Phoenix: Resurrection
(Ranma 1/2 and Dragonball Z)
by Shea McIntee
Disclaimer: sigh... again, I must say that neither of these series belong
to me.
Chapter 2
Ranma watched as Videl, now twelve years old, bounced out the door
to go to school. He sighed. Now he knew what a parent feels like as their
child grows up. It had only seemed yesterday that she was still trying to
pluck his feathers, and now she was growing up quite quickly.
He waited a few more minutes to make sure she wasn't coming back to
pick something up, and then flew out the open window. At first, Videl had
tried to keep him in a cage, but after he had expressed his extreme
displeasure over the whole issue (he had torn two cages apart with his beak,
and melted a third - they still couldn't figure that one out), it had been
given up as a lost effort. The single time that he had been taken to the
vet to get his wings clipped ended with the vet becoming a priest and his
assistant joining the fire department out of gratitude for saving his hide.
Privately, he was certain that Videl's joke of a father was behind that
one... most likely in revenge for their first encounter.
At first, Mr. Satan had been totally and completely against the idea of his
daughter having a pet bird, but, with further applications of pleading
tearful expressions, he had 'succumbed to the inevitable'. However, a week or
so later, he had tried to kidnap Ranma and sell him to a local pet shop.
Ranma, out of consideration for Videl's feelings (and a perfunctory bow
towards being inconspicuous), didn't torch the fool out of hand, although he
was sorely tempted. Instead, he demonstrated a rather unique adaptation of a
particular throw used when your opponent outmassed you by a ridiculous amount,
followed by a series of almost artistic claw marks up and down Mr. Satan's
back as he lay there in a profound amount of pain.
Phoenix 1, Idiot 0
There had been at least three other attempts over the next two months,
leaving the new 'score' looking much the same.
Phoenix 4, Idiot -1 (Don't ask... a spectacularly stupid stunt worthy
of a hungry Sylvester or Wile E. Coyote...)
Finally, the by-now-feeling-absolutely-ridiculous man had given it up, and
contented himself with giving the bird the hairy eyeball whenever he could
get away with it.
Ranma glided over the city towards his destination; a small clinic,
similar in some ways to Dr. Tofu's back in Nerima, in which he worked part
time. Although he did get paid (quite decently at that), he didn't really need
the money. Instead, he was using his rather... unique... abilities to heal
many of the patients that came in (generally keeping low-key... the patients
and the doctor had no idea what he did). In addition, this gave him an
identity in his human form that he might want to use later. It didn't hurt
that the clinic was near the school that Videl went to; after all, he was
supposed to protect her and all.
****
Ranma walked out of the clinic after saying goodbye to the rest of the
staff. He only worked about four or five hours a day, starting soon after
Videl left for school, and finishing soon before she came back.
He strolled down the street, not wanting to change form and fly until
he was out of sight. Besides, he was enjoying being in this form; having hands
was incredibly useful...
His human form looked a little like his previous incarnation; same build,
albeit a bit more muscular, same blue eyes. He had kept the pig-tail too: he just
wasn't use to having his hair free. The color was a vivid orange-red, though, and
it almost seemed to dance like flames in the breeze. He tried to keep that
suppressed, though; normally it would be actually showing licks of flame, and that
would attract a certain amount of attention, which he deemed moderately
unproductive.
He turned into an alley and then shifted. Less then a minute later, a
familiar-looking bird flew out and headed towards the Satan residence. Time to
play 'pet' again... at least she didn't play so rough any more; not like when she
was still really young...
His tail feathers still seemed to ache in really cold weather, although the rest
of his coat had grown back in after only a week and a half... he really didn't
like looking like a bald chicken; it was... undignified. Very much so.
****
He waited until Videl had settled down into a sound sleep before hopping over to
the window. Grabbing the catch with his beak, his twisted and pulled it up enough
for him to duck through. The screen he had long ago taken care of, slicing it
along the bottom edge and sides.
He closed the window behind him (no sense in causing an uproar if someone woke up
in the middle of the night and found the open window, and took off.
He had found that he didn't need any sleep really; an hour or two per day on
average seemed to be plenty for him, and he really didn't feel like staring at the
walls all night. Besides, there was an instinct inside him that warned him that
trouble will eventually find him or those around him. There was a theory that
stated that the more powerful a person or being was, the more likely they were to
attract things out of the ordinary and to 'bend' the laws of chance, beneficially
and not quite so beneficially.
He had felt quite a taste of that in his previous life, and it was only a matter of
time before it found him here. Besides, it was in his nature to always make
himself better, stronger, and more skilled.
He sped up, becoming to any possible outside observer merely a vivid blur, once he
was out of the Satan family's grounds and headed for the edge of the city, where he
had found a largish clearing that was almost ideal for practicing.
He stopped abruptly over his destination, and dropped to the ground, shifting as he
did so until he was in his "favorite" form, that of a bird-winged human, with his
hair almost literally flaming out (it wasn't an illusion, too) and his eyes
containing hot blue embers. It felt natural to him, in spite of the uncomfortable
(although by this time the discomfort was negligible) reminder of Saffron. That was
one of the first 'tricks' he had learned; shapechanging. He couldn't just 'pick a
form, any form,' although he could alter his various forms to a certain minor extent.
The first form was 'Videl's pet B-chan,' although the more vivid colors and swirling
flames were eliminated for that guise... that would draw a bit too much attention.
The second form was a fully (well, more or less) human form, which he used as the
base for his alternate identity. This was the third form, the same as his human
form, except with large and, he must admit, beautiful swan-like wings, almost as tall
as he was, and, when spread out, MUCH wider.
The fourth and final form was perhaps his most dramatic. It was similar in shape to
'B-chan,' but far far larger than any earthly bird. He was pretty sure, through his
buried "instincts" from his "inheritance" and from his times spent thinking about the
whole thing, that this was his 'real' form, but he rarely used it, preferring the
humanoid and smaller avian form.
He had found, in the three years since he'd starting stretching his abilities as far
as they would go, that he could do a whole lot of things that could really only be
explained by magic. As far as he knew, there wasn't any chi technique that allowed one
to form and control real fire. Aside from that, it FELT different. Whereas he could
feel a definite limit (although far higher than he was used to in his previous life)
to his chi, there was one. However, with the... other stuff, there was no complete
limit. There were limits as to how much he could channel at one time (more or less),
but he seemed to be literally inexaustible. THAT was magic.
There were a lot of things that it did for him, or that he could do with it. His
abilities seemed to fall into broad categories for reasons he couldn't quite figure
out. The first had to do with healing. He had found (and this was what had led to
his picking a doctor for a profession when he decided to create an alter ego) that he
could literally heal someone with a touch. Wounds, infections, diseases, poisons...
it didn't matter. He could simply touch someone and somehow know what was wrong with
them, and how to cure it. Those "instincts' he had seemed to indicate that he might
even be able to "heal" death under some circumstances. In addition to healing wounds
to the body, he was able to quite easily restore a body's energy, without any seeming
depletion or exhaustion of his own chi (mostly likely because this didn't actually draw
on his chi).
That one kept him awake many nights (or would have if he still slept that same as he
once did).
This ability seemed to apply to himself on an unconscious level, and he had seen this
in effect when he had fought the previous incarnation of the phoenix, Saffron.
Saffron had been able to instantly regenerate from any injury. In fact, the
realization of that had given him the rather desperate idea of ABSORBING Saffron's
energy, and thus (in theory, at least) keep him from constantly healing himself.
Again, his buried instincts told him that even death was not insurmountable.
The second of his abilities dealt with fire. He had quickly realized that if Saffron
had been entirely finished with the metamorphosis and had complete control of those
powers, he would have been a scorch mark on Phoenix Mountain quite quickly. The
crudest form of fire control was a simple blast of summoned flame, and with control,
this could become a tightly focused beam of corruscating energy. The ability to
control existing heat and flames was at least as strong.
And these powers were what he worked on, in conjunction with 'ordinary' martial arts
and chi techniques. Chi and his phoenix powers, for the most part, didn't seem to mix
any. He couldn't figure out how to combine them; they just pretty much 'ignored' each
other whenever he tried.
He flowed through a kata of his own making, derived from a fairly basic form he had
learned as part of the Saotome School, except used in conjunction with a series of wing
buffets and strikes. He suddenly launched himself up into the air and continued the
form, adding in the most recent innovations: strategic attacks of flame and chi aimed at
imaginary opponents. It was almost a form of idealized combat, a dance, in a way.
He continued his workout until the sky started to lighten in "false dawn," and then he
halted and took a deep breath. He didn't need to go back yet, but he was done for now.
Perhaps a quick flight...
Not bothering to change forms, he flew further away from the city. Quickly becoming
bored with a straight flight, he tunred it into a different sort of kata, almsot purely
defensive, which was designed to completely avoid attacks, rather than blocking them.
A small... oddity... made him stop, and explore an isolated area off to the left. Here
he found some kind of ultra-thin pole or tower-like thing, with a large platform on top.
Curious, he flew towards it, and, seeing a pair of figures near the edge, he swooped
towards them and alighted in front of them.
He cokced his head in an almost bird-like fashion, and examined the strangers. One
seemed more or less human, with dark skin and odd attire. The other was most definitely
not. Last he knew, green skin, sharp teeth, and antennae didn't go with your normal
average human.
"Err... hello."
****
Author's Note: Alright, I stopped this chapter before I originally planned for a simple
reason: I'm sleepy. I'm going to leave you hanging here while I go and hibernate for a
bit... I'm sure you people can guess who the two "strangers" are... Most of the rewrite
(I lost the original stuff... oh, well) dealt with a more in-depth explanation of what
Ranma can do right now (as the Phoenix). Next chapter will reveal some of what
exactly the Phoenix is, and Ranma starting to meet some of the Z-cast. And no, Piccolo
comes in the chapter after next... and you won't see any Sons or Briefs/Vegeta until a
few chapters on, when Videl meets Gohan and... heh... well, it'll be interesting.
Deus_ex_mach42@hotmail.com for suggestions, comments, and criticisms.
(Ranma 1/2 and Dragonball Z)
by Shea McIntee
Disclaimer: sigh... again, I must say that neither of these series belong
to me.
Chapter 2
Ranma watched as Videl, now twelve years old, bounced out the door
to go to school. He sighed. Now he knew what a parent feels like as their
child grows up. It had only seemed yesterday that she was still trying to
pluck his feathers, and now she was growing up quite quickly.
He waited a few more minutes to make sure she wasn't coming back to
pick something up, and then flew out the open window. At first, Videl had
tried to keep him in a cage, but after he had expressed his extreme
displeasure over the whole issue (he had torn two cages apart with his beak,
and melted a third - they still couldn't figure that one out), it had been
given up as a lost effort. The single time that he had been taken to the
vet to get his wings clipped ended with the vet becoming a priest and his
assistant joining the fire department out of gratitude for saving his hide.
Privately, he was certain that Videl's joke of a father was behind that
one... most likely in revenge for their first encounter.
At first, Mr. Satan had been totally and completely against the idea of his
daughter having a pet bird, but, with further applications of pleading
tearful expressions, he had 'succumbed to the inevitable'. However, a week or
so later, he had tried to kidnap Ranma and sell him to a local pet shop.
Ranma, out of consideration for Videl's feelings (and a perfunctory bow
towards being inconspicuous), didn't torch the fool out of hand, although he
was sorely tempted. Instead, he demonstrated a rather unique adaptation of a
particular throw used when your opponent outmassed you by a ridiculous amount,
followed by a series of almost artistic claw marks up and down Mr. Satan's
back as he lay there in a profound amount of pain.
Phoenix 1, Idiot 0
There had been at least three other attempts over the next two months,
leaving the new 'score' looking much the same.
Phoenix 4, Idiot -1 (Don't ask... a spectacularly stupid stunt worthy
of a hungry Sylvester or Wile E. Coyote...)
Finally, the by-now-feeling-absolutely-ridiculous man had given it up, and
contented himself with giving the bird the hairy eyeball whenever he could
get away with it.
Ranma glided over the city towards his destination; a small clinic,
similar in some ways to Dr. Tofu's back in Nerima, in which he worked part
time. Although he did get paid (quite decently at that), he didn't really need
the money. Instead, he was using his rather... unique... abilities to heal
many of the patients that came in (generally keeping low-key... the patients
and the doctor had no idea what he did). In addition, this gave him an
identity in his human form that he might want to use later. It didn't hurt
that the clinic was near the school that Videl went to; after all, he was
supposed to protect her and all.
****
Ranma walked out of the clinic after saying goodbye to the rest of the
staff. He only worked about four or five hours a day, starting soon after
Videl left for school, and finishing soon before she came back.
He strolled down the street, not wanting to change form and fly until
he was out of sight. Besides, he was enjoying being in this form; having hands
was incredibly useful...
His human form looked a little like his previous incarnation; same build,
albeit a bit more muscular, same blue eyes. He had kept the pig-tail too: he just
wasn't use to having his hair free. The color was a vivid orange-red, though, and
it almost seemed to dance like flames in the breeze. He tried to keep that
suppressed, though; normally it would be actually showing licks of flame, and that
would attract a certain amount of attention, which he deemed moderately
unproductive.
He turned into an alley and then shifted. Less then a minute later, a
familiar-looking bird flew out and headed towards the Satan residence. Time to
play 'pet' again... at least she didn't play so rough any more; not like when she
was still really young...
His tail feathers still seemed to ache in really cold weather, although the rest
of his coat had grown back in after only a week and a half... he really didn't
like looking like a bald chicken; it was... undignified. Very much so.
****
He waited until Videl had settled down into a sound sleep before hopping over to
the window. Grabbing the catch with his beak, his twisted and pulled it up enough
for him to duck through. The screen he had long ago taken care of, slicing it
along the bottom edge and sides.
He closed the window behind him (no sense in causing an uproar if someone woke up
in the middle of the night and found the open window, and took off.
He had found that he didn't need any sleep really; an hour or two per day on
average seemed to be plenty for him, and he really didn't feel like staring at the
walls all night. Besides, there was an instinct inside him that warned him that
trouble will eventually find him or those around him. There was a theory that
stated that the more powerful a person or being was, the more likely they were to
attract things out of the ordinary and to 'bend' the laws of chance, beneficially
and not quite so beneficially.
He had felt quite a taste of that in his previous life, and it was only a matter of
time before it found him here. Besides, it was in his nature to always make
himself better, stronger, and more skilled.
He sped up, becoming to any possible outside observer merely a vivid blur, once he
was out of the Satan family's grounds and headed for the edge of the city, where he
had found a largish clearing that was almost ideal for practicing.
He stopped abruptly over his destination, and dropped to the ground, shifting as he
did so until he was in his "favorite" form, that of a bird-winged human, with his
hair almost literally flaming out (it wasn't an illusion, too) and his eyes
containing hot blue embers. It felt natural to him, in spite of the uncomfortable
(although by this time the discomfort was negligible) reminder of Saffron. That was
one of the first 'tricks' he had learned; shapechanging. He couldn't just 'pick a
form, any form,' although he could alter his various forms to a certain minor extent.
The first form was 'Videl's pet B-chan,' although the more vivid colors and swirling
flames were eliminated for that guise... that would draw a bit too much attention.
The second form was a fully (well, more or less) human form, which he used as the
base for his alternate identity. This was the third form, the same as his human
form, except with large and, he must admit, beautiful swan-like wings, almost as tall
as he was, and, when spread out, MUCH wider.
The fourth and final form was perhaps his most dramatic. It was similar in shape to
'B-chan,' but far far larger than any earthly bird. He was pretty sure, through his
buried "instincts" from his "inheritance" and from his times spent thinking about the
whole thing, that this was his 'real' form, but he rarely used it, preferring the
humanoid and smaller avian form.
He had found, in the three years since he'd starting stretching his abilities as far
as they would go, that he could do a whole lot of things that could really only be
explained by magic. As far as he knew, there wasn't any chi technique that allowed one
to form and control real fire. Aside from that, it FELT different. Whereas he could
feel a definite limit (although far higher than he was used to in his previous life)
to his chi, there was one. However, with the... other stuff, there was no complete
limit. There were limits as to how much he could channel at one time (more or less),
but he seemed to be literally inexaustible. THAT was magic.
There were a lot of things that it did for him, or that he could do with it. His
abilities seemed to fall into broad categories for reasons he couldn't quite figure
out. The first had to do with healing. He had found (and this was what had led to
his picking a doctor for a profession when he decided to create an alter ego) that he
could literally heal someone with a touch. Wounds, infections, diseases, poisons...
it didn't matter. He could simply touch someone and somehow know what was wrong with
them, and how to cure it. Those "instincts' he had seemed to indicate that he might
even be able to "heal" death under some circumstances. In addition to healing wounds
to the body, he was able to quite easily restore a body's energy, without any seeming
depletion or exhaustion of his own chi (mostly likely because this didn't actually draw
on his chi).
That one kept him awake many nights (or would have if he still slept that same as he
once did).
This ability seemed to apply to himself on an unconscious level, and he had seen this
in effect when he had fought the previous incarnation of the phoenix, Saffron.
Saffron had been able to instantly regenerate from any injury. In fact, the
realization of that had given him the rather desperate idea of ABSORBING Saffron's
energy, and thus (in theory, at least) keep him from constantly healing himself.
Again, his buried instincts told him that even death was not insurmountable.
The second of his abilities dealt with fire. He had quickly realized that if Saffron
had been entirely finished with the metamorphosis and had complete control of those
powers, he would have been a scorch mark on Phoenix Mountain quite quickly. The
crudest form of fire control was a simple blast of summoned flame, and with control,
this could become a tightly focused beam of corruscating energy. The ability to
control existing heat and flames was at least as strong.
And these powers were what he worked on, in conjunction with 'ordinary' martial arts
and chi techniques. Chi and his phoenix powers, for the most part, didn't seem to mix
any. He couldn't figure out how to combine them; they just pretty much 'ignored' each
other whenever he tried.
He flowed through a kata of his own making, derived from a fairly basic form he had
learned as part of the Saotome School, except used in conjunction with a series of wing
buffets and strikes. He suddenly launched himself up into the air and continued the
form, adding in the most recent innovations: strategic attacks of flame and chi aimed at
imaginary opponents. It was almost a form of idealized combat, a dance, in a way.
He continued his workout until the sky started to lighten in "false dawn," and then he
halted and took a deep breath. He didn't need to go back yet, but he was done for now.
Perhaps a quick flight...
Not bothering to change forms, he flew further away from the city. Quickly becoming
bored with a straight flight, he tunred it into a different sort of kata, almsot purely
defensive, which was designed to completely avoid attacks, rather than blocking them.
A small... oddity... made him stop, and explore an isolated area off to the left. Here
he found some kind of ultra-thin pole or tower-like thing, with a large platform on top.
Curious, he flew towards it, and, seeing a pair of figures near the edge, he swooped
towards them and alighted in front of them.
He cokced his head in an almost bird-like fashion, and examined the strangers. One
seemed more or less human, with dark skin and odd attire. The other was most definitely
not. Last he knew, green skin, sharp teeth, and antennae didn't go with your normal
average human.
"Err... hello."
****
Author's Note: Alright, I stopped this chapter before I originally planned for a simple
reason: I'm sleepy. I'm going to leave you hanging here while I go and hibernate for a
bit... I'm sure you people can guess who the two "strangers" are... Most of the rewrite
(I lost the original stuff... oh, well) dealt with a more in-depth explanation of what
Ranma can do right now (as the Phoenix). Next chapter will reveal some of what
exactly the Phoenix is, and Ranma starting to meet some of the Z-cast. And no, Piccolo
comes in the chapter after next... and you won't see any Sons or Briefs/Vegeta until a
few chapters on, when Videl meets Gohan and... heh... well, it'll be interesting.
Deus_ex_mach42@hotmail.com for suggestions, comments, and criticisms.
