"
Akane just waved a hand back as she ran to catch up with Nabiki. Ranma smiled slightly and turned back to his mom. Nodoka was still in one of her kimonos but had her hair down and in a lose pony-tail, the Saotome honor sword was nowhere in sight, he absently noticed.
"So what's up mom?"
"I want to show you something. You could call it a history lesson for the Phoenix."
"Awww Mom, ya makin' me stay home from school jus' so you could teach me yourself?" Ranma didn't like the sound of this, it would probably be a lot harder to go to sleep around his mom then any teacher at school.
"Yes Ranma. However this will be a special lesson. Do you remember the trick I showed you about maintaining your body on just Phoenix energies?"
"Yea I got it." Ranma waved a dismissive hand. Nodoka frowned and sent a small sharp spike of power to her son's abdomen. His breath exploding out of him, Ranma went to one knee. "Geez Mom, whatcha' do that for?"
"Do not take this lightly Ranma." The steel in her voice rivaled her katana, "One small mistake and. You. Will. Die. Now set your pride aside and answer me. Do you remember the trick?"
Ranma swallowed and looked to the ground. "I believe so. I haven't had a chance to try it out, but, yes I remember how you said to do it."
Nodoka relaxed and nodded. "Good. Power up and follow me." Nodoka flared her aura and rose five feet into the air. "And start maintaining your body now. We will have some leeway if it turns out you don't have it yet."
Ranma nodded and brought his own aura out. The yellow of his confidence soon being overpowered by the deep orange of his Phoenix energies. Inside his mind, Ranma opened what his mother had called 'pathways' and sent the power coursing through his body down new channels. After he sensed it stabilizing, he 'grabbed' the air around him and lifted into the air.
Kasumi, carrying a basket of laundry to hang, saw the two Phoenixes and paused it admire the sight of the ethereal flames. "Oh my, how pretty. Are you going somewhere Ranma-kun?"
Ranma turned a molten gold gaze on the eldest Tendo daughter and smiled. Kasumi caught her breath at the sense of primal power he was radiating. "Yes Kasumi. Mom wants ta show me somthin', I ain't sure when we'll be back. Mom?"
"Do not worry child, we shall return before the girls get back from school."
Kasumi nodded and, with a bright smile, proceeded to the clothesline. Ranma stared at her with a fond but bemused smile. I will never understand how she jus' handles everything that has happened here so easily Nodoka looked to her son with a concerned frown.
Do you care for her Ranma? Ranma glanced back to his mother before turning back to Kasumi.
Yeah, before you came back into my life, she was tha' closest I had to a mom. Still is sorta'
Come Ranma, let us see if you can keep up with me.
No sweat. Where we goin' anyway?
Nodoka couldn't keep the mischievous smirk off her face, she was going to love seeing has expression. The moon. She replied casually. Ranma almost lost his 'grip' on the air in his surprise.
NANI? An echo of Nodoka's laugh in his mind was his only reply this time as Nodoka poured on the speed and pulled away from her son. Hey! No way your gonna beet me, Mom Ranma growled as he put more power to his 'flight'. Soon both mother and son were passing through the outer edge of the atmosphere and into space. As they got higher up, Ranma stared to slow.
Hey Mom! How can I fly if there's nothing to grab on to?
There are still things to grab. You just have to move on to a smaller scale. Nodoka sent back, There is almost always some type of ambient particle your power can grab onto, however we generally use the solar winds outside of a planetary atmosphere. I'll show you how to do that later, once you are more accustomed to doing more then a few simple things at once. Besides, we are only going a short distance that actually requires flight. Ranma blinked a the cryptic ending of his mom's little lecture but put it out of his mind since he was sure he'd find out soon enough.
In short order, the two Saotomes were moving across the lunar landscape. Ranma was acting like a tourist and craning his neck to see everything. He had a little laugh at the sight of the American landing site, thinking about what Akane had said about how much trouble they had in getting here and here he was, taking a trip to the moon in about an hour.
Up ahead Ranma. Something in Nodoka's voice cued Ranma that something big was up. Looking where she indicated, Ranma thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. It looked like there was a city approaching. Mom? What is that?
That, my son, is what Earth scientists call the Blue Zone. It is a region on the moon that has breathable air and, obviously, the ruins of another civilization.
This was what you wanted to show me? Some ruins?
No, not the ruins, something inside of the ruins. About 12 years ago, an alien race called the Shi'ar, held a trial by combat here. By now the two were inside the air bubble and passing buildings that had been wrecked by fighting, Ranma easily recognized the signs from Nerima, but the scale was just so much bigger! The Shi'ar Majsitrax Lilandra was holding one of the X-Men we met last night on trial for actions committed by her. The X-Man was the girl Jean Gray, but that wasn't who she really was. Nodoka slowed and descended to a small crater in a mostly intact alley. Ranma landed by his mother and glanced around. He spotted a raised cannon like device that looked like it was pointed right at the crater. The girl that 'died' here was my sister Phoenix. Ranma blinked and stared at her in amazement.
You mean we can be killed like regular people? He winced as soon as the words left his mouth, realizing how callous he had sounded.
Fortunately, Nodoka took his words without insult, knowing what he meant. Yes we can be killed Ranma, but she didn't die. The shell she created was destroyed. Phoenix herself continued to live. She allowed her image to be killed in order to stop herself from succumbing again.
Succumbing to what?
Sensation. Phoenix do not, as a rule, have physical forms. The auras we put out are the closest too our real bodies we can see. We are living patterns of energy, and as such, we are unfamiliar with physical sensations. The sense of touch, in my opinion, is the greatest gift all physical beings have. It was almost more then a year before I could function close to normal. I focused on every new feeling when I felt it. I stopped using my power after I realized it was amplifying it all. My sister didn't. She let sensation overcome her, and, in her hunger for new feelings, went insane. I am showing you her 'grave' first, now I am going to show you the results of losing your control while you wield this power.
Nodoka shot into the sky and, about four miles up, opened a stargate. Ranma took off after his mother and followed through the portal. On the other side was a star system, a dead star system if what his fledgling senses were saying was true. Nodoka was already halfway to a planet so Ranma hurried after her.
He soon could see what looked like cities on the surface, but something was nagged at the back of his mind as wrong about them.
They're burned. Nodoka's voice was soft, saddened.
Burned? How? It looks like the entire planet was on fire.
It was. When Phoenix lost control of herself, she became Dark Phoenix. Her first action was the total defeat of her former companions, the X-Men. Following that, she came here. Dark Phoenix never operated at full power from the time she made her shell until this point. In order to get back to full, she absorbed this systems star.
The… whole star? Ranma turned back into the sky, looking for a sun, all he found were distant stars.
In the resulting supernova, this planet and it's inhabitants were burned alive. At least those on the day side were. The wave destroyed the planet's atmosphere and, when it passed, the world was exposed the cold void. Everyone who survived the nova, froze.
Oh kami…
This is your lesson today Ranma. Your own power, your own body, are your worst enemies or your greatest allies. The only thing that decides this, is your control. As long as you feel, you can fall. Everyday is a fight to keep your sense of self from being overwhelmed by the environment around you. When you have our power, the consequences of failure are never limited to just you. Throughout their entire time in the system, Nodoka never looked at her son. Now she turned to him, the pain in her eyes almost more then he could bare. He swallowed and forced his eyes to look around once more. The twisted remnants of homes stood mute witness to the events that had transpired here. An entire race of beings, casually wiped out by the hunger of one being. A being that likely never even noticed what her actions caused. Or didn't care. Billions gone in an instant as billions more suffered a much slower death. For years, Ranma was told of what might happen if he ever lost control, but when faced with hard evidence of what would happen, Ranma started to shake in fear of himself.
I've seen enough. I want to go.
Nodoka nodded and lifted off again, Ranma left after a final look. Once again, Nodoka opened a portal and the two Phoenixes entered. With a golden flash, the gate closed, leaving the dead system in peace once more.
X X X
The Tendo House, later that evening
Akane was sure something happened, when she and Nabiki got home they found Ranma apparently meditating by the koi pond. There was also a tension between the two Saotomes that she couldn't place. Nabiki seamed to know something. She took one look at Ranma and went white as a sheet and ran to her room. She still hadn't come out, and when Akane had passed by, it sounded like she was crying.
Sure that the pervert had done something to her sister, forgetting or ignoring that this was the first time Ranma had seen her all day, Akane charged down to punish him. She got mid-swing with her mallet before her arms stopped. Ranma looked into her eyes and Akane suddenly felt ashamed of herself. All she could suddenly see was what her tamper had done. Many instances where she had hit Ranma in anger without thinking or caring of what it could do to him. One memory surfaced from where she kept it buried.
About a month after Kuno's speech, Akane had gotten used to the gang at the front gate in the morning. As she grew more familiar, she also grew careless, and one time, a blow slipped through her defenses and hit her on the temple. Akane was dazed for only a second, but a red haze had settled over her vision. She spotted the one who hit her and broke several of his bones. The boy was in a coma for three months, and spent another year in rehabilitation. At the time, and for the next two months, Akane didn't care that she had done this to the boy, it was his own fault for being there. It was during this time that almost all of her friends stopped hanging around her. Last she had heard, the boy was almost ready to start school again. In another district since his parents would not chance another injury near 'that violent psychopath Tendo'.
Her mallet dropped from nerveless fingers as Akane staggered back, breathing heavily. Ranma just looked into her eyes, his own blue suddenly seamed deeper and… pitying, and Akane knew she would one day kill someone and, unless she changed, Ranma would not be apart of her life for much longer no matter what. With her feet barely holding her, Akane fled from the room.
By the table, that night's guests watched silently until Akane left. "I get the feeling that something profound just happened in that girls life." Hank offered to his companions.
"Indeed. Perhaps she shall find a balance within her soul now." Ororo said.
"Huh?" Ryouga was very confused. "What happened? Ranma what did you do to her?"
"He showed her the results of her current path, and I would thank you to not accuse my son without all the information." Nodoka's cool voice came from the kitchen where she and Kasumi were preparing dinner.
Ranma stood up and started walking to the stairs. "Mom? I'm not really hungry, so you can give my portion to Ryouga. I'm going to my room." He turned to the visiting X-Men and, after a seconds thought, bowed to them, "I am sorry I am not being a gracious host but I hope you understand."
"Of course child," Ororo hastened to assures him, "We know how you must feel. It is not an easy thing to decide the path of your life. I pray the Bright Lady guides you to happiness."
The other X-Men nodded and added their own wishes, Ranma smiled, bowed once more and went up the stairs. Above all, a small figure watched Ranma's progress with a satisfied smirk. Soon Happosai was bounding up after the pig-tailed martial artist. Inside his room, Ranma laid down on his back. He stared at the ceiling but didn't see it. All he could think about was the ruined planet. It was always like a game, he thought, but our game could've killed anyone of us with the smallest mistake. He sighed and rolled over, I can't afford to keep this going anymore, all accounts must be settled, no matter how this Phoenix thing ends. I will not let anyone be hurt by my actions. Heh, looks like I'm following Nabiki's advice after all. Time to grow up. With that, Ranma drifted off to sleep, his last thought of Ryouga's face when he set down after his 'lesson', there was something in his eyes when he saw Ranma land that Ranma found... comforting.
"Finally, he's asleep." Happosai hoped down by the slumbering boy. "I thought he was going to roll around all night." The shrunken master mumbled to himself as he pulled out a small object and some powders. He set the burner next to Ranma and carefully measured out the right amount of powders into it. Before lighting the burner, Happosai pulled out a small flask of water and poured it on the sleeping Phoenix. As his curse activated, she almost woke up. Scrambling, the diminutive panty thief hit some shiatsu points and sent the girl back into slumber. Unseen by him though, a small packet of blue powder fell over into the still open burner. Sitting back with a sigh, Happosai placed the lid on the burner and lit it. As the pale smoke rose, he fanned it over the young girls face.
"Hehehehe... Soon I'll always have my Ranma-chan."
X X X
Elsewhere
The entity had lost track of the concept of time so it couldn't even guess how long it had been in this black, empty void. It had seen others like it, some drifted off like itself, others quickly faded from perception. It once thought it had an idea of the name of this place, but too many memories had been lost, it had contented itself with just calling it 'here'. Most of it's past was gone, but the image of three people burned within it, keeping it warm in the coldness of nothing. It would have it's revenge on these three, somehow.
A flicker of light, almost forgotten, caught it's attention. What was this thing? It wondered. As it drifted closer to it, bits and pieces of it's life started to reform in the shattered mind it... no she... now possessed. She now knew what the light was, a way out. She could get her revenge with this. The entity forced herself to calm down, she must not be hasty, she no longer had a physical shell to use. She would have to act very fast once on the other side or else she would be sent back here.
Hopefully there would be... wait... there. If she still had a face, she would have smiled evilly, there was a body waiting for her on the other side. Her vengeance would soon be complete. She would take the body offered her and then her enemies would know the wrath of the one they killed.
They would know the wrath of Malice!
End Chapter 3
What has that shrunken pervert done to my child? Ranma! Come back! Wait, if this is Ranma, then who was that?
Next time on Heaven's Fire, Chapter 4: Malicious Intent