Notes - This is a one shot I wrote up a while back, I don't really have any plans to continue it. Though I do tend to add to it every now and then when I can't concentrate on my other stories so who knows what the future will bring ^^ . I got the idea while reading some other stores and a couple of fan fics that had caught my interest. It is kind of hard to describe, but I won't give it away right now so just read it and enjoy.
*****
WINGED FURY
Prologue - Ranna/Sailor Moon Cross and possibly Project A-Ko at some point in time.
By C. Rose
ertle2@msn.com
(c) 2001
*****
She knelt down and traced the shape of the foot print in the dirt and grinned, it was only a few hours old. The old bastard was still running and she would get her revenge, he would pay for doing this to her. She stood and adjusted her pack and took off at a run, a dust trail being left behind her. Following the trail was far to easy too, he wasn't even trying to hide his tracks from her now, that either meant that the was running for his life and had decided covering his tracks was a waste of time or was setting a trap. Trap was her first though, she knew the old bastard better than anyone and it would be just like him to ambush her so that he could sell her for food again.
She hated her new body, it was female, but if that had been it she could have probably lived with it. Instead she was female, with wings, pointed ears, fangs, and claws on her hands and feet. The Guide had said she fell in a mixed spring that had been created during a fight a few years ago when the dirt barriers between springs were broken. Ever since then it had been almost random in what it did, some people came out of it as the most monstrous things while others remained pretty much human. He had said she was pretty much in between the best and worst the spring had produced.
Ranma growled as she rounded a small hill and spotted her prey, her father in panda form was sprawled out on the ground gasping for air. She crouched down and spread her wings, hissed, and launched forward. Ranma glided across the surface of the ground as she swooped in for an attack, but the Panda rolled over and kicked her in the gut before she could sink her claws into his fat belly. They fought back and forth for several seconds before the giant panda hopped back and vanished from sight, a strange kind of panda grin on it's fury face. It just fueled Ranma's anger to new heights.
She only had time to blink before she was suddenly hit from dozens of angles and sent flying into the side of the hill with a grunt of pain. It didn't slow her down though as she suddenly rolled forward and brought her wings forward in a quick flap that sent the dust on the ground flying. For a brief instant the invisible panda was visible as the dust rushed around his fat body and Ranma launched at it swinging with all her might to catch the old fart off balance. His head snapped around and tossed his now visible body back to smack into a tree.
"Prepare to die old man, I've had enough of your interfering in my life and it ends here and now."
The panda stood and pulled out a sign. 'I am your father, you will obey me boy!'
"Rot in your own juices old fart, this is all your fault and I won't stand for it anymore!"
'You will show me some respect boy!'
"Maybe if you had taken the time to earn some, but no more, I'm leaving once I kick your ass!"
With that Ranma hissed and launched forward with her hands leading the way, her new claws unsheathed. The panda dove to the side and attempted a quick downward kick, but it glanced off Ranma's wing and threw off his balance. Ranma spun and uppercut him so hard it lifted him several feet into the air, only to grin as the jerk landed in a heap.
"Suck on that old man, were through!" Ranma spat out, stole the old fart's backpack, and ran off.
One of the panda's eyes snapped open and it looked around before rolling to it's feet. It growled and noticed that it's pack was gone and growled some more, then set off after the ungrateful boy. Things had be set back in motion or the schools would never be united, that meant forcing his son to do what he wanted, or else.
*****
She was washing the dishes from that morning's breakfast when the phone rang and Mrs. Tsukino grabbed a towel to dry her hands before answering it. "Hello?"
"Hi auntie, this is Ranma."
"Ranma! It's been years, how are you?"
"Not very good auntie."
"What's wrong?" Ikuko asked.
"Pops finally pushed me to far, I left him in China."
"It's about time Ranma."
"I don't know auntie, I feel kind of bad about it now that I've had a few days to think about it."
"Where are you Ranma?"
"Right now, I'm at the docks, just got off the boat that got me from China."
"You didn't swim again?" Ikuko asked, her grin could be heard through the phone.
Ranma rolled his eyes, he wasn't about to tell her that was exactly what he had done. "Naw, once was enough thank you."
"If you want you can come by the house and we can talk face to face, do you need a place to stay?"
"I do auntie, I'm all alone now."
"You have family all over the place Ranma, come on by and we'll talk."
"I'll be there in a few hours, thank you."
"Any time Ranma."
She heard Ranma hang up and her grin faltered and fell as she tried to deal with the depression she heard in the boy's voice. Whatever had happened she had sensed that he didn't want to talk about it over the phone. Then she recalled a promise she had made several years ago and grabbed the phone, this was one thing she would be happy to do. Several minutes later she set the phone back down and went back to her dishes, a big smile on her face.
*****
About half an hour later a taxi pulled up in front of the house and Ranma stepped out and shouldered a heavy looking pack, he was wearing a full length coat with an attached hood. He handed the driver his money and waved as he drove off. He walked up the little walk way to the small two story house and knocked. His face was barely noticeable in the large hood of his coat, but he still smile when he saw his aunt open the door.
"Hi auntie."
"Ranma, what are you wearing?"
"It's for protection from water."
"Water?"
"I'll explain, but lets get inside where I'll be a little safer than out here."
Ikuko nodded and stepped to the side and let him in, she shut the door behind him and motioned for him to sit on the couch. "So tell me what's wrong Ranma, I've never seen you this depressed before."
Ranma sighed. "Pop's managed to give me an actual Chinese curse."
"A curse?"
Ranma nodded. "There are these cursed springs in China, if you fall in them they give you a curse. Mine is horrible, it took all my courage to even tell you about it, but it is impossible to spend any time around me without finding out. Cold water seems to find me no matter how hard I try to stay dry and it's driving me crazy."
"Ranma magic doesn't exist."
"That's what I used to believe too, that is why I wasn't worried about the springs as a training ground. Then this happened and I had to accept it, it nearly killed me."
"What kind of curse is it?"
"Bad luck and a transformation."
"Transformation?"
"Yeah, I change with cold water. It's why I'm wearing this coat, to keep the stuff off me as much as possible."
"What about these springs does this to you?" Ikuko said, the boy must be hurting to make up a story like this, she thought.
"There are over one hundred springs with bamboo poles sticking out of them, the object is to jump, fight, or run from pole to pole. To fight is the hardest and that is what me and pops were doing when we jumped to the poles and attacked each other for several minutes. Then I got in a good hit and sent pops into a spring, he stayed down for far longer than I expected. Then this giant panda jumped out and landed on the pole across from me, it was still wearing pop's glasses and head scarf. I was sent into shock at the weird sight just as this guide came running up and started yelling about cursed springs. Then the panda, or pops, attacked while I was distracted and sent me flying into a spring. The bastard..."
"Ranma, your language." Ikuko said.
"Sorry auntie, anyway when I hit the water my body went numb for a second and started to tingle like your foot does when it falls asleep. I bounced off the bottom and used that to push myself to the surface. The first thing I noticed it that my balance was off and I felt different, then I broke the surface and gasped for air." Ranma shuddered. "The transformation is bad auntie, I turn into this...I don't even want to talk about it."
"Will you show me then?"
"I want to, but it's so embarrassing."
"Please?"
"Alright, let's get some cold and hot water, maybe a couple of glasses of each." Ranma said as Ikuko got up to get the water, he stood up and took off his coat. He was wearing his usual sleeveless red silk shirt, but the back of it was weird, it had been cut down the back and velcroed together.
"Here you go Ranma." Ikuko said as she sat down two glasses of hot and cold water.
"Are you sure you want to see this auntie, I look like monster."
"Yes, I have to see it to believe it Ranma."
Ranma sighed and shrugged, then grabbed a glass of water and dumped it over his head. The transformation hit and Ranma gritted his teeth in pain as his wings rose out of his back and his frame shrunk down into his female body, his hair turned bright red and his features changed slightly while his hands and feet developed claws. She hunched down and rested in a crouch, ruffling her white and gray bird like wings for comfort.
"My god!" Ikuko gasped and backed up a few steps.
"Pretty gruesome isn't it?" Ranma said sadly.
"I didn't even think anything would happen..."
"The curses are a little hard to accept, even now I'm considering whether or not to take my life to keep my honor."
"Y-you don't need to do that Ranma, this will take a little bit to get used to, but we can deal with it." Ikuko said quietly, she looked to the top of the stairs and saw the shocked expression on her special guests face as she started to come down the stairs.
"I'm a monster auntie, there isn't much more to say about it." Ranma said as she stood up and folded her wings along her back.
"No your not Ranma, this is Genma's fault, you said so yourself."
Ranma gasped and spun around to see a pretty older woman with dark reddish brown hair, wearing a blue kimono and carrying a wrapped up bundle. She had a strange look on her face as she walked up to Ranma and hugged her. "Um..." Ranma started, looking a little confused.
"Genma did this to you, how could he..."
"Um..." He tried again, looking helplessly at his aunt.
"He took you away from me all those years ago and vanished as if he had never existed."
"Took me away...MOM?"
"Hi honey." Nodoka said as she hugged the life out of Ranma, tears trickling down her cheeks.
"But I don't understand...pops told me you were dead..."
"WHAT?!!" Yelled Ikuko and Nodoka.
"He told me you were dead, it was the reason we were on our own like that and why we spent so much time on the road." Ranma said in confusion, though she figured it wasn't all that much of a surprise. The old fart had told him more than one lie just to get him to do something, the art always came first.
"H-how dare he do this to me, what about our family, our future..." Nodoka gasped.
"Mom, you should know that pop's stomach always comes first. I learned that the hard way."
"What do you mean?"
"The training trip is something I want to forget Mom, pops had this habit of selling me to various families for food, then he would steal me back so we could continue on with the training trip."
Both women were gaping at her.
Ranma turned and heard a sound outside and grabbed one of the glasses of hot water, transforming back into his male form. The front door opened and a blonde tornado rushed into the room, past Ranma and Nodoka and up the stairs before anyone could say or do anything.
"Who was that?" Ranma asked.
"That was Usagi, my daughter." Ikuko said, deciding to have a little talk with that girl when she had a chance.
"Usagi...Usa-chan!" Ranma said as he snapped his fingers. "I remember her from when I was here last time, about eight years ago or so."
"I wondered if you would remember her or not." Ikuko said. "Well we've been standing around to long, lets sit at the table and continue this little reunion."
"Sure." Nodoka said. "Ranma tell us about your trip, what all did you learn from Genma?"
"Um..."
The tornado returned as it thundered down the stairs and skidded to a halt in front of the table. Ranma finally got a good look at Usagi and gaped at her, she had turned from the cute little girl he remembered to this blonde haired goddess. He blushed at the thoughts that went through his mind, failing to notice the smiles that passed between Nodoka and Ikuko.
"Mom I need...oh hi, I hadn't even noticed we had guests. I'm Usagi Tsukino."
Ranma smiled at her. "Hi Usa-chan, it's been a long time."
Usagi blinked and looked a little closer at Ranma. "Who..."
"Oh sure Usa, it's only been eight years and you forgot about me." Ranma whined unconvincingly.
"Eight years...RANMA!!" Screamed the tornado as it flung herself across the table and tackled him to the floor in a clatter.
"Hi Usa-chan." Ranma said from the floor as Usagi climbed off of him.
"What are you doing here, where is your father, how long are you in town for, you have to meet my friends..."
"Calm down Usa, you can learn as we do. Ranma was about to tell us about his training trip." Ikuko said.
"That's right you do martial arts, how is that coming along?"
Ranma smiled and shook his head as he took his seat again, Usagi grabbed a chair and scooted in beside him. "Are all of you sure you want to hear this, pops is not too high on my list of friends right now."
"Tell us your story Ranma I want to know what happened to my son while he was gone."
"Alright mom, well it all started with me being taken away from home to learn martial arts, pops believes in the beat the student until they either learn or pass out method of training, I spent the first two years covered in bruises. Not a day went by that I didn't take a new injury in one form or another..."
The horrified looks from all three women grew worse and worse as Ranma continued through his meeting through Ukyo, a friend he had to leave behind, to the Neko-ken training, to the hundreds of dojos and training grounds he had visited and the tortures he had endured. Usagi burst into tears first and the rest followed by the time he reached the part with his fights with Ryoga Hibiki and their friendship/rivalry at the time.
"Ranma, what happened the last time you saw Ryoga?" Nodoka asked suddenly.
"Ryoga, he challenged me to a fight at the end of the week at the empty lot behind his house. I waited from Friday to early Monday morning for him to show up, and would have waited longer, but pops showed up and knocked me unconscious so we could go on to China for the final leg of our training trip."
"You waited three days for him to show up? That is totally different from what I was told by this Ryoga." Nodoka said.
"What do you mean, you've met him?" Ranma asked.
"About six months ago, he tracked me down and told me you had ran out on a man to man fight."
Ranma blinked and started laughing. "The one thing I never do is back out from a fight Mom, Ryoga has a curse himself, he has no sense of direction and can get lost in a room with one door. In school he had this dog that led him around like a blind man, when he didn't have it he would go to the bathroom, which was at the end off hall, and disappear for several weeks. He also tends to blame everyone around him for his own faults, usually me or one of the other boys in the school if he could think of some way to pin it on them. He even has this weird way of thinking, he once got an F on a test in a class that I didn't even take and blamed it on me because of our morning sparing sessions. I supposedly distracted him from studying or something while he was out touring though Kyoto."
"I did notice his way with directions when I met him, it took him several hours to find the front door to my house." Nodoka said with a giggle.
Ranma continued his story through the haunted caves where his pops locked him in and forced him to spend every night for a week fighting the ghosts and monsters to build up his speed and power. He explained about the search for Jusenkyo and the three kingdoms that bordered the small valley. Then when into more detail about the springs and the curses and how they worked. Usagi, like her mother was skeptical about the curse, but shut up when he demonstrated it for her. Usagi's eyes tripled in sized and she grabbed her broach as if it could protect her or something.
She calmed down when she noticed that his mother and her mom were shaking their heads sadly. Ranma shrugged and grabbed the last glass of hot water to transformed back. "That is definitely weird."
"I know, but it's why I no longer want to deal with pops anymore. He cares more for the Art than for me and I can't take that anymore."
"You won't have to Ranma." Nodoka said and hugged him again.
"Pops also did something else that I discovered while I was making my way across China."
"What's that?"
"I have at least four fiancee's running around out there, I stumbled across one of them while having dinner and over heard this girl and her father talking about tracking down Genma and killing him and forcing me into a marriage to protect their honor. They talked about the other families that they had stumbled across that pops sold me to for one reason or another, some of them were engagements it seems."
Nodoka gaped at him. "T-that idiot!"
Ranma nodded while Usagi started laughing at him.
"It's not funny!" Ranma yelled at her.
"Yes it is!" Usagi countered as she rolled on the floor trying to stop laughing.
"Humph!"
"Ranma, those other girl's are going to cause some problems for you." Nodoka said.
"I know Mom, but what could a I have done about it, pops sold me without telling me."
"Well there has been an agreement between the Saotome clan and the Tendo clan for over twenty years now that you would marry one of their daughters as well."
"Yet another one!" Usagi giggled as she fell back down.
If Ranma would have had anything in his mouth at that instant he would have snarfed on it and ended up choking on it. Instead he just gasped and sighed. "Mom, there was a time I would have obeyed pops without complaint. Then he took it upon himself to beat me until I was nearly dead, he did it so many times I lost count over the years. I refuse to honor anything he set up simply because he is the one that did it and didn't bother to ask me."
"I know Ranma, but this is a promise of honor between our families."
"Maybe, but I have to take all those other families into account to, what about them?"
"Well..."
"I don't know either, and there lies the problem, this is pop's fault and I have no idea how to deal with it."
"We'll work something out Ranma, I know the Tendo's pretty well and I know Soun is looking forward to this marriage."
"Oh?"
"Yes, he lost his wife some years ago and has almost dedicated his entire life to getting the schools united."
"I don't understand, it's just an arranged marriage mom, there almost non-existent these days."
"I know dear, but your father was just as adamant that it happen as Soun. He made me promise to make it happen if he ever died for some reason. Will you at least meet with the Tendo's and see how things go?"
"What about my curse? I'm a freak of nature here, no girl will want to marry someone that changes into a monster like I do." Ranma muttered.
"Ranma, you may want to be careful about just who you tell about your curse." Usagi said.
"Why?"
"The Sailor Scouts are here in Jubaan and they kill all the monster that pop up ever few months. They killed the one that tried to take over one of my friends store a couple years ago."
"Why would I need to worry about them? I look like a monster, I don't act like one."
"I read about these girls in the paper Ranma, Usagi has a good idea there, they tend to attack first and ask questions later." Ikuko said, giving her daughter a weird look that both Saotome's missed completely.
Usagi blushed.
"I'll be on my guard while about town, but I was considering going out to look for a cure as soon as I got settled down and all. Maybe a trip back to Japan or something to find a drowned man pool or something. Hell, I might even be willing to live with this if it was just a change in gender. Girls are weaker, but it is whole sight better than turing into this monster..."
Three battles aura lit up the kitchen, and six pissed off eyes glared at Ranma promising him lots of pain if he didn't amend his statement that instant. "RANMA!" They all yelled.
"What?!"
"Take that back right now!" Usagi yelled.
"Huh?!"
"How could you say such a thing?" Nodoka wailed, big tears rolling down her cheeks.
"...?"
"Where ever did you get the idea that girl's are weak Ranma?" Ikuko asked, cold fury glinting in her eyes.
"Pop's is always telling me that girls are weak and need to be protected."
"And how many girls have you met that were so weak that they couldn't protect themselves Ranma?" Usagi glared, which for her looked kind of funny.
"Well...of the few girls I've met over the years, I'd have to say all of them were really meek, weak, and skittish." Ranma said as she recalled the few times he was around a girl, they were usually pretty nervous, stuttered a lot, and blushed every time he opened his mouth. What else could they be but weak?
"Girl's are not weak Ranma, does this mean that Genma failed to keep the contract?" Nodoka asked Ranma.
"What contract?"
Nodoka blinked and reached inside her kimono and pulled out a rolled up parchment and handed it to Ranma. He took it and opened it, after a few seconds of reading he paled and started to sweat. By the time he was done, there was a red aura flaring around him that had all the women around him backing up in fear. He glared at his mom. "So this is why my life was made into a living hell, Mom, why would you do this to me? Do I mean so little to you that you would actually kill me if I wasn't a Man?"
"Now Ranma, it is a promise of honor...just like the Tendo's arrangement and I expect it to be fulfilled."
"From the looks of this, I 'signed' it with finger paints."
"Ranma, what is that?" Ikuko asked.
"It seems that since I'm not a 'Man among Men' I have to Kill myself." Ranma snaped, as if his life wasn't bad enough, he had to have mother that was as insane as his father.
"WHAT?!" Ikuko and Usagi screamed.
Ranma nodded and stepped over to his pack and dug around for a few second until he pulled out a small wrapped bundle. Breaking the ties he pulled out an elabrate Tanto blade with the Saotome family crest on the handle. Then pulled out a white kimono and sat it to the side, his mother paled and when she saw this.
"Ranma what are you doing?" She almost screamed.
"Fulfilling the promise, after all I have failed to be a 'Man among Men' as you want it. Turing into a female monster and having multiple arranged marriages that I can do nothing about has changed me into something that contract won't allow. Since I have been considering it anyway, this is as good an excuse as any other to bring honor back to the family." Ranma stated calmly as he pulled the rest of the needed materials out of his bag.
"Ranma you don't have to do this." Usagi said, almost begging him to reconsider his actions.
"I disagree, I have no choice. You told me yourself, if I change while about town the local superheroes will kill me on sight, my turning into a monster and a girl makes me a freak and not a 'Man amon Men' therefore the promise is unfulfilled, and I have almost no intention of getting married to a girl I have never met before. This is needed."
"Ranma I forbid this..." Nodoka snapped.
"Sorry mom, but if it didn't mean anything you wouldn't have even shown me that piece of paper, but you did, therefore I have to keep a promise I don't even remember. I was, what, five years old at the time? Still I did agree to it so I have to do this." Ranma said as he took his shirt off and pulled on the white kimono, then grabbed up his stuff and walked outback. All the women trying to get him to stop, all of them crying now.
Ikuko should have know Nodoka would pull something like this out of her hat, even when they were younger she had a tendency to do foolish things. Just like when she married that idiot husband of hers, just because he was good in bed. She remembered it had something to do with the man's incredible stamina that allowed him to go for hours. Now this promise, Ikuko wondered what had prompted it in the first place. She turned back to Ranma and noticed as he opened the back door that it was raining outside, but he didn't let that deture him as he stepped out and transformed into that thing again.
Tossing his stuff down he knelt down and grabbed his tanto, a bit of peace filled him as he did so. He unsheathed the blade and it gleamed in the light, reflected off the rain drops as they bounced off the blade. Then Ikuko watched as Usagi tackled Ranma, or tried to anyway. Ranma's free hand snapped out and caught Usagi in a wrist lock, he sat the blade down by his knees and lashed out with his hand, striking several spots on Usagi's upper chest and legs. Then she tossed Usagi behind her and the girl collapsed bonelessly. Sighing, Ranma picked the blade up again and spread her wings behind her...
"Fire Soul!!"
"Supreme Thunder!!"
"Venus Crescent Beam!!"
Yelled three voices from the side, Ranma tuned to look and saw three girls dressed in cheerleader outfits glowing with energy. She blinked and shrugged as she brought the blade around for the first cut, but then the girl's fired off at the same time. The energy from all three attacks plowed into her with the force of a truck and sent her flying across the yard, the power of the attacks ripping the back yard to shreds. Slamming into a wall, Ranma was knocked for a loop and collapsed to the ground.
Nodoka and Ikuko gasped and turned to look at the Scouts. "No don't..." They screamed, but the Scouts ignored them. The one in red checked on Usagi while the other two powered up again and fired. The attacks hit again and fired Ranma as she was blasted through the wall, she lay there with her wings charred and her clothing smoking from the attacks. Jupiter and Venus powered up again, but this time something else happened. A panda, who had been in a nearby tree dropped down between the two Scouts and Ranma, it took up a fighting stance that only Nodoka recognized. She gasped as she recalled Ranma telling her about her husband being turned into a panda.
"What the hell?!" Jupiter gasped.
"It's a panda!" Venus said happily and relaxed, powering down.
"Grough!" Said the panda as it held up a sign. *You won't kill the boy!*
"Silly, it's a Youma, it has to be killed, so please step out of the way so we can kill it." Venus said sweetly.
Flip sign. *I won't let you hurt the boy.*
"Just blast it and then take out the Youma, its only a dumb animal after all." Jupiter said. Venus Sweat dropped and gulped as the panda began to glow with a yellow energy. She nodded to Jupiter, this was another Youma to be taken care of and powered up again. Then they had to stop again as a woman took up a position between them and the panda.
"I will not let you hurt my family!" She yelled and pulled her sword out. Then came close to dropping it and cutting off her toes. The panda winced and started to sweat a little, but held it's place.
Ikuko ran over to Usagi and knelt down beside Mars, who was keeping an eye on her daughter. "You should stop your friends before they make a mistake, Sailor Mars."
"Why should I stop them form killing the one that pulled a knife on your daughter?"
"Take a little closer look at the mat over there girl." Ikuko snapped and pointed at Ranma's Seppuku materials.
"Huh...I don't understand, why would a Youma be committing Seppuku?"
"That is a family member of mine who is under a curse, Ranma was going to end his life to satisfy honor because of conflicting responsibilities..." Ikuko snapped. 'The idiot!' she thought.
"Rei-chan, stop Jupiter and Mars for me, I don't want my cousin to die..." Usagi gasped out, her moter controls finally coming back.
"But..."
"Stop them!"
"Alright, alright, but I want an explanation later." Mars said and stalked over to Jupiter and Venus.
"You know Usagi, giving your friends name away like that was mistake." Ikuko said to her daughter.
"You already know who and what I am...you should know who they are as well."
"Like it's not obvious already Usagi."
"Jupiter, Venus, the Princess says we have to let the monster go. She is under a curse of some kind and that she is a family member."
"What?!" Jupiter snapped.
"That thing is part of Usagi's family..."
Jupiter hit Venus up side the head. "Just let everyone know Usagi is the Princess Venus." She said sarcastically.
"Um...opps." Venus said and giggled nervously.
"Well if that is finished..." Nodoka said, she spun her blade, surprisingly well, and brought it up against the Panda's neck. "Husband, once you change back, we are going to have a little talk about what you did with my child while on your 'training trip'!!" she snarled.
Flip sign. *Heheheheheheh....*
"Don't giggle nervously at me 'Husband', you drove our child nearly insane and all you can do is stand there and laugh about it?"
Flip sign. *Now No-chan...*
"Don't even try that crap with me husband, you are on the verge of having to keep the 'Promise'."
The panda fainted at the woman's feet. "What a pathetic coward!" Nodoka snapped and kicked the panda in frustration, how was she supposed to take her revenge on him if he fainted at the mere sight of the family katana. Ranma groaned and Nodoka appeared beside him in an instant and cradled the girl's head in her lap and waited for her to wake up. She took note of the massive burns and damage along Ranma's sides and decided that these Scouts were going to get a piece of her mind. Right after she got done apologizing to her son...daughter...um, what the hell was Ranma right now?
"Oh hi mom, what happened?"
"The Sailor Scouts attacked you."
"Why, I was already killing myself..."
"Shut up, I was only letting you know about the promise, not telling you that you had to commit Seppuku like that. Your as stubborn as your father."
Ranma just shrugged and laughed weakly. "It looks like they may have succeeded anyway."
"Huh?" Nodoka asked as she started to panic.
"I can't feel my chest or arms, just a very dull throbbing throughout my body." Ranma lied.
"You suffered a lot of burn damage from one of their attacks, fire damage doesn't hurt until a day or two later when the shock wears off."
"Heh, with my healing abilities I won't have to deal with it then, I'll be up and around by tomorrow afternoon."
*Ki controlled healing.* Said the sign that the out cold panda held up suddenly.
"GENMA NO BAKA!!" Nodoka yelled and punted the panda into the stratosphere.
Ranma just laughed painfully, while the Scouts just sweat dropped and wondered if this Nodoka was a Youma too. Ikuko just smirked and thought the old fool got off easily, he was going to be getting it from all of them if he came back. Groaning painfully, Ranma rolled to her feet and looked at her mother, folding her wings to her back. "Are you sure you don't want me to fulfill the contract?"
"I'm positive about it Ranma, it was supposed to keep my idiot husband in line. Not be the cause to make your life worse than living in hell, the idea seems to have failed completely when it came to getting my husband to control himself."
"No kidding." Ranma muttered.
Usagi appeared in front of Ranma and tackled her to the ground again, this time crying her eyes out and nearly crushing the life out of her. "DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN YOU BAKA, I DON'T WANT TO LOSE MY FAVORITE COUSIN!!"
"Can't...breath..."
"YOU HAD ME SO WORRIED!! WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Usagi wailed while Ranma turned blue and passed out.
*****
End Notes - Well that is the idea of this one, I'm thinking of bringing in a couple of the crew from Phoenix Mountain or Herb. Right now everything is up in the air since this is just an idea that I'm toying with and not someting more permenent than my others. If I bring in the Project A-ko crew I will need to do more research on it to get the names down correctly, especially all the Mech names. Though I can just see Ranma going up against B-ko(?) in an aeiral battle of some kind, oh the devistation.
Side note - if anyone else wants to continue this before I do, go ahead, just let me know about it and what you have in mind. I don't want to get plot points mixed up if I can help it or the exact same story by some strange twist of fate. ^^;
*****
WINGED FURY
Prologue - Ranna/Sailor Moon Cross and possibly Project A-Ko at some point in time.
By C. Rose
ertle2@msn.com
(c) 2001
*****
She knelt down and traced the shape of the foot print in the dirt and grinned, it was only a few hours old. The old bastard was still running and she would get her revenge, he would pay for doing this to her. She stood and adjusted her pack and took off at a run, a dust trail being left behind her. Following the trail was far to easy too, he wasn't even trying to hide his tracks from her now, that either meant that the was running for his life and had decided covering his tracks was a waste of time or was setting a trap. Trap was her first though, she knew the old bastard better than anyone and it would be just like him to ambush her so that he could sell her for food again.
She hated her new body, it was female, but if that had been it she could have probably lived with it. Instead she was female, with wings, pointed ears, fangs, and claws on her hands and feet. The Guide had said she fell in a mixed spring that had been created during a fight a few years ago when the dirt barriers between springs were broken. Ever since then it had been almost random in what it did, some people came out of it as the most monstrous things while others remained pretty much human. He had said she was pretty much in between the best and worst the spring had produced.
Ranma growled as she rounded a small hill and spotted her prey, her father in panda form was sprawled out on the ground gasping for air. She crouched down and spread her wings, hissed, and launched forward. Ranma glided across the surface of the ground as she swooped in for an attack, but the Panda rolled over and kicked her in the gut before she could sink her claws into his fat belly. They fought back and forth for several seconds before the giant panda hopped back and vanished from sight, a strange kind of panda grin on it's fury face. It just fueled Ranma's anger to new heights.
She only had time to blink before she was suddenly hit from dozens of angles and sent flying into the side of the hill with a grunt of pain. It didn't slow her down though as she suddenly rolled forward and brought her wings forward in a quick flap that sent the dust on the ground flying. For a brief instant the invisible panda was visible as the dust rushed around his fat body and Ranma launched at it swinging with all her might to catch the old fart off balance. His head snapped around and tossed his now visible body back to smack into a tree.
"Prepare to die old man, I've had enough of your interfering in my life and it ends here and now."
The panda stood and pulled out a sign. 'I am your father, you will obey me boy!'
"Rot in your own juices old fart, this is all your fault and I won't stand for it anymore!"
'You will show me some respect boy!'
"Maybe if you had taken the time to earn some, but no more, I'm leaving once I kick your ass!"
With that Ranma hissed and launched forward with her hands leading the way, her new claws unsheathed. The panda dove to the side and attempted a quick downward kick, but it glanced off Ranma's wing and threw off his balance. Ranma spun and uppercut him so hard it lifted him several feet into the air, only to grin as the jerk landed in a heap.
"Suck on that old man, were through!" Ranma spat out, stole the old fart's backpack, and ran off.
One of the panda's eyes snapped open and it looked around before rolling to it's feet. It growled and noticed that it's pack was gone and growled some more, then set off after the ungrateful boy. Things had be set back in motion or the schools would never be united, that meant forcing his son to do what he wanted, or else.
*****
She was washing the dishes from that morning's breakfast when the phone rang and Mrs. Tsukino grabbed a towel to dry her hands before answering it. "Hello?"
"Hi auntie, this is Ranma."
"Ranma! It's been years, how are you?"
"Not very good auntie."
"What's wrong?" Ikuko asked.
"Pops finally pushed me to far, I left him in China."
"It's about time Ranma."
"I don't know auntie, I feel kind of bad about it now that I've had a few days to think about it."
"Where are you Ranma?"
"Right now, I'm at the docks, just got off the boat that got me from China."
"You didn't swim again?" Ikuko asked, her grin could be heard through the phone.
Ranma rolled his eyes, he wasn't about to tell her that was exactly what he had done. "Naw, once was enough thank you."
"If you want you can come by the house and we can talk face to face, do you need a place to stay?"
"I do auntie, I'm all alone now."
"You have family all over the place Ranma, come on by and we'll talk."
"I'll be there in a few hours, thank you."
"Any time Ranma."
She heard Ranma hang up and her grin faltered and fell as she tried to deal with the depression she heard in the boy's voice. Whatever had happened she had sensed that he didn't want to talk about it over the phone. Then she recalled a promise she had made several years ago and grabbed the phone, this was one thing she would be happy to do. Several minutes later she set the phone back down and went back to her dishes, a big smile on her face.
*****
About half an hour later a taxi pulled up in front of the house and Ranma stepped out and shouldered a heavy looking pack, he was wearing a full length coat with an attached hood. He handed the driver his money and waved as he drove off. He walked up the little walk way to the small two story house and knocked. His face was barely noticeable in the large hood of his coat, but he still smile when he saw his aunt open the door.
"Hi auntie."
"Ranma, what are you wearing?"
"It's for protection from water."
"Water?"
"I'll explain, but lets get inside where I'll be a little safer than out here."
Ikuko nodded and stepped to the side and let him in, she shut the door behind him and motioned for him to sit on the couch. "So tell me what's wrong Ranma, I've never seen you this depressed before."
Ranma sighed. "Pop's managed to give me an actual Chinese curse."
"A curse?"
Ranma nodded. "There are these cursed springs in China, if you fall in them they give you a curse. Mine is horrible, it took all my courage to even tell you about it, but it is impossible to spend any time around me without finding out. Cold water seems to find me no matter how hard I try to stay dry and it's driving me crazy."
"Ranma magic doesn't exist."
"That's what I used to believe too, that is why I wasn't worried about the springs as a training ground. Then this happened and I had to accept it, it nearly killed me."
"What kind of curse is it?"
"Bad luck and a transformation."
"Transformation?"
"Yeah, I change with cold water. It's why I'm wearing this coat, to keep the stuff off me as much as possible."
"What about these springs does this to you?" Ikuko said, the boy must be hurting to make up a story like this, she thought.
"There are over one hundred springs with bamboo poles sticking out of them, the object is to jump, fight, or run from pole to pole. To fight is the hardest and that is what me and pops were doing when we jumped to the poles and attacked each other for several minutes. Then I got in a good hit and sent pops into a spring, he stayed down for far longer than I expected. Then this giant panda jumped out and landed on the pole across from me, it was still wearing pop's glasses and head scarf. I was sent into shock at the weird sight just as this guide came running up and started yelling about cursed springs. Then the panda, or pops, attacked while I was distracted and sent me flying into a spring. The bastard..."
"Ranma, your language." Ikuko said.
"Sorry auntie, anyway when I hit the water my body went numb for a second and started to tingle like your foot does when it falls asleep. I bounced off the bottom and used that to push myself to the surface. The first thing I noticed it that my balance was off and I felt different, then I broke the surface and gasped for air." Ranma shuddered. "The transformation is bad auntie, I turn into this...I don't even want to talk about it."
"Will you show me then?"
"I want to, but it's so embarrassing."
"Please?"
"Alright, let's get some cold and hot water, maybe a couple of glasses of each." Ranma said as Ikuko got up to get the water, he stood up and took off his coat. He was wearing his usual sleeveless red silk shirt, but the back of it was weird, it had been cut down the back and velcroed together.
"Here you go Ranma." Ikuko said as she sat down two glasses of hot and cold water.
"Are you sure you want to see this auntie, I look like monster."
"Yes, I have to see it to believe it Ranma."
Ranma sighed and shrugged, then grabbed a glass of water and dumped it over his head. The transformation hit and Ranma gritted his teeth in pain as his wings rose out of his back and his frame shrunk down into his female body, his hair turned bright red and his features changed slightly while his hands and feet developed claws. She hunched down and rested in a crouch, ruffling her white and gray bird like wings for comfort.
"My god!" Ikuko gasped and backed up a few steps.
"Pretty gruesome isn't it?" Ranma said sadly.
"I didn't even think anything would happen..."
"The curses are a little hard to accept, even now I'm considering whether or not to take my life to keep my honor."
"Y-you don't need to do that Ranma, this will take a little bit to get used to, but we can deal with it." Ikuko said quietly, she looked to the top of the stairs and saw the shocked expression on her special guests face as she started to come down the stairs.
"I'm a monster auntie, there isn't much more to say about it." Ranma said as she stood up and folded her wings along her back.
"No your not Ranma, this is Genma's fault, you said so yourself."
Ranma gasped and spun around to see a pretty older woman with dark reddish brown hair, wearing a blue kimono and carrying a wrapped up bundle. She had a strange look on her face as she walked up to Ranma and hugged her. "Um..." Ranma started, looking a little confused.
"Genma did this to you, how could he..."
"Um..." He tried again, looking helplessly at his aunt.
"He took you away from me all those years ago and vanished as if he had never existed."
"Took me away...MOM?"
"Hi honey." Nodoka said as she hugged the life out of Ranma, tears trickling down her cheeks.
"But I don't understand...pops told me you were dead..."
"WHAT?!!" Yelled Ikuko and Nodoka.
"He told me you were dead, it was the reason we were on our own like that and why we spent so much time on the road." Ranma said in confusion, though she figured it wasn't all that much of a surprise. The old fart had told him more than one lie just to get him to do something, the art always came first.
"H-how dare he do this to me, what about our family, our future..." Nodoka gasped.
"Mom, you should know that pop's stomach always comes first. I learned that the hard way."
"What do you mean?"
"The training trip is something I want to forget Mom, pops had this habit of selling me to various families for food, then he would steal me back so we could continue on with the training trip."
Both women were gaping at her.
Ranma turned and heard a sound outside and grabbed one of the glasses of hot water, transforming back into his male form. The front door opened and a blonde tornado rushed into the room, past Ranma and Nodoka and up the stairs before anyone could say or do anything.
"Who was that?" Ranma asked.
"That was Usagi, my daughter." Ikuko said, deciding to have a little talk with that girl when she had a chance.
"Usagi...Usa-chan!" Ranma said as he snapped his fingers. "I remember her from when I was here last time, about eight years ago or so."
"I wondered if you would remember her or not." Ikuko said. "Well we've been standing around to long, lets sit at the table and continue this little reunion."
"Sure." Nodoka said. "Ranma tell us about your trip, what all did you learn from Genma?"
"Um..."
The tornado returned as it thundered down the stairs and skidded to a halt in front of the table. Ranma finally got a good look at Usagi and gaped at her, she had turned from the cute little girl he remembered to this blonde haired goddess. He blushed at the thoughts that went through his mind, failing to notice the smiles that passed between Nodoka and Ikuko.
"Mom I need...oh hi, I hadn't even noticed we had guests. I'm Usagi Tsukino."
Ranma smiled at her. "Hi Usa-chan, it's been a long time."
Usagi blinked and looked a little closer at Ranma. "Who..."
"Oh sure Usa, it's only been eight years and you forgot about me." Ranma whined unconvincingly.
"Eight years...RANMA!!" Screamed the tornado as it flung herself across the table and tackled him to the floor in a clatter.
"Hi Usa-chan." Ranma said from the floor as Usagi climbed off of him.
"What are you doing here, where is your father, how long are you in town for, you have to meet my friends..."
"Calm down Usa, you can learn as we do. Ranma was about to tell us about his training trip." Ikuko said.
"That's right you do martial arts, how is that coming along?"
Ranma smiled and shook his head as he took his seat again, Usagi grabbed a chair and scooted in beside him. "Are all of you sure you want to hear this, pops is not too high on my list of friends right now."
"Tell us your story Ranma I want to know what happened to my son while he was gone."
"Alright mom, well it all started with me being taken away from home to learn martial arts, pops believes in the beat the student until they either learn or pass out method of training, I spent the first two years covered in bruises. Not a day went by that I didn't take a new injury in one form or another..."
The horrified looks from all three women grew worse and worse as Ranma continued through his meeting through Ukyo, a friend he had to leave behind, to the Neko-ken training, to the hundreds of dojos and training grounds he had visited and the tortures he had endured. Usagi burst into tears first and the rest followed by the time he reached the part with his fights with Ryoga Hibiki and their friendship/rivalry at the time.
"Ranma, what happened the last time you saw Ryoga?" Nodoka asked suddenly.
"Ryoga, he challenged me to a fight at the end of the week at the empty lot behind his house. I waited from Friday to early Monday morning for him to show up, and would have waited longer, but pops showed up and knocked me unconscious so we could go on to China for the final leg of our training trip."
"You waited three days for him to show up? That is totally different from what I was told by this Ryoga." Nodoka said.
"What do you mean, you've met him?" Ranma asked.
"About six months ago, he tracked me down and told me you had ran out on a man to man fight."
Ranma blinked and started laughing. "The one thing I never do is back out from a fight Mom, Ryoga has a curse himself, he has no sense of direction and can get lost in a room with one door. In school he had this dog that led him around like a blind man, when he didn't have it he would go to the bathroom, which was at the end off hall, and disappear for several weeks. He also tends to blame everyone around him for his own faults, usually me or one of the other boys in the school if he could think of some way to pin it on them. He even has this weird way of thinking, he once got an F on a test in a class that I didn't even take and blamed it on me because of our morning sparing sessions. I supposedly distracted him from studying or something while he was out touring though Kyoto."
"I did notice his way with directions when I met him, it took him several hours to find the front door to my house." Nodoka said with a giggle.
Ranma continued his story through the haunted caves where his pops locked him in and forced him to spend every night for a week fighting the ghosts and monsters to build up his speed and power. He explained about the search for Jusenkyo and the three kingdoms that bordered the small valley. Then when into more detail about the springs and the curses and how they worked. Usagi, like her mother was skeptical about the curse, but shut up when he demonstrated it for her. Usagi's eyes tripled in sized and she grabbed her broach as if it could protect her or something.
She calmed down when she noticed that his mother and her mom were shaking their heads sadly. Ranma shrugged and grabbed the last glass of hot water to transformed back. "That is definitely weird."
"I know, but it's why I no longer want to deal with pops anymore. He cares more for the Art than for me and I can't take that anymore."
"You won't have to Ranma." Nodoka said and hugged him again.
"Pops also did something else that I discovered while I was making my way across China."
"What's that?"
"I have at least four fiancee's running around out there, I stumbled across one of them while having dinner and over heard this girl and her father talking about tracking down Genma and killing him and forcing me into a marriage to protect their honor. They talked about the other families that they had stumbled across that pops sold me to for one reason or another, some of them were engagements it seems."
Nodoka gaped at him. "T-that idiot!"
Ranma nodded while Usagi started laughing at him.
"It's not funny!" Ranma yelled at her.
"Yes it is!" Usagi countered as she rolled on the floor trying to stop laughing.
"Humph!"
"Ranma, those other girl's are going to cause some problems for you." Nodoka said.
"I know Mom, but what could a I have done about it, pops sold me without telling me."
"Well there has been an agreement between the Saotome clan and the Tendo clan for over twenty years now that you would marry one of their daughters as well."
"Yet another one!" Usagi giggled as she fell back down.
If Ranma would have had anything in his mouth at that instant he would have snarfed on it and ended up choking on it. Instead he just gasped and sighed. "Mom, there was a time I would have obeyed pops without complaint. Then he took it upon himself to beat me until I was nearly dead, he did it so many times I lost count over the years. I refuse to honor anything he set up simply because he is the one that did it and didn't bother to ask me."
"I know Ranma, but this is a promise of honor between our families."
"Maybe, but I have to take all those other families into account to, what about them?"
"Well..."
"I don't know either, and there lies the problem, this is pop's fault and I have no idea how to deal with it."
"We'll work something out Ranma, I know the Tendo's pretty well and I know Soun is looking forward to this marriage."
"Oh?"
"Yes, he lost his wife some years ago and has almost dedicated his entire life to getting the schools united."
"I don't understand, it's just an arranged marriage mom, there almost non-existent these days."
"I know dear, but your father was just as adamant that it happen as Soun. He made me promise to make it happen if he ever died for some reason. Will you at least meet with the Tendo's and see how things go?"
"What about my curse? I'm a freak of nature here, no girl will want to marry someone that changes into a monster like I do." Ranma muttered.
"Ranma, you may want to be careful about just who you tell about your curse." Usagi said.
"Why?"
"The Sailor Scouts are here in Jubaan and they kill all the monster that pop up ever few months. They killed the one that tried to take over one of my friends store a couple years ago."
"Why would I need to worry about them? I look like a monster, I don't act like one."
"I read about these girls in the paper Ranma, Usagi has a good idea there, they tend to attack first and ask questions later." Ikuko said, giving her daughter a weird look that both Saotome's missed completely.
Usagi blushed.
"I'll be on my guard while about town, but I was considering going out to look for a cure as soon as I got settled down and all. Maybe a trip back to Japan or something to find a drowned man pool or something. Hell, I might even be willing to live with this if it was just a change in gender. Girls are weaker, but it is whole sight better than turing into this monster..."
Three battles aura lit up the kitchen, and six pissed off eyes glared at Ranma promising him lots of pain if he didn't amend his statement that instant. "RANMA!" They all yelled.
"What?!"
"Take that back right now!" Usagi yelled.
"Huh?!"
"How could you say such a thing?" Nodoka wailed, big tears rolling down her cheeks.
"...?"
"Where ever did you get the idea that girl's are weak Ranma?" Ikuko asked, cold fury glinting in her eyes.
"Pop's is always telling me that girls are weak and need to be protected."
"And how many girls have you met that were so weak that they couldn't protect themselves Ranma?" Usagi glared, which for her looked kind of funny.
"Well...of the few girls I've met over the years, I'd have to say all of them were really meek, weak, and skittish." Ranma said as she recalled the few times he was around a girl, they were usually pretty nervous, stuttered a lot, and blushed every time he opened his mouth. What else could they be but weak?
"Girl's are not weak Ranma, does this mean that Genma failed to keep the contract?" Nodoka asked Ranma.
"What contract?"
Nodoka blinked and reached inside her kimono and pulled out a rolled up parchment and handed it to Ranma. He took it and opened it, after a few seconds of reading he paled and started to sweat. By the time he was done, there was a red aura flaring around him that had all the women around him backing up in fear. He glared at his mom. "So this is why my life was made into a living hell, Mom, why would you do this to me? Do I mean so little to you that you would actually kill me if I wasn't a Man?"
"Now Ranma, it is a promise of honor...just like the Tendo's arrangement and I expect it to be fulfilled."
"From the looks of this, I 'signed' it with finger paints."
"Ranma, what is that?" Ikuko asked.
"It seems that since I'm not a 'Man among Men' I have to Kill myself." Ranma snaped, as if his life wasn't bad enough, he had to have mother that was as insane as his father.
"WHAT?!" Ikuko and Usagi screamed.
Ranma nodded and stepped over to his pack and dug around for a few second until he pulled out a small wrapped bundle. Breaking the ties he pulled out an elabrate Tanto blade with the Saotome family crest on the handle. Then pulled out a white kimono and sat it to the side, his mother paled and when she saw this.
"Ranma what are you doing?" She almost screamed.
"Fulfilling the promise, after all I have failed to be a 'Man among Men' as you want it. Turing into a female monster and having multiple arranged marriages that I can do nothing about has changed me into something that contract won't allow. Since I have been considering it anyway, this is as good an excuse as any other to bring honor back to the family." Ranma stated calmly as he pulled the rest of the needed materials out of his bag.
"Ranma you don't have to do this." Usagi said, almost begging him to reconsider his actions.
"I disagree, I have no choice. You told me yourself, if I change while about town the local superheroes will kill me on sight, my turning into a monster and a girl makes me a freak and not a 'Man amon Men' therefore the promise is unfulfilled, and I have almost no intention of getting married to a girl I have never met before. This is needed."
"Ranma I forbid this..." Nodoka snapped.
"Sorry mom, but if it didn't mean anything you wouldn't have even shown me that piece of paper, but you did, therefore I have to keep a promise I don't even remember. I was, what, five years old at the time? Still I did agree to it so I have to do this." Ranma said as he took his shirt off and pulled on the white kimono, then grabbed up his stuff and walked outback. All the women trying to get him to stop, all of them crying now.
Ikuko should have know Nodoka would pull something like this out of her hat, even when they were younger she had a tendency to do foolish things. Just like when she married that idiot husband of hers, just because he was good in bed. She remembered it had something to do with the man's incredible stamina that allowed him to go for hours. Now this promise, Ikuko wondered what had prompted it in the first place. She turned back to Ranma and noticed as he opened the back door that it was raining outside, but he didn't let that deture him as he stepped out and transformed into that thing again.
Tossing his stuff down he knelt down and grabbed his tanto, a bit of peace filled him as he did so. He unsheathed the blade and it gleamed in the light, reflected off the rain drops as they bounced off the blade. Then Ikuko watched as Usagi tackled Ranma, or tried to anyway. Ranma's free hand snapped out and caught Usagi in a wrist lock, he sat the blade down by his knees and lashed out with his hand, striking several spots on Usagi's upper chest and legs. Then she tossed Usagi behind her and the girl collapsed bonelessly. Sighing, Ranma picked the blade up again and spread her wings behind her...
"Fire Soul!!"
"Supreme Thunder!!"
"Venus Crescent Beam!!"
Yelled three voices from the side, Ranma tuned to look and saw three girls dressed in cheerleader outfits glowing with energy. She blinked and shrugged as she brought the blade around for the first cut, but then the girl's fired off at the same time. The energy from all three attacks plowed into her with the force of a truck and sent her flying across the yard, the power of the attacks ripping the back yard to shreds. Slamming into a wall, Ranma was knocked for a loop and collapsed to the ground.
Nodoka and Ikuko gasped and turned to look at the Scouts. "No don't..." They screamed, but the Scouts ignored them. The one in red checked on Usagi while the other two powered up again and fired. The attacks hit again and fired Ranma as she was blasted through the wall, she lay there with her wings charred and her clothing smoking from the attacks. Jupiter and Venus powered up again, but this time something else happened. A panda, who had been in a nearby tree dropped down between the two Scouts and Ranma, it took up a fighting stance that only Nodoka recognized. She gasped as she recalled Ranma telling her about her husband being turned into a panda.
"What the hell?!" Jupiter gasped.
"It's a panda!" Venus said happily and relaxed, powering down.
"Grough!" Said the panda as it held up a sign. *You won't kill the boy!*
"Silly, it's a Youma, it has to be killed, so please step out of the way so we can kill it." Venus said sweetly.
Flip sign. *I won't let you hurt the boy.*
"Just blast it and then take out the Youma, its only a dumb animal after all." Jupiter said. Venus Sweat dropped and gulped as the panda began to glow with a yellow energy. She nodded to Jupiter, this was another Youma to be taken care of and powered up again. Then they had to stop again as a woman took up a position between them and the panda.
"I will not let you hurt my family!" She yelled and pulled her sword out. Then came close to dropping it and cutting off her toes. The panda winced and started to sweat a little, but held it's place.
Ikuko ran over to Usagi and knelt down beside Mars, who was keeping an eye on her daughter. "You should stop your friends before they make a mistake, Sailor Mars."
"Why should I stop them form killing the one that pulled a knife on your daughter?"
"Take a little closer look at the mat over there girl." Ikuko snapped and pointed at Ranma's Seppuku materials.
"Huh...I don't understand, why would a Youma be committing Seppuku?"
"That is a family member of mine who is under a curse, Ranma was going to end his life to satisfy honor because of conflicting responsibilities..." Ikuko snapped. 'The idiot!' she thought.
"Rei-chan, stop Jupiter and Mars for me, I don't want my cousin to die..." Usagi gasped out, her moter controls finally coming back.
"But..."
"Stop them!"
"Alright, alright, but I want an explanation later." Mars said and stalked over to Jupiter and Venus.
"You know Usagi, giving your friends name away like that was mistake." Ikuko said to her daughter.
"You already know who and what I am...you should know who they are as well."
"Like it's not obvious already Usagi."
"Jupiter, Venus, the Princess says we have to let the monster go. She is under a curse of some kind and that she is a family member."
"What?!" Jupiter snapped.
"That thing is part of Usagi's family..."
Jupiter hit Venus up side the head. "Just let everyone know Usagi is the Princess Venus." She said sarcastically.
"Um...opps." Venus said and giggled nervously.
"Well if that is finished..." Nodoka said, she spun her blade, surprisingly well, and brought it up against the Panda's neck. "Husband, once you change back, we are going to have a little talk about what you did with my child while on your 'training trip'!!" she snarled.
Flip sign. *Heheheheheheh....*
"Don't giggle nervously at me 'Husband', you drove our child nearly insane and all you can do is stand there and laugh about it?"
Flip sign. *Now No-chan...*
"Don't even try that crap with me husband, you are on the verge of having to keep the 'Promise'."
The panda fainted at the woman's feet. "What a pathetic coward!" Nodoka snapped and kicked the panda in frustration, how was she supposed to take her revenge on him if he fainted at the mere sight of the family katana. Ranma groaned and Nodoka appeared beside him in an instant and cradled the girl's head in her lap and waited for her to wake up. She took note of the massive burns and damage along Ranma's sides and decided that these Scouts were going to get a piece of her mind. Right after she got done apologizing to her son...daughter...um, what the hell was Ranma right now?
"Oh hi mom, what happened?"
"The Sailor Scouts attacked you."
"Why, I was already killing myself..."
"Shut up, I was only letting you know about the promise, not telling you that you had to commit Seppuku like that. Your as stubborn as your father."
Ranma just shrugged and laughed weakly. "It looks like they may have succeeded anyway."
"Huh?" Nodoka asked as she started to panic.
"I can't feel my chest or arms, just a very dull throbbing throughout my body." Ranma lied.
"You suffered a lot of burn damage from one of their attacks, fire damage doesn't hurt until a day or two later when the shock wears off."
"Heh, with my healing abilities I won't have to deal with it then, I'll be up and around by tomorrow afternoon."
*Ki controlled healing.* Said the sign that the out cold panda held up suddenly.
"GENMA NO BAKA!!" Nodoka yelled and punted the panda into the stratosphere.
Ranma just laughed painfully, while the Scouts just sweat dropped and wondered if this Nodoka was a Youma too. Ikuko just smirked and thought the old fool got off easily, he was going to be getting it from all of them if he came back. Groaning painfully, Ranma rolled to her feet and looked at her mother, folding her wings to her back. "Are you sure you don't want me to fulfill the contract?"
"I'm positive about it Ranma, it was supposed to keep my idiot husband in line. Not be the cause to make your life worse than living in hell, the idea seems to have failed completely when it came to getting my husband to control himself."
"No kidding." Ranma muttered.
Usagi appeared in front of Ranma and tackled her to the ground again, this time crying her eyes out and nearly crushing the life out of her. "DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN YOU BAKA, I DON'T WANT TO LOSE MY FAVORITE COUSIN!!"
"Can't...breath..."
"YOU HAD ME SO WORRIED!! WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Usagi wailed while Ranma turned blue and passed out.
*****
End Notes - Well that is the idea of this one, I'm thinking of bringing in a couple of the crew from Phoenix Mountain or Herb. Right now everything is up in the air since this is just an idea that I'm toying with and not someting more permenent than my others. If I bring in the Project A-ko crew I will need to do more research on it to get the names down correctly, especially all the Mech names. Though I can just see Ranma going up against B-ko(?) in an aeiral battle of some kind, oh the devistation.
Side note - if anyone else wants to continue this before I do, go ahead, just let me know about it and what you have in mind. I don't want to get plot points mixed up if I can help it or the exact same story by some strange twist of fate. ^^;
